Chapter 10
The first thing Charlotte normally did when she started an interview was talk to the subject himself, and then she contacted other people later, to either reinforce or subtly change the portrait the subject had painted of himself.
She considered the subjects of her interviews innocent until proven guilty.
In John Williams’s case, the reverse was true.
The evidence was against him, and what he had done to the employees he had inherited, and their families, was so dastardly that she considered him guilty until proven innocent.
You couldn’t paint a prettier picture of what he had done to them.
She wanted to talk to other people outside the interview to get their reading of him, and then she would meet John himself and hear his side of the story.
She was going to start with Lillith, but she was sure that John had already warned her not to speak to them, and from what Charlotte had seen of her in St. Barth, Lillith was so dazzled by John and so in love with him that her testimony wouldn’t be worth much.
The one who interested Charlotte now was Gabrielle, his daughter.
She thought of making an appointment with her, but decided that she didn’t want to give her that much warning, or time to prepare and sift out how much she wanted or had to say in support of her father.
Charlotte wanted more spontaneous impressions and reactions, to make the article more organic and natural.
She wanted to drop in on her in Aspen instead.
Charlotte checked with Henry and he told her to go ahead, that he liked her angle.
She checked with Gabrielle’s office to make sure she wasn’t away on vacation.
They said she was in town but heavily booked.
They’d had a run of accidents in the last week as weather conditions were icy.
Charlotte made the reservation for a flight that night, directly into Aspen, without going to Denver, and booked a room at The Little Nell.
She packed her warmest clothes, and a ski suit in case she wanted to take a run while she was there.
She’d been to Aspen before. It was a charming ski village, with excellent restaurants and high-end luxury shops for expensive ski clothes and jewelry.
Visitors to Aspen were from the Midwest and Texas typically.
It was a high-ticket, beautiful ski resort, and everything there was expensive.
The last time she’d gone, the airport was full of private planes, mostly larger jets, and takeoffs and landings were famously difficult.
It always felt a little dangerous to Charlotte.
She thought the interview with John’s daughter would be an important one, and might set the tone for some of the others.
Charlotte was willing to meet her wherever she wanted, at the hospital if necessary.
Gabrielle was a busy physician. Women like her always made Charlotte feel inadequate.
Gabrielle was doing good for the injured real people she dealt with.
What Charlotte did, working for a magazine that catered to and focused on wealthy people, seemed irrelevant in comparison.
—
It was snowing lightly when the plane landed in Aspen, and Charlotte hired a taxi to take her to The Little Nell, the hotel where she had stayed the previous time, for a vacation.
This time, she was traveling for business on an expense account.
Charlotte knew it would be expensive and Henry had approved it.
She checked in to the hotel, and they had given her a charming room with a fireplace and a mountain view.
It was a well-run hotel, and she enjoyed a cheeseburger in her room and watched a movie.
She had already completed her list of questions and had gone over it again on the plane.
She didn’t want to miss a single question if the interview was going well.
She slept fitfully that night because of the altitude and was up early the next day.
She had breakfast at seven, and called Gabrielle’s office at eight-thirty.
Charlotte could already see people heading toward the lifts, carrying their skis, and others arriving in vans and buses from nearby hotels.
The whole town looked like a Christmas card.
The voice that answered the phone at Gabrielle’s office was a pleasant female one.
Charlotte told her that she wanted a consultation with Dr. Williams, and didn’t need an exam, she had everything with her as backup.
It was a plausible request, and the receptionist said they had cases like that all the time, people arriving from other cities for assessments.
Charlotte didn’t want to say that she had flown out from New York, or it might arouse Gabrielle’s suspicions.
She had no idea if she would be a willing subject or a recalcitrant one, or throw Charlotte out of her office.
She hated to make the appointment under false pretenses but she didn’t want to waste time if Gabrielle didn’t want to be interviewed about her father, whether out of loyalty or contempt.
