The Perk (47 page)

He inched the Navigator forward in the carpool pickup
lane outside the primary school until he was at the door. He spotted Meggie
waiting there with her backpack strapped on; the thing was so big she looked
like a little mountain climber.

Gretchen opened the back door for Meggie.
"Hi, Beck."

"Hi, Gretchen."

She helped Meggie into her booster seat and
strapped her in.

"How's it going?"

"Scores came back, from the state
achievement tests the kids took before the raid. Latinos didn't do well, but
no one cares now—all the Latinos are gone." She shook her head. "Haven't
seen you at the gym lately."

"It's been busy at the courthouse."

"I've still got Saturday nights open."

"I'm still forty-two."

"I've still got needs."

She winked at him, then shut the door.

Wes could not find Chase Connelly.

Beck had called Wes twice a day; Chase Connelly had
disappeared. Until J.B. found him that night. He called out to Beck from
inside. "Here's your boy!"

"What?"

"I was looking
for
The Beverly Hillbillies
and there he was."

"Who?"

"Chase Connelly. He's on TV."

Beck jumped out of the rocker and ran inside and
over to the TV. On the screen was Jay Leno behind his desk. Sitting next to
him was a young blond man wearing a black tee shirt under a leather jacket,
jeans, and cowboy boots. He had a long cigar in his mouth. Beck turned up the
volume.

Chase was saying, "Aw, heck, Jay, I ain't
nuthin' but a country boy like to swim nekkid in the creek down on the ranch."

That brought shrieks from the females in the
audience.

"You can take the boy out of Texas, Jay, but you can't take Texas out of the boy."

Cain't.

"You have a big ranch down in Texas?" Leno asked.

"Outside Austin, but it's not a big ranch.
Just seven thousand acres."

Leno laughed. "That's not a big
ranch?"

"Not in Texas. Golly, Jay, Texas is a big state."

"
Giant
."

"Bigger than giant."

"No, the movie."

"What movie?"

"
Giant
."

"It's big."

Beck pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed
dial for Wes. It was two hours earlier in L.A. Wes answered on the second
ring.

"Wes, it's Beck. Get over to the studio
where they do the Leno show. Chase Connelly is over there right now!"

"It's a rerun, Beck. I checked. Chase is in
Africa, some kind of celebrity we-are-the-world AIDS tour."

They hung up. Beck watched the rest of Chase's
appearance on Leno. He was thirty-four years old and earned $20 million for
each film plus a percentage of gross. He was married with a four-year-old
daughter he adored. His playboy days, he assured Leno, were a thing of the
past.

Which brought groans from the females in the
audience.

 
 
Dear J.B.,

I have to get you ready for
them, and we don't have much time. I'll email everything you need to know
about the kids, what they eat, school, immunizations, etc. Can you build
bedrooms for them? I'll send photos and I'll order everything and have it
shipped to you. I want it just like home for them.

Meggie won't understand for a while
that I'm really gone. Be patient and let her little mind work through it.

Luke will understand and he'll
get angry. He'll go inside himself, he's just like Beck. Get him busy. And
playing sports. Get him on a baseball field, that's where he's the happiest.
I was thinking, can you build a baseball field? 800 acres, there should be
enough space. If you can build a winery, you can build a baseball field.
Luke's good.

Beck is in denial.

Love, Annie

Every Texas county has an appraisal
district. And every appraisal district has a website. And on those websites
are searchable listings of all real property in the county. The next morning, Beck
had searched the Travis County website for "Connelly, Chase" and
found no properties recorded under his name. But Chase had said that he owned
a ranch outside Austin.

So Beck had searched the counties adjacent to Travis County and the counties adjacent to those counties and the counties adjacent to
those. He found no listings for Chase Connelly. Either Chase was lying about
owning a ranch outside Austin or the ranch was listed in the name of an entity
owned by Chase or … Chase Connelly wasn't his real name.

How would you find a movie star's real name?

