The Bounty Hunters: The Marino Bros.: Box Set (88 page)

Alex was the first to recover. “Mr. Marino, let me introduce my colleagues. This is Jeffrey Lambert, your attorney. He is at my firm, and he has been busy.”

“So, I hear,” Gio shook the other man’s hand firmly.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Marino.” Jeffrey Lambert was an incredibly tall man, with wavy blond hair, cut expertly, but he looked like no attorney Lisa knew. He was built like a linebacker.

Gio nodded and stepped back to make room for the men to step away from the curb.

Alex was speaking again. “And this is one of my legal assistants, Justice Jones.”

Again, Gio shook the man’s hand. Justice was younger than the two attorneys by about ten years, but he too was tall. Gio, was able to look each man in the eye as he was six foot tall, like his brothers.

Lisa felt dwarfed among all the testosterone, and invited everyone inside. They had much to discuss, and she knew Nikko would be arriving soon, and then her son, Johnny, her sister Mary and her brood. It was going to be a houseful.

Inside the men all settled at the dining room table, and Alex was the first to go over what work he had been up to. “I’ve just gotten a court order to get access to your husband’s email, and credit card statements and computers. I’ve got men already on the way, to start digging.”

“Excellent,” Gio chimed in. “I was going to ask about that. I have some of my own people tracing his calls.”

“You can’t do that. It’s illegal.” Alex didn’t look pleased.

Gio gave the attorney a sour look. “Listen, you do your thing. I’m happy to share. I understand what I find, you can’t use. But, if it gets us to evidence, I’m sure you can find a way to obtain it legally.”

“Please don’t tell me anything directly, Mr. Marino. If this goes to court, it could jeopardize what the judge will allow as admissible.” His eyes narrowed at the use of the word directly.

“Understood.” Gio turned to Lisa who then expressed her own understanding.

“Alex, I think you might find a need to examine my husband’s cell phone records.”

“Understood.” Alex smiled and Mark, the legal assistant, was pulling out his phone and typing away furiously in an instant. “Anything else?” he asked.

“Well,” Lisa continued. “Gio and his brother who work for Marino Bail, Bonds, and Bounty will be following my husband around, to establish his routine, and see if he meets with anyone he may be in contact with on his phone.”

“Stop.” Alex put up his hand. Both Gio and Lisa looked at Alex. “Mr. Marino, my firm would like to hire you to continue this investigation. Your fee?”

Gio nodded. “One dollar.”

Again, Alex nodded at his assistant, and once more he began typing. Justice chimed in, and then slid his iPad over to Gio. “Can you please sign here Mr. Marino? A contract.” Gio used the stylus and signed his name electronically.

“Okay,” Alex continued. “Now you can tell me more.”

“I have reason to believe Albert hired a woman to pose as Lisa. He set her up with similar clothes, had her make the purchases for the bomb parts, and then had her go to Legacy Luxury Autos to get her on film. This woman worked at a fetish club, called The Scene, and she looks similar to Lisa in some ways.” He passed his phone over to Alex who smiled broadly.

“Very interesting. Very good. Her name?”

“Connie Wheeler.” Justice continued to type furiously.

“Yes, I think so, and it is a solid lead. My brother will be here soon,” Gio glanced at the clock on the mantle. “And he will be following Albert. I’ll take this Connie Wheeler.”

“Perfect.” Alex tapped his long fingers along the maple table. “You do good work.”

“I know.” Gio’s statement was made simply.

Alex shook his head in derision. Gio Marino was not Blaze, but he knew why the man was so uptight with him. He saw him as competition. And if Lisa didn’t have eyes for Gio, he might be that competition. The leggy red head was just his type.

“Okay, well, I think we are in a good place where the investigative work is going. I think we need to follow up tomorrow with anything new. But let’s get onto other matters.” Lisa smiled as he reached over and patted her hand. She saw Gio scowl out of the corner of his eye, and pulled her hand back to her lap.

“Please do.” Gio snarled.

“Well, the court order, surprise, surprise was lifted by none other than Albert himself restricting access to your son.”

“Thank goodness. And yes, we heard. The school called my sister.”

“Yes, it’s great news,” he went on. “Mr. Rasmussen probably knows he can’t win that dispute, and we may have tipped him off yesterday when we submitted a request to his own attorney for Albert to take a paternity test at a lab downtown.”

