“I’ll get it for you.” He pulled his mobile phone from his pocket and scrolled through the screens. Jasmine took down the telephone number and thanked Tobias for his time. She drove her car around the corner and pulled up in the street. She dialled the number she had been given.
Tim answered just as she was about to hang up. He agreed to meet, but only if it was in public. She agreed and they arranged to meet in ten minutes at a McDonald’s restaurant on the outskirts of town.
She drove straight there, looking forward to having a coffee while they talked. She parked her car close to the entrance and waited. The restaurant was located in a service centre that had a petrol station and several other places to eat. She watched for Tim to arrive in amongst all the other customers. Finally, she saw a man that looked like he was searching for someone.
The only word that came to Jasmine’s mind to describe him was ‘spindly’. He was tall with long arms and legs. He reminded her of a praying-mantis. She walked up to him, hoping that she had the right guy.
“Tim?”
“Jasmine?”
“That’s me, thank you for coming. Would you like a coffee, my shout?”
“Coffee would be perfection.” They waited in line for their drinks and took them over to a table in the corner.
“You worked with my father John Parker, right?”
“Yeah, we worked together. How did you get my number?”
“Tobias Helman gave it to me. He said you were closer to Dad than he was.”
“That’s true. John and I called ourselves the Two Musketeers. We looked out for each other.”
“Do you know what project he was working on just before he was forced to resign?”
“Why?”
“Personal reasons. Did he tell you?”
“John was a discreet man – he followed orders – if the bosses told him not to talk about something, then he wouldn’t.” He looked around the restaurant, Jasmine got the feeling he wasn’t comfortable talking to her.
“Surely he would have run some ideas past you? Told you something?”
He leaned in towards Jasmine and lowered his voice. “Are you working for them?”
“For who?” She lowered her voice to suit.
“Them.”
“I can assure you Mr Rogers I’m not working for anyone. I’m just trying to find out some things about my dad.” He seemed to relax a little.
“John never talked directly; however, he did say a few things one night.”
“Go on, please.”
“It was really late, probably about 10:00pm and he came into the lab where I was working. I could tell he was mad – I think he needed to unload on someone – so I took him into the supply room and asked what the hell was wrong. He said he didn’t want to work there anymore. Said it was all getting to him.”
“Did he say why?”
“Yeah, eventually, I coaxed it out of him. The big bosses were getting him to make drugs and not of the pharmaceutical kind if you know what I mean.”
“Street drugs? Are you sure?” She remembered the recipes and wondered if her father had written them.
“That’s what he said. He didn’t know what they were doing with them; he just had to make them. John was a good man – an honest man; he thought it was wrong and didn’t want to be a part of it.”
“Why did he do it then?”
“He didn’t say. When I asked the same thing, he just said he had to. He wouldn’t say any more about it.”
“Do you think Avalon Laboratories are still making drugs?”
“Without a doubt. Ever since the management changed, that place hasn’t been the same.”
“Do you think the animal cruelty charges were a smoke screen?”
“Of course they were. John wanted out, but they didn’t want that – so they punished him.”
“But if they didn’t want him to go, then why ask him to resign?”
“No idea. It didn’t make sense at the time and it still doesn’t.” He shook his head as if that would help sort out his memories.
“Can you tell me anything else?”
“That’s all I know and you didn’t hear it from me. These guys are serious. You only have to look at them the wrong way and they’ll have you for dinner. I have to go, thanks for the coffee.” He stood up and hurried out before Jasmine could say anything else.
She finished her coffee and went back to her car. Tim was a strange character, but he seemed believable. If her father had trusted him, then there was no reason why she shouldn’t too.
The picture being painted of Avalon Laboratories, so far, wasn’t pretty. If they were producing drugs in their factories, then surely there must be hundreds of people keeping that secret. All the factory staff would have to be in on it, not to mention the scientists themselves. She doubted whether a secret that big would actually be kept – could actually be kept.
She decided to check in with Lucy. Becky had said she and Buster Hayden were dating when they met for coffee. If that was true, then it might put her right in the firing line. She picked up her mobile phone and dialled. The home phone went to the answering machine.
She hung up without leaving a message. Next she tried her mobile number.
“Hi Jaz.”
“Luce, hey. I was wondering if you’d be free to catch up over some coffee and cake.”
“Are you in Cliffton?”
“No, but I can be.”
“Okay, how about the usual place?”
“Be there soon.” She hung up, now understanding why Lucy never gave place names. If her phone was tapped, then it was very possible she was also followed from time-to-time. It all seemed a bit too James Bond to be real, but Jasmine didn’t think anything was beyond belief these days.
She started up her car and drove straight to the Bean Academy in Cliffton. It was a two-storey café that serviced the university. It was mainly frequented by students and the occasional teacher and it made an excellent place to get lost in. You could find a corner and the whole town would just pass you by without noticing.
As she parked her car, she noticed the car park was almost full. Checking her watch, she realised it was almost 5:00pm, the time when most of the students were looking for a coffee rush before evening classes. ‘That was a happy accident,’ she thought to herself.
