Chapter Ten
Henry comes over to the apartment one evening. Amber’s never seen such a sharply dressed man. She can only guess at how much his suit cost. It’s made of dark navy, almost black, dyed wool, and fits him perfectly. It’s not the type of thing bought off the rack. It was made especially for him. Though he’s well put together, Amber can smell the liquor on him. That explains why he’s so late. He probably stopped by the bar for a few after leaving the office.
“I come bearing gifts,” Henry says, after shaking Jack’s hand. He produces another packet of white powder from his pocket, just like the one he’d given him previously. “Sorry I didn’t give it to you sooner. I’m sure the last gram is long gone.”
Jack holds his hand up. “I’m good, really.”
Henry shakes his head in disbelief. “You sure, man? All this has got to be stressful. Don’t you need something to take the edge off?”
Jack taps his forehead. “Keeping a clear head.”
Henry shrugs, then pockets the drugs. He approaches Amber and kisses her hand. “Amber, always a pleasure.”
Amber smiles kindly, wondering if Henry would prefer that she was scattered remnants decomposing upstate. “Thanks for coming, Henry. Have a seat.”
Amber sits at the table, and gestures for him to do the same. Henry pauses, staring at her skeptically. Eventually, he sits, straightening his tie.
“I’d like to ask you a few questions,” Amber says.
Henry looks to Jack. “What is this?”
“It’s okay,” Jack says. “She’s trying to help.”
Henry gives an exasperated sigh. He turns back to Amber, but he doesn’t look her in the eye. His gaze is directed at a point above her head. Detective Simon had advised Amber that during interrogation, she has to believe that she’s in control, and to reflect that through her posture. She sits up straight, her gaze unflinching, and digs in.
“Where were you the night Jack Larsen Senior was murdered?”
Henry laughs, like her question isn’t worth his time. Simon had warned Amber that suspects often do this. It’s a power play, a way to dismiss their opponent.
“You want my alibi?” Henry says.
“Alibi?” Amber effects a look of shock. “No, that’s not it. I’m just trying to gather as many details as I can.” She twirls her hair, playing up her femininity. Simon had commented that sometimes he wished he was female, so he could use the perceived weakness to his advantage. “Were you at Club 64 that night?”
Henry narrows his eyes at her. Amber senses that he knows she’s not going to let him off easy.
“I was there,” Henry says. “Only for an hour or so. I’d fucked every chick in there, so I bounced.”
“Did you see Jack?”
“I did. But doubt he remembers. He was already off his ass.” Henry grins at Jack encouragingly. “Unlike me, Jack’s not above fucking underlings, like waitresses and maids.” He raises his eyebrow. “Shit, Amber. No offense.”
Amber smiles calmly. “None taken. Where did you go after you left the club?”
“Shit, I don’t know.” He leans back in the chair, sighing. “Probably went home, played World of Warcraft, jerked off and went to sleep.”
“World of Warcraft is an online game, right?” Amber asks, like she’s asking if it’s raining outside. “There should be a log of your activity that night, internet history at least. Send me a screenshot of that, okay?”
Henry’s expression turns cold. “A screenshot? Are you trying to verify my alibi? You don’t believe me?” The last question is asked more to Jack than to Amber.
“How are things at Larsen International?” Amber continues, not missing a beat. “Is your father, Harvey, adjusting to his new role as CEO?”
Henry answers with a silent glare.
“It must be a big change of pace for him,” Amber says. “He was the marketing director before his big promotion. Did he always aspire to be CEO?”
For the first time since he walked in, Henry looks Amber directly in the eyes. His pupils are the same color as Jack’s, so dark they seem to absorb all light around them.
“What are you suggesting?” Henry turns to Jack for help. “You can’t think that my father… He wouldn’t do that, Jack. Not to you.”
“I don’t want to believe it,” Jack says. “But we have to look at everyone.”
Henry leans over the table, both hands clenched into tight fists. “You need to snap the fuck out of it, Jack. I know you have a thing for poor girls, but you’re letting this one twist your head into knots.”
“Harvey would never be CEO, not with Jack Senior and his son around,” Amber says. “He needed a way to get rid of them both.”
Henry raises his arms in exasperation. “Father never wanted to be CEO. He only took the job to keep the company from crashing. He insisted they call him interim CEO. Interim…temporary.”
“Titles can change,” Amber says.
Henry stares at her, seething. He jolts up to his feet, nearly knocking the table over in the process. “You’re wasting your time with this. There are plenty of people who’d love to kill your father. He had his hand in a lot of shady shit. Not to mention all the husbands of the secretaries he fucked.” He marches to the door.
Amber stands to go after him. She has more questions to ask. Jack holds her by the arms, stopping her.
“That’s enough,” Jack says.
Amber hears the seriousness in his voice. She keeps quiet, letting Henry go. Jack digs into the flesh of her upper arm as the door slams closed. The room is suddenly quiet. Jack breathes heavily. Heat radiates off of his skin, and not from lust. Amber’s seen flashes of his temper before, but they were only flashes. She wonders if she’s pushed him over the edge.
