ZERO HERO (The Kate Huntington Mystery series) (4 page)

            “I’ve gotta go to the office for a couple client meetings. I’ll be back here by twelve-thirty. The bail hearing’s at one. It would help if you were there for that, if you can make it.”

            “Are we likely to be done by one forty-five?”

            “Yeah, probably by one-thirty. Bail hearings tend to be quick and merciless.”

            “Tell Pete I’ll be there by twelve-fifteen, and I’ll stay for the bail hearing.”

~~~~~~~~

            Pete was an only child. His working class, widowed father had moved to a trailer park in Florida. The assistant prosecutor contended that Peter Jamieson had very little tying him to the Baltimore area. He was a flight risk. She requested bail be set at a million dollars.

            Rob stepped forward. “Your Honor, that’s a ridiculous amount.” The judge arched an eyebrow at him. Rob continued undeterred, “Mr. Jamieson has no history of violence. He’s only had one prior arrest for drug possession. He’s in therapy.” Rob gestured toward Kate. “And he’s been clean for eight months. He’s currently on medical leave from the Baltimore County fire department. He values his career very much and is not about to jeopardize it by jumping bail for a crime he did not commit.”

            The judge looked at the assistant prosecutor. “Do you have Mr. Jamieson’s record, Ms. Gerard? And by the way, where is Mr. Fitzsimmons today?”

            “He uh, had a previous commitment related to another case,” the young attorney stammered. She located the relevant paper in her briefcase and handed it to the judge.

            “I’d also like to point out, Your Honor,” Rob said, “that Mr. Jamieson’s drug use was directly related to the post-traumatic stress syndrome he’s experiencing as a result of his heroic efforts as a first responder on 9/11.”

            Kate felt Pete squirm beside her. She put a restraining hand on his arm.

            “Mrs. Huntington is Mr. Jamieson’s therapist,” Rob said.

            The judge glanced up from the single sheet of paper in front of him. He looked her way but didn’t ask her any questions.

            “Bail is set at $250,000.” The judge brought the gavel down.

            Kate and Rob were granted a short meeting with their client before he would be taken back to his cell. While Rob told Pete what would come next in his case, Kate was mulling over another issue. A bail bondsman would require a ten percent fee. Even she couldn’t afford $25,000, but maybe she could raise it. Although she had no clue how she would do that.

            When she mentioned the possibility, Pete shook his head. “I can handle being in jail. I was about to be evicted anyway. This way at least I’ve got a roof over my head and three meals a day.”

            Rob scribbled something on a sheet of paper and slid it across the table, then handed Pete his pen. “That gives me permission to enter your apartment and remove your belongings. I’ll put them in storage.”

            “I can’t afford storage.”

            “I’ve got an old garage behind my house,” Kate said. “We’ll put your stuff in there.”

            Relief on his face, Pete nodded. “Thank you.”

            Walking down the steps in front of the Towson courthouse, Rob put a big hand gently on Kate’s shoulder. “Now who’s losing their perspective?”

            “Yeah, about that. Sorry I gave you a hard time. Now that I’ve met Pete... If anybody deserves a break from the system, it’s him.”

            Rob shook his head. “The breaks don’t seem to be in his favor here. There’s no way you can raise twenty-five grand, and the bail bondsman’s going to want collateral for the rest.”

            “I know. It’s a long shot, but I’ve got to try. I’m scared to death what several months in jail is likely to do to him.”

            They had reached the sidewalk. “I’ll walk you to the your car,” Rob said. After a couple minutes of silence, he glanced over at Kate. “I think I want to hire Skip’s agency to look into this.”

            She stopped walking and blinked at him. Anxiety fluttered in her chest.

            “I got Pete to sign a waiver of confidentiality so we can fill him in.” Rob took her hand and looked down at her, concern in his eyes. “But I won’t ask Skip if you don’t want me to.”

            Kate sighed. She appreciated that he’d asked her first but she couldn’t begin to sort out how she felt about the idea. She squeezed his hand, then let it go. “I’ll talk to him about it after dinner and call you. But I can’t let you pay for it by yourself.
If
we decide he’s going to take the case, that is.”

            “We’ll split it,” Rob said.

            Kate gave him a half smile. It was the tactic she used on him to let her pay her share when they went to lunch.

