Hide & Seek - James Patterson [85]
“But you told me about Mr. Shepherd.”
“I’m trying to help you. I just can’t help as much as you might like.”
“Dammit, this is a murder investigation. What you know might save Mrs. Bradford’s life!”
J.C. shifted uneasily in his chair. “I realize that. That’s why I’m talking to you. Only don’t make me tell you the names. That, I can’t do.”
Norma glared at him. It didn’t seem to make any difference though. “Then at least show me where. Let me take a peek for myself.”
“Oh, Ms. Breen, if I did that—”
“If you don’t I’ll have you subpoenaed and you can testify about it in open court.” Grrrr, take that!
He winced. “The entrance, then. Only if anybody asks me, I’ll say you found it yourself.”
“It’s a deal.” Norma smiled. “Now show me.”
CHAPTER 103
THE TWO OF them followed a winding path all the way around to the far side of the clubhouse. There was a heavy wooden door there that looked like it would only be used by the maintenance staff. J.C. Frazier had a key.
“This is it, huh?” Norma asked. It was cold and dark on that side of the building. Like the black hearts of the lousy bastards who come here to get their kicks.
Inside, Norma found it was comparable to the rest of the exclusive club. She and J.C. walked back through a deserted billiard room. There seemed to be a gauzy haze hanging in the air.
They entered a surprisingly elegant barroom with mahoghany paneling everywhere. Norma knew that this was the place. The club within a club. The rich boy’s playroom.
“This is where they met, right? It’s where they had their sex parties?”
“Yes ma’am,” J.C. muttered. He seemed serious and withdrawn.
Norma could almost picture “the boys club.” Their expensive clothes, the best whiskeys, their high-and-mighty demeanor, their prostitutes. She wasn’t sure about it, but she sensed that this room might be central to Maggie’s defense. She believed there was even the possibility that one of the club members had killed Will Shepherd.
Had Will finally fucked the wrong wife? Or screwed one of these powerful men in a business deal? Done something else to get himself murdered? Norma thought it was very possible that he had.
“Pour yourself a drink, J.C.,” she said to the grounds-keeper of the Lake Club, “then plop your butt down. We have to talk. We’re going to talk.”
He shook his head. “I can’t do that.”
Norma pointed her hand at the much taller and larger man. “Listen, you, and listen good. Maggie Bradford might yet be convicted of murder, but not because you held the truth back. You talk to me, now, or you’ll lose your job for sure, and you’ll lose a whole lot more than that. That’s a promise I’ll keep.”
J. C. Frazier walked to the bar and he poured himself a shot of Maker’s Mark.
“Good choice,” Norma said. “Make that two shots, one for me. Then you can tell me exactly who was part of this club within a club. I want the names. I want every name that you know.”
J. C. Frazier poured Norma Breen a drink, then they both sat at the wood-paneled bar. Finally, J.C. began to talk. He even cried.
When he was through, Norma couldn’t believe what she had heard. She could not believe it. Jesus, capital H, Christmas!
Everything just changed, Norma thought. My God, the whole world just moved. The enemy blinked. Gotcha, you lousy bastards. Gotcha.
CHAPTER 104
HOW GROWN UP she is, how composed, and close to being a woman, I thought as Jennie walked to the stand to begin her testimony in court. Her face seemed to glow; her long blond hair was shining. Jennie looked so confident and serene. I wished I could say the same for myself.
Nathan led her through her story with extreme care. How Will came to see her on that fatal night. How he was standing at the foot of the bed, “leering” at her, when I came in.
“ ‘Jennie and I were just about to have some fun. Care to join us in bed? Ménage à trois!’ That’s what he told my mother. I don’t know why he said it, but he did,” she told the jury. There was no way they couldn’t believe her.
And as Jennie repeated Will’s words, I