Chapter 4
Days and nights started to mix together for Colin. Between working the swing shift, drinking his nights away, and missing Regan, he was slowly going crazy. As much as Jack tried, he wasn’t Colin’s wife, who tolerated his idiosyncrasies and needs. The lack of carnal activities didn’t help his lack-luster mood, either. Colin thought Jack might be getting tired of the constant moping around and it was confirmed when Jack’s annoyance came to a head a few nights later.
“Geez, you’re starting to get on my last nerve. I thought you said this divorce was consensual? If that’s the case, why are you blubbering? Dude, I’m starting to think you’re a girl.”
Colin tossed a sneaker at his friend’s head and missed. “I didn’t tell you everything about the divorce.”
“Go on.”
Colin sat on the couch. So maybe he did act somewhat like Dr. Phil. “The lawsuit freaked her out. She doesn’t want to get taken to the cleaners.”
Jack nodded like he understood.
“That’s why we got divorced. So she could keep all of our assets.” He waited for the reaction from Jack, something that showed he understood what they’d done, but he obviously didn’t. To Colin’s ears it sounded like Regan was a selfish bitch, but Jack knew her well enough to understand that wasn’t the case.
“Never mind. Forget I said anything.” Colin would move out if he had anywhere to go, but he didn’t and renting an apartment seemed too much like giving up.
~ ~ ~
Regan had been in a fog since the divorce was final. She’d expected she and Colin would be married forever, and now that her dream had died, she couldn’t get out of her own way. Checking her fridge, she realized that shopping hadn’t been a priority. The eggs, coffee creamer, bottle of water, and box of white wine were beginning to look lonely and pathetic in her empty fridge. A trip to the grocery store was in order.
Pulling out of the driveway, she headed for the local box store. It was busy this morning. The last thing Regan wanted to do was be social, so she kept her head down and refused to make eye contact with anyone.
She grabbed a cart, wiped off the handle with one of the anti-bacterial wipes provided, smiled curtly at the man who entered the store next to her, and headed for the bakery. She picked up some blueberry muffins, then continued to the deli, followed by the produce. Every time she rounded a corner, that same man who came in with her was already in that aisle. By the third aisle, she noticed more details about him.
He was middle-aged and old enough to have a wife who might do the shopping for him. His comb-over covered his thinning hair and his white T-shirt was thin and stained. She skipped a few rows to try and get ahead of him, but it didn’t seem to matter. Her cart was half-full as she entered the meat department.
He was there, like he’d been waiting for her. She looked closer at him, using techniques Colin had taught her about suspicious people. He was the kind of guy who looked like he lived in his parents’ basement: greasy T-shirt with ripped jeans, beady little eyes, and a bulge in his front pants pocket. It was then she noticed his empty cart.
The fog in her brain cleared and she was on full alert. Her heart started to beat faster and louder in her ears. She wiped her sweaty palms on her pants. She made eye contact with him, and tried to hold his gaze for as long as possible. He looked away first, suddenly interested in premade hamburgers.
Regan started making plans for escaping the building. There was a door to the back storage area and the front door was a store-length away. She gulped as she passed him. Adding a few packages blindly, she kept her eyes out for the man to gauge if he was following her or if she’d made the whole thing up.
If someone was clever enough to set Colin up, there was reason to suspect that they could come after her to get to Colin.
In the dairy aisle, her stalker was fingering the yogurt. He peeked quickly, then looked back down. She added a gallon of skim milk to her cart, a package of cheese, and spun around heading to the registers.
He was in the checkout line next to hers. Tossing a pack of gum on the conveyer belt, he concentrated on the cashier.
She glared at him while she stacked her groceries on the conveyor belt. It was still light out, which gave her a moment’s peace.
“Is there someone who can help me out with my groceries?” she asked her cashier. She wasn’t stupid enough to enter the parking lot alone when that man had been following her. He’d be the stupid one if he jumped her with someone else present.
“Sure, I’ll call someone right over.”
The man scurried out of the store and went to a white Buick parked only a few spots away from her. By the time she got to her car, the white Buick was gone. She scanned the parking lot, but didn’t see it.
