Gideon laughed and said, “I'm going in at four o'clock. I have to interview Tyler Perry. I'd rather hang around here with you, but hey, somebody's got to do it. I see the Speedo fits you.”
“Yeah, just barely,” Danny said, adjusting the tight briefs. “I didn't know anybody still owned these things.”
“They were the only swim trunks I had that I thought would fit you,” Gideon said and quickly looked away.
Danny laughed and replied, “Are you sure? I think you just wanted to see how I looked in them.”
Danny would have seen him blush were it not for Gideon's amber skin.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Gideon said with a smile. “But I do have to admit you look amazing in them.”
“Gideon, you've been so kind to me and Parker these last two days, but I probably should be thinking about going home. I've been in your way too long already.”
Gideon froze mid-cut but didn't look at Danny. “Don't be ridiculous,” he said, resuming the slice. “You haven't been in my way at all. I've loved having you guys here. Besides, I think Parker's made friends with one of the raccoons. You wouldn't want to break them up.”
“I'll promise to bring him back soon to visit.”
Gideon began to arrange the sliced fruit on a tray. “I wish you would reconsider. I . . .” Gideon stopped and turned to face Danny. “I've kind of gotten used to you being here. The place isn't so lonely with you around.”
Danny walked next to him at the island and said, “I know what you mean. For the first time since the day Hezekiah . . . since the day Hezekiah died, I've been able to sleep through the night.”
“Then don't go,” Gideon said, reaching for Danny's moist shoulder. “Stay until you know for sure that you're ready.”
Danny leaned in and rested his head on Gideon's chest, and Gideon embraced him tenderly. The two stood in silence and luxuriated in their comforting, long embrace. After moments, Danny raised his head and looked into Gideon's eyes. Gideon slowly moved forward and pressed his lips to Danny's.
“I'm in love with you, Danny St. John,” Gideon said through the passionate kiss. “Don't leave me. I need you.”
Danny could feel Gideon's erection pressing through his khaki shorts as his own erection stretched the Speedo to its limit. Gideon slowly slipped his hand under the tight waistband and massaged him gently. Danny lifted Gideon's T-shirt over his head and kissed circles on his bare chest. He could feel Gideon's heart pound with each kiss. He lifted Gideon's hand to his mouth and kissed his palm and fingers. He could taste the nectar of the sweet fruit. With a flick of his finger Danny unbuttoned Gideon's shorts and slowly pulled the zipper, which allowed them to drop silently to the granite floor, forming a pool of fabric around his ankles.
The two made love for the first time on the cool granite floor in the house in the Hollywood Hills.
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It was Saturday night at 11:55. Samantha drove her white Bentley sports coupe on Western Avenue. Even at that hour the street was filled with people going to or leaving their favorite nightclub, late-night restaurant, or theater. The duffel bag containing the two million dollars sat on the passenger seat.
While waiting for the light at Sunset Boulevard and Western, she looked in the rearview mirror to ensure David Shackelford was following closely behind. He had the gun in his pocket and passion in his heart. Samantha prayed he would use them both just as she had planned.
As she continued driving, the gritty street gradually transitioned from run-down storefronts, hamburger joints, bars, and dollar discount stores to a tree-lined residential neighborhood of two-story houses with Spanish tiled roofs and circular driveways. Samantha turned left at the first entrance to the park. A canopy of trees covered the road and blocked the ambient light. Vintage streetlamps with glass globes provided the only illumination on the road.
When David veered onto the road, he turned off his headlights and slowed down to increase the distance between them. Samantha could see him only when he rolled under one of the few dim streetlamps lining the road. His car would disappear seconds after he passed each lamp.
There were no other cars on the dark road. Dense layers of trees lined each side as she drove deeper into the empty park. She could see traces of buildings in the dark as she ascended a hill, but couldn't tell if they were houses or public restrooms. Suddenly the entrance to the parking lot appeared on her left. She made a cautious turn, and the incline increased dramatically. When she reached the top, Samantha saw the parking lot sprawled out under the beams of her headlights. It was empty. Samantha immediately noted that there was only one way into the parking lot and only one way out of the large space. It was walled on one side by the sheer face of a wooded hill, and on another a steep cliff dropped down to the main road below. She parked the car so that it was facing the cliff and turned off the ignition and the lights. She could see only a few feet on either side, in the front and the rear.
David drove a safe distance past the parking lot entrance on the main road below and parked. His heart was pounding hard against the gun in his breast pocket. His hands were moist from perspiration. The darkness seemed to close in on him like the walls of a coffin. His breathing became shallow as he braced himself to exit the car.
David placed his hand on the door handle, then paused. “You can do this, David,” he said out loud. “Samantha needs you. Don't let her down.” The longer he waited, the shallower his breaths became and the more fiercely his heart pounded against the gun in his pocket. David reached over and frantically fumbled at the latch to the glove compartment. From it he pulled a half-empty bottle of distilled courage. He took one long gulp and then followed it with two more.
Samantha looked at her watch. It was now 12:08. “Come on,” she said softly, tapping the steering wheel. “Where are you?”
Seconds later she heard a gentle tap on the car window. She looked to her left and saw the torso and hands of a man wearing a dark coat and standing at the window. The figure motioned for her to roll down the window.
“Hello, Samantha,” the man said, bending down to the open window. “It's nice to finally meet you. I'm Danny St. John.”
Samantha looked him in the eye and said, “I should have guessed. So you're the man that was sleeping with my husband.”
“Yes. I'm also the man who loved your husband. Is that the money?” he asked, pointing past her to the bag on the passenger seat. “May I have it please?”
