Betrayal (24 page)

“When?” Max looked shocked.

“About three months ago,” she said gently.

“And you didn’t tell me? How could you do that?” She was suddenly angry at her mother, for keeping a secret from her, especially something as major as this. She had lived with Hunt since she was fifteen, and he was the closest thing to a father she’d ever had, even if he had arrived late.

“It was complicated. It’s really been kind of a difficult time,” Tallie admitted, and there were tears in her eyes. She didn’t want Max to be angry at her too. The rest was bad enough.

“Complicated how?” Max wanted to decide for herself.

“Well, a lot of stuff has come up in the last few months that I didn’t know about. It made it impossible for me to go on living with him.”

“Like what? Stop being so mysterious about it. I’m not a child. I’m eighteen.” It sounded like childhood to Tallie, but she could still remember how grown-up she had felt at Max’s age. She’d had a baby two years later. But Max was nowhere near that, and had no intention of getting married and having a baby at twenty in whatever order.

“To be honest, I don’t know where to start. It’s a long story, but we had a new Japanese investor for our next movie, which I’m not doing with Hunt, by the way, since you want to know everything. The investor wanted an audit, so we did one, and our accountant discovered that I had quite a lot of missing money, as in close to a million dollars. Someone had been stealing about twenty-five
thousand
dollars in cash from me every month for several years. So that was the beginning. My accountant was worried. I couldn’t understand it. I asked Brigitte about it, she said she didn’t know anything, although she should have since she took care of all my bills. And finally, a couple of days later, she told me that Hunt had been stealing money from me, or having Brig get it for him, and swearing her to secrecy—” Max interrupted her before she could go on, and looked irate.

“Mom, that’s bullshit! And you know it. Hunt would never take any money from you, or anything else. He’s always
giving
me money. Hunt would never steal anything from you. Was Brigitte crazy or what?”

“Actually, that turned out to be the case. Brigitte is crazy, and Hunt wasn’t stealing money from me, but someone was, and I didn’t know who. Brigitte really did convince me it was Hunt, for a while.”

“That’s shitty of you,” Max said, looking annoyed, as she lay down next to her mother on the bed again, and listened to what had happened. It sounded like a long story, and totally insane to her.

“Anyway, aside from the money, Brigitte gave me more bad news.” She took a breath before she continued. “She said that Hunt was involved with another woman.” With that, Max rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“That’s bullshit too. Hunt would never do that to you, Mom. What’s wrong with Brigitte? Why is she saying all this stupid stuff about Hunt? Is she mad at him or something?” Max had always
loved
Brigitte, but the whole story sounded ridiculous to her, and mean to Hunt.

“Yes, she is mad at him. But it turns out she was right. He was seeing someone else, he had been for the last year. I didn’t believe her either, so I went to a private investigator, and she showed me pictures of them. To cut the story short, he was involved with this other woman, he’s in love with her, and they’re having a baby, so that’s not such great news,” Tallie said with a lump in her throat as Max sat up again and stared at her mother.

“You’re lying,” she said, wanting that to be true, but it wasn’t.

“No, I’m not, sweetheart. I’m sorry, I know you love him, and I do too, or I did … but he lied to me. He admitted it about the other woman, though. I asked if he’d stop seeing her and he wouldn’t. He loves her. So he moved out.” She made it sound matter-of-fact, but it was an ugly story, and that wasn’t lost on Max, who was crying by then, as her mother put her arms around her. It was a huge disappointment to them both. “I don’t know what happened to him. He just kind of went off the deep end, I guess. But it was very dishonest of him. And as much as it hurt, I’m glad Brig told me.”

“How did she know?” Max asked, cuddled up next to her mother like a child. She was badly hurt by what she’d just heard.

“Someone told her. Anyway, the story’s not over.” Not by a long shot. “When I went to the private investigator, she also told me that Hunt had had an affair with Brig for three years before that. He cut it off when he started seeing this other woman, so you’re right. She’s pissed at him. Meanwhile, if you add up his three years with her, and the year with this other woman, that means Hunt
cheated
on me for all four years we were together. Brig claims he forced her into it, he says she did, but you don’t force anyone to do something they don’t want to do for three years. They were having an affair behind my back. Hunt’s a very sweet guy, but he’s a cheater and he lied to me. And even if you love him, I couldn’t stay with him.”