“Are you okay?” the teen boy who’d been assigned to walk her out asked.
“I think so. I appreciate your help. I can take it from here.”
Once she was driving, thoughts swirled through her brain. She must have imagined the whole thing, or maybe he didn’t get out of the basement much and was watching her because he thought she was good looking. It hadn’t happened before, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen, she told herself. By the time she pulled into her driveway, she’d convinced herself that she’d made the whole thing up. Just to be safe, she locked the door to the house, threw the deadbolt, and latched the chain.
~ ~ ~
“Rourke, see me after class,” the lieutenant told him in front of all the other officers getting their duties for the upcoming shift.
Colin almost missed his name being called, and if it hadn’t been for Jack, he would have. Class broke up after that and the guys marched out to their cruisers together. Colin stayed behind.
“Lieutenant? What’s going on?” he asked, setting his heavy, tactical black duty bag down next to his feet.
“I need you on the front desk for the next couple of weeks. With what’s been going on, I feel it’s the best place for you.”
“Sir, I’m fine. Ready to take on the city.”
“I spoke with Jack. He agrees that your game is off. Between the divorce and the lawsuit, you aren’t yourself.”
Colin gritted his teeth. That rat bastard. “The desk? Making nicey-nice with the public is where I should be?”
“Yes. You do well there and we’ll talk about moving you back onto your beat. This is only temporary.” The lieutenant cuffed him on the arm.
Grumbling to himself, Colin picked up his useless bag and stomped into the main lobby, taking his new seat at the front desk to take complaints from people. Oh, he also got to press the buzzer to open the locked doors into the department and answer phones. He was so excited he could just fall into a coma. Right. Now.
He plopped into the empty chair. “Hello, Kim,” he said to the civilian who manned the desk with one sworn officer every day.
“Hi, Colin. It’s good to see you. I’m glad we’ll be working together for a while. It’ll give us a chance to get to know one another,” she purred at him. The smile she sent his way was more than friendly.
He had to look twice to see if she was kidding or really coming on to him. He hadn’t been married so long that he wouldn’t notice when a woman was interested.
He was about to say something, when the door opened to the visitor lobby and Regan hurried in. Checking his watch, he chuckled. She was ten minutes late and Regan was never late. Her hair was tousled and she had bags under her eyes that she’d tried to conceal with makeup. The average person off the street might think nothing of it, but he knew something wasn’t right in her world and it tore at his gut. He wanted to make her smile or maybe even laugh.
“Mornin’, Kim. Please let me in,” Regan said without looking up. She reached for the door.
“I’ve got this one,” Colin said, waving Kim off. “Ma’am, may I see some ID?”
That got her attention. She looked up and before she could chew him out, she froze. Her mouth hung wide open and her hand shook slightly on the door handle.
“Colin? She works here,” Kim whispered.
“Let me in, Colin.” The voice was low and serious.
“Come here, please,” he responded patiently.
She glared at him. “Cut the crap and let me in, Colin.”
“I’m waiting to see your ID.”
She gave a huge sigh and strode to the window. “What?”
He leaned in toward her. “You okay? You look . . . not good.”
She shook her head at him. “See, I just got a divorce and I’m not feeling myself.”
The words, said playfully, ate him up inside. He knew the truth to what she said. They were written all over her face. “I’m sorry to hear that. I didn’t mean to give you a hard time. Go ahead in.” He pressed the button and the door unlocked.
“You know she works here, right?” Kim asked.
Colin gave her a ‘seriously?’ look and took out a book to read.
Working the desk was pathetic. He was fit for duty on the streets regardless of what Jack and the lieutenant thought.
The phone rang. Kim offered to answer it and he let her. The less secretarial work he had to do, the better for everyone involved. Plus, he couldn’t stop thinking about Regan. Even when she was at her worst, she still looked amazing to him. She was tired, but something other than the separation was bugging her. He’d bet on it.
The first chance he got to take a break was almost an hour later. He took the stairs two at a time to the third floor and the dispatch office. He had to see if Regan was okay. In all the time he’d known her, she’d never seemed so preoccupied and, well, depressed.
