Chase (15 page)

‘Miss Dean’s security, ma’am. On contract.’ His face is expressionless, his tone low and quietly reassuring.

Her eyes widen for a moment.

On contract?
It makes him sound semi-official. It hints not only that he has no choice but also that we’re all in this together.

It works. The door opens just enough to let us in.

The crowded little sitting room is gloomy and full of clutter. Fast-food wrappers litter the floor. A heavy smell hangs over everything, stale food and cigarettes. A giant TV plays silently on one wall. As we walk in a young man in a grubby T-shirt darts us a suspicious look and shuffles off into another room clutching a half-eaten burger.

With him gone his mom seems eager to talk. ‘That’s my boy, Wayne.
Take no notice, Mz Dean. It’s bin a hard week for him. For both of us. It’s his brother’s anniversary.’

She leads us over to a shabby dresser laid out like a shrine. On it a large, slightly blurred photo of a young man in blouson jacket and sneakers, with a fleeting resemblance to Wayne, is ringed with candles and fairy lights.

She sighs as she touches the frame with a stubby, nicotine-stained finger. ‘This is Luther, my eldest. He’d a bin thirty-five years ol’ this very week. Took from us two years ago. In an’ outa jail, so HIV, AIDS, you name it. Kids like him don’t last long in them places.’ She turns red-rimmed eyes on me. They light up with a sudden gleam. ‘But t’ain’t jail what kilt him, Mz Dean. It was that motherfucker there.’

She snatches up a yellowing piece of card torn from a popcorn packet. On it I see the familiar logo of the Kraik Corporation and its founder, Fletcher ‘Korn’ Kraik. The brand and product range, the popcorn candy, baking supplies, joke books and even playwear are famous all over the country.

‘Screwed his head to perdition, Mz Dean. Screwed us all.’

Slowly I learned Lola Forman’s story.

With a young boy to look after and another on the way she was
working for a family in the Hamptons where Kraik was a frequent guest. The woman who employed her took her away on long trips and she was happy to leave Luther to play with the rich kids, thinking he’d maybe better himself.
But like Lydia, she never guessed he had a darker side.

‘The year Luther passed on he told us the truth about what happened to him there. I thought he was safe there, while I was away. He worshipped the guy. But turned out he was scared of him. The guy liked kids. He wuz a real joker, but he fixed on Luther. He’d pick on him in front of the other kids, make him feel small. He’d scare him, play games with torches in the dark an’ stuff. He thought kids liked that. Maybe some of ’em did, but not Luther. He wuz kinda quiet, ya know? Thoughtful. Gave him nightmares.
Later he started gettin’ into trouble. I reckon on account Kraik messed with his head. This week Wayne’s bin real upset.’

She dashes away a tear. ‘But that ain’t the worst part, Mz Dean. Wayne was on a radio phone-in a few weeks back an’ he started mouthin’ off about what happened to his brother … an’ then we got this.’

She passes me an envelope. It’s a letter from lawyers acting on behalf of the Kraik Corporation.

‘They’s sayin’ he’s a liar. They say he gotta tell everybody he lied. An’ that ain’t fair, Mz Dean. He’s a good boy. He’s tellin’ the truth. An’ know what? They even offered me money – real good money – to make him say he’s a liar. I said no. I ain’t takin’ their filthy money. It ain’t gonna bring back my boy.’

She gazes at me in despair. ‘I asked aroun’. Everybody
says you’re real nice, Mz Dean. A bunch of us was standin’ at the back watchin’ that movie guy. It was him whistled that popcorn tune. That made me think maybe you kin help us. The good Lord knows we ain’t got nobody else.’

The drive back takes a while. I’m upset and keep getting lost. Finally Darnley flags me over and goes on ahead for me to follow. Sad as I am for Wayne and his mom, I’m scared of the effect on Darnley. To get so close to another victim …

But when we arrive there’s no time to reflect. We have visitors. Eldon and Billy are in the sitting room.

Darnley’s been tight-lipped since we left the Formans. Now he explodes. ‘So what the fuck was all that about, Eldon? That thing at the Academy?
Popcorn?
Are you crazy?’

Eldon stares at him. ‘Whoa. What’s up, bro? So I got a little carried away. So what?’

Darnley glares at him, but we can see from Eldon’s blank look that he’s truly innocent. Billy looks dumbfounded. They even argue about his on-the-spot scenario.

