Chapter 13
Colin drove around until he had to put more gas in his car, then he headed to their spot and pulled off the road. The path had grown over since they’d last been there, but he plowed through, ignoring the bushes clawing at his car. Finally, the foliage cleared and opened into a small field skirted by a river.
A deer skittered off into the woods. Colin swung the car to the side and parked. They had come to this spot for two of the three years they’d dated. He found it five years ago while hiking. It was only a handful of miles out of the city, but it was totally secluded. Colin had wanted to buy the land until he’d found out it was owned by the State.
The water babbled in the dark. He turned off the car and closed his eyes. He considered spending the night right there in the tent he had in his trunk. It wouldn’t have been the first time.
He got out of the car and went over to the rocks near the edge of the shallow river. Laying back on a cool rock, he watched the heavens for answers. A shooting star crossed the sky over his head and he made a quick wish. At this point he’d take any luck he could get.
It wasn’t long before another car pulled into the clearing. He sat up.
“Colin?” Regan called as she stopped her car and stepped out.
“I’m here,” he said. “I’ve been here for a while.”
“Thanks for meeting me.”
He didn’t like the sound of her voice. She sounded too business-like. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know,” she said, collapsing next to him on the rock.
She was wearing a winter jacket and had on mittens. She was prepared for the weather, unlike him. He’d worn his jeans and a Port City sweatshirt that he’d changed into at the gas station he’d stopped at. He reached out touching her wrist, between where her jacket sleeve and mitten didn’t quite meet. Her wrist was warm. When she didn’t pull away, he gathered her into his arms.
“Talk to me.”
“I don’t know what’s going on. I’m so afraid we’ll grow apart and you’ll find someone else.”
He heard her voice crack in the dark.
“I won’t. I need you as much as you need me.”
“But, Rebecca. They told me,” she sobbed. “They said you moved in with her.”
Squeezing her tighter, he understood a little better why she was acting this way. “I only spent the night on her couch because I didn’t have anywhere else to go. Tonight I’m considering moving here, in the tent.”
She took hold of his hand. “Remember when we stayed out here in that tent?”
He heard the happiness return to her voice. “I do. It was a great night. Especially when those teenagers interrupted us.”
“They dropped their beer and ran like they’d seen the police.”
“Free beer,” he said, remembering how much fun they’d had.
“I fell in love with you that night.”
“You were already in love with me,” he said, bumping her with his body.
She turned to him. “I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.” She leaned into him and paused, their breath mingling and making steam in the air between them. He held still and waited for what he knew came next.
She gazed into his eyes and at this distance he could see her clearly. Then she moved closer and her cold lips touched his. He let his breath out in a whoosh. Trying to hold back, he kept his arms around her, not moving, and let her lead the kiss. Her warm tongue snaked past his lips and he responded with his own.
“Oh, baby.”
She pulled back. “Want to set up that tent?”
He grinned. “Not tonight. It’s been a busy day. Let’s just hang out and talk. When you leave tonight I want you to be reassured.”
“I feel better,” she said. “How about you? How did court go?”
He rolled his eyes, even if she couldn’t see him. “It was fine.”
“Colin,” she chastised him. “It’s me. Tell me the truth.”
“I can’t. You love your brother.”
“Tell me.”
“Brian talked and talked and talked. I was bored out of my mind. Plus, for the most part, he and his team had every witness testifying how awful I am.”
“What else? Is there something your lawyer can do to discredit what the lawyers said?”
“After the session closed, I had a run in with the media. I realized that this isn’t a game. It’s real life. Petrowinski seems to be a good lawyer, but what if he isn’t good enough?”
Saying all that felt freeing, but scary as hell.
She put her arm around him and snuggled into his neck. “I may not be able to show it in public, but know I’m there for you.”
Colin hugged her tight, drawing strength from her warmth and her devotion. “I love you,” he whispered into her hair.
“We’ll beat this together,” she said.
He was elated to have her on his side. Between Rodrigo’s family doing everything they could to make her doubt what she knew was the truth, and the women Regan worked with also talking trash to her about him, it was no wonder she was concerned about where they were headed. It seemed like a never-ending, uphill battle.
“I have that list of officers and people at the department who don’t like me. Remember we talked about that?”
He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. “It’s a short list. I haven’t pissed off a lot of people.”
“That’s not a bad thing,” she said with a quiet chuckle. “I’ll see what I can do. I’ve got to get home. Dirk’s bound to get worried about me. He’ll probably call Brian on me.”
“By the way, have you seen that guy who’s been following you recently?”
She pushed away from him and stood. “Not in the last two days. Maybe he’s given up on me.”
“Maybe.”
He stood to help her to her car. “I’m glad we found a secluded place to meet. I never thought about coming here.”
“You’ll be okay for tonight?”
