“Well, not right now. But you had a rocky relationship with the victim, so you’re definitely a person of interest.”
“You’re kidding, right? I didn’t kill Dottie!” Tony couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “If I were going to kill the bitch, I would’ve done it years ago. I certainly wouldn’t have let her torture me all these years!”
A voice behind Tony growled, “Tony, shut up. Don’t say another word.” Steve walked up to the men and turned to Bryson. “I’m Steve McCoy, Mr. Walters’ attorney.” Steve turned back to Tony. “We need to talk – now.”
“Excuse us, please.” Tony walked a distance away with Steve. “Okay, what the hell was that about?”
“I got word; they’re looking at you.”
“You’re not serious!” Tony almost yelled.
“Shhhhhh!” Steve sputtered, looking back to see if the detectives were listening. “Yes, I’m very serious. So watch what you say,” Steve whispered forcefully.
“Well, that’s just crazy!”
“Yeah, I know, but that’s the way it is.”
“Excuse me, gentlemen.” Bryson was back. “Tony, we’d like to look at some of your personnel records, schedules, things like that. Could we go back to your office?”
“Sure. I’ll meet you there.” Tony looked at Steve, who nodded and got into his own car to follow.
When they got to the office, it was deserted except for Cheryl. They started into the building, Tony first with everyone else following. A crime scene tech brought up the rear, and he stopped in the doorway.
“Mr. Walters,” Fox said, “I need to let you know up front that we don’t have a search warrant, but we hope you’ll work with us.”
Tony shrugged. “Sure. I don’t have anything to hide.”
“So, where were you on Thursday night?” Fox asked Tony.
“Oh, so you think that’s when she died?” Tony asked.
“Just answer the question, sir,” Fox replied gruffly.
“Well, I was at home until around one thirty. I got a call from my foreman. He said he had to go home because his wife was sick, and I went to the jobsite to stay until the eight o’clock person showed up.”
“Which jobsite was that?”
“The Colufab site, over across town.”
“I see. Was there anyone there when you got there?”
“No. Cal was gone.”
“So you were there the rest of the night by yourself?”
“Yes.”
“So no one saw you arrive?” Fox asked.
Tony’s brow furrowed. “No, guess not.”
“Anyone else see you?”
“Um, I don’t think so. One of Mr. McCoy’s people offered to get me some security, but I told him not to bother. Hey, what’s he doing?” Tony pointed at the tech, who was swabbing at something dark on the frame of the front door. Steve was one unhappy-looking son of a bitch.
Fox got up and walked over, whispered with the tech, and came back. “Mr. Walters, do you have a bathroom with a shower in this office?”
“Yes, matter of fact, I do.” Tony pointed to a door behind his desk. “It’s back there.”
The tech walked past them and into the bathroom. Fox asked Tony, “So, who has keys to this office?”
“Me. Clayton, my son. Cheryl, my secretary. Cal, my foreman. And Vic, my cousin who lives in Lexington.”
“Your girlfriend doesn’t have one?” Fox asked.
“Nope.”
“Isn’t that kind of strange, given that she’s the operations officer?”
“No, it’s not, given that we’ve been the target of terroristic activities lately,” Tony sniped. “I don’t want her here alone at any time for any reason. And if she had a key, I couldn’t ensure that. You don’t know her; she’d get a wild hair and come over here to work by herself. So I haven’t given her a key.”
“And of the people who have keys, who of them would have reason to want Dottie dead?”
“Hell, all of them, truth be known. Except for Cal – he didn’t really know her. But you can forget it. They were all either at home with their spouses or in a completely different town.”
“Except for you,” Fox countered. Bryson frowned.
“Well, I, no, I mean, I wouldn’t do that. Besides, I was at home with Nikki.” Tony didn’t like where this was going, and Steve was growing more agitated by the second.
“Except for the time you spent at the Colufab site,” Fox continued, “where no one saw when you arrived and when you left, or if you were even there.” Tony knew what he was insinuating, and he didn’t like it at all.
