Pete Finnegan wasn't the only reluctant person employed at the McCracken County courts building. Twenty-nine year old Gwendolyn Garst had grown up in the area but thought she'd escaped for good when she went off to Lexington to attend the University of Kentucky a decade earlier.
Gwen had thought long and hard about applying to law school, but her finances and grades were both obstacles. She'd eventually earned her paralegal degree and worked for several attorneys across eastern Kentucky. She was also thinking about trying to get her real estate license until the economy hit the skids back in '08.
She would have likely been content climbing the ladder the best she could in the state capital until her mother took ill with cancer around Christmas of '09. Instead of having to make that dreaded cross-state drive several times a week, and without any real roots holding her down, Gwen decided to move back to Paducah to help her mom through such a difficult time.
Gwen's father had pretty much been out of the picture since she was eight. Having moved to Texas with the woman he'd left her mother for, Gwen had only seen him twice over the past 20 years. Luckily, her maternal grandparents had filled the void, but even that blessing took a substantial hit when she was 12 and her grandfather Ernie went to jail on money laundering charges, then died of a heart attack soon after.
Seeing how her mom had been there for her grandma through that entire tragic ordeal, there was no way in the world Gwen wasn't going to be there for her own mother as she struggled to beat her disease.
Thankfully, through the chemo and various other treatments, the cancer was in re-mission, but given the twists and turns her life had taken, Gwen lived in constant fear that it, or some other horrible malady, could arise at any moment.
She'd taken a job as a paralegal with a lawyer in Paducah. Considering Gwen's resume, she was probably overqualified to work for a guy like Melvin Mack, but he was more than happy to take her on with the dearth of hirable candidates in the area.
Mack was a graying and good natured man in his late 50's who went about his job with somewhat of a "Matlock' shtick. Unfortunately, as with most of the defense lawyers (paid or appointed) who've applied their trade in the McCracken County court system over the previous three decades, his record of success going against the prosecutorial machine led by Cyrus Ridgeway was pretty low.
Gwen's social prospects were equally as dismal. Her tastes and expectations in men had evolved quite a bit since she moved to Lexington years ago, so when she moved back home, there just weren't a lot of guys that tickled her fancy. The handful of men that did seem like a good catch in her age bracket were either married, too uncouth, or came across as utter cads.
Being an attractive single woman wasn't the easiest thing for someone like Gwen working in an environment filled with so much testosterone and ego. A cliché snapshot of what she dealt with on a regular basis could be taken one late Autumn afternoon when she stopped by the courthouse to file a handful of motions before the end of business that day.
It started when an outright proposition from one of the lawyers her employer had a case against, then she was approached and aggressively chatted up by one of the brazen young security guards roaming the halls. That was followed by being ogled by several of the inmates who'd been led over to the courthouse that day from the jail for various hearings (a direct result of not being receptive to the come-ons of said security guard).
The final, and ultimate, indignity however came when she passed the county's lead prosecutor, Cyrus Ridgeway, in the hall. Even though he didn't say a word to her, Gwen felt her skin burn as he openly sized her up. There was a history between the two, one that Gwen had suffered nearly every day of her life since the age of 12.
One that Ridgeway had long forgotten.
He simply saw the pretty blonde in the tailored business suit, with the determined and focused walk, as visual candy (and perhaps a potential conquest) for his Viagra fueled, 61 year old, libido.
Given all that, the last thing Gwen would have likely been open to was a relative stranger that she'd only seen in passing coming up to her out of the blue and asking for a date. Always one for impeccable timing, that's exactly what a young lawyer from the public defender's office did as Gwendolyn Garst was trying to make her way out of the courthouse that late afternoon.
Gwen's first inclination was to bite Pete Finnegan's head off. His shy, and certainly out of place, New England accent rattling around her head, she was able to settle herself down enough to carry on a somewhat cordial conversation.
In the end, Pete actually had a couple of things going for him. Number one, he was intelligent and well spoken enough to keep a back and forth flowing about a myriad of different subjects without sounding as condescending as many of the lawyers she dealt with did. He also talked to her like as an equal, which was something Gwen rarely encountered at work.
The fact that Pete was also attractive, had all his teeth and had some experience in the world outside of McCracken County played into his favor as well since Gwen rarely encountered all that in her local dating pool.
She gave him her number and they went out to dinner the following Saturday night.
Even though Pete had taken notice of Gwendolyn on more than one occasion while strolling the halls of the courts building, if it wasn't for Leroy Cardwell planting a seed during their late night chat in the older man's driveway a few weeks earlier, Pete would have probably never taken the ultimate initiative to ask her out. Like a hound dog being given a scent to follow however, while Leroy didn't provide Pete with all the background, he told the young man enough to make him realize that having someone like Gwen Garst in his life could prove invaluable given the circumstances.
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It was more than a full month since Pete and Gwen's first date when the two found themselves cruising through some of McCracken County's back roads on a late December Friday night. Apart from the early Winter chill, the two enjoyed the peace and quiet of the occasional drive out to the country as they shared stories from their diverse backgrounds.
Keeping a watchful eye out for the sheriff department's special speed traps each time he ventured out of the city limits, Pete's mind was still fresh with what happened between Rhonda and Deputy Wurley weeks earlier.
The couple had consummated their relationship after their third date, and were still quite enamored with each other to say the least. Matching healthy, young and underserved libidos aside, Pete and Gwen had also found a great deal in common outside the bedroom as well.
Driving down the same road he'd been with Rhonda that fateful night weeks ago, this time with Gwen sitting by his side, Pete approached the same Mill Road intersection the speed trap had been set up before. He'd been by that turnoff several times since that night and no one had been there. This time however, he caught the faint reflection of a parked police cruiser tucked behind a thicket.
Making sure he was going far enough over the speed limit to garner some attention, Pete looked in his rearview and felt his stomach roll when the shadowy outline of the police car pulled out from its hiding place. His knuckles tightening on the steering wheel when he noticed the cop hadn't switched on his headlights yet as he followed in stealthy pursuit, Pete meandered along for 30 seconds or so before gunning the gas.
When he saw the darkness behind him fill with vivid and spinning blue light, Pete pressed the accelerator to the floor. The chase was on.
Alternating his gaze between the windshield in front of him, the rear view mirror, and Gwen beside him, Pete had driven that stretch of road enough times now to navigate the frequent and winding curves. It took coming to a straightaway for him to get a relative idea how quickly the deputy, with a V-8 in his cruiser, was closing in.
