The Beach House

Chapter 74

BUT FENTON GIDLEY WAS.

A week before the party, I sat beside Fenton as he called our fellow townie friend Bobby Hatfield. Bobby has held down the Neubauer party parking franchise for years, so when Fenton told him he hadn't snagged a decent swordfish in months and could use the cash, Bobby gladly added him to the crew.

On that warm but rainy evening at the end of May, Fenton stood alertly beneath the elegant gold-striped awning that had been hastily erected to offer Barry and Campion's guests dry passage from car to door.

For Fenton, he was highly presentable. He wore his dress shoes, his best pair of jeans, and one of the two shirts he owns with a collar. He was also freshly shaved, showered, and deodorized. He looked so good, I was tempted to take his picture and send it to his mom.

In addition to guidance on wardrobe and grooming, I'd given Fenton a quick tutorial on kissing up to the rich, something I'm ashamed to admit I'd shown an i

When Gidley checked in punctually with Hatfield at 7:15 p.m., the first thing he did was examine the guest list. He wanted to make sure that it was the same one he'd studied with me and Pauline and that there were no last-minute cancellations.

At 8:05 the parade of Audis, Beemers, and Benzes started rolling in. Within an hour most of the 190 guests had made their way through the stately oak doors and out to the lovely tented and lantern-lit flagstone terrace.

There, waiters and waitresses in fuchsia blazers designed by Comme des Garcons dispensed sushi and vintage champagne. With their elongated, surly good looks, they could have been moonlighting runway models.

Among the first to arrive was Tricia Powell. Since her perjury at the inquest, Trish's career at Mayflower had taken off. She stepped out of a black Mercedes E430 in a little black Armani dress, stared through Gidley as if he were a smudged pane of glass, and walked inside on Manolo mules.

Neubauer's lawyer and my former mentor, Bill Montrose, was in the second wave. When Montrose's dark green Jaguar rolled to a stop, Gidley wasn't at the head of the line of valets, but he cut to the front.

After giving Montrose his ticket, he steered the car off the driveway and down a gentle slope to one of the two moonlit clearings designated for parking. He tucked the car safely in the far corner.

Before he and his fellow valets took a break, Gidley noted the arrival of several men and women from Sammy's pornographic portfolio. He couldn't help thinking that they looked a lot better with their clothes on.

Chapter 75

SARAH JESSICA AND MATTHEW were in attendance. So was Bill, who was staying at Steven's place, without Hillary. Richard was there holding his new baby. It looked as if babies were the hot summer accessory again. Allen was there, and so was Kobe , but not Shaq. Caroline, Patricia, and Billy were there, as well as four principals from The Sopranos.

At about eleven, just as the festivities began to lose a bit of their magic, Bill Montrose tracked down his hosts. One last heartfelt hug (Barry) and affectionate peck (Campion), and he beat his retreat.

He worked his way through the resplendent crowd to the rear doors of the house. As soon as Montrose stepped outside, Fenton hopped off the black cast-iron bench beside the driveway and unhooked key number 115 from the board.

Montrose was still fishing for his half of the parking chit as Gidley approached.

"No worries, sir," he told him. "Green Jag, right?"

Montrose winked. "You're good."

"I try, sir."

Gidley hustled back to where he'd parked the Jag only hours before. Whistling the old Joh

"Lovely car," he told Montrose as he climbed out and accepted his five-buck tip. "Have a terrific night."

Relieved to be out of there at last, Montrose yanked off his Hermes silk tie. He punched in a number on his car phone. After a short delay of gentle ringing, the voice of his assistant, Laura Richardson, poured from the speaker.

"Who is it?"

"Laura, it's me," he said. "I'm leaving the Neubauers' right now. Believe me, you didn't miss a fucking thing."

"Bullshit, Monty. You're a bad liar, especially for a professional. Everybody was there, right?"

"Well, I did stand next to Morgan Freeman."

"Don't tell me. He's five-six and smells fu

"Six-three and fragrant."

"Anyone else?"

"No one you'd know. Listen, Laura, I can't make it tonight."

"Big surprise, Monty. What now?"

"In terms of the divorce settlement and the custody and everything, it's going to look real bad if I'm gone this weekend."

"You mean it's going to look really bad if they find out you've been screwing your black assistant for three years."

Montrose held back a yawn. "Laura, do we really have to do this now?"

"Nope," said Richardson. "You're still the boss."

"Thanks," said Montrose, "because I can't tell you how shot I feel."

When he heard the click, he slapped the dashboard in a rage. "Don't you dare hang up on me!" he yelled. "I don't need this shit."

I took that as my cue to pull off the blanket, sit up in the backseat, and press the barrel of a gun to his neck.

"I guess this isn't your night, Monty," I said when our eyes met in the mirror.

Chapter 76

I GAVE MONTROSE ONLY a couple of seconds to get over the shock. Then I jabbed the barrel of the pistol into his neck one more time. It felt good.

"Turn right at the stop sign," I instructed. "Do exactly as I say, Monty."

He slowed to take the turn and met my eyes in the mirror. It was amazing how quickly he'd managed to wipe the panic from his face and realign his Big Man in the Big World mask. In thirty seconds he'd convinced himself that everything was still essentially under control.

"You realize what you've just done is a kidnapping, or could be construed as such. What the hell do you think you're doing, Jack?"

"Take a left," I said.

Montrose obediently turned onto Further Lane, the moon pursuing us through the branches of the colossal overhanging elms. Amazingly his confidence was growing. It was almost as if he were back in his long, black-windowed office and all he had to do was push a little buzzer for Laura Richardson to trot in with Security.

"I offered you a view of half of Manhattan," he reminded me. "You screwed everything up. You just don't get it, Mullen."

"You're absolutely right, Monty. I remember it well." I pulled the gun away from his neck, stuck it in his ear, and pulled back the trigger until the hammer caught with a click.

"It's a nasty old gun. If I were you, I'd concentrate all my energy on avoiding potholes. Make a right."

Montrose flinched and squeaked, and when I looked in the mirror, he had transformed again.

"Another left," I said, and we turned toward the water, onto DeForest Lane.

"The third driveway on the right."

He dutifully turned the car into the driveway of a low-slung cottage and parked. I gave him a blindfold and told him to tie it himself. His hands trembled about as badly as Jane Davis's had at the inquest.

"Nice and tight," I said. "I want this to be a surprise."