Cherry Orphan

Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Despite vague promises from Robert to expedite matters, several days went by before everyone returned from the Caribbean. Another Salinas meeting with Hammond was hastily arranged and Tony Scott did the driving. Both Robert and Colleen went along, Colleen more for moral support rather than anything material. Calley's nervousness peaked when Hammond requested he talk with her alone for a while. This had not been expressed or even hinted at in previous meetings with Robert.

Mark Rabinski attended everything as usual. Calley held nothing but unbridled contempt for the man over sexual favors secretly exacted from her two years earlier when she flirted with the law. Thankfully nothing surfaced. Even so, Rabinski insisted he be present when Hammond questioned her without Robert or Colleen in the room. The lawyer did a commendable and conscientious job, but had Robert known the full extent of the man's industry with his oldest daughter, at best he'd have been rendering legal services from a hospital bed.

Calley saw Hammond once more after that. News of the indictments had already spread the length and breadth of central and southern California. Reporters tried to access the estate, but were frustrated by security at the vigilant gatehouses. Only the most polite and persuasive among them stood any chance of a face-to-face interview. Calley's Corvette had been returned to normal, on the strict condition someone went with her at all times when she drove off the resort and ventured into any of the local areas. Tony Scott usually escorted even when the girl insisted she wanted to drive. Sonia made peace with Joby despite the half-Latino girl's latest heartache at losing her battered boyfriend. Carlo had done an immediate disappearing act once he felt well enough to discharge himself from the medical care facility Robert had provided out of guilt. Scary news items surrounding the Nameth family in local papers provided Carlo all the momentum he needed to go to ground. Joby's wealthy friends were bad news in Carlo's shady world and better off behind him.

Although James never became an active partner in the family's legal problems he always dangled there, in the background, carefully watching and listening. The boy confronted his own demons. The few remaining days to his sixteenth birthday were rapidly dwindling down, and would be followed, a week later, by a lonely return flight to England. He now faced an unsure future and a gaping void where Calley and Sonia had been, coping without either girl in his life as if the pair had never existed beyond a fantasy. But they did exist, and inside he'd been changed beyond all recognition. Try as he might, James could not shake a sense of foreboding. It nagged at him constantly, even when the girls were at their most distracting. With some liberty restrictions still in place, he became the sisters' main focus of attention and bore the brunt of their insatiable role-play, which became increasingly surreptitious, inventive and erotic as time went on. They never did anything under Robert and Colleen's noses, but James couldn't help wondering if their charade of innocence had been recognized for what it was.

Colleen, most of all, harbored suspicions, given everything she already knew, yet never mentioned or questioned a thing. She took what she saw at face value and let them be. Promises had been made; words had been given. Besides, in two weeks time James would fly far enough away to make it all a moot point, and his lingering emotions over Calley would simply have to fend for themselves.

***

With the Monterey Historic Races barely two days away, Tony Scott became increasingly unavailable for escort duty. A new problem loomed. Tourist activity inside the resort had steadily increased as visitors and entrants arrived, making security even more difficult to maintain. Robert and Pru immersed themselves in the Concours 'd Elegance car show as preparations ramped into high gear. Despite being a non-enthusiast, even Colleen found herself swept up in the excitement's déjà vu.