‘I’ll bet you would,’ said Williams, but Haddon cut him off impatiently.
‘It wasn’t what you think,’ he insisted. ‘I’d met her in New York, at another charity thing. She was a sweet girl, she had money, she cared about the issues Doug and I cared about. But it wasn’t a honeytrap. It was a casual introduction. I never intended him to have an affair with her! Why would I?’
For a moment Derek Williams hesitated. He didn’t like Haddon Defoe, didn’t trust his goody-two-shoes image as far as he could throw it. Yet something about this last speech was oddly convincing.
‘What do you know about Lenka’s background? Her life back in Russia?’ Williams asked him.
‘Nothing,’ said Haddon. ‘Like I say, she was an acquaintance.’
Williams shook his head. ‘I’m not buying that, Dr Defoe. You see, I?
??ve been doing my own research on Ms Gordievski this week. And the funny thing is, there’s nothing to find.’
‘I don’t understand,’ said Haddon.
‘Nor do I!’ Williams agreed. ‘It’s the darnedest thing. But there’s no record of her having left Russia, or entered the US, although she obviously did both. No addresses on file before she arrived in LA, no credit report. You say she had money, but I can’t find any record of bank accounts. Only a landlord here in LA, who gave me her surname incidentally, but said she always paid in cash. It’s almost as if she was a spy or something!’ Williams laughed coldly. ‘Or someone living under an assumed identity. Witness protection, perhaps?’
‘I told you, I barely knew her,’ Haddon insisted.
‘She was your best friend’s lover for a year!’ Williams scoffed. ‘You must have met her multiple times. But you lied to Nikki about that, like you’re lying to me now. Who was she, Dr Defoe?’
‘I don’t know!’ Haddon yelled in frustration. ‘Good God, man, what’s wrong with you? You’re right that I lied to Nikki about never having met Lenka. But wouldn’t you, in my shoes? Doug loved Nikki,’ he went on. ‘The affair was a mistake, an infatuation. It would have ended eventually.’
‘It did end eventually,’ said Williams. ‘In a ball of flames on the freeway, that conveniently left you running the entire charity operation, as well as creating the very opening you’d hoped for at Cedars. You’ve applied for Doug Roberts’ old job, haven’t you, Dr Defoe?’
Haddon scowled, no longer trying to rein in his anger.
‘Yes, I applied for it. Because I’m a highly qualified candidate, and why wouldn’t I? Doug would have wanted me to apply. He would have encouraged me – something you’d know if you knew anything at all about the man who Doug was. How dare you come into my office making accusations and insinuations?’
‘I’m not making accusations.’
‘Oh, I think you are.’ Haddon’s voice was rising again. ‘You’re accusing me of wanting Doug dead! That’s what you think. Well, you’re wrong. He was my best friend. So I’m sorry if that didn’t show up in your research, Mr Williams. But that is the truth. That is a FACT.’
Williams opened his mouth to speak, but Haddon cut him off.
‘Enough!’ he barked, shaking with rage. ‘Get the hell out of my office.’
Outside, standing in the sunshine on Bedford Drive, Derek Williams wondered whether he’d gone too far, and how the aftermath of his interview with Defoe would play out. Would Haddon call Nikki and complain about him? Tell her that her attack dog was on the wrong track about Lenka? Convince her to dump Williams and let the police handle everything?
On the whole, Williams doubted it. Haddon Defoe had lied to Nikki about Doug’s mistress. That was a can of worms he had no wish to re-open. Nor would Haddon want to get into the murky details of his and Doug’s professional rivalry, something else Williams would lay good money that Nikki knew nothing about. It was amazing how often people were willing to act against their own best interests through a desire not to the rock the boat. Derek Williams saw it happen every day.
Thankfully, Derek’s own boat was empty and full of holes. He had nothing left to lose, no matter how hard people rocked it.
Standing at his office window. Haddon Defoe watched Nikki’s squat toad of a PI loitering on the sidewalk, lost in thought, before finally disappearing into the parking structure across the street.
Haddon’s face betrayed no emotion. But in the pit of his stomach, a painful knot tightened.
He picked up the phone and dialed the number of a private calling service. Moments later, his call no longer traceable, he was put through.
‘The PI was just here,’ Haddon said. ‘The guy Nikki hired. Williams.’
‘And?’
‘He’s a problem,’ Haddon said simply. ‘Something needs to be done.’
‘So I have a dilemma.’
Anne Bateman looked over at Nikki, biting down anxiously on her lower lip. It was the first therapy session Anne had come to since their row at the concert, and both women wanted it to go well.