“Good evening,” she replied , her words just a tad too clipped, like she was protecting her tone from overreaching. “A nice office you have here.”
“I would want nothing less than the best,” I responded, kicking my feet off the desk and moving the chair forward. I thought of moving around the desk, sitting in front of her, maybe standing over her… but in due time. These things couldn’t be rushed. “I take it this is one of the nicer offices you have been in?”
“One of the most personalized, certainly.”
But not one of the nicer ones? Maybe I’ll need to do better with this.
“In any case, Mr. Vale, I would remind you that I am here to interview you, not to flatter you about your office. I was simply commenting on something nice that I saw.”
“Of course,” I said. If we were to play the game, I could do that. I didn’t like comparisons to my older brother, but one thing we shared was an ability to be extremely patient. All Vales, outside maybe Dante, had that trait, and it had served us very well.
“Is there anything you wish to tell me before I ask my questions? Keeping in mind, of course, that we are now on the record.”
Oh.
Right.
I’d been so eager to get Delilah in my office that I hadn’t even thought about what I’d want to actually be interviewed about.Foolish mistake on my part. I might yet control her and get her in bed, but there was a game to be played, and I’d failed to think about how to play the game.
Fortunately, I could fake deep thought quite easily for Delilah. And more fortunately, I was nimble on my feet and good at thinking rapidly.
“Have you spoken recently to the Morrils?” I asked. “I would love to dispel anything they said.”
“I have,” Delilah said. “Confidentiality agreements as a journalist prevent me from divulging who in their family or even if it was someone in their family spoke. But yes, I did speak to someone with the Morrils.”
“Cowards, typical,” I said, waving a hand. All of us Vales hated the Morrils for their insistence on hiding when they struck. If they were going to do hit pieces, the least they could do was own it. “I will hear what they had to say, but I do not expect any of it to carry weight. You know, Delilah, that I owneverythingI do.”
“Yes, I do,” she said, but there was a certain shift in her presence that told me she understood well the undercurrent. This alone was enough to make me thrilled to have her here versus on the phone; that shift suggested she enjoyed my hint, that she would want me to go further with it. “In that case, we will put the question of the Morrils to the side, and I will ask my own questions.”
“By all means,” I said, raising my arms as if to say I feared nothing—because I, in fact, feared nothing.
She nodded, looked down at her phone in silence for a few seconds, and then looked up with a much more assertive look. She’d clearly gathered herself for something, but for what…
“Tell me about the nickname. The King of Diamonds.”
“What about it?”
Delilah shrugged.
“Whatever direction you want to take that request in. I have follow-ups to guide you further, don’t you worry.”
Worry? What the hell would I worry about?Although, strangely enough, there was a small pit in my stomach when the question got asked. I suspected it just came from a suspicion that Delilah had a direction I would not enjoy.
“I like the high life,” I said. “I think sometimes people get apologetic for enjoying rich things and high taste. They feel embarrassed to spend three hundred dollars on a steak or ten thousand dollars on shoes. I say, who the fuck cares? I earned this money, I earned the right to spend it how I please. One way in which I please is with diamonds,” I said with my hands spread out, gesturing toward the diamonds on the table.
“That tells me the media answer,” Delilah said. “I mean, why did you pick it? What made you pick it over something like King of High Life? King of Wealth?”
“Because King of Diamonds has that play on a deck of cards. It’s creative, and it fits in with Vegas.”
“Does it have anything to do with your brother being named the King of Hearts?”
That froze everything for me. My brother… influencing my nickname? No, no way. Not a chance.
Then why did it get to me so? Why was it having such an impact on me?
“Delilah Reyes,” I said, “you are asking some very interesting questions. I suggest you choose your words very carefully.”
Delilah smirked. It disappeared instantly, as if she knew that was a mistake, but I had seen it. It told me she knew that question would get under my skin and piss me off.
