Sleeping Beauty (50 page)

A warm onshore wind catches a big section of my hair and embeds it firmly in my lipstick.

“Can we do a quick debriefing here, Deputy Commissioner?” I say, my words muffled as I pick strands of hair off my mouth.

“Sure,” says Rev. “See that?” He leans over the balcony and points to the arbor just in front of the ocean overlook on Andy Gordon’s property. “When you see me standing there, you’re going to shuffle your ass up there and join me.”

“Not
preparation
, dummy. A
debriefing
.”

He fakes a look of confusion. “I thought that was for afterwards. We haven’t even started yet. You can tell me all the things I screwed up later.”

I roll my eyes. “Will you tell me the truth? No bullshit?”

He holds up his hands. “Whoa, when did I lie to you? I’ve never lied to you.”

“Well, maybe you haven’t lied, but you’ve bullshitted me plenty.”

He shakes his head. “In the hallowed halls of the legal world, I believe they call that ‘strategy.’ You’d know it better by its other name: ‘I Know What’s Best for You.’”

“Why does everyone keep thinking they know what’s best for me?” I mutter.

He laughs and spins the silver stud in his right ear with his fingers. “You’re a tough girl, dally. A guy could start to feel sort of useless. During those rare moments you need help, a man gets a kick out of taking care of someone like you. Gives him a reason to get up the next day.”

“I thought we were having a debriefing, not a self-help session.”

“Ask away.”

“You already knew about the Sentinel recordings, didn’t you?” I say. “You knew the morning I surfed with you at Ghost Point.”

“That’s affirmative,” says Rev.

“I knew it!” I say, spinning in a circle, my hands balled into fists. “Ugh! I knew it! Why didn’t you just tell me? Wouldn’t it have been easier?”

“It would’ve been easier, but it also would’ve made me a possible accessory to destroying evidence in a criminal case if you decided to burn the cameras and the DVDs.”

“Oh.” This was something I hadn’t thought of. Then something else occurs to me. “
You
put the fourth disk in the computer. The paper with the time stamp…that was
your
handwriting?” I narrow my eyes at him. “You
wanted
me to find it!”

He grimaces. “You’re killin’ me, here, dally. I did what you told me and got Doc acquitted, so isn’t this water under the bridge?”

“How did you find out about them? About the disks? Did Davin tell you?”

“I’m not supposed to tell you.”

“Why?”

“It would violate attorney-client privilege.”

“I
am
your client.”

He nods an acknowledgment. “But Wib was too…for about ten minutes–”

“
What
?”

“–
but
he’s waived his right to confidentiality for you, which is why I’m going to tell you as soon as you as you shut your cake hole, but if you ever tell anyone I will spike you on the next wave in the line-up.”

“Fine,” I say, only a little mollified.

“Wib told me about your, uh, trysts. It was a conflict of interest of epic proportions, which I let him know as soon as he’d unloaded about one sentence of the entire cluster-fuck on me, but I couldn’t really know that before he told me, could I? And it didn’t shut him up anyway.”

“What did you say?’

“I told him that I couldn’t represent him, and that my first and only responsibility was to you.”

“So why did you and Gray help him–”

“I hate to change tacks here,” he says, interrupting my question, “but I’m going to offer you some career advice.”

“Oh, this should be good. Don’t tell me–I shouldn’t be a brain surgeon, right?”

“I don’t know about that, but you might think about steering clear of law school too. They’ll eat you alive. You don’t ask the right questions.”

“Oh, yeah?” What’s the right question?”

“
Why
did Wib come to me anyway? Why did he tell anyone about the recordings?”

“For your information, I already thought of that.”

“So what’s the answer?”

“Because he stole my drugs and needed an attorney.”

“No. He wasn’t looking for legal advice, and he would’ve known I couldn’t help him anyway. He was coming to me as a friend.”

“I don’t know then. It never made any sense.”

“Do you know
when
Wib came to see me?”

“No.”

“It was the same day we all met at the courthouse.”

“But he was with me all day.”

“Not all day. He took you to Earl’s in that van and doubled back to get Earl’s car, remember?”

“Yeah, so? I don’t get the connection.”

