Bill Harvey Collection

by Peter O'Mahoney

  “Speaking of your team, how’s your bookkeeper? What was her name? She was one hot woman.”

  “Nicole Cowan. Never married. She went through a mid-life crisis last year—she shaved her head and got three tattoos. I don’t know many bookkeepers that look like they could be part of a biker gang.” Harvey smiled. “But you always had a thing for her, didn’t you?”

  “Absolutely. Sexy woman with a fiery streak. Just my type.”

  “I’ve just hired her niece to fill in for my secretary over the next month. A young girl named Penny Pearson. She’s early twenties, beautiful, fun—perfect for my office. She’s not serious like her aunt, but there are similarities. I just had dinner with her and the boyfriend, Caleb. Big guy. Strong. Former Marine who doesn’t smile much.”

  “Bad boy type, eh? Women love that.” Gerard winked as if he considered himself a bad boy. “Got a photo of them?”

  Harvey pulled out his phone and presented a snapshot of the dinner. Penny, with her boundless enthusiasm, had insisted on a group photo, and despite Harvey’s reluctance, she took one of the group and sent it to everyone. “That’s Penny at the front, next to Caleb. Nicole is—”

  “I know that guy.”

  “Who?”

  “That guy at the front. Caleb. He pushed me over just a few hours ago. I went to ask for a dollar, and he just pushed me down in front of everyone on the street, and then he kept walking. I asked nicely and he retaliated with violence.”

  Harvey sat back in his chair, putting his phone away. “He’s a former Marine. Seemed like a nice enough guy—you probably just caught him at a bad time.”

  “I’m not worried about it.” Gerard waved his hand. “Happens to me all the time. I don’t like it, but it’s just a part of life. People don’t treat us with much respect out here. They think that we don’t have feelings, and don’t feel rejected. But we feel rejection more than most. We have nothing, so people think we’re nothing.”

  Harvey didn’t respond; his heart broken by how society treated these people like dirt.

  These men and women needed help, not hatred.

  They needed a hand, not a fist.

  Over the next hour, the two men chatted about a distant past, about how their lives took such dramatically different routes. All the while, Harvey knew his life could be Gerard’s in a heartbeat. He knew that when you live so close to the edge, you’re only one step away from falling over it.

  After an hour, Harvey gave Gerard the number of a charity organization, a place to stay for the night.

  “Hey Harvey,” Gerard stated as they begin to walk in different directions outside the diner. “Thanks.”

  “For what?”

  “This coffee. I think you saved my life.”

  Chapter 5

  “Good morning, Bill.” Penny smiled as she placed three files on the desk. “Did you really read all these books? Or are they just for show? You know, to impress people?”

  Bill Harvey’s office was large and spacious, the walls surrounding him full of legal books on one wall, and psychology books on the other. It was an imposing office, one full of importance. But it was also a place where he could disappear amongst the written word, deep in his own thoughts, lost in a world of vast knowledge.

  “I’ve read them all.”

  “Was it fun?”

  Harvey smiled, ready to dish out important life advice to his younger employee. “Life isn’t all about fun, Penny. Sometimes you have to work hard to achieve the right results. Sometimes, there are more important goals than fun. Justice is one of those things. I’d sacrifice it all for justice. Fun doesn’t even come into the equation.”

  “My life hasn’t been fun.” The sadness in her eyes was real; deep and emotive.

  Harvey opened his hands. “I’m sorry, Penny. That’s not what I meant. I was making a reference to hard work.”

  She shrugged her shoulders, dismissing the apology. “I guess so. The thing is, being a temp worker, you sort of just fly in and out. You never really get a chance to make a difference. Any hard work that you do is forgotten about in a week’s time, and somebody else takes the credit for it. There’s no real chance that you can change anything; nothing that you do really makes a difference to anyone.”

  “Maybe you should consider a more permanent job?”

  “I would, but there aren’t many out there. I don’t have a lot of talents, and after what happened… Well, I don’t really want to carry that baggage into a real job. I probably wouldn’t last very long at a real job anyway. If I opened my mouth, I’d be sacked within a week.”

  “You shouldn’t let your past define who you are, Penny. The past is the past.”

  “It does define me though. That sort of thing is hard to forget, and once most people find out who I am, well, it defines me to them as well. I guess being a temp means that I never have to reveal everything, which is comforting. No one has to know the truth.”

  Despite her healthy glow, there was an aching in Penny’s eyes, an emptiness in her heart.

  “Penny—”

  “Bill.” Kate Spencer, his friend and assistant, burst into the office door, frantic.

  “Kate? I was just having a quiet discussion with Penny and—”

  “Bill, this is important. You have to hear this. Now.”

  He looked at his longtime friend with thinning eyes. She looked worried, almost as pale as a ghost. Very unlike the usually cool, calm and collected assistant he knew.

  “Excuse us, Penny.”

  Penny offered a brief smile and exited the office quietly, allowing Kate time to walk over to Harvey’s desk. She didn’t sit down; she had too much energy to stop.

  “What is it, Kate? The look on your face concerns me.”

