“…Alright, Miss Jensen,” the officer said placidly as he handed her the purse that they had confiscated at the safe house, “Just sign here stating that you received all of your personal possessions and then you’re free to go.”
“But I…I don’t understand,” Carla said, shaking her head but at the same time taking the clipboard the man handed to her, “I thought I was supposed to be questioned.”
“Mr. Maurice Montero has vouched for your whereabouts and, as it is his property that was taken, and he’s not pressing charges or furthering the investigation, we are letting you go.” He looked up at her then, his cold brown eyes meeting hers and there was a hint of fatherly concern in them, “I suggest you just sign the papers and leave, Ma’am. Go back to your life and pretend this never happened.”
“But what about Joel? I mean…Mr. Lasseter?” Carla said, the pen clutched in one hand and poised above the dotted line that required her signature, “Is he still being held?”
The officer sighed, long and drawn out, obviously at the edge of his patience with her, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t about to leave until she knew he was getting released as well and she had a feeling it wouldn’t be nearly as easy for him as it was for her.
“Mr. Lasseter has been placed under arrest and–”
“I want to see him,” Carla said as firmly as she could, interrupting the officer and he just shook his head slowly.
“He is still under questioning. No one is allowed in there.”
“Well, what about a lawyer? He has the right to an attorney.”
“He does, and he has requested one, but it will unfortunately take…some time for Mr. Lasseter’s attorney to arrive. Until that time, we are free to continue to question him and anything he says will be held against him, if he so chooses to say anything, of course.” There was a hint of a smug smile that passed across his face and that’s when she knew. Whatever was happening in there, it wasn’t good for Joel and there was nothing she could do to help him. Nothing she could do to make it easier for him.
Despair threatened for a moment but then she remembered. All of the times he was there for her, all the times Joel had held her and protected her and stood up for her. All the times he had loved her. And all the times he’d made her say that, no matter what life threw at them, they would face it. Together. Always together. She wasn’t about to just give up on him.
“His lawyer…what’s his name?” Carla asked but the officer just shook his head, unwilling to answer the question.
“That’s none of your concern,” he sighed again, pointing to the clip board still clutched in her hands, “Just sign the form and return home, ma’am.”
Carla took her time signing the form, wracking her brain for something, anything she might be able to do or say that would help. She scoured the top of the officer’s desk with a fervent gaze, her eyes just alighting on a piece of paper with a scrawled name and phone number, but before she could memorize it, Maurice was there. He grabbed the clipboard with her signed name and handed it back to the officer before scooping up her purse from the edge of the desk and turning towards the exit.
“Thank you so much for your help in this matter, Officer. I’ll just make sure my employee gets home safely.”
“That’s real good of you, sir,” the cop basically preened as he nodded towards Maurice and Carla could only look on in confused horror as he continued, “And don’t worry, we’ll make sure we find out where your property is and do everything in our power to get it back for you.”
Something sneaky shifted behind Maurice’s smile and Carla couldn’t put her finger on it, but a moment later, he wrapped a hand around her upper arm and lead her forcefully from the police station and her thought was lost. She struggled against his grip, trying to free her arm but he didn’t let her go until they were through the doors, into the parking lot, and stopped before a tan four door sedan that she recognized all too well.
“What the hell do you think you’re–”
“I would think really hard and really deep about what you say next if I were you.” He stared at her, his beady eyes harsh in the bright sunlight. He pulled out his phone and waved it back and forth in his grasp as he moved towards the driver side. “Get in,” he ordered, “I’m driving you home.”
“No, you’re not,” Carla shot back, her gut clenching at just the thought of climbing into the car with him.
He turned, his dark gaze meeting hers once more and she saw the honest sincerity in his voice as he spoke.
“Carla, I’m tired of your games. Get in the car or I’ll go back in there and give them everything that I have on you, and your precious boyfriend. Right now, all they have is circumstantial evidence but I can give them hard proof of what you were doing and both of you will be locked away for a long, long time. Now, do you really want me to do that?”
He didn’t even wait for an answer, he just jerked open the door and slid his bulk into the driver’s seat, making the car dip lightly as he did. Carla didn’t even try to provide an answer. Instead, she too opened her door and tentatively slid inside, hugging the passenger’s side door to put as much space between them as she could.
Maurice started the car and the tension in the air between them was enough to choke on as he started the drive back towards her home.
“My address is–”
“I know,” he said simply, with a leering grin towards her, “I know where you live, I know everywhere you go. Remember that.”
