Protection for Hire (7 page)

“I expect only the best from you,” Mr. Greer said. “I think we will work very well together.”

It was only a formality — in reality, Charles would probably be doing most of the work and Mr. Greer would get the credit, but the tradeoff was that he’d be able to demonstrate his abilities to a man who had strong influence over the other partners in the firm. When the time came for all the partners to vote on which rising lawyers would be able to become partner, having Mr. Greer in his corner would make Charles almost a shoe-in.

“You won’t be disappointed, sir.”

Mr. Greer nodded, then picked up a stack of papers on his desk, signifying their discussion was coming to an end. “Oh, and whatever you do, don’t give the Butler case to Randy McDonald.”

Oops.

T
he street went straight up into the sky.

Tessa peered out the front window of the Corolla at the sheer wall of asphalt. She knew Lombard Street was supposed to be the steepest street, but this had to be a close second.

And Karissa lived about two-thirds of the way up.

After the incident in the restaurant, Tessa hadn’t expected Karissa to call at all, much less to ask to go to church with her, so Tessa wasn’t about to balk at a vertical street now. She grit her teeth, threw the sticky clutch into first gear, and rammed it.

The Toyota coughed and stalled.

Not driving for seven years really put a cramp in her style. She restarted the car and punched it up the hill. The engine roared so loudly that she had a moment — a small moment — when she wondered if it might possibly explode into a million pieces in her face.

But the car slowly made its way up the hill until she could turn into a parking space, perpendicular to the street because it was so steep. Karissa’s house, one of the Edwardian stick houses all along the street, was white with trim in shades of blue. It wasn’t as nicely renovated as several other houses on the street,
and the faded paint screamed “renters” as opposed to “mortgage-payers.” Another clue was the four names on the wall next to the front door, kind of like an apartment house.

Tessa rang the doorbell and was immediately rewarded with pounding feet. Rapidly pounding feet. Which weren’t slowing down.

Maybe she should get out of the way of the door —

She hadn’t stepped aside enough when a young Asian American man swung open the door and barreled out while throwing on a wool coat. He clipped the side of her body and immediately turned with apologetic eyes. “Oh, sorry about that! I didn’t see you. Are you okay?”

He was tall and stocky, which would explain why he looked so anxious about hitting Tessa’s smaller frame. “I’m fine.”

“Are you here to see me?”

“Only if your name’s Karissa.”

He grinned. “No, it’s Josh. Hang on.” He opened the door and called inside, “Karissa! Someone’s here to see you.”

“I rang the doorbell,” Tessa said.

“It sticks.”

“My name’s Tessa, by the way.”

He shook her hand with a hearty grip. “Josh Cathcart.”

They heard softer footsteps from inside. Karissa opened the door, already wearing a warm winter coat and holding her purse. “Hi, Tessa! Thanks for picking me up.”

“Don’t thank me until Grandpa gets us to Wings.” Tessa gestured to the Corolla, which she thought might have glared at her in protest at the nickname.

“Josh, I thought you were late for church,” Karissa said to him.

“I didn’t want to leave Tessa standing on the front porch. I’ll walk you guys to the car.”

“Thanks.” Karissa locked the front door, and when they’d gotten into Grandpa, he gave them a friendly wave and bounded down the street, pulling car keys out of his pocket.

“He’s a really nice guy,” Tessa said. “I feel bad — now he’ll be late getting to wherever he was going.”

“Oh, Josh is always late for his church down in San Jose.” As Tessa fired up the engine, Karissa said, “I’m … I’m really glad you asked me to the Sunday service at Wings.”

“You didn’t go when you were there?” Tessa winced as Grandpa chugged loudly.

“No, I was only there for a night.”

“Have you gone to Josh’s church?”

“It’s friendly and all, but there aren’t many people my age there. It’s mostly older couples.”

There was another moment — a small moment — when they were nearing the base of the hill and Tessa wondered if Grandpa’s brakes would be able to stop them at the stop sign, but the car jerked to a halt rather than sending them careening into cross traffic.

Karissa winced, then patted the dashboard. “Good Gramps.”

