“Never mind, Elaina,” William said, putting his hand upon his ex-wife’s arm to still her protests. “The boy has a right to be bitter. Let him vent.”
“I’m not a boy,” Luke said flatly. He could feel Dani’s hand on his thigh. Whereas William used the touch to squelch his mother’s words, Dani was offering support and strength. He felt her love for him in that gentle pressure, in the warmth upon his leg. For a second he closed his eyes, savoring it so that he might gather himself to go into the fray again.
“No?” William laughed. “When did that happen? You must remember that, to a parent, his boy will always be the hellion in the tree with skinned knees and filled with wonder at the shape of snakes and grasshoppers. You can never grow up, my son, because that memory is as alive as you are.”
Luke patted his mouth with the napkin and dropped it onto the half-eaten steak. “Very pretty. I assume that the child you refer to was in all the photos Mom sent you? You show up now, and after all this time, what is it you want? The stick. And you have the balls to use paternal love to get it?”
“Not at all!” William shook his head, effectively closing the subject as he attended to his own dinner, taking a large bite of seafood and closing his eyes to relish the flavors. It disgusted Luke, listening to his father make those little sounds of contentment as he ate. He washed it down with a hearty gulp of wine and sighed. Luke began to seethe, sensing that the conversation was over. Unresolved, but concluded, like so many conversations with his father.
“Tell me what you want with the stick, Father.” So, maybe the last word was sneered a little bit. Luke hated that he was having to prod his father back into the conversation, trying to force his hand the way William had been trying to force his. It put Luke on the same level as his father, and that was unacceptable.
“What do I want with it? Why, the same thing you do, of course.”
“You want to give it to the authorities?” Edwin piped up, giving Luke a look that clearly said he wasn’t entirely in agreement with this plan put forth by his future son-in-law.
“In a way...” William said, repeating the ritual with the next bite of food. “This is incredible. I’m sorry your appetite seems to have fled you, son, but this is wonderful. You really ought to try it.” He held out his fork to Luke, who looked at the offered shrimp in disgust and crossed his arms, making no move to take it.
“In what way?” Edwin pressed.
William shrugged and ate the shrimp himself, following with another lingering drink. “Tell me,” he said, setting down his glass and regarding Edwin with sudden interest. “You said ‘to the authorities’.” He waited for Edwin to nod. “What’s his name?”
Edwin looked to the other diners, but each one returned his blank stare. Luke took a deep breath. This was the way his father had always been: all flash and distraction, and then asking probing questions to make you look the fool.
“I don’t understand,” Edwin confessed after a minute, shooting Dani a glance that didn’t bode well for either of them later. Edwin hated being made to look a fool. Luke remembered that being very clearly stated in his research before taking this particular case.
“Say you had it, right now. Who would you give it to? Who would be the beneficiary of your magnificence? The president? A difficult man to see, on or off the golf course. As I understand, the information contains evidence of misconduct in several countries. Do you petition to see the queen? What about one of her ministers? A senator? One who’s complicit? Or one who needs a political edge over a rival who might be on there? To whom do you give it?”
Edwin looked down at his plate in confusion.
“How about the FBI?” Dani spoke up for the first time.
“Excellent!” William cried. “My boy, you really have made a great choice. There is nothing like loyalty and honor. A spouse who will always choose the side you’re on, even if she doesn’t particularly believe it. Truly, that is the only sort of companion that matters!” He reached over and grasped Elaina’s hand for a moment before letting go.
Edwin bristled. Elaina snorted, and drank long and deep from her own wine glass.
Dani looked at Luke in confusion.
“Ray,” Luke said after a minute, as it was the only answer left to offer, even though there wasn’t a person at the table who would trust him enough to give it to him. In truth, Luke had been worrying at this problem on the entire drive in, and had rather been hoping something better would come to him when the time came.
“Ray,” William agreed, nodding his head, his expression serious. “Ironically, he had the option of taking it, didn’t he? He could have destroyed the thing then and there, but he was so fixated on the guest list, the possibility of bringing in the largest haul of gangsters and killers and bad drivers the state had ever seen. It would have covered his tracks, but that damn stick could put him securely under a federal penitentiary for years. Locked up with the population he put there.”
But that wasn’t the case at all. Meaning William didn’t know everything. Luke filed that tidbit away for future reference.
“How do you know all this?” Dani turned to him, her meal forgotten.
“Because,” Marcus said flatly, “he is ‘the authorities’.”
“I don’t believe we’ve met.” William smiled and raised his glass. A man appeared from the shadows and refilled it, but William never broke his gaze from Marcus.
“One of us would have remembered,” Marcus said, his tone agreeable. His eyes cold and dead.
“To be sure.” William sat back and regarded his son. “It would be best if I were to obtain the stick.” He smiled at his guests, the beneficent dictator allowing the masses to draw near. “Should the stick miraculously survive the ‘proper channels’, and somehow it managed to be transferred up the line from supervisor to manager, from one department to another without becoming lost or destroyed, it would eventually and inevitably arrive to its final destination.” William took a delicate sip of the wine. “My desk.”
“Who are you?” Edwin exploded, leaping to his feet, and reaching for...something that Marcus stopped him from reaching. Dani’s eyes were wide, and she eased her chair back just enough to move quickly to her feet should she need to. Combat-ready, even here.
Luke had never been prouder.
Or more frightened that something would go terribly wrong and he would lose her. Just how many more people did William have in the shadows? People who wouldn’t be content to just stand back and refill wineglasses?
Edwin seemed to come to that conclusion as well, sinking back into his chair with the look of a man who wasn’t going to be forgetting any of this.