Chapter Four
Minka snorted after Wes recounted his counsel to Robin later that night. “I’ll bet his eyes just glazed over with that dumb look of his.”
“No, he seemed to take it seriously.”
Minka put the cap on the lotion she’d applied to her legs before climbing into bed. “Maybe, but it didn’t motivate him to act. Instead of turning himself in, he took me up on my reluctant offer to eat dinner with us, then watched our TV, and finished it off by sleeping on our couch. I’m starting to think I’m losing my mind.”
“No, you’re not. You’re just being a loving sister.”
“A loving sister or an enabler?” She directed her question more to herself than to him. “He’s lying down there, by himself, with no one to stop him from taking off again. That goes beyond loving and into the village of complete idiots.”
“Honey.”
“It’s true. I’m treating a wanted fugitive like a delightful houseguest.”
“I wouldn’t say ‘delightful.’ ”
She gave him a sidelong glance. “You get what I mean. The part that scares me most is that I don’t have a plan to end it, either. I wish I could say I’ll hand him over to Cael first thing tomorrow morning, but I probably won’t. Even if I mustered up the gumption, who’s to say he’ll be here by then?”
“He stayed in our garage this whole time. Why run now?”
“Because I found him. Who knows what would’ve happened if I hadn’t.”
“I doubt even he does.”
****
Awake an hour earlier than usual, Minka lingered in bed and could only wonder what the day held in store. Once again, the numerous questions that had been haunting her since she discovered Robin pummeled her brain. It frustrated her to realize she couldn’t answer them any better now than she could the day before, but she hoped that would change. Better yet, she hoped she’d dreamed the whole thing and wouldn’t even spot a trace of her brother in her house.
Her latter wish seemed to have been granted when she carried Caela down the stairs and found no one on the couch. She glanced toward the bathroom and discerned that it, too, was vacant. She opted to check the kitchen, which held major possibilities.
“Boy?” Caela voiced confusion for them both as they passed by the couch, which had even been stripped of the bed clothes Minka had provided.
They encountered Wes, sitting at the kitchen table and reading the newspaper. “There are my girls.”
“Boy?”
“Call me ‘Daddy.’ ”
“She’s referring to Robin,” Minka pointed out the obvious, not in a humorous mood. “Don’t tell me he’s skipped town again.”
“I’m not sure, but he left a note.” He handed her a napkin with her brother’s messy handwriting on it.
I’m sorry I put you guys in such an awkward position. I realize what’s right, and for once, I’m going to do it.
****
Robin strode into the precinct and glanced around the room, already regretting his choice. Unlike his sister, he avoided police stations to the best of his ability, which admittedly, didn’t always prove to be good enough. In this case, he’d expected to confront this sooner or later, as much as he wanted to convince himself he could flee it. Minka’s discovering him had hastened it and robbed him of the little control he had left of his life. Wes’s counsel showed him that he still had some say in the matter, so he figured he ought to use it to do the “right thing” of his own accord.
On the few occasions he’d gone into a precinct, he hadn’t entered without accompaniment, so he couldn’t decide how to handle his introduction. He didn’t commit the crime of which he was accused, and he refused to say he was turning himself in for it. All he wanted to do was show his face and convince these people to get off of his back. He’d detected a momentary hint of doubt in Minka’s eyes when he spoke to her the previous day, and considering how few times she ever believed him, he deemed that fleeting second an accomplishment. Maybe he could make even more headway with a less biased officer.
That’s the reason he hoped to talk to someone other than Cael. He assumed Minka soured her precious brother-in-law’s view of him in the years after they served as groomsmen together at her and Wes’s wedding. Before he made it to the front desk, however, he peered into the next room and spotted Cael, who caught sight of him at the same instant. The detective slowed his steps and headed in his direction, making him freeze without a command to do so. He twisted his wrists while they were still unrestrained.
He waited for Cael to take out his weapon and handcuffs, reciting his Miranda rights to him. Instead, he extended his empty hand. “Morning, Robin. It’s been quite a while.”
“Yeah, it has. I just dropped by because I hear you guys have been on the lookout for me.” He hadn’t planned to phrase it that way, but he liked how it sounded. He managed to ignore the fact that he’d run and treat it as though he was on a casual errand. Nonetheless, he didn’t reckon Cael would play along.
