Innocent Little Crimes (20 page)

“It’s time she learned the truth.”

“Oh, get off it, Lila,” Davis said. “For two
days you’ve been threatening to tell her the ‘truth’ about me, like
there’s some deep, dark secret that will scare her away.”

“Oh, there’s more than one. Where would you
like me to start?” Lila’s voice sped up. “How ’bout your charmed
business life in wealthy Marin. Particularly the northern Marin
sub-division. The not-so-legit way you put that together.”

“What about it?”

“Like pushing all the permits through by
greasing the necessary palms. Someone has it all in writing—dates,
names, amounts. You get the picture.”

Davis snorted. “You’re bluffing. There’s
nothing you can hold over me. Nothing,”

“And when the main investor split town, you
dipped into Cynthia’s T-Bills.” Lila put her hand across her mouth.
“Oh dear, Cynthia wasn’t supposed to know about that.”

Lila watched the slender silhouette
move in closer.
That should pep things up
in their relationship
.

“Something on the order of fifty grand, I
think it was.”

“Tell me this isn’t true, Davis.” Cynthia
said. “You told me that money was untouchable—for our children.
It’s in our agreement.”

Lila smirked. “Sweet talk her, Davis. The way
you did me.”

Davis’s face flushed. He reached his hands
out to Cynthia. “Darling, I didn’t want to trouble you with it. It
was a temporary loan.”

“But you promised.”

“I paid it back.”

“With
my
money,” Lila said.
Gotcha.

Davis froze. “Excuse me?”

“Your principal investor. Brand and
Martin. Los Angeles.” Lila waited a beat. “I
own
your northern Marin subdivision, or at least
the controlling stock.” Lila threw in another well-placed pause.
“And the adjacent shopping mall.”

“Oh, I love this.
This
is too much,” Jonathan said. “She got you
too.”

“This is
not
funny,” Davis said.

Dick clapped his hands. “It sure as hell
is.”

Jonathan held up his hand. “This is all a
big, sick joke, right Lila? You just did your homework on us. And
now you’re taking the credit for it all. Great scheme, Lila. You
really had us going there for awhile. Can’t you see, Davis? It’s
all an act. To make us shiver in our boots.”

“Wish again, Levin. This is worse than the
‘Deadly Game.’ This is the ‘Deadly Reality.’ And I’m not finished
here with golden boy, Levin, so shut up. I have a list of all the
little bits of real estate my corporations have acquired over the
past ten years. Oh, they’re too numerous to rattle off right now,
but I’m sure you’ll recognize them. All of your commercial
enterprises. All of them in my majority ownership. All your
partners: Elite Realty, Golden State, Southcoast. The names sound
familiar? And I’ve been thinking lately of dumping the whole lot of
them, all for a loss. A big loss. Or maybe make the rents so
unbelievably high that the shops and condos will remain vacant and,
gee whiz, I guess I’d have to declare bankruptcy. That could be a
loss in the millions, isn’t that right, Davis?”

“What is she saying?” Cynthia grabbed Davis’s
sleeve. “Davis, tell me.”

She spun around to face Lila. “I’ve kept
quiet for the last hour. Mostly out of shock from your
behavior—everyone’s behavior. I would have left long ago if it were
possible. But, I’m not going to leave here without saying this: I
don’t know whether or not all these terrible things are true, all
these affairs and traps and bribes and blackmailing. It’s all
vicious and unforgivable . . .”

“No, honey,” Lila interrupted,
“
I’ll
tell
you
what’s unforgivable.” She thrust
her face up against Cynthia’s. “Pretending to be in love with
someone when you’re not. Pretending the kisses are passionate and
the promises are spoken from the heart.”

Peter came over and reached for Lila’s hand.
“I think it’s time we all went to bed. It’s been a long day.” Lila
swatted him away, like a pesky mosquito.

“. . . Saying ‘Darling, I’m so in love with
you, I can’t wait any longer. Come to bed with me, now, I can’t
stand the agony anymore.’ “

Lila took a breath and glared at Davis.
“Promising you’d marry me if I agreed to have sex.”

“You did what?” Jonathan said.

“So
that’s
how you got her,” Dick added, then
quickly covered.

Lila turned to Dick. “Yes, that’s how
he ‘got me.’ How he got me to bed and
won
the bet!
”

“She’s making it all up,” Davis said.

“I sure as hell am not. Tell your dear
fiancée about the bet.”

“I don’t remember any bet.”

