“Nothing. Not a single word.”
“He must have threatened you with something.”
“A cell phone video. He had rigged this effigy of Josh and dressed it in a pair of pajamas. He doused it with gasoline, held a cigarette lighter to it, it burst into flames.”
Shaw closed his eyes briefly. “Jesus Christ.”
“Josh is terrified of fire, you see. Of being burned. I…well…” She scooped her hair off her nape and rubbed it as she tiredly arched her back to stretch. “Effective inducement, wouldn’t you say?”
“The sadistic son of a bitch.”
“Yes. But it worked. I went to Coast Rica and did my part. On the flight home, Panella reached across the armrest and patted my hand, complimented me on the terrific job I’d done, and said he had some other ideas where I could be useful.
“I thought I was going to suffocate before that flight landed, because I realized that neither Josh nor I would ever be out from under his thumb. Josh was already his puppet, and after seeing that ghastly video, I would always be afraid to call Panella’s bluff. If he could terrify me into giving a few parties, what else would he demand of me?”
“To sleep with him.”
She leaned forward from the waist.
“He did, didn’t he? When you were on that trip?”
“Shaw, I swear to you that’s where I drew the line. I told him that if he touched me, he’d have to kill me. And wouldn’t that be a mess? If I wound up dead in the villa where we’d hosted parties together, he’d be opening himself up to a criminal investigation.”
She gave a small shrug. “I suppose he recognized the logic in that. In any case, he left me alone. It wasn’t about sex, anyway. He’d never exhibited the least bit of interest. It was control he desired, not me. But he never forgot that I said no to him. I believe that’s one reason why he hired Bolden to kill me.”
Shaw sat for so long a time just looking at her, that she feared he still didn’t believe her. Finally he asked, “That was the only time you did anything for him?”
“Yes. Within a month of that trip Joe Wiley approached Josh, and I began my campaign for him to testify against Panella. But if there hadn’t been a legal case in the making, if there had been no Joe Wiley or Agent Hickam, I would have done something to get him out of our lives. I returned from those three days in Costa Rica with the resolve to do that.”
“What about your fiancé? Jackson?”
“In regard to the trip, you mean? I told him that I was attending an event planning convention that weekend.”
“When he called you—”
“He didn’t.”
“For three days?”
“He had no reason to call.”
Shaw looked at her with dismay. “‘Honey, how are you? Did you have a good flight? How’s the hotel? I miss you. Let’s have phone sex and make it dirty.’”
Getting testy, she said, “He didn’t see the need to call.”
“If you ask me, Jackson didn’t keep very good track of his woman.”
“Well, I didn’t ask you, and Jackson had no reason to doubt me.”
“No? Then why did he call it quits at the first sign of trouble? He didn’t stick around to see how involved you were, or not. He didn’t vow to slay dragons for you or even to stand in the background and lend moral support. No, he left skid marks getting outta there and on to his debutante. In fact, what did Jackson ever do to inspire your love and admiration?” He ended by grumbling, “I don’t like him.”
She laughed softly. “He wouldn’t like you, either.”
“Nobody does.”
“I do.”
Chapter 34