He peeked through the glass in the door and willed her to look in his direction. She had her head down on her desk. She wasn’t sleeping. That would get her fired. He tapped on the window, and six pairs of eyes looked in his direction. Giving a smile, he pointed to Regan. They must have gotten the idea because she lifted her head and glanced at him. It took a moment for her to focus, then she gave a weak smile and stood, taking off her headset and setting it down.
She pushed the door open with her whole body and after she trudged through, she let it close behind her with a click. Colin could hear the whispering behind the door, but it didn’t seem to faze her.
“What?” she asked in an exhausted voice.
“Are you sick?”
“No. I’m just tired.”
“Regan, look at me. What’s going on? I know it’s not our separation that’s got you looking like this. There’s something else. You can’t lie to me. I’m your husband.”
She scoffed. “Not anymore you’re not.”
“Tell me.”
“You can’t do anything about it.”
He folded his arms and put on his best serious cop face. “Try me.”
“It’s nothing, Colin. I mean it.”
She was lying. They’d been together for three years and anytime she’d withheld information from him, he knew it. He’d find out sooner or later.
“I’ve got to get back to work.” She untangled herself from him and without looking up, she went back into the semi-darkness of the dispatch office.
He stood in the hallway watching her, then with a sigh, he went back to the front desk to figure out what he needed to do to end this charade.
Over the next few days, he put in his hours, taking complaints and pressing the button. Kim didn’t allow him to answer the phone after he answered one call with “What.” Regan hadn’t called and he’d kept his cell phone on him at all times. He was ready to run to her aid if needed.
Kim tried every day to engage him in flirting banter, but he didn’t have the energy or desire for it. There was only one person he wanted to talk to, and she was avoiding him.
The captain called Colin back into the office to go over what would happen with the case. “Everything is moving along without a problem,” the captain told him.
Colin sat in a leather chair across from him. Colin didn’t know him well, but he trusted the man mostly because they wore the same uniform. The lawyer Colin had chosen from the department’s approved list, Don Petrowinski, was a typical stuffed shirt. Colin could take or leave him, but he didn’t put all of his faith in lawyers, especially one hired by the police department.
“Your lawyer went through the pre-trial scheduling conference yesterday.”
“I’m not sure what that means, Captain. I wasn’t supposed to be there, was I?”
“No.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “The lawyers and court met and decided on the time frame for the whole trial. You’ll go through discovery, set up witnesses and exhibits as well as sit down with the plaintiff’s family for mediation.”
“I’m not sitting with the family.”
“Yes, you are. It’s the law in this state,” the captain said, pointing at him. “You’re not going to be difficult, are you?”
Colin didn’t say anything for a minute. He created an answer that wouldn’t get him fired, but would show he wasn’t a pushover. “I will be as difficult as necessary. Can you honestly say that you’d want to sit with the family of a man you supposedly killed? Which I didn’t.” Colin leaned forward. “I didn’t do this, regardless of what circumstantial evidence they think they may have.”
“Reasonable doubt. That’s all they need to convict you. You get that, right?”
“Yes, but I’m not going to sit around and take it up the ass.”
“If mediation fails, you’ll go to a jury trial, and then the judgment will be handed down. I hope it doesn’t get that far.” The captain leaned back in his chair. “Do you know anyone who would have it out for you?”
“Within the department? No, I don’t think so.”
“What about your ex-wife? I’m sorry about that, by the way.”
“Regan? No way. She’d have my back.”
The captain stood and came around the desk. He leaned back on the top of it, a few feet from Colin. “If she was upset about the divorce, or planning the divorce before you suspected, she might have set something up.”
Colin glared at the man. No freakin’ way. There was no way Regan was involved in setting him up. His palms dampened and he tried to wipe them off on his pants. He didn’t even have a response for that.
“I’m going back to the desk. If you need me, you know where I am.” Since you were one of the people who put me there.
“Let me know if you have any witnesses to help your case. Character or someone who might have seen something,” the captain called to Colin as he left the office.
His blood was boiling. He had to find the person who’d set him up. The probability of it being Regan was about as minute as finding a bullet in the Atlantic Ocean.