Elements of Chance

“You mean has Victor walked out of the jungle?” said Kyle. “No, that hasn’t happened.”

“He’d better walk out of the jungle.” Mary walked over to the tea caddy and poured herself a stiff scotch and water.

“I’ll second that,” Kyle said. “I’m too old and too spoiled to go to work.”

“Perish the thought.”

“Perish is the right word.”

“Well, it’s not over until it’s over,” Mary said. “Valerie thinks he’s been kidnapped.”

“How is she?”

“Shaken, but Elliott is giving her a shot. She called the children and told them everything is going to be fine.”

“If that’s what Elliott’s shots do for you,” Kyle said, “maybe I should get one, too.”

John hung up the phone. “That was Raymond,” he said. “He’s on his way to Acapulco.”

“Better there than here,” Kyle breathed.

“What does he think?” Mary asked.

“Well, he’s taking Victor’s dental records.” John shrugged. “I’m going to stay here, at least for tonight.”

“Maybe I’d better stay too,” Mary said. “Valerie may need me. Isn’t it funny? I can’t think of one friend Valerie has to call.”

“Just us, the loyal employees,” Kyle said. “Kind of sad.”

“I’m going to send Daniel over to my place to pick up my shaving things,” John said.

“Maybe he could stop and get some things for me, too,” Mary said, reaching for her handbag to make a list.

“And a copy of the classifieds,” Kyle added. “Or maybe I should just get on the phone to a publisher with the real story of Victor Penn.”

“And what would that be?” John asked.

“Aren’t you supposed to read me my rights or something?” Kyle asked. “It’s a joke, John. Lighten up.”

Elliott popped his head in the door to say that Valerie was asleep and he would stop by again in the morning.

“What I can’t figure out is how that plane got to Mexico,” Mary said after he was gone.

“Simple,” Kyle said. “Victor knew the feds and the bank examiners and the IRS were moving in, so he picked up a billion dollars or so, threw it on the plane, and split.”

“Without Valerie?” asked Mary.

“Well, as Valerie is here, obviously without Valerie,” Kyle said. “He was on his way to Brazil—no extradition, you know—and voilà, the plane crashed. What they’re going to find when they get to that plane is a whole lot of money.”

“Going through Acapulco from New York to get to Brazil seems a little out of the way,” John said.

“Not a direct route,” Kyle agreed. “That’s to throw everybody off.”

“Maybe Valerie is right and Victor was kidnapped,” Mary said thoughtfully.

“Okay,” said Kyle. “With that scenario, the bad guys were waiting for Victor on the plane. Why not? So, what they’re going to find is Victor, the crew, the bodyguard, and some mucho dead hijackers. But let’s turn to our legal expert, Mr. John O’Farrell, to hear what he has to say.”

“I don’t know,” said John, leaning back on the sofa. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“What I want to know is what you meant when you said we had no idea how much worse things were going to get,” Mary said.

“It is true, then, that the feds and everybody are sniffing around?” Kyle prompted.

“Well, there’s been some talk,” John said cautiously.

“Which would be reason enough for Victor to take the money and run,” said Kyle.

“I just don’t think he would leave Valerie,” insisted Mary.

“Maybe he was going to send for her later,” Kyle suggested.

“Maybe we should just stop all this,” John interjected. “We’re all in shock and it isn’t getting us anywhere.”

He smiled ruefully at Mary and Kyle. Everybody here was owned to some degree, he thought. And every one of them was being paid the highest price. Funny, he thought, how one changed. Managing Victor Penn’s estate certainly wasn’t the future he had seen for himself when he was editor of the Law Review at Harvard. His dream then had been to sit on the United States Supreme Court. But after he had graduated with honors, he had been courted by some of the country’s leading law firms. The Supreme Court could wait a few years, he’d decided. First, get some bucks in the bank.

He accepted an offer from the firm that handled the affairs of Penn International in New York. He was already a partner when he met Victor, who liked him at once. When Victor decided to make the Beverly Hills estate his main residence, John was reassigned to the firm’s Los Angeles office to handle Victor’s affairs. As he became more involved with them, John found that his principles were being compromised in direct proportion to his raises, bonuses, and other perks, which came often and in gratifyingly large amounts.

Thinking about his early idealism, which he described to himself as his early pomposity, made him smile these days. What counted, he often told himself in the mirror as he shaved in the bathroom of his half-million-dollar condominium in Beverly Hills, was the bucks. Oh, he was in good shape, with investments, a stock portfolio, and the condominium at Aspen. But it still wasn’t big, big money. Kyle and Mary and pretty Valerie weren’t the only ones who were praying that Victor was alive.

4 (#ulink_5dafa6e7-31ba-5d6b-a66a-3a325d3d5b8f)

Valerie awoke slowly at three o’clock that morning. Fighting her way out of her drugged sleep, she instinctively reached out for Victor. The bed beside her was empty, the Porthault sheet soft and smooth to her touch, its scent only her own perfume. She lay there for a moment and looked around the huge, silent room faintly illuminated by the moonlight filtering through the curtains. Unconsciously, she ran her hands over her small, firm breasts, her flat stomach, before the horror of the day before flashed through her mind.

Oh, God, Valerie thought. My darling. My love. I’m barely alive when I’m not with you. Those had been Victor’s words to her on the phone from New York only the morning before. Dear God … I have to be strong. Victor would want me to be strong, Valerie thought, pulling herself out of bed. In the bathroom, she took a hot shower, wondering how her body could feel so bruised. Then, dressed in a caftan, she walked slowly down the winding staircase and into the music room. Two hours later, as the first rays of sun crept into the room, Mary found Valerie huddled in the corner of the sofa, an old black-and-white movie flickering on the television set.

“Mary, I didn’t know you were here,” said Valerie.

“I thought I should stay in case you needed some company,” Mary covered a yawn with her hand.

“That’s really very nice of you,” Valerie said shyly.

The words “You’d do it for me” were almost out of Mary’s mouth when she stopped herself. It wasn’t true, of course. She and Valerie weren’t friends, and Valerie wouldn’t do it for her. She was a paid employee. Staying overnight in an emergency was just the same as staying late at the office. Part of the job.

“Is there news?” Mary gestured toward the television set.

“Just what they were showing yesterday,” Valerie said, shaking her head.

“How do you feel?”