Stingray Billionaire: The Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (41 page)

CHAPTER
FORTY-TWO

Brooke

As
soon as I left Dax, I found Jordie and gave him the sheet of notes and told him
to call Riza so she could arrange for bail. Then, I went to the court to take
care of the paperwork for the bail hearings. I knew that the docket was light
today, so it would be likely that both Dax and Beck would come before the
judge. I wanted to be absolutely prepared for any eventuality.

I trusted that Dax
had, in fact, told me everything, but I didn't trust that he knew everything
himself. Beck was the wildcard, and I wanted to meet with him before I walked
into the courtroom and found out that I was asking for bail for the actual
murderer. I returned to the jail and asked to see Beck. As his lawyer, I had
the right to meet with him and advise him. But I didn't particularly care about
advising, so much as finding out what was going on with his story.

The officer
brought me back to the interview room where'd I'd met with Dax, and there I
found a smaller, weaker version of the man I was so intensely attracted to.
Beck was shorter than Dax by a good four inches and his hairline was receding
where Dax's was still thick and curly. Beck's scraggly beard and dirty clothes
were the exact opposite of Dax's neatly maintained scruff and perfectly pressed
pants. It was a study in contrasts, and I wondered how two brothers could be so
incredibly different.

"You my
lawyer?" Beck slurred as the officer sat him down and cuffed his left hand
to the table the same way he'd done with Dax.

"I am,"
I said in a crisp voice. "My name is Brooke Raines, and I'm going to be
representing you at today's bail hearing."

"Cool,"
he said drawing out the “oo” sound in a way that made me wonder if he was high
or if there was some other issue.

"Beck, do you
remember where you were the night Lydia Banks was murdered?" I asked.

"Who?"

"Lydia Banks,
your brother's lawyer," I repeated.

"Aren't you
my lawyer?" he said, raising his glazed eyes to look at me. He was as high
as a kite.

"I am,"
I said. "I want to know where you were the night Lydia Banks was
murdered."

"Party,"
he smiled. "I was partying with the crew!"

"Where were
you partying, Beck?"

"The boat,
man," he said raising his right hand in a fist and causing the officer
standing guard to open the door and look at me. I shook my head and he closed
the door, leaving us alone.

"What
boat?" I asked.

"The big one,
dude!" he laughed. "Man, we had a blast! There was coke everywhere,
and R'nR brought the party kit!"

"R'nR?"
I asked. It was obvious that Beck was a serious junkie, just as Dax had warned.

"Yeah, you
know, rest and relax! R'nR!" he laughed at his own joke, but came no
closer to explaining who R'nR were. I made a note of it on my legal pad and
circled it.

"Beck, why
did they arrest you today?" I asked. "Do you know why?"

"Yeah,"
he said with a frown. "I punched a cop. They didn't like it. I didn't mean
to, though."

I had to bite my
lip to keep from laughing. It wasn't funny that Beck didn't know why he'd been
arrested, but the fantasy world he'd built for his drug-addled brain was
somewhat amusing.

"No, they
arrested you for trespassing," I said. "Did you know that?"

"Nope, sure
didn't," he said shaking his head. "What'd I trespass on?"

"Your
brother's boat," I said.

"How'd I do
that?" he asked seeming genuinely confused.

"That's what
I'm not sure about, Beck," I said. "Can you remember what you did
earlier today? Why were you on the boat?"

"They told me
to go get the stash," he said. "Said that if I got it, I could have a
hit. They said that I wouldn't get in trouble, but they would."

"Who told you
this?"

"R'nR! Aren't
you listening to me?" he said, obviously annoyed as he picked at his
fingers. "They give me what I need."

"Beck, you
need to tell me who R'nR are," I said in a stern voice as I tried to hide
the exasperation I felt in having to negotiate with someone whose reasoning was
impaired.

"Are you
gonna get me and Dax out of here?" he asked looking up at me with a
childlike curiosity.

"I'm going to
do my best," I said. "But you're going to have to help me."

"Okay,"
he nodded looking down at his hands as if seeing them for the first time.

"Beck, what
did R'nR give you?"

"Mmmm, a
hit," he nodded. "Yeah, they gave me a hit."

"Of
what?"

"Dunno,"
he shrugged. "I asked and they gave it to me."

"Okay,"
I sighed. "Is there anything else you can tell me about why you were
arrested?"

"I hit a
cop," Beck giggled. "He tried to take my stash, so I hit him. It was
mine!"

"Good lord,
Beck!" I yelled. "Do you have any idea what you are doing to your
brother?"

"No,
why?" he asked. I was furious with him for putting Dax in such a perilous
position in order to feed his habit, but I also knew that if he really did have
a serious drug problem, it was unlikely that he was doing anything that could
be considered premeditated. This made things more complicated because I
couldn't point to anyone other than Dax as the potential murderer. And if I
didn't have an alternative motive, I was going to have a hard time arguing that
Dax should be out on bail. Getting mad at Beck wasn't going to help, though. I
needed to calm down and think.

"Beck, think
carefully," I said in a calm voice, approaching the questions from a
totally different angle. "Who was on the boat with you when Lydia
disappeared?"

"Huh?"

"You were on
the boat, right?" I asked.

"Uh
huh," he nodded.

"Who was on
the boat with you when Lydia disappeared?"

"Who's
Lydia?" he asked.