“What time was that?” Gio interrupted.

“Um, about four, I think.”

That made sense, and was probably why Albert had left work early Gio thought. It was also why he had made those calls, and that impromptu report on the news. He had probably called his attorneys and they concocted the plan together.

It was finally Jeff Lambert who spoke up next. “I pulled some strings to get the tests done quickly, and I have the results here. They came in this morning. Albert’s announcement last night was because they wanted to reveal the news first and get in a preemptive strike. Smart. As you know, I am sure, you are without a doubt the boy’s father. I also have a hearing tomorrow in family court to gain for you partial custody if Ms. Rasmussen has no objection. And, I’m sure she doesn’t. We felt,” he looked at Alex, “this would make any transition easier if, sorry,” he apologized to Lisa, “things don’t go well in court. We both felt that this would protect Johnny.”

“I understand, and I have no objections.” Lisa shrugged her shoulders, and this time Gio reached for her hand under the table.

Once more the iPad was slid in front of her. She looked down.

“Signature please.” It was Justice once more, and Lisa picked up the stylus and signed.

“But, the good news is that Mr. Rasmussen by his statement, meant to taint the jury pool, has also relinquished his claim to Johnny. We will be sending papers this afternoon for him to sign as well, that will smooth things over in court tomorrow.”

“You guys work fast.” Gio’s respect for Alex, and the firm he worked with was growing, slightly.

“We have to. And yes, we do.” Alex grinned, showing even white teeth in his chiseled face.

Cocky, son of a bitch, Gio thought. He’d like to smash him in the face. He did not like the way he looked at Lisa at all. But, he’d restrain himself. The man was good, and so was his own attorney.

“Okay, well, I must say the meeting went well. I do believe we need a few more forms signed by each of you. And the original documents and tapes you have. But, I am happy to say that Lisa, you can go get your son.”

“He’s already on the way.” Now, it was Alex’s turn to look surprised. Lisa laughed. “I told you the school called my sister.”

“Wow, ok. That should be all right. I was hoping to deliver the good news myself.”

“That’s okay, Alex. You confirming it, makes it seem even more real. I know it’s only been two weeks, but I have never been apart from Johnny this long, and just not knowing what the future will hold, well, I want to spend every minute with him I can. Oh, tomorrow, do we need to be in court?”

“No, not with the papers already signed by each of you. We will have everything sent over by courier, so you have all the paperwork confirming that Gio has partial custody.”

“Excellent,” Gio said and stood abruptly.

Alex’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but he took the hint. “You said your brother was arriving?”

Gio nodded. Alex smiled and remained seated. “We need him to sign a contract as well, so that any information we obtain from either one of you, has legitimacy. You understand, of course.”

“Of course,” Gio smiled. “I’ll just go make a fresh pot of coffee.”

“You do that,” Alex purred. Gio turned in mid-step.

Lisa sensing the tension, immediately intercepted. “No, let me get the coffee.”

Just as Lisa put her arm out to stop Gio the door flew open.

“I’m home!” It was Nikko, and with his smile came a warm gust of wind. The room was deadly silent. “Well, hell, I expected at least a hello.” His grin was full of mischief.

Oh, Brother

“H
i, Nikko,” Lisa
was the first to speak.

She began to approach the door, and he met her half way. Giving her a small hug, he pulled back, and then chucked her under the chin. “Now, where is the kid? Where is my nephew?”

Lisa heard the note of disappointment in his voice, but continued to smile. She owed these Marino men, all of them an apology. “He’ll be here soon. I’m sorry, I kept this from you. I hope in time you will come to understand.”

Nikko nodded as he passed around her to reach his brother. “Yo Daddy-O. Big pops. Old man,” he teased.

Gio just shook his head at his brother’s silly antics. He was normally the one with the silly one liners. “Cut the crap, Nikko. I’ll put you over my knee. I need the practice.”

“Ouch,” Nikko made a fake pained expression. “Did the old man lose his sense of humor?”

