Chapter 14
“Don’t worry, man. I’ll put on my stupid hick suit, and she’ll barely even see me. I know her type.”
Colby looked at Liam Burnett, who was grinning at him. Friday had arrived, and they were prepping to head over to get Grace. “I’ll bet you do,” he said. “At least you’re smart enough not to have married one.”
“Me? Nope. My Ria’s the best thing that ever happened to me, along with Foxworth.” He gave Colby a sideways look. “But hey, we’re all blind about some stuff. And it took me a darn long time to understand what really matters. And your little girl really matters.”
“Yes,” Colby said, his voice suddenly rough. “Yes, she does. For me, she’s all that matters.” He meant it more than ever. And felt stronger saying it now, with Foxworth on his side.
He looked around the building where he’d met up with Quinn and Liam this afternoon.
He’d been a little surprised that there was no signage, no indication that this was the headquarters of one of the most well-known operations in the northwest. Quinn had said they kept a low profile, but not even a sign?
Just a long gravel drive winding among trees, ending in a parking area next to a three-story, rectangular building painted nearly the same color as the evergreens that surrounded it except for a large, open meadow to the rear, spreading out to where the trees began again.
There was a large, hangar-style building to the right of the main one, with a concrete pad in between.
“A helipad?” he’d asked.
Quinn had smiled. “For Igor.”
It had taken Colby a moment to get there. “As in… Sikorsky?”
“Seemed fitting.”
“Don’t get him started on Wilbur,” Liam warned with a grin, “or we’ll be here all day.”
“Let me guess…you’ve got a plane, too?”
“We do. But Liam’s right. We need to focus, so I’ll shut up about it.”
And so they had gone inside, where he was again surprised, this time by the homelike atmosphere.
It had looked like an industrial type of building from the outside, but inside was welcoming and warm.
There was a fireplace with a large sofa and some chairs gathered in front of it, around a large coffee table.
Then a small kitchen in one corner, and in the opposite corner what appeared to be a bedroom and bathroom.
“I don’t think we need the meeting room upstairs, at least not yet,” Quinn said, “so let’s get comfortable.”
Once they were seated, the gas fire had been turned on, adding a pleasant visual to the room along with some needed warmth. It was a comforting, inviting place, and he couldn’t help smiling.
“This looks like Ali could have designed it,” he said.
“I think she and my wife have very similar tastes in that area,” Quinn said. “If she’d left it up to me this’d be a lot less…nice.”
He said it with smile and a very satisfied expression. The kind Colby had noticed Quinn got every time he saw, spoke to or apparently even thought about his wife.
Liam was in the small kitchen, apparently prepping a large pot of coffee.
Which was a good thing for Colby, because he’d had a very disturbed night.
He would have thought having all this help all of a sudden would have made for a more restful night, but as usual before his afternoon with Grace he’d been restless.
He was taking his first sip, wondering what kind of preparations Quinn had in mind, when the front door opened.
“I’m spoiled,” said the man who came in and paused to shed his rain-dampened coat and hang it on the rack just inside. “I’m used to the butler opening the door for me.”
Liam laughed, then explained to Colby, “He means Cutter. He’s really who that handicap button is for. He hears you coming and has the door open before you even get out of your car.”
“I think I believe that,” Colby said, remembering what he’d already seen of the clever animal.
“Don’t ever underestimate that critter,” Liam said, then excused himself to go upstairs, saying he had some setup work to do.
Colby wasn’t sure what setup work was, but the thought was blown out of his mind as the new arrival turned and walked into the main room.
And Colby gaped. All the photographs and newsreels he’d seen of the man over the years hadn’t done him justice.
Hadn’t been able to capture the sheer presence of the man.
With eyes as dark as his hair, his gaze was intense and penetrating.
Colby remembered seeing a clip of him talking about his first big break, having to step up from assistant counsel to lead when the senior attorney had died of a heart attack mid-case.
He’d called himself the understudy who made good, which Colby had thought rather modest, given the worldwide fame he’d achieved after that.
“Colby Kendrick, meet Gavin de Marco,” Quinn said.
They shook hands, and even with the forewarning he might be involved, Colby wasn’t prepared for the feeling he was under the close scrutiny of a very, very perceptive man. But what he was prepared for even less was the man’s first words.
