Forty-four

FIRST FRIDAY ART WALKS are a tradition in Spokane, a city with civic pride and a cool downtown. Clarice scored the Dormann Gallery for Kate, right in the heart of downtown. People walked from one gallery to the next and made a night of it. I doubted that there would be a lot of sales, but the gallery was busy from the time we got there about three in the afternoon. Jack left the boys with Molly in Seattle and joined Clarice and Paul, her lawyer. When she was comfortable that Kate was settled in, the three of them took a quick tour of the other venues. This wasn’t at all like the shows in New York and San Francisco. The exhibit had been installed flawlessly without us having to be there. The gallery owners were nice to Kate and extended a welcome to all the rest of us in her entourage. And people were enthusiastic.

When Kate had voiced her fears about Neil billing her for his commissions, Clarice had simply said to let her take care of it. We were all a little nervous, but decided to just trust our agent. That was a big step for Kate. I saw Melody give her a sip of her champagne when she thought no one was looking. I checked with the gallery manager to be sure there was sparkling Catawba and poured a glass to take to Kate. When I turned back to where she was, I bumped someone aside in my rush to get to her. Neil Stedman was standing in front of her.

“Is this what you want? Podunk, Nowhere and you call this an art show? This is ridiculous. I’ve been looking for you for two months. We need to get you back on track.”

“I’m not yours, Neil,” Kate said. “I don’t need you.”

“You have a contract.”

“Did you not hear the lady?” I asked. Where the hell was Clarice?

“You lost, little man. Katarina gave herself to me.”

“Yeah, I heard all about how you raped her. You’ve got some guts showing up, but no brains.”

“Rape? Is that what she said? This little slut was begging for it. ‘Please, Neil. Make love to me.’ She used her cunt on you when she got back, didn’t she?” He reached out and grabbed Kate. “Let’s go, slut.”

I’d pulled my hand back to slug him, but he doubled over before I could swing. Everyone spun around as Wendy pulled her foot back from his crotch and danced into a fighting pose.

“Get out of here, you filthy son of a bitch!” she yelled at him. “You don’t own anybody.” She took another swing at his left cheek.

“You cunt!” he snarled. He punched at Wendy, but Lissa stepped in to separate them and took the blow straight to the solar plexus.

It was my forehand first. Then backhand. I couldn’t see anything but Lissa doubled over in pain. The walls disappeared. I spun and laid an elbow into his face. I should have stopped, but I couldn’t. My left came up into his gut and as his face came forward, I brought my knee up to meet it.

“Freeze! All of you!” I was going in for another, but felt Kate’s and Wendy’s hands pulling me back. Melody was kneeling over Lissa and I dropped to my knees crawling to her.

“It was him!” Kate screamed. I hadn’t even seen the officer, yet, just assumed he was there. I cradled Lissa in my arms and rocked her as Melody petted her face and kissed her.

“They attacked me. And so did she!” Neil cried. What a shit.

“Let’s take this one at a time,” the officer said. “You! Stay sitting right where you are.” I could hear a siren somewhere way off in the distance, but we were on the second floor of a downtown mall. It would take them forever to get here for Lissa. “Young woman, you first.”

“Excuse me, officer,” I heard Clarice’s voice. “I think I can help.”

“You saw what happened?”

“No, I just got here.”

“Then please step aside.”

“This man is wanted for fraud in three states,” she went on. “We’ve issued cease and desist orders to three galleries within a block of here exhibiting forgeries he gave them. We’re filing charges here as well as a civil suit for five million dollars for tortious inducement to breach a contract. We are ready to present evidence to the District Attorney.”

“He tried to grab me and take me away.”

“He punched my wife!” Melody yelled.

“Do I understand we have assault, attempted kidnapping, fraud, forgery, and a civil suit?” The officer asked. We all nodded. “Sounds like you’ll go from the hospital to jail.”

Neil decided to run, stupid person that he is. There was a wall of people in front of him, including the lawyer, Jack, Bob Bowers, and Doc Henredon, who had just walked in. The lawyer shoved papers into Neil’s chest so hard he fell backward.

“You’ve been served, Neil Stedman,” he said.

Jack was pushing his way forward and soon knelt beside me, one arm around me and one hand on Lissa’s. Before Neil was a step farther, he was in handcuffs. An ambulance gurney rolled up and Neil was pushed down on it and cuffed to it. Another gurney rolled up beside us and a gentle EMT nudged us aside to examine Lissa.

“We’ll look at you, but a punch shouldn’t do too much damage,” the EMT said. “We’ll want to check for broken ribs and organ damage.”

“My baby,” Lissa whispered.

“Oh, shit,” the EMT said. “I need assistance and priority,” she said into her lapel mike. “Handcuff him to a lamppost and get us ready to roll.” Another EMT was there in seconds and they were moving.

I didn’t want to leave Kate at the gallery alone, but I couldn’t let go of Lissa. Kate and Wendy followed us to the elevator.

“You need to be with Melody and Lissa,” Kate said calmly. “Wendy will take care of me. She’s my defender. She’s my hero.” I looked at Wendy and could see the Tiger had not been caged. Her lip curled toward me and I left with the gurney.

We were all quiet on the trip back. Lissa would be okay, and so would the baby. Jack had been shocked, but then was ecstatic, congratulating Melody, Lissa, and me.

“Don’t tell Mom, yet,” Melody admonished him. He nodded.

Neil’s blow had been high and Lissa did have bruised ribs, but the doctor said the baby was well-protected and not impacted. I guess the police didn’t tell Neil that. At the moment he thought he might be up on a capital offense—even though a fetal death is not murder in Washington. He had confessed to a lot more than we knew. He hadn’t started looking for Kate until he saw the notices in Art World about her showing in Spokane. He’d been seducing another young female artist and promising her incredible success in New York.

Mr. Armstrong, our attorney, had worked with Clarice to set the trap so Neil could be served in the State of Washington instead of New Jersey. It was a nail in his coffin that he had copies of Kate’s supposed limited edition that he’d managed to place in three other galleries in town so they could “take advantage of her opening.”

Kate sat next to me in front as I we headed west. Lissa was protectively cradled in Melody’s arms and Wendy sat cuddled up to them. It wasn’t lost on her that the blow that Lissa took was meant for Wendy.

“That was not what I expected,” Kate said. “Thank you for defending me ... again.”

“I’m afraid Grandpa Ken would be disappointed,” I said. “Though I can’t imagine what solution he might think was better.”

“Let’s not bother to tell him. Tony, you and Wendy saved me—again. I feel so...” she was fighting against tears. I didn’t want to hear what I knew she was going to say. “I’ll never deserve your love. I’ll never deserve Wendy. I feel like such a worthless piece of shit.”