Warning: Review before allowing your children to read (nothing amazingly 'out there' though)
Chapter 20
Joe was about half way towards Compute-Soft when rational thought finally beat through his blind fury and bullied its attention seeking way to his frontal lobe. His mutterings and swearing petered off, to be replaced with the question: "What the hell am I doing?"
He had no idea what any of the perpetrators looked like other than Lawrence Bale, and he could not even be sure Bale was directly involved – or Nick come to that…other than to look at his girl's assets. Joe's lip lifted as he considered that not looking at them would have been a crime in itself! So what he was going to do when he got to Compute-Soft, other than to shout at the receptionist?
Joe shook his head and bounced the heel of his hand down against the steering wheel, so hard that it sent his wrist buzzing. He glared for no reason at another driver as his van passed innocently by and received a filthy look back.
Where had his temper gotten him so far with this case? Nowhere, simply across town having abandoned Vanessa and Andrea, leaving them vulnerable with a blackmailer hanging around. A blackmailer who had promised Vanessa harm.
And look what his temper had done to Frank too; hitting him with a dumbbell …what was that all about? Even as an accident, to throw something that heavy was a brain dead thing to have done!
Why had he, even for an instant, thought that Frank and Vanessa would have done something like that to him – an affair? It was not in either of their genetic make-ups to do such a low down despicable thing. Didn't he trust Frank at face value anymore?
He paused as it gave him food for thought, his eyebrow peaking.
It was true! He was certain Frank had his back as he always did, but Joe had to admit he did not know if his brother was always telling him the entire truth, the whole story. Reality was biting him in the ass that Frank's recent past had driven a wedge between them. It was small, tiny, but it was lodged there, and that small doubt had outed itself at the sight of that shitty photograph.
He would not have blamed Frank if he had ditched and walked that day, but instead, he had been so reasonable about it. Had not even gotten angry, despite how painful that dumbbell to the chest must have been. He had just suffered it, along with the other things Joe had hurled at him that morning, all that foul abuse. Frank had uttered only one sentence in his own defence, and that was only to state that he had had enough of the insults.
Maybe Frank knew why Joe had blown up and had chosen to take it on the chin – yeah, that made sense.
What Joe had done had left him feeling like crap though. The kind of deep-set, sick inducing, self-loathing that he was not going to be easily remedied. When he had drugged Frank that time, it felt similar, but this time he could not justify it. This hadn't been done for Frank's own good, Joe had just jumped to the blackmailer's tune.
He also suspected that Frank had somehow persuaded his dad from intervening as not a word had been said. Yeah, the agency was for all intents and purposes his dad's company and nepotism was rife, but that could only offer protection for so far and he probably should have been sacked. Heck, Vanessa had lost her job for simply accessing the Internet. Life was so unbalanced.
His hand strayed to the back of his neck and he rubbed furiously.
He was sliding back into his old skin – all reaction, jumping the gun…jumping at shadows, macho pride and manly beating of chest. The counting backwards from ten-to-one a forgotten mental tool. He was over compensating, seeking retribution for what had and was being done to all three of them, and because of that, he was tripping himself up.
Joe's cell phone started to trill so he signalled and coasted the car to a halt at the side of the road. He lifted the handset from the passenger seat and saw that it was his father ringing. Immediately his thumb hit the red button to let the messaging service take it. He needed to think. He didn't want to be yelled at. So he powered down the phone entirely and tossed it back onto the passenger seat.
He reached to switch on his antiquated car tape/radio player, but in the rear view mirror caught sight of a car parked up to his bumper. He had been so deep in thought that he'd not noticed it pulling up. Then came a sharp tap against the window and he jerked around to find a hand making a rolling gesture, so he did just that.
"Can I see your I.D. and driving license, The Blond One?" said the male uniformed figure.
"What are you doing here?"
James bent to look in, removing his cap. "That's a bit unfriendly, considering how long it's taken me to find you."
"Van called the office did she? Why did they send you out?"
"Again…friendly much! They figured it wasn't a good idea for Unc to come out as he was seen in the woods by at least one of the suspects. Your dad's on light duties, apparently, which doesn't include running all over town after his mad son – good call, considering he's got a black eye the size of Texas. So I drew the short straw," he paused and patted his nightstick, "I was given orders to arrest you if necessary and haul your ass to the clink!"
Joe tensed. "You really wanna try that?"
"Not really. I don't rate my chances single handed, given you've got a good two inches and fifty pounds of muscle on me." Joe failed to laugh so James peered thoughtfully for a few seconds before saying, "come on," and opening the car door. "Let's get a donut somewhere, I haven't eaten one for at least half an hour."