"Okay, I
think we're done here," I sighed. I had to admit that perhaps Beck wasn't
involved in any of this and that maybe he was simply the fall guy, but if that
were the case, then why was Dax being charged with Lydia's murder? None of this
made sense.

I gathered up my
things and tapped on the door to let the guard know we were done. Before I left
the room, I looked back over my shoulder and would have sworn that I saw Beck
smiling and giving me a knowing wink. But when I blinked and looked again, he
was again sitting at the table staring at his fingers.

I shook my head to
clear the obvious illusion and went to find Jordie and Roger. We had work to
do.

#

Later
that afternoon, I appeared before the judge and argued that bail be set in both
cases. The judge pushed back, asking how I could be sure that Dax wouldn't jump
bail and run. I assured him that Dax's ties to the community were strong enough
to keep him firmly situated in the city. I also pointed out that Dax was Beck's
brother and caretaker and pointed to the history of him stepping in and making
sure his brother followed the rules.

"And look
where it's led, Counselor," the judge said with a grim expression.

"Your Honor,
I can guarantee that Mr. Malone will appear in court as requested for all
hearings," I said.

"And exactly
how are you going to do that, Ms. Raines?" the judge asked.

"Myself or
one of my associates will check in with Mr. Malone at regular intervals until
the trial, and Mr. Malone will agree to stay within a six block radius of his
office and his home."

"That's
highly unusual, Ms. Raines," the judge observed. "I'm not sure that's
in the best interests of you or your associates or that any of you can enforce
it."

"We believe
that Mr. Malone is innocent," I said simply. "We're going to do
whatever it takes to prove that."

"Very well,
Counselor," the judge said. "Bail is set at four million for Mr. Dax
Malone, and one hundred thousand for Mr. Beck Malone."

I nodded as the
spectators gasped. I had been prepared for the bail to be much higher than
this, so four million sounded like a steal. Riza had arranged for the bondsman
to have the paperwork ready as soon as the hearing was over. So, as soon as we
signed the papers, Dax and Beck were released into my custody.

Jordie pulled up
and we all climbed into the car with Dax and Beck in back. Beck began asking a
series of rapid-fire questions until Dax told him to shut the hell up. He was
silent until we pulled up in front of the rehab facility.

"What the
fuck?" Beck yelled.

"Shut up,
Beck," Dax growled. "It's for your own good."

"The fuck it
is!" he shouted. "I never agreed to this! I never said I'd go to
rehab!"

"This isn't
about what you want, Beck." Dax sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.
He looked exhausted. His eyes were weary and as he spoke, I could tell this was
painful for him to do to his brother. Painful, but necessary. "You need to
go to rehab. You have a problem."

"You can't do
this to me, Dax!" Beck cried. Tears began flowing down his cheeks as he
sobbed and begged Dax not to do this. I felt my heart breaking as I watched the
two brothers. Dax trying to be strong and make the right decision, and Beck
sobbing like a lost child as his brother put an arm around him and tried to
assure him that everything would be okay.

"I don't want
to do it, but I have to," Dax said. "Someone has to stop this and you
aren't strong enough to do it yourself."

"I don't want
to go," Beck said in a small voice.

"I don't want
you to go, either, but you have to," Dax said as he wrapped his arms
around his brother and spoke quietly. "You have to go and get sober, Beck.
You can't end up like...them."

Beck looked up at
Dax and nodded, and the brothers walked up to the front door together. Thirty
minutes later, Dax climbed back into the car and said, "Let's go."

I looked into the
backseat and saw Dax staring out the window, obviously not wanting to talk. I
nodded at Jordie and we headed back to the office.

CHAPTER
FORTY-THREE

Dax

I
stared out the window the whole ride back to the club. Entering rehab was not
Beck's choice, it was mine. I had to figure out who had killed Lydia so that I
wouldn't take the fall for something I hadn't done, and having a junkie brother
on the loose was not going to be helpful. Aside from that, I didn't want Beck
to die, and if he continued using the way he had been, he was definitely upping
the odds.

I watched Brooke
out of the corner of my eye. Her braid had come undone on the way out of the
courtroom and now her hair brushed her shoulders and framed her face. I wanted
to reach out and push it aside so I could see her face, but to do so would have
caused trouble for her, so I sat staring out the window and thinking about my
next move as I tried to shut out the pull of her body. At one point, she turned
and looked over her shoulder, catching my eye. I could see the mixture of concern
and need in her bright blue eyes. I nodded and looked away.

"We're
there," Jordie said as we turned the corner onto Harlem and pulled up in
front of the club.

"Thanks for
the ride," I said as I patted his shoulder.

"Dax, you are
not to go any further than between home and the club," Brooke reminded me.

"I know, I
know, you don't have to talk to me like I'm a child," I said, resenting
her for the fact that I was trapped in a six-block radius.

"I'm not
treating you like a child," she said. "I'm treating you like you're
our client, which you are."

"Whatever,"
I said. "When do I need to be at your office?"

"Tomorrow
afternoon," she said as she looked down at her phone. "Come around
noon and we'll have lunch and talk about how we're going to prove you're innocent."

"I thought
innocent people were assumed to be innocent until proven guilty," I said.

"Yeah, well,
welcome to the real world," she replied. "We need all the proof we
can get in order to keep you out of prison."

"I'll be
there," I said as I got out of the car and slammed the door shut. I turned
and walked into the club, not looking back as Jordie drove out of sight.

There was no way
in hell I was going to take the fall for whoever had killed Lydia, but first I
had to figure out who had done it and why.