“Did you happen to drop any big news on him in the previous twenty-four hours?”

“I told him that Brendan had been arrested.”

“Anything else?”

That night was a blur, so I have to think about it for a second. Then I remember us falling asleep on his boat. “Well, I told him I was pregnant, but I don’t see why that–”

I stop, feeling like a total tool. Even though I know from the footage that Davin and I had been, uh, intimate, I have no recollection of it, so even now it feels like something that happened to my body double. “Oh, right” I say, feeling my face turn red as I remember Davin’s courtroom testimony. “He thought the baby might–”

“You don’t win the speed round, dally,” he says, mercifully cutting me off, “but you take home the prize for getting the right answer anyway.”

“So why did you and Gray try to help him run away?”

He snorts, like I’ve just said something preposterous. “We didn’t help him ‘run away.’ You wanted Brendan to be found not guilty, right? I needed Wib out of the way until the jury looked like they were ready to volunteer for the firing squad.”

“But why?”

“So Ben wouldn’t have to put him on the witness list, and he could make a grand entrance as a rebuttal witness.”

I must have a look of complete incomprehension on my face, because he explains. “If Ben had put Wib on his witness list, Lucinda Gaelic would’ve wanted to chat him up beforehand, see what kind of evidence he was going to offer. That would’ve taken the wind out of our sails, so to speak. So we told him to get lost until we needed him.

“You did all that…for me?”

“You’re my client, not Wib.”

“But–but Davin’s tribe.”

Rev shrugs. “When it comes to my legal oath, that touching little factoid’s about as useful as chocolate teapot, Claire-Bo. And for the record,” he says with a knowing look, “we did
not
tell Wib to get raked at Ghost that day,
or
get his ass blown off by a bomb on Clemente. When we found the bits and pieces at Ghost, I knew he couldn’t have gone to Lost Point without the anchor, even if he’d survived Ghost. But we
did
look for him long after the search was called off.”

“Where?”

“Gray checked Lost Gorge and then every cove on the south side of Clemente for his boat. When we couldn’t find it, we figured he never made it out of Ghost, and we started waiting for his body to wash up somewhere. There was no way we could’ve known that he hit a bomb when he tried to land the boat without the anchor at Pyramid. We never thought of searching the whole damn island.”

“Ha! Maybe I do ask the right questions after all,” I say.

He smiles. “Everyone can be lucky once. Did you get what you wanted, dally?”

“I did. And I didn’t even end up hating you…much.”

“Thanks for finding Wib.” He looks away, squinting his eyes against the glare of the rapidly setting sun. “That was huge. You don’t even know.”

“You helped me, I helped you. We’re square.”

He snorts. “Not by a long shot.”

“Well, I mean, I still owe you money and everything, but then we’ll be even.”

“I’m not taking your money, Claire-Bo.”

“What? Why?”

“’Cause I could wipe your fees and still owe you plenty. You let me know what else you need, okay?”

“What am I possibly going to need–”

“
If
you ever have one of those rare moments.” He smiles. “Give a guy a reason to get out of bed, remember?” He turns and lifts his chin at someone.

I look over my shoulder to see Brendan heading our way.

Rev switches his briefcase to his other hand, giving Brendan’s hand a firm shake. “’Sup, Doc?”

“Rev,” says Brendan.

“Take care of this tough girl, will you?” He sees that I’m about to protest, because he adds, “When she needs it.”

“It’s what I want to do.”

Rev shoots me a sideways glance that says,
See? Told you.

“We going to see you back on the stick, Claire-Bo?” says Rev, leaning sideways to put his briefcase on the ground. He glances at Brendan, then back at me. “You guys aren’t going to drop a little grom and turn into a bunch of land sharks, are you?”

I smile and turn to Brendan to translate. “He wants to know–”

“Claire’ll be back,” says Brendan. “A few months after the baby’s born, I’ll make sure of it.”

Rev buttons up his suit jacket and picks up his briefcase. “What about you, Doc? Hate to see a perfectly good nickname wasted on a bennie.”

“Nah, someone’s got to hold down the sand, man.”

Rev laughs. “Alright, well come around anyway, will you? Shouldn’t be too long before one of us needs brain surgery.” They shake hands again, Rev adding a couple of slaps and a fist bump, which Brendan surprises me by following perfectly.

