The Simpatico Series Box Set (3 books in 1)

by Dermot Davis

  Andrew pulled back a chair, which was heavier than he was expecting it to be, and bumped his knee while seating himself. “Ow,” he said automatically, regretting it immediately.

  “Are you okay?” the man asked.

  “Yes,” Andrew answered like it was nothing. “Heavy chairs, huh?”

  “Yes,” the man said and shared a smile with the others. “Are you comfortable?”

  “Yes, thank you,” Andrew said, unsure what to do with or where to properly place his hands. He clasped them before him on the shiny, impeccably clean, highly lacquered wooden table.

  “Perhaps we should start with your legal difficulties,” the man said as he opened a thick file folder before him. Wondering if he should request introductions or something, Andrew felt it odd that they didn’t even announce to him what their names were or indicate their positions in the business, if indeed they even worked there at the company (considering Simon had to ask the receptionist if they had arrived yet).

  “You’re quite the escaping jailbird, aren’t you?” the man asked with a smirk. “And you’re currently out on bail with money that we loaned you.”

  “Yes,” Andrew answered, going along with the program.

  “Our lawyers indicate that it’s best to request an adjournment to the upcoming court trial in order to get more time to present a more compelling case,” he said as he perused the contents of the file. “Do you have any objections?”

  “No,” Andrew said, hiding his disappointment. “I trust that they know what they’re doing.”

  “Oh, they do know what they’re doing, believe me,” the man said, again with a smirk to his buddies. “They’re the best in the nation. Just to put your mind at ease, I think they may already have found technical reasons to have your entire case dropped but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, do we?”

  “No,” Andrew answered but really wanted to know more. “What kind of technical reasons?”

  “Your first attorney, the one that the court initially appointed to you? He wasn’t very good. He missed some crucial evidence that showed that the police did not do their job correctly and may have contaminated the crime scene with their incompetence. The whole case was rushed and your attorney appears to have wanted to make a deal in order to satisfy some other outstanding cases that he had with the court,” he said, flitting through the file. “I don’t think there’s anything for you to be worrying about,” he then said, looking up hopefully from the folder.

  Andrew felt a huge wave of relief surf through his body and actually felt like yelling and caterwauling right then and there. “Sounds promising,” he said instead. “Weow,” Andrew exclaimed when he saw a helicopter appear from nowhere, looking like it might crash into the building. “They land helicopters on the roof here?” he asked although it was more a comment of explanation to himself. He was a tiny bit embarrassed when the men entirely ignored his obviously childish outburst.

  “So, Andrew,” the man on the right said, taking Andrew by surprise. “Simon has told us a great deal about you. Sounds like you’d be a wonderful fit in our little organization.”

  “Yes,” Andrew agreed.

  “You’re not afraid of long hours and hard work, I believe.”

  “No, sir.”

  “Legal fees are not cheap,” the man on the right then said.

  “I know that,” Andrew said less enthusiastically.

  “You’d have to work many, many long hours to pay it all off.”

  “No doubt about it, sir,” Andrew replied.

  “It’s only fair, after all, don’t you think? We believe that the individual should take full responsibility for one’s actions.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “People shouldn’t expect hand-outs or to be given something for nothing, you agree?”

  “Absolutely, one-hundred percent, sir.”

  “We’re very encouraged that you share our philosophy, Andrew. Very encouraged indeed.”

  “If I may ask,” Andrew began and stopped, wondering to himself if the question would be considered out of line.

  “Ask anything you want,” the same man responded.

  “Exactly how long would I have to work to pay everything off? Roughly.”

  The three men looked at each other as if they didn’t know or perhaps the question itself was considered inappropriate or asked in bad faith. “The exact details have yet to be worked out,” the man on the left answered. “Of course we won’t know to what extent the legal fees will finally top out at, not until the case is considered closed…” he said and paused.

  “Yes, of course,” Andrew said agreeably.