“I’m glad you did. Let’s go have a seat so we can chat. I was on my way to get a cup of coffee. Would you like one?”
Stunned by his friendliness, he almost forgot to reply. “Sure.”
Cael pointed toward his desk and allowed him to go without an escort. He couldn’t believe he showed such trust in him, and in truth, his heart prodded him to take advantage of it and make his getaway while he could. He understood, however, that he’d better build on that this time.
He sat down in the chair Cael had instructed him to and refused to lock eyes with anyone. As he fixed his attention on his shaky hands, his first experience talking to the police ran through his mind, along with the memory of when they found him in that basement…
Beaten and bruised from two days of hourly whippings, Robin sat, hands tied, on the dusty basement floor of his own neighbor’s house. He stared at Lyle, the man’s other captive, lying on the top bunk of the cold bed they’d been sharing. He was nine years old and very skinny, and their kidnapper had just hurt him again. Robin feared his turn awaited him soon.
“I’m scared,” he told Lyle.
“I know. I used to be, too, but I’m not anymore. He’s meaner when he can tell I’m afraid.”
“Will anybody ever find us?”
Just before he gave a response, Lyle peeked out the darkened window at the Parkers’ house. “A police car is parked at your house.”
“Can we yell for them?”
“No. He’d hear us.”
Footsteps stalked down the stairs.
The bearded man grimaced from the doorway. “He’d hear what?”
Lyle winced. “Nothing.”
“I’ll show you nothing.” He threw the boy from the bed to the floor. “I don’t trust you two alone anymore. We’ll leave the little one down here, and you and I need to go for a drive.”
With that, he dragged Lyle by the shirt collar and shoved him up the stairs. Lyle gave Robin one last glance before their captor slammed the door. Moments later, his companion screamed outside, and the brakes squealed as the kidnapper fled with him. Sirens blared from the police car. The vehicle didn’t arrive right away, but after what seemed like years, an officer began yelling from upstairs. Robin started to sob and screamed for help, leading the cop to him…
As his mom cradled him, the policemen interviewed him, but he couldn’t say much due to his rattled nerves. His parents didn’t tell him for years what happened to Lyle despite how many times he entreated them. When he was sixteen, they revealed that the police pursued his abductor in a high-speed chase on the interstate, which ended in him crashing into the median. Neither he nor Lyle survived.
Although countless people had assured him the blame didn’t fall on him, Robin struggled with guilt over his being rescued because of Lyle’s bravery. He often questioned if he would’ve done the same if the opportunity presented itself. A day didn’t pass without him remembering Lyle, and the possible scenarios that could’ve saved him.
He couldn’t change the tragedy, but he now had the chance to prevent another one. He didn’t care about Hamilton, but he had to convince them he wasn’t the attacker, so they’d find whoever it was before somebody else was hurt.
****
Without a clue over what her brother’s note meant, Minka sped to the station. During the whole drive, she grappled with her fears of fessing up to her brother-in-law. Withholding information in a criminal investigation was a crime in itself, but the consequences it would have on their relationship worried her even more. They shared a mutual trust, and though both had tested it several times, this would be the hardest one to overcome.
The precinct’s parking lot held only two cars, besides those belonging to officers, which relieved Minka. The unrushed atmosphere would allow for a composed conversation between the two and might promote Cael’s forgiveness. She also hoped Caela’s presence would aid her cause. It all sounded promising, until she saw Robin sitting at her brother-in-law’s desk.
Robin’s mouth dropped open. “Minka? What are you doing here?”
“I didn’t know where you snuck off to and wanted to warn Cael you might be fleeing the state again.”
“I told you in my note that I was going to do the right thing. Don’t you agree this is it?”
“Yes, but I wasn’t sure you thought so.”
Confusion on his face, Cael intervened. “Hold on, you two. Minks, follow me into the break room.”
They made their way to the next room, ironically where they’d first met. Cael stood against the counter, while Minka took a seat. He crossed his arms, which filled her with trepidation.
“So, you’ve known where he was this entire time?”
Her fury mounted. “Is that what he told you?”
“He never mentioned you until you barged in here. Imagine my surprise when you said he’s been leaving you notes.”