"No, I've got to get back to Vanessa, I left her at the house on her own with her mom."
"Unc's with them."
"I need to at least ring in."
"Did it when I spotted your car. Come on," James repeated, "ten minutes won't make a difference. You look like you could do with chewing someone's ear off. Look on me as an independent sympathiser." James opened the door even wider and stood aside. He simply was not going to take "no" for an answer.
Joe turned his head away and gave it a couple more seconds of deliberation before taking his key out of the ignition and joining James on the sidewalk. They turned and headed back the way they had come, James clearly knowing of a place they could get afternoon refreshments.
"Where's Bach?" Joe asked, in reference to James's usual partner.
"Collig's reallocated him to another cop for a while."
"A case?"
James pulled a face. "I'm desk-bound. Something big's goin' down."
"So The Chief's got you doing something important, yeah?"
"No, the opposite, he's keeping me out of it."
"Can I ask why?"
James stopped dead and turned to look levelly at Joe. "Uh, sorry, I can't. But you know I said before that I needed all the brownie points I can get?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, I need all the brownie points I can get. So if Team-Hardy can see its way to pushing some my way, it would be appreciated."
Without warning there came a loud cracking, gun-like noise further up the road behind them. Joe physically jerked, took three steps at a full-pitched run and crashed through the nearest doorway into a lawyer's expensively dressed reception area. An older man behind the counter turned on his heel from where he had had his head in a filing cabinet. For some reason surprise was not the emotion he was showing, more professional curiosity.
Joe stopped just past a sofa, embarrassed at what he had just done, his heart still hammering with the shock of it and turned sheepishly to see James staring incongruously through the glass door before coming through. "A car backfired, you okay?"
"Yeah, jeeze – I think I'm getting phobic again!"
James started to laugh.
"Dude, it isn't funny, this is bad. I can't be jumping at every loud noise."
"Are you serious?"
"I'm serious."
"Are you running from the police?" interrupted the man behind the front desk.
"No."
"Then what can I help you with, gentlemen?"
"Do you have access to donuts, Sir?" James asked, slipping his cap back on.
"I'm afraid not."
"Then you can't help us and we'll be on our way." He touched the brim of his hat and dropped his chin. "Thank you for your cooperation, Sir. Much appreciated."
*****
Con and James stepped up to Andrea's door. Con reached out to press the doorbell and then received a tense look from his nephew who had cans of beer dangling from one hand and a bouquet of flowers clutched in the other.
"Relax, buddy." Con muttered and turned to look at the cars in the front yard. It seemed they were the last to arrive as he could see Joe's motorcycle, Frank's sporty number and the Hardy's family sedan.
"Easy for you to say. The last time I met Mrs Bender I was wrecking her house. And I'm not used to attending family gatherings that don't end in a drunken free-for-all slug fest!"
"Assume nothing, Nephew. Joe's wound up and primed like a coiled spring."
"Something smells great." James started bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"Laura and Andrea's own work."
"Do you think it'll be something other than pizza and burgers. So sick of pizza and burgers. Pizzas and burgers…boring…anything else…I'm so edgy, why am I so edgy, Unc?"
The door opened and Andrea smiled at them, then she frowned in confusion as James thrust the six-pack of beers into her hands. "Why thank you, James."
"I want to say sorry, Mrs Bender, for shooting up your hallway." James blurted out respectfully.
Con dipped to whisper in James's ear, "Might work better if you gave her the flowers."
Beet red, James did a quick switch-a-rooney. "I want to say sorry, Mrs Bender, for shooting up your hallway."
"It's fine James, your uncle fixed everything up – it's no longer 'Mrs' by the way, it's just plain Andrea. You've been rehearsing that line for a long time, haven't you?"
"Yes, Ma'am, I have. Meant it though."
"You were protecting my daughter and Nancy, so nothing to apologise for." She buried her nose and took in the flowers' scent. "They're beautiful, thank you. How did you know yellow roses are my favourite?"
"Vanessa told me. Thank you for inviting me, Mrs Bender."
"Andrea. And it's my pleasure. You should give your Uncle lessons in etiquette."
"What do you mean?" Con held up a green bottle. "I bought wine…and it cost more than five dollars! See?" He put it under Andrea's nose and pointed to the neck of the bottle at the price tag.
"I rest my case," Andrea breathed and moved back. "Come in boys".
They stepped over the threshold and immediately James was almost knocked off his feet by Rebel who had dashed at full-pelt down the hall to fling himself at his buddy.
