Fade Away
Page 77
He’d go to the guy who understood him best.
He’d go to the guy who could best relate to the unique troubles of superstardom.
He’d go to the guy who shared that rarefied air with him.
Chapter 36
Myron wasn’t sure what to do next.
In truth, he had nothing more than a suspicion. There was no proof. No real evidence. But it could potentially answer a lot of questions. Why, for example, had Thumper helped set up Emily on videotape? By all accounts, she was not particularly close to Greg.
But she was to TC.
Again the superstar bond. Greg had feared losing his kids in a custody battle. That’s about as big a worry as a person can have. So whom did he turn to for help?
TC.
When Win had leaned on Thumper last night, letting her know that he was searching for Greg, whom had she warned?
TC.
No proof, of course. But it felt very right.
Myron could now put a lot of it together. Greg was under incredible strain—not the best situation for a man of his questionable mental fortitude to be ensnared. What had gone through his mind when he saw Liz Gorman dead on the floor? He’d have to have known that he would be the prime suspect in her murder. As Emily had pointed out, Greg had motive, opportunity, and was at the murder scene. Emily saw that. It was why she set him up. Greg must have seen it too.
So what did he do?
He ran.
Seeing Liz Gorman dead had been the final straw. But Greg had also known that he could not do it alone. People would be looking for him this time. He needed help. He needed time and space.
So whom did Greg reach out to?
The guy who understood him best. Who could relate to the unique troubles of superstardom. Who shared that rarefied air with him.
Myron stopped at a red light. He was close, so goddamn close. TC was helping Greg hide; he was sure of it. But of course, TC was only part of the solution. None of this answered the central question in all this:
Who killed Liz Gorman?
He put his mind on rewind and reviewed the night of the murder. He thought about Clip being the first of the three to arrive. In many ways, Clip was now his best suspect. But Myron still saw big problems with that scenario. What was Clip’s motive, for example? Yes, Liz Gorman’s information may have been detrimental to the team. The information may have even been potent enough for him to lose the vote. But would Clip pick up a baseball bat and murder a woman over that? People kill for money and power all the time. Would Clip?
But there was still a larger problem at work here, one that Myron could not get around no matter how hard he tried. Emily was the one who planted the blood and murder weapon at Greg’s house. That was established and that made sense. Okay, fine. We know who planted the evidence …
… but who cleaned it up?
There were only three logical choices: 1) Greg Downing, 2) someone trying to protect Greg, or 3) the killer.
But it couldn’t have been Greg. Even if you accept the semi-impossible premise that Greg went back into his house after going into hiding, how did he find the blood? Did he just happen to go down into his playroom? No. It was too ridiculous. The only way Greg would have gone down there was if he’d known the blood had been planted.
Myron froze.
That was it. Whoever had cleaned up the blood had known what Emily had done. They didn’t just stumble across it by accident. So how did they find out? From Emily? Uh uh, no way. Emily would be the last person to say anything. Could she have been spotted in the act? Again, the answer was a resounding no. If that had been the case, the bat would have been removed too. More to the point, the blood would have been cleaned up right away—before Myron and Win found it. The timing of the clean-up was crucial—it’d happened after Myron and Win had revealed their discovery. That meant Myron and Win were the leak.
So who had they told?
The finger pointed back to Clip.
He turned on Route 3 and entered the Meadowlands complex. The arena loomed before him like a large UFO on a white landing pad. Did Clip Arnstein murder Liz Gorman and clean up the blood? Myron wrestled with the possibility, but he didn’t like it. How had Clip gotten inside Greg’s house? There were no signs of forced entry. Had he picked the lock? Doubtful. Did he have a key? Doubtful. Did he hire a professional? Still doubtful. Clip hadn’t even let a private investigator do a simple credit card check on Greg for fear word would get out. Whom would he trust to clean up the blood of a person he murdered?
And something else still jabbed at Myron with a sharpened, steel point: the woman’s clothes in the bedroom. They had been packed away too. Why would Clip remove all traces of a secret girlfriend? Why would anybody?
The different scenarios swirled in Myron’s head like rubber ducks in a whirlpool. He concentrated again on the mystery girlfriend. Could it have been Fiona White? She wasn’t talking, but Myron firmly believed that she was not the one. How could Fiona have lived with Greg and kept it hidden from a husband as obsessively jealous as Leon? Perhaps there had been some entanglement between Greg and Fiona—a casual fling in a motel room or something—but Myron no longer believed even that. The more he thought about it, the “greatest night of sexual ecstasy” epistle was more of a come-on than the talk of two familiar lovers. It seemed more logical that Greg was telling Leon the truth when he said he would never sleep with another man’s wife. The thought gave Myron’s old shame new life.
A commercial came on the radio. A very hip man and a very hip woman were enjoying a Molson’s Golden far too much. They spoke in low voices and laughed at each other’s lame jokes. Myron switched it off.
He still had more questions than answers. But when he picked up his cellular phone to check Greg’s answering machine, his fingers began to tremble. Something tightened his chest, making it hard to breathe. This feeling, however, was not like pregame jitters. In fact, it was the furthest thing from them.
Chapter 37
Myron rushed by Clip’s secretary.
“He’s not in there,” she cried.
Ignoring her, he opened the office door. The lights were off and the room was empty. He spun back toward the secretary. “Where is he?”
The secretary, a classic battle-ax who had probably been with Clip since the Coolidge Administration, put her hands on her hips. “I don’t have the slightest idea,” she huffed.
Calvin Johnson came out of the adjoining office. Myron approached him. He waited until they were inside Calvin’s office and the door was closed. “Where is he?”
Calvin held up his hands. “I don’t know. I tried his house, but there was no answer.”
