Killer's Choice by Louis Begley

Author:Louis Begley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2019-08-12T16:00:00+00:00

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The American Hotel had been Uncle Harry’s favorite Sag Harbor hangout, I explained to Feng, whom I’d never taken there before, and it had become mine as well. We didn’t have much time, so I ordered a club sandwich for myself, crab cakes for Feng—to my great relief he liked them—and two Montauk ales. We were back at the house at two-thirty. I checked the voice mail. Nothing.

I’ll ask Mr. Krohn to meet with me in the studio, I told Feng. Please bring us coffee there. Or tea if he prefers it.

It was a mild afternoon. Satan stretched out in the sun on the flagstone patio outside the studio door. I was going to turn on the classical music station but thought better of it. We’d wait in silence. How many more blissfully quiet moments such as this one would be given to us to savor?

Jon Krohn arrived at precisely two forty-five.

No coffee, no tea, he said, I’m way too nervous. Just a glass of water, please, and I’ll get on with my story.

He told it in bursts, interrupted by pauses during which this handsome athletic billionaire, so well barbered and so elegant in his blue linen suit and yellow silk shirt open at the collar, would sob and struggle to get himself under control. I had a fresh handkerchief in my jeans pocket and held it out. He took it, and nodded thanks.

His story boiled down to this. Heidi’s brother, Mike, a couple of years her senior, his third wife, Lilly, and their little son, Jonjon, all of whom he’d mentioned during my recent visit to his office, as well as Jonjon’s nanny, were unexpectedly staying with him and Helen in East Hampton. A visit that wasn’t on the program. Mike called to say that they were coming three days ago and told his mother that there was a local holiday that made it convenient to take Jonjon out of kindergarten for a week or ten days to see the grandparents he is always asking about, and that anyway Lilly would like to have Jonjon see an American allergist. She thinks he may be allergic to shellfish. The following morning, they showed up. You should understand, Jon continued, that Mike is the nonexecutive chairman of Krohn Enterprises Asia, and he and his family live in Hong Kong, in a mansion off Mount Kellett Road, a short distance west from the Peak. Quite a piece of real estate, he added with a tinge of bitterness.

This information surprised me. Why hadn’t Heidi told me that her brother and his family lived in Hong Kong? Had she not gone to see them? As an only child, I have a tendency to assume that brothers and sisters are always on the best of terms with each other. This could be a case of siblings who didn’t get along.

We were surprised but naturally happy to see them, Jon continued. No, that’s an understatement. Helen was ecstatic. Then first thing this morning, Mike asked to see me alone and said he’s in very big trouble.

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