~~~~~~~~

            Kate waited until Edie’s homework was done and the children were in bed. She sat down on the sofa next to her husband and turned sideways, sitting cross-legged to face him.

            The gold flecks in his hazel eyes flashed at her as his mouth spread slowly into one of his easy grins. She couldn’t begin to imagine life without him. Her chest hurt at the thought. She reached up and brushed an unruly lock of hair back off his forehead. Her fingertips grazed his skin.

            Skip’s grin softened into a dreamy smile. He captured her hand and kissed her palm.

            Kate stifled a small gasp. Trying to ignore the tingling sensations that gentle touch of his lips had elicited, she wrapped both of her hands around his. “I need to talk to you about a client.”

            She almost laughed out loud at the expression on his face as he struggled to shift gears from seduction to shop talk.

            She gave him the background on Peter Jamieson, then moved on to that day’s events. “He and the guy he’s accused of killing, they were seen arguing on the street downtown yesterday afternoon. Rob wants to hire you to investigate.”

            “How do you know he didn’t do it?” Skip asked.

            “Can we come back to that in a minute. I’m not at all sure I want you to get involved in this case. The street they were on was two blocks from
The
Block and the murder victim was a drug dealer and a pimp. This is not in the same league as your normal cases. As much as I want to help Pete, I’m scared to death at the thought of you poking into this.”

            Skip pulled his hands loose from hers and gently took her by the shoulders. “Kate, I thought we’d gotten past this.”

            She had thought so too. Last year they’d stumbled into an international assassination plot and had spent a week running for their lives. The experience had forced them both to face their fears about losing each other.

            “That was a bit different,” she said. “We didn’t have any choice about whether or not we were in danger. But this time–”

            “Kate, this is what I
do
. It’s not usually dangerous but sometimes it is. That’s why I carry a gun. You were the one who told me years ago, on our first date that you refused to call a date,” he gave her a small smile, “that you try not to let fear dictate what you do. That’s true for yourself, but you don’t always apply that when it comes to those you love.”

           
Damn!
He’d backed her into a corner with her own words. “Okay, that’s playing a bit dirty, don’t you think?” But she couldn’t quite keep the corners of her mouth from curling upward.

            “Look, darlin’, why don’t we talk about the case some more, and let me see if I even think I can help. Then we’ll decide from there. So what makes you so sure this guy is innocent? You said you’ve only been working with him for a little over a week, and you know drug addicts are notorious liars.”

            That gave her pause for a moment. Was she being naive?  She shook her head. “He’s not your typical drug addict. And yeah, I’ve only worked with him a short time, but it’s been pretty intense. He’s the client I went to Pennsylvania with on Saturday. We met the uncle of a little girl Pete wasn’t able to save, and then had a marathon therapy session in the car on the way home. Pete was finally starting to put things in perspective.”

            “So why was he downtown buying drugs yesterday?”

            “He wasn’t. The drug dealer was a friend of his, from high school. Pete was trying to get him to go to an NA meeting with him. In the twelve-step groups, it’s the eleventh step, to try to help other addicts get into recovery. But the guy was high, waving his gun around. Pete managed to get it away from him. That’s how his prints got on it.”

            “What was the fight on the street about?”

            “Pete was trying to convince Jimmy to get his life back on track. Jimmy was yelling at him that his life was just fine, thank you very much. He had money and women, what else could he want. Pete grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, and started yelling back. Then he realized it was all futile and walked away.”

            “And you’re convinced this guy is on the up and up?” Skip asked again.

            “Yes, I think he is, and I think you’ll be convinced too, once you meet him.”

            “So you’re okay with me taking the case?”

            Kate blew out air. “I didn’t say that.” She looked down at her hands in her lap. “What would you do if you did take it?”

