Guilty Pleasure (17 page)

“
Look, I’m grateful for you
and the girls helping me. I don’t want to come off that I’m not.
It’s just too much shit to process all at once.”

“
I understand. Hell, I have
to let Nicole near a fucking serial killer in a few
hours…”

“
Shit man, I forgot about
that. Oh man, I wished I would have waited to drag you into all of
this.”

Ahh! There this idiot goes again. Adam was
too fucking nice. No one is this nice. Michael felt a rage building
up inside him. He better hurry up and get this idiot away from him
or he might just slice this fucker’s throat.

“
I’m glad you came to me.
So don’t worry about it.” Michael pulled into the parking garage of
Nicole’s apartment. He saw Monica waiting by her car. Thank
goodness that bitch was down here now she could help Adam with his
shit and Michael could get the hell away from both of
them.

“
Nicole called me and told
me what was going on. I will help Adam with his stuff so you can
get back to work Michael.”

“
Yeah, Michael, you have
done more than enough,” Adam said.

Michael helped get Adam’s stuff out of the
trunk of his car then he drove back to Adam’s apartment building.
He parked two blocks away and walked the rest of the way.

This was dangerous and he knew it, yet right
now he didn’t care.

“
What do you want now?” the
landlord of the building said as Michael walked into the
office.

Michael spotted the letter opener sitting on
the desk.

“
I should charge Adam more
rent if you two are sharing that apartment.”

Michael grabbed the letter opener and drove
it into the man’s neck. Michael stepped back and watched him. The
panic look in the man’s eyes, the way he grabbed for the letter
opener and then trying to pull it from his own neck. Michael smiled
watching the look of terror grow on the man’s face. Blood spurt
everywhere.

“
Hurry up and die,” Michael
said.

The man fell to the floor and soon the
gurgling noise stopped.

Michael stepped out of the office and looked
around to make sure no one had witness that. Luckily no one was in
sight, it saved him from killing any onlookers as well. He casually
walked out of the office then headed to his car. He stopped by his
apartment to change then he headed back to his office.

Chapter
Fourteen

Nicole sat on the defender’s side of the
courtroom. She laid out Michael’s notes. She was really nervous,
this was her first time sitting at the table beside Michael. The
only other time she saw him in court she sat back with the other
onlookers and was told by Michael to only observe. Granted, she was
pretty much doing the same thing now, she was only here to assist
Michael and nothing more.

“
Well, you get to sit next
to Michael today, lucky girl,” Lexi said.

Damn it, Nicole forgot about this bitch. Of
course she was going to be here she was the head prosecutor.

“
Is this the little number
you were talking about?” A short, well-dressed man stepped forward.
He was rather handsome in a generic kind of way.

“
This is my little helper
Steven,” Lexi said.

“
Hello, I’m Nicole.” She
extended her hand to Steven and he gently shook it.

“
You are positively
glowing, Nicole. Michael must fuck as good as he looks.”

“
That’s something you are
never going to find out, Lexi,” Michael said as he walked up to
them.

“
Ah, how sweet, he has come
to your rescue, Nicole.” Lexi walked back over to her table. Steven
followed her like an eager puppy.

“
Is Adam okay?” Nicole said
as Michael sat next to her. She looked over at the empty chair
beside her. Johnny was going to be brought in shortly. She was
really uncomfortable having to sit next to a serial killer. She was
doing her best to try and hide it.

“
He will be chained up, so
don’t worry, Nicole.”

“
Adam?”

Michael chuckled. “No, not Adam, Johnny will
be chained up, I see you looking nervously at his chair. Besides, I
will protect you. Adam is at your apartment. Monica is with
him.”

“
Oh good. So, what do you
want me to do?”

“
You have my notes nice and
set out that’s pretty much it for this phase. This is just a
preliminary hearing.”

“
You changed your
suit.”

“
I got a little dirty
helping Adam get some of his stuff out of his
apartment.”

Nicole turned around when she heard the
sounds of chains rattling. Johnny’s wrists and ankles were chained.
He was being led in by two officers of the court. Nicole couldn’t
still believe this guy was a serial killer. He didn’t look the part
at all. Hell, if she met him out on the streets she would have
talked to him and that thought chilled her. She felt Michael gently
grab her hand and give it a little squeeze. She quickly calmed
down.

Johnny was seated in the chair next to
her.

Nicole glanced over at him. He looked
scared.

“
So, Johnny are you going
to plead guilty and save us all a shit load of time?” Michael
said.

“
If it gets me away from
you sooner, I will,” Johnny said. “You already told me I was fucked
so let’s get this over with.”

“
Wise choice.”

Everyone stood when the judge entered the
room. Michael asked to approach the bench. He looked to make sure
the officer of the court was close enough to grab Johnny just in
case he decided to go after Nicole. Yet, Michael wasn’t too worried
about Johnny doing anything.

“
I will be right back. He
can’t do anything to you, so don’t worry,” Michael told Nicole then
he went up to the judge.

“
Are you his girlfriend?”
Johnny asked Nicole.

Nicole didn’t know if she should talk to
Johnny or not. “Yes,” she replied quickly.

Johnny leaned in a little closer. “What is
your name?”

“
Nicole.” She kept her gaze
on Michael.

“
Nicole, what a pretty
name.”

“
Thank you.”

“
You should run from
Michael, Nicole. Run as fast as you can.”

She looked over at Johnny. “Why?”

“
He is a monster just like
me. Run, Nicole, run, or they will find your body laying
somewhere.”

