Take a peek at REASONABLE DOUBT
Book 7 in the Wounded Heroes: The Redemption Series…
Prologue
Preoccupied by his upcoming meeting, Nick Redmond clicked his briefcase shut and headed to the kitchen then to the door that led to the garage.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Strident and whiny, her voice was getting to him.
He pivoted. Audrey stood behind him, looking like hell with her hair askew and pajamas dirty. “I’m going to work.”
“I can’t do this by myself, Nick. I need your help with him. He needs so much attention and you’re never home.”
He arched a brow. “You quit your job to do this.”
Raising her chin, she lasered him with a look. “I’ll go back to work. You quit your job.”
He gave her a smirk. “Then we’ll have to sell this house that you overspent on decorating.”
That shut her up.
Finally, she said, “Take him to the park so I can at least have a shower.”
He made a show of checking his Rolex . “I have a meeting in an hour.”
“I only need a half.”
And he didn’t have time for this argument.
“All right.” He crossed to the boy who’d been playing with Legos on the living room floor and scooped him up. “Come on, buddy, let’s go to the park.”
Scotty looped his arms around Nick’s neck. “Okay, Daddy.” The ice around his heart melted some.
“He needs his special sneakers for the park.”
“Where are they?”
“I’ll get them.” She headed up the spiral staircase. In a few minutes, he saw Scotty ’s sneakers come over the open balcony railing and thump onto the floor.
He set the boy on the chair in the foyer and wrestled him into the sneakers . Everything with him was twice as difficult with a normal five-year-old because he had congenital heart disease.
He carried Scott out to his Lexus and swore when he got to the garage. He didn’t have a car seat. Shit, that proved how little time he was responsible for his own son. Pushing away the guilt, he set Scotty in the back, grabbed his wife’s car seat and finally settled him in. They drove to the park, Scotty happily singing off tune.
The exclusive gated community of Ashton Groves had its own playground. Which was busy for a Friday morning. After he parked, he noticed a lot of nannies here. Audrey had hired a couple of them but they eventually quit because Scotty hated being with them and acted out. He wanted his mother.
“Slide, slide, slide,” Scotty said when he was released from the car seat.”
“Take Daddy’s hand.”
He led the boy to one of the kiddie slides.
“No, the big one.”
“Are you allowed to go on that?”
He nodded vigorously.
“Okay. I’ll be right at the bottom.”
Scotty managed the ladder at a slow pace and when he got to the top, Nick realized this was a mistake. He looked tiny up there. But he waited patiently as Scotty sat down. Gleefully, he came down the too-fast, aluminum slide. Nick caught him at the bottom.
Just then his phone beeped. He glanced at the caller. His assistant. “Come over here with me a minute. Daddy has to answer the phone.”
He led the boy a few feet away and plopped him down in the sandbox. “Stay here.”
“Slide, slide, slide.”
“Not yet.” He clicked on. “Hello, Sara.”
“Anthony Johnston moved the meeting to 8:30.”
“I can’t make it.”
Silence.
“Call him back and tell him I’ll be there by nine which was on the original schedule.”
“He’s not going to like it.”
Fuck him. “Do it anyway.” He clicked off.
Taking a deep breath, Nick went back to the sandbox and squatted down. “What would you like to do now, honey?”
“Slide. Slide. Slide.”
“I think that slide’s too high for you. You come down too fast.”
“Fun, fun, fun.”
His phone beeped again. “Stay here a few minutes longer.”
The boy scowled as Nick answered. “Nick Redmond.”
“What the hell, Redmond? I pay you a retainer three times what other lawyers earn so you don’t set the time of our meetings.”
He stepped away from others and turned his back to them. “I refuse to be at your beck and call, Anthony. You pay me what all my clients pay.” Because he was the best in the city.
“You gotta be kidding me. I don’t have to take this shit.”
“No, you don’t. If you want an inferior lawyer handling this merger, go ahead.”
A long silence.
Anthony said something at the same time he heard the screams. Nick circled around. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. He dropped the phone and raced to the slide. Scotty lay prone five feet away from it, a huge red bruise on his forehead. Nick saw the steel pipe from the jungle gym just ahead of his son.
Who lay still as death.
Chapter 1
December 1
Nick walked up to the makeshift bar at Jackson Kane’s house. He stood behind a woman who was also waiting for a drink. The scent of some expensive perfume wafted up to him. He’d bought enough for the women in his life, so he knew its cost.
She turned. And smiled. “Well, hello.”
His brows raised. “Dr. Shannon. Nice to see you again.”
“You, too, counselor .”
She glanced around. “Normally, I prefer more sophisticated sites for weddings. But this house is nice. Bigger than it looks from the outside.”
“Apparently the host just renovated.” He pointed out through the sets of sliding glass doors. “And out there, too.”
Giving him a once-over, she said, “I hear you’re in the midst of the lawsuit against Paxton , correct?”
“I am. Where he lost a patient.”
“He lost more than a patient.” She shook back all that auburn hair. “He lost his entire way of life.”
Nick just cocked his head.
“I knew him back then.”
“I know.”
The bartender interrupted. “May I help you two?”
Noreen nodded. “White wine. The driest you have.”
“You sir?”
“The same.”
As the man poured their drinks, Nick thought it best to change the subject from the lawsuit. “So you quit medicine to write books.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
Shadows flitted across her face. “Suffice it to say I’d done everything I wanted to in medicine at that point. And I realized some important things about my personal life.”
“You had great success at Upstate Medical Center .”
“I did.”
“And your books? Are they a success?”
“Yes. The second one just hit the New York Times best seller list.”
The bartender brought their wine and Nick motioned to a nearby table set up in the year-round sunroom . “Want to sit and tell me about your work?”
Her laugh was very feminine. And God, she was pretty with those green eyes and near-perfect complexion. “Never ask a writer to talk about her books. She won’t stop.”
He chuckled. It was a very male sound.
Noreen watched Nick as he listened to her comments about her novels. He listened, really listened, unlike some people who asked about her work but then their eyes glazed over when she described it.
When she finished, he said, “The one about the genetic manipulation sounds fascinating. I can buy it online, right?”
“Yes, I can send you a copy.” She studied him. What the hell? “Or we could meet for dinner and I’ll bring you a copy.”
“That can’t happen, Noreen. You don’t know how sorry I am about it.”
Her brows rose. This wasn’t how men usually treated her. “I must have misunderstood your interest.”
“No, you didn’t. I’d like nothing more than to get to know you better, but you’re part of the lawsuit against Pax . Until that’s resolved, no date.”
“All I have to say about Paxton is that he was upset when he came to see me.”
“Jacobson and Tomb’s lawyers won’t see it as that simple.”
“It’s my understanding that no one disputes he made a mistake.”
“The lawsuit against him if for wrongful death. They’ll slant his state of mind as proof of negligence.”
“How will this all happen, Nick?”
“We’re in the discovery phase. We’re taking depositions.”
“Will I be deposed?”
“Yes. At that point, I’ll most likely have to…discredit you.”
“Seriously? How?”
“I’m sorry, Noreen. I can’t reveal that. But afterward , maybe…”
She stood abruptly. “ Afterward , I’ll probably hate you.”
She would. He’d portray her as a jilted lover or as a person just plain covering her own ass. She wanted nothing to do with him!