Unnatural Acts (Stone Barrington 23)

“Shut up and listen,” Herbie said. When the two tapes had played, he switched on the recorder and put it back into his pocket. “Now, what you’ve just seen and heard is enough to get you five to seven years at a very uncomfortable state institution, a place not nearly as nice as this one.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Dink said. “Carson is making this up. She’s crazy, you know-she has spells where she doesn’t know who or where she is.”

“Those probably come during sessions with the drugs you supply her,” Herbie said.

“And it’s her word against mine. You have no evidence tying me to this.”

“Your old roommate, Parker Mosely, is at this moment having a very long conversation with an NYPD detective lieutenant. I’ll have the recordings of that session for you in a day or two. And your stash of drugs has been located, so we can add another ten years to your sentence for that. You’re going to be well into your middle years before you see the light of day, Dink.”

“I want a lawyer,” Dink said sullenly.

“I’m the only lawyer you’re going to get, Dink. Have you forgotten that you signed a document making me your only legal representative for the foreseeable future? You also made me your legal guardian, upon your self-admission to this facility. Add while you are a patient here, you are, ipso facto, incompetent to change those agreements.”

“My old man won’t let you get away with this,” Dink said. He was looking very worried now.

“Your father has already had a long conversation with my associate, who is his good friend, and he has wholeheartedly approved of everything I’m telling you.”

“And if I don’t do what you want me to?”

“Oh, yes, the alternative scenario. In that case this facility will declare you competent, and you will be arrested and tried for your crimes. Carson and Parker will testify in court that you supplied her, through Parker, with drugs, then instructed her to entrap your attorney into a rape charge. You will be convicted and, when all charges are taken into account, sentenced to a term of fifteen to twenty years in a hard-core, non-country-club prison. Oh, and your father will wash his hands of you and disinherit you, as well. When you are finally released you will have to rely on the criminal and sexual skills you learned in prison to support yourself. Are you beginning to get the picture, Dink?”

“Now look, Herb,” Dink said, tears appearing in his eyes, “I want to apologize for this whole thing. It was just a big practical joke that went wrong, and I’ll do whatever I possibly can to make it up to you, really I will.”

“Well, Dink, that’s a great start on the new attitude you’re going to have to adopt if you want to be a free man before you’re forty.”

“I’ll do whatever you tell me, Herb. Trust me, I will.”

“Trust you?” Herbie laughed at that one. “You’re a junkie and a drug dealer, two of the most untrustworthy beings on the planet. You’ve just put the girl you supposedly love and your best friend, perhaps your only friend, in jeopardy of long prison sentences, and you’ve gravely endangered your relationship with the father who loves you and, not incidentally, wi

th his very considerable fortune, and for what? You should start asking yourself that today.”

“I’ll do whatever you say, Herb,” Dink said, and he sounded truly contrite.

“You can start by stopping trying to use the people in this place who want to help you. The general consensus among them, you might like to know, is that you are a liar, a narcissist, a con man, and a sociopath who is a danger to himself and to others. You see, they are accustomed to being lied to by people like you, and they know how to deal with you.

“By the way, while we’ve been having this conversation, the staff have taken apart your very comfortable quarters and removed all of your personal possessions and confiscated them. For the foreseeable future you’ll be wearing the orange hospital gown that you already know identifies the least trustworthy patients of this facility, and you are being moved to a room that is very much like the prison cell you will be occupying, if you should give your father or me the slightest difficulty. He and I are the only people authorized to contact you, and you may not contact anyone, especially Carson and Parker. Have you grasped your situation yet?”

Dink looked out of breath. “Yes,” he said. “I’ll be good.” He sounded like a small child who had been chastened.

“Ah, here come your escorts to your new quarters,” Herbie said. “They’ll give you your new gown after they’ve strip-searched you and given you today’s medications.”

Herbie got up to leave as the two large men in white approached. “Enjoy your stay on the farm, Dink. I’ll be in touch from time to time, when I feel like it.”

The two men took Dink’s arms and marched him away.

Herbie went back to the Maybach and turned it toward the city. He thought he might do a little car shopping on the way home.

35

When Herbie got back to his office, Stone Barrington was seated on his sofa, drinking a cup of coffee. “How did it go?” he asked.

“Pretty much as we expected,” Herbie said “He started with bluster and finished with blubbering. How did it go with Marshall?”

“I think we’ve underestimated Marshall,” Stone replied. “Not only did he take it very well, but I think he had been dreading something like this situation. He seemed, at first, relieved, then determined to leave Dink in your hands, without interference.”

“It’s a responsibility I don’t want, but I’ve got it, and I’ll handle it as best I can,” Herbie said, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

“Dino called. His people found Parker Mosely at his parents’ home in the city, so he didn’t have to involve the Connecticut authorities. He reduced Parker to a quivering mass of jelly and got a signed statement from him. Both he and Carson will be in rehab facilities before the day is out.”