Nelson Elder was arriving at the foot of the driveway of his home, a six-bedroom mansion at The Hills, in Summerlin, when his mobile phone rang. The caller ID registered PRIVATE CALLER. He answered and pulled the large Mercedes up to one of the garage bays.
“Mr. Elder?”
“Yes, who is this?”
The caller’s voice was pinched with tension, almost squeaky. “We met a few months ago at the Constellation. My name is Peter Benedict.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t recall.”
“I was the one who caught the blackjack counters.”
“Yes! I remember! The computer guy.” Strange, Elder thought. “Did I give you my cell phone number?”
“You did,” Mark lied. There wasn’t a phone number in the world he couldn’t grab. “Is it okay?”
“Sure. How can I help you?”
“Well, actually, sir, I’d like to help you.”
“How so?”
“Your company is in trouble, Mr. Elder, but I can save it.”
Mark was breathing rapidly and visibly shaking. His cell phone was on the kitchen table, still warm from his cheek. Each step of his plan had taxed him, but this was the first requiring human interaction, and his terror was slow to dissipate. Nelson Elder would meet with him. One more chess move and the game was his.
Then his doorbell jolted him into the next level of autonomic overdrive. He rarely had unannounced visitors, and in fear he almost bolted for his bedroom. He calmed himself and hesitantly went to the door and opened it a crack.
“Will?” he asked incredulously. “What are you doing here?”
Will stood there with a big easy smile on his face. “Weren’t expecting me, were you?”
Will could see that Mark was unsteady, like a tower of playing cards trying to maintain a composure. “No. I wasn’t.”
“Hey, look, I was in town on business and thought I’d look you up. Is this a bad time?”
“No. It’s fine,” Mark said mechanically. “I just wasn’t expecting anybody. Would you like to come in?”
“Sure. For a few minutes, anyway. I’ve got a little time to kill before I head to the airport.”
Will followed him to the living room, reading tension and discomfort in his old roomie’s stiff gait and high voice. He couldn’t help profiling the guy. It wasn’t a parlor trick-he always had the knack, the ability to figure out someone’s feelings, conflicts, and motivations with lightning speed. As a child, he’d used his natural acumen to fashion a protected triangulated space between two alcoholic parents, saying and doing the right things in the right aliquots to satisfy their neediness and preserve some measure of balance and stability in the household.
He’d always wielded his talent to his advantage. In his personal life, he used it in a Dale Carnegie way to win friends and influence people. The women in his life would say he used it to manipulate the hell out of them. And in his career, it had given him a tangible edge over the criminals who populated his world.
Will wondered what was making Mark so uncomfortable-a phobic, misanthropic kind of personality disorder or something more specific to his visit?
He sat down on an unyielding sofa and sought to put him at ease. “You know, after we saw each other at the reunion, I kind of felt bad I hadn’t gone to the effort to look you up all these years.”
Mark sat across from him, mute, with tightly crossed legs.
“So, I hardly ever come out to Vegas-this is just a onenighter-and on my way to the hotel yesterday someone pointed out the Area 51 shuttle and I thought of you.”
“Really?” Mark asked with a rasp. “Why’s that?”
“That’s where you sort of implied you worked, no?”
“Did I? I don’t recall saying that.”
Will remembered Mark’s odd demeanor when the subject of Area 51 came up at the reunion dinner. This looked like a no-go zone. In fact he didn’t care, one way or the other. Mark clearly had a high-level security clearance and took it seriously. Good for him. “Well, whatever. It doesn’t matter to me where you work, it just triggered an association and I decided to drop in, that’s all.”
Mark continued to look skeptical. “How’d you find me? I’m not listed.”
“Don’t I know. I’ve got to admit it-I queried an FBI database in the local office when 411 didn’t do the trick. You weren’t on the radar screen, buddy. Must have an interesting job! So I called Zeckendorf to see if he had your number. He didn’t, but you must’ve given him your address so his wife could mail you that picture.” He waved at the reunion photo on the table. “I put mine on the coffee table too. I guess we’re just a couple of sentimental guys. Say, you wouldn’t have anything to drink, would you?”
Will saw that Mark was breathing easier. He’d broken the ice. The guy probably had a social anxiety disorder and needed time to warm up.
“What would you like?” Mark asked.
“Got scotch?”
“Sorry, only beer.”
“When in Rome.”
When Mark went to the kitchen, Will stood up and out of curiosity had a look around. The living room was sparsely furnished with characterless modern things that could have been in the lobby of a public space. Everything was neat, with no clutter and also no feminizing touches. He knew that decorating style cold. The shiny chrome bookcase was filled with academic-type computer and software books arranged precisely by height so the rows topped off as straight as possible.
On the white lacquered desk, next to a closed laptop computer, was a short stack of two thin manuscripts bound in brass brads. He glanced at the cover page of the one on top: Counters: a screenplay by Peter Benedict, WGA #4235567. Who’s Peter Benedict? he wondered, Mark’s nom de plume or some other guy? Beside the screenplays there were two black pens. He almost laughed out loud. Pentel ultrafines. The little peckers were everywhere. He was back on the sofa when Mark returned with the beers.
“In Cambridge, didn’t you mention you did some writing?” Will asked.
“I do.”
“Those screenplays yours?” he asked, pointing.
Mark nodded and gulped.
“My daughter’s something of a writer too. What do you write about?”
Mark started tentatively but progressively relaxed as he talked about his most recent script. By the time Will downed the beer, he’d heard all about casinos and card-counting and Hollywood and talent agents. For a reticent guy, this was almost a blue-streak topic. During his second beer, he got a taste of Mark’s postcollege, pre-Vegas life, a barren landscape of few personal bonds and endless computer work. During the third beer, Will reciprocated with details about his own past, sour marriages, busted relationships and all, and Mark listened in apparent fascination, with a growing amazement that the golden boy’s life, which he had assumed was perfect, was anything but. At the same time, creeping pangs of guilt were making Will uneasy.
After taking a leak, Will returned to the living room and announced he had to be going, but before he did, he wanted to get something off his chest. “I’ve got to apologize to you.”
“For what?”
“When I look back on freshman year, I realize I was a jerk. I should have helped you out more, gotten Alex to leave you alone. I was a dumb-ass and I’m sorry.” He didn’t mention the duct-taping incident; he didn’t have to.
Mark involuntarily teared up and looked profoundly embarrassed. “I-”
“You don’t have to say anything. I don’t want to cause any discomfort.”
Mark sniffed. “No, look, I appreciate it. I don’t think we really knew each other.”
“True enough.” Will dug his hand in his pockets for the car keys. “So, thanks for the beers and the chat. I’ve got to hit it.”
Mark inhaled and finally said, “I think I know why you’re in town. I saw you on TV.”
“Yeah, the Doomsday case. The Vegas connection. Sure.”
“I’ve watched you on TV for years. And read all the magazine articles.”
“Yeah, I’ve had my fill of media stuff.”
“It must be exciting.”
“Believe me, it’s not.”
“How’s it going? The investigation, I mean.”