The 38 Million Dollar Smile - Stevenson Richard - Страница 56

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to do with.

Ellen had flopped onto an easy chair in her aubergine

pantsuit and tangerine headband, and Bill was seated at the desk in fresh khakis and a white polo shirt. Here was the man I

remembered from the Albany airport ten days earlier, a beefier

version of Gary, with thinning hair and puffy dark eyes. He had

popped a piece of Nicorette gum soon after Pugh and I arrived,

and I felt for the guy. Having your wealth and your life’s work

crumbling while you were in nicotine withdrawal was a lot of

people’s idea of hell. I wondered if he would make it through

the next few days without bolting down the street to pick up a

pack of Marlboros, which in Thailand were required by law to

display hideous pictures of rotting gums on the front of each

package.

The Griswolds did not appear pleased to have Pugh in the

room — their handshakes with him were brief and perfunctory

250 Richard Stevenson

— but they apparently accepted my explanation that he was the

man who would keep us all safe while these complex Griswold

family matters got sorted out.

I laid out Gary Griswold’s story that he had let himself be

blackmailed by Hubbard and Mertz in order to keep Bill and

Ellen from going to prison and to protect the memories of Bill

and Gary’s parents. They both shook their heads and threw up

their hands.

“That’s idiotic,” Ellen said.

“Pure bullshit,” said Bill.

“And what proof did Duane and Matthew offer of this

heinous crime supposedly sponsored by Bill and me?”

“They said they had an incriminating recording and you had

a copy of it too.”

“Well, they did bring Ellen and me a DVD and try to extort money from us,” Bill said. “But it was no proof of murder, for

God’s sake. It’s the DVD you are about to see. They said we

should pay up, or the family would be embarrassed by Sheila’s

history. Apparently they were bluffing with Gary about proof of

a murder having been committed, and their outrageous bluff

paid off. How much did Gary give them?”

“A lot. Two million dollars.”

“Oh no!”

“He did it for you two supposedly. And for the future wellbeing of your souls.”

“Oh, please,” Ellen said.

Now Pugh spoke up. “Mr. Gary plans on building a

Buddhist study and meditation center here in Bangkok, also

with an aim of easing your way along the bumpy paths of time.

It is a gesture of great magnanimity, and you will be among its

primary beneficiaries. You may not wish to thank him in this

life, but I am guessing that on down the road your gratitude and appreciation will be immense.”

“Mr. Pugh,” Ellen said, “when I die, I plan on staying dead.

So if Gary wants to ease Bill’s and my burdens, he might start

THE 38 MILLION DOLLAR SMILE 251

by dropping this insane plan to rob us of the great company

that Bill’s father built out of literally nothing. And he might

fucking apologize to Bill and me for going around calling us

goddamn murderers!”

Pugh shrugged. “You two are of course free to aim your

souls in any direction you wish, including anybody’s idea of

heaven, hell, purgatory or Venezuela. But it is your actions that will decide things, not your intentions.”

The Griswolds shot each other a Who-is-this-guy? look.

Ellen said, “Thanks for clearing that up. Now I can just close

my eyes anytime I feel like it and drift toward the white light.”

I said, “How did Hubbard and Mertz know that Gary was in

Thailand with a lot of cash in the bank? They told Gary that you sent them his way.”

Bill said, “They knew about Gary from another one of

Duane’s clients, a man Gary had dated when he was still in

Albany and who had tried to contact Gary on a visit to Key

West. Gary’s friends there told this guy what Gary had done —

left the company and moved to Thailand. Duane and Matthew

told us if we didn’t pay them — they wanted something

laughable, like half a million dollars — they would go to Gary

and show him the DVD and tell him what a slut Sheila was, and

did he want this gross family stuff turning up at six and eleven on Channel Thirteen?”

“As if Gary would give a crap,” Ellen said.

“As if we would,” her husband added.

“Well,” Ellen said. “Of course we would care if Bill’s ex turned up on the news in the altogether with those two dorks,

her face and tits all blurred out to save the Hudson Valley

grannies and kiddies who were watching from wondering what

that was all about. Yes, we would care. But not to the tune of half a million dollars. Or even half a million — what’s the

currency here?”

“Baht,” Pugh said.

“Yes, or even half a million of those. Bill told Duane and

Matthew to get lost. We never heard another word, and

252 Richard Stevenson

naturally it never occurred to us that they actually followed

through and went after Gary for money. It all just seemed too

preposterous.”

Pugh said, “It is my duty to inform you that pornography is

illegal in Thailand. That does not mean that it is not ubiquitous.

Nonetheless you are breaking the law by possessing the DVD

you have brought into the country, and I hope you do not end

up in one of our notorious, squalid, soul-destroying prisons for eight or ten years. But anyway here we all are, so let’s have a

look.”

The Sheila Griswold who soon appeared on the hotel

room’s TV screen was quite a specimen: rangy, taut, bright-

eyed, nicely coiffed and made-up, and above all, eager and

versatile. On the fifty-minute video — much of which Bill

Griswold fast-forwarded through — the notorious JAP did

everything but shop. Hubbard and Mertz were also physically

well put together: muscular, fine skinned, with better-thanaverage endowments. And while equally busy, the two men seemed perceptibly more keen on each other’s parts than on the

ex-Mrs. Griswold’s. Though they did do what the DVD’s

producers apparently had required of them, and at every

opportunity Sheila Griswold was ready to help out.

Ellen had only just glanced at the video from time to time

while Bill, Pugh, and I sat paying attention.

“Jesus,” Ellen said when The End came on. “If any of you fellows need to go take a shower, feel free. Me, I could use a

beer.” She was seated near the minibar and got up and extracted

a Singha.

I said, “So this is why Hubbard and Mertz were on the

cruise ship with Sheila when she disappeared? What was it?

They were blackmailing her too? Making her pay for their

Caribbean vacations?”

Ellen laughed. “If only.”

“Sheila was paying those two to travel with her and service

her,” Bill said evenly. “It was one of the expenses I was

expected to pick up after the divorce.”

THE 38 MILLION DOLLAR SMILE 253

“Too sad,” Pugh said. “It sounds like a Thai soap opera.

Except, in Thai soap operas of this kind, murder often is the result.”

“What I still don’t get,” I said, “is why Gary ever believed

that Hubbard and Mertz had proof of the murder accusation.

This DVD certainly would not serve that purpose.”

“In Thailand it might,” Pugh said. “And Khun Gary had

been living here and could conceivably have picked up some of

the local attitudes.”

“But he never even saw the DVD.”

“Perhaps,” Pugh said, “he wished to believe the worst of his

brother. Is that a possibility, Mr. Bill?”

Again, Ellen and Bill glanced at each other. He nodded and

said, “It could have happened that way.”

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