Chapter 10
Being on the defense feels strange, as if Kara’s guilty of something. Instead of feeling like she’s fighting for a just cause, it feels like she’s the bad guy in the story.
Outside, the media is waiting with incessant flashes of cameras, near blinding Kara. Dieter just grins beatifically into the chaos. Picture perfect, always has his PR face in place. The questions are shouted as the swarm eagerly presses forward. Kara would love to know how the bloodsuckers even found out he was here!
“Mr. Bittinger, can you comment on why local authorities have brought you in for questioning?”
“Does this have to do with the continued investigations surrounding Paxton Brooker’s Dark Mirage fetish sex club? How are you involved? You’re his financier in multiple engagements. Surely you must know-”
“Mr. Bittinger, are you being investigated? Can you comment on if you knew how Paxton Brooker’s southend warehouse was going to be used for heinous crimes-”
Stepping into the mess, Kara scowls into their cameras and grabs the nearest microphone. “As I’m sure you’re all aware, Paxton Brooker is innocent until proven guilty in the court of law. Yes, properties that he owns are being investigated for hideous, outrageous crimes, but the DA and police have yet to take him to court on this matter. Alleged crimes must be proven . As for my client, today was a voluntary interview, in which Mr. Bittinger already answered to the authorities.”
Dieter exhales softly behind her, his presence a weight in her mind. The back of his hand briefly brushes against hers, a momentary contact that makes her mind spin. His presence is always impossible to ignore.
Where Nick made his dark interest known bluntly, Dieter is different. Like a cat, trying to find ways around boredom. Kara is just another means to an end and the idea of it makes her cringe. She doesn’t want to be another temporary toy.
Her relationship with Nick cut too deep and she wonders if those wounds are going to heal soon or not.
The milling crowd of journalists pauses for only a minute to digest her statement. Then, they swarm again like a hive of bees, asking even more questions about the sensational alleged crimes of Paxton Brooker and his close ties to Dieter Bittinger.
Kara pushes her way through the crowd with Dieter, saying in her most crotchety of tones, “My client isn’t answering any more questions. His involvement begins and ends with lending Paxton Brooker money. Thank you, that’s all. THAT’S ALL.” God, she must look like an absolute stoney bitch on camera.
Dieter’s driver pulls up to the curb, perfect timing. Dieter gives her a questioning glance. Kara shakes her head, wordlessly letting him know she has other engagements than to be driven around with him this afternoon. Knowing him, it would turn into a long lunch. And then afternoon coffee. And then him wanting to do work from her couch while he waits for the traffic out of the city to die down, his driver loitering somewhere.
You have an office for this , she’s told him in the past.
She does not need more distractions from him. She doesn’t need him to keep trying to weasel his way closer than he already has. He’s already too close . She feels him worming his way into her blood like some sort of virus.
“Suit yourself, chickadee,” he drawls as he slips away with a lingering glance at her, slinking like an arrogant cat past the salivating piranhas and their microphones and flashing cameras.
As Dieter gets into his car, it pulls away from the curb. Kara finds herself standing alone on the corner as the press mercifully disperses.
She’s alone, at least until a familiar man walks out of the front of the precinct. Detective Ray Wellis and his cheap aftershave soon fills her senses. “Say it,” she tells him tiredly, seeing the disappointment in his dark eyes as he stands beside her. “Just rip the band-aid off already. I’m a big girl.”
He shrugs his shoulders, hands deep in his pockets. “I just have a hard time believing it. You’ve really joined his gaggle of lawyers. Bittinger. The big-time financier with a sterling smile and a very bad reputation.”
“He pays my bills.” That’s a terrible defense by any standard. It rings hollow, even if it’s true.
A swift frown shapes his jawline, his five o’clock shadow already in the works. “Derrick Benson’s firm also pays your bills. You choose to work with this man.”
