by Annie Dyer
“I hope they were clean,” I said as I drew closer. “My brother’s feet should be declared a biohazard.”
“Flip off,” Nick said, leaving the swing and Margot still trying to touch the sky. “You’re thinking of your own feet. He was the boy who refused to wear socks for about five years. His trainers had a half-life.”
Katie laughed, looking shyly at me. She had been a model a few years ago, in both high-end magazines and celebrity gossip columns. Her image had been cleaner than bleached teeth: healthy, never too skinny, never caught drunk or doing drugs and she’d been involved with several different charities. She’d married Dean Lacey two years ago and no one quite knew why. “Does your uncle have cheesy feet?” she said, grasping Kitty’s foot and pretending to bite it. “Are his feet cheesy or are they perfect like yours?” She used the baby voice I’d heard from myself when teasing the twins. Kitty laughed, which made Margot scream, probably wanting the attention her sister was getting.
“My feet were perfect,” I said as Nick turned round to get Margot. “Far better than yours.”
“We’ll fight later when there aren’t any ladies present,” Nick said, Margot wriggling in his arms. “Then I can swear without worrying they’re going to repeat it.”
“Hence the ‘flip off’,” I said, his word replacement not being missed. “So which twin said a bad word?” I bent down as Kitty yanked herself towards me.
“Margot,” Nick said. “The bad twin.” The bad twin who was trying to pull Nick’s hair.
Katie laughed. “If you say that any more she’ll grow up with a complex.”
Nick nuzzled his daughter. “My Maggie’s not going to have a complex, is she? She’s going to boss the world.” Margot pulled his hair harder. “Shi... shine.”
I laughed at the same time as Katie, really enjoying my brother’s pain.
“You should set up a swear jar.” My head turned as I heard the voice that filled my dreams and my days at the moment. “By the time they’re eighteen you’ll have saved enough for both of them to go to college debt free.”
Nick laughed, Margot now on the blanket with her sister. “Yeah, thanks for that Claire. I’d like to see you try to keep your words clean for more than half an hour.”
She smiled. “I can if I want. I just happen to appreciate the power of a good cuss.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Let’s see if you manage to keep those cuss words to yourself while we go through security detail for you both.”
Claire shook her head and sat down next to the twins, cropped jeans tight enough to show off every curve of her legs.
“I get why you’re still doing this. I know my brothers are ridiculously overprotective especially after the last time, but I don’t think I’ll be targeted. And if someone does come after me to take evidence, they’ll have a job.”
I watched Nick study her as if she was some foreign species who didn’t quite understand the lingo yet.
“Claire, if I was to tell you how to go about organising a petition for a divorce or getting full custody what would you do?”
“Ignore you and tell you to go play in the sandbox.”
“Would you like to take your own instruction?”
“Fuck off.”
“How much did we say per swear word?”
“Again. Take a hike up a high hill.”
“Better. Can I explain what is going to happen without you telling me different?”
She looked at me for the first time. “Killian, how much do you value your brother’s life?”
I shrugged. “It’d mean more work for me.”
“True. I’ll let him live. You may speak.”
“Shall we start with coffee?” Katie said, looking uncomfortable.
We followed her inside, picking up the twins who were giggling at each other for no apparent reason. Nick figured they were plotting how to take over the world one adult at a time and I was inclined to agree with him. They were little human hurricanes and they scared me more than any security threat or terrorist because of the sheer power they wielded.
“Katie’s given me a lot of information on Lacey,” Nick said, looking at Claire. “I know some shit about him already.” The girls were in their playpen, currently amusing themselves with the stuffed dogs and other animals in there. “None of it means I trust him or think he’s a rational human being so any security measure I put in place are reasonable and rational, given the threat.”
Claire nodded. “I know you know more than I do,” she said to Nick, now serious and professional.
I had little experience with the polished lawyer that Claire had become. When we were at college, I’d seen her studying, talking to other law students and professors and the lawyer she would become was apparent. The past few years I’d only seen Claire when she was decompressing from work and at her most sarcastic, usually sharpening her tongue on me. “But if Katie wants to get her decree nisi and decree absolut as soon as possible then going to the police is pretty much essential.” She looked at Katie. “I know you’re worried about the consequences. That’s why these guys have been hired. If you come forward with the evidence against him then a judge may well choose to expedite your divorce.”
Katie looked at her, a soft smile on her face. “I know,” she said. “And I don’t disagree. But I can’t go to the police yet because what I have on him incriminates me.”
Nick looked stony, an expression I knew well from when we were kids and when we were in the Marines. “They’d be no charges against you,” he said. “You know that as well as I do.”
“But if the media find out then my life would be over. No charity would want me as a spokesperson and who am I without that?”
He shook his head. “Fine. I’m not going to try to persuade you: you know my opinion. Moving on, there have been threats towards Katie and her family, just not directly from any associate of Lacey or Lacey himself. Katie’s house has been ransacked and we’re thinking it was both to search for evidence that she has and to cause her panic.”
Claire took an audible breath and glanced at me. “Okay. So, what’s the procedure?”
