“Justice in America?”
“Reality in America. And for your information, we don’t have a ‘justice’ system in this country. We have a legal system. I got a whole platoon of in-house lawyers and fifteen more on the outside on retainer. All top of the heap in talent and connections. And I still don’t think it’s enough. Just the cost of doing business. Courthouse is open to every son of a bitch who wants to play the legal lottery. And I am one big target.”
“So why am I here?”
“I wanted to see what kind of guy you are, Devine. Military, combat guy, medals, blah, blah, blah, yeah, I got all that. But I wanted to talk to you, feel you out, poke inside your head.” He looked at the facial injuries. “Hurt much?”
Devine could tell the man knew what had happened from Stamos. “Not even a little bit.”
Cowl gave a sneering smile. “Right.”
Devine decided to attempt a draw to an inside straight. He pulled out his phone and laid it down in front of him. “I’ve spoken to Jennifer Stamos a couple times. Saw her at a bar, too.”
“Oh yeah? Why do I care?” Cowl didn’t even look at the phone.
Devine glanced down at it. “I heard you were mentoring her, like you were Sara.”
“I mentor dozens.”
“But they’re not all like Jennifer. They’re not all... sweet cheeks.”
Cowl now looked at the phone. “Maybe you are smart enough to work for me.”
“Maybe I am.”
“And maybe I need to think about this some more, rather than bring the hammer down, like I thought I was going to.”
“Maybe you should. Like you said, it’s delicate.” He paused and chose his next words carefully. “But then again, you can always just fire me.”
The man shook his head. “Friends close and enemies closer, Devine. That’s the way I do business. And thanks for confirming for me which one you are.”
He rose and walked away, leaving Devine to stare down at his phone and let out a tight, uncomfortable breath. Funny, when you’d been in a war and had killed others and been nearly killed yourself, you wouldn’t think a battle of words could stress you all that much. But getting fingered for a murder charge and spending the rest of your life in prison did give a man pause.
At least it does this man.
He rose and walked right through the palace, not making eye contact with anyone.
And outside, he ran right into Christian Chilton.
Chapter 34
“What in the hell are you doing here?” Chilton snapped. He instinctively took a step away from Devine, his fists made and held at the ready. But the fear in the man’s eyes told Devine that Chilton would haul ass before fighting him again.
Devine studied him. The bandages were gone, but the bruises and cuts were still there.
“Just visiting a friend.”
“What? In there? Bullshit!”
“You never know where you might find one.”
“Rick needs major dental work. And Doug has a fractured jaw.”
“I know you were lights out and didn’t see, but I let Rick walk with only a sore gut. Then Rick decided to try and crack my skull while my back was turned. He’s lucky it’s not worse.”
Chilton looked over Devine’s injured face. “At least my buddies got their whacks in. And you sucker-punched me, you asshole.”
“While I was standing right in front of you and you were coming at me with fists raised?”
“You know what I mean. I was trying—”
“You were running your mouth. It wasn’t a duel where you count to three. You wanted to fight, so I fought. It was three against one. What the hell did you expect, Marquess of Queensberry Rules? And I gave you lots of chances to walk away, but you wouldn’t take them. But if it makes you feel any better, I couldn’t raise my arms over my shoulders for a whole day, and my back still aches like a son of a bitch.” He touched his face. “And I’m not getting any better-looking with brick face.”
The two men glared at each other for a few seconds.
Chilton finally said, “Yeah, I guess fighting over that woman was pretty stupid.”
“Fights over girls usually are,” said Devine, who was still suspicious of why Chilton had even been at the bar that night. “So, you frequent that place?”
“Sometimes. Did you really know her?”
“We work in the same office. A friend of ours died there.”
“Shit, I read about that. Suicide, right?”
“That’s what they initially thought. Now it looks like someone killed her.”
Chilton went all wide-eyed on this, which made Devine even more suspicious. “Damn. Do they know who did it?”
“Not yet. One more thing.”
“What?” asked Chilton.
“You were at that bar in Greenwich Village hitting on a girl who works at Cowl and Comely. Now you’re here.”
“So what?”
“Did you follow the woman to the bar and pretend to hit on her? Otherwise, I’m feeling a bit of a coincidence here.”
“In case you didn’t know, the New York financial world is pretty small and that bar is popular with our crowd. So piss off.”
As Chilton started to turn away, Devine said, “Hummingbird?”
Chilton turned back. “What?”
“Word on the street is your firm is interested in funding Hummingbird’s next investment round.”
“How do you know anything about that?”
“I work in that ‘little’ financial world you just referred to. And I keep my ears open.”
“How do you even know about me or my firm?”
“Your family came over on the Mayflower. Everybody knows you.”
“You’re really starting to tick me off.”
“Not really my intent. And we already did that dance. Actually a friend of mine told me. How can you do the Hummingbird deal so fast?”
“I don’t have to explain my business to you.”
“You’re right, you don’t. But if you want my two cents, Hummingbird is a great company. It’s going be worth a shitload really soon. Your investment will be worth a hundred mil in a year.”
Chilton’s aggressive attitude faded. “Based on what?”
“Based on the CEO. She’s the smartest person I’ve ever met in my life. MIT grad. Harvard MBA. World-class gamer. There’s nothing she can’t do with a computer. And she lives and breathes Hummingbird. Her subscription base is soaring, she’s got positive cash flow, her business strategy is sound, and all she needs is the capital to be the preeminent platform out there. And it’s a big market and only getting bigger.”
“You sound like her CMO,” said Chilton, referring to a chief marketing officer. “You got skin in the game?”
“About one-millionth of one percent. But I believe in her. I’ve been around a lot of business types. Some good, some terrible. She’s really in a league of her own.”
Chilton looked away for a moment. When he glanced back at Devine, his entire demeanor had changed. “Everything you just said comports with what we’ve found in our preliminary due diligence.”
“So can you really do the deal that fast? She’s got other suitors, but nobody who can pull the trigger as quick as you guys.”
Chilton smiled. “We’ve heard that before. Fact is, we’ve got a ton of capital to deploy, and I’ve been looking at the online dating space for a while now. Tapshaw’s coming at it from a whole other angle. Not just dating, but a whole other array of services and benefits. It shows in the sophistication and thoroughness of the business product she’s put together. I think she really wants to bring people together. Most of the other platforms are clearly in it just for the bucks, at least that’s my opinion.”