  She stared at her boss for a few long moments, not sure of how to relay the information.

  “It’s your brother,” she finally whispered.

  “My brother?” His mouth dropped open. “Jonathon?”

  “They’ve found him, Harvey.” Kate looked up at the man she had adored for so long.

  “Found him? Where? Is he alive?”

  “He’s ok, but he’s asking for you.” Kate’s expression was emotionless. “He’s in prison, and he’s been charged with murder.”

  Chapter 6

  He had dreamt about this moment for too long, longer than he cared to imagine.

  He wanted this. He needed this. It was the closure that he so desperately required. A part of his past that he had never been able to reconcile.

  His brother.

  Jonathon Fredrick Harvey.

  His little brother.

  Full of nerves, anticipation, and quite possibly love, Bill Harvey walked through the Metropolitan Detention Center, anxious to lay eyes on the man he hadn’t seen in twenty years.

  Bumping past so many people going in the other direction, he didn’t even have time for apologies. Not even time to look twice.

  He wanted to get into that meeting room. He had to.

  He had daydreamed about this moment many times over, again and again. All the possible scenarios. He thought that he might have gotten a call, or a letter even, to say that his brother had passed, and he would forever be laying flowers on his brother’s grave. Or he would meet him as a well-dressed man on the street, walking towards his job as an investor. He wouldn’t even say hello. Just a nod, an acknowledgment of a past life. Or perhaps he would walk into church one day to find Jonathon preaching to the masses, having found God and transformed his life.

  Not once did he dream the meeting would be like this.

  Not here.

  Though entirely probable, he never let this situation into his thoughts. Even though it was the most likely scenario, he just didn’t want it to be true.

  Kate Spencer tried to keep up with her boss as he paced through security, past the line of people, to the front desk. Desperate. Eager. Impatient.

  Kate was there for as much emotional support as she was clerical support. When her boss stat
ed that he would meet his brother alone, she didn’t argue. Instead, she just turned and followed him. He didn’t send her back.

  There would have been no use.

  Kate knew the powerful man better than anyone—having been by his side for the last four years, riding the waved of ups and downs, the emotional highs and the distressing lows. She had picked him up when he let the emotional wall crumble; when he let the feelings from his past catch up to him. She had been there as he recovered from the death of his first wife, grew his law firm, his reputation, and his wealth.

  Now, there was no more avoiding the forgotten family, the past he tried to forget.

  Almost at the door now.

  Harvey wanted to hug Jonathon, hold him, tell him he’s sorry. Sorry for everything.

  Past the registrar.

  He wanted to say that everything was ok. He forgave him. He had forgotten about the past. It was done. Forgotten.

  Closer.

  Almost to the door.

  Approaching the meeting room, Kate took her chance.

  “Bill.” She grabbed the bottom of his sleeve.

  Cautiously, he turned.

  She hadn’t seen that look in his eyes before. The wall that was always there, the solid brick wall that surrounded his heart, had been bulldozed by the arrival of his long-lost brother.

  His eyes were desperate.

  Lost.

  “Bill,” she continued with a tender touch. “This might not be everything you want it to be. You have to be prepared that he might not be the person you remember or the person that you want him to be. It’s been twenty years since you last saw your brother. He will have changed.”

  “Of course he’s changed. It’s been two decades. We’ve all changed.”

  “What I mean is that he might not be the person that you remember. He will have…” She looked to the floor. “He will have lived his life. Changed a lot. Seen things that you and I haven’t seen. He isn’t the same person that you remember. This isn’t going to be easy.”

  “I know that, Kate,” he snapped. “I know he’s changed. I have no idea about the man on the other side of that door. No idea. I don’t know his favorite foods, I don’t know his friends, I don’t know his intelligence. I don’t know what he smells like, or what he looks like. I don’t even know if he still goes by the name Jonathon.” Harvey’s fist clenched as it pressed into the wall by the door. “But what I do know is that man is my brother. My blood. My family.”

  Kate nodded, wanting nothing more than to protect her vulnerable hero. “Just… just be careful in there, Bill. Don’t get too carried away.”

  He looked at her, not around her, not past her, but at her.

  Directly at her.

  He leaned in, planting a small, soft kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Kate.”

  Shocked at his rare show of emotion, she didn’t respond.

  She couldn’t.

  With a deep breath, Bill Harvey leaned in and held the door handle.

  This was it.

  Their moment.

  His moment.

  The moment he saw his long-lost brother.

  The door creaked open.

  He stepped in.

  “Jonathon.”

  Chapter 7

  One word.

  That’s all he could manage.

  After more than twenty years apart, two decades of not even a sound, after years of rehearsing what he would say, that’s all that came out of his mouth. That’s all that he could state.

  Jonathon Fredrick Harvey stood before his brother, the person that he’d missed the most, and couldn’t speak at all.

  During all the lost years, he had felt alone, adrift in the vast sea of addiction.

  Swimming against the tide.

  Struggling to keep afloat by himself.

  He thought he was a lone soul, and the world was his to fight.

  He didn’t have a family; they didn’t exist anymore. In his darkest hours, he abused them until they had enough.