Eldon shrugs. ‘Where’s it from? How do I know, dude? It just popped up. Calm down.’

The atmosphere quietens over dinner and a beer or two. The brothers finally make peace over Eldon’s invitation to the Red Sox –Yankees championship play-off in a couple of weeks.

After they’ve gone we talk at last about Wayne and Lola Forman. To my relief Darnley’s positively brisk.

‘Look, Ella, I know it’s sad, but please stay out of this. It all happened a long time ago. They’ll simply pay her to shut up. Maybe that’s what she’s angling for.’

‘But is there anything we can do? You know some good lawyers, right?’ I grin, but my feeble joke falls flat. His family might be the founders of one of Boston’s most prestigious law firms but their issues with the Kraik Corporation are deeply personal and freshly painful.

I change tack. ‘Maybe if she had a little help with legal fees …’ I tail off, uneasy. He makes me wear thousands of dollars’ worth of bling just for kinky sex. Surely he sees a mismatch here?

I swallow and try again. ‘Could you support her son’s statement in some way? Maybe anonymously? If there were others out there …’ I tail off into a heavy silence.

He pours himself a drink, walks over to the window and stares out over the trees towards the faint glow in the sky over the city. Below the windows, spotlights in the manicured gardens etch his angular profile in a line of gold.

When he finally speaks his voice is hoarse. ‘We’ve been through this. I’ve told you what would happen of any of that stuff ever got out. Apart from what it would do to Eldon. He’s screwed up enough as it is. He’s only just starting to straighten out and make something of himself. He’s even got a girl.
And she’s good for him. Smart and funny and sharp
.
And as for my business, it could affect thousands of people. We’d lose market share, we’d shed jobs, the whole bit. And what if Dad’s firm took it on and lost? He’d face ruin too. Not to mention the scandal if Lydia’s past life came out. And a
murder investigation
? Let’s not even go there.’

He frowns. ‘You’re asking one hell of a lot. It’ll be quicker and easier all round just to give the woman a couple of a million to shut up. Somebody will in the end. Give it time. I will, if necessary. Whatever she says, everybody’s got their price.’

My own temper’s rising now. ‘Have they? I get you’re upset, Darnley. What I don’t get is why you’re so offhand about it. I just wondered if you could help. I’m sorry I asked.’

Now the air between us crackles with fury.

‘Oh, sure. It’s easy to
ask.
But do you have any idea what it
is
you’re asking?’ He takes a gulp of his drink and turns to me, his eyes burning. ‘After Kraik I had a choice. Go apeshit or move on. So I moved on. I built myself back up and when I’d done that I built up my business. And now you’re asking me to tear it all down again? Not to mention all the lives that go with it?’

He drains his drink and slams his glass down on a side table. It hits the polished wood with a crack like a pistol shot. He turns back to the window and folds his arms.

What have I said?
This man has suffered enough. I’m asking him to kick away his ladder to success and put at risk the very empire that’s made him whole again.

With a weary sigh I head for the door. Empires are complicated. They don’t just come apart and reassemble like toy-kits. ‘I know it’s impossible. I’m sorry I asked. Forget I said anything.’

‘It’s easy for you.’ He’s still bitter. ‘You don’t have other people depending on you for survival.’

I pause. ‘Yes, I do. Lola Forman. I’m all she’s got, me and a son who’s not afraid to tell the truth.’

In my own room I start to get ready for bed. It looks like sex is off the menu tonight so I slip into an oversize T-shirt and bunch my hair to keep it clear of the sink while I wash. As I bury my face in a towel I freeze as a firm, warm hand steals round my waist.

He’s standing right behind me. I can feel his warmth at my back, his breath on my neck. I stand very still as the tiny hairs that stood up in alarm all over my body lie down again and preen. In the mirror our eyes lock. Slowly my towel slides to the floor.

When he speaks his voice is low. ‘You left somebody out.’

I swivel in his arms as my pulse races into overdrive and a thump of arousal starts to pound. ‘Who?’

I hardly care. I could stay like this for ever, with his eyes locked on mine, his hands on my waist, moving gently over my flanks as he fondles the curves where my waist dips in and my ribcage swells out and then moves lower, to where my backside juts out a little as he pulls me close. Slowly he inches up my T-shirt at the back and slips his hand underneath, his touch on my backside warm, electric, sparking all over me like shimmers of neon.

‘I depend on you too. You keep me sane, Ella.’

