CHARLES

 

The old man couldn’t drive fast enough. When we got there, I didn’t bother waiting for him any longer. I talked to all of the nurses along the way until they finally pointed me in the right direction.

“Charles! Wait!”

Sutton kept trying to keep up with me. But nothing was gonna stop me from getting to Lenora’s side.

I knew I’d gotten to Lenora’s room when I saw Lieberman and a couple of other agents standing next to her.

I walked up to her and she greeted me the same icy cold stare she always had.

“Lawrence… What are you doing here?”

“You know what the fuck I’m doing here,” I said. “I need to see Lenora.”

“She can’t talk right now.”

“I don’t care. I need to see her—”

“Calm down, Lawrence. There’s no need for you to be in such a hurry.”

She looked at the two men next to her and excused them. Sheriff Sutton finally caught up to me.

“Hold on,” he huffed. “Just a second now.”

Lieberman and I turned to him.

“Let’s get one thing straight,” Sutton said. “This is a hospital. There are people resting in here. So can I trust you two to be civil and not make a scene?”

I glared at Lieberman, my jaw clenched. She kept looking her nose down at me.

“I mean it now,” Sutton said. “Whatever beef you two have going on, you settle it outside. There’s some poor girl laid up in a bed right now and she’s not the only one.”

“I’m just here to see Lenora,” I said. “I’m not here to make a scene.”

“That’s funny,” Lieberman replied. “Ever since you got to Ivory, all you’ve done is make a scene.”

I balled one of my fists and took a step toward her. I would’ve slugged her right there. My mother told me to never hit a woman but Lieberman didn’t count. She was as rotten as you could get.

“Settle down now,” Sutton said.

He put a hand on my arm to calm me down. I kept my eyes locked on Lieberman as he continued.

“I’m gonna be right here to make sure you don’t tear this whole damn place down. Just remember that you two trying to settle your differences right here won’t help that poor girl.”

“All I wanna do is talk to her,” I said. “That’s it.”

“You can’t talk to her,” Lieberman said. “I already told you that.”

“Fine then. I want some answers. You’d better give ‘em to me.”

I looked at Sutton and nodded. He seemed reluctant to leave but eventually gave me some space so that I could talk to Lieberman by myself.

“It was Holmes,” she said.

“No shit it was Holmes.”

“I was planning on seeing Lenora right when it happened. It’s a good thing she called me. That’s strange… I thought she would have called someone else for help.”

The bitch knew what she was doing. Trying to goad me into doing something stupid. I would still more than gladly wipe that look off of her face but that wouldn’t get me my answers any quicker.

“This is your fault,” I said.

“My fault?”

“You know how dangerous it was for her to be leaking information to you. You know how close she was to him.”

“She was the only person who could do it. Holmes doesn’t have an inner circle. He doesn’t trust anybody. Lenora’s the only woman he would ever divulge any of his secrets to.”

“I don’t give a shit if she was the only one. You risked her life and you couldn’t even protect her. You walked all over her all in the name of justice.”

“And where were you? If you care so much about her, why weren’t you by her side? Why weren’t you there when she was alone and Holmes put his hands on her?”

I didn’t want to admit that Lieberman was right. Lieberman may have put Lenora in this situation but I could have saved her from it.

I shook my head to try and forget about whose fault it was.

“What did the doctors say?” I asked.

“She should recover just fine. Her body took a hell of a beating. But she’s a strong girl. All she needs is some time and space from you.”

I scoffed at Lieberman. I shook my head at her, just thinking about all the shit she put Lenora through.

“Well,” I said as I held my hands out. “Lenora’s in the hospital. You know Holmes did it. Are you gonna do your job or what?”

“Not yet,” she said, shaking her head.

“What do you mean ‘not yet’? Are you here in Ivory to arrest the bad guys or not?”

“I can arrest Holmes. I can charge him. But a battery charge won’t put him away for good. And there’s no telling if it’ll even stick. He’s got enough money to get some high-priced attorneys.”

