“I could go by the ATM, pick up some cash for you, but not too much, you know. I have a limit.”
“Yes, I do too. Could you bring it by—wait, even better, can we meet at the Crab Shack? I’m not sure it’s safe at home.”
“Why not meet here at my office?”
“No, even worse. Too many people asking questions. I need time to do some research.”
“You’re welcome to stay with me. You’d be safe there. No one would bother you.”
“That’s a bad idea. Listen, if you can help me out, I’ll really owe you one. Big exclusive, breaking news type event I’ll give you when I got it. Okay?”
“What are you working on?”
“I don’t think I should talk about it.”
“Okay, then don’t promise something you can’t deliver, Shannon. I’m just happy to help, although I have a bone to pick with your boyfriend for putting you in this situation. Rather inconvenient him being in the hospital and all.”
“Funny. He told the investigators he thought I was the target, not him.”
“And how did he come to that?”
“Because the bomb was planted in my office, next to his. If I’d been there, I’d be dead, Jared.”
“Now this is the part where you tell me you’re so grateful to have a job, that I saved your life today, and waited with you until I couldn’t see straight while he was in surgery that you’ve reconsidered your leaving, because you discovered he’s lying to you and you’ve suddenly gotten the urge to become an investigative reporter and will give up traveling all over the world in private jets. Please tell me you were going to say all that.”
“Hardly. Just come. We’ll sort it all out later. For right now, I need funds, and I need to disappear. And I promise, with your help, I’m going to research this whole thing and Rebecca’s involvement in Emily’s accident. I want you to bring all the files you can find on it, the interview notes, police reports, everything. I want to know what happened to the guy who got the DUI.”
“Whoa, whoa! All that happened in California, Shannon. How do I get those records?”
“You do someone a favor. Cold case. Bombshell exclusive you’ll share. You must have some contacts in the San Francisco Bay area you can lean on.”
“Where was the accident?”
“Up in Sonoma County. The girls were supposedly up for a weekend in wine country.”
“So, name some towns, Shannon.”
“Santa Rosa, Petaluma. Sonoma—Sebastopol.”
“Sebastopol! That’s it. I had a buddy in college who inherited his parents Apple Farm, and he later became a cop. I think he was Chief of Police in Sebastopol for a spell. I’ll try to look him up.”
“And you’ll need newspaper contacts.”
“Kind of discouraging there. We don’t really share. But give a cop a chance to solve a cold case or right a wrong, he’s all over it. I’ll bring over what I can find right away, and then I’ll do more later. And not a word of this to anyone, Shannon. You’re not to tell the police, Marco, no one. I gotta protect my sources, and I won’t give them up. I don’t want to get an old friend in trouble.”
“I understand. And you’re helping a newer friend stay out of trouble. I need to know why Marco would hide all this from me. Don’t give me any names. I want to see the records. We could say someone wanted justice and left the files in the mailbox for you.”
“It happens. Not to me, but it happens.”
“Jared, we have to be careful. If the wrong person went to prison over this, if it was someone else’s order, that makes it murder, not manslaughter. It’s a whole new ball game. That’s why I’m going to have to disappear for a bit. I’m going to need your help on that.”
“Well, hell’s bells, I may be the Program Director, but I can do a quick Witness Protection caper at the drop of a hat. I’m flexible, good looking, willing to save your life, and I adore you. Explain to me why you want this guy, who’s practically old enough to be your father? The guy who doesn’t tell you the truth?”
Shannon inhaled, reset her nerves, closed her eyes, and thought about everything for a minute, and then she said, “Because, in spite of everything, I love him.”
Chapter 12
Marco was on the telephone when Dr. Patel came in to see him. He motioned that he was almost done with his call. Without expression, the doctor waited nearly a minute before checking his watch again and then forcibly removed the phone from Marco’s hand, turning it off, and placing it in the large pocket of his lab coat.
“I was just finishing up, as I showed you,” Marco said defensively.
Dr. Patel cut him off. “You don’t get to do that. This is my hospital. You don’t work for me. You hired me to do a job, and I’m going to do it, or I will send you someplace else where they don’t care what kind of quality care you get. Am I making myself perfectly understood, Mr. Gambini?”
“Yes. Are you going to give me my phone back? I have important—”
“Oh, we are so important. I understand you have yet to thank the woman who saved your leg.”
“I thought you did that.”
“No, Mr. Gambini, I’m talking about the woman who made the decision that I should take your balls rather than take your leg.”
“What?” He was ready to throw himself at Patel.
“You need to listen to me carefully, Mr. Gambini. We have a few more things left to do. Or, if you like, I can stop doing anything, and then we can watch you heal into a cripple. It will be funny to see this former, big strong man hobbling around, chasing women, and pushing people around with his cane. People will laugh at him, and they should. Because he’s a very, very stupid man who has an enormous ego and hasn’t yet learned his lesson.”
“What lesson?” Marco asked.
“First, we crawl. Then we walk. Then we run. Do you ever remember hearing that during your SEALs training? Do you know that there are people who break records and win marathons who crawl or walk during part of the race? Figure that one out. Do you know why that is?”
“Because that’s how they’ve trained.”
“No, Mr. Gambini. It’s because they are not idiots. They are true champions. They do what they can do, but they do all they can do. They put their whole heart into it, to the last drop of their blood. Those people are winners. You used to be a winner when you were a SEAL—”
“When called, I could be again,” Marco interrupted.
“I don’t think so. You’re going to look like Mr. Toad walking down the road because your ego is so attached to that cauliflower next to your ear you call a cell phone that you’re not paying attention to getting your body ready to be able to be all you can be. If you don’t pay attention to it, it will in turn kick you in the ass.”
“You have a crappy bedside manner, doctor.”
“I have a horse’s ass for a patient. You might think you’re special with your millions, your tats, and the fun things you get to do. Meanwhile, I’m fixing people’s frames so their plumbing works, so their head doesn’t roll to one side. I’m a simple car mechanic. And you want to take that car out and run it on three wheels, telling yourself you’re the best driver on the planet. But you can’t win any races with three wheels. And your mechanic is screaming to you to let him fix the tire. But of course, you have much more important things going on. World-class things. Have you ever wondered why someone might want to blow up this wonderful body of yours? Think about it. Someone may want you dead, Mr. Gambini.”