Finally, he took a final gasp.
I pushed him away from me. His body drifted slowly down to the bottom of the pool, still clutching the gun in his fist. I swam down to get it and kicked back up to the surface of the water.
At the far end of the pool, Carly was keeping Garner at bay with a skim net, smashing his fingers whenever he tried to climb out. I hauled him out, hacking and choking. Then I drew back my fist—
“Don’t do it,” Carly said.
“Why the hell not?”
“You can’t beat him, Brian. It’ll complicate things with the police.”
She was right. But I really hated that she was.
When the police arrived, Garner was too shaken to lie coherently to Hilliard and the chief, especially with the gunman floating a few feet away in his pool.
They worked together well as the chief asked fresh questions before Garner could invent a workable lie for the one Hilliard had previously asked. Once two of the chief’s officers hauled Luka’s corpse out of the water, Garner broke down completely, babbling a confession.
Carly and I were at the cabana bar, waiting for our turn to be grilled, when a cell phone rang. I picked it up, assuming it would be one of Garner’s accomplices.
But it wasn’t.
“Marvin?” a woman asked.
The bottom of my world dropped out. Because I know the voice as well as I know my own.
“Serena?”
She didn’t answer, but she didn’t have to. The line went so silent, I could hear her breathing.
“Serena? Is that you?”
Chapter 42
I spent the next hour in a basement cell at Port Vale PD, stonewalling everyone. They asked questions about Luka, but I had nothing to say.
First, a US marshal named Caldwell tried to bully information out of me, then Hilliard and the chief tried sweet reason to make me talk. I told them I was perfectly willing to explain exactly what happened and my part in it. The whole thing.
But first? There was someone I wanted to talk to. Face to face.
They’d get my full cooperation only after I talked to my late fiancée, Serena Rossi.
Finally, they caved. Caldwell led me upstairs to the chief’s glassed-in office, but he made me wear handcuffs.
“Sit at the desk, and keep your hands in plain sight at all times,” he cautioned. “No sudden movements.”
A few minutes later, he ushered Serena in. He held her chair as she sat down, facing me.
No handcuffs for her, I noticed. Caldwell took up a post by the door. He folded his arms and set his face in a permanent scowl.
I’d expected Serena to look train-wreck terrible—as bad as I’d felt in the first days after the bombing. I thought she’d be teary-eyed and sorrowful over the mess she’d made of our lives.
But she looked terrific, albeit strikingly different. Her long dark hair was cropped short and frosted blond. She’d always dressed well, but somehow she managed to look more “uptown” than before. In her short skirt, ecru designer jacket, and stiletto heels, she looked impeccable and even prettier than I remembered.
And yet, far, far less attractive.
I’d loved her once, or thought I had. Now she looked like…a casual acquaintance. She seemed like someone I’d known for a time, and not very well. It wasn’t far from the truth.
I was still dressed for the beach, in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. My whole outfit was sodden from Garner’s pool. I’d tried to hold on to my anger long enough to act outraged with her, but I couldn’t even manage that.
“You are one great-looking corpse,” I joked. “Are you okay?”
“Better than expected,” she said. “How much have they told you?”
“Not a thing. What happened?”
“The day that bomb went off, when I was waiting in the car for you, Marshal Caldwell came charging in to haul me out. He said my life was in danger, and it turned out he wasn’t kidding.”
“Wait, they knew about the bomb? In advance?”
“We found out a few minutes beforehand,” Caldwell interrupted. “I managed to get Miss Rossi to safety, and I was coming back for you when…well. It blew. There was nothing left of the car and no witnesses. You were unconscious. We figured our best chance to keep her alive was to let everyone think she was dead.”
“Including me?”
He shrugged, which was answer enough.
“And now?” I asked.
“I cut a deal with the federal prosecutors and the marshals,” Serena said. “I’ll testify against Marvin and the Serbian crime circle. In return I get witness protection. A new identity, and a new life.”
“On your own?”
“Be real, Brian. I hooked up with you because I wanted to make Marvin jealous, and you were the perfect guy for it. Handsome, hungry, and hot. Especially at first. But it wasn’t working out for us. We wouldn’t have lasted another week, let alone happily ever after.”
I couldn’t argue the point. She was right.
“And the black van?” I asked Caldwell. “Was that your team? Keeping tabs on me?”
“We were concerned Miss Rossi might try to contact you,” Caldwell said. “Witnesses often try to stay in touch with their old lives.”
My mind was racing. Serena had stayed in touch, but not with me. She must have been the one who blackmailed Garner. And since he thought she was dead, he assumed I’d been doing it.
Serena was the person who’d put me—and Carly—in danger this whole time.
I looked across the table at her, knowing that this conversation could go two ways. I could out her right there, and she could do some hard time in jail.
