Into the Future: A Callahan Novel by Celya Bowers Read Free Book Online

shoes. 
    “Not quite.  She was sleeping, so she stayed at her parents.”
    Tristan didn’t like the sound of that.  “What’s up?”
    “Nothing’s up.  You know how she is.  Once she’s sleep.  Don’t bother her.  Besides, she was going to be there tomorrow anyway.  I called you for a reason.”
    “Right.  Sorry, I got sidetracked with Izzy.”
    “I’ve been going over Lizzy’s divorce settlement.  I must say, she’s a very smart girl.  Or either Paul didn’t even look at the papers.”
    Tristan’s curiosity was piqued now.  “Okay, I’ll bite.  What’s in the settlement?”
    “Normally, when both parties are upwardly mobile, there’s a division of assets, you know house, cars, savings, etc.   In this case, there was an agreement to sell the house, which she did, but she was allowed to keep the surplus, normally that would have been divided.  He doesn’t pay the kids insurance, she does.  He only pays child support and not very much at that.”
    Tristan knew that Lizzy had gotten a great settlement, this was why.  “He probably thought he was getting away with murder and didn’t contest anything. Idiot.”
    “Most likely.  You think, now he realized what happened and wants money?”
    “He hadn’t asked her for money.  Only tries to wreck her life.”
    “This could be why he’s trying to say she’s a bad parent.  He could sue for custody,” Cam said. 
    “I think that would get laughed out of court.  Especially, after the meeting today.”  Tristan’s mind raced with possibilities.  “He’s got an agenda.  We just have to find out what it is.”
    “Sounds like we need call another Callahan.”
    Tristan so didn’t like the sound of that.  Another Callahan meant another one of his intelligence-community cousins.  That also meant this was morphing into something he wasn’t quite ready for.   After his marriage crashed and burned, he hadn’t wanted any more complications in his life.  That was the main reason for coming back to Turners Point and taking the city manager’s job.  Sure he could have taken any number of high six figure jobs in DC, but he wasn’t about money.  He was about being happy.
    “Tristan, are you still there?”
    “Yeah, I’m here.  Just thinking.”  He just wanted a quiet life with no complications, no drama, just normal. Sounded pretty boring, he mused. 
    “I know, I know.  You’re thinking this is too many complications and you’re thinking about running again.”
    “No, actually, I was thinking quite the opposite.”
    “Whoa!  No way,” Cam said.  “Here I was ready to give you the speech about how important it was to stick by Lizzy and you’ve figured it all out.”
    He chuckled.  “Not quite,” Tristan admitted.  “I was just thinking about what I really wanted out of life.”  He took a deep breath, hoping to calm his racing heart.   “Yeah, when I said it out loud, it sounded boring and normal.  If I learned one thing from watching you fall in love with Izzy is that nothing is easy.  Look at how complicated that was and now look you guys are married.  She was involved in one of your first cases, then she was your doctor, but somehow none of that mattered.”
    “Right,” Cam said.  He hadn’t denied one word of it.  “I’m not going to say any of it was easy.  Look at my aunt and uncle.  Interracial marriage back in the day.  Aunt Amelia will tell you how she tried to send my uncle packing, but he wasn’t having it.  Now look, they’ve been married like 44 years. They’re still in love each other.”
    Tristan had heard the hard times Cam’s aunt and uncle had, but nothing deterred them.  Nothing could stop the strong bond between those two.  “I can tell.  Every time I see them, they remind me of what love should be like.”
    “Yeah, puts us young people to shame.  I was thinking about calling Chris to do a little snooping.  He can usually find out stuff not on any one’s