Judgment

53

Duncan went upstairs, to his study, while she sat at the kitchen table. She reached Hersh on his cell phone, using WhatsApp.

“I know it’s late,” he said. “I’m sorry. But I think I figured out Mayfair Paragon.”

“What did you find out?”

“I had this little brainstorm. I Googled the Earl of Wenfield.”

“Who is—?”

“The vice chairman of Harrogate Capital Partners.”

She remembered: the British firm that invested heavily in Wheelz. “Right.”

“So Lord Wenfield gives parties for Harrogate Capital Partners. That’s basically his job. He gives a party at Henley every year for the firm, for instance.”

“Okay.”

“I found an article in a British magazine, Tatler. About a shooting party at Derwent House, the earl’s grand estate. It’s an annual event for Harrogate Capital Partners.”

“Okay.”

“Remember, his given name is Charles Arthur Bertram Hogg? Who can forget, right? So I caught a lucky break. He has a daughter, twenty-one years old. Olivia Hogg.”

“Lucky break because...?”

“Because I knew the daughter, like everyone else in her goddamned generation, would overshare on social media,” Hersh said. “And sure enough, she does. At this shooting party, Olivia’s Lamborghini goes into a pond on the earl’s estate. A couple of months later, I found another article, this time in The Sun, about how Olivia Hogg was arrested in London for cavorting nude in one of the fountains in Trafalgar Square, at four A.M.”

“Not sure I see—”

“Along with her boyfriend, Arkady Protasov. You recognize the boyfriend’s name?”

“Protasov, sure. You mean, he’s Yuri Protasov’s son?”

“That’s the guy,” Hersh said.

Yuri Protasov was a well-known Russian businessman and investor as well as a major philanthropist. There was the Protasov Pavilion at New York Presbyterian Hospital. A wing of the Tate Modern in London, the Protasov Building. The Protasov Fellowship at the Harvard Business School. He was a generous, revered man.

“So Olivia Hogg posts on Instagram a lot,” Hersh said. “She put up a picture of herself with her boyfriend, Arkady, and wrote something about how she met Arkady on his dad’s yacht because, quote, ‘our parents are doing a deal.’”

“Huh.”

“Protasov, the dad, is, like, the hundredth richest person in the world, supposedly worth fifteen billion dollars. Owns a couple of football teams in the UK, owns one of the world’s largest yachts. Bought a house in the Silicon Valley area, Los Altos Hills, for a hundred million bucks. Big investor in Facebook and Twitter. Once, he flew in Prince and Beyoncé to perform at his New Year’s party on St. Barts.”

“And his son goes out with the earl’s daughter. You think... Protasov is the money behind Harrogate Capital Partners?”

“Gotta be.”

“He’s the guy who owns Wheelz.”

“Right. That guy.”

“So where does Mayfair Paragon come in?” she asked.

“Yuri Protasov owns the largest private residence in London, called Paragon House. In a part of London called Mayfair.”

“Mayfair Paragon.”

“Mayfair Paragon is probably one of his private investment vehicles.”

“Wow,” Juliana said after a moment, nodding to herself. “Genius work. I’m impressed.”

“Thank you. So the woman who’s suing Wheelz, Rachel Meyers, starts asking for the files on Mayfair Paragon. Because she’s the general counsel, and it’s her job. And maybe those files are the only place where Yuri Protasov’s name appears.”

“Maybe.”

“And she’s not allowed to see them. Because for some reason Yuri Protasov doesn’t want anyone to know he’s the secret owner of Wheelz.”

“But why the hell would he care?” said Juliana. “So he owns an Uber rip-off. So what?”

“That I can’t figure out. But it’s obviously something he’s willing to kill to protect.”

“And you still think it’s safe to keep kicking at the door? Knowing that?”

“I’m doing it, right?” Hersh said.

“You’re not answering my question.”

“I’m a professional,” said Hersh. “I’m not an easy target. Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself.”

Later she Googled Protasov. There was a lot, mostly philanthropic. She saw that in 2017 he had given fifty million dollars to Yale to establish the Protasov Fund for Innovation at Yale, and the very next year his daughter was admitted to Yale College. One of those happy coincidences. She found his Wikipedia page and saw that Protasov was on the International Steering Committee of Doctors Without Borders.

Along with Martha Connolly.