Page 82 of Need You
“Nope. Any more intel on the creepy guy Pond brought by the other day?”
“My friend from SFPD’s supposed to get back to me.” He licked cherry filling off his fingers, threw away the bag, and as he started for his office, called over his shoulder, “Let me know if anyone finds old man Finkelstein’s Buick.”
Colt signed on to his computer while he finished his coffee and then checked his private e-mail. Nothing yet from his former partner. He swung his feet up on the desk, grabbed the phone, and called the city attorney.
“Hey, Ben, happy Monday. I wanted to ask you about the terms of my contract with the city.”
“Funny, because you’re the second one to call me about that this morning.”
Colt sat silent while he absorbed that information. “My contract?”
“Yep. We’re friends, otherwise I wouldn’t be telling you this, so let’s keep it on the down low. Pond called a few minutes before you did and asked me to fax it over to him.”
“He’s getting ready to fire me, isn’t he?”
“He didn’t say that, but I’m reading between the lines here.”
Colt told him about Brian Dooney. “Do I have any leverage?”
“Let me go over your contract and the city charter. If the mayor asks for my legal opinion I’m going to tell him it’s a bad idea. Knowing him, though, he won’t. Pond likes to keep his own counsel and he’s extremely aware of how popular you are to the residents of Glory Junction. I’m guessing he sees you as a rival.”
“I have no political aspirations, but maybe I’ll run for mayor to piss him off.”
Ben laughed. “I’ll be your campaign manager. Hang tight, I’ll get back to you on your contract ... but there may be something else.”
“Like what?” How much more could Pond throw at him?
“For legal reasons I really can’t talk about it.”
Then why bring it up?Colt thought, but then acquiesced and said, “All right.” He knew that if there was any way Ben could help without violating his fiduciary duty to the city, he would.
For the rest of the morning Colt holed up in his office to work on the proposal for a new hire. On the slight chance that he still had a job in a month, he wanted two days off a week, like a normal person. As he worked, his mind wandered to Delaney.
She’d hung up on him, which had served him right for running hot and cold. Maybe if they just did it, he’d get over his infatuation with her and could move on. It wasn’t as if he had to be on his best behavior anymore. His job was in jeopardy anyway and he hadn’t done anything wrong.
Around noon, Jack came in and asked if Colt wanted to go to lunch. They walked over to the Morning Glory for sandwiches. Deb must’ve been off because they got a new waitress, someone Colt had never seen before. He wondered what Delaney was doing for lunch. Probably sitting up in her studio, working on her designs. He thought again about her hanging up on him and laughed to himself. The woman kept him on his toes, whether it was fighting over a parking space or the light from her studio window.
He never thought she would’ve fit in around here—well, at least not with the old guard. But she seemed to have won over Hannah and her clique of friends. Even his brothers accepted her as part of the crowd. At dinner last night, she’d been right at home at his parents’ house, even though he was pretty sure that in LA she trucked with the jet set.
“Hey.” Jack snapped his fingers in Colt’s face. “Where’d you go?”
“Nowhere. Tired I guess.”
“How was Josh’s shindig?”
“Good. He and Hannah left this morning for San Francisco. My parents are going Tuesday so they can wait with Hannah while Josh is in surgery.”
“I’m keeping him in my thoughts.”
“Thanks, Jack.”
Chip came into the restaurant and Colt nodded his head in greeting. There was a time when they hadn’t been so civil to each other, mostly when Colt had to scrape Chip’s drunken ass off the floor. No telling how many times he’d been called out on one of Chip’s benders and had to arrest him for being drunk and disorderly in public. It had been awkward because Chip had grown up with the Garner brothers. And poor Hannah had been so humiliated.
But Chip had gotten sober and it seemed to be sticking, thank goodness.
“He’s doing good,” Jack said as they both watched Chip leave with a take-out order. “I’m glad Fish and Wildlife stuck by him.” Chip and his new wife both worked for the department, formerly known as Fish and Game. Some of the folks there had staged an intervention and Chip had gone into a residential rehab program.
“Yeah, me too.”
