Sarah’s brother and family stayed an additional week. On the day they were to leave, Amanda made arrangements to cover for her at work as to accommodate the need for a family drive to the airport. That day, she arrived at the restaurant earlier than usual. She pulled into the Parking Corral and noticed several cars in front of the restaurant. She wondered who’d be there at this time of the morning.
She drove around the back of the building, spotted Charles’ truck parked next to it and quickly made her way inside. She headed straight to the welcoming aroma of fresh brewed coffee wafting through the restaurant. She didn’t even take off her jacket, just grabbed a cup of Charles’ fresh brew and went to the office to bid him good morning.
At the door, she couldn’t help overhear loud voices in what seemed to be a heated discussion—Charles, Uncle Jack, Phil Bristol—and Michael Tremont.
Flabbergasted, she stopped to listen.
“Pete didn’t want any part of your insane scheme, and neither do I. I’ll speak for Amanda, as well. She’s not interested.” Charles’ voice exploded with anger.
“Legally, you can’t answer for her,” Uncle Jack said.
“Legal or not, I’m telling you, she’d be appalled if she ever found out what you three SOBs did and what you still plan on doing.”
“Listen, hot shot, if you don’t get her to sell, you’ll pay the price,” Michael bellowed.
“Be careful with your threats, Tremont. They may come back to haunt you.”
“It’s not a threat, Wharley. It’s a promise, and you better pay attention to me ’cause I won’t repeat it. I’ll do whatever it takes and to whomever gets in the way, even your sweet Amanda.”
“Over my dead body,” Charles’ voice thundered.
Tremont snapped back with a sinister, “That’s what Pete said. Look what happened to him.”
“What do you mean? What did you do?”
Unsettled, scared, and thrown off balance, Amanda didn’t know what to think or what to do. Before she had a chance to make any kind of decision, Jack Haliway’s voice cried out, “Easy Tremont, this is not how we want to handle the situation. We want to negotiate, set up a working collaboration, if you will, so everyone would benefit and share the profits.”
Charles spoke next. “No way, Jack. This project has a stench about it since the beginning. Pete knew it and turned you down.”
“Russo was an old fool, afraid to take a chance. He and his squeaky clean reputation meant more to him than anything.”
A shockwave of horror overtook Amanda. She couldn’t wrap herself around Uncle Jack’s comments. He was supposed to be Poppy’s friend.
“Pete told me about your scheme, the political connections, the extortions, and the greed.”
“Who cares? Russo was a stubborn man, and look what it got him.”
“That’s Phil Bristol.” She gasped and covered her mouth.
“What does that mean?” Charles shouted.
Michael spoke up. “It means nothing more than he died trying to defend his precious granddaughter and his over-rated restaurant. The old man tried to show his muscle. Came flying out of the hospital bed as if he were Superman. He grabbed me, and I pushed him away. He lost his balance and fell to the floor. He banged his head and didn’t move.”
“Why didn’t you call for help?”
“His number was up, anyway. We just left him there. Not our problem.”
“You bastard. You killed him. You’re going to pay for this.” Charles made a move toward Tremont.
Sounds of a scuffle filtered through the door.
“You son of a b—” Charles shouted.
Amanda felt faint. She leaned against the wall and took several deep breaths. She couldn’t believe Michael had let Poppy fall and never called for help. He’d just stood there and watched her grandfather die.
“Listen, my friend, this project is moving forward, without him and you.” Phil’s impatient tone grew louder. “Now, are you in or not?”
“Never!”
“Take it easy, son. We’ll work this out.”
At least, Uncle Jack was trying to defuse the situation.
“Listen, Wharley, I advise you to just get on board and enjoy the ride.”
“This guy’s too much. We need to get rid of him.” Tremont waved his gun about.
“Put it away, Michael. I don’t want to complicate matters with an obvious murder. There are better ways.”
Amanda flinched and spilled the hot coffee down the front of her sweater. She suppressed her scream. Her breathing quickened, and an overpowering fear consumed her. Poppy? Left to die? Gun? Murder?