He nodded and folded her into his arms. “Don’t worry about me. Much.” He closed the distance between them, claiming her mouth in a possessive kiss that had him hardening and rethinking setting up the tent right then.
She jerked and slapped at her face. “Bugs,” she said. “It’s early for those black flies.” Kissing him quickly before slipping into her car, she left him alone in the darkness pondering his fate.
~ ~ ~
Regan fought the urge to turn her car around to return to Colin. Leaving him homeless in the dark was depressing. Especially when she had a huge house he could stay in. A huge house he helped pay for. Not to mention that Port City had plenty of hotels he could stay in.
Damn Brian for making Dirk her babysitter. Since Brian was paying him, he had the right to know when she arrived home and when she left. The constant monitoring grated on her nerves more and more. She was an adult for goodness sake.
While she drove, she took out the paper Colin had given her. There were only three names on the list. Sheila, who liked no one. Neil Waters, who'd been passed over for a shift change that Colin got. And, Ross Torino, a captain who’d been at the department forever and didn’t like any of the newer officers. The officers figured he was jealous of the younger cops who were still pounding the pavement, while he was stuck at a desk doing administrative things.
Not a strong list of suspects. All had been with the department for at least five years, had a folder full of commendations and were wrapped up in their own lives. Regan wasn’t holding out much hope.
She pulled into the driveway behind Dirk.
He stepped out of the car. “Good Evening, ma’am.”
“Hi, Dirk. Anything going on around here?”
“No, ma’am. It’s been quiet.”
She thought of the note that had been slipped under her door on Dirk’s shift. “I’m sleepy, so I’ll see you in the morning.”
Dirk nodded and got back in his car.
Regan pushed open the front door and held her breath as she looked around, checking the floor, the windows. She turned on lights moving through the house. The back door was still locked as she’d left it this morning. Sighing in relief, she dropped her purse and jacket, slipped off her mittens, and collapsed into a chair at the kitchen table.
She had barely sat down when the phone rang. She hated that she jumped when the noise broke the silence. “Hello?”
“Is everything okay there? Dirk told me you just got home. I was worried.”
Brian. “I don’t want Dirk here anymore. I’m old enough that I don’t need a babysitter.”
“You’re not safe. I thought I made that clear. Dirk stays. Where have you been?”
“Out.”
“Don’t get snippy with me,” Brian said, sounding like their foster parents had when they were kids.
“How did you like being at court today?” Regan knew if she distracted him with himself he’d drop the parent act.
“It was amazing.”
His demeanor changed through his voice.
“I was on fire. Those jurors were eating up everything I said. Colin’s going to be destitute when this is all said and done. I only wish it was a criminal trial so he’d be in jail and away from you. I’d switch over to being a prosecutor if it meant I could put his ass in jail.”
She chose to ignore the comment about Colin and had no idea how to keep Brian pacified without lecturing him about his mistreatment and slandering of Colin. “I only saw a few minutes of the trial and you seemed . . . confident.”
“I’ve got to go to bed,” she said, faking a yawn, which snowballed into a real one.
“You don’t go to bed before ten,” Colin said. “You never did tell me where you were.”
“Nope, and I’m not going to.”
“Did you see Colin?” he asked, outrage lacing his voice.
“Brian, you’re my brother, my only family, I love you, but there are certain things that I refuse to tell you about. Where I was tonight is one of those.”
There was silence on the other end of the line. She waited him out.
“I see.”
She still refused to back down. He was using some lawyer trick he learned in school, but she wasn’t falling for it.
“If that’s how you feel, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Please keep away from your ex-husband. I don’t want you to be the next one to go off the bridge.”
“Brian,” she said, fed up. “Goodbye.”
“Goodnight, Regan. I love you.”
She hung up and let her head fall forward until it thunked on the table. She was unsure how she was going to handle tomorrow. Brian was acting bizarre and she was losing hope.
~ ~ ~
A copy of the newspaper was sitting at her station when she arrived at work blurry-eyed and disagreeable.
A picture of Colin was splashed across the front page. The headline screamed “Port City Police Officer on trial for wrongful death.”
“Who put this here?” she said loudly in the normally quiet room.
Sheila poked her head above the cubicles and gave her a disapproving look.
“Seriously. Who did this? Knock it off. I know he’s on trial. Leave me the hell alone.” She choked back a sob, dropped into her high-backed chair, and buried her face in her hands.
She peeked at the paper again. There was a black and white photo labeled Rodrigo Ramirez halfway through the article. She picked it up to get a better look. It was a mug shot. His hair was dark and ratted straight out from his head about six inches. His dark eyes were lifeless and the smirk on his mouth gave her the creeps. This was the poor dear everyone was so concerned about? He was the wonderful son everyone was mourning?