Jack’s eyes are fixated on the door. His hand remains tight on her arm. He’s motionless and silent. Amber gets the sense that he’s fighting to gain control of himself. He takes deep breaths in, and long breaths out in a steady rhythm. Amber doesn’t move a muscle. She doesn’t want to distract him from getting himself under control.
Jack’s face is burning red when he turns to her. He raises his upper lips, baring his teeth. Panic crawls up Amber’s back. He pulls her closer to him.
“Henry’s not a suspect,” he says, slowly. “And neither is Joel.”
“We need to talk to everyone.” Amber can’t speak louder than a whisper. “Henry’s father-“
“Is not Henry. If Uncle Harvey’s behind this, Henry doesn’t know about it.”
“How do you know?”
Jack’s eyes go dark and cold. He drops Amber’s arm, and paces to the other side of the room. Amber examines the red marks he left on her arm. They’re quickly vanishing into her white flesh. Her instinct tells her to creep quietly into the bedroom, and lock the door behind her. She ignores it.
“What aren’t you telling me?” she asks. “Why do you trust Henry and Joel so much?”
“They’ve always been there,” Jack says, facing the wall.
Amber takes a slow step back. “I get that. But there has to be a reason-“
Jack turns to her with a pointed look. He puffs out his massive chest, holding his hands in fists. “There’s a lot you don’t know about the world, Amber. And you’re better off not knowing.”
Amber blinks, nodding. For once, she listens to the common sense voice inside of her head telling her not to poke the beast.
They don’t make love that night. Jack lies on his side, his back to her, and quickly falls into a deep sleep. Amber tries to close her eyes, relax her muscles, and forget about everything that’s happened, but she can’t get her mind to switch off. She stares up at the ceiling restlessly.
Jack’s resistant to her methods, but it’s what has to be done. He can’t look at his friends with an objective eye. That’s what she’s here for, to help him find the truth, and be able to recognize it. Amber tries placing herself in his position. What if someone told her Meg and her father were plotting against her, trying to destroy her life? It would be too devastating to believe.
Amber is plotting how to get to Joel when Jack turns over and throws his arm around her. He strokes his fingers down her stomach, murmuring in his sleep. Amber lies still as he sweeps over her panties. His erection is hard against her thigh. She wraps her fingers around his shaft, and whispers quietly, “Trust only me, Jack.”
*
Amber and Jack keep an extremely low profile, but they know it doesn’t behoove them to be shut up in the apartment all day. Jack can’t be out wandering the streets, so that means Amber gets to explore the city on her own sometimes. If anyone ever asks her about her fiancé, she’ll give them the story about him working nights. Amber doesn’t want anyone to ask her that, so she avoids getting too familiar with people. She goes to three different coffee shops, which she rotates throughout the week, to prevent any baristas from getting too chummy with her.
It’s easy to stay anonymous in this heavily populated city. She slips through the streets like a ghost, a face no different than any other, something that’s not possible in White Oak. There, everyone knew who she was, plus her ancestors a few generations back. There was no hiding from anyone, or the past.
Today, Amber tries a new coffee shop that isn’t anywhere near the apartment in Queens. It’s a train ride away in Manhattan, across the street from the Law Offices of Golding, Holderman, and Associates. She sits at a small table, staring at the office building. It’s a wet, dreary day. Rain sheets against the window pane. The sight of it chills Amber to the bone. People on the street are in a grayer mood than usual as they battle with umbrellas and trudge through puddles.
While waiting for Joel to exit the building, Amber takes a moment to appreciate where she’s at. She’s in the middle of Manhattan enjoying a delicious latte in a trendy coffee shop. It’s the life she’s always dreamed of, but never thought possible. She never considered how she’d get here, and had no idea it would involve getting kidnapped by a fugitive.
Finally, after two lattes and an exquisite lemon poppyseed muffin, Amber glimpses Joel walk down the front steps of the building. He’s with two other men. They all wear sharp suits and carry briefcases. But even the well-to-do aren’t immune from the weather. The three of them scowl at the sky, then sprint across the street to the coffee shop. Inside, they swat the water from their expensive suit jackets.
Showtime, Amber thinks. She’s feeling jittery from the caffeine, or maybe it’s nerves. She takes a deep breath, plasters a smile on her face, and goes to the counter where Joel is waiting on his order.
“Joel, is that you?”
Joel turns around, his face twisted in confusion. When he sees Amber, his complexion goes ghost white.
“I thought that was you,” Amber says, beaming. She leans into him, and gives him a light kiss on the cheek.
Joel swallows hard. “It’s good to see you, um…”
“Lacy,” Amber says, brightly. She playfully swats his arm. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember.” She tilts her forehead towards him, batting her lashes.
Joel’s companions exchange frat boy smirks, then leer at Amber’s chest.
Joel’s face hardens. “Oh, I remember,” he says through his teeth.
“Joel,” the barista shouts. A drink appears on the counter with Joel’s name scrawled across it.
