Chapter 17
Regan hesitated. Telling Colin was the most important thing at that moment. “I need to speak with you, in private. Petrowinski can come too.”
“We should stick around for a while,” Petrowinski said.
“I need to use the facilities,” Colin stated firmly.
“Fine,” the lawyer said, rolling his eyes. “You two go, but get back here quickly.”
Not wanting to draw more attention, Regan switched sides of the courtroom and spoke to Brian while Colin left.
“Nice closing statement,” she told Brian.
“Of course. What time do you want me to come over tonight to celebrate?”
“Celebrate what?”
“Me winning the case.” He gave her a ‘duh’ look.
“It’s not over yet,” she said. “Overconfidence can ruin a man.”
“Not this one. I’ll be there around seven, okay?”
“I don’t think so,” Regan said, glancing at the doors in the rear of the room.
“You need to forget about Colin. He’s your past. I’m your future.”
“Uh, I’ve got to go.” She stalked away, not really hearing or caring what Brian thought at the moment.
She rapped her knuckles on the men’s room door a moment later. The door cracked and an arm grabbed her and pulled her inside. Her heart went into her throat.
Colin pulled her into the handicapped stall and slanted his mouth over hers, probing her with his tongue. She responded, not caring where they were. Her arms wrapped around him. “You’re going to win this case. You can’t lose.”
“What’s this big secret?” he whispered. “I’ve already made sure we were alone.”
“Ramirez is alive. I saw him in the courtroom. We’ve been sitting next to one another for two days. I didn’t know it was him until I spoke with him. He’s had a haircut, but it’s him.”
Light filled Colin’s eyes. “Really?”
“Who do we tell?”
“What do you have for proof? They aren’t going to believe you or me.”
“I’m working on it. I’ll get the proof.”
“Hey, you haven’t seen that Joe Monty guy around have you?”
“Not since we spoke the other day, why?”
“He won’t be bothering you anymore.”
“What does that mean? It doesn’t sound good, considering what’s happening in that courtroom.”
He hugged her and smiled. “I didn’t kill him. I just reasoned with him on a level he’d understand.”
“You didn’t kill Ramirez either,” she said, giving him a quick peck on the lips.
The bathroom door swung open. “I don’t think it matters,” Brian said to someone.
Regan tried to see between the crack in the partitions.
“Well,” the other man said, “I thought you should know. This can’t fall apart now. I have people who are waiting for that money.”
“Dead men tell no tales and have no debt,” Brian told him. “It all takes time. Chill. I’ve got to get back.”
Regan’s eyes widened. Was the man with Brian Ramirez’s father or brother? Or was it Ramirez himself.
The door opened again. “Excuse me,” they heard Brian tell someone.
“Colin?” It was Petrowinski whispering.
He pushed open the door, and the two of them left.
The room was empty.
“Time to get back,” Petrowinski said. “The jury is getting ready to come back.”
“Already?” Regan said. “Is that good? A quick decision?”
“Not necessarily. It either means they were ready to hang a police officer or they thought your brother and his team was way off base.”
They left the men’s room and went back into the courtroom. Quiet chatter greeted them.
The jurors filed into the room one at a time. Somber faces, heads down, looking at the ground. Regan didn’t like the dread she felt.
If Colin lost this, it would be her fault. She was the one who’d told Brian about the excessive force complaints. In retrospect, she was surprised that Brian hadn’t stood over her, salivating and rubbing his hands together evilly when she told him.
Guilt flooded her body and she felt her temperature rise. Whatever happened, she couldn’t tell Colin what she’d done. She wiped her palms on her pants, fighting back nausea. She scooted into her back seat as Colin and his lawyer sat up front. She crossed her fingers for good luck.
The judge reentered the courtroom and sat. “Forman? You have reached a decision?”
“We have, Your Honor.”
“Well, please read your verdict?”
Regan took a deep breath and held it. Her teeth ground together.
“We find the defendant liable for the wrongful death of Rodrigo Ramirez.”
There was a cry of outrage from the back of the courtroom, then Regan realized it was her. She covered her mouth when the judge looked pointedly at her.
“Thank you for your work,” the judge said, dismissing the jury.
Regan rushed the front of the court. “Judge Lynch!” she called out.
The deputy grabbed her around her waist and held her while the judge escaped to his chambers. “This is an outrage. Ramirez is alive,” she called out, but no one seemed to be listening.
Colin remained sitting in his chair, his eyes as vacant as Ramirez’s eyes only a few hours ago.
“Colin,” she prodded. When he didn’t respond, she turned to Petrowinski. “Can you appeal this?”
The lawyer shook his head. “The chief won’t appeal this case. He wants it done and off his desk.”
Regan slumped against the deputy.
“Ma’am, are you okay?”
“No.” She felt the tears well in her eyes. No, no, she wouldn’t do it, she wouldn’t cry.
Brian was high-fiving people and thanking his co-workers. He strutted over to her. “Regan, baby, I did it. I won my first case.”
“Shut up, Brian.”
He pulled her into his arms and she stood immobilized. “Let me go, Brian. I need to get out of here.”