I passed her a coffee. “Almost as you were. We just up everything. Nick wants to add extra security in at your apartment and the times when you requested security not be there will be ignored: security will be there.”
She held my gaze for a moment, her poker face fixed. “To and from work, evenings if I’m going out and weekends?”
I nodded, knowing she hated this. “It just means you give us an itinerary of where you’ll be so we know if we need someone with you. There is another option.”
“What?” She raised her eyebrows.
“You don’t continue as my lawyer,” Katie said, sipping the coffee that she had taken filled with cream and sugar. “And I would completely understand that. You’re putting yourself in danger by doing it, and possibly your family too.”
“No,” Claire said. “I hate bullies and that’s what this is. I’m carrying on with your case unless you and I have a disagreement about you going to the police.” She put down the coffee cup and picked up one of the twins’ toys, fiddling with it in her fingers.
Katie reddened. “Claire, I can’t. Not with this.”
“There’s plenty that you can go with. He physically assaulted you. You have the photos. You have voicemails where he was verbally abusive and threatening. We need to use those to petition for your divorce,” Claire said and I wondered what Katie had confided in Nick, who was looking almost as grim as the day he found out he was a single parent.
Katie shook her head. “If I need to, I will. But Claire, he has stuff on me. If I can get away from him without tarring my reputation and I can continue what I do for my charities, then that’s all I can ask.”
“But you’re potentially freeing him to attack someone else…”
“I know. But at the moment I need to look after myself first. When I know I’m safe I can consider more,” Katie said, her shoulders shaking almost impe
rceptibly.
“If he thinks you have something on him, Katie, he isn’t going to stop,” Claire said, her tone calm and kind.
I remembered at college when her friend had been struggling with an alcoholic parent and Claire was practically caring for him. She’d been firm but never harsh and I remembered watching and listening to her, wondering how someone could be that perfect.
“I agree you need to protect yourself, but there may be a better way of doing it.”
Katie put her cup down and leaned back in the chair. “I don’t want to be his wife any more. I need to be separate from him. I know I’m going to end up losing money but at least I’ll keep my pride and my sanity.”
She looked choked up and afraid, Nick shifting towards her and putting a hand on her shoulder. I knew my brother well enough to know that he wouldn’t take advantage but I also knew him well enough to know that he’d rather she wasn’t just a client.
Claire stayed quiet and I knew she was thinking, watching Katie’s reaction. “I know he’s manipulated you for three years. I know he’s controlled you and he’s not going to stop trying to do that, but we have to get you the best deal possible out of this.”
Katie had been a successful model so I knew she would’ve had her own income. Claire hadn’t shared the details of her financial situation. “Won’t Katie be better off after they divorce?” I said.
Katie’s shoulder sank and she stared at the floor. “Pre-nup. I was stupid. I didn’t have my lawyer read it and if I divorce Dean, it’ll leave me with virtually nothing. He protected his own assets while ensuring he would have access to mine. He sees divorce as being a failure so he won’t accept it. He wants to stay married to me because then he can still control me.” She looked up at me. “It’s a shit situation, Killian. Claire’s the only lawyer I came across who thought I had any chance of coming away with what I had earned myself. As it stands, Dean takes more than half of that. I’d have a small amount of savings but I’d have to start a new career as it wouldn’t be enough to live off and I don’t want to become a third-rate celebrity doing demeaning publicity crap just to get by.”
“I think that gives us a good idea as to how much of a fucking bastard he is,” I said, watching my brother and trying to weigh up his expression. “Katie, you’ll have someone assigned to you for most of the time. I think you’ve worked out the details with my brother.”
“Yes,” she said. “I’m intending on staying here when I can and helping Nick out with the twins. I don’t need to be back in London for another few days. There’s an awards dinner where I’m meant to be presenting and we have mediation that Dean’s insisted on the same day. He’ll have picked that date as he’ll have known what I was scheduled to do the night before. Other than that, I can do what I need to remotely.” She gave Nick a grateful look that was followed by a wail from one of the twins. Katie stood as if she’d been pulled by an unseen force. “I’ll go,” she said with a small smile.
“What chance has she got of being granted more than what’s in the pre-nup?” I said, hearing Katie talking to the girls.
Claire smiled coyly. “She’s got me as a lawyer, so the chances are very good. There’s been precedent set and I think we can invalidate the pre-nup anyway given the circumstances under which it was signed. Katie kept all of her emails and messages; there’s evidence that the pre-nup is invalid on three counts: she wasn’t given adequate time for consideration; she didn’t have her own counsel and Lacey gave incomplete information as to his assets – they weren’t fully disclosed. I don’t think a judge will let the pre-nup stand and I’m not being over-confident there.”
Nick nodded. “But then Lacey is going to become more aggressive and do what he can to buy her off or scare her into taking a lesser deal. What’s with the mediation?”
“Couples wanting to divorce are encouraged to go through mediation first to make the resolution less expensive. The idea is that they agree terms on asset division and child maintenance or custody beforehand. Lacey’s insisted on it, which makes me suspect he’ll be trying to appear amenable in front of a judge and use the mediation to subtly threaten Katie,” Claire said. “What else are you two doing to keep her safe?”
