Riven (43 page)

“My boyfriends have always had Harleys.”

“Am I gonna have one too?”

“I actually prefer the Fat Boy,” she said. “And, no, I’m not buying you a bike. I will rent one, though, as soon as you prove you can handle it. I want us to come flying up to my house, rattling every window on the street. Then I’ll tell my dad I just met you, that you picked me up at the mall and gave me a ride.”

Brady was howling. “What I wouldn’t give for one of these,” he said.

“Stay close, sweetie.”

Oh, Brady loved this girl. She was crazy, but so was he. And best of all, just the thought of her was keeping him on the straight and narrow. Of course, had she said the word, he also would have committed any felony she asked. But for now he studied like he never had before, was diligent at his every chore, and was earnest and forthcoming with Jan and with Bill, his new parole officer. Well, as forthcoming as he dared. He wasn’t about to tell anyone about the phone, driving, and riding the Harley.

Brady was up at the same time every day, starting to work out (he actually ran a few blocks, but he was so new to it and his system so wracked by cigarettes, he wasn’t sure he had a future in jogging), and was cleaned up and ready to go early.

Bill had a list of local employers willing to take a chance on the top Serenity members. “It won’t be much at first, but as you gain their trust and prove yourself, who knows?”

It sounded good to Brady. He didn’t want to get ahead of himself when it came to Katie North, but he would have sworn she felt about him the way he felt about her. It didn’t add up, and he found it hard to believe. But she never talked about other guys, and they text messaged each other all the time and talked by phone when they could. And every few days, she picked him up for a couple of hours of fun.

Life could hardly get better.

Adamsville

Thomas found himself thinking about the pastorate again. In the prison system, if it wasn’t one thing, it was another. But at sixty, his energy level was already keeping him from diving into the daily grind, the same problem he would have if he switched careers again. And who but a tiny congregation without much money would want a man his age in the pulpit anyway, especially one whose ailing wife would come with the package? He felt stuck.

There was no getting around it: churches got free labor when a pastor brought along a healthy wife, whether she was into music or teaching or running a children’s or women’s program. Who was he kidding? Becoming a pastor again would virtually mean providing charity work for a struggling congregation, and they would be offering precious little to a needy, over-the-hill preacher.

“Man waitin’ in your office,” Gladys told him as he passed her one morning.

He stopped. “Another process server?”

She beckoned him close and whispered, “Your son-in-law. Calls you Dad.”

Thomas found Dirk had draped his overcoat over a chair, opened his briefcase, and laid his legal pad on the edge of the desk. “Hey, good to see you,” Dirk said, pumping Thomas’s hand. “Rav’s told me everything she knows, and I’m honored you would let me help.”

“Well, I—”

“I’ve already been studying this, Dad, and I think it’s a slam dunk. These guys love to drag these things out and make your life miserable, I know, but we’re going to put a stop to that, believe you me. First of all, you’re not to meet with him.”

“No? Won’t that play right into his hands?”

“At least not until he drops the charges. Meantime, he talks to his counsel, you talk to yours.”

Thomas removed and hung up his coat, held up a hand, and sat behind his desk. “Dirk, we really must talk first. I mean, here I haven’t seen you in ages, and we can’t just pretend everything is hunky-dory at home, can we?”

Dirk was finally silent. Then he threw back his head and laughed heartily. “Did you just say
hunky-dory
? Haven’t heard that in years. No, I guess we can’t, Dad. But the truth is, every minute I spend on your case, I have to make up for at the office. So can we do that another time?”

Thomas shook his head. “You know, Dirk, I don’t think we can. Maybe people of your generation can go about their business as if nothing is wrong, but I find it distracting. Now, I’m sorry this is causing you more work, and if you want to drop it and leave me to find my own lawyer, I’ll just have to bite the bullet and—”

“No way. If that’s a deal breaker, fine. Let’s talk. And if it helps me get Ravinia and Summer back into my life, it’ll be worth any sacrifice.”

“You serious?”

“Serious as a supermax. Nothing I want more than to be back home with my family.”

“Where do things stand? Does Rav know, and is she turning you down?”

“I haven’t told her.”