But another thought occurred to Beck. A
terrible thought. One he didn't want to even entertain. But he had to.

He logged back on to the Travis County appraisal district website. He typed in "Barnes, Randi." Randi's property
listing came up. He scrolled down. Total land and improvement value was
$3,250,000. Total annual property taxes for Travis County, the Travis County
Hospital District, and the school district were $56,000. The deed date was 03152003.

He went to Mavis'
office and asked her to pull the
Geisel vs. Geisel
divorce file. He
took the gold file back to his chambers. He wrote out a timeline.

Heidi had died on December 31, 2002.

She was found on January 1, 2003.

She was buried on January 5, 2003.

Randi filed for divorce on January 10, 2003.

The divorce decree was signed by Stutz on March
12, 2003, the sixtieth day after filing, the statutory waiting period. Randi
waived all community property rights; she didn't want her share of the house
valued at $157,000, or the checking account of $952, or the savings account of
$4,231, or Aubrey's state teachers' retirement fund of $47,850. She just
wanted out. She packed her clothes into her 1991 Volkswagen and left. The Austin house had been conveyed to Randi Barnes on March 15, 2003, three days after the
divorce.

Beck walked out and told Mavis he was driving to
Austin. She said, "You got a girlfriend over there?"

When Randi opened her front door, Beck said, "You blackmailed
Chase Connelly."

Randi exhaled a stream of cigarette smoke.

"I settled with Chase Connelly."

She turned and walked into the living room.
Beck shut the door and followed Randi outside onto the deck. She was dressed
in a sweater, jeans, and high heels.

"When he killed her, he took all I had in
life. We were more like sisters, Heidi and me, than mother and daughter. She
even called me 'Sis'."

"How did you know Heidi was with Chase?"

"She sent me a photo of them from inside the
limo. Cell phone camera. My lawyer said that photo was enough to get a search
warrant for Chase's DNA sample and once that sample matched what they found in
Heidi, he'd be an inmate, not a movie star."

"Where's the photo?"

"In a safe place. And I won't give it up,
Beck."

"That photo is enough to indict Chase."

"And mess up my deal."

"How much did he pay you?"

"Twenty-five."

"
Million?
"

She nodded.

"You sold out Heidi for twenty-five million
dollars?"

"I settled a wrongful death claim for twenty-five
million dollars."

"Why didn't you go public with that photo,
after he paid you?"

"Confidentiality agreement."

"Where's that document at?"

"Also in a safe place."

"Chase Connelly isn't his real name?"

She shook his head.

"What is it?"

"I don't know."

"But you signed a settlement agreement with
him."

"It was all done through an L.A. law firm. They wouldn't let me see his real name. I signed, and they wired the
money to my lawyer. He wired it to me … after deducting his share."

"Didn't you get a copy of the
agreement?"

"My copy is held by a trustee who can give
it to me only if Chase fails to pay. He paid five million upfront then one
million a year for twenty years. If I talk, the money stops." She waved
a hand at the house. "All this goes away. If I ruin Chase's career, he
ruins my life. My lawyer said that's what they call a Mexican standoff."

"Randi, I can't believe you let Heidi's
murderer go free."

"What was I supposed to do, Beck?"

"Go to the sheriff. Give him the photo so Chase
could be charged with murder."

"Oh, yeah, like a jury's gonna convict
Chase Connelly."

"Those Germans out there would."

"Not once the national media descended on
that small town. They'd get stars in their eyes like everyone else."

"He could've been convicted for stat
rape."

"Maybe. Maybe not. But the whole world
would've said Heidi was just a slut. I didn't want that."

"No, you wanted money."

"Beck, she was gone. My dream was
gone."

"So he still owes you, what?"

"Sixteen million."

"Has he already paid you for this
year?"

"Yeah."

"It'd be cheaper for him just to kill you,
too."

"He's not a killer, Beck. He's just a
movie star. Besides, that cell phone, the photo, and a complete statement are
in a safety deposit box. My lawyer will go public if anything happens to me
and Chase doesn't pay—my lawyer wants his third. I'm not stupid, Beck. If I
die, the money goes to Aubrey."