Nicole quickly turned her gaze to Michael.
She really wished he would hurry up. She wanted to get up and put
distance from her and Johnny, but she didn’t want Lexi to perceive
her as weak.

“
He will kill you if you
stay, Nicole. I just have to warn you, maybe it will buy me some
good karma.”

“
Good karma. You fucking
killed all those women…”

“
What are you doing to my
assistant, Johnny?” Michael said as he came back to the
table.

“
Making
conversation.”

“
Good news for you, Johnny.
You get life in prison.”

“
Do I get away from
you?”

“
No trial, Johnny boy, so
yep you get far away from me.” Michael gestured for the guards to
come and get Johnny. They led him out of the courtroom.

“
Well, that is
disappointing,” Lexi said. “I was so looking forward to spending
quality time with you, Michael.” She glanced at Nicole. “Looks like
your girl got spooked. You know, you could do better than that
timid creature.”

“
No, I can’t. I think she
might be able to do better than me though.” Michael smiled at
Nicole.

God, she loved his smile. It always brought
her calm.

Lexi just left the courtroom with Steven
right behind her.

“
Are you okay, Nicole?”
Michael said.

“
Yeah. He was trying to
talk to me…”

“
You should have gotten up
and moved away from him. He just wanted to fuck with you. Are you
sure you are alright?”

“
Yes. Are you glad there is
no trial?”

“
Yep, it gives me more time
with you, Nicole. Let’s get out of here. I know you are dying to
see if Adam got settled in okay, and I have to start looking into
who got into Adam’s apartment.”

Michael grabbed her hand and led her out of
the courtroom.

Nicole gripped his hand a little tighter.
She didn’t give what Johnny said to her another thought.

***

Nicole quietly headed into the kitchen. Adam
was sleeping on the sofa. Yesterday was a strange day to say the
least. Michael dropped her off at her apartment and then he said he
was going to start on trying to find out who got into Adam’s
apartment and to see if Linda Bennett on the prepaid cellphone was
the same one who got murdered.

She started making coffee. What Johnny said
to her yesterday that Michael was a monster just like him…why would
he say that? Plus, he wanted disparately to get away from Michael.
Why would he want to get away from the man who might be able to get
him a lighter sentence? None of this made sense.

“
What is troubling you,
little Nicole?”

“
Holy shit, you scared the
hell out of me,” Nicole said as she nearly dropped the coffee
pot.

“
I’m sorry I didn’t mean to
scare you. What are you doing up so early?”

“
I couldn’t
sleep.”

“
Neither could
I.”

“
You want some
coffee?”

“
Yes, thank
you.”

Nicole got two cups and soon as the
coffeemaker made enough coffee she poured them some. She handed
Adam a cup.

“
I wish Michael would let
me help him,” Adam said.

“
I think you should have
given that phone to the police,” Monica said as she came into the
room. “I thought Michael would have advise that you should. I’m
kind of surprised that he is keeping the damn phone.”

“
I told you what Michael
said he was going to do,” Adam said.

“
Nicole, I don’t mean
anything by this, so don’t get mad, okay,” Monica said.

“
Well that depends on what
you say.”

“
Adam, did you give Michael
a key to your apartment?”

“
Why would I do
that?”

“
His foundation is paying
the rent, maybe the landlord gave him a key to your
apartment.”

“
And he brought some poor
woman into Adam’s apartment and killed her. Is that what you are
getting at?” Nicole said angrily.

“
I didn’t say he killed
anyone. I’m just saying you might want to ask your landlord if
anyone asked for an extra key, and the only way the landlord would
have given them the key is if they paid the rent. Isn’t it strange
that Michael is taking on all of this himself?”

“
No, he is a lawyer, he
knows what he is doing,” Adam said.

“
He is a lawyer not a
cop.”

“
Monica, I can’t believe
you are thinking these awful things about Michael,” Nicole
said.

“
We have to cover all the
bases. Did you give Mindy a key to your apartment?”

“
No. I mostly went to her
apartment. She never wanted to go to mine.”

“
Nicole, I don’t mean to
imply that Michael has anything to do with any of this. But someone
could say they are from his foundation and ask for the key to make
sure Adam isn’t fucking up the place or something.” Monica was
awake most of the night thinking about this. Adam was too trusting
and Nicole was in love with Michael, they wouldn’t want to
entertain the possibility that Michael isn’t who he said he is. She
still couldn’t get the way he looked at her out of her mind. That
coupled with what Nicole said about yesterday’s trial. How Johnny
told her that Michael was a monster like he was. Monica was getting
a really uneasy feeling.

“
That might be a
possibility that someone is saying they are from the foundation. We
should tell Michael your theory, Monica,” Adam said.

“
No, he has got enough on
his plate right now. Let’s see what he digs up first then we will
tell him,” Monica said.

They talked for a couple of hours. Monica
feigned that she had some errands to run. She had to do something.
Michael gave her the creeps and she wanted to know why. She headed
to Adam’s apartment building to talk to his landlord and was
surprised to see a bunch of cop cars in front of it.

She walked up to a pleasant-looking
middle-aged man who was writing something in a little notebook.

“
Excuse me, what happened?
My friend lives in one of the apartments and…”

“
Somebody killed the
landlord of this building, so we aren’t allowing anyone in there
until we work the scene.”

“
You are a cop?”

“
Detective Tim Dane, Miss.”
He looked at the young lady. She reminded him of a pixie. She
looked spooked. “Is something wrong?”

“
I can’t believe that
someone got murdered in a place my friend lives.”

“
Who is your
friend?”

“
Adam Matthews.”

“
Well, as far as we know
this was an isolated event. What is your name?”