Laying a Foundation: Bonus volume: Includes series prequel, The Groundbreaking (The Love Under Construction Series) (67 page)

“No, I will,” Brittany said, sensing something was very wrong.

They sat in silence until the three girls came back into the room. “What’s going on?” a groggy Annabeth asked when she and Katie walked into the room with Brittany. She plopped down by Nikki.

Peyton sat down on the ottoman in front of Nikki and took both of her hands. “Nikki, Tony’s been arrested.”

There was a collective gasp, and Nikki cried out, “Oh, you’re not serious? There’s got to be some mistake! That can’t be!”

“Steve’s with him right now. The cops found some blood on the door frame at the office and also in the shower. They don’t have any other physical evidence, but that was enough for an arrest. If the blood turns out to be Dottie’s, we might have a real problem on our hands.”

“No. This can’t be happening,” Nikki whispered, her mind spinning. “I have to see him. I have to see him right now,” she cried, jumping up from the sofa.

“They won’t let you see him. He’ll be arraigned tomorrow morning. You can go then. But they won’t let you see him now.”

Nikki sat back down. She didn’t know what to do. Annabeth, Katie, and Brittany were crying, and Clayton was staring at the floor, unable to speak. Someone had to call Raffaella; better yet, someone had to go and talk to her. “Has anybody called Vic?”

“I think Steve called him; I’m pretty sure somebody did.”

“What about Cheryl?”

“The secretary? She was there when they made the arrest.”

Nikki’s face clouded. “Why didn’t she call me?”

“I asked her not to. I told her I’d come and tell you myself.”

“Oh.” Then it hit her. “Oh! Clayton! We’ve got to go!”

Clayton’s head snapped up. “Go where?”

“Do you realize we’re it? We’re all that’s going to keep the company running. We’ve got to get busy. Your dad is counting on us.” Nikki ran into the kitchen, turned off the oven, and ran back into the den. “Clayton, I’m not joking here. This is going to hit the news outlets so fast it’ll make our heads spin. We’ve got to pull it together. A lot of people are depending on us, and they’ll be watching us too. You with me?”

Clayton looked at the three girls, then back to Nikki. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m with you, Mom. You’re right – we’ve got to get on it.” He turned to Annabeth. “Bethie, will you guys go and talk to Nonna, tell her what’s going on? She deserves to be told face to face, not over the phone.”

“Sure. No problem. Where are you guys going?”

“We’ve got to go to the office and hope they’ll let us in,” Nikki told him. “There’s got to be a show of competency so the employees don’t freak out. That means we’ll have to split up and visit every site, make things look like business as usual. Then it’s got to be business as usual. The community’s got to see that we’re behind Tony but we can still keep things moving forward without him. Everything’s on the line here.”

“We can do this,” Clayton agreed.

“God, little girl, are you okay?” Vic’s frame filled the doorway, and Nikki ran and leaped into his arms.

“Oh, my god, I don’t think I’ve ever been as glad to see you as I am right now.” Nikki cried into his neck as his big arms pulled her to him.

“Vic’s here, honey. Everything’s gonna be okay. They let you see him yet?”

She sniffled. “No, Peyton says they won’t.”

“We’ll talk to Steve about it. In the meantime, what do you need me to do?”

“We’ve got to get back to business, instill some confidence in the employees and the community in our ability to keep things going. Clayton and I could use your help.”

“Whatever you need, baby. I’m at your disposal.” Vic grabbed Annabeth and hugged her tight. “You too, sweetie. Zio Vic will do whatever he can to help you guys. All you’ve gotta do is let me know what you need.”

“Thanks, Zio Vic.” Annabeth sobbed and kissed his cheek through her tears. “I love you.”

“No matter what happens, I’m here for all of you. You can always count on me,” Vic told the girl he considered his niece as he kissed her back.

Nikki clapped her hands together, then lodged them firmly on her hips. “Okay, girls and boys, enough chit chat. We’ve got a company to run.”

“N
ext case, Commonwealth of Kentucky versus Antonio Luigi Walters. Charge, murder in the first degree,” the bailiff called out.

The courtroom was full, mostly of curiosity seekers and reporters. Besides Vic, Bart and Freddie had shown up to support Tony; Vic sat on one side of Nikki, holding her hand, and Bart sat on the other with his arm around her shoulders. Nikki’s eyes were so swollen from crying that she could barely see.

Tony was led into the courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit from the corrections department. He turned and scanned the courtroom and, when he saw her, his eyes brightened and he gave her a little wave even in his handcuffs. She squeezed Vic’s hand – hard.

Vic leaned down and whispered in her ear, “You okay, sweetie?”

Nikki shook her head and fought off more tears. “No. God, look at him, Vic. He’s worn out. I don’t know if I can stand this.” She choked as she tried to wave back at Tony and give him a little smile, but it was almost too hard.

Bart squeezed her. “I’ll be okay, honey. You’ll see.”

“Doesn’t feel that way.”

The proceedings were a blur to Nikki. She heard Steve say, “Your honor, my client pleads …” and then, very clear and strong, Tony interrupted and said, “Not guilty, your honor.” When it came to bail, Nikki was prepared to pay, but her heart sank when the prosecutor argued that Tony was a flight risk, and the judge denied him bail.

Steve had an idea: “Your honor, I’d request that, considering the number of people my client employs in this area and the contracts his company has to honor even in his absence, he be allowed two conferences per week with key officers from the corporation to keep everything going smoothly and avoid layoffs, thereby avoiding lost revenue for the region.”

Nikki held her breath and squeezed Vic’s hand again.

