Page 94 of High Society

“What do you think, Graham?”

He takes a long swig from the bottle. “About what?”

“Are you aware how deliberate your self-sabotage is?”

“And are you aware that things don’t come as easily to me as they do to the Golden Boy, Nate?”

“Constantly.”

“Yeah, well, then cut me some slack.”

“Which is what I’ve been doing your whole life,” Aaron says. “Always giving you the benefit of the doubt. Always bailing you out. But who’s it helping? It’s not a safety net, is it? It’s more like a web that’s keeping you trapped.”

Graham’s eyes narrow with a flicker of concern. “What does that mean?”

“It’s time I cut you off, Graham. After this month, I won’t pay your rent anymore. And I’m canceling your credit card.”

“What kind of bullshit—”

“I can’t keep reinforcing your self-destructive behavior.”

“You’re abandoning me?” Graham glares at him. “Your own son?”

“I’m doing this for you.”

“Bullshit!” he cries. “You want to talk about reinforcing behavior? You let that wife of yours walk over you like a doormat.”

“This is about you, Graham. No one else.”

But Graham ignores him. “You let her humiliate you. Constantly. You dote on her when she needs something and then ignore the tire tracks she leaves across your back on her way out the door.” He lays a hand across his own chest. “And all the while, she just keeps poisoning you against me.”

The words sting more than Aaron is willing to let on. Holly does have a habit of loving and leaving, but all he says is “You’d be surprised how little thought Holly gives you, Graham. There’s so much you don’t understand.”

“Oh, I understand plenty. Her patients are dropping like flies. And what do you do? You help her dispose of the bodies.”

Aaron shakes a finger at the door. “It’s time for you to leave.”

Graham pivots and stomps to the door. He looks back over his shoulder, his lip curled into a sneer. “Did it ever occur to you that she might be the one killing them?”

CHAPTER 47

Thursday, April 25

Holly is clear with Walter as soon as she steps into his home. “I didn’t come to talk this morning,” she says as she wraps his bony frame in a gentle hug.

“You prefer semaphore now?” he asks as soon as they separate, moving his arms as if using imaginary flags to communicate.

She grins. “I mean I’m not here for heavy discussions about death. Or divorce. Or professional disgrace.” What she doesn’t say is that his proximity alone is enough to make her feel more grounded. Safer.

But Walter’s spark is back, and he isn’t willing to leave it at that. “Don’t be boring, Koala. I can talk about the weather with the few nearly dead friends I have left. Tell me what’s going on with this volatile tribe of yours. And the police investigation.”

Holly provides a sanitized update. She leaves out any mention of having questioned her clients while under the influence of ketamine, wondering if she’s doing so more to protect his feelings or to shield herself from his disappointment.

After she finishes, Walter stares in disbelief. “This psychologist was blackmailing her own patients?”

“Apparently.”

“You could probably stand to tighten your client-vetting process a notch or two.”