I shook my head in disgust. I didn’t give a shit that Lieberman was a federal agent. I was gonna make it clear to her what I was thinking.

“Fucking idiot…” I muttered. “You’ve been in Ivory for damn near a year now and you haven’t done shit. Why don’t you stop flashing your badge and acting better than everybody else and finally do something about it?”

Lieberman kept a straight face. I didn’t expect her to see reason.

“Listen carefully to me,” she said. “Holmes is up to something. Once he sets up his manufacturing facility, we’ll start collecting more evidence. The DA will have enough cases to throw at him that he’ll never be able to escape all of the charges even if he spends every last dime. But you have to be patient.”

“An innocent woman is in the hospital and you’re telling me to be patient?”

I couldn’t stop shaking my head in disgust at her. I’d calmed down enough to know what I had to do.

“You talk about justice,” I said. “You talk about how you’re on the right side of the law. But all you’re doing is sitting back and just letting it happen.”

“Don’t talk to me about right and wrong. You and every other punk in this town that wears a patch are no better than the criminals I lock up. You have no authority to talk that way to me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.”

“Is that right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m not from Ivory. So I don’t give a shit why you’re here and what you’re planning on doing. If you won’t do something about Holmes, then I will.”

She widened her eyes at me. I could tell she was trying to restrain herself.

“Let me make one thing clear to you, Lawrence. If anything happens to Holmes, I’ll know exactly who’s responsible for it. Don’t make this harder for yourself. I won’t hesitate to lock you up and put you in a cell right next to Holmes.”

“Put me in a cell next to Holmes. See what happens.”

Lieberman took a step toward me. She was taller than most women, so she didn’t have to tilt her head up that much to look me right in the eye.

“I’m warning you,” she said. “Don’t do something you’ll regret.”

I stared back at her and nodded. She knew there was no way to convince me otherwise of what I was already thinking.

“You do whatever you have to do,” I said. “And I’ll do what I have to do.”

Before our conversation could go on any further, Sutton walked up to the both of us.

“Listen, guys. The nurses are telling me that they’re a little uncomfortable about a club member getting into it with a federal agent in the middle of the hallway. Are you two done yet? Because I still have authority in this town if you keep disturbing the people in here.”

I kept my eyes locked on Lieberman.

“I’m only here to see Lenora,” I said. “That’s it.”

Sutton turned to the girl in front of me.

“Agent Lieberman?”

“…Keep an eye on this guy,” she said. “Make sure he doesn’t try anything.”

Lieberman’s heels clicked against the hospital floor as she finally left me. I watched her disappear down the hallway with the other two men she was with. As soon as she was gone, Sutton let out a deep sigh of relief.

“What’s wrong?” I said.

“Don’t gimme that. You know damn well what’s wrong. You two are too stupid to realize that butting heads isn’t gonna solve anything.”

“I’m the one who realizes that Holmes is a threat.”

“I agree with Lieberman.”

“What?”

“It’s a shame what happened to Lenora. It really is. But even though she didn’t say it outright, I will.”

The old man took a step toward me and whispered.

“If you put your hands on Holmes, all you’re doing is throwing it all away. Let Lieberman do her job. It’s what’s best for Ivory.”

“And what’s best for Lenora? To let some guy who put her in the hospital roam free?”

“Holmes will get what’s coming to him.”

“I don’t think so,” I said, shaking my head. “Unless Lieberman plans on killing him, he’s not getting what’s coming to him.”

Sutton sighed and looked away from me, knowing he couldn’t change my mind.

“The doctors say you’re not allowed to see her,” he said. “What Lenora needs right now is rest. Can you at least give her that?”

Sutton smiled at me. I finally heard something reasonable.

“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “I can give her the space she needs. But I’m gonna be right here waiting for her when she’s ready to talk.”

“That’s fine. As long as you’re not getting her into any trouble.”

“I only want what Lenora wants.”

“Are you sure you know what that is?”

I looked at the door to her hospital room.

“I guess I’ll find out when I talk to her.”