Page 47 of Zero Divergence
“What? Hell no. The guy is still breathing and moving without a permanent limp, isn’t he?” Blakemore countered. “She was planning to make a trophy out of his balls.”
“Is that what she said?” Royce asked. “Or is this another of your impressions?”
“That is a direct quote from Vivian after concluding the phone call where he threatened to kill her. A week later, and she’s dead. A coincidence? I think not.”
Sawyer wanted to know how everything broke down between Vincenzo and Gross, and how they went from a joyous reunion and passionate affair to bitter enemies. He needed the senator to be forthcoming if he was going to get the truth.
“This morning, you were certain Humphries did it,” Royce reminded him.
“I wasn’t thinking clearly. What reason would Humphries have to kill Vivian? She got his case dismissed.” Blakemore’s shoulders inched up closer to his ears. The last thing they wanted was for him to clam up or get Elderwood back in the room because they’d put him on the defensive.
“Let’s circle back to Mickey Hendrix and his accusations,” Sawyer said, steering them back toward a potentially less volatile subject. “You mentioned she was acting out of character and chalked it up to the situation between Ms. Gross and Senator Vincenzo. Could there have been something else going on? Was she seeing someone romantically? Someone she didn’t want you to know about, perhaps?”
“Are you actually accusing her of fucking Humphries?” Blakemore asked angrily.
“No. No, I am not,” Sawyer said emphatically. “There are many reasons she might keep a new relationship quiet, Mr. Blakemore. Maybe she wasn’t convinced it was going anywhere and would rather avoid awkward questions later when the relationship fizzled out. There’s also the possibility people might see her love interest as a conflict of interest.”
Blakemore narrowed his eyes. “Or maybe he was already engaged to someone else.” He sat up straighter in his chair. “That’s what you’re trying to ask me indirectly, isn’t it? You think Vincenzo was seeing Vivian.”
“I’m not one to beat around a bush, and I said no such thing,” Sawyer replied.
“Did Vincenzo tell you he and Vivian were seeing one another?” Blakemore asked, then shook his head. “No. I don’t believe it. Vivian Gross would never be some man’s mistress. She’d never accept taking a back seat to another woman or allow herself to become attached to a man who was too much of a coward to admit his feelings for her. And besides, I would’ve known.”
“How?” Royce asked.
“Vivian would’ve told me. We were close,” the younger man said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Sawyer could’ve pointed out that she didn’t share her history with Vincenzo until after she found out they were still married. Had Blakemore not been home at the time to witness her shock, Sawyer doubted Gross would’ve shared the news with him then either. Some things were too personal to discuss, even with people you loved and who returned your affection. Royce and Marcus came to mind. Royce had never felt comfortable telling Marcus about his attraction to men, and Marcus had never confessed his affair to Royce. Each of them had their reasons for keeping secrets to themselves, yet their bond was undeniable.
“What about angry clients besides Hendrix,” Royce said, circling back to their first question.
“There are several others who might’ve been mad enough to want her dead,” Blakemore said after a brief pause.
Several more? Most people would be pressed to name one person who wanted to kill them, but then again, most people weren’t Vivian Gross, defender of mafia bosses, killers, and rapists.
Sawyer was glad he’d taken the time to dig up dirt on Vivian’s court hearings before coming. Sure, the information he had was one-sided and biased by whichever reporter, mostly Felix, wrote the story. In addition to Hendrix, he’d had Ed Menske down, who the FBI wanted for racketeering, human trafficking, and money laundering but had to settle for a tax evasion conviction instead. The man was incarcerated at Jesup, a low-security facility, rather than doing hard time at Georgia State Prison, a maximum-security prison. While Sawyer thought the thug should be grateful, it was doubtful Menske felt that way. Bart Jesper, son of a billionaire tycoon, also lost his appeal for a new trial six months ago. He was convicted of kidnapping and killing his ex-girlfriend. Then there was Gretchen Wilcox, who worked for a crime family in Atlanta and was probably the most dangerous of them all. From what Sawyer read, Vivian and her colleagues thought her acquittal was a slam dunk, then blamed jury bias when the verdict came back guilty of first-degree murder the following week. Out of all of them, Gretchen was the one with the stiffest sentence. With Jesper, the jury bought the idea that he hadn’t gone to his ex-girlfriend’s home with the intent to kidnap and kill her, so he was looking at twenty-five years compared to Gretchen, who was facing the death penalty at her sentencing hearing in a few weeks.
The conference room door flew open and slammed against the wall. Blakemore, who had his back to the door, jumped up and pivoted toward the threat while Sawyer and Royce stared at Elderwood’s flushed face.
“So much for being on the same team,” he snarled. “I consider your egregious act a break in the truce we formed this morning.”
“Would you mind telling us whategregious actyou’re referring to?” Royce countered. “We have been completely honest with you, Mr. Elderwood.”
Blakemore looked back and forth between them. “What’s this about, sir?”
Elderwood jabbed a finger in their direction. “They stole a file.”
“No, we didn’t,” Royce and Sawyer said at the same time.
“I don’t think so, sir,” Blakemore said uneasily. It took guts for the guy to stand up to the man who signed his paychecks.
“Can I ask which file is missing, Mr. Elderwood?” Sawyer asked. “Its disappearance might be part of the case.”
Elderwood ignored him and spoke to Blakemore instead. “Why do you think they’re telling the truth?”
“Because they could’ve searched Vivian’s office without me being present, but they asked me to look inside the room to see if anything was missing.”
The older man pinned Royce and Sawyer with a glare. “I thought you said no one was going into her office until I got there.”