Off the Grid (5 page)

Kellie sagged in relief, offered him a shy thanks. It lifted some of the sadness out of the room. The tension in him eased.

Marnie rolled her eyes. “Can we get on with this?”

They settled in to listen but Kellie stalled, reluctant or unsure of how to start.

“The best place to start is the beginning. Tell me what you want to happen.” He kept his voice level, his tone even. Nothing about his demeanor suggested careers hung in the balance, friendships, a child’s wellbeing.

Kellie shifted the sleepy-eyed baby in her arms. Her smile hesitant, confused, but when she cuddled her baby close the love in her eyes wasn’t feigned. When she lifted her head neither was the fear. “You’re not going to believe me.”

“Give me a try.” He didn’t make any sudden movements. Didn’t want to spook her. He gritted his teeth when Marnie nodded her consent.

“I worked for him. Mr. Drummond. Or his company, I guess. I came in a couple of times a week to do some temp work. He…he noticed me.” She stumbled over words, teared up. Caleb stifled his frustration at her choreographed speech. Then once again it circled around to the older woman guiding her forward with another nod of her head. Kellie cleared her throat. “Things happened, we hooked up. When I realized I was pregnant I went to him. Told him. He gave me cash and told me to get an abortion. Said there’d be more money after I’d had the procedure.”

Caleb frowned. “Obviously, you didn’t go through with it.”

“No.” She shook her head, once again looking to Marnie before lowering her head and whispering, “I…I didn’t.”

“And you lied and told him you went through with it?” Sophie directed her question at Kellie but she watched Marnie too. Nothing obvious, covert glimpses only.

Still looking down, Kellie shook her head. “No, I never went back. He was really angry when I told him. He called me stupid. And worse. No way was I going back there.”

“When you say ‘things happened’ what do you mean? What kind of relationship did you have?”

“Need it spelled out for you?” Marnie taunted.

“Something like that.” He refused to be baited. “Was it one night? An affair?”

“No.” Kellie paused to chew on her bottom lip. She tried to shift her position, but the narrow bed made it impossible. Sophie stepped in to help her. When she was settled, Kellie picked up where she’d left off, choosing to stare at the far wall this time. “We met in his office. Got to know one another. Afterwards we met at an apartment he keeps in Chinatown.”

Caleb sent a sideways glance in Sophie’s direction to gauge her reaction to what Kellie was saying. It had been a while since he’d had much to do with teenage girls, but this sounded like one cold and impersonal affair. Didn’t they want hearts and flowers? Justin Bieber lyrics? The narrowing of Sophie’s eyes followed by the slight tilt of her head confirmed he wasn’t imagining things.

“How long did this go on for?” he asked.

“Not long.” Kellie shrugged. “A couple of months.”

“Did you know he was married?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

Okay, not a total shock, but still. “And it didn’t bother you?”

“I needed the job.” For the first time she looked him full in the eye, unblinking, unwavering, unapologetic.

He didn’t know what to swallow first: the shock or the disbelief. “Did he threaten to fire you if you refused to sleep with him?”

“No. Nothing like that, but he never does. He loses interest and moves on. If we keep our mouths shut we get a few bucks, well more than a few.”

The sick slow glide of revulsion overran the first quick seconds of shock. He’d meant fired from her temp work job. Not…Caleb stilled. “Are you saying he paid…” He cleared his throat. “That he’s done this before, with other women?”

Marnie snorted. “If by women you mean girls, then yes. The only requirement is youth. They have to be eighteen. The younger looking the better. Pretty. And he prefers them desperate or destitute, so he shops the Downtown Eastside. It’s how he gets his rocks off. And good publicity to boot—employing the unemployable. His Fresh Beginnings Program sound familiar?” Her forehead shone with perspiration. She wiped it away with a shaking hand.

Caleb kept his mouth shut and shoved his fists into his front pockets. A public relations mess? If it was true it was a whole lot darker and dirtier.

“Starting to read between the lines yet, Counselor?” Her agitation picked up. “Your friend likes them young, but this is how he keeps it legal. He brings in temps. He picks one, he screws them in style, he pays them well for the privilege, and when it’s over they still have a job. Of course, it’s a different job far, far away from him and his precious reputation. Maybe in Calgary or a place like Toronto.”

