WE WERE ALL in the conference room again, me, Elizabeth Shaw, and the gang of four, as Gary had named them.
“His real name is Goran Pappas,” I said. “He also uses the name Elliot Herzog. He lives on Beacon Street, just before it climbs the hill. He’s done time for swindling. He appears to have preselected you, using information provided him by a woman at the health club. There appear to be other women in his life beyond you four.”
“His name is Goran?” Regina said.
“He uses the nickname Gary,” I said.
“Gary Pappas?” she said.
“How’d you find all this out?” Abigail Larson said.
“Amazing, isn’t it?”
“No, really, how do you know?” Abigail said.
I looked inscrutable.
“Vee haf our vays,” I said.
“It seems to me our next question,” Elizabeth said, “is now that we have him located, what steps can we take to contain him?”
The women looked at one another. Then they all looked at me.
“What should we do?” Nancy said.
“He’s a blackmailer,” I said. “We could arrest him.”
“Would we have to testify?” Nancy said.
“Yes.”
Abigail looked at Elizabeth.
“Is that true?”
“You’re the victims,” Elizabeth said. “You’d have to make the complaint. You’d have to testify in court, if the case went there. We could probably keep it fairly low-key, with luck.”
“But my husband would have to know,” Nancy said.
“Very likely,” Elizabeth said.
“Then I won’t do it,” Nancy said.
I looked around the room. All of the women were shaking their heads.
“Couldn’t you just make him stop?” Regina said. “You know, beat him up or something?”
“Several things against that,” I said. “One, I don’t like doing it. Two, it’s illegal. Three, I believe that if I did, he’d blow the whistle on you.”
“Blow the whistle?” Abigail said.
“Send evidence of your infidelity to your husbands,” I said.
Everybody sat. No one said anything. Everybody looked at one another.
Finally Regina said in a very soft voice, “Could you kill him?”
“No,” I said.
“Do you know someone who would?” she said.
“Yes.”
“Could you get him to do it?”
“No,” I said.
“But why?” Regina said.
“That’s enough,” Elizabeth said. “There will be no more talk of that nature from any of you, if you wish me to continue as your attorney.”
Everyone was quiet, as if they’d been chastised by the teacher.
“I could try to arrange some kind of payoff,” I said.
“He wants so much,” Beth said.
“How much?”
“Twenty-five thousand dollars a month,” Beth said.
“From each of you?”
The other women nodded.
“I have access to some money of my own. Chet is very generous,” Beth said. “But I can’t keep paying out that kind of money without eventually having to turn to him.”
The other women nodded in agreement.
“Can you come up with one big payoff?” I said. “I might be able to persuade him to take it and move on, rather than have me on his case all the time.”
“I can’t without Chet knowing,” Beth said.
“Me, either,” Abigail said.
The two others shook their heads. I looked at Elizabeth.
“Counselor?” I said.
“I’m a trust lawyer,” she said. “I don’t know what we should do.”
I stood up.
“Good luck,” I said.
Nobody said anything, but they all looked at me mournfully as I moved toward the door. I shrugged.
“Can’t win ’em all,” I said.