'You know about Suzie?'
Or Bobbi.
'I stopped in one day for a smoothie and saw you talking to a young woman. A blonde.'
Suzie.
'I assumed she was your girlfriend. She's quite lovely.'
'She is sweet.'
Andy's thoughts drifted back to that morning in bed… Suzie's awesome naked body… and they 'Andy?'
'What? Oh, yeah, your ex-girlfriends.'
'I want to make it up to them.'
'How?'
'The only way I can-money.'
'You want to give your old girlfriends money because you broke up with them a long time ago?'
'Because I used them as sexual objects for my own pleasure.'
'Russell, that's what men do. Women, too. Down here in SoCo, we just ask that they do it inside.' He shook his head. 'Was it consensual?'
'Of course.'
'Then what's the problem?'
'Guilt.'
'Are you Catholic, too?'
'No.'
Andy grunted. 'So what's the job?'
'Find them. Give them money. Make their lives better.'
'You want me to find your old girlfriends and give them money? As simple as that?'
'As simple as that.'
'I just hand each woman a check and say, 'Russell Reeves says hi'?'
'No. I want to do this anonymously.'
'Why?'
'Seventeen women, one might go to the press. Can you imagine that in the tabloids? They'd have a field day.'
'I guess that would make the papers.'
'Andy, I want you to find my old girlfriends. If they're in debt, I'm going to pay off their debts. If they're sick, I'm going to pay for their medical care. If they're homeless, I'm going to buy them a home. I'm going to make things right by making their lives better. But this assignment must remain absolutely secret. You must not reveal this to anyone-not even Suzie.'
'Why don't you just hire a PI?'
'PIs talk. They sell information. And they can testify. You can't.'
Andy leaned back in his chair.
'The privilege.'
Russell Reeves nodded.
'The attorney-client privilege,' Andy said. 'I can't disclose anything to anyone. I can't even be compelled to testify about this in a court of law.'
'Exactly. And if you did tell your girlfriend and it ended up in the papers?'
'I'd be disbarred.'
His billionaire client nodded again.
'Absolute secrecy, Andy.'
Russell handed a document to Andy across the desk. It was two pages of names and addresses.
'That's all you have?'
'Their names and last-known addresses.'
'Russell, I don't even know where to start.'
Russell gestured at the document.
'Bottom of the last page, there's a name. Hollis McCloskey. He's a private investigator downtown, ex-FBI. Upper-echelon type. My lawyers have used him on corporate investigations. He doesn't usually hunt people down, but he will for the right price.'
'I thought you didn't want to hire a PI?'
'I don't. I want you to hire him. Give him the list, nothing more. Don't mention my name. Tell him to find them, learn everything about them-their assets, debts, husbands, children-and compile a dossier on each. But his job ends there. He is not to make contact with the women. That's your job. Figure out what they need and how I can help them. Then bring it to me.'
'How will I know if I've got the right women?'
'Take photos. I'll know.'
'I don't have a camera.'
'Buy one. My tab.'
'This big-time PI, he's not going to be cheap, Russell.'
'I wired fifty thousand to your trust account this morning, while you were in traffic court. Pay him whatever it takes.'
'Russell, why me for this job? I mean, I understand the SoCo deals, but your downtown lawyers can do this. They can hire this McCloskey dude.'
'I don't want my regular lawyers to know anything about this.'
'Why not?'
'Because I know Hollis and he knows me. And he knows my lawyers. If my lawyers hire Hollis, he'll know I'm the client. And if he knows, then his employees will know… and their wives and husbands and girlfriends and boyfriends will know. Everyone will know. I can't have that, Andy. No one can know.'
Andy shrugged. 'You're the boss.'
'Good. These are the ground rules. We only discuss this matter in person, not over the phone. No emails. Nothing in writing. When you have something, call me on my cell phone and I'll come down here.'
Andy scanned down the list. 'These addresses, they're in Houston, Chicago, New Orleans, Miami, L.A., Denver… Were they students at UT back then?'
'No. I met them on my business travels.'
'You'd go to Chicago or Miami and meet a girl and she'd have sex with you? For free?'
Russell just raised his eyebrows, as if to say, I don't want to brag, but…
'You want me to fly all over the country to find these women?'
'First class.'
'I can fly first class?'
'Of course.'
Andy had never flown first class.
'And luxury rental cars. You do know how to drive something other than that bike?'
'Sure.'
'Five-star hotels, room service, whatever you want.'
'Can I watch those pay-per-view movies in my room?'
'Sure. But not porn.'
'Oh.'
He tried not to sound disappointed.
'And I'll pay you five hundred an hour. Because you'll be traveling a lot… and because you'll have to defer sweet Suzie until this job is done. Think you can do that?'
'Sure.'
He didn't say anything about bodacious Bobbi.
'Russell, what about the other SoCo deals?'
'Put them on the back burner. Work this job twenty-four/seven. I want these women found ASAP.'
'You're the boss.'