  “But, rest assured, we’re not going to exploit you for sweat and toil, you understand.”

  “Yes,” Andrew interjected like he didn’t want to make a fuss.

  “A portion of your salary can go to the repayment, to be determined, nothing egregious, I should expect. You’d still have plenty left to survive upon,” he continued.

  “Of course,” Andrew agreed, now regretting his question.

  “You will be paid handsomely. I believe our salary is many times more than the industry standard,” he said, like he was at pains to assure Andrew that they weren’t taking advantage. “You could secure yourself a very nice living and future despite the obvious disadvantage of debt repayment.”

  “Excellent,” Andrew said, hoping the guy would end the drama.

  “Your question been fully answered, has it?” the man in the middle asked as he looked at Andrew with a penetrating glare.

  Andrew decided to lay it all out there. “I guess the big question I have is wanting to know when I would be free and clear of all debt to the organization so that maybe I could move up or move on, whatever, you know?” Aware that he had phrased his question quite badly, Andrew winced internally as he watched the three men look from one to the other as if none of them understood a single word that he had just spoken.

  “Move up or move on?” the man in the middle repeated. “You weren’t briefed beforehand?” he asked.

  “Briefed?” Andrew asked with a quizzical expression.

  “Personnel move up the organization,” the man to the left said. “But staff do not move on. Once hired, nobody leaves,” he said like the idea of anyone ever leaving were a horridly distasteful notion.

  “Oh, yeah, of course,” Andrew said like he now remembered the briefing and he had just had a brain freeze or something. “I’m down with that, all of it,” he then said, kicking himself for being nervous and falling back into urban vernacular. “Yes, of course, I’m very much on board with everything,” he said smiling and nodding his head like he had just kicked the tires of a brand new pickup truck and he really liked what he saw.

  “Very good, then,” the man in the middle said, closing the folder like the meeting could be ended. “Welcome aboard,” he said and smiled goofily, as did the others.

  Chapter 2

  Andrew couldn’t wait to tell Fiona all about his interview and, in particular, the huge news that maybe the best lawyers in the nation had found some reason to have the case against him quashed or thrown out entirely because of some technicality or other.

  As soon as Fiona saw the car pull through the gate she quickly ran down the stairs and out the front door to greet her true love. Seeing Fiona leave the house, Andrew quickly bolted from her father’s car and ran to her as she approached. With a shake of his head and a roll of his eyes, Simon drove the car slowly toward its space in the garage.

  With a smile on his face the size of the Mississippi, Andrew bear-hugged Fiona and, lifting her off the ground, swung her round and round. Giggling with headiness and joy, Fiona lifted her arms into the air and threw back her head. “I missed you so much!” Andrew said. “You so should have been there!”

  “How did it go?” Fiona asked, as if remembering that he’d had an important meeting.

  “Fantastic,” Andrew answered, landing her and pulling her away with him towards the guest house. “Abso
lutely amazing!”

  “Tell me everything,” Fiona encouraged when they were finally indoors.

  “Okay, get this,” Andrew said, untying and swiping off his restrictive tie. “They have the best lawyers in the country working the case; they think they have reason to have the whole thing thrown out! You are looking at a practically free man!”

  “That’s fantabulous!” Fiona almost screeched with joy. “We can be together without fear. No more looking over our shoulders every two minutes!”

  “Not just that,” Andrew said, like the fun was only starting. “They are going to pay me so much money, we can get a place all to ourselves. You won’t even have to work, I don’t think,” he said with amazement.

  “How much money?” she asked with a huge grin.

  “I don’t know exactly. Lots,” Andrew answered as he did his version of the happy dance. “Whatever’s left over from paying back the attorney fees but it’s still going to be lots. They pay very well, very well!”

  “Fantastic! What kind of work will you be doing?”

  “I don’t know. They didn’t say and I didn’t ask,” Andrew answered, still smiling. “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

  “You don’t know what kind of work you’ll be doing?” Fiona asked like it was a crazy situation.

