"Zack Walker. I'm one of your constituents. I live in the Valley Forest Estates subdivision, on Greenway Lane."
"I see. Oh yes, Stefanie Knight. I believe she works in the Valley Forest Estates office. I think I've run into her there."
Fuck it, I thought. I opened the envelope, withdrew one of the prints, and flung it across the desk at him. It landed image down. He grabbed it by one corner, flipped it over.
I didn't believe he could lose any more color. He was the whitest, pastiest-looking weasel I'd ever had the pleasure of sitting across a desk from, and this included all the newspaper editors I'd ever worked for.
The hand holding the print began to shake. Carpington ran his hand over his scalp, wiping away the droplets of sweat that were beginning to form.
"How much?" he asked. "How much do you want?"
Chapter 20
Right off the bat, Roger Carpington did not strike me as a guy skilled in the art of negotiating. Caving is not one of the standard tactics. One look at the picture of himself with Stefanie Knight and he was ready to cut me a check.
"You think I'm here to blackmail you?" I asked.
Carpington, still sweating, said, "What other purpose could you have in mind when you come to me with a picture like this? You're out to ruin me, that's obvious. But I'm guessing that you can be dissuaded from that if we can agree upon a price."
I leaned back in my chair. "I do think that the motive behind this picture, and the other ones I have in this envelope" - Carpington fixed his eyes upon it - "is definitely blackmail, Mr. Carpington, but I'm not your blackmailer. It's somebody else. Maybe it's Stefanie Knight. Has she been blackmailing you? Did she tell you she'd tell your wife about your affair if you didn't pay her off?"
Carpington was wide-eyed. "That's ridiculous. I'm not having an affair with Stefanie."
I furrowed my brow, slid another one of the prints from the envelope out halfway, and peered at it. "You're right. This one here, where she's got your dick in her mouth, that doesn't look like an affair. Maybe she's just a consultant helping you interpret the town's official plan."
"You're a disgusting man," Carpington said. "Get out of my office."
"Okay," I said, and stood out of my chair. "Ta-ta."
"Wait! Sit down. Sit down. Tell me what it is you want."
"I want you to tell me about Stefanie. Everything."
He shook his head slowly. "What do you care? And how do you happen to have these pictures? Do you know Stefanie? Are you working with her?"
"No, I don't know her," I said, "although I have seen her this evening." I watched for anything in Carpington's eyes, a glimmer. There was nothing. "How I happen to have these pictures is my business for now, but I can tell you that the negatives are safely stored away, and if something were to happen to me, there are people who'd know where to find them." I was surprisingly good at this.
"I see," Carpington said. He seemed to be abandoning any plans he might have had to leap across the desk and rip the envelope out of my hands.
"How did you meet Stefanie?" I asked.
He squirmed in his seat. "I met her through a business acquaintance."
"Let me guess. Don Greenway."
"Yes, as a matter of fact. I've met with Mr. Greenway on several occasions, and Stefanie works in his office. I believe she's his secretary."
"You've been very supportive of Mr. Greenway's development proposals."
Carpington shrugged. "I think people like Mr. Greenway bring economic prosperity to a place like Oakwood. They bring jobs, and families, a broadened tax base, hope for the future of our community."
I needed some Maalox. "Not everyone agrees with you on that, though. Councilman Underwood, for example, and Sam Spender. Greenway's had to deal with formidable opposition to his subdivision, particularly the last phase near Willow Creek. He must really appreciate having someone like you, in a position of influence, on the council and all, on his side."
"Are you insinuating something?"
"You tell me. You're boffing his secretary. That seems like a pretty good inducement to vote in favor of his development. My guess is, keeping you entertained is part of Stefanie's job description. But just in case you start getting an attack of the guilts, or ever decide to vote against Valley Forest Estates, Greenway has a little something in reserve, these pictures, to make sure you do exactly what he wants you to do."
"Oh God," Carpington said, cupping his hands over nose and mouth. "Oh God oh God oh God."
"When's the last time you saw Stefanie?" I asked, ignoring his weeping.
"What? Uh, yesterday. At her house."
"Over on Rambling Rose?"
"Yes. It's not actually her house, it's one owned by Greenway's company, they built a lot of the homes in that area a few years ago, but she lives there."
"Is that where you'd have your ... encounters?"
Carpington nodded.
"There's a mirror on the ceiling," I said. "In the bedroom."