“I see no reason to deny that.” Steve watched, expecting the prosecutor to have a fit, but he said nothing. “I’ll order the jailer to find a secure conference room where up to six people could meet,” the judge told the courtroom. This time, Vic squeezed Nikki’s hand.

When they led him out of the courtroom, she mouthed
I love you
to him, and he nodded and smiled. Standing to leave, she found Steve at her side. He took her hand and pulled her out into the hall and to a bench, then sat down with her. “You okay? Need anything?” he asked with a hand on her shoulder while Vic watched from a distance, his eyes never leaving Nikki.

“Yeah. I need Tony out of jail. I need to be in fifteen places at once. I need a vacation. God, I need this nightmare to be over.”

“How’s Mrs. Walters?” Steve asked. “This has got to be hard on her.”

“Annabeth said she was really upset. I’m going to check on her tonight.” Nikki dreaded that visit.

“What about all of the brothers?”

“I’m letting Vic and Clayton handle them. I can’t deal with that right now. I’m under a lot of pressure to keep the company running, and I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.” She started to cry, and Vic couldn’t take it anymore; he walked over, sat down on her other side, and put his arm around her. She sighed and leaned into his shoulder.

“Hey, remember, I’ve been his attorney for a long time. I know a lot of stuff that might help you. Never hesitate to ask if I can help you with anything. I’ll be glad to.” She knew that wasn’t just talk; Steve meant it. “Tony’s not just my client; he’s my friend. Now this is personal. It’s my job to make this go away, and I’ve got my work cut out for me.”

“Thanks, Steve. By the way, that thing with the conferences? Brilliant. I never would’ve thought of that. So thanks for that too.” Nikki patted his arm.

“Yeah, I thought of that at the last minute. And it worked. It’s a miracle!” he laughed. “And I want you to know I think you’re one tough, smart lady, and if anybody could keep the company running, it’s you. Clayton’s a good kid, and he’s got a good head on his shoulders. He could do this by himself if he had to. And you’ve got the big guy here too.” He nodded toward Vic, and Vic kissed the top of Nikki’s head. “So you’re going to be fine, ladybug.”

“I appreciate you, Steve, really, I do.” His words were the most positive thing Nikki had to hold onto. She was going to have a lot of people looking at her, waiting to see how she’d perform. She couldn’t let Tony down. “And I promise I’ll call you if I need you.”

Nikki had an armload of paperwork; so did Clayton. Both had legal pads full of notes. Vic was with them, and Cal and Cheryl came along. They could have one more employee with them, so they chose Brenda from the accounting office. She was a supervisor, so she could speak to all different kinds of accounting issues.

After the officers had gone through everything they had with them, they all filed into the conference room. They were shown to seats and admonished that they could not touch Tony or each other, or pass anything to or from him and, when they had received all their instructions, he was led in wearing handcuffs and leg irons. It took everything Nikki had to not break down when she saw him like that. There was a tired, worn-down look about him, and all she really wanted was to wrap her arms around him and tell him everything was okay. No one said anything until the guard moved to the door.

“Hi, baby.” Nikki was trying her best to not cry. “Are you okay?”

“As okay as I can be in this place. You okay?” Tony asked, as subdued as she’d ever seen him.

“I’m all right.” She winked at him and he smiled. “So we’ve got to keep this company together. That’s why we’re all here. We’ve got an hour, and we’ve got lots of stuff to go over. You up to this?”

He nodded. “Absolutely. Let’s do it.”

They spent the hour going over projections, schedules, punch lists, anything and everything Clayton, Nikki, Cal, and Vic could think of. Cheryl chimed in a few times, and Brenda answered several questions. It was a good meeting, and they covered a lot of territory and stayed on track.

Eventually, the guard gave them the five-minute warning. They wrapped up the loose ends, and then Tony turned to Vic. “Do you remember what I told you? About if I wasn’t there?”

“Of course. And I want you to know I’m doing exactly what you asked,” Vic assured him.

“Good. I really don’t care about anything else, as long as you do that one thing,” Tony reminded him, then turned and looked at Nikki. She smiled as she understood; he was talking about the time when he told Vic to always take care of her if he wasn’t around. She was cared for and loved, even if Tony wasn’t with her. And he wouldn’t be gone long, she was sure. “You listen to Vic,” he reminded her. “He knows what he’s supposed to do.”

“I know, baby,” she whispered. “I’m fine; I’ll be fine.”

“I love you, angel. Never forget that,” Tony whispered to her, and an ache set in as he fought to keep from reaching out to hold her.

“I love you too. I’ll see you soon.” The guard put Tony’s handcuffs back on, then took him by the arm and led him away. One turn at the door to look back at all of them, and then he was gone.

Nikki was fighting back tears, but she managed to squeeze out, “Well, that was a good meeting. Clayton?”

“Yeah,” Clayton sighed. “I feel better about everything now.”

Nikki wished she could say the same.

“Well, well, well! Look at this!” Travis sing-songed as he turned the newspaper around so Autumn could see it. The front page was covered with a large photo of Tony being led into the courthouse, and a small photo of the site where Dottie’s body had been found.

“Oh my god! Is that Mr. Walters?” Autumn took the paper from Travis, but he snatched it back before she could get a good look.

“Yeah, that’s him, the bastard. Well, looks like our work is done.”

“What do you mean? Nothing has changed. The company has the same procedures it’s always had.” Autumn was confused. “That hasn’t gotten any better, has it?”

“You dumb bitch, you just don’t get it, do you? We’re done. As long as he’s in jail, we don’t have to do a thing.” Travis grinned at the newspaper as though he’d won the lottery. “Maybe he’ll be convicted. If that happens, our work is done.” He shot her a weird, scary smile, and Autumn shuddered.