  They kicked him out.

  Told him never to return.

  It was his fault, and he knew it. He hurt the people that he loved the most. He hurt the people that were trying to help him, the people that wanted the best for him. He could see their pain; he could feel it.

  But he could do nothing to stop it. Addiction had him. It overtook everything that he did. He knew that the best place for him was away from his family, no matter how much that hurt.

  And for a Harvey man, pride was everything.

  He couldn’t go back.

  He couldn’t return to the people that he held dear. He knew that. He had pushed a long way past the boundaries and crossed paths he shouldn’t have crossed.

  He was isolated as he fought the endless addictions.

  Alone.

  For twenty years, he struggled. Fought. Wrestled. For twenty years, he did it all alone. For twenty years, he was all by himself.

  But in the end, when he had no other option, all it took was one phone call.

  All it took was to pick up the phone and dial the publicly listed number of his brother’s office.

  “I…” The words didn’t come out.

  He drew a deep breath, neither of the men ready to move.

  Despite the advantage of youth, Jonathon Harvey looked the elder of the two men. His face was tanned and weathered, his short hair grayer, his body weak. Tall and thin, he looked malnourished.

  Twenty years of fighting a drug addiction can do that to a man.

  “All fine in here?” The officer at the door broke the silence, ready to shut the door behind Harvey.

  The cold voice of the man brought Harvey back to reality, back to what he knew better than anything else in the world—work.

  He walked into the room and placed his briefcase on the table, his face now expressionless.

  Cautiously, Kate stepped in behind him. “We’re good,” she replied to the officer. “Thank you. You can shut the door now.”

  “I’m sorry, Bill,” Jonathon pled with the man that he once adored.

  The words echoed around the cold room, bouncing off the walls, allowing Harvey time to process them.

  “We’re…” Harvey’s eyes stay down, focused on the table. He couldn’t look at his brother. “We don’t have time for that now.” He closed his eyes, holding back salty tears, keeping the emotions at bay.

  “Bill—”

  “Dammit, Jonathon!” he snapped. “I’m trying to help you here! We don’t have time for that!”

  The shock was clear.

  Kate reached her arm across to touch her boss, but he pulled his arm away without looking at her. He couldn’t.

  One look at her and his wall of emotion would collapse under a flood of tears.

  “Jonathon, you’ve been charged with the first-degree murder of…” For the first time since he walked in the doors of the Metropolitan Detention Center, Harvey opened the file that he picked up on the way in.

  He read the name again.

  And again.

  “The first-degree murder of Gerard West.”

  Chapter 8

  Bill Harvey had had enough emotion for one day.

  Just when he thought the walls around his heart would collapse, just when he thought emotions would break through, the walls had been reinforced.

  The brick barricade around his heart was back.

  More solid than ever.

  “I didn’t kill anyone, Bill. You have to believe me. I had nothing to do with this. I wouldn’t call you otherwise.” Jonathon was begging his brother. “I don’t even know why they have locked me up. Nobody is telling me anything about this case. I have no idea what’s going on.”

  “Did you know him?”

  “Did I know him?! I have no idea what they are talking about! I’ve never seen the guy! I have no idea what is happening!” Jonathon was desperate to convince his brother that he was innocent.

  Usually, Bill Harvey was thoroughly prepared. Before he stepped into a case
, he read the police report over and over, until he knew the details backward. Before he talked to a client, he understood where problems could exist, and he knew where the opportunities lay. Research was one of the keys to his success.

  But this time, he wasn’t prepared. He wasn’t ready.

  And it was the first time he had been caught out.

  “I knew him.” Harvey’s eyes were still focused on the table. “I knew Gerard West.”

  The room went icy, silent.

  “Oh, Bill.” The shock on Jonathon’s face was clear. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

  The silence sat in the room for one long minute, nobody quite sure what to do next. Despite all the terror he had seen, despite all the horrors, nothing Harvey had ever experienced before had prepared him for this.

  He couldn’t react. He didn’t know how.

  He sat emotionless across from his brother. Cold. Lost.

  With calm movements, Kate reached across and took the file from in front of her boss. “Jonathon, I’m going to assume that you don’t have the one million dollars to post bail for a first-degree murder charge?”

  Jonathon shook his head slightly, mouth still open, eyes focused on his brother.

  “Then what is going to happen is that you’re going to remain in custody. We will apply for bail on your own recognizance, but it will most likely be rejected. From reading this report…” Her eyes scanned fast over the page. “It was a violent murder, so the chances of bail are probably next to none anyway. That means that you’ll be spending time in prison until this is done, one way or another. But from your file, this doesn’t appear to be your first trip to prison.”

  “It’s not,” Jonathon conceded, still looking at his emotionally distant brother.

  “Then get a good night’s sleep, stay out of trouble, and we’ll be back tomorrow for the arraignment hearing.”

  “Is that it?”

  “At this point in time, yes.” Kate was firm, almost as cold as her boss. “Bill will return when he has some more information, possibly this afternoon, or tomorrow before the arraignment. We’ll keep you updated, but for now, that is it.”