“Oh, right. I forgot—it was fifteen years ago
and you don’t remember a thing. But, Della remembers, don’t you
Della? And so do Dick and Jon. And of course, you.” She pointed to
Millie. A silence spread heavy and thick. “You all knew.”

Millie shook her head. “I didn’t know about
the proposal. Honest, I didn’t.”

“Neither did I,” Della added. “He must have
come up with that one on his own. A desperate race against the
clock, is my guess.”

“Della, fuck off,” Davis said. “It was your
fucking idea.”

Cynthia’s jaw dropped. “Davis!”

Lila crossed her arms. “So, now his memory
suddenly returns.”

“It was all a joke, all right? And it wasn’t
my idea. I didn’t want to do it. They all pressured me into
it.”

“Whatever happened to ‘just say no’?” Lila
asked.

“Davis.” Cynthia pulled once more on Davis’s
arm. “Let’s go. The game’s over. We’ll talk about this when you’re
sober.”

“You’re a tough one,” Lila said to Cynthia.
“Hard to break. I didn’t think you’d last this long. Yeah, a tough
nut to crack.”

Cynthia tried to ignore Lila, but Lila came
up and whispered by her ear. “Let’s talk about the other ladies in
lover boy’s life. Claire was easy. She took the first job I offered
her. Chicago—I knew she wouldn’t refuse. Denise was a little more
difficult, since she really thought she was in love with him. But
she was more in love with money, lucky me. She went off with that
rich executive on a yacht around the world. He gave her the time of
her life, by the way, and set her up in a nice condo in Belize. Of
course, Mr. Executive was never in love with her. He just owed me a
favor. Isn’t life wonderful? An elaborate system of debts and
favors.” Lila caught Davis’s stunned expression from the corner of
her eye.

“But you, Cynthia darling, you, I knew I
couldn’t shake, buy, or bribe. You didn’t care about money or
career. Believe me, I tried everything, but you were stuck to him
like glue. That’s why I had to bring you all here.”

She turned to the group. “Say thank you to
Cynthia, gang. She’s the reason every one of you is here
tonight.”

“Because of me?”

“Yes, dear. Because of little ol’ you.”

Peter yanked on Lila’s sleeve. “Come on, Li.
Enough.”

“Peter, lay off!” Lila shoved him. “I’m not
finished!”

Cynthia backed away. “You can’t be serious?
This whole reunion was for the purpose of dissuading me from
marrying Davis?”

“As long as he stayed single, I was content
to play with the lot of you—cat and mice. Eventually I would have
destroyed you all. And good riddance. But Davis—if I couldn’t have
him, no one would.”

“This is incredible,” Della said.

“Fucking unbelievable,” Dick muttered.

Lila shrugged. “Eventually Davis would
realize there was no one in the world for him but me. Davis made me
a promise. And I expect him to make good his promise. And I brought
you all here to convince him of that.”

Della laughed. “That’s the funniest thing I
ever heard. Fifteen years and still waiting.”

Davis was not laughing. “You’re crazy. What
are you going to do—blackmail me into marrying you? What kind of
love is that?”

“Who said anything about love?” Lila
asked.

“I get it. She just wants revenge,” Dick
said.

“Very funny, Lila. Very funny.” Davis wobbled
to his feet with Cynthia holding his arm. “Hey, big star. I’ve had
enough of your ringside production. I’m going to bed.”

Lila’s voice was stern. “I’m serious,
loverboy. I’ll ruin you. You’ll have nothing!”

“Lila, stop. You don’t mean any of this.”
Peter again took her arm and pulled. His face betrayed the
embarrassment he felt for her.

“You’re going to marry me!” she squealed.

Davis pulled Cynthia into the hall, stumbling
toward his room. “Over my dead body.”

Lila watched as the pair disappeared from
sight. She pursed her lips. “If that’s the way you want it . .
.”

She stood there, her face a grotesque mask of
rage. “Yeah, baby, if that’s the way you want it . . .”

Chapter 20

“Davis, what are you doing?” Cynthia stood by
the bed as he raced around the room, gathering clothes.

“Packing, what do you think?”

“Now? Let’s just go to sleep. You know we
can’t leave here until tomorrow afternoon.”

“I saw a couple of houses from the
mountaintop. Lila’s not the only one on this island.”

Cynthia fumed. “And you intend to head out
into this storm in the middle of the night—in pitch dark—and do
what? Knock on someone’s door and borrow a boat? Get real,
Davis.”

