Temptations - The Complete Series Page 5

  I hung back and just let him talk. This was more important than me interjecting or asking questions.

  “Yeah, so he was very paranoid, but brilliant.” And then he started to look sad again.

  It was then that I felt it. The despair that was roiling beneath his sunny exterior. It pierced my heart to feel that from him. It flooded me all at once, and I felt tears streaming down my cheeks. It was a powerful sensation, one that almost shook me to my core. I put one hand on one of his own, and the feelings became all the more potent.

  “Uh,” he said, and then shook his head. I can’t unsee what I saw. I heard those words from him as plain as day. You don’t know how it affects you to see somebody that you care about bloody and broken on the floor.

  He put his thumb and forefinger on his face and pinched the top of his nose, as if he was trying to hold back tears. “I’m so sorry,” he said, and I felt his grief. It was just as if I was the one who was grieving.

  Then, just like that, I didn’t feel anything anymore. It was as if he had flipped a switch and his wall was back up again. He leaned back in his chair and finished what he was trying to say. “Anyhow, I found him the night that I was arrested. His skull was crushed on one side, and he had been beaten up pretty badly. He was in the lab, which had been ransacked. I immediately called the police, and I was brought in for questioning that night. I called my lawyer who was there with me, of course. I thought everything was fine during the interrogation, and then they announced that they had probable cause to arrest me.”

  I had looked over the file, of course, before I came up to see him. I personally thought that the probable cause was flimsy at best. Apparently, he had motive to murder his business partner on the theory that Slade wanted total control of the company. There was evidence that was presented that Slade was working behind the scenes to oust Jordan from the firm, and that was enough for the police to arrest him.

  I took a deep breath. “You were trying to get Jordan out of the company. Tell me about that.”

  His green eyes looked pained. “Serena, I just told you that Jordan was having some kind of a psychotic breakdown. I just told you that I was worried that he was going to be a danger to the company because he might have been in the lab inventing something that wouldn’t have been safe. And a man in that state is a loose cannon, anyhow. I never knew what he would be doing next.”

  I closed my eyes and tried to feel what he was feeling when he said those words to me, but I couldn’t. It was a blank space. I had no idea why, except that he had his defenses up. Why did he have his defenses up? That concerned me, to say the very least.

  Slade continued his story. “So, I found him in that state, and I was arrested for his murder. I loved him like a brother, Serena. I wouldn’t have done something like this to him.”

  Once again, I felt grief pouring out of him. But that didn’t convince me that he didn’t do it. After all, you can grieve for somebody that you killed. I wasn’t naïve enough to think that wasn’t possible. And the way that poor Jordan was killed was such that it was a crime of passion, in that the person who did that probably didn’t go into that lab intending to kill him. Maybe it was all self-defense – Jordan was in a psychotic state, and Slade went in there, armed with a baseball bat in case Jordan tried to attack him. Then Jordan did attack him, and he had to fight back. That would mean that Slade would be grieving for his friend, because Slade would have felt that he had no choice but to do what he did.

  Maybe. But Slade wasn’t singing that tune. He wasn’t saying that it was self-defense, which would have been somewhat of a justification. Maybe not entirely a justification, simply because you cannot use more force than what is necessary to protect yourself, and Jordan was badly beat up. One whack of the baseball bat to send him into the hospital would be all that it would take.

  Then I ruminated on Slade’s words. That Jordan was a danger and that he might have been developing a drug that would be hazardous. Maybe Jordan was developing some kind of drug that would have given him superhuman strength? And perhaps he had taken that drug at the time when Slade went to confront him? In that case, it would have been difficult to fight him off, and maybe Slade was justified in beating him as badly as he did?

  I decided to try to go into that line of questioning. “Okay, Slade, so you found him in that state. Do you happen to know anything about some of the drugs he was developing? Was there perhaps a drug that would increase testosterone to the point where, perhaps, he had increased strength?”

  He shook his head. “No. I mean, I don’t know. He was developing a drug that he was excited about, but I don’t think that this drug has anything to do with increasing testosterone.” Then he thought more about what he was saying. “Why do you ask that question? You think that I did this in self-defense? That maybe I went in there, and Jordan was as strong as a bear, and I had to beat him like that?”

  I had to hand it to him, he was lightning-quick. “I’m just trying to cover all the angles.”

  Slade shook his head, and his hand was shaking as he put his glass of orange juice to his lips. “I told you that I had nothing to do with it, and that’s that.” Then he shook his head. “You’re my lawyer. There’s nobody else here at the moment. Therefore, anything I tell you will be in confidence. If I did it, even in self-defense, I would tell you. I know how the game works. If a client lies, that client doesn’t get a good defense.”

  “You also know that if I know for sure that you’re guilty, because you told me so, I couldn’t put you on the stand. If I did, I would be suborning perjury.”

  “I know that.” He narrowed his beautiful green eyes. “Why are you here? You obviously don’t want to know the truth if you’re telling me that if I did it, I should lie to you. I’m not lying to you at all, of course, but it seems that’s not good enough for you. You want me to tell you that I did it because why? That would make your job that much easier? Listen, Serena, I don’t know what your game is. But I’m not lying, and, besides, a self-defense justification would be impossible to win in this case. So, even if you get me to confess to something, it would not make the road any easier.”

