Harm's Reach

38

Ren stood in front of the mirror in the ladies’ room in Safe Streets, dressed in a fitted silvery gray cotton shirt, navy blue pants and belt, and navy blue patent high heels. She powdered her face.

There’s only one way I plan on shining this morning.

By whupping Robert Prince.

She grabbed a fistful of hair and turned to the side.

Hair up or down? Up or down? What do misogynists take more seriously? When a woman spends an extra five minutes pinning her hair up to look less whorish? Or when a woman is too busy cleaning the house and baking cookies to even consider her appearance?

Ooh.

Be fair to this man...

... who is a dickhead.

Stop.

Be fair.

Ren twisted and pinned her hair into a tidy knot at the base of her neck and walked down the hallway to the conference room. She stopped dead when she saw Gary Dettling standing inside with Robert Prince, both of them laughing, neither of them aware of her presence.

WTF?

Ren stood, watching, as the laughter stopped and they both turned serious. Gary was nodding intently. He shook Robert Prince’s hand and left. Ren stepped back into the shadows before he had a chance to see her.

What was that all about?

Ren went to Gary’s office and knocked on the door.

‘Hi,’ she said, sticking her head in. ‘Just checking is there anything I need to know about Robert Prince before I go in there?’

Gary put down his pen and looked up at her. ‘In what sense?’

‘In the sense of you laughing and joking with him in the conference room just now...’

Gary looked at her with great patience. ‘Don’t hate the player...’

‘So that’s all that was...’

‘Yes, Ren,’ said Gary. ‘You do remember that I got a call on day one to hover around this bullshit because he’s an important man. But you and I both know that important men are behind some of life’s shittier events. So though I’m laughing, and hand-shaking—’

‘Deep inside you’re blue?’

‘Yes,’ said Gary. ‘If you set aside your suspicion of Robert Prince, and imagine him as a victim in all this, you would see him as someone who has lost his child, along with an employee/family friend, and it is perfectly reasonable for him to ask for an update on the investigation. My interaction with him was carried out with an open mind and a keen eye on what I have to do to keep my superiors happy.’ He paused. ‘You should try it...’

Ren smiled. ‘Will do. Sorry.’

Robert Prince stood up as Ren walked in.

‘Good morning, Mr Prince,’ she said. She shook his hand and sat down.

‘Good morning,’ said Robert.

‘Why didn’t you come to me earlier about this?’ said Ren. ‘When I took the swabs.’

‘Why would I do that?’ said Robert.

Liars often reply to a question with a question.

‘To assist right away with the investigation,’ said Ren. ‘This is a significant development.’

‘It’s not a “development”,’ said Robert. ‘It’s a simple fact.’

‘You’re a smart man,’ said Ren. ‘You know it’s not that simple. You have told an extraordinary lie to the surrogate who was carrying your baby — both now murder victims — and to the mother of that baby — your wife. That’s no small lie. It’s lying on a grand scale. These women made huge life decisions based on false information. How is it possible that you can’t see the repercussions that could have?’

‘I can see that,’ said Robert. ‘But I know that neither of them knew.’

‘Really?’ said Ren. ‘You really think you can be absolutely sure that your wife hadn’t found out about this?’

‘What is the scenario you have in mind?’ said Robert. ‘That my wife became aware of this and... what? Killed her unborn child and the woman who was bearing it? Don’t be ridiculous. Ingrid wouldn’t hurt a fly. You’ve met her. I’m sure that it’s as obvious to you as it is to everyone else. Ingrid is gentle, she’s kind, she’s...’

Trusting? Easily manipulated? Malleable? Easy to lie to? Which is it?

‘She’s?’ said Ren.

‘She doesn’t deserve any of this,’ said Robert. ‘She just doesn’t deserve this pain. And I hope you’re not going to make it any worse for her.’

‘Me?’ said Ren.

‘The FBI, the Sheriff’s Office...’ He leaned forward. ‘Let me explain. Ten years ago, I had a vasectomy.’

‘Were you trying to buy time by not telling us this right away?’ said Ren.

‘Excuse me?’ said Robert.

‘Were you trying to buy time?’ said Ren. ‘It’s been — what — nearly two weeks since I took the swabs? Did you need that time for some reason?’

