“I’ve got to take this call. We’ll finish our talk at another time.”
The way he said it left no doubt that they’d talk again and Maria rose from her seat, humiliated and panicked. Her thoughts in disarray, she stumbled out of Ken’s office. Passing his secretary, she was grateful that the woman ignored her. When she reached her office, she shut the door and ran through the conversation again. Despite herself, she wondered just how long she would be able to continue working there. Or whether she’d even be given a choice.
CHAPTER 3
Colin
O
n the Monday after his fight, Colin stepped out of his apartment and was ambling toward the old Camaro when he suddenly spotted Detective Pete Margolis. The cop had parked in the street out front and was leaning against the hood of his sedan, holding a to-go cup of coffee, a toothpick in his mouth. Unlike most of the officers Colin had dealt with in the past, Margolis spent almost as much time in the gym as Colin did. His sleeves were rolled up, the fabric straining against his biceps. He was in his late thirties, his dark hair swept back and greased in place with God knows what. Once, sometimes twice a month, he would show up unannounced to check on Colin as part of Colin’s court-ordered deal. Margolis clearly enjoyed the power he had over his charge.
“You look like hell, Hancock,” he said as Colin drew near. “You do anything I should know about?”
“No,” Colin answered.
“You sure about that?”
Colin watched Margolis instead of answering. He knew the guy would eventually get around to whatever he wanted to say.
Margolis moved his toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other. “There was a brawl in the parking lot at Crazy Horse a little after midnight. A bunch of guys swinging bottles at each other; a few cars in the lot got dented up and there was a man knocked unconscious. Witnesses said he’d been kicked in the head after he was on the ground. Right now, he’s in the hospital with a cracked skull. That’s assault with a deadly weapon, you know, and as soon as I heard about it, I thought to myself how familiar that sounded. Didn’t I arrest you for something like that right here in Wilmington? Just a few years ago? And haven’t you been in a couple of scrapes since then?”
Margolis already knew the answers, but Colin answered anyway. “Yes to the first. No to the second.”
“Oh, that’s right. Because your friends intervened. The goofy guy and the hot blond chick, right?”
Colin said nothing. Margolis stared. Colin continued to wait until Margolis finally went on.
“That’s why I’m here, by the way.”
“Okay.”
“Just okay?”
Colin said nothing. He had learned to say as little as possible in the presence of the police.
“Put yourself in my shoes,” Margolis finally went on. “The thing is, pretty much everyone scattered as soon as the sirens started closing in. A couple of witnesses stuck around and I talked to them, but I figured I was just wasting my time. It’s a lot easier to go straight to the source, don’t you think?”
Colin hitched his backpack a little higher on his shoulder. “Are we done here?”
“Not quite. I don’t think you understand what’s going on.”
“I understand. But none of this concerns me. I wasn’t there.”
“Can you prove that?”
“Can you prove otherwise?”
Margolis took a sip of his coffee, then fished a fresh toothpick from his pocket. He took his time placing it in his mouth. “That almost sounds like you’re trying to hide something.”
“It was just a question,” Colin said.
“All right, then. Let’s get to the questions. Where were you Saturday night?”
“In Jacksonville.”
“Oh yeah,” he said. “The fight. MMA stuff, right? You told me about that. Did you win?”