Genuine Lies

She caught herself. “I mean what were they like together?”
    But he hadn’t missed the first question, nor the look in her eyes when she’d asked it. “I take it you and Paul are acquainted.”
    “Yes, I’ve met most of the people who’ve been close to Eve.”
    When a man spent most of his life serving people, it became second nature to glean facts from gestures, tones, phrasing. “I see,” he said, and smiled. “He’s become quite a successful man. I have all of his books.” He waved a hand toward the shelves. “I remember how he used to scribble stories, read them to Eve. They delighted her. Everything about Paul delighted her, and in turn he loved her without question, without reserve. They filled a void in each other’s lives. Even when Eve divorced his father and ultimately married again, they remained close.”
    “Damien Priest.” Julia leaned forward to set her glass back on the tray. “Paul didn’t care for him.”
    “No one who cared about Eve cared for Priest,” Kenneth said simply. “Eve was convinced that Paul’s aloofness toward him stemmed from jealousy. The plain fact was that even at that age, Paul was an excellent judge of character. He had detested Delrickio on sight, and held Priest in the lowest contempt.”
    “And you?”
    “I’ve always considered myself to be an excellent judge of character as well. Would you mind if we moved out to the deck above? I thought we’d have a light lunch.”
    The light lunch proved to be a small feast of succulent lobster salad, baby vegetables, and crusty bread lightly herbed, enhanced by a smooth, chilled Chardonnay. The bay spread below them, dotted with boats, sails puffed up by the breeze that smelled richly of the sea. Julia waited until they were toying with the fruit and cheese before she brought out her recorder again.
    “From what I’ve already been told, I understand that Eve’s marriage to Damien Priest ended acrimoniously. I’ve also been filled in on some of the details of her relationship with Michael Delrickio.”
    “But you would like my viewpoint?”
    “Yes, I would.”
    He was silent for a moment, looking out over the water at a bright red spinnaker. “Do you believe in evil, Miss Summers?”
    It seemed an odd question to come in the sunlight and gentle breeze. “Yes, I suppose I do.”
    “Delrickio is evil.” Kenneth brought his gaze back to hers. “It’s in his blood, in his heart. Murder, the destruction of hope, of will, are only a business to him. He fell in love with Eve. Even an evil man can fall in love. His passion for her consumed him, and, I’m not ashamed to admit, it frightened me at the time. You see, Eve thought she could control thesituation as she had controlled so many others. This is part of her arrogance and her appeal. But one doesn’t control evil.” “What did Eve do?”
    “For too long she simply toyed with it. She married Priest, who struck a chord with her vanity and her ego. She eloped with him on impulse, partly to put a buffer between herself and Delrickio, who was becoming increasingly demanding. And dangerous. There was an incident with Paul. He had walked in on a scene where Delrickio was being physically threatening to Eve. When he attempted to intervene—hot-headedly, I should add—Delrickio’s ubiquitous bodyguards took hold of him. God knows what damage they might have done to the boy if Eve hadn’t prevented it.”
    Julia remembered the scene Paul had described to her. She stared, wide-eyed at Kenneth. “You’re telling me you were there. You saw it, saw that Paul might have been maimed, or worse. And you did nothing?”
    “Eve handled it quite well, I assure you.” He dabbed at his lips with a lemon-colored linen napkin. “I was superfluous as it happened, standing at the top of the stairs with a chrome-plated .32, safety off.” He laughed a little and topped off the wineglasses. “When I saw it wouldn’t be needed, I stayed in the shadows. Better for the boy’s manhood, wouldn’t you say?”
    She wasn’t sure what to say as she stared at the debonair gentleman whose silver hair ruffled dashingly in the breeze. “Would you have used it? The gun?”
    “Without a moment’s hesitation or regret. In any event, Eve married Priest shortly after that. Exchanging evil for blind ambition. I don’t know what happened at Wimbledon; Eve never discussed it. But Priest won the tournament and lost his wife. She cut him completely out of her life.”
    “Then you