ZERO HERO (The Kate Huntington Mystery series) (13 page)

            Halfway to the family van, she glanced back over her shoulder again. The handsome Mr. Talbot was standing on the school steps. He sketched her a small salute, then turned to go into the building.

            Kate was glad there were no adults around to notice her blushing.

CHAPTER NINE

            Skip’s gut was churning with some very unfamiliar sensations. He stared, unseeing, at the paperwork on his desk.

            He and Kate rarely fought, but the conversation earlier about how to keep Peter Jamieson safe had been rather tense. Now not only were they spending a good bit of time investigating the case for free but they were paying to guard him. Kate had offered to cover that cost, had insisted even, but he’d said no. Maybe he should let her pay for them. Maybe then he wouldn’t resent this case so much.

            That was a big part of the problem. He didn’t know where to point his resentment. Pete was a nice guy and he certainly didn’t deserve what was happening to him. So getting mad at him just made Skip feel worse. But he sure as hell didn’t want to be pointing his anger at his wife for getting them into this mess. It wasn’t her fault either.

            Bottom line, he wanted out of this case. They should have listened to Kate’s instincts at the very beginning. He had no business dealing with these slime bags.

            He tried again to focus on the paperwork in front of him, but memories kept intruding from his state trooper days. Several times he’d dealt with men as bad as or worse than Frederico. It hadn’t particularly bothered him back then.

            I was younger then.

            He shuffled the pages of the report on his desk, then signed off on it even though he hadn’t really read it properly.

            Hell, he knew age wasn’t the issue. Difference was he was brave back then, and now he was scared. He wanted to run as far away from this case as he could get.

           
Ain’t no shame in sayin’ no, son
, his dead father’s voice echoed in the back of his head. He started to smile, but his daddy’s ghost wasn’t done with him yet.
Think ’bout whether ya wanna do a job first, but once ya give yer word, ya gotta finish what ya started.

            He would definitely think twice next time before doing a favor for a friend.

           
Wait!
That wasn’t the way he wanted to be. Rob was far more than just a friend; the Franklins were like family. The kids even called them Uncle Rob and Aunt Liz. And Rob had saved Kate’s life on two different occasions. Skip would give him his last pint of blood, without thinking once about it.

            Skip shoved the paperwork into a desk drawer and stood up. He was going home early and take a nap. That was about the only decision he felt capable of making today.

~~~~~~~~

            Dave was stretched out on his hotel bed, his laptop balanced on his thighs. He was no longer feeling all that chipper about this assignment.

            His cell phone rang. Grabbing it from the nightstand, he checked caller ID, then quickly answered. “Good evening, sir. How–”

            “Plan A didn’t work. What do you have in mind for Plan B?”

            “I’ve been doing some research, both online and on the ground. The main cause of our affiliate’s problem is an interesting specimen. But I have a concern.”

            “Which is?”

            “Based on his history, there’s a real good chance that efforts to discourage him may backfire and just make him more persistent. Our affiliate is of the opinion we should leave things be. I’m inclined to agree.”

            Silence for a moment. “You’re suggesting doing nothing? What the hell am I payin’ ya for if you’re gonna just sit down there and do nothin’?” The voice had lost its polish and gone up in pitch. The man now sounded like the young upstart that he was.

            Dave suppressed a sigh. “Sir, I know it’s frustrating to not have the situation completely under control. But short of eliminating the problem completely, which would be likely to attract more undesirable attention, there is no definite way to control it. And I do think there is a good chance the problem will go away of its own accord.”

            “I sent you there to come up with a Plan B.” The voice in his ear was a low growl now.

            “Yes, sir. I’ve laid the groundwork for a way to do that, but again, it may or may not work.”

            A brief pause. “What do you have in mind?”

            Dave tried to keep the words calm as he pushed them past gritted teeth. He hated talking about specifics over the phone, even if both parties were on throwaway cells bought with cash. No point in voicing that concern again. He’d just further aggravate the man on the other end of the line.

            “First, he’s taken the case
pro bono
–”

            “What’s that?”

           
Man, you really are a dumb shit.

            “He’s working for free, as a favor for a friend.”

            “Humph.”

            He had to admit he shared his boss’s opinion of that behavior.
Never do nothin’ for nothin’
, Dave’s old man used to say.

            “Second, his vulnerability is his family...” He really didn’t want to admit to a specific crime over the damn phone. “Uh, I can convey the message that this case is really not worth it to him.”

            A long pause. “Okay.”

            Good, maybe the fool had heard him last time and wasn’t going to totally micro-manage this assignment.

            He decided to try one more time. “Again, sir, both our affiliate and myself believe any action at this point could backfire.”

            “Just do it. If it don’t work, move on to Plan C.”

            “Yes, sir.”

            Dave disconnected, then popped a couple antacids.  The nagging questions from the train were back. What the hell was he doing working for this idiot?

            Well, he’d give Plan B his best shot. If he succeeded, he’d probably get a fat bonus. And if he didn’t...

            Dave opened his browser and went through the steps to access a highly protected website. Once in, he stared at the screen for several minutes. The zeroes at the end of the balance in his offshore account were very comforting.

~~~~~~~~

            On Wednesday, Kate realized her life was actually getting back to normal. With Mac on the mend, she didn’t feel the need to race to the hospital every day, and no more visits to Pete in jail.

            She walked into Mac’s Place with a bounce in her step.

            Her mood deflated a notch when she slid onto the bench in their favorite booth. Rob’s slouched shoulders and shadowed eyes suggested all was not well in his world.

            “How ya doing, Kate?” His smile was half-hearted.

            “I’m good. What’s up with you?”

            “I’m okay.”

           
Yeah, not.