Picking up a pen, she drew a little moustache, then admiring her handiwork, she added a goatee and then a beard. This was the man who’d ruined her well-planned life. She ripped out the article and tucked it into a folder that was marked for her work only. She shared the station with others who had their own folders.
When Regan started working, she focused all her energy on what she was doing. A masked man taped up with dynamite could be standing in the room and she’d be concerned with the mother on the phone who needed to help her choking child.
However, when the door opened and Rebecca tramped in, the hairs on the back of Regan’s neck prickled. She swiveled toward the door. The blonde bombshell was in uniform, packing heat. The big smile on her face made Regan liken her to a cartoon character.
“Officer Holmes,” Sheila said, running over to the woman. “To what do we owe this honor?”
Rebecca said something so quietly that even in the silent room, Regan couldn’t hear what she said.
Sheila smiled, looked in Regan’s direction, then glanced away quickly.
Regan felt her ears burn. Dammit, they were talking about her and weren’t going to let her in on the little joke? Not flinching, Regan kept her gaze trained on the two women.
“I’m so glad to hear that,” Sheila said a bit louder.
Regan caught, “bad egg” and “good riddance.” Now she was intrigued. Had Colin dumped Rebecca or had she found out about their escapades at Sheila’s house and gotten rid of Colin.
“I wanted to be the one to tell you, since you did warn me,” Rebecca said.
The two hugged it out and Regan wanted to roll her eyes, but her phone rang, diverting her attention.
“You take care, sweetie. I’ll talk to you after work.” Sheila accompanied Rebecca to the door and patted her arm before shutting the door on her.
Regan focused on her call. “Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?”
“I want to call in a complaint.”
“This is an emergency line. You’ll need to call the non-emergency number for that.”
“You don’t understand. It’s about that officer that’s on trial. He was rough with me when he arrested me six months ago.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but you’ll have to call back at the non-emergency number.”
“I want to talk to your supervisor. He’ll listen to me.”
Regan gritted her teeth. “No, she won’t. This is an emergency number.”
The phone clicked off and Regan closed her eyes. She wasn’t surprised. Copycats looking to get money from an officer or from the city would start saying they were brutalized by Colin after they heard he was being sued.
Regan pulled up a new screen on her computer. Accessing a secure part of the department website that they only used for official business, she was in with a few clicks. She typed in Colin’s name. The files were digital and everyone knew they were there, but they weren’t supposed to be used for personal reasons and definitely not to scan co-workers’ histories. Her reason was totally personal. She felt compelled to help him. Love made one do crazy things, she thought as she waited for her information.
A file on him came into view. Glancing around to make sure she wasn’t being watched, she opened the file and scanned it for excessive force reports in the five years he’d been at the department.
Six.
She scowled. More than one a year.
Using her finger, she scanned down the page. The name Ramirez jumped out at her. She read faster. Colin had been in an altercation with Ramirez before the bridge incident even took place. She clicked over the incident and a new screen came into view.
Colin was injured during the arrest of Ramirez. Regan read on. The report said that Colin was pushed down a set of stairs in an apartment building where Ramirez was buying large quantities of drugs. She remembered Colin coming home early after being at the emergency room for a dislocated shoulder. Wheels in her brain turned like she was a guinea pig on a treadmill. Why hadn’t Colin said anything about this to her?
She clicked out of the system and looked around again. Sheila was watching her, but turned when Regan glanced up.
Pulling her cell phone out of her pocket, she turned it on and dialed.
“Hello?”
“Hi. I need to see you. I have some questions to ask, off the record.”
“Tonight at six. I’ll bring Chinese.”
She hung up before Sheila could get all over her about using her phone during work hours.
As soon as Regan’s shift was over, she hurried to her car. It was broad daylight and she felt safe. Mostly, she was concerned about getting home. She fumbled with her keys looking for the right one.
“Excuse me, miss. Do you have the time?”
Regan jumped and her heart took off at a gallop. The deep male voice sent chills through her. She turned around, trying to reposition her keys to be used as a weapon.
It was him.
“I don’t have a watch,” she squeaked through parched lips.
“No. Well, thanks. Have a good day.”
Regan watched him saunter off until he was two cars away.
“Oh. You should be careful. Keep an eye on your surroundings,” her stalker said with a chuckle, then he kept walking.
Regan slumped against her car, taking deep breaths to calm her jangled nerves. “Holy shit.”
That guy had balls, she’d give him that. To approach her at the department seemed like a crazy risk. There were probably security cameras. If he was going to hurt her, then why talk to her there?
She slowly lifted her keys and found the one she needed and unlocked her car. Slipping in, she turned the car on without thinking. She didn’t like her reaction when he spoke to her. She knew he’d seen how frightened she’d been.
So what? At least she hadn’t cried.