ear. “Because you’re going to find it for me.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because you’re fucking my daughter-in-law. And if my son finds out, he’ll kill you. You know that better than anybody.”
I stand mute, knowing I have no choice but to at least pretend to agree to his demands.
“It won’t be like that time when you were a senior in high school, either,” Max goes on. “Out at the country club? When Paul let you off without an ass-whipping?”
“How do you know about that?”
He chuckles. “Not much happens in this town I don’t know about, in the high school or the old folks’ home.”
This is probably true. “Why do you think I can find this stuff if you can’t?”
“Because people see you as a crusader, just like Jet. They’ll trust you, confide in you. They’ll think you’re lined up against me, when in fact you’ll be working for me.” Max straightens up in the chair. “So that’s the deal, Goose, plain as I can make it. I need that cache of digital dynamite degaussed and burned in a hot fire. And you’re gonna find it for me.”
“That’s all you want? Nothing else?”
“Well . . . there is one other codicil to this contract. Once I have what I need, you’re gonna move back to Washington. You’ve had a good romp with Jet, but you’ve boned that bitch for the last time. You can come back for your father’s funeral, but that’s it. I don’t figure moving back to D.C. will cause you much pain, since you never cared much for your daddy after your brother died.”
I look at the floor, trying to force my whirling thoughts into some kind of order. All I can see is a blurry path toward survival. “If I agree to find this data cache, you’ll destroy those pictures? And your video? All copies?”
Max smiles with good humor. “Well . . . I might keep one for myself, to beat off to now and then. Jet looks pretty damn good naked. Especially for her age.”
This is the Max Matheson I’ve always known, joking about “gettin’ pussy” when he coached us as twelve-year-olds, telling us bloody tales from ’Nam and reveling in all the naïve hero worship that resulted. Max is the first man I heard say, “Old enough to bleed, old enough to butcher.” Knowing that this man has total power over Jet and me—
“Listen, Goose,” he says, like we’re still on a high school football field. “There’s nothing wrong with tasting whatever you get a craving for, long as you don’t get greedy about it. A slice off a cut loaf’s never missed, right? I think that’s in the Bible.” He laughs heartily. “At least I know a few preachers who think it is. Anyway, I tap quite a few wives around here nice and regular. I like to catch ’em in their late thirties, early forties. That’s the best age. They want it bad, and they know what they’re doing. They’ve finally put to rest whatever hang-ups their mamas stuffed into their heads. Of course this new generation ain’t got no hang-ups at all.”
Sometimes I wonder whether Max’s sexual obsession is genuine or part of a shtick he uses to distract people. Probably both. “Tell me about this data cache. Why can’t you find it? Where could it be?”
“If I knew that, would I be here? But I need to find it quick. If I don’t, I’m a dead man. Sooner rather than later.”
“That doesn’t sound like a negative outcome to me just now.”
He gives me a wolfish grin. “I bet not. But if I go down, you do, too. Rest assured of that.”
“Who would kill you, Max? Who would be so brazen?”
“Any of my more nervous partners. There’s a code in the Poker Club, unwritten but absolutely understood. You never put another member at risk. You never take food from another’s mouth. And you never fuck another man’s wife. That’s in order of priority. If I don’t neutralize this threat to the club, then one of my partners is going to neutralize me. It’s that simple.”
“If you become a target of your partners, does Jet lose the protection you’ve been giving her for the past few years?”
His grin is almost paternal. “You figured that out, huh? What can I say? Jet’s family. She’s not blood, but she’s the mother of my grandson. And he’s a pip, boy. So, the short answer? Nobody fucks with the Matheson family. End of story.”
“But if you go