Chapter 7
Later that afternoon, Colin met with his lawyer in the lobby of the station before going over to the mediator’s office to do the court-mandated mediation. He’d almost rather have a root canal then meet with people who were only out for money and didn’t give a rat’s-ass about ruining a man’s career and livelihood.
“Mr. Petrowinski,” Colin greeted the middle-aged man with a round belly, derived from hours sitting at his desk Colin suspected. Colin extended his hand, which Petrowinski took and shook vigorously.
“Do I really have to be at this mediation?”
“You really do, Officer Rourke.” He ran a hand over his thin, graying hair. “This case could cost you or the city five million dollars. If there is a way to come to a settlement without going to trial, we need to arrange that.”
“I hate to argue with you, since you are the expert, but I didn’t throw their precious son off the bridge. We shouldn’t settle anything. Giving them money is like offering an addict drugs.”
Petrowinski folded his hands over his belly. “The chief is the one who wanted to settle this with as little fanfare as possible. In his mind, a trial would make matters worse.”
The chief is a boob, Colin thought to himself, but was intelligent enough not to express the feeling out loud in front of a lawyer. “I’ll go, but I’m not going down without a fight, even if it means going against the chief.”
The tiny office they were using smelled musty and felt claustrophobic. There was only enough room for the conference table and eight chairs. There was a half-sized table in the corner for a pitcher of water and eight glasses.
The plaintiffs were already in the room, smiling, when Colin and his lawyer entered the room. Colin glanced. There were two windows, big enough for jumping out if all was lost during the mediation. The wall opposite the windows was hospital white, with no pictures, maps, or diplomas. Nothing.
“Cheery,” Colin hissed, sitting in a chair across from a man who looked like he’d forgotten to shave for the last decade. His beady-eyes and hawk-like nose added to his sinister appearance. Colin observed a woman and man sitting in the other chairs. One was Brian, Regan’s brother. They’d met a few times and, of course, at the wedding. Colin nodded at him.
The woman was larger, with straight, dirty-blonde hair and clothes that looked older than Colin was. The mediator was the only one who looked happy to be there. He wore a navy suit and a placating grin. Colin only hoped this torture would end soon.
The whole thing took twenty minutes. Colin said that no effing way was he admitting he was at fault and giving them three million, no, two million. Okay, how about one million? It was like the bargain basement of negotiating. They were totally in this for the money. Colin couldn’t even tell if they actually knew the man they were supposedly related to. Ramirez was a scumbag in the first degree, though these people, including Regan’s brother, wanted to memorialize him and put him up on a pedestal. You’d think the man was a saint. The mediator tried to keep everything pleasant and everyone agreeable, but that had failed miserably.
~ ~ ~
Brian had invited himself over and Regan gave in again. This time she was interested in what he had to say. They sat in her dark living room with a computer on the coffee table. She watched the video of Colin throwing Ramirez off the bridge. When Brian showed up with the incriminating video he had, she couldn’t wait to get him in the house.
On the third viewing, she got an odd feeling that something wasn’t quite authentic about the video. There was something funny about the officer. She never got a clear view of his face and he didn’t walk like Colin.
She said nothing to Brian, but watched the grainy video, her eyes squinted, for a fourth time. The picture quality wasn’t good. She thought that with today’s technology, surveillance videos were better than this.
“This sucks. How are you going to put together a case with this? Did you find fibers, hair, or a body? Perhaps you could build a case, but this video alone doesn’t create a reasonable doubt.”
“Come on, Reg. It shows your husband, that’s your ex-husband, tossing a guy over the railing. Not an easy feat. I think I can convince the rest of my team and the jury that he’s a monster. Strong, vengeful, with a God complex.”
She tasted bitterness in her mouth. Colin was not a monster with a God complex. He was out to help the little guy. He made sure that all the kittens were home at night and— Okay, so she was exaggerating, but he wasn’t a bad guy.
“Did I mention that someone’s been following me?”
“Really?” Brian raised his eyebrows.
She nodded. “He’s a creepy guy. I think your clients hired him to get to Colin through me. You can tell them it’s not going to work.”
“I’ll check with them, but I’m sure you’re imagining things. I doubt they would pay good money to have someone follow you.”
She crossed her arms. “Where did you get this video?”
“It was taken from the security cameras mounted on the bridge.”
“Did anyone else have access to it?”
“Stay out of it, Regan. There’s no reason for you to worry about it.” His voice was harsh, meant to stop her from asking anymore questions. He closed the screen on the laptop, stopping the video from its mocking loop.
She sighed. “I know, but I can’t help worrying about someone I was married to.”
Brian reached over and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I know you were in love with him, but for your own good, you need to stay away from him. I’ve spoken to a security firm about placing someone outside your house to keep that maniac away from you.”
Her heart rate sped up. “You mean the man following me?”
He shook his head. “No. I mean Colin. He has a history of excessive force.”
“He’s a police officer. That happens with his job. He has never hurt me.” And, will never hurt me. The fact that Brian was trying to make her worried, didn’t endear him to her.
“I’m not taking any chances with your safety.”
“I’m not concerned with my safety, once you talk to your clients about the jerk following me,” she told him forcefully.
However, when she arrived home from work the next evening, a car marked with Port City Security sat in her driveway. As she drove in, a man got out of the car in his pressed navy uniform. “Evening, Ma’am.”
Regan slid out of her car, heaving a sigh of frustration. “Hi.”
“I’m Dirk. Brian hired me to keep an eye on you.” He gave a big, juvenile smile.
She rolled her eyes. What was he, twelve? This was the man who was supposed to protect her from mobsters and her deranged ex-husband?
“Dirk?” she asked, not sure if that was really his name. Did private security firms have pseudonyms?
“It’s a family name.”