"He won't want it."

"Then he can give it away."

"You knew about her abortion?"

"I took her to get it."

"Who's the father?"

"I don't know."

"I think you do."

Beck gazed out on Lake Austin. The white sails
of a dozen sailboats glowed in the sunlight.

"Randi, if Chase isn't indicted by midnight
on New Year's Eve, he goes free. We've got twelve days to get justice for
Heidi."

"Justice." She shook her head. "You're
gonna mess up my deal, aren't you?"

"I always advised my clients to take lump
sum settlements."

Beck returned to Fredericksburg and to his chambers. An
hour of searching the Internet under "Chase Connelly" yielded names
of two managers. One was Chase's former manager. His name was Billy Gray.
Beck found a listing in L.A. Beck's experience had been that former employees
often nursed grudges and could be sources of damaging information. Billy
answered his own phone.

"Mr. Gray, my name is Judge Beck Hardin.
From Texas."

Billy sighed heavily. "Who is it?"

"Who is what?"

"Which of my clients did something stupid
in Texas?"

"Chase Connelly."

Billy laughed. "Good."

"Why is that good?"

"Because he's not my client anymore."

"When did you quit him?"

"I didn't. He fired me four years ago. I
made him what he is today, a star worth twenty million per film, but I'm not
getting my ten percent."

"Why'd he fire you?"

"Because Clooney won 'Sexiest Man Alive' instead
of him. Five films since then, he owes me ten million."

"I doubt he'll voluntarily pay up."

"No, he's got lots of high-priced lawyers,
Theodore does."

"Do you have his home—who's Theodore?"

Billy laughed. "His name's not Chase
Connelly. I made that name up. His real name is … oh, I signed a
confidentiality agreement … but he owes me money … so why can't I tell
what I know? His real name is Theodore Biederman. He's a rich boy from Houston. His father's a doctor."

"Billy, do you have Chase's …
Theodore's phone numbers?"

"These might not be current."

Billy gave Beck two numbers.

"Does he have a regular driver?"

"Rudy Jaramillo."

"You got his number?"

The numbers Billy Gray gave Beck were all disconnected, and
there were no new numbers listed. So Beck called information for the Houston area code and asked for a home phone number for "Doctor Biederman." He
dialed that number; a woman answered.

"Hello."

"Mrs. Biederman?"

"Yes."

"I'm Judge Hardin, from out in Fredericksburg."

"Oh, Fredericksburg. We loved to shop
there, the doctor and I. Until he died."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Cancer. Six months ago."

"Mrs. Biederman, I'm trying to find Chase … Theodore."

"You'll have to go to Hollywood. He came
home for the funeral, but he hates Texas. I don't know why."

"Do you have his phone number in L.A.?"

"You're a judge?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Because he gets mad when I give his private
number out."

"Oh, he'll be happy to hear from me."

Beck dialed Theodore's private home number in L.A. A woman picked up.

"Hello."

"May I speak with Chase, please."

"He's out of town. May I take a
message?"

"Is Mrs. Connelly home?"

"I'm Helen Connelly. Who is this?"

"I'm Judge Hardin in Texas. I need to
speak with Chase."

"He's out of the country. What is this
about?"

"Well, it's of a personal nature."

"Is it of a female nature?"

"Why do you ask?"

She sighed. "Because I know my
husband."

He had taken his wife for granted.
She had always been there, and he had just assumed she always would be. Then
one day she wasn't there. She wasn't there to kiss him goodbye when he left in
the morning or kiss him hello when he returned that night. She didn't answer
when he absentmindedly pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial for her
cell phone, to tell her he'd be late. She wasn't there when he turned over in
bed and reached out for her and …

Beck sat up in bed. Where's Meggie? He got up
and hurried down the hall to her room. She was sitting in bed talking to the
doll.

"Hi, Daddy."

"You didn't have an accident last night?"