“Will do. Don’t you get into any trouble where Manaia has to bail your butt out.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said and kissed her forehead. “Go easy on the Demon.”
She smiled at the mention that she had car privileges since she saved my hound and son. Brook was last. We hugged each other and kissed goodbye.
“I’ll see you in a week,” I promised.
She got on the bus so they could get going. I watched until it was out of sight.
I had the afternoon to myself. Lexi had left after breakfast, and Manaia said he had laundry to do. I would see the two of them tomorrow.
◊◊◊
They’d been gone all of five minutes when there was a knock at the door. Either they’d forgotten something, or it had to be one of the neighbors. I opened the door and found a man who looked to be about 40, wearing a good-quality suit with no tie. He was a big man, probably six-one and 225 pounds. He just stared at me, and I got the vibe that he wasn’t someone I wanted to mess with.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
“We need to talk.”
“I don’t know you, and you should probably make an appointment,” I said as I tried to shut the door.
He put his foot in the door to stop me from closing it.
“You should invite me in.”
Was he a vampire or something? I reached for my phone to hit the panic button. He slapped it out of my hand before I could. I took two steps back and readied myself for a fight. What unnerved me was when he talked, it had been very matter-of-fact with an even tone like he was confident in his ability to handle me.
“I’m just here to talk. Invite me in,” he said.
“I have a feeling I can’t stop you.”
“Invite me in,” he repeated for the fourth time.
“Come on in. Can I get you anything?” I asked.
“Whisky, neat.”
He had me lead the way. When I was out of reach, he bent down, collected my phone, and dropped it in his pocket. That made it much harder to call for help, and I was more than a little concerned for my safety. I hoped that someone in Fritz’s office was monitoring my security cameras.
He followed me out back where we still had the bar set up from the party last night. I found a good whiskey, poured a good measure, and handed it to him. He downed it in one go and handed back the glass, so I poured another and gave it to him.
“David Dawson,” I said.
“Pádraig O’Malley.”
“What can I do for you, Mr. O’Malley?”
“Paddy.”
“Sorry?”
“Call me Paddy.”
This guy was creeping the heck out of me. His voice had an East Coast accent, and he talked in a monotone. The actor in me wanted to remember everything about him in case I ever had to play a character that had to intimidate someone.
“You don’t sound like you’re from around here.”
“Boston.”
“What do you do?” I asked.
“I fix things.”
“Like?”
“Like the issue you’re having with Zander Lewis. I need you to agree to settle. Your lawyer is being unreasonable.”
“We might have to disagree about that,” I said.
“We are going to talk until we come to an understanding,” he said quietly.
“Or?”
“There is no ‘or.’ I need you to understand that,” Paddy said.
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“David. I’m sure you think you can handle yourself, but even if you were to take me, they would send someone else. I would worry that they might not come at you directly.”
“Are you threatening my family?” I asked.
“I didn’t say that.”
The hell he didn’t. I felt a shiver go up my spine. I was being shaken down, and the scary part was he was going to succeed. No way would I risk my family getting hurt over something like this.
“What does Zander want?” I asked.
“He’d like you to withdraw the lawsuit.”
“Not happening,” I bluffed.
Paddy gave me a hard look and downed his whiskey. I would give him credit; he could handle his alcohol.
“Can I show you something that might change your mind?” I suggested.
“Sure.”
“I need to get my tablet. Help yourself to another whiskey, and I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll go with you.”
He followed me into my bedroom; I got my tablet and accessed my cloud account to show him the video of Zander threatening Halle and Brook. Then I showed him the video of the car ramming into the van.
“One of those girls is my girlfriend, and the other is Halle James. His recklessness almost cost me my life. Zander has to pay for what he did,” I said.
He got quiet.
“Do you have kids?” I asked.
“A daughter and son.”
“How old are they?”
“Fourteen and twelve.”
I left the rest unsaid. This could have been one of them.
“Find out what Zander will do to make this right. If it had just been me, I might let it go. I need something from him. Something that makes him realize he can’t pull this kind of crap again.”
“All right. I’ll go talk to him,” Paddy said. He reached into his pocket, pulled out my phone, dropped it on my bed, and turned to leave.
Fritz stepped through my bedroom door with his gun drawn.
“It’s all good. Mr. O’Malley was just leaving.”
Paddy gave Fritz a dead-eyed stare that dared him to try something. For a moment, I worried Fritz might actually shoot him. Fritz never lowered his gun, but stepped to the side to give Paddy room to leave.
