Full Black - Brad Thor [94]
At five minutes after twelve, having seen no further activity, Ralston decided he needed to make a decision. Actually, he needed to make a move. The decision had already been made. He hadn’t come all this way just to turn around and leave. He had no idea who the second man in the house was, but he assumed he would soon find out. With no police surveillance that he could detect, he had no choice but to make his way inside.
He looped around the back of the house. Skirting the swimming pool, he found the patio doors unlocked. Martin Sevan and the man in the dark suit were sitting in Sevan’s home office waiting for him.
“Hello, Marty,” Ralston said as he stepped into the room.
Sevan was in his late fifties. He was short, but powerfully built. His black hair was slicked back and he had the same penetrating green eyes as his daughters. He had removed his suit coat and his shirtsleeves were rolled halfway up his thick forearms. It was the first time the two men had seen each other since the trial. “Hello, Luke,” Sevan responded. “How’ve you been?”
“I’ve been better,” he replied, knowing that lawyers never asked a question they didn’t know the answer to.
Sevan didn’t bother responding. Instead, he introduced the man in the dark suit. “Luke, I’d like you to meet Aleksey Lavrov. Aleksey, this is Luke.”
Ralston shook the man’s hand and Sevan invited them to sit. “Anybody need a drink?” he asked as he poured himself one.
“Yes, please,” said Lavrov. His English was heavily accented. The collar of his shirt was too tight and fleshy rolls of fat spilled over the top. Despite having put on a suit, presumably for the meeting, he hadn’t managed to get the knot of his tie all the way up and his top button showed by about a half-inch. He was sweating and his narrow eyes purposefully avoided Ralston’s gaze.
“Luke?” Sevan asked. “Something for you?”
“No thanks, Marty.”
Sevan poured a drink for himself and one for Lavrov and then took a seat behind his large desk while the other two men sat in upholstered chairs on the other side facing him. “So?” he said, drawing the word out.
Ralston remained quiet. This was Marty’s show and he was going to run it any way he saw fit. Ralston just hoped that having Lavrov present meant that he had the information he needed.
“I made a couple of phone calls on your behalf, Luke,” Sevan stated. “The LAPD are very interested in speaking with you.”
“We’ll get around to talking sooner or later.”
“I’m sure you will. What about Mr. Salomon?”
“What about him?” asked Ralston.
“Is he okay? Unharmed?”
“He’s a little shaken up, as you might imagine, but he’s doing okay, all things considered. Why?”
Sevan pursed his lower lip as he shook his head. “Just making sure, that’s all.”
“I told Alisa he was okay.”
“She told me you did.”
“So why are you asking?”
“Because, Luke, I’m a litigator. A big part of what I do is reading people. I wanted to hear you say it. Or more important, see you say it.”
Ralston didn’t like being put under the microscope, but it was he who had come asking for the favor, so he bit his tongue. “Larry Salomon is alive and well.”
“You know one of the theories that the LAPD detectives are pursuing is that you kidnapped Salomon,” stated Sevan.
“Well, that’s a pretty stupid theory.”
“Is it?”
“For crying out loud, Marty. If I was going to kidnap Larry Salomon, I would have been a lot more creative and wouldn’t have left calling cards with my name on them all over his house and property,” replied Ralston.
“Reasonable or not, it’s one of their theories. They definitely have you pegged as the person who did all of the killing.”
“All the killing? Two of Larry Salomon’s associates were already dead when I entered the house. If I hadn’t done what I had, Larry would have been killed as well.”
Sevan put up his hands and with a wry smile said, “Don