The tech stepped back through the doorway and motioned for Fox to come into the bathroom. When he returned, he glared at Tony. “Mr. Walters, the substance on the front door frame is blood. We don’t know whose, but we’ll find out. And there’s something else – someone tried to clean your shower, but there’s blood trace all over it.” The tech walked the path to the front door and sprayed something on the hardwood as he went, then hit it with a light, and blobs of color appeared here and there. “Those spots on the floor? That’s blood trace too.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Tony whispered, shaking his head. “Who would’ve . . .”
Fox walked around behind Tony. “Please place your hands behind your back. Antonio Walters, you’re under arrest for the murder of Dorothea Walters. You have the right to remain silent . . .”
Nikki and Katie managed to get Annabeth calmed down enough to get her to take a nap in Tony and Nikki’s bed. It was the only way she’d settle down; she said being there made her feel close to the two of them, and that was good enough for Nikki. She’d spent the afternoon railing against Dottie, and Nikki assumed it was to protect herself against caring. When she muttered, “Crazy bitch couldn’t even die right,” Nikki knew she’d had enough.
Brittany got her sister to come and stay with Ella Jane and Stringer so she and Clayton could come to the house to be with Annabeth and Katie. Clayton was having a difficult time; he’d seen the body as it lay on the ground, and he was so distressed that Brittany couldn’t get through to him. Nikki made him a cup of hot tea, and he sipped it and started to tear up. Once the silent tears started flowing, he seemed to be able to express himself a little better, and he and Brit sat and talked quietly. Nikki set about making some cookies to try to tempt Annabeth to eat something when she woke. She was pulling one batch out of the oven when the front door opened.
“Nikki?”
“In the kitchen, Peyton.” Nikki started transferring the cookies from the cookie sheet, but something in Peyton’s face stopped her cold. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Come in here and sit down. I need to talk to you.” He went into the den, spoke to Clayton and Brittany, motioned for Nikki to sit, then asked, “Where’s the daughter?”
“Annabeth? I’ll get them,” Nikki said.
“No, I will,” Brittany said, sensing something was very wrong.
They sat in silence until the three girls came back into the room. “What’s going on?” a groggy Annabeth asked when she and Katie walked into the room with Brittany. She plopped down by Nikki.
Peyton sat down on the ottoman in front of Nikki and took both of her hands. “Nikki, Tony’s been arrested.”
There was a collective gasp, and Nikki cried out, “Oh, you’re not serious? There’s got to be some mistake! That can’t be!”
“Steve’s with him right now. The cops found some blood on the door frame at the office and also in the shower. They don’t have any other physical evidence, but that was enough for an arrest. If the blood turns out to be Dottie’s, we might have a real problem on our hands.”
“No. This can’t be happening,” Nikki whispered, her mind spinning. “I have to see him. I have to see him right now,” she cried, jumping up from the sofa.
“They won’t let you see him. He’ll be arraigned tomorrow morning. You can go then. But they won’t let you see him now.”
Nikki sat back d
own. She didn’t know what to do. Annabeth, Katie, and Brittany were crying, and Clayton was staring at the floor, unable to speak. Someone had to call Raffaella; better yet, someone had to go and talk to her. “Has anybody called Vic?”
“I think Steve called him; I’m pretty sure somebody did.”
“What about Cheryl?”
“The secretary? She was there when they made the arrest.”
Nikki’s face clouded. “Why didn’t she call me?”
“I asked her not to. I told her I’d come and tell you myself.”
“Oh.” Then it hit her. “Oh! Clayton! We’ve got to go!”
Clayton’s head snapped up. “Go where?”
“Do you realize we’re it? We’re all that’s going to keep the company running. We’ve got to get busy. Your dad is counting on us.” Nikki ran into the kitchen, turned off the oven, and ran back into the den. “Clayton, I’m not joking here. This is going to hit the news outlets so fast it’ll make our heads spin. We’ve got to pull it together. A lot of people are depending on us, and they’ll be watching us too. You with me?”