“I’m not staying another minute in this
house. The lady’s crazy.”

“She’s drunk. And so are you. She won’t
remember a thing in the morning. She’s probably passed out
already.”

Davis threw the last of his clothes into the
suitcase and fumbled with the latches.

“You heard what she said. She owns me. And
she intends to ruin me. I’m not sticking around to see what else
she has up her depraved sleeve.”

“How do you know any of it is true? Come on,
hon, please let’s get some sleep.”

Davis tugged at the heavy suitcase, then
dropped it by the door and kicked it hard. “I’m outta here.”

“And what about me? Do you drag me along or
should I wish you a safe trip? Can’t you wait till the morning?
Honey, please. Go talk to Peter—he’ll know what’s going on.”

“Peter’s on her side. He works for her,
doesn’t he?”

“Davis, he’s a decent man.”

“I’m not going to beg anyone for help. I’ll
help myself.”

Davis reached for his coat and scarf. “Ciao,
baby.” He kissed her cheek. “Are you sure you won’t come?”

“This is crazy. Davis, please don’t leave
me.”

“I’ll find us a way off the island. I
promise.”

Cynthia heard Davis’s footsteps tromp down
the hall. Maybe the cold rain would sober him up—if he didn’t catch
pneumonia first. She just prayed he didn’t get lost in the woods.
How far could he get without a flashlight in the dark? She’d wait
five minutes, just five. And then she’d fetch him.

A chilly draft blew through the window
cracks. Cynthia climbed under the covers with all her clothes on.
Angry voices filtered in from the living room; the rest of the
guests still up and fighting.
So let them
kill each other off
. A feeling of disgust flooded over
her. So much for Lila’s little parlor game. No one won, no one
escaped the wolves.

Was it really possible that Lila arranged
this whole reunion just to dissuade her from marrying Davis? What a
ludicrous idea. All those years, watching, waiting, thwarting Davis
from marrying. No, it had to be a sick Lila Carmichael joke. And
what about the terrible things she said she did to ruin them all?
Said she intended to do? Rich, successful Lila wasting all that
energy on revenge—and why? Because of a small incident? Sure, they
played a hurtful trick on her—but nothing so vicious as to warrant
such revenge.

Cynthia sighed and reached for her hairbrush.
Slowly, she worked the tangles out of her hair. If Lila was
bluffing, then she had done an awful lot of homework on them. She
knew things she should have never known. Like the T-Bills.

The thought of Davis’s dishonesty knotted her
stomach. She fought back the anger, reminding herself to give Davis
the benefit of the doubt. Yes, he had promised—sworn—he would never
touch that money. Yet, she also trusted his judgment. If he only
needed the money temporarily, then where was the damage? He said he
already repaid it, as if it never happened. But, how many other
things had he done and not told her? Their relationship was based
on explicit trust and Davis had broken it. And that was
inexcusable.

Disturbed by those thoughts, she leaped out
of bed. She put on her coat and scarf and reached for the
flashlight on the floor. She had to find Davis.

But, first, she was going to confront
Lila.

Davis slammed the front door and ventured out
into the storm. Wind whipped rain and leaves into the entryway
behind him. In the living room, Lila rapped loudly on her glass
with a spoon. With lights out again, a new set of candles burned on
the buffet table. The angry arguing toned down enough for her voice
to carry. Lightning cracked, followed by a burst of thunder.

“Enough, enough, you drunken slobs.” Her
voice trailed off. “You poor, drunken slobs.”

“Go to hell, Lila,” Jonathan said.

“Oh, I’m sure I will. But, my dear guests,
now that our leading man has staged a hasty, hostile exit, there’s
something I have to say.”

Dick moaned. “Haven’t you said enough
already?”

Cynthia stood in the shadows of the doorway,
listening. Lila pushed Dick aside and straddled the bench. Peter
had given up trying to extricate Lila from the room. She was queen
of her domain, rousing the rabble. He had never seen her so
charged, so intense, so out of control. Maybe the result of too
many long hours on the set. She needed a real vacation. So did he,
for that matter. He wondered what would happen Monday, back in L.A.
Would Lila deny this whole weekend and go on as if nothing
happened? He hoped so. He longed to erase this whole fiasco from
his memory. Come on—he was kidding himself. He would never forget
the things she said to him. She hit him below the belt and it hurt.
They had one unspoken agreement in their relationship: jab all you
like, but some things were unmentionable, and Lila crossed the
line. She had betrayed him on the deepest level possible.