“Of course not, Mom. I understand,” Max said, wiping her eyes and hugging her mother. “That’s so sad. How could he do such a terrible thing to you? And how could Brig? You’re always so good to them, and she’s been your friend forever.”

“Yeah, I know. I felt pretty bad for a while, a little better now. And there’s more. The money. Since they both lied to me, I didn’t know who to believe, so the private investigator sent me to the FBI. They investigated the whole thing. Brig has been embezzling from me, maybe for a few years, maybe longer. It turns out that nothing she ever told me about her history is true, she’s a liar, and a thief. She’s been ripping me off.” Max looked totally shocked.

“Oh my God! Mom! How awful!”

“Yes, it is,” Tallie said quietly.

“Is she going to give it back?” To Max, it was all so simple. If she took it, she should give it back. Tallie wished she would, but Jim Kingston said that wasn’t likely to happen, or not in full anyway, probably only a fraction of what she lost, if that.

“I don’t know yet,” Tallie said with a sigh. Telling the story to Max, even in a simplified version, made her realize again how truly awful it was. “They’re going to arrest her next week. There will be a trial in about a year, and I’m going to sue her to try and
get
some money back, or her house or something. And she’ll probably go to prison.” Max was shocked into silence. The man who had been her hero and father figure had cheated on her mother for the whole four years and lied to them both, and the woman who was like an aunt to her was an embezzler, a cheat, a liar, and was going to prison.

“Did you fire her?” Max asked in a hushed voice.

“My lawyer is doing it this week.” Tallie made it all sound so straightforward, but it wasn’t that easy. “And you know all those gifts she always claims she gets, all the jewelry and furs and Prada bags and stuff? It turns out she was buying them with my money. So that, my love, is what’s been happening at home. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the performance?” She tried to put a note of levity into it, but Max looked as shaken as Tallie had been herself, for months.

“Shit, Mom. How did you get through all that? It must have been so awful for you, with Hunt and Brig and everything.” She looked appropriately and profoundly shocked, about all of it.

“It was pretty bad,” Tallie admitted. She wondered herself now how she’d gotten through it. And it wasn’t over yet.

“Why didn’t you tell me? It must have been terrible for you to go through all that alone.” Max looked sympathetic and hugged her closer.

“It was too much to tell you on the phone. I wanted to wait till I saw you. So there it is. Not a pretty story.”

“Will Brig really go to prison?” Max couldn’t imagine it, and neither could Tallie. It seemed unthinkable, but Brigitte had done it to
herself.
More important, how could she have stolen money from Tallie day after day, and year after year, and look her in the eye, not to mention sleeping with Hunt?

“The FBI says she will.”

“I’ll bet Brig is really shocked when she gets arrested. Does she know she’s in trouble?”

“Not yet. I think it’s all going to happen pretty quickly in the next couple of weeks.” But nothing had gone quickly so far. Everything had seemed to move in slow motion to Tallie. And it would be a long time before she got any money back, if she did.

“Do you still talk to Hunt?” Max asked her quietly. She was very sad about him and she could see that her mother was too.

“Not really. I try not to talk to him. Our lawyers communicate about business issues. That’s all. There’s nothing left to say.”

“Can I talk to him?”

“If you want to.” Tallie didn’t want to just cut her off from him. If nothing else, she needed some kind of closure, or maybe she needed to keep contact with him. If so, Tallie wasn’t going to stop her. She was eighteen, and had a right to do what she wanted about him, as long as she didn’t bring him to the house. He was a weak man who had taken the easiest course of action, and the most painful for her. “It’s up to you. If you see him, don’t bring him home.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you, Mom,” she said solemnly.

“I just want to tell him what I think of what he did to you. It’s disgusting. He’s a huge liar. And Brig too. What they did is as bad as the money.” There were times when Tallie thought so too. The
money
was dishonest but impersonal. But what they had done together was a knife in her heart. She couldn’t bear thinking of either of them anymore. It was the definition of betrayal.