He flicks one of my silky bunches with his fingers. ‘And what’s this? This what you wear when I’m not around?’

I bite my lip. ‘I thought you’d avoid me tonight. I –’

His eyes narrow. ‘
Seriously?
With you in schoolgirl bunches and an oversize T-shirt?’

He smiles slowly, his grin dark and knowing. I shiver as his voice lowers to a satisfied purr. ‘And she even sniffs my boxers. I’m a very lucky man.’ His lips find mine and his tongue plunders my mouth as his hands reacquaint themselves with my landscapes, his lingering, intimate touch reminding me what we’ve been missing these last hours. Slowly he draws me across the room and we collapse together onto my bed.

I want to ask him how he feels. I want to know if he’s OK after this thunderbolt from his past, but now I hardly need to. His mouth and his hands are doing it for me. And they’re telling me he’s not only fine, he wants some action.

As he sprawls full length underneath me and pulls me up over him he grins. ‘Seriously, you’d no idea this would happen?’ He pushes me up into a sitting position on his hips, then peels my T-shirt over my head and twists it round my arms and knots it.

Now I’m caught fast, my arms way up high. I bend my elbows with an effort and clasp my hands together as he pulls me forward so he can torment my nipples with his mouth.

‘No, frankly. And while we’re on the subject, why do you never believe me?’

He pushes my breasts together and pulls me down towards him, leaning up to take great mouthfuls of them one at a time. I yelp as his eager tongue dabs at my puckered, rumpled nipples as they stiffen and swell, making them sparkle all over with tiny prickles of heat as he gnaws and dabs and sucks, forcing my breasts into mounds and burying his face between them.

‘Arch back, I want to reach. Push them forward.’

His voice is husky, his commands curt as his calm ebbs away. His need is urgent and raw. He hoists himself up on the pillows and makes me straddle his lap. ‘Turn round and kneel up. I want to see your ass. Keep your arms up. From down here it gives your back a really interesting line.’

‘What, I’m an ornament now?’ I laugh, part excited, part scared, as he probes and prods at my rear end with his thumbs, his hands holding me fast, his mouth dropping soft kisses on the curves of my arched backside.

‘Not sure. I’d better look. Open wider.’

He’s sliding below me now to get his face closer to my hot, pulsing places, his fingers teasing and questing, feeling their way along the outer line of my throbbing, hidden gullies with soft, purposeful movements. It’s maddening and wildly arousing. But the worst thing is trying to balance. With my arms behind my head I have to arch my body so my ass juts high up over his face and my breasts thrust forward.

‘Very nice. Hold it right there. Why do I never believe you? Good question, Ella. Why do you think? Maybe I’m suspicious by nature. Maybe when something happens in your drama class that only you could possibly know anything about, maybe I smell a rat. Why did Eldon come out with all that stuff about popcorn? You must know something. Think.’

He’s licking me now, making me shudder with the intensity of the sensation, but he sounds fierce. His fingers are skilful but his anger still simmers, lacing his touch with danger. And now his erection looks angry too, barely inches from my face and leaping to attention. The temptation to lick is almost more than I can bear but as I lean forward he twitches it away.

‘Hey. I want an answer.’

I close my eyes and whimper as his tongue makes a sudden attack on my swelling, pulsing mound, where my hidden little centre is throbbing with excitement, close to bursting with all this attention, shamed by this reverse approach. From up here everything feels the wrong way round …

It’s an effort to speak, but I must. If this interrogation-by-sex thing is some new CIA technique, it’s scarily effective. ‘It was an accident. Awful for you, I grant, but not my fault …’ I tail off and whimper again as his tongue plunges inside me, eating me out like I’m ice cream. The feeling is extraordinary and now my climax is barely seconds away. I can’t hold out much longer. I can hardly breathe.

‘Go on.’ He’s laughing now, I swear. And his erection is getting even harder and glossier and only inches from my face and he won’t even let me
taste
while he’s taking full advantage of my open, exposed position. And now my sides ache and my arms ache …

‘
Aagh.
’ I yell as my climax explodes, convulsing my belly in a spasm of pleasure that floods over me, reaching all the way to the tips of my straining fingertips and along the curl of my arching toes. I hang over him, panting, while his greedy tongue continues to feast.

‘Well? Hold the position.’

As my breathing steadies I waver a little and arch my back, fighting the urge to flop down beside him, finding it harder than ever to balance. ‘I can’t explain it. It’s a mystery.’