Chapter 12 #2
“But others who were involved knew about it, and you don’t want to sue us and face a trial, John, to prove your innocence to a jury, because that’s what it would take to clear you if you bring a suit,” Henry reminded him.
“And Charlotte never promised you she would clear your name with the shipyard fiasco or anything else. All we could promise was an honest, fair, unbiased investigative piece, but we can’t predict what the results are going to be, or who’s going to come forward.
If you knew you had all this in your history, you took a hell of a chance letting us do the article.
You didn’t warn us about what we’d run into.
We hoped we’d give you back a lily-white reputation, but that’s never a sure thing when you start digging.
And the suicide of the two seamen was very fresh.
They were both well-liked guys, and you can’t expect us to clean that up.
We all knew that was going to be a problem.
I’m sorry if the article is painful. I’m very sorry you’re upset and I understand.
There’s nothing we can do about it now, the information is out there.
People forget. It only lasts on the page for a minute.
Right now it’s in everyone’s faces, but it won’t last. It will dissipate and people will move on. ”
“You’re not going to forget what I’m going to do to you for this.
And I want to know the hour that that bitch is fired and out the door.
You owe me at least that. And I want an immediate retraction.
Pull the issue off the stands.” Henry wanted to tell him that they didn’t owe him anything, and he had no intention of firing Charlotte, but he didn’t want to enrage John further, or he might come to the magazine and shoot them all.
He sounded capable of it at that moment.
He was clearly a sociopath exposed. He was not only ruthless, he was a dangerous man.
“You need to put it in perspective. We have corroboration on all the facts, or we wouldn’t have run it, but in the end, it’s all hearsay.
It’s one person’s word against another. It’s a magazine, it’s not a life sentence or a jury trial.
The two suicides were really what sent this into the stratosphere to begin with.
People don’t take that lightly, and both of the men had families with young kids who lost their father and their only source of income on Christmas.
You knew that. You took the risk when you agreed to the piece.
You knew what we might find. We didn’t. Our only intention was to write the truth. ”
“My next call is to my lawyer. The bitch who wrote it must be a drug addict or a drunk,” John said viciously.
It was his lack of sympathy or remorse to begin with that had set everyone off against him, and he still hadn’t understood that.
John had evidenced no regret for anything the article accused him of.
And to Charlotte and Henry, listening to him, he sounded insane, and as ruthless as the original Times article said.
“Let me know when you fire her,” John said in a calmer voice. “Or I’m filing suit tomorrow.”
“We’ve got proof and corroboration for everything the article says. And truth is a rock-solid defense against libel. If anything in that article is true, and we can prove it, you’re dead,” Henry said bluntly, and John hung up. Henry took the phone off speaker, and looked at Charlotte.
“Well, we got a reaction out of him,” Henry said calmly, sat down and looked at her.
“Are you going to fire me?” she asked, concerned.
“Of course not. And he’s not going to sue us.
He can’t. You did your homework and so did I.
Everything you said is true. He’s a very bad guy, and maybe a little insane.
His lawyers will tell him to cool off. It will all calm down.
But I suggest you get out of Dodge for a couple of weeks.
You don’t want that sonofabitch kicking your door down in the middle of the night and raping you.
I think he’s capable of anything. Do you have somewhere to go? ” She shook her head.
“I don’t want to go to Dubai to see Hugh, although I’d love it. But he’s busy and I’d upset him if he thought I was in real danger.”
Henry thought about it for a minute. Then he looked at her.
“How about a two-week paid vacation to Paris or London? L.A.? Miami? Name your destination. It’s on us.
Don’t stay at your apartment while this is hot.
Go home, pack, stay at a hotel tonight and fly out tomorrow.
We’ve dealt with situations like this before.
I’ll send you home with one of our security guys.
I don’t want you alone for a minute. And you can come back in two weeks, if he’s calmed down.
I’ll talk to Amanda Fine, her interview can wait a couple of weeks, there’s no rush.
” Henry had it all figured out, he had expected John’s reaction.
Charlotte walked out of Henry’s office in a daze. She called him five minutes later.
“Would Paris be okay?”
“Sounds good to me. We’ll put you up at the Bristol or the Crillon, or the Plaza, whatever we can get. I think there’s a midnight flight on Air France. You could leave tonight.”
“Thank you, Henry.” She had never expected John to go so insane. She thought he’d be livid and hide somewhere. He was acting like a madman, and like the sociopath he was. But hopefully he’d calm down in a few weeks and retreat. And Paris would be fun in the meantime.
John’s next call was to Isabelle. She could hear that he was upset when she answered. She was at the hairdresser, getting her hair done for a dinner party that night. She was going alone.
“I want to go to the boat,” he said brusquely. “Will you go with me?”
“What happened? Did you rob a bank?” She tried to lighten the moment, but he was beyond that. He was in a rage and she could hear it.
“That fucking article came out today. It’s a disaster. I’m suing the magazine. They’ve accused me of a litany of things I haven’t done. They made everything worse. I told them to fire that bitch who wrote it. Someone’s out to get me. Do you suppose Gabby had something to do with it?”
“Of course not. She wouldn’t do that to you.” Isabelle was shocked at the suggestion.
“Well, someone did. I want to get out of here until it cools down. I want to fly to the boat tonight. I want you to come with me. Will you, Isabelle?” He sounded sad and vulnerable for a moment and she felt sorry for him. Everything was going badly for him.
“Let me see what I can do. I have appointments this week. I’ll see what I can change. Could we go tomorrow? It might be easier for me.”
“I’d rather leave right away, and don’t read the article, it’s all lies.” She wasn’t going to read it now, but she was going to tuck a copy into her suitcase and read it later, so she’d know what he was upset about. It couldn’t be as bad as he said.
—
John’s next call was to Lillith. She was startled to hear his voice, and she could understand how upset he was, having read the article.
“Go to your apartment now. I’ll meet you there in twenty minutes.”
“John…I can’t do that. I’m at work. I can’t just leave.”
“I am telling you to leave now. Do as I say.” He sounded tense. She hesitated, and then agreed. She didn’t want to upset him more than he was.
“I’ll tell them I’m sick.” He had already hung up. She went to tell her boss that she must have eaten something bad at lunch. She was feeling awful and had just thrown up.
“Oh poor thing. Go home, hopefully you’ll be fine tomorrow.” Lillith literally ran out the door to get a cab to go back to her apartment.
—
Charlotte was packing two suitcases in her apartment by then, with a huge, burly security guard standing by.
Henry’s secretary had booked her on the midnight flight to Paris on Air France.
Her passport was in order, and she was trying to decide what to take.
It seemed crazy to be running away, but better safe than sorry, and two weeks in Paris, all expenses paid, was too good to turn down.
She sent Hugh an email, and told him she’d be at the Bristol if he needed her, and she was fine.
She told him it was an assignment so he wouldn’t worry about her.
—