Once Charlotte was across the desk from her, Gabrielle would be more likely to answer Charlotte’s questions, and Charlotte usually handled face-to-face contact well, even with the most reluctant subjects.
She had a gift for it. People trusted her, and Gabrielle might even be happy to talk about her father, in his defense.
She knew nothing about Gabrielle and the relationship between father and daughter.
Much to Charlotte’s amazement, the receptionist said they’d had a cancellation and the doctor could see her at four o’clock that afternoon.
It gave her the whole day to explore Aspen, and even do a little shopping.
Some of her favorite stores were there, even a few in her price range at a mall nearby.
Charlotte thanked the receptionist and hung up.
She went out at eleven to check out the shops.
She had lunch at Ajax Tavern at the base of the mountain and studied her notes again. It was fun watching people come in from the slopes, and others joining them who weren’t skiing.
She had taken Hugh skiing when he was a young boy, and it brought back memories seeing the red-faced children arriving from ski school with their mothers. Those had been wonderful years for her and Hugh.
After lunch, she took a walk through the town, and found the medical building where Gabrielle’s office was.
She checked in at the desk and waited twenty minutes until she was called.
There was a constant flow of people in casts, with crutches or slings of some kind, and a few like her who had no visible injuries, who were presumably there to consult.
It was a very full waiting room, and there was an overflowing toy chest for kids.
Watching the injured made Charlotte hesitate to take a run while she was there.
She hadn’t skied in several years and couldn’t afford an injury that would hamper her or keep her from working.
When her name was called, Charlotte followed a nurse to the doctor’s office, a small, crowded room with a desk, a bookcase crammed full of medical books, a leather couch, and two chairs facing the desk.
The doctor’s degrees from Stanford hung on the wall, and as Charlotte looked around, a tall young blond woman with a perfect figure walked into the room, with a braid down her back and a warm smile for Charlotte, and sat down at her desk.
She was carrying a stack of files and set them down, and glanced at a note on her desk and then back at Charlotte.
“So, Miss Ramsay, welcome to Aspen. What can I do for you?” Charlotte returned the smile and prayed Gabrielle wouldn’t be angry that what Charlotte wanted from her was not medical.
“I’m sorry to waylay you, I can see how busy you are,” Charlotte said, wanting to get to the point quickly.
“I’m not a patient, but I need your help.
And I’m happy to pay the consultation fee, I don’t want to waste your time.
I’m a writer and senior editor at Vanity Fair.
I’m writing an article about your father, and I’d like to ask you a few questions about him.
He’s taken some fairly controversial positions recently, which aroused the magazine’s interest, and I’d be interested in hearing anything you have to say.
” Gabrielle’s face froze for a minute as she stared at Charlotte and digested what she’d said.
“You’re a reporter?”
“Not really. I’m a writer, that’s a little softer. I want to write a profile of who he is, and anything you can offer would help.”
“Is this in support of him to endorse his positions, or a critical piece?”
“It depends on what I hear,” Charlotte said honestly.
“Does he know you’re doing this?” Gabrielle looked suspicious, but she hadn’t told her visitor to leave yet, which was a good sign.
“Yes, he does. It’s an authorized interview. I’ll be meeting with him in person sometime in the next week. He doesn’t know I’m seeing you. I can keep it confidential, if you prefer. Or not. It’s up to you.”
The young doctor looked at Charlotte directly.
“This is very unusual, I’ve never been interviewed before, and I’m not sure I’m the person you should speak to.
” She glanced at her watch and then back at Charlotte.
“I can give you half an hour. You saw my waiting room, and other people need my help. My father doesn’t, but if you came all the way from New York to see me, it must be important to you, so I’ll do what I can.
To be fair, my opinion of him is biased.
My father and I are not on good terms. I haven’t seen him in nearly a year, not since my mother’s funeral, and we communicate seldom and by email, so my comments are hardly objective.
” What she had said intrigued Charlotte.