“The dynamic duo strikes again,” Margolis sneered. “How much did it cost you this time?”
“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about,” Lily lied sweetly, her accent as sultry as ever.
“Of course you don’t,” Margolis said. “I wonder what the manager and the waitress would say if I put them under oath.” He let the comment hang, with all its implications, before finally going on. “But there’s no reason for that, is there? Now that you’ve rescued your good friend Colin again.”
“There was no need to rescue him,” Lily drawled. “He did nothing wrong.”
“That’s funny. Because I recall something like this happening on at least two other occasions when you two were there.”
Lily feigned confusion. “Are you speaking of those other occasions when Colin happened to be out with us and, again, did nothing wrong?”
“Keep telling yourself that. You’re just postponing the inevitable. Colin knows who he is. Just ask him. He’ll tell you.” He turned toward Colin. “Isn’t that right, Colin? Since you like to convince everyone you’re as honest as the day is long?… Even though you’re always on the verge of exploding.”
Maria saw Colin’s eyes narrow as Margolis jerked his head at Evan. “You need to thank Evan here for pulling you away when he did. Had even one of those guys around you touched you, you and I both know that we would suddenly be spending a lot of time together, with you back in the cage and me telling the DA to throw away the key.”
“Colin didn’t touch anyone,” Evan interjected.
Margolis shifted the toothpick to the other side of his mouth. “I was thinking more along the lines of assault. I was told the waitress was terrified by the fact that Colin was screaming at her, and I’ve got a dozen witnesses in there who could vouch for that.”
“He just wanted to know who sent over the drink,” Maria protested.
As soon as Margolis’s eyes met hers, she felt herself flinch. “Oh, that’s right. Because of the so-called stalker, right? I’ll make sure to review the report for you.” Maria said nothing, regretting she’d chimed in.
“Oh, wait. You haven’t filed a report? Have you even talked to a lawyer?”
“She is a lawyer,” Lily said.
“Then it’s even stranger, don’t you think? All lawyers do is file reports.” He turned toward Maria. “I’ll tell you what, though; if you ever do get around to it, ask for me, okay?”
“Leave her out of this,” Colin growled.
“Are you telling me what to do?” Margolis demanded.
“Yes,” Colin said.
“Or what? Are you going to hit me?”
Colin continued to stare at him before reaching for Maria’s hand. “Let’s go,” he said, beginning to walk away, Evan and Lily close behind.
“Go ahead,” Margolis called out from behind them. “I’ll be around.”
“How much do I owe you?” Colin said.
“Let’s worry about that later, okay?” Lily answered.
They’d followed Evan and Lily back to Evan’s place, the four of them congregating on the front porch. It had been a quiet ride, Maria’s thoughts too fragmented for conversation, and Colin in no mood to break the silence. Even now, Maria felt like an observer to her own life.
“What the hell were you doing tonight?” Evan demanded. “We’ve talked about this! And Margolis is right! What would have happened if Lily and I hadn’t been there?”
“I don’t know,” Colin answered.
“You damn well know exactly what would have happened!” Evan ran a hand through his hair. “Why the hell do you keep doing this? You’ve got to learn to control this thing.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t say okay!” Evan shouted. “Like Lily, I’m sick of you saying that all the time, because it’s a cop-out! I thought we’d gotten past this last year, after that guy accidentally spilled his drink on Lily.”