Curtis didn’t tell Rachel about his late-night phone call. Nor about who he was going to visit on a dreary Sunday morning. It wasn’t at all unusual for one of them to have to put the hours in over a weekend, and, quite frankly, he sensed she was quite pleased to have most of the day to herself – and he didn’t believe there was any illicit motive to that as thankfully Russ was away on a golfing weekend.
Wayne was waiting for him outside arrivals at the airport. He looked relatively smart for once in brown loafers, chinos and a roll-neck jumper. Not exactly a trendy look, but still. So Wayne wanted to impress Charlton? Perhaps he saw himself below the senator in the social pecking order. Or was he just playing a part in a hope it paid off for the Indonesian project?
‘Morning,’ Curtis said, as Wayne opened the passenger door and stepped in. ‘Were you waiting long?’
‘Only a few minutes.’
Curtis knew Wayne lived in Buckhead, a generally upmarket and trendy neighborhood not far from downtown Atlanta, and had been given no information on where he’d flown in from that morning.
‘Nice wheels,’ Wayne said, feeling the leather dashboard.
‘It does a job.’
‘Gas guzzler, though.’
‘I guess.’
‘You need to make the move. EVs are the future. I’ve had my Tesla nearly two years and can’t think I’ll ever go back to old tech now.’
Curtis said nothing as he pulled away from the terminal.
‘So, where are we meeting him?’ he asked, after a few minutes of banal chat.
‘Elliott’s not been staying at home since the incident. He’s at a friend’s house. Some big donor, I think.’
Well, naturally.
‘The Capitol thing really spooked him,’ Wayne continued. ‘From what I understand the police have advised him and his family to lay low, to not return to their home. They’ve been staying up in Cleveland on the quiet, police protection and everything, but seriously, Curtis, this knowledge is not for public consumption. He’s letting us see him today as a personal favor to me.’
‘And I’m extremely grateful.’
Wayne humphed. Curtis didn’t bother to ask what that meant, and little more was said on the drive before they arrived at the wrought-iron gates of the property, near the small town of Cleveland, some seventy miles north of Atlanta. A ranch-style home was visible some way beyond the gates, on a plot that clearly ran into multiple acres of woodlands and open, flat fields. Nothing else around. A classically Georgian rural location.
Spoiled only by the two marked police cars at the gates.
‘Subtle,’ Curtis said, as he stopped and rolled down his window. A uniformed police officer came up to check their credentials.
Soon they’d driven through and the two of them were on foot, crunching across the gravel to the front door where another officer stood sentry. No further checks were needed before Curtis and Wayne were shown inside, and at the end of the tiled hallway the man himself appeared.
Elliott Charlton – senator.
Like most prominent politicians, his face was instantly recognizable to Curtis, who also had a good sense of the type of person he was looking at. But pictures online, on TV, rarely truly captured everything about a person. Standing in his neat but formal clothes, silvery hair carefully coifed, Charlton had a real presence about him. Taller, broader, than Curtis had expected. He just had… that something. Charisma? Curtis imagined the guy could walk into virtually any room and have everyone’s attention in an instant. Confidence, arrogance, superiority, even without saying a word.
Little wonder he’d made it big in the corporate world, and now had some of the right-wing press hailing his leadership qualities non-stop, some even touting him for a future presidential run.
Curtis took an immediate dislike to him.
Not because of jealousy or bitterness, but because… OK, perhaps at least partly because of those reasons.
They settled down in a wood-paneled library at the back of the house, overlooking a huge, manicured lawn which itself gave way to open farmland.
‘Quite a place,’ Curtis said, looking around the room at the shelves crammed with expensive-looking ornaments and old books.
‘It belongs to a friend,’ Charlton said. ‘We’re only staying here temporarily, because of… You know.’
‘I explained to Curtis your need for privacy,’ Wayne said.
‘As a lawyer, I’m sure I can rely on your discretion,’ Charlton added, holding Curtis’s eye for a moment as if to make sure the thinly veiled command was understood.
‘Shall we get down to business?’ Wayne suggested. ‘It’s Sunday and I’m sure we’ve all got better things to be doing.’
So they did. And it didn’t take long, really, because Charlton didn’t have much to offer after all – at least in terms of direct help for Wayne’s Indonesian project. Which Curtis had kind of presumed, but that wasn’t really why he was there anyway.
‘I’m sorry I can’t provide anything more than that,’ Charlton said. ‘But you have to realize, I’m a senator now. I’m not at the forefront of business deals like this anymore, it would just be too… visible.’
At least not unless there’s a sizable backhander included, Curtis thought, and he absolutely wasn’t going to take that route, even if Wayne might have.
Backhander? Or was donation the more palatable word these days?
‘I can certainly make a few calls to try to help speed up the process though,’ Charlton added.
‘Any help you can give would be more than welcome,’ Wayne said, sounding perfectly amenable despite the lackluster assistance.
Overall, Curtis was surprised by his client’s demeanor. He’d never seen Wayne – usually utterly bullish and confident – as a suck-up before.
‘There is another thing I wanted to talk to you about, though,’ Curtis said. Now or never.
‘There is?’ Wayne said.
Charlton looked at his watch, a clear indication that Curtis needed to be quick.
‘My brother, Finn Delaney.’
For a moment, Charlton looked like he’d taken a punch to the gut, but he recovered remarkably quickly.
‘And he is?’