Tessa loved how a big city always had activity — people on the streets, cars zipping here and there, shops or restaurants or clubs open at all hours. But Sunday morning seemed to have less traffic than 2 a.m., and they got to Wings domestic violence shelter in record time.

Parking, on the other hand, was like a game of Tetris. Further down the street, Tessa finally found a space and they started to walk toward the shelter.

When they were still about a block away from the renovated Victorian house, a man in khaki trousers and a polo shirt approached them with a friendly smile.

Tessa recognized him immediately from pictures Elizabeth had shown to her — Heath.

She moved in front of Karissa. His smile was friendly, but his eyes were merely neutral. That meant either deception or he wanted something from them. Either way, considering the source, she brought up her guard like a Trojan raising his shield.

“You’re Elizabeth’s friend, right?” he said to her as he approached.

The only way he could know that was because he saw them together the other day when they had gone to see Charles.

“You can stop right there.” Tessa kept him several feet away and surreptitiously tried to look around to see if he had any friends with him. Thank goodness for Sunday morning — the streets were empty and she could clearly see two men in business suits trying to blend into the background several yards away. The gray suit of one of them was too tight across his shoulders, constricting his arm movements. The other one’s pant legs were a little long, and he might be induced to trip over them.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” Heath’s smile had a little dimple on the right corner but the left side was higher than the right, and his cheeks remained neutral.

He was lying.

Tessa reached back to gently clasp Karissa’s wrist. “What do you want then?”

“Just give Elizabeth a message for me.”

“I’m not going to see her anytime soon.”

Heath’s expression softened to one of condescension. “I know she’s in that domestic violence shelter. I’m assuming that’s where you’re headed?”

How did he know Elizabeth was at Wings?

“Please just give her a message.”

“You can write to her yourself. The address is right on the door.” She casually reached into her pants pocket for her car keys.

“Tell her I only want to speak to her.”

When cows turn pink with orange polka dots. “You can call and request to speak to her inside. They allow meetings in their conference room.”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to risk being overheard. And I don’t want to hurt her.”

“No, you just left the imprint of your fist on her cheek.”

His upper lip tightened for a split second. Then his eyes dropped to the ground, and he clasped his hands in front of him. “I’m sorry about that.”

No, he wasn’t. “Because of course, I’ve never heard that before.”

“I really am sorry.” He looked up, held her gaze. “I’m going to a counselor at another church.”

“That’s great.”
You big, fat liar.
“Maybe in a few months, then, you can talk to Elizabeth and apologize.”

“Just tell her I’m sorry. She doesn’t have to see me right now.” His eyes blinked rapidly. “Tell her I’m getting help because I love her so much. That’s all I want you to do.”

Tessa knew she’d developed a bit of cynicism after volunteering at Wings for the past three months, but she also had always had a sensitive ability to read body language that made her good at the jobs Uncle Teruo asked her to do. She’d further developed that ability when she studied psychology in prison. “You’re in our way. Please move aside.”

He threw his arms wide in a dramatic gesture. “If she wants to see me, I’ll be right out here. I won’t even come near her.” More rapid blinking. “Please tell her how much I love her.”

“Get out of our way, please,” Tessa said with a tight jaw.

“I really mean it,” Heath said. “You have to believe me.”

“No, I don’t,” she snapped. She held onto Karissa’s wrist and tried to move around Heath.

She had to admit, she wasn’t really surprised when he grabbed at her arm. She jerked it out of his grasp. “Don’t touch me.”

“You’re her friend. You can tell her you saw how sincere I am.”

His complete insincerity made Tessa’s shoulders tense. She wanted to smack the innocent look off his face to reveal the true ugliness underneath. She growled, “You’re about as sincere as the spider to the fly.”

His upper lip tightened again. “Are you calling me a liar?”

Tessa didn’t answer — she shouldn’t have even responded with that spider comment. Again, she tried to move around him.

“You don’t walk away from me.” His hand whipped out and clamped around her neck. Her muscles tensed as his fingers dug into the tendons alongside her throat.

She slammed him in the nose with the heel of her hand.

He howled — actually, it sounded more like a honk — and his hand loosened. She grabbed his hand and peeled it off her neck, twisting his wrist and entire arm in the process.

