Part 12 (2/2)
”Still, it seems like a long shot.”
McGuire shrugged. ”Hey, you you asked asked me me to speculate.” to speculate.”
”Who else?” Gillette asked as the limousine turned right onto Park Avenue.
”Bill's widow,” McGuire replied bluntly.
”What?”
”Boy, I never gave Bill enough credit,” McGuire said, shaking his head. ”I figured you guys would have known about this, too. I never thought Bill could keep a secret, but I guess I was wrong.”
”Known about what?” Gillette demanded.
”He's dead, so it doesn't really matter,” McGuire muttered.
Gillette was getting frustrated. ”Tom.” ”Tom.”
”All right, all right. Bill liked younger women. The same way Stockman does.”
”Really?” Gillette never had a clue, never even caught Donovan looking at a woman that way.
”That's why I don't think Bill would have cared about Stockman's affair,” McGuire continued. ”Bill was old school about all that. He thought powerful men deserved distractions. As compensation for all the stress.”
”I a.s.sume Ann wasn't on the same page.”
”Not even the same book.”
Gillette hadn't realized until just now how close Bill Donovan and Tom McGuire were, and it struck him as strange that McGuire would air the dirty laundry so fast. There had to be another motive here. ”Did Ann know what Bill was doing?”
”She probably suspected for a while, but I don't think she knew for sure until a few months ago.”
”What happened?”
”There was an incident at the mansion. Ann was traveling in Europe with an old girlfriend from college and came back a few days early. She wanted to surprise Bill, and she sure as h.e.l.l did. Caught him with a twenty-three-year-old in their bedroom. World War Three broke out. Bill had to spend a bunch of money to put the place back together. He told me they reconciled, but maybe Ann was just taking her time.”
”That's hard to believe.”
”You've known Ann longer than I have, Christian, but you haven't spent as much time with her. She's a spitfire. She might seem quiet on the outside, but there's a temper and a mean streak in there.” McGuire laughed harshly. ”And Bill was relentless. Maybe Ann found out a while ago, and the thing in the mansion was the straw that broke the camel's back. Did you know he tried to tag Faith Ca.s.sidy one night?”
Gillette looked up.
”Yup. It was about six months ago,” McGuire continued. ”Took her to dinner in Manhattan, supposedly to talk about her next contract. Basically attacked her in the limousine on the way back to her apartment. She had to fight her way out of it, then catch a cab.”
”Jesus.”
”Bill put her contract negotiations on hold the next morning, and ordered the record label to cut back on marketing dollars for her next alb.u.m.”
The limousine pulled to a stop at a traffic light. They were only a few blocks from the Racquet Club.
Gillette gazed at McGuire. Now it was beginning to make sense. Why Faith had been so tight-lipped about what was going on with her second alb.u.m. She probably thought his ultimate loyalty would be to Donovan, that he wouldn't believe some story about Donovan coming on to her in the back of a limousine. That he'd figure it was just a pathetic attempt to extort marketing money out of the record label.
”How do you know all this?” Gillette asked. He made a mental note to check into Faith's contract negotiations this afternoon. And to check the amount of ad dollars she was getting.
”I guess I was the one Bill told his secrets to,” McGuire said. ”The only only one, I'm finding out. I suppose Bill needed to tell someone these things. Obviously, he couldn't tell Ann.” He smiled. ”In the end, most human beings need to tell someone their secrets. If they didn't, my job would be a whole lot harder.” one, I'm finding out. I suppose Bill needed to tell someone these things. Obviously, he couldn't tell Ann.” He smiled. ”In the end, most human beings need to tell someone their secrets. If they didn't, my job would be a whole lot harder.”
”Does Vince know about this stuff?”
”Yes,” McGuire answered directly. ”He and I tell each other everything. We keep each others' secrets.”
Gillette took a deep breath. He wanted to see if Tom thought there were others who had motive, but he'd have to follow up on that later. There was something else they needed to talk about before his meeting with Stockman, and he was already forty minutes late. ”What about the limousine, Tom? Any more information on the explosion?”
”Yeah, we're pretty sure the bomb was set off by a remote control device and not a timing mechanism. One of Vince's boys got that from his contacts inside the NYPD crime lab.”
As they pulled to a stop in front of the Racquet Club, Gillette rubbed his eyes. His contacts were beginning to burn. He was supposed to have picked up new ones last week, but there hadn't been enough time. And he hated asking Debbie to do things like that. ”So someone was watching me that day,” he said quietly.
”Apparently.”
”Then why-”
”It must have been a warning, Christian,” McGuire interrupted. ”Probably meant to scare you. Maybe from being chairman.”
Gillette stared at McGuire for several moments, then patted the other man's knee. ”Good work, Tom. Thanks. Let's talk again later today or tomorrow. What's your schedule?”
”I'm around for a day or so, then I'm flying to London Thursday afternoon.”
The bodyguard opened Gillette's door, allowing bright suns.h.i.+ne to stream in.
”Okay,” Gillette said, shading his eyes. ”I'll call you later.”
”Christian.”
Gillette turned back around. ”Yes?”
”There's something else I want to talk about.”
”I'm really late, Tom.”
”It's important. Please.”
Gillette nodded to the bodyguard, who shut the door. ”What is it?”
”I want to talk to you about the firm,” McGuire began. ”About McGuire & Company.”
Maybe he was about to find out why Tom McGuire had been so open about Bill Donovan's secrets, Gillette thought. Maybe that had all been bridge building leading up to this. ”What about it?”
”Vince and I want to buy McGuire & Company back from you.”
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