“You tell me and not her? What kind of a lawyer are you?”

48

Addison

The Harley salesman was apologetic but said his manager had put the kibosh on Katie’s test-drives until she was prepared to commit to a purchase. “We’ll then be happy to enroll you in classes so you can become proficient,” he said.

“Sounds like you’d be happy to have me buy from another dealer,” she said.

Brady saw panic in the man’s eyes. “Oh no, not at all. But you understand there’s a limit to how many times we can have you—”

“And my fiancé . . .”

“Look, if you need one more spin to help you make your decision, I can talk to my—”

“Do that. We’ve pretty much made up our minds about the metallic blue Fat Boy, and—”

“Really?”

Now Brady saw something else in the salesman’s eyes. Dollar signs.

“And we’re prepared to pay cash.”

“Let me get the key.”

As the man jogged into the showroom, Katie squeezed Brady’s shoulder. “Too good to be true!” she said. “We’re not even going to have to rent!”

“You’re not really going to buy—?”

“Of course not. Once you start working, you can buy your own.”

“Yeah, like that’ll happen. I’m really gonna buy a bike worth twice as much as the best car I could afford. And in the winter . . .”

“I’m just saying, I like a man on a Harley. And you’re getting awfully good on ’em. You ready to buzz my dad?”

“I’m up for anything you want,” Brady said.

Once again Katie left the Benz and they took off on the big bike. Half a mile away, they switched places, and she hollered directions in Brady’s ear as he headed north to the exclusive suburbs. He felt that familiar tingle up his back, the one that told him he was on the edge of danger, or disaster.

Adamsville

Dirk Blanc proved as engaging as ever, and in spite of himself, Thomas simply liked the man.

“Have you forgiven Rav?” he said.

Dirk squinted at him. “So you know everything.”

“I know enough.”

“Apparently. Tell you the truth, forgiveness was hard. We’d been drifting, like couples do. Well, most couples. To hear Ravinia tell it, you guys are next to perfect.”

“Oh no, now—”

“Just telling you the standard that has been raised before me. Fact is, my parents are pretty tight too, though in some ways I think my mother is an enabler. Life pretty much revolves around Dad. ’Course he loves it, and she seems okay with that. But back to us. I know I contributed, okay? We were both trying to gain traction in our careers, and yeah, I can see where she was lonely and I was the reason—or a big part of it. I mean, it falls to me to be sure she’s not lonely, am I right?”

“I see it that way, yes,” Thomas said. “Unless there’s something pathologically wrong with the wife, it’s the husband’s lot to be sure she’s happy.”

Dirk shook his head. “I’d love that chance again.”

“But you never answered my question.”

“Formally, no, I guess I haven’t actually forgiven her. I was deeply hurt, sir. You cannot imagine.”

“Has she asked your forgiveness?”

Dirk shook his head. “Might open an old wound if I announce forgiveness that hasn’t been asked for.”

“Let me talk to her.”

“Is she going to think I want her to ask?”

“Give me a little more credit than that, Dirk.”

“I’ll leave it with you. And I appreciate your interest more than I can say.”

Dirk proved as energetic about Thomas’s case as he would have been for a paying client. He came to the penitentiary with court documents allowing him to conduct his due diligence—seeing the pods, the cells, and even interviewing anyone within earshot of the conversation between Thomas and Jorge.

“I found the other prisoners understandably closemouthed, protecting their own. But they also seemed reluctant to cast you in a bad light, and that’s a good thing. Not one would say that you were mean or cold or acrimonious to Jorge. And while there is no tape of your conversation, we have the next best thing. Two officers in the control unit for that pod overheard the entire exchange through the intercom.”

“Then they know.”

“And their recollections are just disparate enough to pretty much prove reliability without collusion. The only drawback is that they would naturally take your side against an inmate. But if it comes to needing witnesses, we’ve got them. Once I get their depositions, I may be able to get a summary judgment, a decision by the court before it even gets to trial. If I were Jorge’s counsel, this would persuade me to stop wasting my time.”

49

Addison

“Won’t your dad be at work?” Brady hollered as he rolled the big Harley into a sprawling subdivision with colossal mansions on generous lots. Already drapes were being pulled back here and there as the machine roared through the otherwise quiet streets.