  “I don’t know and I don’t care.”

  “Terrific,” Fiona said with less enthusiasm. “So, just to be clear and in no way do I want to be a buzz kill or something but you don’t know exactly what the job is? Or the details of how much they’re going to be paying you?”

  “Nope,” Andrew said, still dancing his butt off. “And, oh, yeah, I can never leave. No one ever leaves.”

  “You can’t quit?”

  “Nope.”

  “What if you don’t like the work? Or the pay? Or the people? How do you mean you can’t quit? You can’t leave during the probation period? What?”

  “I don’t know,” he then said, plopping himself into the armchair, all puckered out. “They just said that no one ever leaves the company.”

  “Oh,” Fiona said like now it was clear. “They just meant that the job was so good and people were so happy there that they never wanted to leave.”

  “I guess, maybe, yeah,” Andrew said. “What else could they mean, right?”

  “We should celebrate your good news,” Simon said to them both as he walked right into the guest house without invite. Hanging up on a telephone call, Simon put his cell phone into his jacket pocket. “My sources tell me that your interview went very, very well,” he said with a hint of a smile. “They said that you’re a natural and had a very refreshing honesty, or something to that effect.”

  “Great, sir, thank you,” Andrew said but secretly hoped that Fiona’s father would leave the two love birds to their own form of celebrating.

  “So I booked us a table at Michael’s,” Simon said like it was the biggest treat in the world. “For all four of us.”

  “Four of us?” Fiona asked, looking at Andrew as if he might be in on it.

  “You and me and Andrew and his mom,” Simon elucidated.

  “You invited my mom?”

  “Not yet, but I’m going to. Unless you think it’s a bad idea.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think she’d be down with that. She doesn’t go out midweek and maybe she’s working already,” Andrew said, hoping to dissuade him but not appear to be doing so.

  “Well, the way I see it is that this is a cause for a family celebration. You don’t wish to celebrate your good news with your own mother? You don’t think she’d be happy for you?” Simon responded.

  “Oh, sure she would, very happy,” Andrew said uncertainly. “Just seems weird, I guess.”

  “Well, maybe it’s time we all got to be a happy family around here, what do you say, Fiona?” Simon asked.

  “Sure,” Fiona said, looking directly at Andrew and feeling his discomfort. “Can’t do any harm, huh?” she asked, directing the question more towards Andrew.

  “Cool,” Simon said, mimicking how the young kids speak and smiling to himself. “I still have her number. I’ll call her.”

  Considering it strange that Fiona’s dad wanted to include his mom to celebrate with them at a fancy, upscale restaurant, Andrew wondered if Simon had some kind of ulterior motive in inviting his mother.

  Simon had visited his mom once, when Fiona and Andrew had skipped town that time, and by weaseling his way into her good graces he had managed to charm her out of some critical and personal information… information which he led to his capture and return to prison. Ever since that time, his mom had spoken very highly of Simon and might possibly even have developed something of a crush. It could have been the British accent that did it or maybe the accent combined with his expensive clothes and the top-of-the-line Mercedes that he parked in the cement-cracked driveway.

  Fiona’s father was a strange dude and even though Andrew had spent months living in his guest house he still hadn’t got the man figured out. Then again, he and Simon had actually spent very little time together and prior to the trip downtown he had never been alone with him without Fiona being there also.

  By inviting Andrew’s mom, was Simon amusing himself in some way? He did come across as the bored aristocrat at times and seemed to like to spice things up for no other reason than because he was jaded to distraction. Or perhaps that was merely the man’s Britishness coming across. Maybe they all act that way across the pond.

  Rather than move back to his own crummy room in his mom’s house, Andrew had chosen to stay closer to Fiona and remain in the guest house. In the beginning, he had needed to be there as it was where he was being treated by Simon’s family doctor. As Andrew’s health improved, there was less need for him to stay there. By including his mom into the celebratory dinner equation, was Simon hoping that maybe Andrew would move back into her house and away from his daughter?