I knew it!
I think.
I knew it was a guy thing!

Rev swings his briefcase in a few long arcs. “Stick around afterwards, you two have to sign some stuff.”

“You got it.”

“So…” Brendan takes his hand out of his pant pocket and pulls a new, wayward strand of hair away from my eyes, tucking it behind my ear.

“So…”

He rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet. “So whenever I’m done beating sexual battery charges and fighting to keep my medical license, I always get hungry for a burger. Wanna go grab one after?”

I glance at the sky. “I think I have plans later. Besides, I’ve told you before: I never go anywhere with strangers. Who are you again?”

He doesn’t smile, just narrows his eyes and presses his lips together the way he does when he’s really amused. “I thought if you were really wowed by the burger, then maybe we could date.”

I back away from him, grinning. “If you don’t get away from me I’m going to start yelling ‘Stranger Danger.’”

“That didn’t stop me before.”

“Clearly. I think that’s how you got into this mess in the first place.”

He snorts. “I guess it is.” He studies my face intently. “Any chance you’re feeling sleepy?”

I punch him in the shoulder. “Don’t make me sic Lucinda Gaelic on you. She eats men like you for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

“By the size of her I’d say she doesn’t have the self-discipline to spread one man out over three meals.”

I laugh. “Probably not. So…”

“So…”

“Since I never got to take the stand, and no one ever asked me, I thought I’d check with you for clarification before we go downstairs.”

His smile vanishes. “You know you can ask me anything. You always could, always can.”

I reach for his hand. “Do I love you?”

His seriousness dissolves into a gentle smile. “Like I love you.” He looks at my mouth. “I don’t want to ruin your lipstick, but when this is all over you want to go make out somewhere?”

“Sorry, I’m saving myself for when I get married.”

He unbuttons his tuxedo jacket. Moving behind me, he wraps his arms around me, his hands clasped together over my stomach. “That’s where the ‘later’ part comes in,” he says, kissing me on the neck. “By the way, you look beautiful.”

I smack him in the face with the bouquet of daffodils I’m holding. A few of the yellow petals break off and spin to the floor.

“Hey! What was that for?”

I twist out of his embrace and wave my hand over my ivory satin gown, the empire waist so high it’s given an unintentional boost to my temporarily huge breasts. “You’re the reason Ivanna had to waste her fashion design talents on a
maternity
wedding dress. I should’ve asked Andy if he had a spare set director who could throw together a shotgun shack we could exchange vows in.”

“Very funny,” he says, peeking over the balcony at the hundreds of guests seated in rows of folding chairs on Andy Gordon’s lawn. “I think the arbor will be just as good. Wow, there’s a lot of people down there.”

“What did you think three hundred people were going to look–” I stop, wrinkling my nose.

Brendan’s joviality vanishes when he looks at me. “What’s the matter?”

“I don’t know. I’m thirsty.” I close my mouth and run my tongue over my teeth.

“Nerves?” He leans further over the balcony to see more of the crowd-in-waiting.

“I’m not nervous, but I’m getting annoyed. What’s taking so long? I hope they know Rev is only Deputy Commissioner of Marriages for a day. If he doesn’t perform the ceremony today, he’ll have to apply all over again.”

“I don’t think a forty minute delay is going to push us into tomorrow.” He looks out over the lawn again. “Uh-oh. Rev just waved at me. They must be ready to start. West is downstairs, so…”

“So…?”

He kisses me on the cheek. “I’ll see you at the altar?”

“I–I–”

He narrows his eyes, concerned. “You okay, babe? You look really pale.”

“My throat’s dry as a–” All of a sudden my center of balance shifts, like someone’s kicked a ladder out from underneath me. I stumble forwards. “No!” I manage to whisper before my speech center shuts down, my whole world retreating into a single point.

Brendan grabs me under my arms as my head pitches forward, and I start to fall. “Claire?”

I see the fallen daffodil petals, and then everything goes dark.

Chapter Forty

March 28
^th

“I’m not agreeing to this. Just so you know. ” I’m trying to pace, but I’m tethered to an IV above the bed, so my range is limited.