“He works at home! This is going to be perfect! Pull over so I can call him!”

Brady carefully parked the machine at the curb and shut it down. As Katie entered her father’s number, a couple of yard workers wandered over from across the street, eyeing the bike.

“Nice,” one said.

“Thanks.”

“New?”

“Yeah.”

“Sweet.”

“I know.”

“Don’t get caught with it around here though, dude. We even have mufflers and governors on our edgers and mowers. Lots of what they call ‘noise covenants’ around here.”

“That right?”

“Yep. ’Course, by the time they call the cops, you’ll be long gone. Nobody’s gonna catch you, man.”

“You got that right.”

Katie nudged Brady and put a finger to her lips. “Daddy, you home right now? I have a surprise for you. . . . Yeah. See you in a minute. . . . Well, tell ’em you’ll call them back. Watch for me out the window.”

Katie slapped her phone shut and hugged Brady so tight around his chest that he felt the bike tipping and had to put all his weight and hers on one leg. At the last instant he shrugged her off and wrestled the cycle back into balance. “Sorry,” he said. “No way we’d be able to right this thing ourselves if it goes down.”

“I’m just so excited,” she said. “This is going to be too cool for words! My dad’s going to flip out!”

“Yeah, about that. I’ll do whatever you want me to, but remember, I haven’t seen him since I was in high school, and I don’t think I made a good impression.”

“You think I want you to make a good impression now? C’mon, Brady. You couldn’t impress him without an Ivy League degree and hiring potential. Short of that, he’ll never accept you anyway.”

“Wow.”

“Wow what? Welcome to my world, big boy.”

“Don’t you think it’s kind of important I get off on the right foot with him?”

“Why?”

“Because I expect to be seeing a lot more of you.”

“He’s not even impressed with me, Brady. Why would he be impressed with you? Even if you had a résumé, he’d be suspicious just because I chose you.”

“Have you chosen me?”

“We gonna do this thing or not?”

“Sure. But after I’ve done it, can I at least try to get him to see me in a good light? I mean, things are looking up for me right now. You don’t think he’d be interested to hear how I’m trying to turn my life around?”

“You can kiss up to him all you want after you turn this bike around a couple of times in the street in front of our house. Can you do that, revving it as loud as you can?”

“You’re sure that’s what you want?”

“Did I stutter?”

“No ma’am. One bust for disturbing the peace, coming up.”

Brady fired up the Harley and gunned the engine before engaging the gears.

“Yeah!” she shouted. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

The front tire rose an inch from the ground as he took off, making Katie squeal. “Go, Brady, go!” She pointed to each turn, and when they finally rounded a corner that led to a cul-de-sac, Brady was glad to see he could make a quick escape if necessary.

“It’s the big one in the center,” she said.

The big one?
The houses were all monstrosities. He’d seen smaller hotels. The house in question was three stories and had a four-car garage and what looked like a half-acre yard.

“His office is on the lower level. That’s him staring out the window.”

“What does a place like that cost?”

“Later! Go! Go! Go!”

Brady had not liked where the conversation had gone, but there was nothing he wouldn’t do for his love. He slipped into neutral, topped out the RPMs, then let the engine settle before dropping it into gear again. He raced up the street, slowed just enough to make the wide circle around the cul-de-sac, and kept the noise at peak decibels.

“Again!” she screamed, and he kept going, afraid to peek at the face peering out. “Faster!”

He thought he was leaning into the circle as far as he could, but what Katie wanted, Katie got. Brady took the next swing faster (and of course louder), but he had been right. No matter how far they leaned, the bike was just an oversize gyroscope with centrifugal force that would not be tamed, and this time it drifted up the curb and onto the Norths’ lawn.

“Perfect! Again, but this time, leave a mark!”

“No!”

“For me! I’ll make you glad you did!”

Brady stole a glance at the window, and it was empty. As he made the circle again, a touch faster, the front door burst open and here came Jordan North in his stocking feet. Ashen-faced with fury in his eyes, the man hesitated on the porch as the Harley reached the expansive lawn again.