“Owowowow!” Heath’s body went into acrobatic contortions as he tried to escape the painful torque on his hand and wrist.

The bodyguards started to approach. “You two stay back,” she said, “or I’ll twist his arm off.” Not that she really could and not with this hold.

Problem was, they seemed to know that too, because Pants-Too-Long kept walking toward them.

Tessa twisted Heath’s hand harder, and he shrieked. “Stopstopstopstop!”

Pants-Too-Long hesitated.

“Karissa, run,” Tessa told her. The problem was that Heath’s bodyguards were in between them and the shelter.

Karissa tried to circle around them, but Pants-Too-Long lunged for her.

Tessa shoved Heath aside and rushed forward. She aimed a jumping downward punch at the bodyguard’s neck and shoulders, which made him flinch. Karissa darted up the street toward the shelter.

Pants-Too-Long approached her warily, but Tessa just waited for it …

There. He reached a hand down to tug his pant leg up.

She stepped into a jiu-jitsu high kick and clipped him in the jaw.

She didn’t wait around. The street was at an incline — just in case she doubted she was in San Francisco — and her thighs burned as she sprinted up the hill. Just a few more yards and she’d be able to flag down the shelter’s security guards, who sat at a desk in the front room of the shelter and would see her through the bay windows.

But instead, the door to Wings opened and two of the security personnel rushed out. One of them ran to her and ushered her inside the shelter while the other one landed on the sidewalk and looked mean.

Karissa was waiting just inside, panting hard. “I told them as soon as I got inside.”

“Good … girl,” Tessa panted. She thought she was in better shape than this. Since she got out, she hadn’t been working out as diligently as she used to.

“I’m sorry we didn’t see you guys earlier,” the security guard said. “We try to keep an eye on the street to prevent stuff like that from happening. Not that it happens very often.”

Tessa shook her head. “Not your fault. We were almost a block away — I don’t know if you’d have even seen us.”

“You were amazing,” Karissa said. “I wondered if maybe he was telling the truth … until he grabbed you.”

Heath actually hadn’t been that bad a liar, but Tessa had been able to tell there was an undercurrent of stress making him jittery. It caused him to make bigger gestures than necessary and to lose control of some of his facial features. Maybe he really did love Elizabeth and his emotions made him unstable. Or maybe he feared what would happen if she pressed charges. Maybe he didn’t want her to divorce him for some other unknown reason, and the strain of worrying about it made him antsy.

“He’s desperate,” Tessa said. “It’s not a good sign.”

“But the woman he was talking about — Elizabeth? — she’s safe here, right?”

“She should be,” the guard said, “unless she leaves the shelter for some reason.”

How long would Elizabeth have to hole up here? Wings wouldn’t force her out, but would Elizabeth slip up and put herself in danger?

Or would Heath eventually find a way to talk to his wife, convince her he was sincere? Tessa hoped Elizabeth wouldn’t listen to him, but did she still love her husband? Many wives did, despite what had been done to them.

One thing was certain — Tessa would have to tell Elizabeth, and she had no idea how Elizabeth would react.

“How did that scumbag find me?” Elizabeth said.

Well, scratch that about her still loving him.

But Elizabeth chewed her lower lip as she wrapped an arm around Daniel. The little boy picked up on his mother’s anxiety
and sucked his thumb, clinging close to her. His brown eyes were wide as they looked at Tessa.

“I’ll find out how he found you,” Tessa said. “Just be careful. You should be safe here with the security personnel — after all, the shelter is designed to protect women from people who want to hurt them.”

“But not people who want to kill them.” Elizabeth’s lower lip was red.

This was the second time she mentioned this. “Would Heath really want to kill you? It would only throw him in prison.”

Elizabeth paused in chewing on her lip.

Tessa continued, “And then what would happen to Daniel? Heath loves his son, doesn’t he?”

Elizabeth nodded. “He does. Even though he hit him that one time, it was because Daniel was crying and Heath was angry. Normally, Heath always enjoyed playing with Daniel and spending time with him. He became so light-hearted, like a little kid himself — it reminded me of when we first started dating.”