            Skip took one of her hands in his. “First thing would be to talk to the police and find out what they’ve got on your boy. See if I can poke any holes in their case big enough to get them to rethink the whole thing. If that doesn’t work, then we’d go looking for who the real killer might be.”

            Her stomach clenched. “Which is the point where you start messing around with some of the slimiest slime in Baltimore.”

            “True, but I would do so with the utmost care. Kate, I know what I’m doing. Have you ever known me to be reckless?” There was a touch of annoyance in his voice now.

           
Uh, oh!
 She backpedaled. “Of course you know what you’re doing. You’re excellent at what you do, which is why you and Rose have been so successful. But these are very dangerous people you’d be dealing with.”

            “Let’s take it one step at a time, shall we? I’ll have Dolph find out what detective caught the case and we’ll have a little chat with him.”

            “Rob’s going to pay for the agency’s services.” Kate decided not to mention she was covering half from Eddie’s insurance money.

            Skip looked at her and shook his head. “I’m not taking money from either one of you for this.”

            She grinned sheepishly.

            Skip unfolded his six-five frame from the sofa, then pulled her to a stand. “I don’t know ’bout you, darlin’.” A bit of his native Texas had crept into his voice. “But I’m kinda depressed after all this talk of drug dealers and 9/11 heroes gettin’ shafted. And you know what the best antidepressant is, don’t you?” He tucked a stray curl behind her ear, then leaned down and whispered, “Great sex.”

            Kate smacked him lightly on his arm. But she wasn’t about to disagree with him. She’d been married to this man for six years and he could still turn her knees to jelly just by kissing her palm, or nibbling her earlobe as he was doing now.

            He wrapped strong arms around her. She relaxed against him with a sigh. His lips trailed across her cheek and found her mouth.

            When they ran out of air, Skip swept her up in his arms and carried her into the bedroom. Once there, he put her on her feet so she could go into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. She smiled at the blend of hot lovers and old married couple they had become.

            When she came out of the bathroom, he was lying in bed, covers pulled up to his waist, one arm up behind his head. She paused for a moment to admire the broad expanse of his muscular chest. Shedding her clothes and tossing them in the general direction of the hamper, she slipped between the sheets and snuggled against him. She lay her cheek on his bare shoulder and slid her hand across his abdomen.

            He sucked in his breath.

            She dug her fingers into the ticklish spot just above his hip.

            He squirmed. “Woman, you do know how to kill a mood.”

            “Oh, I think we can recapture it,” she whispered as her hand slid lower.

            His eyes went wide.

~~~~~~~~

            On Wednesday, Kate cancelled her weekly lunch with Rob so she could go to see her priest.

            Elaine Johnson came out of her office to greet Kate. In her steel gray suit, with black clerical shirt and white priest’s collar, she was a formidable-looking woman. Her chocolate brown face broke into a wide smile. “To what do I owe this mid-week pleasure?”

            “I have a request.”

            Once settled in Elaine’s office, Kate gave her the bare bones of the story. Cognizant of client confidentiality, she stuck to the facts that were public knowledge, filling in as needed with vague generalizations. Peter Jamieson was a client of her lawyer friend. She couldn’t admit that he was her client as well, but she knew Elaine would figure that out. Pete was a 9/11 hero. His life had been rough lately, and now he was being accused of a murder he didn’t commit and he couldn’t afford bail.

            “A bail bondsman charges ten percent. I wanted to try to somehow raise the money. Would you be willing to let me ask the parishioners for donations?”

            Elaine sat back in her chair and watched Kate’s face for a moment. “Would you mind if I went to visit this young man?”

            “I wouldn’t, but I’m not sure how he would feel about it. I’m going there this afternoon. Let me ask him if that would be okay. And by the way, he didn’t ask me to do this. When I suggested it, he said not to bother, that he’d be okay in jail.”

            “But you’re not so sure he will be,” Elaine said.

            “No, I’m not.”

~~~~~~~~

            When ‘Dolph’ Randolph entered the homicide bullpen and headed her way, Judith Anderson started to smile. The smile turned to a grimace when she saw the tall man following in his wake.