He’d go to the guy who could best relate to the unique troubles of superstardom.
He’d go to the guy who shared that rarefied air with him.
Chapter 36
Myron wasn’t sure what to do next.
In truth, he had nothing more than a suspicion. There was no proof. No real evidence. But it could potentially answer a lot of questions. Why, for example, had Thumper helped set up Emily on videotape? By all accounts, she was not particularly close to Greg.
But she was to TC.
Again the superstar bond. Greg had feared losing his kids in a custody battle. That’s about as big a worry as a person can have. So whom did he turn to for help?
TC.
When Win had leaned on Thumper last night, letting her know that he was searching for Greg, whom had she warned?
TC.
No proof, of course. But it felt very right.
Myron could now put a lot of it together. Greg was under incredible strain—not the best situation for a man of his questionable mental fortitude to be ensnared. What had gone through his mind when he saw Liz Gorman dead on the floor? He’d have to have known that he would be the prime suspect in her murder. As Emily had pointed out, Greg had motive, opportunity, and was at the murder scene. Emily saw that. It was why she set him up. Greg must have seen it too.
So what did he do?
He ran.
Seeing Liz Gorman dead had been the final straw. But Greg had also known that he could not do it alone. People would be looking for him this time. He needed help. He needed time and space.
So whom did Greg reach out to?
The guy who understood him best. Who could relate to the unique troubles of superstardom. Who shared that rarefied air with him.
Myron stopped at a red light. He was close, so goddamn close. TC was helping Greg hide; he was sure of it. But of course, TC was only part of the solution. None of this answered the central question in all this:
Who killed Liz Gorman?
He put his mind on rewind and reviewed the night of the murder. He thought about Clip being the first of the three to arrive. In many ways, Clip was now his best suspect. But Myron still saw big problems with that scenario. What was Clip’s motive, for example? Yes, Liz Gorman’s information may have been detrimental to the team. The information may have even been potent enough for him to lose the vote. But would Clip pick up a baseball bat and murder a woman over that? People kill for money and power all the time. Would Clip?
But there was still a larger problem at work here, one that Myron could not get around no matter how hard he tried. Emily was the one who planted the blood and murder weapon at Greg’s house. That was established and that made sense. Okay, fine. We know who planted the evidence …
… but who cleaned it up?
There were only three logical choices: 1) Greg Downing, 2) someone trying to protect Greg, or 3) the killer.
But it couldn’t have been Greg. Even if you accept the semi-impossible premise that Greg went back into his house after going into hiding, how did he find the blood? Did he just happen to go down into his playroom? No. It was too ridiculous. The only way Greg would have gone down there was if he’d known the blood had been planted.
Myron froze.
That was it. Whoever had cleaned up the blood had known what Emily had done. They didn’t just stumble across it by accident. So how did they find out? From Emily? Uh uh, no way. Emily would be the last person to say anything. Could she have been spotted in the act? Again, the answer was a resounding no. If that had been the case, the bat would have been removed too. More to the point, the blood would have been cleaned up right away—before Myron and Win found it. The timing of the clean-up was crucial—it’d happened after Myron and Win had revealed their discovery. That meant Myron and Win were the leak.
So who had they told?
The finger pointed back to Clip.
He turned on Route 3 and entered the Meadowlands complex. The arena loomed before him like a large UFO on a white landing pad. Did Clip Arnstein murder Liz Gorman and clean up the blood? Myron wrestled with the possibility, but he didn’t like it. How had Clip gotten inside Greg’s house? There were no signs of forced entry. Had he picked the lock? Doubtful. Did he have a key? Doubtful. Did he hire a professional? Still doubtful. Clip hadn’t even let a private investigator do a simple credit card check on Greg for fear word would get out. Whom would he trust to clean up the blood of a person he murdered?
And something else still jabbed at Myron with a sharpened, steel point: the woman’s clothes in the bedroom. They had been packed away too. Why would Clip remove all traces of a secret girlfriend? Why would anybody?
The different scenarios swirled in Myron’s head like rubber ducks in a whirlpool. He concentrated again on the mystery girlfriend. Could it have been Fiona White? She wasn’t talking, but Myron firmly believed that she was not the one. How could Fiona have lived with Greg and kept it hidden from a husband as obsessively jealous as Leon? Perhaps there had been some entanglement between Greg and Fiona—a casual fling in a motel room or something—but Myron no longer believed even that. The more he thought about it, the “greatest night of sexual ecstasy” epistle was more of a come-on than the talk of two familiar lovers. It seemed more logical that Greg was telling Leon the truth when he said he would never sleep with another man’s wife. The thought gave Myron’s old shame new life.
A commercial came on the radio. A very hip man and a very hip woman were enjoying a Molson’s Golden far too much. They spoke in low voices and laughed at each other’s lame jokes. Myron switched it off.
He still had more questions than answers. But when he picked up his cellular phone to check Greg’s answering machine, his fingers began to tremble. Something tightened his chest, making it hard to breathe. This feeling, however, was not like pregame jitters. In fact, it was the furthest thing from them.
Chapter 37
Myron rushed by Clip’s secretary.
“He’s not in there,” she cried.
Ignoring her, he opened the office door. The lights were off and the room was empty. He spun back toward the secretary. “Where is he?”
The secretary, a classic battle-ax who had probably been with Clip since the Coolidge Administration, put her hands on her hips. “I don’t have the slightest idea,” she huffed.
Calvin Johnson came out of the adjoining office. Myron approached him. He waited until they were inside Calvin’s office and the door was closed. “Where is he?”
Calvin held up his hands. “I don’t know. I tried his house, but there was no answer.”