  Whatever his reasons, and motivations, Simon always seemed to interfere and seldom left him alone with Fiona for any appreciable length of time. Even though he had told them that he was being supportive of their union, maybe it wasn’t true. Was he still trying to keep them apart? Was Simon as devious and manipulative as Andrew suspected?

  In any event, Andrew needed to reach out to his mother or it could end up being a weird encounter at the restaurant. Even though he hoped that she was working or busy or just not inclined to come out, he needed to make it seem like he personally wanted her to be there and that the invitation came from him and not Fiona’s father. “Hey mom,” he greeted her when she answered on the first ring. “How is everything going?”

  “Well, you could have given me more notice, for starters,” she said like she was juggling plates in the air when he called. “Luckily for me Rosa can fit me in to get my hair done shortly or I’d be showing up in a shower cap, my hair is such a mess.”

  “Oh, cool, you can make it,” Andrew said with near clenched teeth. Simon had obviously called her already.

  “Why the short notice and contact all of a sudden?” she asked as if she were being given the short end of the stick. “I don’t hear from you for days on end and then I get a call from Simon and not my son?” she asked and Andrew winced by the respectful way she pronounced his name. “You never told me that you were going for some swanky job in the financial district, not that I’m taking that away from you, I think it’s terrific that you’re trying to get ahead and make something of yourself, I really do.”

  “I know, mom, I’m sorry.”

  “Why don’t you call me more often and tell me what’s going on in your life? Why do I have to hear these things from a stranger? Not that I’m complaining. I love you, son, and I’m really happy for you, I really am. The way that man looks after you,” she said then which totally ruffled Andrew’s feathers. “I swear to god, he’s like a father to you, taking you under his wing, paying your legal bills and the medical expenses... he’s a gift from heaven is what he is…”

  “Mom,” Andrew
finally interjected.

  “I hope you’re thankful,” his mom continued. “You should be thanking that man every hour of every day of your free life, getting you out of prison like that and using his pull to get you a good job; you should be on the ground and kissing that man’s feet, he’s such a godsend!”

  “Mom!” Andrew shouted and yet was surprised when she went suddenly quiet.

  “Yes, son,” she said when the long silence finally got too weird.

  “So, are you coming to the restaurant tonight?” he asked.

  Andrew’s mom paused as if she was wondering what conversation her son thought they were having all this time. “Simon called me earlier to invite me and I, of course, said yes,” she said more slowly and succinctly. “You guys haven’t talked yet?”

  “Oh, sure, yeah, well, I know that he, yeah, he said he’d call and invite you… because he wants to pay for it all and stuff. He’s very proper, being English and everything, I guess.”

  “I’m late for my mani-pedi, sweetie,” she responded, like she had looked at her watch and switched into operational mode. “Then I have to get over to Rosa to get my hair done.”

  “Yeah, great, well, I just called to make sure you were going and really looking forward to seeing you. You know where it is and everything? They have valet parking, I’m sure you know that already.”

  “Yeah, I talked about that with Simon and he’s coming over to pick me up. I told him that he didn’t have to drive over all this way but he insisted. He’s such a lovely man, really.”

  “Oh, okay, then,” Andrew said, sounding like he was being strangled. “I guess it’s all arranged. Should be a good night, huh?”

  “I’m so looking forward to it like you wouldn’t believe, Andrew, but I’ve really got to go, I’m so close to being late already.”

  “Okay, mom, love you.”

  “Love you too, son. See you real soon.”

  Later, dressed up again and feeling awkward that his new standard clothing just might become a suit, Andrew sat stone-faced in the passenger seat as Fiona drove them in her SUV to the restaurant. He hadn’t spoken in quite a while and Fiona looked concerned. “We’ll just make the best of it,” she said kindly. “Let’s order the most expensive meal and play footsie all night beneath the table while the mom and dad talk about current events or something.”