            A waitress appeared next to their booth. She had waited on them several times before. “You all want your usual?”

            They both nodded.

            “So, you did good yesterday at the hearing,” Kate said, not sure how else to draw him out. Something was obviously wrong.

            “I doubt I’d have pulled it off without your input.”

            “I think you’d already convinced the judge. I just wanted to make sure, in case he was wavering.”

            The waitress was back already with two iced teas. She deposited them and straws on the table, then hurried off again. The noise level was rising as the restaurant filled with the lunchtime crowd. Raucous laughter broke out at a nearby table of construction workers.

            “He was right, you know,” Rob said in a low voice.

            Kate wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly. “Who? About what?”

            “The judge. It was crazy that we were willing to put up our own money.”

            Kate shrugged. They probably were a little crazy. But they could both afford it, to save a man’s life. And as it had turned out, they didn’t need to put up their own money.

            “And now I’ve staked my reputation on this guy,” Rob said. “What if we’re wrong and he takes off?”

            Ah, the bigger issue. His good name was much more important to Rob than money.

            “I doubt he will. But if he does, I don’t think the judge is going to hold it against you that you took a chance on the man.”

            He gave her a look that was almost accusatory. “You’re the one, right from the beginning, who said I might be losing my perspective.”

            “Yeah, I did. But after meeting Pete and starting to work with him, I got why. He’s a sweet guy who deserves a break. I think we’d be going above and beyond for him even without the hero piece.”

            “I sure as hell wouldn’t be putting up my own money for bail.”

            She paused a moment, then said in a gentle voice, “Is this really about the money?”

            He looked away.

            The waitress chose that moment to deliver their crab cakes. Rob stole her pickles as Kate slathered tartar sauce on the bun of her sandwich.

            She took a bite, letting the silence stretch out. She was half expecting him to change the subject.

            He’d piled the pickles on his own sandwich but then he just stared at it. “I don’t think it’s even about this case. I don’t know what’s going on.”

            Finally he picked up the sandwich and took a bite. After a moment, he said, “I’m making some progress with the insurance mess. Pete’s Social Security disability’s been approved but it’ll be at least a month until he actually gets paid.” Rob seemed to get more grounded as he talked. “Fran’s got more patience than I do. She’s been pestering the health insurance company. I think she got disconnected at least a dozen times as they transferred her around.”

            Kate nodded. She had to deal with insurance companies way more than she wanted to. It usually took a minimum of three calls to get even a minor problem straightened out.

            “Fran finally got the name of the person to talk to about getting a denied claim re-evaluated. I spoke to the guy this morning and he said he would look into it to determine if it had been denied in ‘error.’” Rob made quotation marks in the air.

            Kate snorted. “Did you threaten to sue?”

            “No need. Companies tend to sit up and take notice when I add
attorney
while introducing myself.” He gave her a small smile.

            “Sounds like excellent progress.” She decided not to press him about whatever was eating at him. He’d talk about it when he was ready. “What’s going on with the criminal case?”

            Rob’s face clouded again. Maybe she should have left that topic alone as well.

            “The detective sent me copies of the autopsy and the crime lab reports. There are a few things I think I can use. If you read between the lines in the autopsy, it sounds like the M.E. isn’t completely convinced Matthews was killed where he was found.”

            “What are the chances of acquittal?”

            He grimaced. “Not as good as I’d like them to be.”

            Kate’s jaw dropped. “But the evidence is so shaky.”

            “Who knows how a jury’s going to read this. There’s a possibility they may be harder on him
because
he’s a hero, a
fallen
hero.”

            Rob stopped and took another bite of his sandwich. His expression was thoughtful. “I think what’s bothering me about this case,” he said after a moment, “is that, in criminal law, you don’t assume your client is innocent. Your goal isn’t even to prove that. It’s to plant seeds of reasonable doubt that he
might
be innocent.”

            “When did the legal system become so cynical?” she asked.

            A corner of Rob’s mouth quirked up. “Probably somewhere around the Middle Ages.”

            “So what’s the problem?”

            Rob shook his head, then took another bite of his sandwich. She polished off her own crab cake while she waited for him to continue.

            “When I took Pete’s case
pro bono
, I was helping a good guy deal with a civil law matter. Now the cynical lawyer side of me keeps wondering if he’s not completely a good guy, that maybe he was, at the very least, trying to buy drugs that day.”

            “I’ve had a similar reaction,” Kate said. “Several times I’ve asked myself why I’m expending so much time and energy on this guy.”

            “Not to mention money,” Rob said.

            “Yeah. Addicts can be so manipulative, so I get to wondering if we’re being duped. And then I see him and realize again that he doesn’t really present like an addict. He’s a guy with PTSD who used drugs to help him cope.”

            “How convinced are you that he won’t use again?” Rob asked.

            “Before he was arrested for murder, I’d have said there was a very low chance. Now...” She shrugged. “Even out of jail, these are not ideal circumstances for clean and sober. He’s isolated from everything familiar and under a lot of stress.”

            As she poured dressing onto her salad, she added, “Hopefully Skip will find something soon that will give Judith Anderson enough ammo to reopen the police investigation.”

            “Yeah,” Rob said. “Then we can go back to
just
helping him with insurance companies and PTSD.”

~~~~~~~~

            As Kate was closing up her office at the end of the day, her mind turned again to Rob. He’d been in such a strange mood today. Things were looking up in Pete’s case, for the most part, and yet Rob had seemed almost depressed. She hoped their talk had been at least somewhat helpful.

            On her part, it had fertilized some seeds of doubt. They really were going out on a limb for this guy. She believed what she’d told Rob, that Pete was worthy of their help and their trust. But still...