Don’t panic Amanda. Do something, but don’t panic.
Phil chimed in. “I’m with Tremont. What’s the difference how we eliminate the opposition? Assault, extortion, out and out murder. It’s all the same as long as we cover our tracks.”
“Yeah, I’m in favor of getting this taken care as quickly as possible,” Michael chimed in. “It’s easier than you think. Once he’s out of the way, we only have Dalton and the lovely Mandy to deal with, and they’re easy prey.”
“No, no, no,” Jack insisted.
Just then, Amanda’s cell phone rang.
Think fast Mandy. You know they heard it and know you’re out here. She cringed and pulled it out of her pocket to answer it. At the same time, she opened the door to the office and with one swift movement entered as nonchalantly as possible.
“Yes, I just arrived, Nick. Yes, I’m going to offer him the deal we agreed upon. I’ll have Charles call you.” She disconnected and continued. “Well, look who’s here. Hi, Uncle Jack.”
She walked over and kissed his cheek.
“Phil, it’s nice to see you again.
“Michael.” She sneered and pretended not to see him place the gun in his jacket pocket. “I’m surprised to see you here. Did you forget about that restraining order I have against you?”
“Morning, Charlie. Sorry to interrupt. I have the payroll to take care of, so if I can get the books from the filing cabinet, I’ll do them in the dining room and let you continue with your meeting.”
Charles made small talk to underplay the circumstances while the others watched her walk around the desk to the filing cabinet. She knew she had taken them by surprise because none of them responded to her at first.
Phil couldn’t contain himself any longer. His nervousness and impatience broke the unnatural silence. He grabbed her by the arm and spun her. “Who do you think you’re kidding? You’ve been standing outside that door, haven’t you? How much did you hear?”
Amanda swallowed hard and pulled free from his grip. “I didn’t hear anything. Why? Should I have?”
Charles jumped up from his chair. “I’ll get the books for you, Mandy.”
Tremont waved his gun. “Sit back down, Wharley, or I’ll finish the job right in front of her.”
Charles raised his hands to acknowledge his compliance and sat. Amanda edged herself next to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. “What’s going on?”
“Shut up, Amanda,” hissed Michael.
She flashed him a look of contempt but said nothing. He seemed to be out of control.
Her fear for Charles and herself increased. “Is this necessary, Uncle Jack?”
Michael didn’t let the moment pass. “Don’t explain a thing, Jack. Let her experience a little fear again. It just adds a touch of pleasure for me.” Perspiration dripped down his forehead. He pointed his gun at her. “You had to come in, didn’t you? You’re dumber than I thought.”
“Easy, Mike. Let’s cool down.” Jack Haliway paced the office. “Give me a minute to figure this out.”
“I’ve got the answer right here in my hands.” He pointed the gun at his hostages. “Who’s first?”
In the next second, Nick burst into the room. “Amanda. Charles,” he called.
Bam! The shot hit in his midsection. He slumped to the floor.
Amanda screamed and threw what was left of
her hot coffee at Michael’s face. Startled, he flinched and dropped his weapon.
Momentary frenzy ensued. Crestview police officers swarmed in with guns drawn.
One of the first officers in the door bellowed, “You’re all under arrest. Hands behind your head.”
He noticed Michael Tremont had picked up the gun and directed him to place it on the desk and to step away. The three suspects surrendered without incident.
Two more officers entered and cuffed them all. A fourth officer spotted Nick and called for an ambulance. The arresting officer read them their Miranda Rights.
“Let’s get this sorry bunch of crooks down to headquarters.”
While leaving, he added, “Look at you, Councilor, I wonder how this will affect your so-called pristine reputation.”
“You’ve got nothing on me,” snapped Jack Haliway.
“On the contrary, you’re going to be quite surprised at just how much I’ve got on you and your cohorts.”