“He’s been huddled in my garage since last Tuesday.” Her statement netted her another look of bafflement from him. “And I didn’t discover it until yesterday. I called you as soon as I found him, but when you didn’t answer…”
“You took matters into your own hands,” Cael finished for her. “Isn’t that the same thing Wes said, just before WITSEC carted him away?”
Accepting his checkmate, Minka couldn’t argue but cut to the chase. “Are you going to arrest me for obstruction of justice or not?”
He took out his cell phone from his pocket and scrolled through his missed calls. “Well, you called me just before one, meaning you found him around that time. Since you didn’t knowingly harbor him for a full twenty-four hours, you aren’t liable.”
“I don’t remember that law.”
“That’s because it doesn’t exist.” He smirked. “We’ll keep this conversation between us, just like the one I had with Robin’s landlady, who said his sweet sister was the last one in his place to feed his cat. Were you harboring that, too?”
“You and I both know an animal couldn’t live under those conditions.” She grazed over the fact that he’d caught her. She stared at her brother through the two-way mirror. “What are your plans for him?”
Cael sighed. “He’s maintaining his innocence, but he lacks a solid alibi. Unless he can provide one, we’ll have to arrest him.”
“Have you checked out the surveillance at the bowling alley? Robin says Hamilton had just arrived when he left.”
“He told us the same, but no, we still haven’t made contact with the owner.”
Mulling over the predicament, Minka recalled the other claim that could lend Robin a second chance. “Did he tell you about the watch?”
“No, not yet.”
“The story he told me was that he sold it the day after Hamilton’s attack, meaning he didn’t lose it at the alley.” She chose to omit his reason for selling it.
“That’s interesting. He wouldn’t happen to have a receipt of the sale, would he?”
“No.” Her hope began to dwindle away.
“Does he know the buyer’s name?”
“That’s a negative, too. It was a coworker of his, so maybe you could ask around.”
Her brother-in-law shook his head. “That opens up the possibility of him coercing someone to do him a favor.”
She submitted to his logic, but the words hit her hard and forced her to realize the grim truth. “My little brother’s going to jail.”
“Not necessarily,” Cael encouraged her, at least for a moment. “I could call the DA’s office and suggest they offer to put him on house arrest until his trial.”
“You think the judge would go for it?” Minka had made the request a few times, but the department always shot it down.
“I think the chances are pretty good, especially if he stays in your house.”
Stunned, she couldn’t do more than blink. “What?”
He grinned. “Consider it your obstruction of justice sentence.”
She gave Caela a pitiful gaze. “Cael, you can’t let an alleged violent criminal live in the same house as your baby niece.”
“Why not? You did.”
****
Unable to sleep much since her brother’s kidnapping, Minka ambled down the hall to check on him. She observed him wrestling in his sleep yet again, and the familiar sight conjured up tears in her eyes. The police had rescued him a month ago, but the wounds his abduction left were far from healed. She couldn’t step into his dreams or understand all that he’d suffered in those two days he was missing, but she was sure of one thing—it was her fault.
Despite not having experienced his pain, she could relate to his restlessness. The few times she closed her eyes, terrifying images of Robin and his cruel kidnapper flooded her brain. She figured they paled in comparison to his nightmares, but she couldn’t fathom the thought.
A psychiatrist was treating both of them and evaluated them for conditions of which Minka didn’t even understand. From reading her lips through a cracked door, she gathered her therapist warned her parents that Robin may have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and she, chronic depression. She consulted the dictionary on the terms later, and her findings troubled her.
Just before she left the room, Robin’s eyes opened. “What are you doing in here?”
Minka struggled to read his lips in the room illuminated by a dim night light. “I was worried about you.”
“I’m fine. Go back to your room.”
“What were you dreaming?”
“I don’t remember.”
Giving up, Minka scampered back to the door, but before closing it behind her, she uttered a vow. “I’ll never let anyone hurt you again.”
At a loss, Minka left the precinct and headed home. She hadn’t talked to Robin on her way out nor did she plan to join him at his arraignment. Rather, she’d enlisted Cael to update her and resolved to allow Robin’s fate—and her own—play out however it wished.
Minka refrained from calling her parents until the situation settled down…if it ever would. When she returned home and called Wes to relate Cael’s proposition, she wished he would refuse to support the arrangement, but to her disappointment, he agreed without hesitation. Thus, she began to make up a room for Robin in their half-furnished basement, never gladder to have the only house with one in the neighborhood.