“See you tonight,” he said, releasing her.
“You’re not going near her,” Colin said in his ear.
Brian snapped his head up to look Colin in the face. “Like hell I’m not. She’s mine.”
“She’s your sister, but you aren’t going near her. If I have to hire a hundred private investigators, I will make sure you are never alone with her.”
Brian’s face blanched. “What did you say?”
“I had a little talk with your buddy, Joe Monty.”
Brian shrugged. “Never heard of him.”
Colin glared, sure his stare alone would burn the man to a crisp. “Stay. Away. From. Regan.”
“You’d better get your finances in order, Officer.”
Colin spun on his heel and left the room. Petrowinski could find him later. He went to the top floor of the courthouse to hide.
Justice. Fairness. Protecting the underdog. Those were the things he stood for. It didn’t seem to matter to anyone else in that courtroom. How was he going to be able to get married to Regan again? Anything she brought to the relationship would be garnished and sent off to the poor scumbag’s family. He kicked at the marble wall.
“Got a smoke?” asked the man Colin hadn’t seen.
“No.” Colin didn’t even look up. Didn’t give a crap.
“Bad news?” the man asked.
“I’m not in the mood for chatting.” Colin looked up but the man had disappeared.
The chief gave Colin the rest of the day off and the next one too. Big of him, Colin thought, considering he didn’t have a home to take a day off at. The media at least wouldn’t be able to find him. This time he chose to head to the river.
He pulled into the clearing to find it already occupied by Regan. She stood near their rock her hands wrapped around her waist, watching the river flow by. She didn’t even look up when he drove in and parked.
“I didn’t expect to find you here,” he said, coming up behind her covering her arms with his.
“I figured you’d come here soon.”
“Sucky day.”
“I’ll say. You have to pay them money for a crime you didn’t commit. How come your lawyer didn’t prove the video was a fake?” She was desperate, close to falling apart. “The scum is still alive. I thought justice would be served, but it wasn’t. You can’t trust anything.”
“You can trust me,” he told her.
“Yeah, but I can’t be with you because of this bogus trial. We can’t get back together or they’ll know the divorce was a sham.”
His pulse skipped. She couldn’t be saying they were done. That wasn’t supposed to happen.
“But, you love me,” he said, grasping at anything.
“I do, but, oh, Colin, I can’t, we can’t.”
Time for another tactic. “What was that stuff in the bathroom with Brian?”
“Something’s going on with him. I’m not sure exactly what, but I think he knows Ramirez is still alive.” Regan shook her head.
“I have to disagree,” Colin said. “Brian wouldn’t have been able to represent them as well as he did if he knew they were lying.” Unless he’s a sociopath.
She pulled away from him. Colin tried to keep contact with her, but she outstepped him.
“You know Joe Monty?” Colin didn’t wait for a response. “Brian hired him to get pictures of us together to use in court or to blackmail us somehow. When I went to see Monty, he told me this.”
She shook her head violently. “No. Brian wouldn’t do that. He’s been trying to protect me.”
“I’m afraid he was playing you and me. Brian’s never liked me, you know that. There must be a reason he didn’t want us together. Did he ever say anything?”
She stared into his eyes. He felt her distancing herself from him. “Brian is my family. He’s the only one I’ve been able to trust since my parents died. Tell me Colin ‘trustworthy’ Rourke, when did you find out that Brian hired Monty? And why didn’t you warn me?”
He realized the trap he’d set for himself. Tell her that I knew about Brian, and she’ll know I’ve been keeping information from her. She’d probably think he’d kept more stuff from her. Lie, and he was knowingly deceiving her. The no-win situation ate at his gut. “When you told me about Monty, I went over there that night. He cracked like an egg.”
“Brian was your brother-in-law. Shouldn’t you have given him the benefit of the doubt?”
Colin shook his head. “Shockingly enough, I believed Monty over your brother.”
It was then he saw the wall she had erected between them as concrete as if it were a real wall.
“I’m sorry, Colin. I can’t trust you anymore and seeing you is tearing me up.” Without saying anything another word, she slipped into her car and drove away.
Colin plopped on the rock. Brian had won. He was getting rid of Colin and would have Regan’s undying faithfulness. His stomach knotted and he felt like he might get sick.
He, on the other hand, had lost his wife, his best friend, his house, the respect of the whole police department, and a bit of his self-respect. He went to his car, pulled out a beer, and swilled it. He popped open another one, planning to get completely shitfaced. He deserved it tonight.
Regan drove blindly through the dark streets to her house. Everything was her fault. A tear fell down her face. There was no way she could tell Colin that the reason they couldn’t be together was because she’d opened her big mouth and told Brian everything. She’d thought she’d told him in confidence about the complaints against Colin. Brian had used that to discredit Colin. She felt her stomach knot painfully. She should have told Colin the truth. She was the reason he’d have this black cloud of debt hanging over him forever.
When she arrived home, Brian’s car was in her driveway and he was talking to Dirk. Not happening. She hit the gas and drove by. Seeing her brother was the last thing she wanted.
