Page 96 of No Safe Place

“For blackmail,” Colleen said.

Cushing nodded.

“Precisely. Leverage. These children are from some of the richest families on earth. Stone and his people then use this blackmail on a multinational, global wealth–level industrial scale. For insider trading. Political favors.

“The night of Olivia’s death, Frank had come up to collect some evidence on a Japanese student who is the son of the prime minister. He had raped a passed-out girl and Frank wanted to use the video right away.”

“He would collect the blackmail himself?” Colleen said.

“Yes. All of this is CCTV. A hardwired non-internet system. Otherwise, it would get hacked. But it’s not just blackmail. We bring in honey traps. Provide drugs. That’s Travers’s specialty,” Cushing said, nodding at the security director.

No honor among thieves here, I noted.

“It starts, of course, with the admissions department. These students willingly hand over all sorts of personal information that proves invaluable to us once they arrive on campus. Not to mention the medical staff, the advisors, certain professors and resident assistants. We all work together to groom these kids for whatever Frank says. We have jackets on all of them.”

“You deserve to die, you know that?” I said, digging the Glock into his cheek. “You should be thrown into a volcano. All of you.”

“Well, if you want to do that, you better get some tour busses,” Cushing said, “because it’s not just us. Do you think we are the only school that does this? Frank is on the board of half of the Ivy League schools in New England and there are other Franks.”

“You’re going to pay for this,” I said.

“I know,” he said quietly.

When he began to whimper again, I felt at his dry cheeks.

“No tears. See, Colleen?” I said. “How do you like that. He makes the sounds but his cheeks are dry as a bone.”

83

“What happened to Olivia?” said Colleen.

“Olivia worked for the school newspaper,” Cushing said. “I found myself in a tight spot after having attended that fundraiser down in Greenwich. The night Olivia died she saw Frank’s car drive onto campus. Olivia thought if she got a picture of his car that she could bust me again for going back on my word and finally get me fired.”

“Then what?” Colleen said.

“Frank’s people thought it was something much more serious so they chased Olivia. She had actually swum across the river and when they caught her, she kicked one of the security men in the nuts. She wouldn’t say who she was or what she was doing so they tuned her up. Broke her nose, her cheekbone, several of her ribs.”

“What? They beat her? Some little girl?” I said.

“You must understand,” Cushing tried. “Frank Stone does not mess around. He does business in several sketchy countries with some very dangerous people. They thought she was an industrial spy or maybe an assassin. It wasn’t until after they had dealt with her that they learned that she was a student coming after me. We didn’t know what the hell to do after that since she needed to go to a hospital. All we knew is that she couldn’t reveal what had happened. Frank himself was here! So, we looked into her background, her broken family, and concocted the story that she died of an overdose.”

“What did she really die of when they put her in the SUV?” I said.

Cushing stared down at the desk.

“Nothing,” Cushing said.

“Nothing?” Colleen said.

“Nothing,” Cushing said again very quietly.

“Olivia Ramos is still alive.”

84

We stared at him.

“Frank took her that night. He took her with him in the Rolls when he left.”

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