Meanwhile, she kept receiving the promised updates from Cael. The first text didn’t surprise her, with it announcing her brother’s long-awaited arrest. Nothing followed during the three hours he spent in a holding cell, but her brother-in-law soon appealed to her to make an appearance at Robin’s arraignment.
“Absolutely not.”
“They’ll take house detention off the table if you don’t show,” Cael told her and Wes, who was in on the call, too. “Why would the judge put him in your care if you’re not even there to support him?”
“I’m not asking to be his guardian.”
“What are you asking for, then? If you honestly don’t care what happens to him, I wasted my time negotiating this with the court.”
Minka couldn’t make a reply, throwing out the ones she would’ve liked to have said because they sounded purely selfish. She owed it to both Robin and Cael to attend the proceedings, but her stubbornness barred her from admitting it. Without discussion, her husband did it for her.
“She’ll be there.”
“Wes!”
With gritted teeth, she hit the road ten minutes later. After she dropped Caela off with Jaclyn, she scrambled into the courthouse moments before Robin plodded through the doors, his wrists in handcuffs. She made eye contact with him just once as he entered the room, and he didn’t appear any more thrilled to see her than she was him. While his apparent disgust infuriated her, she chuckled inside, anticipating the moment when he’d learn she held the key to any hope he had of relative freedom.
Cael, who’d driven him over, accompanied Minka on the bench behind Robin just in time for the judge to take his position in front of them. Besides the prosecuting attorney and Robin’s public defender, the three listened to Judge Broadley’s opening remarks on their own. After highlighting the crime of which Robin stood accused, he gave the representative of the District Attorney the chance to state the charge they were seeking.
The attractive blonde lawyer rose. “With Mr. Parker having one battery conviction before, we’re charging him with second degree assault, Your Honor.”
It was a blow, albeit an expected one, carrying a potential five-year prison sentence. Minka had hoped for a misdemeanor charge but had figured his priors would merit a greater penalty. Still, the words dampened his prospects, causing her to doubt the judge would entertain the idea of house arrest.
Snapping Minka out of her daze, Robin entered his plea, which, to nobody’s surprise, was not guilty. With that, Judge Broadley took a moment to decide where Robin would await his trial.
He fixed his gaze on the defendant. “Do I understand correctly, Mr. Parker, that your sister used to work as a police detective for the Orlando P.D.?”
“Yes, she did.” Robin’s answer trickled out with hesitation.
“In that case, I’m releasing you on your own recognizance, as long as you’re under her roof and are wearing an ankle monitor. You cannot leave the house unless given permission by the court. Do you understand these conditions?”
His head jerked in Minka’s direction, his dismay evident. “Yes, Your Honor.”
****
On the drive home from the courthouse, Minka tried but failed to wrap her mind around the life to which she’d subjected herself. When she sauntered through the door, Wes, the picture of contentment, sat and graded tests like he would on any other day. She figured more tension crackled underneath his cool façade, but he wanted to make her feel at ease and discourage her from complaining. His plan succeeded to a degree, channeling her aggravation from her brother to him.
She wondered when just the three of them would enjoy such tranquility in the house again. She wished she could soak it in and bottle it, but all she could do was brace herself for the approaching storm.
“I keep waiting for a sense of inner peace to wash over me, but my utter dread won’t budge.”
Wes didn’t break from his contented act. “We’re doing the right thing.”
“Are we? Because it just seems like we’re handing him a literal ‘Get out of Jail Free’ card. I mean, is he really going to learn his lesson if he’s in a comfortable room watching television while I’m cooking his meals?”
He winked. “That’s what I’ve been doing for the past six years, and I’ve learned a lesson or two.”
“My case in point.”
“You know, no one said you had to cook for him. The way I see it, if he were on house arrest in his apartment, he’d be cooking for himself.”
She considered his line of reasoning for a moment and imagined the scene. “The way I see it, I don’t want him exploding my kitchen.”
“Then, just smile, and tie on an apron, my love.”
Minka frowned at the advice, aware of her own contradiction. She resisted complaining any further and proceeded to put the finishing touches on Robin’s living space. Once she finished, she made a brief call to her parents to summarize the past two days’ events. They, like she, voiced mixed feelings, but in the end, they expressed their happiness that their children were at least together. They also thanked her and Wes for permitting Robin this chance.
