CHAPTER 60
CHAPTER
THE NEXT DAY RHETT TEMPLE pulled up in his Porsche, and Nash let him through the front gate.
Temple got out of the car carrying a paper bag. “Hey, Dillonsan, how goes it with the evil queen?”
“I wouldn’t talk that way, Rhett. There are listening devices everywhere.”
“Oh, shit, I forgot.” But Nash could tell the man was not remotely concerned about that.
“Yeah, always good to be careful.”
Temple drew close to Nash and said in a whisper, “So I probably shouldn’t let her in on the fact that you’re actually Walter Nash then?”
Nash could not help but flinch. “What? Have you been drinking?”
In answer Temple pulled out a wineglass from the paper bag.
“No, but you had. Your prints, all over this, Walt. Got them from your FINRA file. And prints don’t lie.
” He ran his gaze over Nash. “But I have to tell you, it’s an amazing transformation.
I never, ever suspected. This Shock guy is the real deal. ”
Acid firing into his belly, Nash said, “I don’t know what—”
“Angie saw you coming out of the bedroom next to mine the night Ryder came to see me. You had tea with my sister. And then you told her to go night-night, which Dillon Hope would have no clue about, but Walter Nash would. Remember, I told you that little trick when you and Judith came over for dinner and my father couldn’t get Angie to calm down.
And then after you had your ‘tea’ you got in your car, rolled it out the gate, and went to save your wife.
Am I right? Judith is alive and kicking, isn’t she? ”
“You should try writing fiction, Rhett. You’re good.”
Temple studied him for an intense moment. “Okay, if that’s the way you want to play it. I can just take the print results in to Steers and see what she says.”
Temple started to walk past but Nash grabbed the man’s arm to stop him.
Temple smirked. “Glad you came to your senses.”
“Look, Rhett—”
“No, you look, Walt. You’re a hell of a negotiator, the best really. But you need to have at least one card to play and you don’t. So don’t embarrass yourself, man.”
Nash stared at the hand that had betrayed him. He had not continued to rub his finger and palmprints down with the pumice stone Shock had advised him to use to prevent this very thing from happening. But he was not ready to give up yet.
“You’re good at making threats, I’ll give you that. And I think you’re terrified you won’t actually find Walter Nash and so you’re trying to throw me under the bus to get yourself off scot-free.”
Temple grinned. “But the fingerprints—”
Nash placed a crushing grip on Temple’s shoulder. “Fuck the fingerprints,” he said in a low, menacing voice.
He squeezed harder and Temple moaned and tried to pry Nash’s fingers off but couldn’t.
“I could kill you right now, Rhett. You know that, don’t you? You’ve seen what I can do. But you actually don’t know the half of it.” He increased the pressure on the man’s shoulder and Temple dropped to his knees.
“Please,” he moaned.
“What do you want?” said Nash.
Temple gasped, “What I want I already told you: I want to disappear. With all my money. To a place that crazy bitch can never and I mean never find me. You do that for me, your secret is safe. I swear to God. Please, please let go. Please stop.”
“How am I supposed to trust you? You’ve screwed me over before.”
Moaning, Temple said in a halting voice, “I screw you, you can put Steers onto me. And we both know what she’ll do when she finds me.”
Nash looked down at his former boss. Such a little man in so many ways. But this was getting him nowhere. He let go of Temple and the man collapsed to the ground for a few moments, rubbing his shoulder and trying to catch his breath. “You. . .you could have broken my shoulder.”
“I could have done a lot of things, Rhett. Desperate men do, you know. Crazy shit. Real crazy.”
Temple slowly rose, rubbing at his shoulder. “You don’t sound like your old self.”
“I’m not Walter Nash, Rhett, not anymore. I can put you in contact with Shock. But you’ll need to be willing to transform yourself. And there’s no guarantee Shock won’t kill you in the process.”
Still wincing with pain, Temple shrugged and said resignedly, “What choice do I have?”
“Depending on what Shock says, we’ll get you out of here and on your new journey to freedom.”
“You know, it might be better to make it look like I died. I’m betting that’s what you did with Judith. You went back to your old house after Angie saw you leaving my place. You killed those guys that Ryder sent there. And you and the FBI covered it all up, right?”
“That’s quite a leap of logic,” replied Nash, without answering the question.
“I don’t really care. But if Steers thinks I’m dead, she won’t bother coming after me.”
“We can arrange for your death, sure.”
Temple apparently did not like the way Nash had said that. He drew closer. “But just fake dying, Walt. Not the real thing. See, I know you hate my guts. I know you blame me for all this shit. You heard me with Judith. You heard me with the detective. I did my best to frame you.”
“What should I expect from a guy who would throw his own father off a balcony?”
Temple took a step back. “That’s bullshit. Wait, did Mindy tell—”
“Nobody needed to tell me anything, Rhett. Barton never would have kicked the bucket early, cancer or not. And the cops said he was murdered. And I know I didn’t kill him. So that just leaves. . .you.”
“Good luck proving anything,” snarled Temple.
“Well, through DNA the cops can easily prove that baby is yours, not your father’s. There’s a motive right there.”
Temple held up his hands in mock surrender. “Look, we both just need to take a deep breath and realize we have bullets in both our guns, symbolically speaking for me. The smart plan is to work together, not against each other, right?”
“Maybe.”
Temple’s expression changed. “And for what it’s worth, I knew nothing about what they were going to do with Maggie. I hated that it happened. She should be alive. I’m. . .I’m so sorry that she’s not.”
“I actually believe you on that point.”
“You do?” said a startled Temple.
“Yeah, or else I would have already killed you. By the way, I told Mindy to leave with Mandy so you couldn’t beat her up anymore.”
“Look, I lost my temper once with her.”
“It looked like more than once.”
“I’m. . .I’m not proud of what I did. But she’s still there. I. . .promised not to touch her again. And I won’t.”
“Well, if you do, I’ll beat your brains in.”
Temple let out a nervous laugh, saw that Nash was not joking, and said quickly, “Give me a call after you talk to this Shock dude, okay?”
Nash watched him hurry back to his Porsche and drive away.
“What did he want?”
He turned to see Steers staring at him from the open front door.