The trouble was, none of them could admit they had done anything wrong. They had talked themselves into the idea that anything that got the results they wanted was by definition legal. I had to hammer repeatedly on the same key to get their attention: I had enough connections to the Chicago media to blow this story sky-high. And when that happened, their bosses would see them as sacrificial lambs.
“Remember Ollie North? You may think he was a hero, but his bosses didn’t have any compunction throwing him to the wolves when the spotlight shone their way. And you guys don’t have Marine uniforms to strut around in. You’ll be on the streets chasing the same jobs fifty thousand other kids are, and those mortgage payments come right on the fifth of the month.”
They agreed, in the end to my terms, but stubbornly insisted they had never crossed the bounds of propriety, let alone the law. The five of us—Mr. Contreras didn’t want to be left out—would meet at the Bank of Lake View at four Monday afternoon. Todd and Chrissie would bring an order from the probate judge showing the termination of their guardianship agreement. And they would have a cashier’s check for thirty thousand, to buy back the Diamond Head bonds.
In exchange, I promised not to mention their role in peddling junk when the federal investigators started asking about U.S. Met. Mr. Contreras and I went home exhausted. We drank a bottle of Veuve Cliquot to celebrate.
The next morning I wondered if our jubilee had been premature. The doorbell rang at nine, just as I was trying to see how much of a workout my stomach could take. The voice at the other end of the squawk box announced itself as Dick Yarborough.
He came up the stairs with Teri, who was ready for a photo layout in a navy Eli Wacs trouser suit, her smooth peach skin perfectly made-up. Dick had on the suburban executive’s weekend costume, a Polo shirt, baggy cotton trousers, and a sports jacket.
“Vic—it is all right if I call you that, isn’t it? I feel as though I know you.” Teri stretched out a hand in a gesture of intimacy while Dick lingered in the background.
“Yeah, I feel as though I know you too.” I ignored her hand. “You two want something special? Or am I a stop-off point on a goodwill tour of the poor?”
Dick winced, but Teri gave a faint saintly smile. She sank onto the piano bench and opened her eyes wide at me.
“This is a really hard visit for me to make. Let’s face it: you and Dick were married once, and I know there must still be some feeling between you.”
“But I’d put on a lead shield before getting close enough to examine it,” I said.
“They say that hate is the other side of love,” she announced with the air of someone presenting the law of gravity to first-graders. “But I know—Dick’s told me— that you lost your own father, so I think you can understand my feelings.”
“Peter’s dead?” I was astounded. “It wasn’t in the morning paper.”
Dick made an impatient gesture. “No, Peter’s not dead. Teri’s having trouble getting to the point. She and Peter are very close and she’s afraid she may lose him to a long jail sentence if she can’t persuade you to drop charges.”
I felt my lips tighten with anger. “It’s great that they’re close. Peter especially is going to need a lot of support over the next several months—maybe even the next twenty years. And knowing his daughter’s in his court, believes in him a hundred percent, will only help.”
Tears glistened on the ends of Teri’s lustrous lashes. Waterproof mascara kept black smears from developing under her eyes. “Dick said you had a strange sense of humor, but I can’t believe you think this is funny.”
“I don’t find anything that’s happened in the last three weeks very funny. Two old men were killed because your daddy and your uncle didn’t want them squealing about a pension reversion your husband set up. At least one old lady nearly became homeless because of a slick marketing scheme your uncle organized to chisel her out of her life’s savings. And I don’t feel very happy myself, having been shot at and almost run over.”
I fingered the ridges on my stomach through my cotton T-shirt. The bandages covered the cuts, but I kept thinking they were oozing every time I twisted my torso.
“But Daddy explained all this to me. None of this was his doing. The people at the Diamond Head plant misunderstood him and Uncle Jason. They should never have done what they did. Everyone agrees it was wrong. Daddy will prove it in court; Dick can see to that. But it would make our lives so much easier if he didn’t have to, if you would agree that it was all a big mistake. I’d hate for Dick to have to attack you in public. And you know, in a case like this, they’d hire investigators to dig up your secrets—talk about your love life, your disregard for the law, all those things.”
Fury had me so in its grip, I could barely see. I jammed my hands into my pockets so Dick couldn’t see their trembling. “Discovery cuts both ways, sugar. By the time I get done with my case your husband will be lucky to have his legal license, let alone be walking around outside a federal prison.”