“Marnie, calm down.” Sophie stepped in. Kellie fought back tears, which woke the baby who whimpered out a warning. Sophie reached for a tissue, handed it to Kellie. Then she reached for Marnie who backed up, tripping over her own feet to get away. Sophie froze.

Caleb wanted to throw up. Like Lot’s wife, he couldn’t resist the urge to flash a look back. To Kimberley, her outrageous accusations. The hardening started in his gut, calcifying his organs. Until his thoughts were heavy as stone. He fought to focus on the truth. Details could be manufactured. But it was her certainty, the fanatical crush of it that put him on the defensive. “I’m supposed to take your word for it?”

“That must be some world you live in? Where honesty doesn’t count for shit?” Marnie’s words sliced through air contaminated by the humiliation of confession.

Before he thought the motion through Caleb crowded into her personal space, put a toe over the line of his own private rules of confrontation. He spoke without weighing the consequences. “It’s been a long night. I’ve had it with your assumptions and your attitude. You don’t know jack about me, lady. So back off.”

“You think I’m lying?” She spit out a laugh. “I could make you a fucking list. This time he’s left a kid behind to prove it. Go ahead. Ask her how he plans on dealing with a child.”

“Okay, everyone back to their corners.” Sophie pushed her way between them. She put one hand on his chest, her eyes pleading.

“It’s true,” Kellie whispered from her makeshift hospital bed. Half cooing and half sobbing, clutching her baby to her chest. “All of what she says. I need to know how to protect my baby.”

Caleb closed his eyes. He was supposed to be at a party drinking wine, eating off china plates, and impressing Sophie. Instead, he was here. He was tired. Angry. Sickened.

And forced to ask a question he didn’t want an answer to, “Has he threatened you or his child?”

“He saw me. A couple of months ago. He was with his wife.” Kellie’s eyes filled with more tears. For the first time her voice was harsh. “They were slumming it at a charity event at the Carnegie Centre. Lots of cameras. Lots of press. I was working the event. Part of the wait staff.”

“Did he approach you?”

“No.” Kellie shook her head. “I stayed as far away from them as I could for the rest of the night.”

“But he contacted you after the event?”

“Yeah, he sent two guys to our apartment. They handed me an envelope and told me to leave Vancouver behind. Said if I spread lies about Jason Drummond bad things would happen.”

“You said ‘our apartment.’ Who do you live with?”

“I was renting with another girl.” Again she checked in with Marnie before proceeding. “Um, we went to school together.”

“What was in the envelope?”

“An eviction notice.”

Caleb’s hands tightened into fists. “What happened next?”

“A week later I got fired from my other part-time job. No reason. My boss just told me to leave and not come back.”

“Did you call the police after the break-in?”

Marnie’s laugh boomeranged around the room her target Caleb. “Seriously? Is this guy for real?”

Kellie took pity on him. Her sad smile suggested he was too naïve for this little group, this place. Unlike the other three people in the room who had what it took to survive in a place like the Downtown Eastside. “No. They made it pretty clear talking to the cops would be a bad idea.”

“But you stayed.” If this was an act it was pretty damn good. So good, it was impossible to doubt her. “Why?”

“I’m not brave or anything. Or stupid either, no matter how it looks. I don’t have anywhere else to go. And no money to get there if I did.”

“But you said Jason gave you money.” She looked away, swallowed. Caleb recognized guilt when he saw it. “How much money did he give you?”

Still avoiding eye contact she whispered, “$20,000.”

Next to nothing for Jason. Hell, it was the amount Caleb had pledged to Safe Night’s Refuge. His portfolio wouldn’t even miss it. In fact, it was a tax break. But a king’s ransom to her. And yet she’d burned through it in a matter of months without appearing to have benefited from the cash infusion. “What happened to it?”

“I had some debts. Back rent. And…and a friend needed help. Mr. Quinn, I come from the Downtown Eastside. I’ve lived here my whole life. Where else was I supposed to go?”

It was clear she’d gone to Marnie, who stepped closer to her side. She laid a possessive hand on Kellie’s shoulder. She offered Caleb a sneer. “I got her a SRO at the Balmoral. Kept her safe.”

Lovely.

It nauseated him to think of her in one of those rooms. “It’s going to be pretty hard to raise a baby in a single room occupancy suite with a communal bathroom down the hall. Which leads to the question: What now?”