‘You don’t know that name?’ Curtis asked.
‘Should I?’
‘You never met him before?’
‘I don’t believe so. What does your brother do?’
‘He works for Victor Travers.’ A beat. Charlton didn’t blink. ‘Worked, perhaps. I’m not sure of the current status, but you do know Victor Travers, don’t you?’
Charlton chuckled a little snidely. ‘The Swiss billionaire? Wasn’t he Time’s “Person of the Year” a few years back? Doesn’t everyone know Victor Travers?’
‘But you know him personally?’
The welcoming, relaxed look on Charlton’s face slipped.
‘What exactly is this about?’ he asked.
‘That’s a good question,’ Wayne said, with barely restrained hostility.
‘What’s your relationship with Travers?’ Curtis asked. ‘You’ve done business together, I gather.’
Charlton stared but didn’t say anything for a few moments. ‘We’ve had dealings before, yes. I’ve known Victor for a long time, actually.’
‘Since before you were a senator?’
‘Yes.’
‘I understand he’s been spending most of his time in Mexico the last year or two. But weren’t you helping him with something in Europe? Italy? Or England, was it?’
Charlton’s face had really soured, which made Curtis realize that his deductions were spot on. He’d taken a leap, really. Before coming today he’d painstakingly searched through news articles from the past months to piece together Charlton’s movements as best he could. His official movements, at least. No trips to Mexico, but he had been to a trade conference in Italy, followed by more than one trip to London – which just so happened to be very close in time to the media reports of a large debt restructure of Travers International’s European operations. Charlton’s reaction – at least to Curtis – had more or less confirmed that his trips were in some way linked.
Charlton reached for a smile, but failed to pull it off. ‘Unfortunately, gentlemen, I really do have to get to something else now.’
‘When did you first meet my brother?’ Curtis asked, not ready to back down.
‘I’m sorry, Mr Delaney, but I don’t know who your brother is.’
‘That’s just not true, is it?’ Curtis said. ‘You know Finn. And you know why he was in Washington earlier this week.’
A further stare-off. Wayne fidgeted in his seat.
‘Are we done here?’ Charlton asked.
‘Nearly,’ Curtis answered. ‘The attack at the Capitol. Why do you think you were targeted?’
‘I’ve had enough of this,’ Wayne said, getting up from his seat. ‘I’m sorry, Elliott, I didn’t know he was going to do this.’
Charlton and Curtis remained rooted.
‘Can I ask you something?’ Charlton said to Curtis. ‘Why do you think I was targeted?’
The question caught Curtis off-guard. It really shouldn’t have as he’d dwelled on it himself for hours on end.
‘I think it has something to do with the work you were doing with Travers. And with my brother. And that’s why my brother was there in Washington that day too.’
‘He was?’ Charlton said. He looked so smug now.
Curtis toyed with whether he should come right out and state his belief that Finn was the hero. He really wanted to, to further gauge Charlton’s reactions. But he held back.
If Wayne hadn’t been in the room…
‘I’m sorry, Mr Delaney, I really don’t know where you’re going with this, but perhaps you just need to stop and think. You believe I was working with Victor Travers to help him do… something in Europe? And that work somehow resulted in armed men trying to gun me down in Washington, D.C.? How are those things even linked? It all sounds like the plot of a crazy movie.’
Charlton laughed as he got to his feet.
‘I find that truth is often stranger than fiction,’ Curtis said, standing too. ‘Why are you offering a cash reward for finding this hero?’
‘I think it’s quite obvious, isn’t it?’
‘Is it? Or maybe you want him found for another reason.’
Charlton frowned. ‘And what reason would that be?’
‘Because the hero knows too much.’
‘No, you’ve really lost me now. I’m not sure what’s going on in your life that you feel the need to pursue a wild conspiracy like this, but please, Mr Delaney, realize that for me, what happened in Washington was very, very real. I nearly lost my life. My assistant was shot! A brilliant, talented young woman who’s now too scared to leave her bed. So please, play conspiracist in your online chat forums all you like, but leave me the goddamn hell alone. OK?’
Curtis didn’t respond.
‘Gentlemen, please.’ Charlton indicated the door, and little more was said before Curtis and Wayne had retreated to the car.
‘What. The. Fuck was that all about?’ Wayne said, once they were back on the road.
‘I was just interested, that’s all.’
‘Bullshit. You set me up. That whole thing was to get you some time with Charlton to talk about your brother.’
‘A deal’s a deal,’ Curtis said. ‘Whether or not Charlton is able to help you from here, you’ll still get your project delivered on budget, just like I offered.’
‘And your brother? What the hell does he have to do with anything? I didn’t even know you had a brother.’
‘Why would you?’
Wayne grumbled something under his breath, then, ‘Take this left.’
‘That’s not the way—’
‘Take the damn turn.’
Curtis did. ‘We’re not going back to Buckhead?’
‘No. Take this right.’
Curtis again complied and they came to a wide, walled entrance to Pine Creek Country Club. Curtis hadn’t heard of it, but it looked grand and expensive from the outside.
‘Pull over.’
Curtis brought the car to a stop. ‘You’re a member here?’ he asked.
‘None of your business.’
Wayne got out, held the car door as though ready to slam it shut, then paused.
‘You pull any more shit like that with me…’
Had he intended to finish the threat?
He didn’t.
Moments later he traipsed away toward the clubhouse.