Samantha tried to look around Danny for David, but his shoulders were too broad.
Come on, David. Where are you?
she thought as she slowly reached for the bag.
“They don't come much lower than you, do they, Danny?” she said, stalling for more time. “Sleeping with a married man, then blackmailing his widow.”
Danny laughed out loud. “This coming from a woman who killed her husband. You're in no position to judge me. Now, give me the money, and you'll never hear from me again.”
Danny saw blackmail as his only way out. The only way he could move beyond her dangerous reach.
If she's evil enough to kill her husband, she's certainly evil enough to kill me,
he had reasoned in the grief-stricken days that followed Hezekiah's death.
Get the money and disappear. Leave the country. Move to a place where she will never find me.
He'd concluded that leaving Los Angeles was the only way he would be free from the paralyzing fear that every stranger he saw on the street was potentially a deadly messenger sent to him by Samantha Cleaveland. He also needed so desperately to be away from every inch of the city that reminded him of Hezekiah.
The two looked intently at each other and simultaneously understood why Hezekiah had fallen in love with the other. They saw pure, raw passion burning in each other's eyes. Two people who would stop at nothing to get what they wanted, whether it be love or money. In the dark of the night there was no need for pretense or defense. They spoke as if they were looking into a mirror.
“Was this your plan all along?” Samantha asked, looking in his eyes. “Was it always about the money?”
“This might be difficult for someone like you to understand, but it was never about money,” Danny said. “I loved Hezekiah. Did you ever love him?”
“At one time I did,” Samantha responded with a slight nod of concession.
“Then why did you kill him?”
Samantha paused but at that moment saw no need for caution. “It's the law of the universe, Danny. In order to get something you want, you have to give up something you love.”
“Then I guess that law worked well for you.”
When Danny said the last word, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around quickly and found himself standing nose to nose with David.
Samantha shouted out loud, “He's got a gun, David. Shoot him! Shoot him!”
David immediately pushed Danny into the side of the car. The two men wrestled to the ground and rolled on the pavement, with arms and legs flailing in every direction. Samantha unlocked the car door, jumped out and screamed over the jumble of flesh and cloth, “Shoot him, David. He tried to kill me. Shoot him now!”
Suddenly a shot rang out, and the bodies went limp on the pavement. Samantha could see the gun in one of the hands lying flat on the ground. She rushed to the heap and snatched the gun away, took three steps backward, all while aiming the gun with both hands at the still pile of flesh. A chest was heaving, but she couldn't tell if it was David or Danny.
“David,” she said, still pointing the warm gun at the heap. “David, are you okay?”
Suddenly the bodies moved, and David struggled from beneath Danny.
“Get up, David,” Samantha said, directing the gun to the lone figure on the ground. “Is he dead?”
“I think so,” David panted. “He's not breathing.”
“Good.”
David stopped breathing and looked at Samantha. “What are you talking about? I just killed a man.”
“It was self-defense. If you hadn't been here, he would have killed me.”
David reached into his pocket for his cell phone and began to dial nine-one-one.
Samantha grabbed his arm and said, “What are you doing?”
“I'm calling the police,” he yelled. “We just killed a man. I'm calling the police.”
“David, honey, wait a minute,” she said. “Let me at least check to see if he's dead. He may still be alive.”
Samantha walked cautiously to Danny's still body. She knelt down and first checked his coat pockets and then the pockets of his pants. She stood up and faced David and said, “He doesn't have a gun.”
“What?” David screamed.
“You just killed an unarmed man.”
“Oh shit!” David said. “Oh shit! Oh God, Samantha, you said he had a gun,” he said, holding his hands against the sides of his head. “You said he was going to kill you.”
“It looked like he had a gun in his pocket. I thought he had a gun,” Samantha said curtly.
David began to pace back and forth in the parking lot, with his arms waving in front of Danny's lifeless body. “What have I done?” he said. “Look what you made me do!”
Samantha threw the gun into her open car window and grabbed David by his shoulders. “David, stop,” she said, trying to calm the frantic man. “Listen to me, David. We have to leave. No one knows we were here. We need to just leave now and never speak of this to anyone. Do you understand me?” she asked firmly.
“Leave?” he muttered. “Just leave him there? Are you sure?”
“Yes, I'm sure. Everything will be fine. I want you to go home to Scarlett and not say a word about this to anyone. Ever! Do you understand me?” she said, shaking his shoulders. “Someone will find him in the morning. They'll never be able to link any of this to either you or me as long as we both agree that it never happened. Okay? Do you agree?”
“I . . . I agree,” David sputtered. “Are you sure no one will find out?”
“I'm sure. Now, go to your car and wait for me at the bottom of the hill. I'll follow you as far as Wilshire Boulevard. Then I want you to drive straight home and put this out of you mind. Do you understand?”
“I understand,” he said, shaking.
“And make sure you are at church tomorrow,” Samantha continued. “I want to see you there with Scarlett on one side and Natalie on the other. We have to act like this never happened. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” he said, shaking harder.
“Good. Everything is going to be fine, David. I'll call you in the morning to check on you.”
David took one look at Danny lying face down on the pavement and ran sporadically to the edge of the parking lot, looking over his shoulder at Samantha and Danny. When he reached the edge, he took one step over the ledge and slipped in the loose dirt. His heavy body tumbled headfirst and rolled until he hit the road below with a thud. He scrambled across the dark road, covered in dirt and spitting dust. Once inside his car he reached into the glove compartment again and retrieved the almost empty bottle and guzzled the remainder of its contents.