City of the Dead (Alex Delaware, #37)(30)

“I couldn’t really tell you,” said Blanding. “Let me estimate…maybe a couple of thousand a year over…fifteen years? Thirty, give or take. I once joked to her that compared with Aaron’s tuition, it was a bargain. She smiled but it was a sad smile and I knew I’d overstepped. She thought I was saying she was stupid. I didn’t know how to patch that up so I said nothing. It was a while before she asked for money again, but she did.”

I said, “You had a lot more contact with Cordi than your wife knew about.”

“Oh, definitely,” said Greg Blanding. “Does hiding it from Renni make me devious? I suppose, strictly speaking. But I’d like to think I was keeping the peace. Cordi was a girl who’d been saddled with some serious challenges and if I could help her without ruffling any feathers, why not?”

Milo said, “Keeping it copacetic.”

Blanding frowned and stood. “I’m going to tell you something I’ve told no one else. I love my wife and I love my son. I liked Cordi a lot but I didn’t love her. So maybe we’re talking about guilt offerings.”

A meaty lower lip trembled, beard hairs spiked and fell. “I’ve got patients to see. If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know.”

Tossing his coffee cup in a trash basket, he plodded away.





CHAPTER


    15


When Blanding had passed out of sight, Milo said, “Think he was screwing her?”

I said, “Get right to the point, huh?”

“Hey, we’re seasoned professionals, no sense shilly-shallying. You didn’t wonder about it?”

“His relationship with Cordi was different but no, I didn’t pick up anything creepy. But that means nothing. I can be fooled.”

“I thought your degree insulated you from that.”

“If only.”

“What really bugs me, Alex, is slipping her dough behind his wife’s back. It’s what you do with a mistress. What if it wasn’t altruism?”

“Fee for services?”

“Older rich guy, good-looking younger woman? Cordi wasn’t a minor when she met him. Blanding coulda rationalized an affair as not illegal. And strictly speaking, not incest.”

I said, “If Blanding has something that explosive to hide why bring up the money in the first place?”

“Maybe he figured we’d find out. Maybe being a brainy guy, he figured it was best to play us by coming across open and honest and a gee-whiz nice guy. And physically, he’s not exactly a featherweight. No problem overpowering a little guy on a couch or Cordi, especially with the element of surprise going for him. Easy to get the element of surprise if there was an affair: He coulda had a key to her place. On top of that, he’s a surgeon and that throat slash was pretty precise, none of the false moves you usually see.”

I closed my eyes and tried to imagine it. One of those scenarios that makes formal sense but doesn’t feel right, though I couldn’t say why.

Milo said, “Oracle of Delphi? Please converse.”

I opened my eyes. “Nothing points against it.”

He frowned. “Damning with faint praise. I know, it’s just theory. But between Blanding’s marriage and his reputation, there’s a whole lot at stake. And for all we know he’s been giving Cordi a lot more money than he just let on.”

“She got greedy and upped the ante?”

“That, or she started taking herself seriously as a relationship hotshot and decided she’d been a victim. This is the me-too age. And we’re talking about a woman who raked in big bucks by going public. Like Blanding put it, exposing herself to the world…which, now that I think about it, has a kinda sexual connotation, no?”

Received and registered, Dr. Freud.

He said, “I’m being too creative?”

“No such thing,” I said. “And if you’re right, we are talking about huge motivation to get rid of Cordi. An exposure video, a podcast, any type of exposure, would blow the Blandings’ lives up.”

“To smithereens. Plus Cordi mighta thought the exposure would help her professionally. A relationship guru who understood.”

“It’s worth checking out. Meanwhile, there’s still another large man to consider, who we just learned was upset with Cordi. And despite her denial, fear of Hoffgarden’s anger could be the real reason she paid him off.”

“Five grand,” he said. “From what you saw, would Hoffgarden have been that pissed? It’s not like she actually messed up his chances at custody. Which you said he didn’t want in the first place.”

I said, “True, but he did settle the day after Cordi’s stunt failed. From what I saw, it was all about money for him. Maybe he’d expected more than just half the gym.”

“Five grand would atone for that?”

“Like Cordi told Blanding, maybe a token to cool Hoffgarden’s jets.”

“Hoffgarden’s ex signed her half over and got full custody.”

“Yup.”

“So Hoffgarden has a history of getting women to pay him off. Still, Alex, what’s his motive to go after Cordi two years later?”

“Maybe he and Cordi resumed their relationship. Or he tried and she rejected him. He’s got a definite history of violence and two people he associated with have been murdered. What if Hoffgarden didn’t feel as warmly toward Slope as he told the paper?”