Nick already knew the answer. The moment he’d heard the news—one of his last while out on bail—was forever seared in his brain. His rigged trial had begun the day of Mike’s murder. The evening he’d learned of his friend’s demise, he’d officially become a convicted rapist.
Wasn’t the timing ironic?
“Yes. But I knew something was wrong on Wednesday night,” she said. “He came home late. He was too quiet. Very distracted. When I asked if he was all right, he said something had happened at work and he didn’t want to talk about it. After dinner, he sequestered himself in his home office. He didn’t come to bed until…late.”
“He called me that Wednesday night and told me that Clifford was onto him. He wanted to know how to protect you and Harper.” Nick shook his head. “I instructed him to leave you a list of account names, passwords, and contacts, so you’d have ready cash and help.”
That had her gaping in surprise. “You did?”
He nodded. “Mike was afraid for his safety, but he was more worried about you two.”
“That sounds like him. He didn’t come home Thursday night. Didn’t answer texts or phone calls. I left voice mails…” Sasha fought tears valiantly. “In the middle of the night, I started looking through his home office for clues. At first, I wondered if he had a lover or something, but the night before…” She blushed, and Nick could guess that Mike had made love to his wife, fearing it would be the last time. “In the top drawer, in an envelope with my name written on the front, sat a letter which accounted for every dime we had saved. I knew something terrible had happened then. A police officer knocked on my door a few hours later.”
Goddamn it. “I’m sorry. I promised Mike I’d take care of you. Even as my trial was going on, I hoped I wouldn’t actually be convicted.” And he felt like shit that he’d been dumb enough to be framed and had been unable to keep his promise. “I hoped truth and logic would prevail. I never even got to testify on my own behalf and bring up the fact that Fiona was Clifford’s niece or that I’d been investigating the crooked DA. I found out later that the bastard had threatened my attorney’s children.”
Sasha looked stunned. “How is Clifford still holding office?”
Nick grimaced. “Like all successful politicians, he smiles well, placates his special interests, and is a damn good liar.”
“Well…all that detailed information you told him to leave me was a saving grace. After Mike’s funeral that Monday, I withdrew every dime we had. I put the house up for sale, quit my job, sold my car, withdrew Harper from preschool. Clifford’s goons threatened me before we could go underground with our stash of cash. I’ve had some close calls since then. There was once I would have sworn we wouldn’t escape—” She bit back the rest, as if she’d rather forget.
“Deep breath. That’s in the past.” He caressed her shoulder, then paced to the chair across the room. “I just wish like hell I’d gotten out sooner or been able to talk to you. It would have saved you a lot of shit.”
“You really know where Mike stashed his evidence?” she breathed as if his assertion was too good to believe.
He nodded. “I’m pretty sure. Did Mike ever tell you how we met?”
“He said you beat up some bullies who were bothering him.”
A fond smile tugged at his lips. “Mike and I should never have been friends. He was a scrawny thirteen-year-old from swanky Lakeshore Drive. I was a seventeen-year-old with a record who lived near the projects. My dad had run off, and my mom moved us here from Jersey. She thought it would be romantic to live in New Orleans.” He snorted. “It would have been better if she’d had a job and some cash saved. They should never have called that shithole we moved to Desire; no one wanted to live there. But Mike and some church youth group came to the ’hood on a do-gooder mission to change our lives for an afternoon or whatever. He got separated from his adult handler. He was so shiny that he looked rich, and some of the kids on my block were shaking him down for the goodies in his pockets and beating the hell out of him in the process.”
“You stopped them,” Sasha murmured, cocking her head as if she was seeing him for the first time.
Nick didn’t want her getting the idea that he was any sort of hero. “I don’t like an unfair fight. I evened the odds, is all.”
“But you didn’t have to. You chose to.” She cocked her head, dissecting him with her stare, and Nick paused, wary of the way she’d said that, as if he was good or worthy. “Just like you could have shut the door in my face last night. Or taken advantage of me when I was on my knees. Why didn’t you?”
“I’m an opportunistic prick, not a heartless bastard. I’m not going to keep a sick kid in the rain.” He scowled. “Do you want to hear the rest of this or not?”
She crossed her arms over her chest and paced away from him, bristling at his tone. He mentally filed away that trick to keep distance between them. “Carry on.”
“After I got the kids in the ’hood to back off, I helped Mike return to his group. After that, he and his family kind of…adopted me. Jeanine tried to mother me.”
That made Sasha smile. “My mother-in-law tried to mother everyone. Mike was crushed when she passed away.”
Nick had been when he’d heard, too. “At least the heart attack was fast. Mike’s dad was a great guy. He often tried to give me guidance back then since my old man took off.”
“Glen is lonely in that home, I’m sure. I’ve wished a million times that I could visit him, but I don’t dare risk putting him in danger. He probably thinks I’ve deserted him.”
Same here. Nick had never had the balls to tell the old man that he’d managed to add to his rap sheet. Even if the conviction had been pure bullshit, he hadn’t wanted to see the censure on the old man’s face. “When this is over, I’ll go see him. I’m sure he misses Mike like hell.”
She nodded. “I’ll take Harper to see him. He’d like that. Sorry to keep getting us sidetracked. So they kind of took you in…”
“Yeah, when Glen was still running the freight company, he was having some theft problems. I helped him figure out who was robbing him blind. He suggested I become a P.I.” Nick shrugged. “It stuck. So I owe him. But you know Mike had a major Star Wars thing as a kid, right?”
She huffed. “As an adult, too. God, he loved that stuff. It killed me to sell all his LEGO collectible sets and figurines.”
“But you couldn’t take it with you, and you needed the money.”