‘Why would I need time?’ said Robert.

‘You knew we would find out,’ said Ren.

‘I’m telling you now, am I not?’ said Robert. ‘To get back to what I was saying... ten years ago was the height of the “Robert Prince, what a catch” nonsense in the media. I was a wealthy man, the perfect target for a gold-digger. At that time, I chose to protect myself by having a vasectomy. It’s a reversible operation, I knew that. Now, though, my fear is about the health of my child because of my age. It may be an irrational fear, but it’s a very real one. I don’t have any specific health problem, just fears.’

‘Did you consider genetic testing?’ said Ren.

‘I did, but I rejected the idea,’ said Robert. ‘It may sound selfish, but I didn’t want to know if there was a death sentence hanging over my head.’

‘I understand that,’ said Ren. ‘Why did you not discuss your concerns with your wife?’

‘I... I didn’t want to appear weak to her,’ said Robert. ‘I love my wife, I want her to be happy, that’s all I want. I didn’t want her to pay the price for falling in love with an old guy.’ He smiled.

‘You’re hardly old,’ said Ren, smiling back. Come on, open up to me. Please. It’s clear you love this woman and you are lying about something so monumental.

‘So, what did you do?’ said Ren.

Make this make sense to me.

‘I talked to the fertility doctor, explained my situation,’ said Prince. ‘He and I went through lists of donors, we found someone who looked like me... he took care of the rest.’

‘How is your wife?’ said Ren.

‘She’s heartbroken,’ said Robert. ‘She’s at our house in the country.’

‘That would be the Hamptons,’ said Ren.

He nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘Does she know about this now — that you’re not the father of the baby?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘She has no idea. Nor will she.’

‘Were you not concerned we would tell her the results of the swabs?’

‘I knew you’d have to talk to me first,’ said Robert.

‘Did Laura Flynn know that you were not the biological father?’ said Ren.

‘Laura? No,’ said Robert. ‘Absolutely not.’

‘Is there any way she could have found out?’ said Ren.

‘No... there was no paperwork about this, it was all done in private with the doctor and his office. He’s a personal friend.’

‘Can I ask,’ said Ren, ‘isn’t there a conflict between your religious views and your decision to use a surrogate?’

He hesitated. ‘I don’t see it that way.’

‘I’m quoting here,’ said Ren, looking down at her notebook. ‘It’s from a speech given by the Pope. There is an “inseparable connection, willed by God, and unable to be broken by man on his own initiative, between the two meanings of the conjugal act: the unitive meaning and the procreative meaning”. IVF separates those two parts,’ said Ren, ‘so the Catholic Church is against it.’

‘If I was opposed to surrogacy,’ said Robert, ‘then I wouldn’t have agreed to it in the first place, which I clearly did.’

‘Maybe it was a decision you went on to regret,’ said Ren.

Robert shook his head. ‘Not one bit. I respect life, all lives.’

‘So, in your mind, because your sperm wasn’t used in the surrogacy, you hadn’t been part of something that was against your religious beliefs?’ said Ren. ‘Is that it?’

‘I simply love my wife more than I love God,’ said Robert. ‘Yes, I’ve been Catholic all my life, but I didn’t know Ingrid all my life. When I met her, I saw the world a different way. She changed my life. And as time went on, I could see how clearly she wanted to be a mother, and what a good mother she would make.’

‘Did you not think that she wanted to be a mother to your baby, because she loved you,’ said Ren.

‘It would still have been my baby,’ said Robert. ‘I would still have considered it that way.’

‘Vasectomies are also against the Catholic Church’s teaching...’ said Ren.

Robert Prince nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘And that’s OK with you too,’ said Ren.

Robert nodded. ‘Yes. Can you see that I may just be guilty of not agreeing with every single tenet of the Catholic Church?’

Thereby guilty of being quite the hypocrite.

‘This was a private decision,’ said Robert. ‘This was not something that Ingrid or I would ever publicly discuss.’

‘So, it was all right to do this, if it was kept secret,’ said Ren.

‘I love my wife,’ said Robert. ‘I think anything I do that is borne out of love for her is the right thing to do.’

What dark multitude could that cover?