She gave him the once-over from head to toe. He was about five-nine, dark hair, and dark eyes. The light was too poor to figure out the exact color. Scrawny only began to describe him. But his feet were huge, bigger than any she’d seen before. She was sure that in a foot chase he’d probably trip over his own feet and wind up on his face.
“Truth be told, I’m not sure I need you to be here. If Brian’s paying you, then stay, but seriously, I’m not in danger.” Even as she said it, she thought about the stalker. The security guy would probably pass out if she mentioned the mob. Not that Port City had mobs, but they had gangs of immigrants who stuck together and watched each other’s backs. Who was going to watch her back? Dirk? Not likely.
“The man who hired me said you could be in grave danger. That sounds serious to me.”
“Good luck,” she said, smiling and heading for the door. What was she going to do with a Dirk following her on top of the original stalker? And when was she going to find time to talk to Colin?
Once she was locked inside the house, she grabbed her cell and dialed Colin. He needed to know about her new addition so he wasn’t surprised if he happened to stop by, which she wanted him to do often.
“It’s not a good idea for you to call me on your phone.” Colin answered the phone briskly, businesslike.
“Hello to you, too,” Regan said.
“I’m serious. The plaintiff’s council will probably check my phone records, mail, anything. They are going to be grasping at straws.”
“Mediation went well, huh?”
“I saw your brother.”
“Me too. I saw the video.” She licked her lips that were suddenly dry. “It’s not you. I could tell by the way the guy walked.”
“I knew it wasn’t me ’cause I didn’t do it.”
“Besides that.” Regan smiled into the phone and sunk into the couch. She let the darkness envelop her, making Colin’s voice deeper and more intimate.
“Your brother didn’t have a thing to say. He was outclassed by his clients, and that’s saying something. You’re going to stay away during the trial, right?”
She paused.
“Regan Rourke.”
When he used her full name, in that tone, it tickled her funny bone so she couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face. He never used her name seriously.
“I’m not kidding. I don’t want you there. There is no way I want those con-artist, scumbags to see you.”
“I’m safe,” she said flatly, grabbing a pillow, hugging it to her chest.
“No you’re not. Not until I’m back there with you.”
She could hear the passion in his voice. When they’d been dating, they spent a lot of time on the phone, before they’d moved in together. She could tell when he was sad, angry, and excited from the tone of his voice. It didn’t matter that she spent most of her days working the phone lines. She loved listening to him talk about his work, his childhood, college, anything. She sighed.
“Brian hired a rent-a-cop to watch over me.”
There was silence on the other end of the line. She wasn’t sure he was still there. “Colin? He wants me to be safe, just like you do. Colin?”
More silence. She was about to hang up when he grunted. “That’s ridiculous. I don’t even know what to say.”
“He wants you to stay away from me. That was one of his reasons for parking Dirk here at the house.”
She heard him sigh.
“I love you,” she said, trying to change the subject.
“You’re brother’s a jerk. I’d like to beat him to a pulp.”
Just hearing the words sent a shiver through her. She didn’t like hearing him talk like that. She’d never been afraid of her husband, but when he spoke about hurting another person, concern for him skittered across her chest. She couldn’t respond to him. Didn’t have the words to tell him how she felt when he said things like that. Despite the fact that Colin didn’t like Brian, Brian was family. Her only family. She needed Brian, too.
“I’ve got to go, Colin,” she said with some regret. She wanted to stay on the phone to listen to him, but she couldn’t control the fear in her voice.
“When can we meet again?” he asked.
“Soon.” She hung up the phone before he could question her further.
Sitting in the dark, holding her pillow, she felt a tear slip down her cheek. She brushed it away angrily. She was not going to cry. Strong and able, that was her. There had to be a way to clear Colin and restore her faith in him. She needed to restore her faith in herself for choosing a man who was good and honest. This whole case was making her think that perhaps she wasn’t a good judge of character. More than anything, she wanted to believe in herself.
That night, she spent hours tossing and turning. Knowing Dirk was in the driveway didn’t give her peace of mind. Instead, she worried about him on top of being concerned about Colin and herself. Throwing the covers off, she padded to the window and looked out to the driveway. Dirk was sitting in the car reading a book with the overhead light on. Didn’t he realize he was a target and he was giving the bad guys a clean shot? She let the curtain fall back with a groan, then climbed back into bed.
Colin caught up with her the next morning just as she was about to go into the dispatch office. With a quick motion, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the back of the supply closet. He didn’t give her the chance to scream. Instead, he covered her mouth with his and kissed the fear from her. She knew those lips and was instantly aroused, feeling them coaxed her desires to life. Considering where they were and what might happen if they were caught, her attraction heightened.
“I wanted to see you last night after we talked, but with your hound dog out front I didn’t risk coming in.”
“If you’d wanted to get by him, I’m sure you could have.”
“Did you see him sitting with the light on? For real? I almost took a pot shot, just to wake him up.”
She pulled away from him and blocked her space with her hands on his chest. Her eyes adjusted to the dark, illuminated by the space under the door. She saw how relaxed he was leaning against the wall. “You have to stop saying things like that. If you’re saying these things with me, you might slip and say something in front of someone you shouldn’t.”
“What are you talking about?” He tried to pull her back into him.
She could feel his arousal, but ignored it. Looking around, she concentrated on the shelves of boxes filled with forms and requisitions, ticket pads, and vacation request forms she knew were there.
“You said you wanted to beat my brother. Now you want to shoot my security guard. If someone didn’t know you, they’d think you have a violent streak, that you are dangerous.”
“Regan? You don’t think that, do you? You aren’t worried I’d do something to you?”
She could hear the concern in his voice, see the intense look he had on his face as he stared her down. “Of course not,” she said, but unfortunately she wasn’t sure any more. Damn all of them for creating doubt in her mind.