Or I could keep quiet, and let her go in peace.
She seemed to notice my hesitancy, because a look of horrified shock crossed her face. Her eyes pleaded with me. They asked me not to blame her.
And I truly didn’t.
Because she’s not the only one who’s starting a new life.
Chapter 43
The next day, I was back on the beach at first light, raking sand over the bonfire embers, picking up the empties, and watching the sun rise out of the breakers.
I was in my tower chair by nine, the Lord of the Shore again. I was watching, waiting for little kids to make little mistakes so I could save them.
At noon, Carly came by to rotate me out for lunch. She was barefoot and wearing a mauve swimsuit. I didn’t want lunch, so I stayed on instead, sharing my throne with her. Both of us gazed out over the lake in silence. After everything that had happened, we were a bit uneasy with each other now.
We’d been kids together and good friends once. And now we were a lot more than that.
We’d shared the most earth-shattering kiss up in the lifeguard tower, on my favorite beach in the world.
But being with me had nearly gotten her killed.
And she’d seen me drown a man at the bottom of the pool.
Yet, here she was. Sitting beside me. In a silence that was killing me.
“So…um…I’m guessing you’re still really angry with me, right?” I asked. “Level twenty-something?”
“That depends.”
“On?”
“On where your resurrected lady love spent the night.”
“Seriously?” I asked,.“That’s what you’re mad about?”
“There’s a long list of things I’m not happy about. But at the moment, that’s the one that tops my list. So?”
“I wouldn’t touch her with a ten-foot pole.”
“Really,” she said, giving me a look.
“Serena left with the marshals last night, Carly. She’s agreed to testify against Garner and the Serbs in exchange for witness protection.”
“So she’s gone?”
“She’s out of my life. Again. And all the way out this time. For good.”
She turned to stare at me. “And is it good? Having her out of your life, I mean?”
“Carly, she lied to me, and she nearly got us both killed. I do
n’t wish her harm, but believe me, whatever we had going is definitely over.”
“I see,” she nodded slowly, turning away. “And what about you? What will you do now?”
I couldn’t help smiling at that.
“I’m already doing it. I’m here, with you, watching the breakers roll in. I went to war, and I’ve been hustling my butt off since I came back, trying to make up for lost time. I thought I was doing okay, but now…?” I broke off, uncertain of how to say what needed to be said.
“But now what?” she prompted. She wasn’t looking at me. Instead, she stared straight out across the lake.
“I truly want to start my life over, Carly. Not from the beginning. Just from right…here.”
“Lifeguarding is a summer job, Brian.”
“I know it’s not a career, and I do have options. My ex-boss from the prosecutor’s office, Leon Stolz, called last night. He offered me my old job back.”
“So you’re leaving—”
“Never. I told him I’d think about it, but I was just being polite. I love the law and I’ll keep helping clients, but I don’t need a cubicle at Murphy Hall to do it. And I definitely don’t need an office on Cadillac Square. The view’s a lot better here.”
“Are you kidding?”
“I’m dead serious. Why should I go to work wearing a three-piece suit when I can be on the beach? Soaking up rays, watching the surf roll in?”
We stared out at the water, and I felt perfectly at peace.
Then I leaned back, looked at her, and said, “Look, I know it won’t last forever, but right now? I’m exactly where I need to be. A lifeguard lawyer. I don’t want my old job back and I don’t want a new one. I’ve already got the sweetest job on the planet. Right here. If that works for you.”
She didn’t say anything for a bit. She turned away from me, lost in thought. A seagull wheeled over us, keening. It was the loneliest sound in the world.
“What about me?” she asked at last. “What about us? Do I have a place in this brave new world of yours?”
“You’re the most important part of it. The only part that matters. Maybe I blew our chance back in the day, but it wasn’t our only shot. Serena’s starting over, maybe we can, too. Maybe we can get it right…”
But she didn’t seem to be listening. She was staring out over the water. Counting off the seconds under her breath.
“Too long,” she said abruptly, bolting out of the chair, scrambling down the ladder. “Three kids dove off the second raft. Only two came up. Can’t see the other one.” And then she was off, sprinting into the surf.
Shit!
Impeccable timing, again.
I was only half a step behind her, racing through the breakers toward the raft. Two kids were on it now, pounding their feet and frantically yelling for their friend.
When the waves hit us chest high, we both dove into them. We swam hard through the surf, taking long breaths to prep ourselves to dive down deep to find the lost boy and save him.
Together.
About the Authors
James Patterson has written more bestsellers and created more enduring fictional characters than any other novelist writing today. He lives in Florida with his family.
Doug Allyn is the author of eight novels and more than 120 short stories. He has won many awards for his short mystery fiction.
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The Lawyer Lifeguard Page 10
