The Stranger
Page 30

“You know that a judge already gave us the okay on our eminent domain case, right?”
“I do.”
“And that Mr. Rinsky’s previous attorney already lost the appeal. That’s why he’s gone now.”
“I know that too.”
Gush smiled. “Well, you leave me no choice.”
“Sure I do,” Adam said. “You don’t just work for the developer, do you, Gush? You’re a man of the people. So build your strip mall around his house. Change the plans. It can be done.”
“No,” Gush said, the smile gone now. “It can’t.”
“So you’ll throw them out?”
“The law is on my side. And after the way you guys have behaved?” Gush leaned in close enough for Adam to smell the Tic Tac and whispered, “With pleasure.”
Adam stepped back, nodding. “Yeah, I figured that.”
“So you’ll listen to reason?”
“If I ever hear it.” Adam gave a little wave and turned to go. “Have a good night, Gush. We’ll talk again soon.”
Chapter 17
The stranger hated to do this one.
But Michaela Siegel, who was now weaving her way into view, deserved to know the truth before she made a terrible mistake. The stranger thought about Adam Price. He thought about Heidi Dann. They may have been devastated by his visit, but this time, in the case of Michaela Siegel, it would be much, much worse.
Or maybe not.
Maybe Michaela would feel relief. Maybe, after the initial devastation, the truth would set her free. Maybe the truth would bring back balance to her life and put her back on the road she should and would have taken.
You never knew how someone would react until the pin in the grenade was pulled out, right?
It was late, nearly two in the morning. Michaela Siegel hugged her noisy friends good-bye. They were all somewhat inebriated from that night’s festivities. The stranger had already tried twice earlier to get Michaela alone. It hadn’t worked. He hoped that now she might head for the elevator by herself, and he could start the process.
Michaela Siegel. Age twenty-six. She was in her third year of residency in internal medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital after graduating from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She had started as an intern at Johns Hopkins Hospital, but after what happened, she and the hospital administrator felt that it would be best for all if she switched locations.
As she semistumbled toward the elevator, the stranger stepped into view. “Congratulations, Michaela.”
She turned with a crooked smile. She was, he already knew, a rather sexy woman, which in a sense made this violation all the worse. The stranger felt a flush in his cheeks, remembering what he had seen, but he pushed on.
“Hmm,” she said.
“Hmm?”
“Are you serving me with a subpoena or something?”
“No.”
“And you’re not hitting on me, are you? I’m engaged.”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so,” Michaela Siegel said. There was the slight slur of drink in her voice. “I don’t really talk to strangers.”
“I get that,” he said, and because he feared losing her, he dropped the bombshell. “Do you know a man named David Thornton?”
Her face slammed shut like a car door. The stranger had anticipated that. “Did he send you?” she asked.
The slur was gone from her voice.
“No.”
“Are you some kind of weird perv or something?”
“No.”
“But you’ve seen—”
“Yes,” he said. “Just for two seconds. I didn’t watch it all or stare or anything. It was just . . . I had to make sure.”
He could see now that she was facing the same dilemma so many he approached faced—flee this lunatic or hear him out? Most of the time, curiosity won them over, but he never knew how it would go.
Michaela Siegel shook her head and voiced that dilemma. “Why am I still talking to you?”
“They say I have an honest face.”
It was true. That was why it was almost always he who took on this task. Eduardo and Merton had strengths, but if they approached you like this, your first instinct would be to run fast.
“That’s what I used to think about David. That he had an honest face.” She tilted her head. “Who are you?”
“That’s not important.”
“Why are you here? This is all in my past.”
“No,” he said.
“No?”
“It’s not in your past. I wish it was.”
Her voice was a scared whisper. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You and David broke up.”
“Well, duh,” she snapped. “I’m getting married to Marcus this weekend.”
She showed him the engagement ring on her finger.
“No,” the stranger said. “I mean . . . I’m not saying this right. Do you mind if I go through it step-by-step?”
“I don’t care how honest your face is,” Michaela said. “I don’t want to rehash this.”
“I know.”
“It’s behind me.”
“It’s not. Not yet, anyway. That’s why I’m here.”
Michaela just stared at him.
“Were you and David broken up when . . . ?” He didn’t know how to put it, so he just sort of moved his hands back and forth.
“You can say it.” Michaela straightened her back. “It’s called revenge porn. I’m told it’s quite the craze.”
“That’s not what I’m asking,” the stranger said. “I’m asking about the state of your relationship before he put that video online.”
“Everyone saw it, you know.”
“I know.”
“My friends. My patients. My teachers. Everyone at the hospital. My parents . . .”
“I know,” the stranger said softly. “Were you and David Thornton broken up?”
“We’d had a big fight.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“I don’t get—”
“Were you two broken up before that video went public?”
“What difference does it make now?”
“Please,” the stranger said.
Michaela shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“You still loved him. That’s why it hurt so much.”
“No,” she said. “It hurt so much because it was a terrible betrayal. It hurt so much because the man I was dating went on a revenge porn site and put up a sex tape of us doing . . .” She stopped. “Can you imagine? We had a fight, and that was how he reacted.”