Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
Bertha’s third bedroom had a queen-sized bed and not much room for anything else, which was fine with Dan. As long as Kara could get some rest, that was all he cared about. That and keeping her far, far away from the unfolding nightmare within her notorious family. He snuck out of bed at first light and went to the living room to retrieve running clothes from the suitcase they’d left there the night before.
He was heading for the front door when Bertha appeared in the kitchen.
“You’re off to an early start,” she said as she turned on the coffee she’d prepared the night before.
“Gotta keep running so I don’t have a dad bod by the time the little one shows up.”
She grunted out a laugh. “You don’t have an extra pound on you.”
“I make sure of it.”
“The act of running for fun baffles me.”
“You don’t need to run when you do the work of ten men on any given day. I push pencils for a living.”
“Good point. Listen… I appreciate what you’re doing here, how you came running when Judith called, but I want you to know… If you feel like it’s going to be too much for you—or particularly for Kara—take a pass on the whole mess and go back to your happy place on Gansett.”
“That wouldn’t win me any favor with my in-laws.”
“Screw them. You don’t owe them anything. The only one you need to be thinking about is Kara.”
“I’m always thinking about her, and trust me, if this gets to be too much for her, we’re out of here.”
Bertha nodded. “That’s good. She’s worked so hard to make a life for herself away from this place. I won’t see her dragged back to where she was when she left.”
“I’d never let that happen.”
“I know you won’t.” Her sweet smile took years off her lined face. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m quite fond of you. I couldn’t have chosen a more perfect husband for my girl.”
Moved, Dan went to her.
She met him halfway in a hug that surrounded him in a scent that reminded him of his grandmother.
“My Nana has been gone a long time. It’s nice to have a grandmother again.”
“That’s sweet of you to say.”
When they pulled back from each other, he said, “Try not to worry. I know it’s deeply upsetting to have your grandsons facing serious charges, but I’ll do everything I can for them.”
“Keith can be an asshole.”
“I know. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him before. Ironically, I got him out of jail on Gansett.”
“ What? ”
“Several of them got arrested after a bar fight the night before our wedding, in the island’s biggest dive. Kara doesn’t know that. I bailed out him, Kyle and Kieran with a warning about what I’d do to them if they ruined her big day.”
Bertha shook her head and then went to pour herself a coffee. “I blame my daughter for them turning into hooligans. She was off getting massages when her kids were running wild. I tried to warn her years ago that she’d be sorry for letting them go unsupervised, but I never could tell her anything. She’s known everything from the minute she could talk. Chuck wasn’t much better, but at least he had an excuse. The man works like a dog. Always has. I suspect his work ethic had as much to with avoiding his family as with building his business.”
“This is all helpful information. Keep it coming.”
“Go have your run. I’ll leave some breakfast for you and Kara before Buster and I leave for work.”
“You work on Sundays?”
“Seven days a week this time of year. It’s prime lobster season.”
“Ah, I see. Don’t worry about cooking for us. We can take care of ourselves.”
“Not in my house.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, grinning as he left with a wave.
Dan took off running down Bertha’s street, which lined the water’s edge where seagulls foraged for breakfast and a hint of fog clung to the surface of the placid cove. A dozen lobster boats were anchored amid skiffs, small motorboats and a few sailboats.
The houses in Bertha’s neighborhood were mostly like hers, built in the ’50s or ’60s and beaten up by the elements of coastal living. Most had lobster traps stacked in the yard or driveway and several had boats on trailers. Some yards boasted well-tended gardens and rosebushes, while others featured old appliances and other junk that should’ve been carted away years ago.
He did a three-mile loop, enjoying the sights and scents. A group of busy seagulls entertained him with their morning antics, diving for fish and crabs and anything else they could scrounge from the shallow water.
It wasn’t even seven o’clock when he returned to Bertha’s, sweating profusely and ready for some water and then coffee to jumpstart his day.
Bertha and Buster were long gone.
Dan wasn’t looking forward to dealing with Kara’s brothers, but he was more than happy to take one for the team to keep his beloved out of the scrum. He’d already figured out that her parents were using him before she said it last night. But he didn’t fault them for calling him. In their position, he’d have done the same thing if he had a lawyer of his caliber in the family.
