The 38 Million Dollar Smile - Stevenson Richard (е книги TXT) 📗
240 Richard Stevenson
now retailing the absurd story that Bill, or Bill and I, paid
Duane and Matthew to shove Sheila off the cruise ship? Is this
part of his grand plan to discredit Bill and take control of the company and come back to Albany and make us pay for
something that is a pure figment of his and other people’s
imaginations?”
“I don’t know if that’s what Gary has in mind. I think,
however, that I had better ask him. Timmy and I have been
batting around a somewhat different version of what you have
just outlined.”
“I think you’re lying, Strachey. I think you know exactly
what Gary has in mind. Bill found out that the people in the
Caymans trying to take over the company and drive us all into
the poorhouse are fronting for a Thai group. Did Gary really
believe that we wouldn’t realize that he was behind this cruel
and misbegotten betrayal of the memory of Max and Bertha
Griswold? Or was he planning to tell us when it was all a fait
accompli and then gloat over his ghastly trick and laugh at our
pain?”
“The latter, I think.”
“Also, Bob Chicarelli has been asking around Albany about
Duane and Matthew. I demand to know why.”
“Oh, has he? And what has he learned about them?”
“I am not in touch with them and I am not in touch with
Bob. I heard about his obnoxious snooping through a reliable
third party. But there is something you should know about
Duane and Matthew. It will explain a lot.”
“Okay. I’m listening.”
“To bury those vile stories once and for all about Bill hiring
Duane and Matthew to throw Sheila off her boat, I am going to
fly over to Bangkok and show you something that will put
everything into perspective and erase any doubt about who
Sheila really was and about what became of her.”
“You’ll love Thailand, Ellen. It’s exciting. But how about a
sneak preview of your revelations? Events here are moving at
too fast a clip for any leisurely explication on your part.”
THE 38 MILLION DOLLAR SMILE 241
“I’ll be there in under twenty-four hours. I’m at JFK now,
and my Thai Airways nonstop boards in half an hour. And Bill
is coming with me. He is going to try to talk some sense into
Gary if it isn’t too late. And to you.” She gave me her flight
information, and I told her that someone would meet her plane.
One of Pugh’s people would be at the airport holding up a sign
that read ALBANY GROUP.
Timmy was awake now, and I repeated to him what Ellen
Griswold had just told me.
Timmy said, “She’s going to be awfully disappointed if she
gets over here and her ex-husband tells her that he hired Hubbard and Mertz to kill Bill’s ex-wife. And that now he’s
atoning for it by handing the family company over to a
Buddhist study and retreat center.”
“If that’s what actually happened. But I don’t think it did.”
“I don’t either.”
“It’s time for Griswold to fess up. I’m going to ask him to
tell me the truth about Hubbard and Mertz. And if he refuses,
I’ll threaten to gum up the whole Buddhism center deal. Tell the seer that Trump Tower is made out of Cheez Whiz or
something.”
I got out of bed and into my pants. “You’re going to ask
Griswold now?” Timmy said. “He’s on painkillers. How
coherent is he going to be?”
“Not too coherent, but just enough, I hope.”
§ § § § §
One of the Dream Boys was on sentry duty on a chair
outside Griswold’s room squinting at a Thai soap opera on a
TV set the size of a brick. I saw light under Griswold’s door,
and when I knocked lightly he murmured something and I
opened the door. He was not only wide-awake but was seated in
front of the computer in his underwear. He turned and actually
smiled at me.
“The deal is done,” he said. “On Friday, the eighteenth, our
group will own the controlling shares of Algonquin Steel. This
242 Richard Stevenson
will coincide with a change of administration in Thailand that
will rid us of the pesky General Yodying. We can proceed with
the Sayadaw U center without having to worry about people like
the general whose only motives are greed and self-
aggrandizement. Having transferred most of my wealth into the
project, I’ll be close to penniless except for my condo and some cash reserves. But I will have helped establish an institution of great spiritual significance, and I will have helped atone for a great moral crime.”
I sat down on the edge of Griswold’s bed and said, “Was the
great moral crime the murder of your former sister-in-law,
Sheila Griswold?”
He flinched just once, then seemed to relax. “Yes. My
brother and your former client — and my ex-wife — Ellen had
Sheila killed. I’m going to confront them with the evidence of
the atrocity they committed, and then I’m going to tell them
that I have set the moral balance right and from now on it is
only their consciences they need fear. And of course, the abject misery of their future lives.”
Griswold actually looked peaceful. He had nine candles
burning on his desk and a jasmine garland draped over the PC
he was using.
I said, “So you didn’t pay Duane Hubbard and Matthew
Mertz to throw Sheila off the ship?”
He gave me a look. “Me? Don’t be absurd. Why would I do
that? God, Strachey, what kind of man do you think I am?”
“Then why did you pay Hubbard two million dollars six
months ago?”
He registered mild surprise but was so into his reverie of
moral satisfaction that he didn’t seem unduly fazed by my
knowledge of the two goons.
He said, “They blackmailed me. They came over to Thailand
to tell me they had proof that Bill and Ellen had hired them to
kill Sheila, and unless I paid them two million dollars, they
would send an incriminating recording that they had to the
THE 38 MILLION DOLLAR SMILE 243
police. They would then disappear, but Bill and Ellen would be
prosecuted.”
“Why were they blackmailing you? Why not blackmail Bill
and Ellen? They could have saved a bundle on airfare.”
“Because they had found out that I had cashed out my
shares in the company and had access to large amounts of ready
funds, and Bill and Ellen were merely stock rich. Duane and
Matthew had some scheme they wanted to invest in — a chain
of fitness-slash-fast-food centers called Bitchin’ Burritos. The idea was, you’d spend half an hour on a treadmill sweating and
then get a cheese and bean burrito as a reward, and with no net
gain in calories for the visit. Have any of these places opened in Albany that you know of?”
“Not yet.”
“I decided to pay those two criminals off for two reasons.
One was, I really don’t want Bill and Ellen to go to prison.
There’s no love lost between my brother and me, but I still have a soft spot in my heart for Ellen. She never gave me a really
hard time when I came out, and she still really cares for me, I
think.”
“That’s my impression.”
“Also, there is a higher justice, and it is that higher justice I wanted badly for them to become acquainted with. It would
mean that in their next lives they might choose to devote
themselves to activities that could lead eventually to moral and spiritual redemption.”
“How,” I asked, “did Hubbard and Mertz find out that you
had cashed out your shares in Algonquin Steel? Presumably
they were not privy to company goings-on.”
Griswold looked at me wearily and said, “I’ll bet you can
guess.”
“Bill and Ellen told them?”