“Research,” Nick said. “And then we watch and wait.”
“Hacking?” Claire murmured. “I always knew you’d put that degree to good use.”
Nick grinned. “You’re not going to make me feel guilty. I’m doing it for good, but it’s probably better you don’t think any more about it.”
She gave him a look that suggested she knew better on many counts and the conversation changed as Katie led the twins towards us, their sticky hands held out like weapons. Clearly there had been some form of sugary shit in the playpen.
Two of our employees turned up at the cottage around midday, a van full of extra security systems to be placed around the cottage, main house and the driveway and other paths into the property. In some ways, the Callaghan estate was a nightmare to make secure, given its size and the lack of perimeter fencing, but it was in the middle of nowhere, the village a good mile away and not near to any main roads or motorways. Any strangers would be observed, even any new vehicles, so if Lacey did start sniffing round, or more likely one of his minions, it wouldn’t be unnoticed.
Denico Montessi had worked for my brother since he’d formed the company and had been our number one security guard. He was tall and broad, with a head full of tight curls and a broad grin. He looked more like a musician than someone who could knock you unconscious with an intelligent squeeze and that was part of his success. He was inconspicuous. Nick had met him in the Marines and when they had left, they’d kept in touch. When Katie was in London, he’d be the one to keep an eye on her, so he’d come over with Gareth who was a technical geek and wiring wizard. Katie and Claire had disappeared into Oxford to pick up some more bits of girl shit for Katie now she’d figured staying longer was a smart move. That left me alone with my brother, given that Gareth had huge headphones on so he could listen to his eclectic playlists without getting grief from the rest of us.
“Only you would land yourself a nanny like this,” I said as we took a break from both strumming on our keyboards, him doing whatever investigative work he was busy with, me from negotiating a contract with an actor’s agent who was filming in London.
Nick gave me a shit eating grin and put his laptop down on the ground, casting a glance at the twins who were sprawled out asleep on their rug on the grass. “It’ll be helpful,” he said. “It’s nice for the girls to have a woman around more too. I should probably think about getting a full-time nanny at some point.”
“Maybe Katie will take the position,” I said, unable to resist prodding the wasps’ nest. He’d been almost monk-like since becoming their only parent, something I’d enjoyed pissing him off with.
Nick rubbed his foot into the grass. “Katie’s got a plateful of shit to deal with. If looking after Margot and Kitty for a few days or weeks helps her feel real then that’s all well and good by me, but there won’t be anything long term with her staying around.”
“I wasn’t just thinking about work,” I said. “She’s hot, and you know, when you’re not covered in baby drool you’re passable…”
“I think the baby drool makes you catnip for women,” Nick said. “If I take the twins to nursery or the parent and baby mornings, I end up surrounded by mothers who think I’m some sort of child guru. Three have tried slipping me their numbers and I’m pretty sure one was married.”
I laughed. My brother had never had an issue with women but he’d never been a dick. The twin’s mother had been an old friend and they hadn’t been in a relationship when she’d gotten pregnant, just the scratching of a mutual itch. They’d opted to co-parent and no one was in any doubt that they would make it work and then she’d died. “You weren’t tempted?”
Nick’s focus was on the twins. “Not then. It’s only in the past few weeks they’ve been sleeping through the night. Between th
em and work all I've had a hard-on for is sleep and a decent craft beer.”
“Katie?”
“Would be taking advantage. And I don’t know who would be doing the taking. She likes the twins and she’s not got too much to do while she’s here except update her website and social media shit. She’s got that awards dinner in a couple of night’s time,” Nick said, picking up his laptop.
“Are you going with her to that?”
“No. Denico will. She’ll stay in a hotel which we’ll book for two nights – the one after the mediation and the night of the awards. I’m going to stay here,” Nick said. “There are issues for the al-Bukhari family’s security when they travel next month. Errant step-daughter.”
“I’m sure you can sort it,” I said, lounging back in the sunshine. I enjoyed my job, as busy as it could be, and I definitely preferred my role to Nick’s.
“How’s Claire? I hear you went out last night for dinner,” Nick said, asking the question I knew he’d been dying to since this morning.
“It was good.”
“By good does that mean your friends? Or just old fuck buddies? Or more?”
“We were never fuck buddies, man,” I said. “You know that.”
Nick chuckled. “You’re too easy to wind up. Look, K, I know you’ve never stopped feeling shit for her, but when she ended it or cut things off because she never really ended it, you were gutted and I still don’t think you’ve ever gotten over that. I don’t want the same thing to happen again. Can’t you find yourself a nice bit of London tail?”
I was silent for a moment, thinking about his words. He was worried for me because I’d been a mess after that summer, even through the first months of training and beyond I’d gone to sleep thinking about Claire and waking up imagining she was next to me. My comrades thought I was sullen and moody, almost lost in my own world, unless we were training and physically active. Then I had managed to let her go. Since being home and a civilian again, I’d remembered her and whatever we’d had, I wanted back. “You know that’s not going to happen,” I said. “If I’ve not moved on from her in thirteen years, I’m unlikely to now.”