Silence. It swelled until everyone in the room was inhaling the heavy weight of it. Sophie averted her gaze, Kellie blinked back tears. Marnie patted Kellie’s shoulder.

Marnie broke the silence. “We can make it work. We’ll find a way.”

Kellie lifted her eyes to meet Caleb’s. “If I want child support?”

The cynic in him was relieved they were finally getting to the reason he’d been included in this whole sordid mess. “Whether you want it or not, it’s his responsibility to provide it. But first we’ll need to do DNA testing to prove paternity.”

“And then?” There was no hesitation, no question as to the result. She believed, or knew, the baby was Jason’s.

“If he’s the father he’s required by law to pay child support until he’s eighteen or is legally adopted by a step-parent. Even if he voluntarily relinquishes his parental rights and wants no access or contact.”

Kellie sagged back against the bed.

“He has to support him.” Marnie smiled and Caleb knew the hint of triumph and calculation weren’t paranoia on his part.

He gritted his teeth so hard his jaw ached. “First things first, we need to prove he’s the father.”

If what she said was true, another side of the man he knew lived behind the perfect smile, the perfect life. It was brutal, vindictive, and dark.

“Do I need to talk to him, to see him?” asked Kellie.

“We’ll worry about it later. First, you need some rest.” Sophie reached over and pulled up the slipping sheet. She ran a hand over Kellie’s hair. “You’re wrong, you know. You are brave. Don’t ever forget it. Now you should get some rest. We’ll figure this out. We’ll find a way to keep you both safe. Jason Drummond isn’t above the law.”

She turned to Caleb and dipped her head in the direction of the door. Once they were outside with the door closed she rubbed her arms and met his gaze. “This can’t be easy for you. Thank you for listening. For staying. I know you had better things to do.”

“Wow.” Her low opinion of him hit him square in the gut. He scrubbed a hand over his jaw and blinked away the mental and physical exhaustion. His irritation rose at her assumptions, her desire to see him as nothing more than a sum of his possessions, for pegging him as privileged and callous. “Better things to do? Than coming to the aid of a desperate young girl? I’m flattered.”

“I didn’t mean it as a put down.”

“Yeah, you did. You’re not the only one who helps people through tough times.” All of a sudden he’d had enough. Tired down to his bones, he didn’t care if he was overreacting. “I practice family law for a reason. I provide support through a very difficult period in people’s lives. We analyze choices, try to resolve difficult conflicts, and I ensure they have a legally binding agreement when it’s said and done. All with the least amount of pain possible. Because I know what it’s like to watch your family fall apart. To be the pawn in a game of custody chess. I do my best to make sure those situations don’t happen in my office, with my clients, no matter their billing address.”

“I’m sure you do good work.”

They were back to first meeting status: stilted, wary, and uncomfortable. The hell with that. “Damn right I do. And I don’t require your recognition or praise to sleep at night. But thank you for acknowledging I’m not quite the selfish, privileged bastard you assumed I was.”

“I never said you were a bastard.”

“But you thought it.”

She crossed her arms. “Now who’s making assumptions?”

He pushed a hand through his hair. This was getting them nowhere. He pointed at the closed door. “The man they’re talking about in there? He would never…”

Sophie’s lips thinned. “You don’t believe her?”

Calm, rational, and quick thinking were all traits he valued and cultivated. Right now he felt none of those things.

“I need time to figure some things out.” He shoved his hands inside his pockets. “Because do you? Unquestionably, without-a-doubt believe everything they’ve said? You’re too smart to take what they’re saying on faith.”

Her brows rose. “I’m smart enough to know you’ve got a conflict of interest. You need to decide whether you can proceed fairly and objectively. Because yes, I believe her. Why would she lie to us?”

God help him, her chin went up. Her eyes flashed with her need to take him down a peg. His fingers clenched inside his pockets. Her challenge, the heat of it, inspired absolute honesty.

“Because anyone who knows you or who’s familiar with your work knows you’ll do whatever it takes, go balls to the wall, to champion a victimized young woman from the Low Track. And if taking sides hands you a chance to take down the man who’s determined to clean up the Downtown Eastside, all the better. Jason Drummond is pain in your ass. Of course, they came to you.” And hell, since he was destroying any chance at a relationship he might as well go for it. “And I don’t know what your history is with Marnie, but you’re doing it as much for her as you are for Kellie. So maybe I need to be the one asking, how objective are you?”