Clayton looked at the three girls, then back to Nikki. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m with you, Mom. You’re right – we’ve got to get on it.” He turned to Annabeth. “Bethie, will you guys go and talk to Nonna, tell her what’s going on? She deserves to be told face to face, not over the phone.”
“Sure. No problem. Where are you guys going?”
“We’ve got to go to the office and hope they’ll let us in,” Nikki told him. “There’s got to be a show of competency so the employees don’t freak out. That means we’ll have to split up and visit every site, make things look like business as usual. Then it’s got to be business as usual. The community’s got to see that we’re behind Tony but we can still keep things moving forward without him. Everything’s on the line here.”
“We can do this,” Clayton agreed.
“God, little girl, are you okay?” Vic’s frame filled the doorway, and Nikki ran and leaped into his arms.
“Oh, my god, I don’t think I’ve ever been as glad to see you as I am right now.” Nikki cried into his neck as his big arms pulled her to him.
“Vic’s here, honey. Everything’s gonna be okay. They let you see him yet?”
She sniffled. “No, Peyton says they won’t.”
“We’ll talk to Steve about it. In the meantime, what do you need me to do?”
“We’ve got to get back to business, instill some confidence in the employees and the community in our ability to keep things going. Clayton and I could use your help.”
“Whatever you need, baby. I’m at your disposal.” Vic grabbed Annabeth and hugged her tight. “You too, sweetie. Zio Vic will do whatever he can to help you guys. All you’ve gotta do is let me know what you need.”
“Thanks, Zio Vic.” Annabeth sobbed and kissed his cheek through her tears. “I love you.”
“No matter what happens, I’m here for all of you. You can always count on me,” Vic told the girl he considered his niece as he kissed her back.
Nikki clapped her hands together, then lodged them firmly on her hips. “Okay, girls and boys, enough chit chat. We’ve got a company to run.”
CHAPTER FORTY
“Next case, Commonwealth of Kentucky versus Antonio Luigi Walters. Charge, murder in the first degree,” the bailiff called out.
The courtroom was full, mostly of curiosity seekers and reporters. Besides Vic, Bart and Freddie had shown up to support Tony; Vic sat on one side of Nikki, holding her hand, and Bart sat on the other with his arm around her shoulders. Nikki’s eyes were so swollen from crying that she could barely see.
Tony was led into the courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit from the corrections department. He turned and scanned the courtroom and, when he saw her, his eyes brightened and he gave her a little wave even in his handcuffs. She squeezed Vic’s hand – hard.
Vic leaned down and whispered in her ear, “You okay, sweetie?”
Nikki shook her head and fought off more tears. “No. God, look at him, Vic. He’s worn out. I don’t know if I can stand this.” She choked as she tried to wave back at Tony and give him a little smile, but it was almost too hard.
Bart squeezed her. “I’ll be okay, honey. You’ll see.”
“Doesn’t feel that way.”
The proceedings were a blur to Nikki. She heard Steve say, “Your honor, my client pleads …” and then, very clear and strong, Tony interrupted and said, “Not guilty, your honor.” When it came to bail, Nikki was prepared to pay, but her heart sank when the prosecutor argued that Tony was a flight risk, and the judge denied him bail.
Steve had an idea: “Your honor, I’d request that, considering the number of people my client employs in this area and the contracts his company has to honor even in his absence, he be allowed two conferences per week with key officers from the corporation to keep everything going smoothly and avoid layoffs, thereby avoiding lost revenue for the region.”
Nikki held her breath and squeezed Vic’s hand again.
“I see no reason to deny that.” Steve watched, expecting the prosecutor to have a fit, but he said nothing. “I’ll order the jailer to find a secure conference room where up to six people could meet,” the judge told the courtroom. This time, Vic squeezed Nikki’s hand.
When they led him out of the courtroom, she mouthed I love you to him, and he nodded and smiled. Standing to leave, she found Steve at her side. He took her hand and pulled her out into the hall and to a bench, then sat down with her. “You okay? Need anything?” he asked with a hand on her shoulder while Vic watched from a distance, his eyes never leaving Nikki.