"Ooof! Rebel, you're really packin' a punch, are you getting fat?" James asked.
"Wouldn't surprise me with all the treats he's been getting." Andrea said, joining in with stroking the over excited animal. Con glowered down at her and she caught his look. "Oops, did I just say that out loud? I think I'll go and put these flowers into the washroom sink until I can get them into a vase." She started up the hall towards the stairs, Con keeping pace.
"What have you been feeding him?" he hissed.
She waved a dismissive palm in his face. "Healthy stuff – carrot sticks, apples, other hale and hearty nibbles. Bacon."
Con's face darkened. "What?"
"Uh, is everyone through here?" James asked, pointing towards the noise of chatter coming from further inside the house, his upper body leaning as though an invisible cord was pulling him towards the voices and away from the line of fire. He didn't wait for a response, just went through.
Con slammed the bottle of wine firmly down onto the hall table next to Vanessa's handbag before lifting an eyebrow at Andrea. "Woman, what did I say to you about feeding my dog garbage?" he pulled the washroom door open and took her by the upper arm.
"Am I in trouble?" she asked in mock horror as he pushed her through and shut the door.
"Deep, dark trouble."
Andrea backed up until her retreat was stopped by the basin.
He stomped up and slid an arm around her waist to pull her up into a prolonged kiss, the trapped bouquet wrapper crinkling between their bodies. She reached up with her free hand and cupped the back of his neck.
Eventually they came up for air, grinning stupidly.
"This is like being a teenager again, sneaking around." Andrea said and turned to flick on the faucet. "I feel twenty years younger. If we get caught, we'll be sooooo grounded!"
"That reminds me. Laura knows."
Andrea spun round, "What? How?"
Con felt flustered, not sure of Andrea's reaction. "I didn't tell her…not on purpose anyway. Yesterday when I took Fenton home, she saw my 'twinkle'."
Andrea's mouth dropped open, her eyes travelling down.
"She said I had a twinkle in the eye…whatever that is. To cut a long story short, she just plain guessed and tricked me into admitting it. And you know, I can't lie, not to Laura anyway, she knows me too well. She won't tell anyone."
"I wondered why she was winking at me."
Con reached quickly to knock the faucet down and cut off the current, in time to stop it overflowing. "Have I blown it?" he asked quietly, looking into the clear pool. He could see his face reflected back, along with the overhead light. They undulated and merged into an unrecognisable shape as a drip fell from the tap and disturbed the water.
"Blown what?" Andrea asked, sliding the roses gently into the sink.
"Us. You and me. Did I fall at the first hurdle by not keep to our agreement?"
"Riley, have you no faith at all?" she pulled him down and upturned her face to deliver a peck to his forehead. "Laura Hardy sees all, she reads people like a book. It's the one power both her boys have inherited that didn't come directly from Fenton. She'd have seen a twinkle in me just as quickly, you just had the misfortune of running into her first."
"See? That's why I love you." Con smiled at her in the mirror. "You always surprise me by saying something that makes me feel like a darned fool for underestimating myself."
"What did you just say?"
"You make me feel like an idiot because—"
"No, not that, the other thing."
"What? I…" Con stopped dead and then whirled away with a grimace and a palm covering his eyes. "Man alive!"
Then her hand was on his, pulling his fingers away to make him look at her. "Did you mean it?"
"Uh…"
"Did you mean it?" She snapped fiercely.
Con cast his eyes to the ceiling for a second before levelling his concentrated gaze on her. "Yes," he finally confirmed with a grave nod. "I did and I do, I think I just realised it." He felt the back of his mouth start to dry up, waiting for the inevitable words of rejection.
"Not just me then."
"What?"
Con's mouth dropped open, so Andrea took this as an invitation and allowed their lips to come zinging together again. Their embrace became intense as Andrea's hands slid up his back until they were pulling him by the shoulders securely into her, slotting them both together.
Con was weightless again, his head heading for that light fitting. But this time, he knew Andrea was along for the ride in his arms, their senses swirling every bit as much as the water had been earlier. Everything had moved so fast in just a few days, yet it felt so natural, not rushed – destiny. He twirled her soft hair into a knot feeling the most content then he had ever felt in his life, his heart soaring at his own luck.
Suddenly, a loud scratching noise cut through and their heads turned toward the door, their celebratory clinch abruptly interrupted. They had failed to notice Rebel had been with them the entire time. Not having received any attention, the dog had become bored and was trying to get out to join the rest of the guests in the sitting room. Too late to rectify their mistake, the door was yanked open.