“I gotta say, Colby, at first I thought you had the biggest pile of bad luck. Yours is the worst parenting plan I’ve seen in a while, especially with no proof of abuse.”
Colby blinked. Then seized on the most important words. “At first?”
“Then I remembered who you were dealing with. I assume you had no idea both your attorney and the judge who heard your custody case were in the Hollens’ back pocket.”
He stared at the famous face, unable to even respond.
“I didn’t think so,” de Marco said. He shifted his gaze to Quinn. “No concrete proof of that yet, but it’s undersurface knowledge among some circles that they’ve got a nice mutual support system going.”
“I’m curious,” Quinn said. “Did they always have that family law judge, or only after Grace was born?”
“After,” de Marco confirmed. He glanced back to Colby. “But right after.”
Colby’s brow furrowed. “She was planning this that early? Back when Grace was a baby?”
De Marco gave him a sympathetic look. “I don’t know if your ex herself was involved at the beginning. From what I’ve learned about her parents, it could well be they decided to cover that base early, just in case.”
“That sounds like her mother,” Colby said sourly.
“So how did they acquire this influence over both lawyer and judge?”
“Again, only rumor, but strong ones. The attorney has a drug problem—” he again looked at Colby sympathetically as he added “—albeit a well-hidden one.”
Colby groaned. Maybe Liz was right, he truly was too stupid to live in her world.
“As for the judge,” de Marco went on, “rumor has it he has a penchant for young boys. That that’s why he went into family law because it brought him…possibilities.”
Colby recoiled in disgust. He stared at de Marco. “And you think the Hollens have proof of that?”
“That’s my guess. But,” he cautioned, “it is only a guess.”
“And a guess from Gavin de Marco is worth five from anybody else,” Quinn said.
“I don’t know whether to thank you or throw up,” Colby said sourly.
De Marco smiled understandingly. Then he looked back at Quinn. “You want me to keep probing on that?”
“Yes, keep digging, while we stay focused on Colby’s situation. If we get the chance to take all of them out later, after Grace is safely removed, then we’ll do it.”
Colby stared at the man who spoke as if something like that was all in a day’s work. “All of them?”
Quinn met his gaze steadily. “The lawyer, the judge…and the Hollens.” He said it like a man with full confidence it could be done.
But then, he was sitting here with Gavin de Marco, so that alone sort of implied anything could happen.
They talked a little longer, but Colby wasn’t sure how much of it he took in. By the time de Marco left, he was still reeling a bit.
“He’ll give you his best,” Quinn said as the door closed after the famous attorney. “Especially now.”
“Now?”
Quinn smiled. “Gavin just got back from his honeymoon, and I have a feeling kids are on the agenda soon.”
Colby wondered what it would be like for a kid to have a father famous around the world. A father to be proud of.
My daughter needs to be proud of her father, not ashamed because all he can do is pound nails.
Liz’s words, which he had only later realized was her last-ditch effort to get him to change his mind, his life, echoed in his head now. He was glad when Liam came downstairs to rejoin them.
“All righty, I’ve got my background into the system, in case your ex or her kin get nosy.”
Colby never would have thought of that, but realized he should have, because he knew Liz made a habit of investigating anyone and everyone she had even a passing interaction with.
She’d told him she was always looking for talent, but now that he knew the truth he had the feeling she was also looking for dirt.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” Liam said. “You ready?”
Colby nodded.
“Remember who I am?”
“The kid I took on as an apprentice.”
“Yep. Just another dumb carpenter.”
Colby’s mouth twisted. “She’s the dumb one, if she buys that.”
Liam’s tone became suddenly very serious. “If she bought it about you, she’s worse than dumb.” Then a grin flashed. “Heard you were trading Sun Tzu quotes with the boss.”
“I…yeah, sort of.”
“I don’t know much about the man, but one of the boss’s favorites really rang my chimes. About defeatability and undefeatability.”
“‘Undefeatablility lies with ourselves. Defeatability lies with the enemy.’”
“Yeah, that one,” Liam said. “You oughta keep that one in mind. We’re in the right, Colby. That’s our strength and power. And it makes them defeatable.”
Somehow hearing that from this guy—who had no other reason to help than that “we’re in the right” belief—made that burgeoning hope grow even larger.