A lawyer of his caliber.
He chuckled. Kara would roll her eyes to high heaven if she heard him describe himself that way. It was true, though. If his sons stood accused of a heinous crime, he’d want someone like him, too, not that his sons would be anywhere near such a thing. People had no clue what to do when a situation blew up their lives. Often, they did the wrong thing, such as allowing the accused to speak to police without a lawyer present, which only added to the jeopardy when the wrong thing was said to the right person.
He hoped Judith had passed along his advice that Keith and Kirby not talk to anyone before they had legal representation. Although, he wouldn’t put it past Keith to spout off and make everything worse.
Dan recalled his first impression of Keith: sleeve tattoos on his arms and chips on both shoulders. He’d bristled at Gansett Police Chief Blaine Taylor’s order to make restitution to the Rusty Scupper, the bar they’d busted up the night before the wedding in a drunken fight. They were also ordered to stay out of trouble for the remainder of their time on the island or Chief Taylor would toss their asses on the first ferry out of town.
Kyle’s attitude had been similar to Keith’s, but Keiran had seemed somewhat humbled by his night in jail. Thankfully, they hadn’t caused any trouble during the wedding, and as far as Dan knew, Kara had never caught wind of the incident.
He despised the way her family upset her. Bringing her here, seven months pregnant, certainly wasn’t ideal. His goal for today was to quickly assess whether the situation was a matter of a local police department jumping the gun on arresting suspects without sufficient cause or whether he faced a long, drawn-out battle to defend two brothers-in-law he barely knew.
Coffee in hand, he went down the hallway to look in on Kara, who was still asleep. He picked up his phone off the bedside charger and brought it with him to the kitchen. Before he checked his phone, he lifted the lid on a pan on the stove to find eggs, potatoes and bacon. The scent made his mouth water.
He’d worry about his dad bod another day.
Sitting at Bertha’s well-worn kitchen table with a second cup of coffee, he ate his breakfast and scrolled through his messages. Two from Judith already.
What time will you be seeing the boys?
What can we do to help?
Dan replied to her. I’ll be there by nine and no help needed right now. I’ll check in later. Please remind every member of the family again not to talk to the media or anyone else about the case. That’s critical. ALSO DO NOT contact Kara about this. That’s my line in the sand, Judith. Keep her out of it, or I’m gone.
He could see she was already replying, but it took a few minutes for her text to arrive. I understand.
“You’d better believe I mean it,” he muttered.
“Who are you talking to?” his beloved asked when she appeared in the doorway, disheveled and rosy cheeked from sleep.
He held out his arms to her.
She sat on his lap and snuggled into his embrace.
“I was talking to myself.”
“You sounded annoyed.”
“Work stuff. Nothing to worry about.”
“Is my mother already harassing you?”
“Define harassing.”
She groaned.
“Don’t sweat it, babe. I can manage her. She’s not going to push me around or tell me how to do my job.”
“Sexy.”
“What is?”
“You. Managing my mother.”
Dan choked out a laugh. “Seriously? That’s sexy?”
“God yes. She’s been pushing me around my whole life. I would’ve loved to have had you around to fight my battles for me back in the day.”
Even though he was still sweaty, Dan tightened his hold on her. It burned his ass to hear her talk about anyone pushing her around. “No one can touch you now, sweetheart. You’re older, stronger, more able to defend yourself. You wouldn’t even need me to help fight your battles these days.”
“Probably not, but everything is better when you’re here.”
God, he loved her with all his heart, and he honestly suspected he could kill anyone who tried to harm her in any way. Not that he would. Who had time for all that paperwork? But anyone who bothered his wife would have to deal with him, including her own family. Especially them.
“Bertha made breakfast for us.”
“Of course she did.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Not yet. Woke up nauseated as usual.”
“You’re in the home stretch, love. Soon enough, you’ll be feeling great again.”
“I hear we’re going to be sleep-deprived and cranky after our precious package arrives.”
