“Hi, Reed,” Jackson said. “We were just discussing our hell-froze-over friendship.”
“The cop-lawyer thing, right?”Reed grinned. “Before I met my wife, I dated a girl from Boston. Rooted for all the Boston teams.Thatwas an unholy alliance.”
Gavin laughed and stood up. “Well. I was just leaving. I’ll keep you posted on the Tucker thing, Jack.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Good luck with...all of it.”
Reed stood in the doorway and watched Gavin leave. When the door clanged again, Reed lookedback at Jackson. “Saturday meeting?”
“We had to hash out a few things.”
“I’ll say. He cleared your client yet?”
“As a matter of fact.”
Reed sat in the chair Jackson had just vacated. “The Tucker thing?”
“Why are you here, Reed?”
“Piling up billable hours. I had some paperwork to finish. But now I’m feeling a bit peckish. Maybe I’ll have some lunch delivered and you canupdate me on our case.”
* * *
Someone in the press entourage downstairs had somehow gotten Park’s private cell phone number and had been calling him every half hour or so all afternoon. Park added “change cell phone number” to his list of things to do whenever his staff let him check out of this damn hotel. He’d been reluctant to turn the phone off in case Jackson called or there was somekind of emergency—those were the only two reasons he’d answer his phone at this point—but he was so aggravated that by eight o’clock, he said, “Fuck it,” and moved to turn it off.
Just before he pressed the power button, the phone rang. Dear old Dad.
Park considered powering down his phone anyway, but he answered.
“Any news?” his father asked.
Park took a deep breath. “Jack hada meeting scheduled with the lead detective this morning. I’m waiting to hear back from him, but Jack thinks I’ll be cleared soon. The cops have a new suspect.”
“Jack as in Jackson Kane.”
“Yes. I was right to hire him. He and the detective are old friends, which greased the wheels. The NYPD will give a press conference soon clearing me of all wrongdoing, and once they’ve caught the suspect,we’ll resume the campaign. Based on polling data, Martha thinks we’ll regain some if not most of the ground we lost.”
Park’s father hesitated, but he eventually said, “That is good, I suppose.” He let out a breath. “It’s not that I don’t like Jackson.”
“You don’t like the role he played in my life.”
“It doesn’t matter. That’s over now.”
“It’s not, though.” Park wanted to tell hisfather everything, but he also did not want to fight. He rubbed his head and said, “Jack was never just a phase. Just so you know. I didn’t stop being gay. I never will. And a day may come when I want to make that public. Not now, but someday. So you should prepare yourself.”
“We’ve talked about this.”
“We have. And I’m an adult now. I’m thirty-three years old, Dad. I have to make my ownchoices. I know that, if you had a choice, I wouldn’t have turned out gay, but that was out of your hands, and now here we are.”
“Parker, I never—” Park’s father stopped talking abruptly. Then he said, “The party would shun you.”
“Maybe so. If that happens,I’mthe one who has to deal with the consequences.”
“Everything you do reflects on the family.”
Oh, thefamily. Park was thescion of one of the oldest, wealthiest families in New York City. His ancestors had helped build the very foundation the city sat upon. There was a street named after one of his ancestors in each of the five boroughs. But anyone who still cared about the family’s reputation lived in a long-past era. The family name didn’t carry the same cachet anymore. More to the point, Park’s sexuality didn’tmatter to his mother, or to his extended family. Park didn’t see his actions affecting his father’s reputation enough to make him lose business. Park was gay; he was not a failure.
