"What's wrong with you?" Dan demanded.
"He's got her, you stupid, arrogant son of a bitch!" Stride shouted. "He's got Serena, and I want to know who he is!"
Dan brushed his hair out of his eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't play games with me. Don't even think about it. Someone put your balls in a vise, and you went and hired Serena to get you out of it."
"She told you that?"
"What, do you want a refund on your bill? It's time to come clean, Dan. I don't care if it means you lose everything. You're going to tell me what's going on."
"I don't have to tell you a thing."
Stride shook his head. "Lauren may have January lake water in her veins, but not you. I don't think it's only been about power and money with you."
"Then I guess I'm shallower than you think."
"Okay, maybe you are," Stride said. "I don't give a shit. What I'm telling you is that the life you know is over one way or another. It's all coming out. You can tell me right now and help me try to save Serena's life, or you can shut up and let the reporters start feeding on you tomorrow. Take your pick."
Dan leaned against the wall, exhaling like the air squealing from a tire. When he retreated down the hallway, Stride followed. A walnut door led into a dark office, where a computer screen glowed on Dan's desk. He took a seat in the reclining chair and rocked back, staring at the ceiling, his legs spread, his arms dangling. There was a photo of him and Lauren on the wall over his head, the two of them smiling and looking prosperous.
"I'm sorry about Serena."
"Sorry doesn't change anything," Stride said.
Dan sat up straight. "You know why I'm so good at putting people in prison? I understand how criminals think. I know what it's like to go after something you want and not give any thought to the consequences. I'm like a teenager getting laid and not using protection."
"You're wasting my time, Dan."
"I just want you to understand, okay? But you don't. You're too disciplined, Stride. Always in control."
"That's the last thing I am."
"Well, you've never let a woman lead you around by the cock, have you? That's my life."
Stride heard movement behind him and saw Lauren waiting in the pale light of the doorway, listening. Their eyes met. He had never seen her blue eyes so intense and bitter cold. She sauntered into the office, her hands in the pockets of stonewashed blue jeans. She wore a navy-blue flannel shirt, untucked, with the top two buttons undone, and suede boots.
"What's going on?" she asked.
Dan glared at her, and Stride saw in his expression what it was like to spend a lifetime of impotence under a rich woman's thumb. "This doesn't concern you."
"No? I heard you mention your cock, Dan. That always concerns me."
"Funny."
"It's not funny at all," Lauren said. "What have you done?"
Dan was silent. Lauren turned to Stride with a question in her eyes.
"He's being blackmailed," Stride said. "He hired Serena to be the go-between. The blackmailer kidnapped her tonight."
"Oh, my God."
"This guy is blowing up all the mines he buried, Dan," Stride told him. "Mitchell Brandt was paying off your blackmailer over an insider trading scheme, and this guy decided to fuck him. You're next. Don't you get it, Dan? Your number's up. This guy is capable of anything. We think he's already added rape and murder to his extortion racket."
"How much did you pay him?" Lauren asked her husband.
Dan didn't answer.
"How much?"
"A hundred and ten thousand dollars."
"You idiot," Lauren snapped.
"What does he have on you?" Stride asked.
Dan hesitated and looked at Lauren.
"Tell him," she said. "Tell both of us."
Dan shrugged. "It was Tanjy."
"Did you rape her?" Stride asked. "Did you kill her? Is that what this is all about?"
"No! We were having an affair."
Stride shook his head. "Why was that worth so much money?"
"You know what Tanjy's fantasies were like. We did things that no one would understand. He had photos of us. It would have been devastating if people found out."
"Did you kill Tanjy to keep her quiet?" Stride asked.
"No, no, that's not what happened at all."
Lauren's face was a mask of granite. "You realize what this means. This is all going to be in the papers." She looked at Stride. "Am I right?"
Stride nodded.
" Washington is gone," she told Dan. "We're ruined."
"It was never supposed to come out," Dan protested.
"Who do you think you are, JFK? Bill Clinton? You think you can get away with anything? I can't believe what you've done to me. It's all over now, Dan. Do you realize that? You just threw our lives away."
"I'm sorry," he said.
"Was it really worth it?" Lauren demanded. "Was she worth it?"
Dan stared at her hard, and Stride wondered if it was the first time in his life that he had told her the truth. "Yeah, she was."
Lauren stalked across the room and slapped him so hard it sounded like a rifle firing. It was an end-of-life slap. End of everything. Lauren and Dan were over the cliff. She turned and marched out of the room, and five seconds later the front door slammed so hard that the old house quivered.
"We need to find this guy," Stride repeated. "I need to know who he is."
"I have no idea."
"Then we're going to sit here and figure out how he tore apart your life, and how he tore apart Mitchell Brandt's life, and how he knew about Sonia and the goddamn sex club. And don't tell me you didn't know about the club."
"I knew about it," Dan admitted. "Look, Stride, I didn't want to tell you this, but there's something else. I don't think it will help us find him, but you should probably know about it."
"Go on."
"This guy's obsessed with Serena," Dan said. "He was obsessed with her from the very beginning."
"What do you mean?" Stride asked. He could barely breathe.
"I mean, it wasn't an accident that I hired Serena to be the go-between. That was part of the deal. Part of the price. He didn't just want money when he first approached me. He wanted Serena."
48
Stride let the silence drag out between them and grow violent. Hostility filled the room like smoke flooding from the air vents. They stared at each other. The computer on Dan's desk whirred as its fan blew. Somewhere outside, the engine of an expensive sedan raced as Lauren fled from the garage and away from the estate.
"I had no idea anything like this would happen," Dan said.
"You should have had alarm bells going off in your head, but you just didn't care. You were trying to save your ass."
Dan shrugged. "All right, maybe I was."
"If something happens to Serena, I will destroy you."
"You'll have to take a number."
"Is that all you have to say?"
"Look, I did not think it would go down like this. You know as well I do that most blackmailers aren't violent. They're cowards at heart. I thought maybe this guy had a crush on Serena, or hell, I thought they might be in it together. She was new in town. I had no idea who the hell she was."
Stride didn't believe him, but it didn't matter. He shoved his anger aside. "Do you have any clue who this guy is?"
"I told you, no."
"Did Serena?"
"If she did, she never told me."