Jack shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“Better think again.” He and the officers led all of them out of the office. “Let me run a few points of law you may have forgotten: official misconduct by a representative of the court, forcible detention, assault, blackmail, extortion, conspiracy to defraud the government, an accessory to murder….” his voice faded, and they disappeared down the hall.
The EMTs stabilized Nick and whisked him off to the hospital. Amanda and Charles followed close behind. Within minutes, they found themselves back in the ER.
Chapter Forty-Two
Monica and Jeff rushed into the hospital shortly after Amanda had called them and alerted them to what happened to Nick.
The women embraced, the men shook hands.
“Any word on my brother, yet?”
Charles shook his head and answered. “He’s in surgery. The doctors say it’ll be a while.”
“Are you okay, Mandy?” she asked.
“No, I’m not. It looked bad.” She sighed. “I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose him, Monica.”
Jeff put his arm around her shoulder. “Come on, Amanda. Keep the faith. He’s in good health. Strong as an ox. And he’s lucky to have a top-notch team of doctors operating. He’s going to be okay.”
“If you say so.” She collapsed back down onto one of the chairs and seemed to get lost in her private thoughts.
Several hours later, Dr. Pressman, the operating surgeon, joined them in the waiting room. “The bullet passed through the abdominal wall and lodged in the lining of the stomach. I got it out and repaired the wound. He’s lost a lot of blood, but the good news is there’s no damage to any other internal organs.” He took a deep breath and added, “He’ll recover in no time at all.”
“He’s going to be all right?” Amanda asked.
The doctor nodded. “He’ll be as good as new before you know it.”
“When can I see him?”
“Not for a while. He’s still under the anesthetic. The nurse will send for you when he’s settled in a room.”
Monica spoke up. “How long will my brother be hospitalized?”
“You can count on four or five days.”
They all thanked the doctor then returned to waiting.
“Charlie, did you call Sarah?”
He nodded. “She should be here any minute.”
“Okay, then, Charlie. While we’re waiting, I want to hear the whole story. Every minute detail.”
“Maybe I should leave that for another time. Maybe Nick wants to tell you himself.”
“He can fill me in with his version in due time. Right now, I need to hear it from you.”
“It’s not a pretty story.”
“Charlie, you should know by now not to try to soft pedal anything with me. So, get started and don’t, I repeat, don’t, skip any ugly details.”
Charles explained the Crestview real estate buy-out plan, the possibility of Crestview becoming the next gambling Mecca in the Rockies, how much they’d needed Pete’s support, the names of officials they were bribing, how Pete abhorred what they had in mind and some of their underhanded methods of persuasion.
“Did they cause Poppy’s death?”
He hesitated.
“Charles Wharley!” She demanded his attention.
He sighed. “It looks that way. From Tremont’s description of events, they contributed to it. Maybe more by not alerting the medical staff of Pete’s injury. His distress and the impact caused a head bleed which led to the heart attack that killed him.”
“Uncle Jack left without getting him help?”
“Apparently.”
She shook her head in disbelief and let her tears flow freely. Charles took her hand.
“They also arranged for another attack.”
“Another attack?”
“Seems it started with you at the condo.” He went on to explain how they had hired someone to rough her up, so she’d return to Crestview, see Pete’s health problems, and convince him to sell the business. “Only the ‘enforcer,’ as they called him, got carried away. Did more harm to you than originally planned.”
“The enforcer? That sounds ominous.”
She studied Charles’ face as he continued.
“You’re not going to like this next tidbit of info. Are you sure you want me to go on?”
She raised both hands and made several open and close gestures as if pulling the information from him. “All of it, remember?”
Spellbound by the story, Monica spoke up. “Yeah, Charles, we want to hear all of it, too.”
He shrugged. “The Enforcer. How do I tell who it is?”
“Give me a name, you know, like Michael Tremont.”
“Bingo!”
“Bingo what?”
“Michael is the Enforcer?”
Amanda gasped, covered her mouth with her hands. “He beat me?” She staggered a bit. “Is he responsible for the break in at my house and at the restaurant, too?”
