No Time To Run (Legal Thriller Featuring Michael Collins, Book 1) (27 page)

“
Your boss still owes me money.”

“
I think he owes a lot of people money.”

CHAPTER FIFTY TWO

With the assistance of three yellow pills of unknown origin, Michael slept without the intrusion of any dreams. He awoke the next morning to the sound of children’s laughter. A boy and two girls danced around him with plastic shovels and pails.

When Michael attempted to sit up, he couldn’t move.

The children’s laughter became even louder. Then, the children ran down the beach, escaping the scene of the crime, each placing blame on the other, pointing, and laughing between friendly accusations.

Every part of Michael’s body, except his head, was buried underneath a foot or two of sand.

“
Need a hand?” A Mexican woman crouched down next to him. “Wiggle a little.” She laughed. “You have to loosen it up with your hips.”

Michael did as he was told, and within a few seconds he was free.

After he had brushed the sand off his legs, he held out his hand.

“
Michael.”

“
Luise,” she introduced herself, and the two awkwardly shook hands. “Can I get you anything besides your freedom?” She tilted her head toward the tray lying on the ground.

“
You work here?”

“
Just started.” Luise picked up the tray. “Sammy needed help.”

“
Sammy Alverro?” Sammy Alverro was the man who made the Sunset run. He could do every job, from Andie’s on down. Kermit must have left him in charge.

“
I’m his niece,” she smiled.

“
It’s a pleasure.” Michael stared, taking her in. She wore a dark red linen top, and a loose blue skirt that rode low on her hips.

Luise turned.

“
Maybe I’ll see you around,” she said as Michael watched her walk toward a family of naked Germans lounging underneath one of the Sunset’s thatch umbrellas. Seemed like there was always a family or two of naked Germans at the Sunset.

CHAPTER FIFTY THREE

In a conference room on the fifth floor of the federal courthouse, Brenda Gadd stood before the thirteen men and ten women who comprised the grand jury that would indict Michael John Collins. No judge, no defense counsel, and nobody from the public were in the room. It was just Brenda Gadd, a court reporter, and her jury. That was how it worked.

Gadd loved a grand jury.

Grand jury proceedings were conducted in secret with no intention of being a fair trial. The trial came later. Here, the jurors’ only role was to listen to the evidence and decide whether it established a reasonable basis for the prosecutor to charge the defendant with a crime, not whether the defendant was guilty. No opposing arguments and defenses were heard and there was no cross-examination of witnesses. Openly biased jurors were not automatically excused, and defendants did not have the right to be present in the room and listen to the evidence against them. Theoretically, any errors that a grand jury made would be corrected at the actual trial. For now, this was Brenda Gadd’s show. She was in complete control.

“
I first want to thank each and every one of you for your service.” Gadd folded her hands together in front of her. “When you were selected to serve on this jury, the judge talked to you about what you should expect, so I won’t go over that again.”

She smiled. Her pleasant, round, Mother Hubbard smile invited each of the jurors to relax, and, most of all, trust her.

“
Although the law allows a grand jury to hear evidence over the course of three years, I don’t think it will take you that long to reach a decision in this case.” A few jurors laughed. Others nodded their head. The possibility of getting this done in a short period of time made them like Brenda Gadd even more.

“
You are going to hear evidence related to Mr. Michael John Collins. He’s been in the news recently, so I want to remind you all about the confidential nature of these proceedings. These safeguards are there to protect the innocent. It’s at the core of our Constitution.” Brenda Gadd loved to say that. It was all so very “stars and stripes and apple pie.” Jurors ate that up.

“
I have a series of witnesses to present over the course of the next several days. They’re going to tell a story about a young attorney who made a mistake. A relatively small mistake at first, but then it turned into something much bigger. The FBI has been gathering evidence about this attorney for several years. Now it’s time to ask you whether we have a reasonable basis,” Brenda Gadd paused and smiled. “Or as lawyers call it, ‘probable cause,’ to charge him with a crime. I’m sure he has an excuse or two that would justify this behavior, but you only need to decide whether I should have the opportunity to charge him with a crime and ultimately have a trial to determine his guilt and potential punishment.”

All of the jurors nodded their heads, fully on board with Brenda Gadd.

“
My first witness is Agent Frank Vatch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He’ll provide background information and a framework for the other testimony you will hear. You’ll find that he’s a hard-working, veteran agent who will be very informative.”

At trial, no judge would allow Brenda Gadd to provide such an introduction for a witness, but in a grand jury proceeding, Gadd could do about anything she wanted.

“
If I could have a moment, I’ll go get Agent Vatch.” Brenda Gadd walked to the door. She opened it, and stuck her head into the hallway.

Agent Vatch was waiting outside with an Assistant U.S. Attorney.

“
It’s time.”

Vatch rolled down the hallway toward her, and into the conference room. Once Vatch was inside, Gadd looked at the Assistant U.S. Attorney and asked if there was any news.

“
No,” he said. “We’re still working on the plea agreement with Andie Larone’s new attorney.”

“
How close?” Gadd asked.

“
Very close, probably get it finalized this afternoon or early tomorrow morning.”

“
Good.” Gadd took a step back into the conference room. She started to close the door, but then stopped, adding, “We’ll do Vatch today, dismiss the jury, reconvene tomorrow and do the priest, maybe Lowell Moore after a break, and then we’ll have Ms. Andie Larone for dessert.” 

CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR

Michael spent the day sleeping and lying on the beach, punctuated by brief wanders to the bar for a bowl of chips and guacamole. He had been successful at keeping his mind away from New York, the people he left behind, and the ones who wanted him to return for all the wrong reasons.

When the sun started to set, Michael gathered up his things. He walked out to the rocky peninsula that follows a natural curve in the shoreline. It jutted a hundred yards into the water. The regulars had always called it “he Point,” since a more elaborate name wasn’t necessary.

Michael found a smooth patch of rock, threw down his blanket and pillow, and spent the next few hours watching the fishing boats come back into the distant harbor at Playa del Carmen and the cruise ships float by on their way to and from Cozumel.

A blink and the sky changed shades, from one color of blue to another, on its way to black, interrupted by brilliant streaks of gold and red. Watching the transition from day to night was the perfect way to relax and forget, but this time around forgetting wasn’t so easy.

With Andie he was going through the five stages of grief and then back again. He closed his eyes and the memories came back in an instant. He thought about the hearing, the subpoenas, and Vatch. He circled through the facts and retraced. There had to be an angle that hadn't yet been played, a way for him to set a trap or at least convince Brenda Gadd not to immediately throw him in jail.

“
Need a little company?”

Michael opened his eyes, looked up, and he saw Luise. She smiled. Her long black hair blew in the night breeze.

Before Michael said anything, Luise was sitting beside him.

“
I got a pack of cigarettes, two Cokes, a bottle of rum, and a sandwich. The sandwich and Cokes are for you. The cigarettes and rum are for us, or perhaps just me.”

“
Thanks.” Michael took the sandwich from her, and unwrapped it from the wax paper.

Luise pulled out a cigarette, tapped the end twice on the edge of the hard pack, and lit it.

They sat in silence, while she smoked and Michael ate.

“
I thought you might need someone to talk to.” She took a drag and exhaled. “But if you’d rather be alone ...”

Michael looked at her.

“
No. It’s good to have company sometimes.” He was an extroverted introvert.

Michael finished the sandwich and opened one of the two bottles of Coke.

They sat and watched another cruise ship pass. Its fog horn filled the night and just as quickly went silent. Its lights got smaller and smaller as the distance grew.

Finally, Luise spoke.

“
A broken heart?”

“
That obvious?” Michael had always been terrible at poker.

“
Woman’s intuition.” Luise retrieved another cigarette from the open pack next to her. “Plus my uncle filled me in.” 

Michael nodded.

“
Sometimes people don’t tell the whole truth.” Luise lit the end of the cigarette, the end turning it bright orange. “Not because they want to hurt someone, but because they don’t want to hurt anyone.”

She opened the bottle of rum, and took a sip. She passed the bottle to Michael, and Michael gave Luise his bottle of Coke. They went back and forth like that, exchanging the Coke for rum, and then the rum for Coke.

“
You understand,” she said. “I’m sure you do.”

Michael didn’t respond.

“
Did your Uncle Sammy know?” Michael took a drink. The rum burned as it went down.

Luise nodded her head with a trace of pity.

“
She wanted to tell you, but …” Her voice trailed, and they exchanged bottles again.

“
She loved this resort. She was running out of options to save it.” Luise rested her head on Michael’s shoulder. “You see those lights down there?”

Michael looked at the hotel complexes, which seemed to get larger and closer every few months.

“
The men who built them want this land, too,” Luise said. “They don’t care about the life that’s here, the people or preserving the Point. They’re pressuring the government to come down on Andie, assess fines for no reason, and push her deeper into a hole.”

“
I knew she was in debt,” Michael said, which was only part true. He didn’t understand or know how much debt she was in. Andie was independent, and talking about losing the Sunset was too painful for her.

“
You can’t stay here.” Luise closed her eyes. “You have to go back, help her.”

Michael kept quiet, and continued to watch the boats float by.

###

When Michael woke up the next morning, Luise was gone. His throat was rough, and his stomach felt like he had eaten the cigarettes rather than smoked them.

Michael stood, attempting to kick and stretch out the kinks that had formed on the hard rocks during the night.

He looked out over the Caribbean. The sun was just peeking up over the water and it had filled the sky with different shades of pink. He could already tell that it was going to be a hot, sunny day.

Michael picked up his blanket, and walked back along the rocks to the beach.

Somewhere along the way, he decided that the best remedy for how he was feeling would be to sweat out the smoke and alcohol.

Michael dropped his things off at Hut No. 7, purchased a few bottles of water at the main bar, and grabbed a kayak out of the boat house. Before the sun had fully risen, he was a mile away, gliding along the crystal blue water, just another fish.

CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE

“
Fifteen years in prison is a gift, considering the alternative.” Gadd avoided the direct threat of death. “I strongly suggest that you advise Andie Larone to take it.”

Taylor Goss leaned against the wall in the hallway outside the grand jury room. He looked relaxed, confident.

“
I want five,” he said. “She’s going to put the nail in Collins’ coffin, and I know you want Michael Collins more than her.”

“
True and not true.” Gadd matched her adversary’s confidence. “I do want Collins more than her, but she can’t confirm that he has the money. The nail in the coffin is that confirmation, which you say she can’t offer.”

“
Right now.” Taylor smiled. “She may be able to offer such information in the future. You think about it, and I’ll try and refresh her recollection.”