See Me(125)

“You’re just telling me this now? That you’ve been playing private investigator all this time?”

Colin nodded toward the officers. “I told the cops when they were arresting me where Lester might have gone. They didn’t want to listen.”

It was quiet for a moment. One of the officers shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

“But he wasn’t running toward the park,” Serena ventured softly. “Or for the house.”

“Excuse me?” Margolis said.

“The park is a few streets over that way,” Serena said, pointing in the direction of the kitchen. “And unless he wanted to take the long way around the block, he wasn’t running toward the vacant house, either. He ran the other way, in the opposite direction.”

Margolis absorbed this before excusing himself to huddle with the officers, two of whom subsequently departed. About half an hour too late, Colin thought.

Margolis returned to Maria. “Assuming Lester drove here, and since there are no cars registered in his name, they’ll find out if any of the cars have been stolen or if we can link them to Lester in another way. Of course, Lester may have doubled back and taken the car or he may have simply run off, but the important thing for now is that I’m confident that you’re safe. Are you planning to return to your place?”

“She’ll be staying with us,” Felix announced. “Serena too.”

Margolis thumbed over his shoulder. “Your front door is broken.”

“I have some two-by-fours in the garage. I’ll brace it, and then tomorrow, I’ll have it repaired.”

“Do you have an alarm?”

“Yes,” he said. “But we don’t use it much.”

“Use it tonight, even though you’ll have to bypass the front door. And brace the door and keep the shades drawn as a precaution.”

“What about police protection?” Serena asked. “Having someone at the house?”

“I won’t be able to swing that,” Margolis answered. “Pick your reason: budget cuts, not enough manpower, limits on overtime, or even that the Fifty-C hasn’t been filed. But I’ll call the commander, and I’m pretty sure I can arrange for a patrol car to swing by every few hours.”

“What if Lester comes back?”

“I don’t think that’s likely.”

“Why would you say that?”

“Because he’s afraid of the police, and for all he knows, there will be an officer here.”

“Unless he’s crazy and doesn’t care.”

“He ran off earlier,” Margolis said, but realizing how cavalier it probably sounded, he went on. “I know you’re frightened and upset, Ms. Sanchez. I get it. I’ll make sure a couple of the officers cruise the neighborhood for an hour or so. And who knows, maybe they’ll get lucky and pick him up. If they do, they’ll bring him in and I’ll stick him in the interrogation room and see what I can do. And tomorrow, either way, you file for the Fifty-C, and the next time he comes anywhere near you, he’ll be arrested. And that arrest will stick.”

Colin noted the conflicting emotions playing out across Maria’s features. She glanced at the officers near the door before drawing a long breath.

“May I talk to you alone?”

Margolis debated before finally nodding. He motioned for the other officers to leave and they quietly exited through the front door. At the same time, Serena and her parents wandered toward the kitchen, and once they were gone, Maria sighed.

“What about Colin?”

Margolis looked over at him. “What about him?”

“I was hoping you’d talk to the officer who arrested him. Maybe convince him to let Colin off with some speeding tickets or whatever. Instead of arresting him.”

Margolis’s expression verged on disbelief. “Why would I do that? From what they told me, he was doing sixty in a residential neighborhood. He nearly crashed head-on with someone a couple of blocks from here, and he refused to pull over.” He shook his head. “Then once he got here, he defied the officers’ instructions to stand down and instead made a volatile situation that much worse.”

“I was in danger. You would have done the same thing if you thought someone you loved might be harmed.”

“He should have just let the police handle it. Meanwhile, with the way he was driving, he was endangering other people’s lives.”

“Lester had a gun, for God’s sake!”

“Yet another reason to let the police handle it.”

“It’s not fair and you know it!” Maria cried, her composure cracking. “I mean, sending him to prison? For speeding?”

I did a lot more than that, Colin thought. The officers only saw me during the last two minutes of the drive.

“He made his choices,” Margolis said. “Don’t forget that the officers had to draw their weapons. You could have been hurt. Your family could have been hurt.”

“And once he knew I was safe, he deferred to them and submitted willingly. He didn’t raise his voice, didn’t resist at all. You really want to ruin the rest of his life? Because he was racing to my rescue?”

“It’s not my call.” Margolis shrugged.

“No. But I have the sense they’ll listen to you.” She put her hands on her hips, willing Margolis to meet her gaze. “I know that you don’t trust Colin, and that you believe he belongs in prison. And if he’d struggled with the officers or resisted arrest or done anything else stupid, I wouldn’t be asking you to intervene. But those things didn’t happen, and you don’t strike me as being unreasonable or needlessly vindictive.” She hesitated. “I’d like to think that my impressions of you are correct. Please…”