  Flashes of intense anger emanated from him and flooded through me, and I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to lash out at him, but it was difficult to do. His anger was permeating my pores, and I took a deep breath. I tried to find my center, and, after a few minutes, I did.

  So, grief and anger were the two emotions that I was getting from him. So far, no sense of guilt, no sense of remorse. But was he angry because he didn’t do it, and felt that I was attacking him? Or was he angry because he did do it, and I was getting too close?

  He shook his head. “This interview is over. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to do a staff meeting so that we can all get ready for the party this evening.” At that, he threw his napkin on the table and went into the French doors that led into the rest of the house. I was left at the table, alone, staring at the empty drinking glasses. So far, this wasn’t going well at all. I couldn’t get a proper read on this guy, and what I was feeling was very difficult to interpret.

  One thing was for sure – this guy was closed-off. Aside from the flashes of grief I was feeling from him and the anger there at the end, I couldn’t get anything off of him. It was almost as if he was so guarded that, the second he starts to feel something negative, he brings up a wall so that he doesn’t have to access those uncomfortable feelings. Not that he was any different than most of us, because it was human nature to try to cover up and hide from what we really feel. But Slade’s tendency to do that was going to make my job that much more complicated.

  I went into the house and I found Marina in the kitchen making a pie crust. The kitchen was enormous, the size of a commercial kitchen, with several stoves and ovens, a multitude of pots and pans hanging overhead and as much counter-space as any industrial kitchen. However, the counters weren’t metal, like with most commercial kitchens, but were marble. Like everywhere else in this home, the kitchen loo
ked like it was designed by a top-notch interior designer. It was elegant, with a mosaic Italian stone floor and metal appliances that fit in with the décor.

  “Mr. Bridgewell is around here somewhere,” I said to Marina. “Could you please tell him that I’m going out for the afternoon?”

  “Yes,” she said in a thick, Russian accent. “I will. Will you be back for the party?”

  I shook my head, but then thought better of it. Get a read on this guy, find out what makes him tick. I remembered, anew, why I was selected for this job, and observing Slade at a party had to be part of the job description. If he was going to be flitting around his guests like a social butterfly, without a care in the world, that would concern me, to say the very least. I did somewhat understand his reasoning for continuing to hold the party. Life had to go on, and canceling a party where there were a lot of guests – apparently that would be the case with this party – wouldn’t necessarily be fair to everyone involved. But hopefully he wasn’t going to act like nothing was wrong.

  I went to the dog carrier and got the two dogs out of their cages. They were fast asleep when I got there, and when I woke them up, they looked at me with bleary eyes. They both stretched and yawned, with Gigi making a little noise when she yawned. And then, just like that, they sprung to life, their little bodies wriggling excitedly around my feet. I picked up Bella, and she gave me kisses all over my face. I reveled in her puppy breath and smell, and immediately relaxed. That was what I needed after my stressful interrogation of Slade.

  Then I put the carrier in the back of my car and put the two dogs into it.

  As I approached the gate of the house, the reporters, hundreds of them, swarmed my car. They beat on the window, asking me to roll it down and give a comment. I just looked at them and drove right through the phalanx.

  And I headed back to San Diego.

  Chapter 6

  I had no idea why I was heading back to San Diego, except that I needed the drive to clear my head. I was more than confused by Slade. He obviously had many sides to him. He was charming, an animal lover, had discerning taste in décor and was an amazing classical pianist. He seemed to be very kind-hearted. Yet, beneath the surface, there was something there that roiled. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but it was white-hot. He was a passionate guy, of course. You don’t get to where he is without having drive and passion. You don’t get your PhD from Stanford in molecular biology at the age of 23, and develop a revolutionary drug shortly thereafter, without passion.

  I knew that I shouldn’t try to investigate his background until I was done questioning him. I didn’t want impassive news articles to color my perception of him. These news articles would probably be glowing, because he had accomplished so very much. I just needed to go with my intuition and try not to let the media color how I saw him, either good or bad. The media filter was not wanted in my world.

  I therefore didn’t bother to do research on him. I had to clear my head some other way, so, when I got back into town, the first thing I did was go to La Jolla cove to watch the sea lions. I got the dogs out of their carrier, put on their harnesses and leashes and looked around, hoping that some busy-body wouldn’t stop and inform me that the dogs weren’t allowed on the beach until after 6 PM.

  I called Michael on a whim. I hoped that he would be home, because it was his day off. Of course, he probably was surfing.

  He answered the phone. “Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”

  “I really need to talk to you. Can you come to the cove?”

  “You got me at just the right time. I just got done surfing, and I was scrounging around the house for a bite to eat. You treat me to lunch, and I’ll be there.”

  “Thanks. I’ll be where the sea lions are. Not the seals, but the sea lions.”

  “See you in a few.”

