"To two-oh-six?" I said.
"To two-oh-six," Paul said with a grim nod.
Chapter 108
I STUMBLED ALONG the path like the sole survivor of a terrorist bombing. I remembered where we were in our marriage at the time. Not a good place. It was after we'd learned we couldn't become parents. A year of having sex like it was a science experiment. Paul having to humiliate himself with plastic cups in specialist after specialist's bathrooms. All for nothing.
We'd turned on each other then. We didn't announce it, but I could see it now, vividly. That was what had happened back then.
I decided that I couldn't care less.
I suddenly stopped short and slapped Paul. Hard! As hard as I could!
"Keep going?" he said as he rubbed his jaw.
"Good guess," I said.
"I wake up the next morning, and at first I have no idea where I am or what's happened the night before. On the desk are two neatly divided piles of hundred-dollar bills. Veronica is sitting there in a bathrobe, pouring coffee. Fifteen minutes later, I'm walking out of her room with a gym bag full of four hundred thousand dollars."
I shook my head. I was actually asleep, wasn't I? Dreaming this.
No, I realized. I was tripping. Somewhere along the course of this bizarre day, I'd been drugged. I rubbed my eyes. Paul goes off on a business trip and pulls off a heist?
I asked the next logical question. "What did you do with the money?"
"Caymans," Paul said. "A buddy of mine on the trading desk was going down there. He set it up for me. If there's a good side to this, it's that. Four-plus years of extremely aggressive investing later, we're looking at a little over one point-two million."
I tried to let that rather large sum sink in. I was experiencing major difficulties, though.
Paul continued, "Three months after I stole the money, I get a call that puts ice in my blood. It's Veronica. She tells me she's pregnant. At first I'm insane. I tell her I want a paternity test, I want to talk to my lawyer, but she says to calm down, she's not going to boil any rabbits. She just wanted to be nice. She thought I should know that I had a daughter coming into the world. Whatever I wanted to do was up to me.
"So I debated and didn't do anything for a long time, but eventually I went down to meet Caroline. One thing led to another, and well… One day a week, I take the shuttle down here and become Daddy."
"For the past four years?" I said. "Work knows about this?"
Paul shook his head.
"I just telecommute."
"What about Veronica? You want me to believe you're not still screwing her?"
"It's true," Paul said.
A second later, I found myself screeching with my hands around his throat. "Bullshit! You married her!" I screamed. "I saw the pictures in the hall!"
Paul pulled my hands off him.
"No, no, no!" he said, holding his hands out before himself protectively as he backed away. "That was all for Caroline's sake. We wanted her to think she has a regular daddy like everybody else. We had a photographer take some pictures. That's all. She thinks I'm a pilot."
My eyes felt like they were filled with acid, burning deep into the sockets.
"And who does Veronica think you are?"
Paul shrugged. "She knows who I am," he said.
"That makes her in the minority, Paul, don't you think?" I said. "Does she know about me?"
"From the start."
"You fucker!" I said. I was insane with rage. I felt like biting him. "Do you know who you are? Because I don't. Is your new job a bullshit story, too?"
"No, that's actually real," Paul said, suddenly sitting down on an empty bench.
"Let's face it, Lauren," he said after a little while. "When you and I found out we couldn't have children, our marriage started sliding badly. We both were feeling hurt, screwed up. Then you got promoted to Bronx Homicide, Lauren, and that was all she wrote. Turnaround after turnaround. Double, triple shifts. Don't get me wrong, I didn't blame you. I just never saw much of you. I really didn't think there was a chance in hell of us getting back together.
"But things are so different now, Lauren. You're pregnant. It was like somebody hit a 'pause' button, then remembered the two of us after four years and just hit 'play' again. Caroline is in my heart, but I'd be willing to give up even her for you. There's an actual 'us' again, a future. I'm ready to do anything for that."
Paul gripped my hand.
"I've always just wanted us. You know that. From the first time I set eyes on you. We can work it out, Lauren. This… shit – It's just a stupid, horrible detour. All the lies are over now."
"That sounds really sweet, Paul," I said, pulling my hand away. "Really wonderful and nice, except for one thing. One small detail."
He looked at me quizzically. Now it was my turn to hurt him. Let's see how he liked getting his heart napalmed.
"You left something out. Something really important, Paul. The cop I watched you kill. I was there when you killed Scott, dumbass."
Chapter 109
PAUL'S FACE SEEMED TO CRUMBLE in front of me. "You were where?" he asked.
"At Scott's place in Riverdale," I told him. "You must have read our e-mails, but guess what? You were too late. He'd just been with me, Paul. Right before you cracked his skull open, we'd been in bed together. Turnabout is fair play, no? So how does it feel?"
Apparently not too good. Paul's mouth was gaping wider than The Scream's. "So you were… How did…," he stammered.
"That's right, Paul," I said. "Surprise, surprise."
I grabbed his wrist, squeezed with all my might.
"Who the hell do you think has been keeping you out of jail all this time? Your fairy godmother? I covered things up for you, destroyed my career – everything I was – in order to keep you out of prison. I actually felt sorry for you. Can you imagine that?"
Paul put his hand out toward my face. I slapped it down.
Other strollers started making a wide berth around us.
"And come to think of it," I snarled. "How dare you kill Scott when you knew you were being unfaithful to me? Who the hell are you? Thief. Murderer. Bigamist. What am I missing?"
I slapped him again, and it felt so good.
"Scott had a wife and three kids!"
Paul broke my grip, then walked away. He stood along the other side of the path so that I wouldn't hit him again, I assumed. After a while, he did something astounding. He started laughing.
"You want to let me in on the joke?" I said, red-faced, walking toward him. "I could use a real rib-tickler right around now."
Paul turned to me.
"Sure," he said. "Here's the punch line: I didn't kill Scott because he was sleeping with you. I had no idea about that, Lauren."
He folded his arms across his chest and gave me another smile. I didn't get it, not a word he was saying.
"I killed him because he was blackmailing me," said Paul.
Chapter 110
NOW IT WAS MY TURN to put my head down between my knees.
"Blackmailing you?" I asked.
Paul nodded.
"A year ago, Veronica came up to New York. She has a friend who's a model or something who gets her work. Eleven o'clock in the morning, she finds herself in the middle of a drug raid, and I get this frantic call at work to go and try to help her out.