“Yes, and more. Nick and I learned this Committee, as they refer to themselves, was after a report labeled HDC. They were so desperate, they ransacked my house and Nick’s house. Guess they thought one of us could have had the file in our possession, as well.”
“Why didn’t either of you say something to me?”
“We didn’t want to upset you anymore. I found that report by accident one day. It had somehow slid down under all the papers. I gave it to Nick for safe keeping, and it’s been sitting in his briefcase all this while. Obviously a place they didn’t think to look—too easy for their devious minds.” He took a deep breath. “Anyway, we decided to hire a private investigator, a friend of Nick’s from Denver, to help us. With the three of us working together, we pieced the puzzle together and got to the bottom of these bizarre events.”
Charles went on. “That HDC report will incriminate a lot of people, including our villainous friends—the Bristols, Jennifer Harmon, your superintendent at Aspen Peaks, and government officials whose names will send shock waves across Colorado.”
“Poppy could never have been a part of this, Charles, could he?”
“Never, Amanda. That’s why he had me investigating secretly. It was a slow process by me, but once Nick and his friend joined in, we discovered a bounty of evidence. Evidence that’s going to send them away for a long time.”
Monica and Jeff sat in silence and listened to this dreadful story unfold.
Amanda stood and walked across the room. Sadness swept over her as she tried to absorb all the events that had happened. Her deep, personal thoughts were interrupted when a nurse approached the group and told them Nick had asked to see them all.
Sarah arrived just in time to join them at Nick’s bedside. Once inside the room, tears of relief mixed with caring sentiments comforted the wounded patient. Everyone seemed to be freed from the anxiety and tension that had transpired throughout the day.
Nick appeared weak, but was clear-headed and in good humor. He held Amanda’s hand.
> “I’ll be up and out of here in a few days, then we’ll sort through the mess that got me here in the first place.”
She gave him a gentle squeeze. “No need for that.”
“What do you mean?”
Charles cleared his throat. “She already knows everything. She held me hostage in the waiting room and forced me into explaining everything.”
Nick shook his head. “I should have known. Are you okay? That’s quite a lot of information to handle in one lump sum.”
She leaned in and kissed him. “I haven’t had a chance to process it all yet. My first concern has been for you.”
“Sorry about all this.”
“You had nothing to do with anything, Nick. Don’t be sorry. I’ll, no, we’ll, deal with it together. Right now, I only want to think about you and our upcoming nuptials.”
“Me, too. Can’t wait.”
“I know, but here’s what I’m thinking. We could postpone our plans until you’re completely healed, Nick.”
“No way, sweetheart. Everything is ready. As I see it, it’s a go.”
She caught the sudden look of concern cross his face. “What’s wrong? Are you in pain? Should we call the doctor?”
“I’m only in pain if you’ve changed your mind about marrying me. And if that’s the case, yes, call the doctor. We’re going to need heart surgery.” He watched for her reaction. “Is that it, Amanda, have you changed your mind?”
Before she could answer, Monica spoke up. “How come we all know the answer to that question and he doesn’t? Apparently, my brother’s injury has brought about a case of stupidity. So, on that note, I bid we all take our leave and let them have a moment.”
“No one goes anywhere, please.” Amanda bent over the bed, caressed his face, leaned in, and kissed him with the passion they already shared for one another. “Is that from a person who’s changed her mind?”
He grinned with pleasure. “Definitely not.”
“Then no more of that kind of thinking.”
“Okay. But I’m not postponing anything. Valentine’s Day is our day, Amanda.”
“So be it.”
Cheers filled the room.
Four days later, Nick left the hospital. Between fiancée and sister, he had all the nursing he needed. All those involved decided he and Maxine should stay at Monica’s for a few days where he could get all the daily TLC he needed. Amanda spent a lot of time there, too, but since she had to be at the restaurant, she couldn’t be a full time caregiver. To help pass his time, she gave him a list of last-minute phone calls to confirm and lock in their plans.
Matters of the Heart Page 22