“Finally we’re getting somewhere. Let’s go with the rest. Now! All of it!” Gannon yelled, digging the gun into Novak’s temple.
“We just went camping while Ethan did his talk,” Novak said quickly. “Lisa hates these formal events so she and I went camping. We did it last year, too. Please, please put the gun down. It could go off by accident.”
“Yes, it could. You better believe it could,” Gannon said, tapping the barrel above his eye. “So you better keep talking quick before we hit a pothole.”
“What happened next?” Kit said.
“We hiked up to Grand Teton. We got about halfway when the sun started to go down so we set up camp. We had a glass of wine at sunset, and then Lisa went into her tent. I stayed up by the fire. It was such a nice night. And after about an hour or so as the fire died down and I finished the wine, I took, um, this, this pill.”
“A pill?” Kit said.
“It was a hallucinogenic that a friend of mine designed. He told me it was like a mix of mescaline, LSD, and DMT only different.”
Alex began sobbing.
“It was the drug, man. It wasn’t me. Please help me.”
“What happened after you took this pill, asshole?” Gannon said.
“No, no. Help me. I can’t breathe. I need an ambulance,” Novak cried.
“You’re going to need a hearse if you keep stalling,” Gannon said, clicking off the safety.
“I raped her. Okay? I raped her. Honestly, I wasn’t in my right mind. One second I’m tripping out and the next I’m on top of her. It was the drug, I tell you. I didn’t mean it. I really didn’t. Lisa was a friend. It was the drugs. Oh, please. I don’t want to go to jail.”
“You didn’t just rape her,” Gannon said. “We saw her body.”
He shook his head.
“No. I hit her, too,” he sobbed. “I flipped out, man. First with my fist. Then with a rock. A bunch of times. Then I think I bit her. I think. I’m telling you. It was like someone else was doing it. I, like, came out of myself. I became a caveman. It was the drug. I was watching myself do it.”
Kit looked at Gannon wide-eyed while Alex exhaled deeply.
“When I woke up the next day, I saw her and I flipped out. I mean I just ran. I got lost. I almost fell into a ravine. But then I finally made it back to the car and I drove back to the hotel and told Ethan.”
“Wait, what?” Gannon cried. “You told Ethan? Weber knows this? You told him you raped and killed his wife?”
“Well, not exactly,” Novak said. “I mean I lied. I said she fell but I was high and didn’t notice until I woke up.”
“And he just accepted that?” Gannon said. “Why didn’t he turn you in?”
“Because he’s my friend. We worked at Apple together. I helped him to get Sonexum off the ground. I’m his main advisor. And well, also because of tonight, I guess. Tonight’s been in the works for over a year.”
“What’s so special about tonight?” Kit said.
“The Chinese merger. For the last year it’s been all about the Chinese merger. They need me for the AI. I’m the expert on the AI program. Without me there’s no merger. I have to move to China now, Ethan said. I said before I wasn’t interested but things are different now. Because if I don’t, they won’t be able to protect me. Either I move to China or I have to go to jail. That’s the deal.”
“You taping all this?” Gannon said, turning to Kit.
“Every word,” Kit said.
“So Weber didn’t kill his wife after all?” John Barber said from the front seat.
“No, his number one meal ticket here did after he got whacked out on his Silicon Valley goofballs.”
“Weber just killed everyone else for the cover-up,” Kit said. “How’s Dawn Warner involved with the Chinese?”
“Who’s she?” Novak said.
“That lovely woman with Ethan back at the restaurant,” Gannon said.
“I don’t know her,” Novak said with a shrug. “She came with Ethan. I thought she was a lawyer on the merger. He has so many lawyers now. Am I going to jail now?”
“Mike, listen. Heads up,” John Barber said as the throb of the Caddy’s V8 engine suddenly went up several levels in volume.
Gannon turned.
“What is it?” he said.
“We’ve got company,” Barber said tossing a thumb behind them.