“I have a table over there,” Amber says. “Come sit with me. We can catch up.”
Joel shakes his head, intending to refuse.
“Go on,” one of the suits says, nudging his shoulder. “We’ll catch up with you later.”
Amber leads Joel to her table, and they both sit down. Joel immediately loosens his tie and starts fanning his face with a napkin.
“Where’s Jack?” he asks.
“Don’t act so serious, Joel,” Amber says. “Your friends are still looking. Smile.” She reaches across the table and squeezes his hand flirtatiously. Joel doesn’t loosen up in the least. “Jack’s at the apartment.”
Joel glances out of the window to his office building just across the street. “What do you want?”
“I want to help Jack. The only way to do that is to figure out what really happened that night. Jack thinks that you’re still working on the case. Are you?”
“I’m doing what I can. I have a pretty heavy workload.”
Amber feels a vibration beneath the table. She realizes Joel’s frantically tapping his foot. He turns his coffee cup around manically in his hands.
“Have you spoken to your contact yet?” Amber says, keeping her voice low. “Were they able to recover the meta data from the cell phone video?”
Joel shakes his head curtly, taking a quick sip of coffee. “It’s not as easy as that. These people are watched closely. They can’t go rooting around for something without their superiors knowing.”
“I see.” Amber folds her hands calmly in front of her, breathing through the caffeine jitters (or is it nerves?) “What about surveillance footage from the street? Aren’t there cameras everywhere in this city?”
Joel nods emphatically, his eyes wide. “Yeah, there is. Which is why I don’t want to be seen with you.”
“If we get that footage, then we can see who took the video. Do you think the police have it?”
“They might not have bothered since they got the cell phone video.”
“Why didn’t they look deeper?”
“Because why would they? They have the suspect at the scene of the crime at the time of death. What more do they need? What more do you need?”
Amber narrows her eyes. “You really think Jack did it?”
“I don’t know who did it. But I have to admit, right now, he seems like the obvious choice.” He glances nervously towards his friends, then levels his eyes on hers. “I know about the detective, what you two did. Jack had me transfer the money to pay him off. You do realize you’re digging yourself deeper and deeper.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing,” Amber says, struggling to maintain her calm demeanor. “I was worried about the money being tracked, but Jack says you’re able to move money around without it being noticed. Exactly what kind of law do you practice, Joel?”
“Corporate law.”
“Oh, did you do work for Larsen International?”
Joel shakes his head. “What does this have to do with anything?”
“Did you?”
“Of course we did. We work for most of the major corporations in the city.”
“That must be exciting work,” Amber says. “I’m just a small town girl, I have no idea about those kinds of things. Did you move money around for Jack’s father?”
“No,” Joel answers, coldly. He takes a final swig of his coffee, then stands. “I see where you’re going with this, and you’re not on the right track. You should go back to your small town, Amber. You’re way out of your league.” He curls his upper lip at her before walking away.
“Bye, Joel,” she chirps after him. “Good catching up.”
*
On the train ride back to Queens, Amber calls Detective Simon from her burner phone. She tells him to look into Joel, and the law firm he works for, to see if there’s any connection with Jack Larsen Senior. She can’t stop thinking about how nervous Joel was acting. She has a good feeling that he’s hiding something.
After getting off at her stop, she walks with her head down, barreling through the streets to the apartment. It’s late afternoon. She’s been gone since this morning, and she’s anxious to get back to Jack. She walks up the steps to the building, and begins punching in the code.
“Hi!”
Amber whirls around on the stoop. She hadn’t noticed the woman standing there. She has long brown hair, and slender figure. Amber can tell she’s not from around here. Her smile is much too friendly.
“Hi,” Amber mumbles under her breath.
“Sorry to bother you,” the woman says, stepping forward. “Do you live here?”
Amber pauses with her hand on the keypad. It’s obvious she lives here, so she can’t lie.
“Yep,” Amber says, curtly.
The woman looks relieved. She exhales deeply, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. “Thank goodness. I just moved into this building. Just moved to the city, really. Have you been here long?”
“Not very long,” Amber says.
The woman places her hand on Amber’s shoulder, smiling brightly. “A newbie, like me. What a relief. Anyway, I forgot the code to get in. Do you mind? I promise I’m not an axe murderer or anything.”
“I’m sure you’re not,” Amber laughs. She types in the remaining code, and the door buzzes open. They walk inside together and start up the stairs.
“What floor are you on?” the woman asks.
Amber keeps her expression vague. “The top floor.”
She clutches her hand to her chest. “Me too. So we’re neighbors. We should have coffee sometime. I don’t know many people here. None, actually.”
Amber smiles, nodding noncommittally. “Okay.”
They ascend to the top floor. Amber turns one way, and to her relief, the woman turns the other.
“Well, see you around,” the woman says with a wave. “What’s your name, by the way?”
Amber swallows, realizing her throat is dry. “Amber.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Amber. I’m Eva. Let’s get that coffee soon.”
“Sure,” Amber says, making a mental note to avoid this woman at all costs, then darts down the hallway to her apartment.