“Yeah. I need Tony out of jail. I need to be in fifteen places at once. I need a vacation. God, I need this nightmare to be over.”
“How’s Mrs. Walters?” Steve asked. “This has got to be hard on her.”
“Annabeth said she was really upset. I’m going to check on her tonight.” Nikki dreaded that visit.
“What about all of the brothers?”
“I’m letting Vic and Clayton handle them. I can’t deal with that right now. I’m under a lot of pressure to keep the company running, and I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.” She started to cry, and Vic couldn’t take it anymore; he walked over, sat down on her other side, and put his arm around her. She sighed and leaned into his shoulder.
“Hey, remember, I’ve been his attorney for a long time. I know a lot of stuff that might help you. Never hesitate to ask if I can help you with anything. I’ll be glad to.” She knew that wasn’t just talk; Steve meant it. “Tony’s not just my client; he’s my friend. Now this is personal. It’s my job to make this go away, and I’ve got my work cut out for me.”
“Thanks, Steve. By the way, that thing with the conferences? Brilliant. I never would’ve thought of that. So thanks for that too.” Nikki patted his arm.
“Yeah, I thought of that at the last minute. And it worked. It’s a miracle!” he laughed. “And I want you to know I think you’re one tough, smart lady, and if anybody could keep the company running, it’s you. Clayton’s a good kid, and he’s got a good head on his shoulders. He could do this by himself if he had to. And you’ve got the big guy here too.” He nodded toward Vic, and Vic kissed the top of Nikki’s head. “So you’re going to be fine, ladybug.”
“I appreciate you, Steve, really, I do.” His words were the most positive thing Nikki had to hold onto. She was going to have a lot of people looking at her, waiting to see how she’d perform. She couldn’t let Tony down. “And I promise I’ll call you if I need you.”
Nikki had an armload of paperwork; so did Clayton. Both had legal pads full of notes. Vic was with them, and Cal and Cheryl came along. They could have one more employee with them, so they chose Brenda from the accounting office. She was a supervisor, so she could speak to all different kinds of accounting issues.
After the officers had gone through everything they had with them, they all filed into the confere
nce room. They were shown to seats and admonished that they could not touch Tony or each other, or pass anything to or from him and, when they had received all their instructions, he was led in wearing handcuffs and leg irons. It took everything Nikki had to not break down when she saw him like that. There was a tired, worn-down look about him, and all she really wanted was to wrap her arms around him and tell him everything was okay. No one said anything until the guard moved to the door.
“Hi, baby.” Nikki was trying her best to not cry. “Are you okay?”
“As okay as I can be in this place. You okay?” Tony asked, as subdued as she’d ever seen him.
“I’m all right.” She winked at him and he smiled. “So we’ve got to keep this company together. That’s why we’re all here. We’ve got an hour, and we’ve got lots of stuff to go over. You up to this?”
He nodded. “Absolutely. Let’s do it.”
They spent the hour going over projections, schedules, punch lists, anything and everything Clayton, Nikki, Cal, and Vic could think of. Cheryl chimed in a few times, and Brenda answered several questions. It was a good meeting, and they covered a lot of territory and stayed on track.
Eventually, the guard gave them the five-minute warning. They wrapped up the loose ends, and then Tony turned to Vic. “Do you remember what I told you? About if I wasn’t there?”
“Of course. And I want you to know I’m doing exactly what you asked,” Vic assured him.
“Good. I really don’t care about anything else, as long as you do that one thing,” Tony reminded him, then turned and looked at Nikki. She smiled as she understood; he was talking about the time when he told Vic to always take care of her if he wasn’t around. She was cared for and loved, even if Tony wasn’t with her. And he wouldn’t be gone long, she was sure. “You listen to Vic,” he reminded her. “He knows what he’s supposed to do.”
“I know, baby,” she whispered. “I’m fine; I’ll be fine.”
“I love you, angel. Never forget that,” Tony whispered to her, and an ache set in as he fought to keep from reaching out to hold her.