That silenced her, making the uncomfortable prickling of her skin double as her whole body screamed for her to get away from him, but there was nothing she could do. Not for herself, and sure as hell not for Joel. The thought broke her heart and the miles sped by in a unseen blur, mountains and blue skies on either side but she didn’t see those either. It was only Joel. Just him. She held his image in her mind like a talisman, using it to give herself strength because, just then, she felt like she didn’t have any at all.
“I want to thank you for something else, Carla,” Maurice said, his face still pointed forwards but his eyes kept shifting over towards her. She ignored him but that didn’t stop him, “I wanted to thank you for getting my merchandise back.” That finally caught her attention and she whipped her head towards him.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if it weren’t for you I would be out hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of marijuana. Because of you, I got it all back. I know it was completely unintentional on your part but still,” he paused, leering at her as they pulled into the driveway of her home, “I can be a very generous man when I’m feeling grateful.”
His hand moved, as fast as a snake, to brush across her thigh as he pulled the car to a stop and she jumped out while it was still moving, uncaring of anything else except for the need to get away from him. Disgust made her heart beat race and her breath gasp from her lungs as she turned to slam the door shut, but his next words stopped her, shocking the hell out of her.
“I’ll see you tomorrow at work, Carla.” It wasn’t a question as he stared at her, his voice nonchalant as if nothing had just happened.
“Excuse me?” she spat out, some of her shock and anger leeching out in her words and he just shrugged again, uncaring.
“I said I’ll see you at work tomorrow. And I will, Carla, I will see you, otherwise I’ll take everything I have and take it back to the police and you can kiss your freedom, and whatever slim chance your boyfriend has goodbye. Do you understand me?”
Carla stood there for a long moment, unable to force out even a single word in answer, but that was enough for him. Maurice nodded his head.
“That’s what I thought,” he said, smirking at her before reaching over, slamming the passenger door shut and backing out of the drive. She wasn’t sure how long she stood there, his words echoing over and over in her mind like landmines exploding. Finally she forced herself to turn around and walk inside.
It felt like years since she’d been home, so much had happened, so much had changed in so short a time that she could barely even process it, but two things kept running over and over in her mind. The first was what Maurice had said about getting all the weed back, but she knew that when Hot Wheels had been detained, she’d only had a small portion of it. And the other was the name and phone number she’d seen scrawled on the desk of that police officer. The name had been a Mr. Smithe, John or James, she hadn’t been able to make out the first name, but it was the phone number that she tried to recall and couldn’t.
It didn’t matter though, she had a name and if there was anyone who knew something about it, it would be Honey. With a curse on her lips, she dialed Honey’s number, hoping that there was finally something, anything she could do to help Joel. She just prayed she wouldn’t be too late.
The phone rang and rang and she held her breath but finally Honey picked up. After a rushed explanation of what had happened, she asked if he knew who Mr. Smithe was and after a brief, confused argument about why she would need the number of the attorney that was on the club’s payroll, he finally gave it up. Carla hung up the phone before he could ask any more questions, immediately dialing the number Honey had given her with trembling fingers.
“Hello, this is James Smithe, how can I help you?” the voice came over the phone smooth and cultured but with an innate strength that allowed her a calm breath for the first time since earlier that morning.
“Mr. Smithe, my name is Carla, Carla Jensen. I’m calling on behalf of a client of yours, Joel Lasseter–”
“I’m sorry,” he said, interrupting her quickly, “Hold on a moment.” There was the sound of shuffling around and movement that came over the other line before he finally spoke again. “I needed to get to a more…private location before speaking to you. Now, what is this about Joel?” There was a new note in his voice that made her speak up instantly.
“I’m assuming you were notified by the police that Joel is being held for questioning? He’s been arrested.”
“Shit,” the curse sounded so foreign coming from him that it took her aback for a moment,but he kept on talking, “they must have delayed getting ahold of me. It doesn’t help that I’m out of the office today, so they would have the perfect excuse if they called and I wasn’t in. Where is he?”
Carla quickly rattled off the address of the police station before starting to tell him what had happened before stopping her.
“I’m sorry, miss. Thanks for calling me, really, I mean that. But believe me, the less I know the better, for you, and for Joel. I’ll be in touch.”
“Just…just promise me you’ll help him. Please?” Carla pleaded softly and there was a moment of heavy silence before he answered.
“I’ll do what I can. That’s what I’m paid to do, and I’m good at my job, Miss Jensen. Very, very good,” with that, he hung up the line and she was left listening to nothing before she finally lowered her phone and stared blankly into space.
Guilt and worry and fear twisted all together inside of her, eating away at her, and she hated that there was nothing else she could do for him. Nothing but stay there and wait and pray.