Oh please. Dieter practically found ways of getting her involved in his dealings. Gale Clarke, his longtime senior legal representative, had even tried to shield Kara from his account. “ Please . People like me don’t choose to work with people like Dieter,” Kara replies with a scoff. “The ‘choosing’ comes from one side only and I can assure you, it isn’t mine.”
Dieter holds all the power in his relationships, even when he plays it off like he doesn’t.
Ray shifts on his feet and runs a hand through his already chaotic brown hair. His mouth is pulled tight with discomfort. A whisper of concern . “You should drop him as a client, Kara. For your own good. The Bittinger family has a lot of power…and with power comes corruption. That is what you will be expected to hide and defend.” He gestures back to the precinct. “You saw what happened in there. Do you think our Captain just cuts interviews short like that for everyone? No . Not by a longshot.”
Kara bites her lip and remains silent. She’d found it odd, the way the Captain abruptly cut everything off. Bribery? Perhaps. But she doesn’t want to know , she doesn’t want to know about anything like that-
Seeing her unwillingness to comment, Ray makes a noise low in his throat, shaking his head. There’s disbelief on Ray’s rugged face. “No comment, eh? You really want to defend a man like him? When you can’t admit that what you just saw wasn’t normal?”
Anger slices through the far-hidden shame that Kara is trying to squash into silence. “He’s a spoiled man, but he’s not the wicked evil criminal that you’re making him out to be.”
You know nothing about him , Nick’s voice whispers in the back of her mind, ominous.
She tries not to pay attention to the echoes of Nick’s old warnings. He was jealous of her being around Dieter, always had been, even months ago. Nick was controlling and while a part of Kara liked that about him, she would not let him get in the middle of her working relationship with Dieter.
“When I met you - no, don’t give me that look - I’m not talking about that night. I’m talking about the Debra Mills case.” Ray makes a frustrated sound. “You came off as someone who wanted to help others who needed saving. You wanted to fight for people who deserved it!”
Air burns up in her lungs.
“I don’t know where you got that impression,” Kara says tightly, feeling the darkness worming about in her guts. She doesn’t like him trying to asses her like this. It cuts too close. It peels back the onion on how she’s been changed in these past few months, starting with what Nick did to her . Continuing with how Dieter seems to be all smoke and mirrors. How she can’t be certain that she’s truly representing a good person. “Maybe I never cared, maybe it was just a paycheck to me.”
Lies, lies, lies.
Scoffing, Ray shakes his head with a bitter laugh. “I know that’s not true.” He seems to notice that they’re drawing curious gazes, arguing the way they are in front of the busy precinct. He gestures towards the distant park. “Let’s take a walk, shall we?”
She goes with him, chest tight and uncomfortable with restrained emotions. She hasn’t gone to the dark side of law; not like he’s claimed. Dietrich might not be nice , but he’s not some crazed evildoer with endless sums of money.
Ray has his hands in his pockets as they stroll down the streets.
“Kara. Look. I’m not trying to start a fight. I’m trying to-”
“Save me?” She retorts sarcastically. Her nerves are beginning to get rubbed raw from this conversation. “How very White Knight of you.”
He exhales hard with distaste. “There are people you shouldn’t get involved with. Dietrich Bittinger is at the top of that list. When I joined the force years ago, I was warned to look the other way with that family. You get what I’m saying? And you’ve somehow got yourself chained along with his string of lawyers.” Ray stops talking abruptly, eyes narrowed off in another direction. Something or someone, likely catching his keen detective gaze. Kara glances around and sees nothing of interest in their surroundings. His expression relaxes after a moment and he returns his attention to her. “How did you get yourself mixed up with his ilk anyway?”
Ah , the million-dollar question. “Gale Clarke was my mentor at Benson the money has been too good to be true and her law school debt is now finally starting to get paid down. “That I can’t do, buddy. Sorry to disappoint.”
There’s no one following her.
And if there is, well, they have nothing to do with Dietrich Bittinger.