“I think so too. Anyway, it’s wonderful to be here, and I’m happy to be with you. I’m sorry to start it off with an awful, sordid story.”

“I don’t know what to say to you, Mom. It’s so terrible. Do you think you’ll ever date anyone again?” Max couldn’t imagine her trying again, or trusting anyone after this, neither woman nor man, since she had been exploited by both, and sorely abused.

“Not at the moment,” Tallie said firmly. “That’s the last thing on my mind, and the last thing I’d want to do.”

“Does Grampa know?”

“Yes. As always, he gave me good advice.”

“How is he?”

“So-so, kind of weak right now. But he gets that way sometimes, and then he perks up. I hope he will.”

“I’ll be home in a few weeks, and I can keep him company. I’m coming home before summer school.” Unlike most of her peers, who wanted to drag their college education out for five or six years now, Max wanted to finish in less than four, and go straight to law school, if they’d let her. She had signed up for summer school that summer, and Tallie was proud of her and so was her grandfather, with good reason. She was an outstanding and dedicated student, and always had been. “When do you finish the picture, Mom?”

“A few weeks after I go back. Then I’ve got post-production, and then I’m done. We can go somewhere when you come home after
summer
session. I’m taking some time off after this movie. I need it.” And since she wouldn’t be working with Hunt on the next one, she wanted some time to find a new project that appealed to her. She loved the movies that Hunt produced, but there were plenty of other good ones out there. She was determined to find one of them.

They lay cuddling on the bed for a while then, while Max tried to absorb all that her mother had told her. It was so enormous that it was hard to get her mind around it. It was huge!

“What a dick Hunt is,” Max said sadly. She had lost all respect for him after hearing the story. “And Brig is a total crook.”

“You’re right on both counts. No morals, no principles, no honesty, no integrity. They’re rotten people.”

“Are you glad she’s going to prison?” Max was curious.

“Yes, I am. It’s not very forgiving of me, but I think she should pay for what she did, and pay me back as much as she can.”

“Will she?”

“I don’t know. Supposedly you lose money on these deals and you don’t get much back.”

“Let’s hope it will be different for you. I’ll say a prayer for you, Mom.” When she said it, Tallie nearly cried. She had all the correct instincts about right and wrong.

“What do you want to do for dinner tonight?” Tallie asked her. Max wanted to go to a small neighborhood restaurant with her mother. It sounded good to Tallie too. After all her hard work and misery in L.A., she wanted to get out, and she loved being with her daughter.

Tallie loved Max’s favorite restaurant too. They had burgers and
French
fries, and they walked home afterward in the balmy spring air. New York was beautiful that time of year, and when they went back to the apartment, Max got in her mother’s bed, and they watched TV and relaxed. Max’s head was still spinning with all the news.

Chapter 15

THE NEXT MORNING
Max and Tallie got up and went out to breakfast. They ate at Café Cluny nearby. Tallie had eggs Benedict, and Max scrambled eggs. And they took their time and talked a lot. Tallie loved catching up with Max’s doings and news. The boyfriend had already faded out, and she was working hard at school and having fun hanging out with her friends, and she wanted to introduce her mother to some of them that night. Tallie had agreed to take four of them to dinner. They went to Da Silvano, which was one of Tallie’s favorite restaurants, with delicious Italian food. And they sat at a table outside on the sidewalk, where they could watch people wander by.

And for the rest of the week, they walked through SoHo and Chelsea, went to galleries, shopped, went uptown to MoMA, walked through Central Park and listened to a steel band. They went to a Broadway play one night, and did all the things they both loved doing in New York. For the entire week, Tallie kept checking her cell phone to see if there was a message from Jim
Kingston,
telling her that Brigitte had been arrested. But she knew it was too soon since they had to get the indictment from the grand jury and the warrant from the judge, and Brigitte was probably still in Mexico anyway, but Tallie checked her phone several times a day. She would have preferred it to happen while she was away, but suspected it probably wouldn’t.