“He saved your life?” she asked.
“You have to understand that Mr. Gaddis’s situation is incredibly complex. And rich people, they don’t think like you and me. I’m not even sure they live on this planet some of the time. He will surprise me at times, but he has always treated me fairly. Still, in the end, it’s up to each of us to look out for our own interests, because no one else will unless their interests align. Do you understand me? That’s the best answer I can give you.”
“Thank you,” she said. “That helps.”
With that, Peter excused himself, saying he had work to do and that if she needed anything to ask the house. She spent the rest of the afternoon exploring and thinking about what Peter had told her about aligning interests. One thing was for sure, it was going to be an interesting conversation tonight. Despite Gaddis’s hospitality, they weren’t friends. Quite the opposite, he just needed something from her. There was also a fifty-fifty chance that everything Brooke Fenton had said was true. She would need to be on her toes.
The house was room after room of perfectly decorated spaces. Each one empty and devoid of any sense of life. It was like walking through a luxury resort after the season was over and all the guests had gone home. Besides dual kitchens, the house also boasted a movie theater; an enormous library that belonged in an old English university; a game room with a fully stocked bar, pool tables, Ping-Pong, and shuffleboard; a full-size gym; a racquetball court; and a climate-controlled wine cellar that held thousands of bottles. She passed through a ballroom so large, it echoed when she walked. But it wasn’t until she came to the hospital-grade medical suite that Con’s envy began to turn to pity. Peter had told her Gaddis rarely left the island. He hadn’t built a barbershop and doctor’s office out of convenience. He’d built them so he wouldn’t have to leave the safety and privacy of the island. All that money, and he was still trapped. It wasn’t a home, it was an A-list prison.
Upstairs, she found his kids’ rooms. Each was immaculate and frozen in amber, toys and clothes scattered around where they’d been left. It reminded Con of the way parents sometimes mourned the loss of a child because they couldn’t face up to the truth. On one of the boys’ desks was an unfinished homework assignment. But Peter had said the children didn’t live at the house. The children hadn’t been on board the plane, so where were they?
Out the daughter’s bedroom window, Con saw a limousine pull into the circular driveway and stop at the front door. Vernon Gaddis got out and walked briskly into the house. She should take a shower and make herself presentable. It was almost time for dinner.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A little after eight, Peter showed Con onto a terrace that looked out over the seawalls that kept the island from being reclaimed by the rising Chesapeake Bay. The sun hung low in the western sky and framed the house in a golden halo. Gaddis sat at one end of a table that could easily have hosted thirty. He rose to greet her, wearing an impeccably tailored suit. After her shower, Con had agonized over what to wear. Did she pick something from the rack of new clothes to show her gratitude, or did that make her appear weak? She’d tried on several options, but in the end, she’d gone with the T-shirt and jeans that she’d arrived in, which she’d returned to find cleaned and folded on her bed. She kept on insisting that she was Con D’Arcy, so she might as well act like it.
“Good evening,” Gaddis said. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you woke, but I had to go into DC to put out a fire. Peter took good care of you, I trust? I hear you were brave enough to let him cut your hair.”
“Well, he was brave enough to cut it.”
Peter smiled at her joke but said nothing. He poured the wine and disappeared back inside the house. Vernon Gaddis raised his glass and waited for Con to do the same.
“Welcome to my home. Thank you for being here.”
“Thank you,” Con said as they touched glasses. She was anxious to get down to business but knew it would be a mistake to be the first to raise it. A silence opened between them. He smiled, baiting her. Nice try. She was young but she wasn’t stupid. Instead, she tried her wine and complimented him although all she really knew about the wine was that it was a white.
“You know, this was your aunt’s favorite spot in the house,” Gaddis said, breaking the deadlock. “When she stayed here at the island, we would sit out here for hours planning the future of Palingenesis. She loved this view, although it was better before we had to raise the seawalls again.”