“You could never be cranky, and I’ll make sure you get plenty of sleep.” He gave her a pat on the bum so he could get up. “I’m going to shower and head to the cop shop to see what’s what, okay?”
“Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me.”
“Yes, I really do. You’ve been dragged into this nightmare because you’re married to me.”
“Being married to you is the best thing to ever happen to me. If it comes with some in-law aggravation, well, then, so be it. The pros vastly outweigh the cons.”
“You say that now.”
“I’ll say that always.” He kissed her. “Don’t forget that while a situation like this is new to you and your family, I handle nightmares for a living, so don’t fret.”
“Can’t help it. This’ll be your first full exposure to the special joy known as the Ballard family. What if you regret your choice of wife?—”
He kissed the words off her lips. “Hush. I’ll never regret my choice. I married the one person in this whole world I couldn’t live without, and nothing that happens here will change that. Tell me you believe me.”
“I do…”
“No buts, Kara. You and me, and little Dylan… We’re forever. This is temporary.” He rested his hand on the curve of her baby bump and was rewarded with a swift kick to the palm from his son. They’d chosen not to find out for sure what they were having, but they both believed the baby was a boy because of that kick. “Please don’t spend one second worrying about things changing between us because of your family. I love you madly.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. “I love you, too.”
“Sorry about the coffee breath.” He tried to keep that away from her when she was nauseated in the morning.
“It was worth it.”
“What’re you going to do while I’m gone?”
“Renata is coming to get me to go into town for a bit.”
“That’ll be fun.”
“How’re you getting to the police station?”
“I hired a guy to drive me around.”
“You did what?”
“I haven’t got time to be lost in the woods of Maine. I got shit to do so I can get my gorgeous wife back home before our baby is born.”
“Who did you hire?”
“His name is Walter something.”
“ Walter Cummings? ”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
Kara busted up laughing. “He’s the town drunk.”
“Oh.”
“But supposedly, he only drinks at night.”
“Well, that’s comforting.”
“How in the hell did you find him?”
“I googled people who drive for a living in the area while we were on the plane yesterday, and he popped up. I want to be able to say, ‘Take me to this place,’ and get there without a problem while I work on the way.”
“We could’ve rented a car and used a modern convenience known as GPS, you know.”
“That wouldn’t give me the kind of local insight I can get from someone like Walter, who knows the score around here.” Dan glanced at the clock over the stove. He had thirty minutes until Walter was due to pick him up. “Do you mind if I eat your share of breakfast?”
“Of course not. You’ll need your strength to deal with my brothers, and I’ll have something in town when the nausea wears off.”
He grinned at her. “Your brothers don’t scare me. I’ve seen much worse.”
“Have you, though?”
“I promise you that I have. I want you to go with Renata and have a wonderful time with your cousin and not worry about anything to do with this case. You hear me?”
“Yes, dear. Tell my Kirby I love him, and I don’t believe for a second he had anything to do with this.”
“I’ll tell him if I get the chance.”
After a shower, Dan dressed in one of the two suits he’d brought with him, knotted a burgundy tie and checked his appearance in a mirror on the back of the bathroom door. He, who’d become accustomed to every luxury in life, adored this tiny house that’d been a refuge for Kara during her chaotic childhood. Every item was worn and battered from decades of use that told the story of a life well lived.
From the first second he stepped through the door, he’d felt “at home” there in a way he seldom had anywhere outside of the house where he’d been raised and the place he and Kara called home on Gansett Island. He loved his place in Malibu, too, but it’d never felt like home to him, not like Bertha’s house already did.
Satisfied that he looked like the successful attorney he was, he left the bathroom and went to kiss his wife goodbye for now. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Text me when you’re free, and I’ll tell you where I am.”
“Have fun with Renata.”
“I always do.”
“Love you.”
“Love you, too. Good luck.”
“Dan Torrington doesn’t believe in luck. It’s all skill, baby.”
“God, I walked right into that.”
Laughing, Dan stole one more kiss and then headed out with his work bag slung over his shoulder, containing the tools of his trade: a small recording device, notebooks, two of his favorite pens and a couple of granola bars with protein. He’d filled his water bottle with ice water and was ready to confront whatever waited for him at the police station.