Their conversation was wrapping up when Cael arrived at the house. She was thankful he’d driven his own car, uneager for Camille to notice a squad car park in their driveway. In another effort to conceal the situation from her, Minka requested Cael escort Robin inside through the garage. She directed them to take his luggage, which they’d picked up along the way, down to the basement.
“Can’t I just stay on the couch?” Robin greeted in a whine.
“Not with all of this baggage.” It didn’t take long for her to realize the unintentional pun.
“I didn’t ask for this.”
Neither did I, she wanted to say. Instead, she led them down the stairs in silence and tried to shake off her brother’s lack of gratitude. After the two set down the load on the bed, they trotted out for the last of what he’d packed, and Minka made her way back upstairs. She started dinner while they carted it in, but soon Cael joined her.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“I was never okay with it. I’m sure of that. I’m beginning to wonder who the real prisoner is here.”
He patted her shoulder, staying quiet for a moment, until he reported another disappointment. “I haven’t had the chance to tell you with everything going on, but we were able to contact the owner of the bowling alley. As it turns out, they delete their surveillance after a week, so we can’t confirm the timing of Robin and Hamilton’s interaction.”
“It figures.” She frowned, disgusted.
“If it becomes too much to handle, just let me know, and I’ll take care of it.”
“How do you propose to do that? You’ve already negotiated this with the judge. How could I march back into that courtroom and say, ‘Thanks for the offer, but please send him back to jail’?”
Cael didn’t reply, but his sad eyes revealed his worry along with a measure of regret. He hugged her and apologized for the whole situation. After that, he programmed Robin’s monitoring device and left the four on their own.
With Wes and his brother-in-law discussing the various models of sports cars in the living room, Minka returned to her dinner and switched off her cochlear implant’s transmitter to enjoy some silence. Still, she didn’t want to be rude, so she flipped it back on once she had finished cooking.
To her surprise, Robin offered to lend a hand when she began to set the table. Wes’s wink at him confirmed her suspicions that he must’ve tried to draw out her brother’s generous side. Even so, she forced herself to give him the benefit of the doubt. It proved rather difficult, however, the minute Wes exited the room to change Caela.
“I spent most of the day with Cael, and I have to say, I don’t understand why you named your baby after him.”
At present, Minka wondered the same thing, since he’d been responsible for getting her into this mess. “Well, he supported me a lot while Wes was in witness protection. As a matter of fact, he almost took a bullet for me when we were up against the mob. Caela and I could’ve died if it weren’t for him.”
“Mom told me that. You both overreact so much.”
She didn’t bother to waste her breath relating the experience to prove her point, but she countered with an argument he couldn’t dispute. “He’s always been there for me, which is more than I can say for you.”
****
Minka repeated her brother’s rude comments to Wes in their bedroom that night, still vexed. “He didn’t even wait an hour to start insulting us.”
“I think you took it too personally.”
“You always say that. Is it because I ‘overreact’?”
“No.” He put down the catalog he’d been browsing. “In this case, I just think the stress of everything has made you more sensitive.”
“Can you blame me?”
“No.” He remained mild, standing up to embrace her. “But I hope we don’t spend all our alone time grumbling about Robin for the duration of this.”
She drifted away from him, her scowl speaking volumes.
“But if you need to vent, I understand.”
Minka snickered at her husband’s quick turnaround, and she nestled her head back into that space between his chin and chest. Though perturbed by his lapse in empathy, she appreciated his advice. The whole ordeal promised to rob her of her sanity, and she couldn’t allow it to cripple her marriage, too.
Thus, she made a concerted effort to accept her new situation, keeping in mind that it was temporary. Robin’s behavior challenged her resolution, but she learned to ignore his irritating antics. To her gratitude, he spent the majority of the day in the basement, freeing her to proceed with her normal routine.
That Sunday threw another wrench into the ordeal, however. As they did every year, Minka and Wes hosted a Super Bowl party, expecting Wes’s folks, Cael and Autumn, along with all of the Channings. The couple almost cancelled it, with Robin prohibited from receiving visitors, but Gus assured them that his restrictions didn’t apply to them. To be on the safe side, they agreed to keep him separate from the group.