Instead, she drove downtown, somewhere she never went alone especially at night. The boarded windows and dark storefronts made her skin crawl with apprehension. She stopped in front of Monty’s PI Agency. There was a light on in the back and she didn’t hesitate. Striding with purpose, she came to the door and pounded with her fist on the glass.
A door in the back opened, silhouetting the man who’d been following her. “Bastard,” she grumbled.
He came to the door, but didn’t open it. “What do you want? I’ve said all I needed to say to your ex-husband.”
“Open the door. I need ask you some questions.”
“It’s late, lady. I don’t gotta open up for you.”
Regan pulled out a little hammer she’d had in her purse for protection. “Want to board up your place like your neighbors?” She held the hammer over her shoulder winding up for the hit.
“No. Don’t,” he said, his hands raised. He unlocked and opened the door. “You guys deserve one another. You’re both crazy.”
She made Joe Monty sit down on his vinyl couch. “Start talking. Tell me why you were following me.”
Monty made a disgusted face. “Brian Bainbridge hired me to follow you to see if you were in contact with your ex-husband. He told me he was dangerous. He’s a cop, of course he’s dangerous. Psycho, if you ask me.”
“Go on.” She tapped her foot on the cracked linoleum tile.
“He said you were to be safe at all costs. He loves you.”
“Yeah, he’s my brother, of course he loves me.”
“It’s more than that. Anyway, he paid in cash and checked up on my progress almost every day. He’s a control freak, that guy is.”
Her body went cold. So Colin had told her the truth. Brian had hired his guy to follow her and he’d done it behind her back. She tried to shake off the feelings of betrayal threatening to swamp her. All she wanted to do was go home to hide in her dark closet, something she hadn’t done since her third foster home, but with Brian there, she couldn’t do it.
Then something stuck in her mind. Something Brian had said. Had he said she was his? His property? He’d also been very touchy-feely recently. Touching her hair, kissing her. Oh, shit.
She raised her head. She was not going to be played by the men in her life. Not anymore.
“Don’t tell anyone I was here,” she told Joe Monty. “Got it?”
“Whatever, lady.”
She left with only one thing on her mind. Brian was going to answer her questions, and she was going to hear the answers. She’d let too much slip because he was family. Her only family.
Her tires squealed as she took the corner down the street from her house. Brian and Dirk were still there watching her drive like she was possessed, taking the driveway at thirty-five miles per hour and jamming on the brakes. They both jumped at the noise.
“Good evening, gentlemen. Dirk, you’re excused for the night. Brian, you and I are going to have a little brother–sister chat.”
Dirk looked at Brian for confirmation.
Regan narrowed her eyes. “Don’t look at him. Get the hell out of here, Dirk.”
She slammed her car door and stomped over to Dirk’s car, opening his door. “Bye.”
Dirk left after shooting a few more concerned glances in Brian’s direction.
“You,” she said to Brian. “Inside.” This didn’t need to happen in front of the neighborhood gossips.
Brian smiled and entered the house.
Regan unlocked the door and entered. She didn’t even bother to look around, she knew who she had to worry about.
She pushed him down on the couch in the living room. “Let’s chat.”
Brian’s smile slipped. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Ya think?”
“I—”
“Shut it. I’ll do the talking. I saw your friend, Joe Monty, just now. Paying in cash is smart. No paper trail. Except your choice of PI was a complete wimp, willing to spill the truth to someone with a small hammer.”
“No. I don’t—”
“No talking.”
“First Dirk, then this PI, what else aren’t you telling me? You’re supposed to be my brother. My family. Instead, the things you are doing freak me out. I thought Monty was a mob member out to get me. You let me believe that.”
“We’re not really related, Regan. You know that, right?”
“You’ve been my brother for more than a decade.”
“I never thought of you as my sister.”
She crossed her arms and paced the floor.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I love you. Love as in romantic love, my soul mate.”
She spun around to see if he was kidding. His face was serious and she had to regroup her thoughts. Colin had been only partly right. Brian didn’t hate Colin for any reason other than Colin loved her. Her heart lurched at the thought of her husband sitting in the clearing alone.
Brian started to stand, and she pushed him back down. “Don’t come near me.”
“Don’t be like that.”
“I trusted you. You said you wanted to make sure I was safe, but what you really wanted was me for yourself?” The whole sordid plan came into clarity. “Dirk was a spy just like Joe Monty. They were supposed to report my every move to you. Tell me, brother dearest, did you know that Rodrigo Ramirez is still alive?”
His expression was a mix between fear and awe. “What? No. What makes you say that?”
He knew. The lying bastard. “You disgust me. Get out. Go celebrate your victory with someone who gives a rat’s ass. Get out!”
He stood and stepped toward her.
“Touch me, and I scream rape. My neighbors have been waiting for me to get into trouble over here by myself. I’m pretty sure Colin would welcome the opportunity to shoot you full of holes.”
Brian changed direction, heading to the door, and left without saying anything in his defense.
“Son of a bitch!” she screamed into the empty house.