“I’ll buzz him, sir,” the receptionist said. “He’s asked to always be notified of your arrival.”
The man across the room shuffled papers loudly enough to draw our attention. “He’s busy, Lucas. You can’t show up unannounced and drag him out of meetings. We’re running a business here.”
“Hello, William. You’re looking well.”
William Cortez. Middle brother. I could be forgiven for not reaching that conclusion earlier. The man bore little resemblance to either Lucas or Benicio. Average height and about seventy pounds overweight, with soft features that might have been girlishly handsome once, but had faded into doughy blandness. William turned to us for the first time, zapping Lucas with an irritated glare. His gaze crossed over me with only a small head shake.
“Don’t page my father, Dorinda,” William said. “Lucas can wait like the rest of us.”
She glanced at her fellow secretaries for help, but they worked harder, pretending not to notice her sinking into the quicksand of conflicting authority.
“Perhaps we should ascertain the exact nature of the request,” Lucas said. “Did my father say he could be notified or that he should be notified?”
“Should, sir. He was very clear on that.” She snuck a sidelong glance at William. “Very clear.”
“Then I’m sure neither William nor myself wishes to get you into any trouble. Please notify him that I’ve arrived, but tell him I’m not here on a matter of any urgency, so I can wait for his meeting to end.”
The receptionist fairly sighed with relief, nodded, and picked up the phone. While she called, Lucas steered me over to William, who was still at the filing cabinet.
“William,” Lucas said, dropping his voice. “I’d like to introduce you to—”
William slammed the drawer, cutting him short. He hefted a pile of folders under his arm.
“I’m busy, Lucas. Some of us work here.”
He turned on his heel and stalked out the main doors.
“Mr. Cortez?” the receptionist called from the desk. “Your father will be right out. He’d like you to wait in his office.”
Lucas thanked her and led me down the hall to the glazed-glass double doors at the end. Before we reached them, a door to our left opened and a trio of men in standard-issue middle-management suits strode out, then stopped to stare at Lucas. After a quick recovery, they offered welcomes and handshakes to the crown prince, their greetings falling just a hair short of obeisance. I snuck a peek at Lucas. As someone who normally passed through life unnoticed, what was it like to be recognized here at every turn, to have VPs twice his age falling over themselves to pay their respects?
Once they were gone, we headed through the double doors, into a small reception room, and through yet another set of double doors before we reached Benicio’s inner sanctum. Had I seen a picture of his office earlier, I’d have been shocked. Now, having seen the rest of the building, it was exactly what I’d expect. Simple, understated, and no larger than the office of the average corporate VP. The only remarkable thing about it was the view, made all the more spectacular by the window itself, which was a single pane of glass stretching floor-to-ceiling across the entire wall. The glass was spotless and the lighting in the room had been arranged so it cast no reflection, meaning you saw not a window, but a room that seemed to open right into the bright blue Miami sky.
Lucas walked to his father’s computer and typed in a password. The screen blinked to life.
“I’ll print off a copy of the security forms while we wait,” he said.
While he did that, I perused the photos on Benicio’s desk. The first one to catch my eye was of a small boy, no more than five, at the beach, staring at the camera with the most serious expression any five-year-old at the beach has ever had. One look at that expression and I knew it was Lucas. Beside him, a woman pulled a face, trying to get him to smile, but only making herself laugh instead. The broad grin infused her plain face with something approaching beauty. Maria. Her grin was as unmistakable as Lucas’s sober stare.
What did Benicio’s other sons think when they saw their father’s former mistress’s picture so prominently displayed, yet none of their own mother, his legal wife? Not only that, but of the three photographs on Benicio’s desk, Lucas occupied two while the three of them shared one group portrait. What