be only too happy to stand up in court and tell a jury all about it.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“Mr. Goldman’s representative.”
“You obviously don’t know who I am.”
“I know exactly who you are, Mr. Cooper. What I don’t do is share in the sense of self-importance you so obviously have.”
“Why, you little...”
Mr. Cooper took a step towards Dominic, but he didn’t budge.
“I should probably remind you we’re in a police station.”
Mr. Cooper looked as if his head was about to explode, but instead of arguing, he turned and marched through a door marked private, ignoring the desk sergeant’s shouts to stop.
Dominic settled back into his vigil. “Apple didn’t fall far from the tree, did it?”
Almost an hour later, another man arrived, and he and Dominic huddled in the corner, muttering. Then a couple of cops came through, and the four of them disappeared into the back of the police station.
“What do you think’s happening?” I whispered to Missy.
“I don’t know, but the new guy was hot.”
“You just got married.”
“A girl can look.”
Fifteen agonising minutes later, Dominic came back with Conrad and the mysterious third man in tow.
“What’s happening? Are they gonna let Nick go?”
Conrad’s mouth set in a hard line. “They should have done that already. Buck’s had some problems with vandalism recently, so he got security cameras installed. The whole fight’s on video. Then there are Bart’s fingerprints on the knife and Corey’s on the tyre iron. That evidence speaks for itself.”
“So why is Nick still back there?”
“Because so far, the cops have refused to watch the camera footage or test either of the weapons for prints. And they’ve said they’ll get around to interviewing the witnesses ‘at some point.’” He used little finger quotes. “They’re stalling on everything.”
“So now what? Is Nick okay?”
“Nick’s fine. Trust me, he can take care of himself. We’ve got our own investigators on the case, and they’re going to start gathering witness statements in the morning.”
“Tomorrow? But—”
He laid a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t sweat it. The police don’t have a case, and Nick’ll be out in no time. He didn’t have a weapon nor did he use excessive force under the circumstances.”
“I thought he’d get badly hurt. There were three of them.”
“It’d take a lot more than those three jerks to hurt Nick.”
“What do you mean? He’s only a businessman.”
Conrad laughed. “Nick’s always been good at taking care of business.” His phone rang, and he glanced at the screen. “Better get this.”
The mystery man went outside with him, and Dominic resumed his silent watch in the corner. Why couldn’t they do something more? Surely it must be obvious this wasn’t Nick’s fault?
As the minutes ticked by, I grabbed a passing detective out of desperation and begged him to tell me what was going on.
“Look, ma’am, being honest, you might as well go home. He won’t be getting out tonight.”
“But why? He didn’t do anything except defend himself.”
“It’s more complicated than that. Three men are in the hospital, and one of them is the son of a prominent local businessman. The mayor’s been in contact with the chief and insisted a full investigation be undertaken before the suspect can be released. That’ll take a week at least. So, as I said, you should go home and get some rest.”
I felt like kicking something. Preferably Billy Cooper or his father. Then it hit me—the detective had said the mayor was involved. And Billy’s dad and the mayor were golfing buddies. They played a four-ball every Thursday morning, or at least they had the whole time I was with Billy. And if memory served me right, Mr. Cooper also contributed heavily to the mayor’s campaign.
So this was what he meant about making sure Nick got the book thrown at him. I cursed the day I’d ever met Billy Cooper.
My phone vibrated, and I fished it out of my pocket. Except I realised it wasn’t my phone ringing at all, it was Nick’s. Emmy calling. Great. This night kept getting better and better. What the heck should I say to her? Oh hey, Emmy, your maybe-boyfriend, complicated or not, is still locked up, and they won’t let him go. It’s my fault, but I’m really sorry. I could only imagine how well that would go down.
The phone stopped ringing but began again two seconds later. I couldn’t leave Emmy hanging. That wouldn’t be fair.
Deep breaths, Lara.
“Emmy? It’s Lara again.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of obvious. Nick’s still locked up?”
“It’s awful. They won’t let him go. I’m so worried