  I got out of the car and jumped over the wall, carrying the puppies in my arms. The sea lions usually hung out in a certain area of the cove, as they sunned themselves and slept on the rocks. Sometimes they slept on their sides, like a human. Other times they would have a perfectly erect posture, their noses up in the air. I used to think that this pose meant that the animal was on the defensive, but I soon found out that the pose was just how they slept.

  It always amazed me how many people got seals and sea lions mixed up. Most people thought that sea lions were seals. Hence the term “trained seal,” because they envisioned the animal on a platform with a ball balancing on its nose, and called that animal a “seal.” But seals and sea lions were very different. Seals were fat and had tiny little flippers and were small, relative to the sea lion. Sea lions were huge and brown and had big flippers that they could use to actually walk like a dog. Well, waddle would be the better word, but, at any rate, the flippers were large enough that they could walk on them. In fact, I had seen them do just that in different sea lion shows. I had never in my life seen a seal in a show – only sea lions. And sea lions were the animal that fascinated me, not the seals, who were just a bit down the beach, where they rested by the hundreds.

  I gingerly went up close to one of the sea lions, who didn’t seem to mind my presence, nor the presence of the dogs. There were groups of other people around, too, just as fascinated by these creatures as I was. They were taking pictures and laughing, and the sea lions just hung out. They almost seemed like they enjoyed the attention. I closed my eyes, trying to feel if the animals actually were in distress, but I didn’t feel anything, so I got just a bit closer. One of the large sea lions yawned loudly, and everyone laughed. Then another sea lion tried to get on the rock, and the yawning sea lion started barking so loud the people in the restaurants, which were a good thousand feet away from the cove, could probably hear him. The sea lion got aggressive with the newcomer, who growled. The first sea lion nudged closer to the interloper, and bumped him back into the water.

  Everyone laughed at the antics. The defeated newcomer was soon back in the water, swimming towards another rock where, presumably, he would get a warmer reception. I soon saw him approach a rock that had a large group of sea lions huddled together, and, indeed, he got on that rock without incident.

  I sat down on a rock, watching the water. It lapped, wave after wave, on the big boulders. I always craved being near the ocean. It made me feel so very small and insignificant, which I really was, if you think about it. In the course of history, man was very small potatoes. There was no denying that. Our little problems were not only microscopic, but fleeting. A hundred years from now, nobody would even remember who I was, of course. They might remember Slade, but hopefully they would because his drugs would still be in circulation, not because he murdered somebody. He didn’t murder that guy.

  Did he?

  I hated that I had no idea. Slade was way too closed off for me to get a decent read on him. That was why I was there at the beach. Clearing my head was necessary here. It was like a palate cleanser at a fancy restaurant. You had to get the taste of the previous meal out of your mouth before going onto the next course. I was going to approach Slade that evening, and observe him at the party, but I had to do it with a cleared head and no preconceptions.

  I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of the seagulls, who were crying loudly. The distant sounds of sea lions barking on far away rocks also permeated, as well as the excited talking and laughter of the people all around me.

  Finally, I heard Michael. I looked up, and he was standing there. “Hey girl,” he said to me.

  “Hey,” I said. “Glad you could make it.”

  “Of course. I had to, because you don’t usually call me like that to meet with you in the middle of the day. I figured you needed to talk to me about something important.”

  He offered me his hand, and I took it, standing up and dusting myself off. “Let’s go to Piatti’s. We can sit on the patio, have a glass of wine and talk.”

  “Cool,” he said. "You drive and bring me back here? I got my surfboard, and I’m going to surf after we get done with l
unch.” He looked at the two dogs. “And who are these two?” he asked with a smile as he pet both of their heads.

  “Bella and Gigi. They’re my new puppies.” I felt a bit embarrassed, as I didn’t ask the two guys if I could get dogs. I figured that, since I wasn’t going to be staying long with them, they really wouldn’t mind.

  Michael shrugged. “I’d say something, but I know that you’re going to be gone pretty soon, so it’s all good.”

  “I thought you would say that.”

  “Let’s get going,” I said. I loved Piatti’s, because their cauliflower cakes were divine, and the waiters there knew me. They knew not to bring me anything that had animal products in it, and the aoili that was served with the cakes was made with oil, especially for me. I always tipped extremely well, too, so they didn’t mind giving me a bit of extra service. Also, their outdoor patio was elegant and beautiful, with white table cloths, wrought iron chairs, umbrellas, lots of shade and a large central area that was filled with plants and flowers. I couldn’t believe that such an elegant place was dog-friendly, but indeed it was.

  We got to the restaurant, and I got the dogs out and let them potty on the grass. I picked up their mess and put it into the trash can nearby, and then we headed to the patio, where a waitress was soon there. Bella and Gigi settled in beneath my feet, and both of them conked out and, almost immediately, started to snore.

  “Puppies sure do sleep a lot,” I said.

  “Dogs do in general. I’ve noticed that – dogs kind of sleep all day and all night. Guess it’s pretty boring to be a dog.”

  “Yeah.”

  “So, what’s on your mind?”

  I took a sip of water. “I have a case. Now, I’d like to bounce some things off of you, but you can’t say anything to anyone.” I felt that I could trust Michael, even though I really didn’t know him all that well.