59
Brenner was used to being in control. As a child, he was the kid who ran the playground, choosing which games to play and terrorizing anyone who dared to challenge him. In college, he knew exactly what he wanted to study—law enforcement. He wanted to enforce rules and have a badge to back up his authority. When the classroom work proved tedious, he took matters into his own hands and joined the army. Military service would make him a shoo-in for the police department.
Even when he was kicked out of the service for assaulting his sergeant—a beating Brenner still believed was long overdue—he had taken control. He managed to get the discharge bumped to “other than honorable,” when the army had wanted to court-martial him with a dishonorable discharge. And when his military record made it impossible for him to work as a cop, he found another way to put his skills to use: as a private eye. When lawyers stopped hiring him for work, he became the political crowd’s go-to guy for what they called “opposition research.”
Time and time again, when circumstances threw Brenner a challenge, he found a way to stay in control and look out for number one.
But now his usual coping skills were eluding him. He couldn’t believe that the brilliant plan he had hatched five years ago was coming apart fast. It had all begun with the most routine request: a jealous husband wanted to know if his wife was stepping out on him. But the husband wasn’t any old Joe Blow. He was political darling Daniel Longfellow. In all his years delivering the bad news to clients, Brenner had never seen a spouse so crushed by the betrayal. He thought Longfellow was going to start bawling right in front of him.
Any respect he had for the man was destroyed when Longfellow pleaded with him to “make them stop.” Brenner offered him the names of some of the best divorce lawyers in town, but all Longfellow wanted was to get his wife back. The senator told him to take the evidence to Kendra Bell. “They have kids,” he said. “She’ll make him end the affair.”
In other words, he wanted her to do his dirty work for him. Well, Brenner was never one to miss an opportunity. He actually started blackmailing Leigh Ann first, right when he heard the rumors that the governor was thinking about Longfellow for the vacant Senate seat. It was a no-brainer. He lied and told her that Martin Bell’s wife had hired him to trail her husband but that he was willing to sell her the incriminating photos instead if the price was right. She was the earner in the family, plus it was clear she had big plans about being first lady someday. Future first ladies don’t get caught kissing someone else’s husband. She paid.
The situation with Kendra had been more complicated. When he first approached her at that bar, he wasn’t sure how to play her. But he knew her husband was loaded, and he had a chance to collect. What were the chances she would spill her guts to him or that the doc would be killed only days later? It was as if the money had fallen into his lap. Like his grandfather used to say, “When a baked duck flies into your mouth, don’t ask questions. Eat it.” Two separate women, two steady paydays—and neither one of them ever figured out it was crybaby Longfellow who had first put the wheels in motion.
Now he needed to put the screws to Leigh Ann one more time, but not for money.
She was obviously angry when she stepped from the station wagon, but she looked around cautiously, afraid to be recognized. There were other cars in the lot, but no visible occupants. The afternoon soccer and baseball games were already under way.
“You can’t just call me on the weekend and demand that I drive out to the middle of nowhere at a second’s notice. Luckily Daniel was at the office or—”
“Your husband needs to call his friends at the police department or the DA’s Office or something for a get-out-of-jail-free card.”
She looked at him with disdain. “Are you insane? That’s something from a trashy crime novel. That’s not how real life works.”
If Brenner had been his usual self—a man always in control—he might have noticed that her voice wasn’t tentative and nervous, as it always was when he spoke with her. Maybe he would have realized there was a reason for her newfound confidence today.
“That’s exactly how it works. It happens all the time. Senator So and So’s kid gets a DUI, and, oops, the paperwork goes missing. Congressman Whatshisname gets caught with drugs in his car, and the Baggie walks out of the property room. Strings get pulled, and now you and your big-shot husband need to pull them for me.”
“I can’t do that,” she said. “Daniel doesn’t even know about Martin. He still thinks he was just a man I knew through our parents. How in the world am I supposed to explain my connection to you?”
He almost started to laugh. She was so smart and yet so stupid. “Trust me, Leigh Ann, he knows who I am. He’s the one who hired me, not Kendra. He knows about you and Martin. He’s known all along.”
He could tell she was thrown off by the information. “Well, he would never do what you’re asking—even if it were possible. He’s too principled.”
“Exactly, which is why I need you to ask him to do it. He’ll do it for you because he loves you and would do anything to keep you out of trouble. I know him. He’d take a bullet for you.”
She looked down, and he could see her mulling over her options. She glanced around at the players on the nearby soccer and softball fields. She stared at the car partially obscured by the grove of trees.
“I’m worried about someone recognizing me. Let’s talk in your car.”
He double-clicked his key fob to unlock the doors and hopped into the driver’s seat. When she was settled into the passenger’s seat next to him, she said, “You were right about what you said. Danny does love me. And that’s why I can’t let you ruin everything for us.”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a gun.