He didn’t take the news well when his sister informed him of the plan. “Are you kidding me? I never miss the Super Bowl.”
“Where had you planned to watch it if you’d still been evading the police? We didn’t hook the cable up to my car.”
He smirked. “I have some tricks.”
He continued to protest, and the debate lasted all weekend. On the big night, he didn’t object, but once their company started laughing at funny commercials and shouting about good plays, Minka imagined his loneliness. The older floorboards creaked and wouldn’t muffle the ruckus very well. Every time a team scored, she glanced over at the basement door and almost took a step forward to give him the update. The principle of it held her back, though, so she simply sipped on her wine cooler.
During halftime, Minka strolled into the kitchen to dish out some more snacks. As she prepared another cheese tray, Gus entered the room. “You’re a ball of nerves.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve had better weeks. I’m so divided. I’m angry at him for…well, just about everything, but he’s still my little brother. I never signed up to be his warden.”
“I understood Cael’s intentions, but to tell you the truth, I didn’t like the sound of this arrangement.”
“I didn’t either, but I hated for him to go to jail right away. I’m afraid he’ll get his fill of it before this is over.”
Gus didn’t speculate on Robin’s future. “You’ve fulfilled your duty to him and your folks, so draw some satisfaction from that. Keep your chin up, and don’t let him provoke you.”
She thanked him for the kind words, and they both rejoined the party. She passed around the cheese tray, to which most of her guests declined, except for Autumn. She still clearly wanted to redeem herself after their awkward dinner conversation two weeks prior, so she wouldn’t stop layering Minka with compliments the entire evening.
The hostess reciprocated with gracious replies, but it didn’t take long for the sweet talk to take a toll on her nerves. Needless to say, the endless cajoling didn’t lift her already rotten mood.
“This brie tastes so delicious.” Autumn sliced off more than anyone else had. “I’ve cut out most dairy, but this is exceptional. You’d never realize it’s actually mold.”
Perturbed, Minka took the platter back into the kitchen, receiving cautionary looks from Cael, Wes, and Gus. She decided to check on Caela, who’d been asleep in her nursery for an hour, in hopes the always precious sight would brighten her spirits. While the sight evoked a smile to cross her lips for a brief moment, her furrowed brow returned when she descended the stairs and saw Robin peeking around the corner at the television. Upon locking scowls with her, he scurried back down to the basement.
“Is she okay?” Wes asked of their baby girl when Minka entered the room.
“Sound asleep.”
“Does she like lullabies?” Autumn wanted to know.
“Yes, she’s just like her uncle.” Minka’s statement invoked a look of terror on her brother-in-law’s face. A mischievous grin spread over her face. “I just hope she outgrows them before he did. Jaclyn told me he begged her to sing to him till he was fourteen.”
“Mom!”
“Minka!” her betrayed mother-in-law cried.
He faced Autumn, his movements tense. “I had the flu.”
With a smitten glimmer in her eye, Autumn kissed him. “Just when I thought I couldn’t love you more.”
Checkmate, Cael signed at his sister-in-law in triumph.
Sitting beside her, Wes shrugged with a smirk, seeming to admire both her bravery and the insight into his brother’s childhood.
Minka’s mood still worsened, especially when footsteps began to thump up and down the basement stairs. She told herself Robin didn’t violate any rules by sneaking a glimpse of the game here and there, but as his steps lost their subtlety, his visits riled her thin nerves. Instead of giving rise to her bubbling anger, she took advantage of the transmitter in her ear again, spinning the volume all the way down.
Unfortunately, no one else could take similar action. They didn’t seem to pick up on it as quickly as Minka did, but by the fourth quarter, everybody wore annoyed grimaces due to Robin’s recurrent check-ins. In blissful silence, she studied them in amusement while they fidgeted in their seats and could only wait for one of them to break.
Though he’d advised her not to let Robin irk her, it was Gus who ran out of patience the soonest, darting a glare over at him. “Will you sit down and stay put?”
“But I thought I wasn’t allowed…”
“I issued the order for you to stay downstairs, and now, I’m officially retracting it.”
Having clicked on her transmitter at the start of Gus’s tirade, Minka struggled to suppress her chuckles. The group zipped their mouths in the moments thereafter, until her brother caved into temptation.
“Can I have some of that cheese?”