“Gloria.”
“What about her?”
He shrugged, nearly toppling from the effort. “She loves me, you know. I can let her down nice and easy. Tell her how I’m not good enough for her and all that bullshit. Or I can crush her: tell her that I was just using her, that she’s nothing but a useless whore.”
Laura let the rage build inside her but her face remained calm. “If you do that,” she said evenly, “I’ll kill you. I swear it.”
“Threats, Laura? You should know better than that.”
“What do you want, Stan? I thought you said you didn’t need money anymore. And why the hell were you acting so weird at the game?”
“Patience, my lovely flower. You are indeed correct. I do not need your money.”
“Then why don’t you just leave my sister in peace?”
“Nothing would please me more. But life is not that easy. First, you must do something for me.” Stan grabbed her by the shoulders, turning her body so that they faced each other.
“What?” she asked.
He smiled. “I want you to sleep with me. Just once. Do me that one little favor and I won’t harm your sister.”
As Laura felt herself begin to gag, she realized that to an onlooker she and Stan appeared to be just a happy, good-looking couple. They were both smiling, facing each other, standing close with his hands on her shoulders. Appearance versus reality. People were probably smiling sweetly at them, commenting on what a nice couple they made . . . but right now, Laura was looking at Mark Seidman and he did not appear to be smiling. For the first time that evening, Mark Seidman’s cool exterior had cracked. Laura was puzzled. Mark Seidman stood behind Stan, glaring at them, his face twisted into a look of intense hatred.
Why?
“Well,” Stan said, his breath reeking from liquor, “I’m waiting.”
Laura’s eyes swung back to his. “You’re drunk.”
“That fact has already been established,” he replied. “I’m still waiting for an answer.”
“How about this? Go to hell.”
Stan shook his head. “You’re not being smart, Laura. Really you’re not. You should think this through first.”
“Think this through, Stan: you are the most repulsive creature I have ever met. I hate you.”
“Do you know why you hate me?”
“Do you want the list in any particular order?”
He laughed. His feet shuffled underneath him, allowing him to maintain his balance. “Laura, why don’t you stop deceiving yourself? Admit to yourself at least why you hate me.”
“Okay, Stan, I’ll bite. Why do I hate you?”
“It’s because you find me attractive,” he said, spittle flying with his words. “Very attractive. You want me, Laura. You want me very badly. And that makes you feel guilty. It makes you feel like you’re being disloyal to David. So how do you compensate for that? You create this ugly illusion—an illusion you’re able to hate.”
“You’re sick, Stan,” Laura shot back. “When I first saw you with Gloria tonight, I was actually stupid enough to think that maybe you did give a half a damn about her. But I won’t ever forget the truth, Stan. I won’t ever forget you’re a piece of shit.”
His smile did not waver. “Yes, but a piece of shit who is going to have his way with you.”
“Not a chance.”
“Ah, Laura, you’re using emotion again. Didn’t I warn you about that? Pretend this is a business decision. If you sleep with me tonight, I’m gone forever. I will be nothing but a pleasant memory for Gloria. If you don’t, I’ll destroy her. Think about it, Laura. What is Gloria’s life worth to you? Does she matter so little that you wouldn’t sacrifice your widow virginity for her?”
Laura said nothing.
Stan’s smirk of satisfaction raked across her heart painfully. “I see you’re starting to think about this practically. That’s smart, Laura. Just one quick boff and I’m history. You can even close your eyes, if you want. And of course, if your lovely bod decides it can’t just have Stan for one night, that it craves more of what I have, I’ll stay with you for a while. We’ll make it our little secret.”
Laura swallowed away her nausea, not believing what she was about to say. “What guarantee do I have you will actually leave?”
Stan smiled. He had her. “You don’t trust me?”
“Not at all.”
“Well, you’re going to have to, my love,” he explained. “Life is a gamble. You’ll have to make your choice and live with it. But either way, I’m leaving tomorrow. So if you find Gloria in the bathroom with her arteries bursting blood, you know you made the wrong decision.”
Across the room, Laura spotted Gloria. Her sister began to walk toward them.
“I’ll meet you at your place at midnight,” Stan whispered.
Laura watched him stagger toward her sister. Gloria looked so beautiful, so happy, so delicate, eyeing Stan worriedly as he stumbled his way toward her. She is concerned for his welfare, Laura thought, concerned about that no-good son of a bitch. And Laura could do nothing about it. She was powerless against him and right now that meant just one thing.
Laura turned away. David was already dead. She had arrived too late to save him from the clutches of the Pacific or a still-unknown murderer. But Gloria was still with her, still alive.
And Laura still had the opportunity to save her.
ANGER glazed Mark’s eyes as he glared at Laura and Stan. He still could not believe it. Stan. Stan was here in Boston. Why the hell hadn’t T.C. told him? But the answer was obvious. Now that David Baskin was dead, Mark Seidman was to be told nothing.
A familiar voice snapped him out of his semitrance. “Excuse me.”
Mark swiveled his head toward a tall woman with auburn hair. Judy Simmons. He had figured Judy was going to show up for this event and that made him very afraid. Laura’s aunt was no fool, and more to the point, Mark was sure that she was the only person who had any real chance of discovering what had really happened to David Baskin.
“Yes, Miss ...” he feigned forgetting her name.
“Simmons,” Judy finished for him. “Judy Simmons. I’m Laura Baskin’s aunt.”
“Yes, of course.”
She scrutinized him closely, spending a long time on his face. “I just wanted to say, Mr. Seidman, that you played a wonderful game tonight.”