Page 155 of Sapphire Sunset

“Lawyer scripted that one, I bet,” Connor’s mother muttered.

“I need him to get to the part I scripted,” Connor whispered.

“And those victims who could afford to pay, as you put it,included Walter Milton, the CEO of a financial services company based out ofPhoenix, Arizona, who was secretly receiving cancer treatments in one of SapphireCove’s villas,” the anchor said. “Are you confirming that Mr. Milton was avictim, Mr. Harcourt?”

“I am.”

The anchor seemed genuinely shocked. He had to swallowbefore continuing.

“Very well then. Let us turn now to the allegations made byMilton’s widow earlier this week.”

“I can’t believe this,” Bullfinch mutteredfor the third time. “His lawyer must be shitting bricks.”

Logan had taken a seat on the edge of his father’s desk, butin Logan’s vision, the rest of the office seemed to have melted away.

“Only one member of the resort’s security department was notarrested during the FBI’s raid on the hotel, and that’s Logan Murdoch,” theanchor said, “who earlier this week was the subject of a press conference heldby Sylvia Milton. Many are interpreting her remarks as implying that Murdochwas a part of the blackmail scheme and that the hotel’s current general managerhas overlooked that fact due to a romantic relationship that’s developedbetween the two men. Now I’d like to read for you, and our viewers, a statementwe received this evening from Pacific Crest Bank, which manages the familytrust that owns Sapphire Cove.”

The screen went to a title card showing the text of thestatement as the anchor read it aloud. “We here at Pacific Crest Bank can assureyou that the management of Sapphire Cove is in full cooperation with the FBI’sinvestigation into the alleged blackmail scheme carried out by the previousgeneral manager and former members of the hotel’s security department. We canalso state without qualification that after an exhausting initialinvestigation, the FBI has not made us aware of even the barest suspicion thatLogan Murdoch might have been involved in these crimes. In the eyes of hiscoworkers and the bank, he is a model employee, a decorated veteran of theUnited States Marine Corps, and a cherished asset to Sapphire Cove.”

“Hot damn,” Chip said next to him.

Logan’s vision blurred before he realized he was blinkingback tears. When he succeeded, he saw Rodney on screen once more.

“Now the FBI did decline to comment on this, saying theydon’t make statements about ongoing investigations,” the anchor said. “It’s unclearif that will change now that you’ve admitted guilt to many, if not all, of thecharges, Mr. Harcourt. But now, I must ask you, point blank, the question so manyof us want an answer to after this week. Was Logan Murdoch involved in yourcrimes?”

Logan stood up. His heart was racing like it had when he’dfirst stumbled out of the bus at the Recruit Training Depot and the shouts andorders had started and he thought,My God, what have I done?It wasracing like it had his first night at Sapphire Cove as he’d hesitated comingout to Buddy Haskins, racing like it had right before he’d kissed Connor Harcourtfor the first time.

“No,” Rodney said.

Chip let out a war whoop. Jed slapped his thighs, andBullfinch wilted back into the sofa.

“There is absolutely no truth to that whatsoever,” Rodneycontinued. “In fact, there was a plan to fire Logan the previous year becausewe doubted we’d be able to involve him, and it just so happens that the day ofthe raid, we had him written up for the first time over nothing.”

“You say you knew you couldn’t involve him. Did you want himto quit because you feared he would detect the scheme?”

“Correct,” Rodney said.

“So I have to ask, why didn’t you fire him a year ago?”

“He was very good at his job,” Rodney said.

“Good at security, you mean?” the anchor asked.

“Yes,” Rodney said.

“Not so good at blackmail?” the anchor asked, one pluckedeyebrow raised.

“I wouldn’t know because he never did any with me.”

Logan felt his dad’s hand on his shoulder, gripping him likehe had that night in Fallbrook when he’d told him he would always be his boy.Even though he was embarrassed by the tears in his eyes, he turned to face hisold man anyway.

“Connor called you?” Logan asked. “He told you this wasgoing to happen?”

“Yep.” Chip squeezed his shoulder. “Looks like he fought foryou anyway, son.”

“Yeah,” Logan croaked. “Yeah, he did.”

Then Chip gave him a light slap on the back, and Logan knewexactly what it meant.

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