Gio cracked a smile. “I’ll show you who is old.” And then he grabbed Nikko and put him in head lock so quick, the whole room gasped. Lisa stood back, and then burst out laughing. They hadn’t changed at all. She loved it and clapped her hands in glee. She felt sixteen again. She hadn’t seen this side of Gio, since he arrived. This was her Gio. Fun loving, go lucky, Gio. Not the brooding man he had been these past few days. Having Nikko here might help rather than preventing them from making progress on their own personal situation. She knew he would be helpful with the investigation, but a small part of her had worried that having him around might put a distraction there that would not allow her and Gio to talk this thing out. But now, she saw that having Nikko there, might just help. He would bring back a little normalcy to a very un-normal situation.

Nikko worked his way out of the head lock, and Gio released him when he heard the other men behind him begin to comment. He quickly made the introductions, and explained they would be working, for a dollar, for Alex’s firm. Nikko heard the undercurrent in his brother’s voice, and would ask about that later. But he signed the contract, understanding the reasons behind it.

Gio was pleased when the attorneys then made their excuses and a hasty getaway. They had much to do. They agreed to a conference call the next day at five o’clock.

That left Gio, Nikko, and an anxious Lisa, who excused herself to the kitchen to make sandwiches. She wanted to give the brothers a bit of time alone to catch up, but also wanted to keep busy until her son arrived. Making sandwiches gave her the excuse she needed, and she figured everyone would be hungry.

“Sit man, sit,” Gio ordered when Lisa slipped into the kitchen.

“You look like hell, by the way,” Nikko murmured as he got comfortable on the sofa, and Gio took a seat in the wing chair next to him.

“Thanks a lot.”

Nikko noticed the dark circles under his brother’s eyes. “Not getting much sleep?” he insinuated with his eyebrows. If he knew his brother like he thought he did, Gio was doing other things besides sleeping at night.

Gio didn’t miss the suggestive comment and answered honestly. “Um, yeah, there is that, but I’ve been working too.”

“Mm-hm,” came the reply.

“I know, it does complicate matters. But you know how I am with her.” He used his chin to indicate the area of the kitchen. He’d also dropped his voice down so Lisa would not over hear their current conversation.

“Oh, I know how that is.” Nikko was thinking back to his own recent events. “So, what’s doing? Where is this headed?”

“I don’t know. But I’m cooling it now. I, we,” he corrected, “need to focus on the case. I want to get to know my son. So I’m real glad you’re here. Thanks.”

“Of course.”

“Ronnie’s not mad, is she?”

“Nah, she understands by now. Plus, she is redecorating the apartment, and just started her new job.” Nikko rolled his eyes, and Gio couldn’t help but laugh. Nikko’s bachelor pad was sparse. He could only imagine what Ronnie was doing with the place. She was a tomboy herself, but still a woman.

“I can only imagine,” he teased.

“Well don’t imagine too hard,” Nikko quickly retorted.

Again, Gio laughed. “My son should be here soon,” he announced tapping his foot nervously. “I can’t wait for you to meet him. A real little man.”

Nikko heard the note of pride in his tone. “Can’t wait to meet him too, Gio. It’s pretty fantastic. A few months ago, it was just us. Now we got Ronnie, Bella, and Johnny. Monica’s twins are due any day. Our family is growing. What about?” Again Nikko indicated the other room.

“I don’t know man. I know I’m still attracted to her. Powerfully. I was about to clobber her attorney when you walked in. But, I have some serious trust issues now.”

“Understandable. But, why the attorney?” he asked his interest piqued.

“The way he looks at her.” Gio shook his head derisively.

“Ah, the old green eyed monster is back, I guess.”

“I guess. You know I never felt that way about anyone else. I just don’t know if it’s enough, you know.”

“I know. Being cooped up together like this must not make it any easier.”

“Got that right. Thrown together. Judge ordered it. Afraid she is a flight risk because she’s got her own money.”

“So, what do you need me to do?”

Gio was relieved when Nikko changed the subject. He explained the particulars, about the van to monitor Albert’s activities, and Nikko nodded his understanding.

“I’ll need you to keep tabs on him during the day, and at night, especially if he goes out.”

“Understood. So, it’s going to be long days and nights. The van got a cot?”

“I think so, sorry.”

“It’s okay. It is what I’m here for.”

“I appreciate it, and I’ll relieve you when I can.”

“Nah, you be here for your son. I get it. I’m ready to work. Andreas has been giving me nothing but light duty.”

“You were shot,” Gio reminded his brother.