As she had suspected, the Bean Academy was packed full of students. She looked around the room, trying to spot her sister in the throng. Standing by the cake cabinet, Lucy waved her over. She made her way through the crowd and they ordered the day’s special – chocolate banana cake – and a latté each.
There was no table service at the café, so they made small talk while waiting for their order to be filled. Their earlier discussion about the fire was sitting in the room like a pink elephant, but neither of them brought the subject up again.
Their number was called; they picked up the serving tray and found a table in a corner on the second floor. Most of the patrons were on the ground floor, so it offered them a much quieter space.
“So, why did you want to meet?” Lucy started.
“I heard a juicy rumour about you actually; thought I’d see if it was true.”
“A juicy rumour? Let’s hope it’s true then. What did you hear?”
“I heard you and Buster Hayden were a happening thing.”
“Well, that is actually true – Buster and I have been seeing each other for a while now.”
“How come you didn’t tell me?”
“I guess it just never really came up. You didn’t ask.”
Jasmine took a small notepad and a pen out of her handbag. She wrote on it “Are we safe to talk?” and slid it across the table so it was directly in front of her sister. Lucy took the pen and flipped the page of the notepad. In neat print she replied, “Yes, but be careful.”
Jasmine lowered her voice to almost a whisper, but didn’t move closer. To an outsider watching, nothing had changed in their conversation. “You know about the Haydens.
”
Lucy followed and lowered her voice. “Buster doesn’t know anything.”
“But he’s still one of them. How can you be around them?”
“Haven’t you ever heard the saying ‘keep your friends close, but your enemies closer’? By being with him, I’m in their world. I can make sure our family is safe.”
“I think Hayden Incorporated is helping to manufacture drugs.”
“They aren’t only manufacturing, they’re exporting as well.”
“What? What do you know?”
“You said you were going to drop this whole thing.”
“I lied. That’s what I wanted the people who were listening in to your phone calls to hear. Please, just tell me what you know. No cloak and dagger stuff this time; it’s important.”
“Fine then. Hayden Incorporated is an importer/exporter of all types of goods, to all parts of the world. In amongst some of the shipping containers, they have a special package for some select customers.”
“Do you know what the special packages have in them?”
“It’s meant to be this supreme drug. Super addictive and gives the ultimate high. I heard Buster’s dad gloating about it once. He said it’s a hundred times more addictive than Heroin, but the main difference between it and other drugs is that there is no known way to get off it. No-one has really fully identified the drug and separated it from all the others. So no-one knows how to treat the addiction.”
“Like working out how you fight a disease when you don’t know what it’s doing.”
“Or, what exactly the disease is.”
“I think Dad might have helped develop it.”
“He did. He was working on it before he died. He didn’t want to though – they were making him.”
“How long have you known about all this?”
“A fair while. I knew something was up before the fire – Dad wasn’t himself. After they died, I just had to know. No-one takes any notice of a kid asking questions, so I was able to find out a bit. The rest I didn’t find out until a couple of years ago. Being with Buster opened up a lot of information too. I didn’t know the finer details of the drug until we got together.”
“And yet he doesn’t know anything?”
“Nope. His father doesn’t think he’s good enough for the family business so he just has him in the warehouse. Buster Hayden, son of the legendary Hamish Hayden, doing stock takes in the warehouse. He has no idea about his own son.” She shook her head.
“You really like him then?”
“I do. At first I only agreed to go out with him to get closer to the company. But I realised he had grown up a lot since I last saw him and he wasn’t the same person he used to be. He takes really good care of me. What about you? Got anyone special yet?”
“Yeah, I’ve been seeing Caleb Marshall. Do you remember him?”
“Caleb? Yeah, I remember – you knew him at college, right? If memory serves, he’s a hottie.”
“That he is. Everything is going so well between us. We practically live together at the moment.”
“That’s good to hear. I’m happy you have someone.”
The conversation drifted into silence for a few moments. Jasmine was unsure whether she should tell Lucy about their father possibly being alive. After considering everything she already knew, she decided to go ahead. After all, Lucy may already know.
“Lucy, I think Dad might still be alive.”
The look on Lucy’s face told her she had no knowledge of that fact. For a moment, her mouth was hanging open in surprise before she recovered herself. “What are you talking about?”
“It wasn’t Dad that was in the fire. It was another person’s body.”
“You can’t be serious. There were reports, autopsies and stuff. It had to be Dad.”
“The medical report and the fire department’s report were almost a fairy tale. I’ve gone right into it. The man’s body they found was the father of a girl I went to school with. Her parents were also involved in the drugs.”
“It can’t be.”
“It’s true. Cynthia Storm topped her husband over breakfast and put his body into our house once the fire had been started.”
“The Storms are involved in this? As in the lawyers?”
“As in the lawyers. I heard it directly from their daughter Becky.”
“So what happened to Dad?”
“I’ve got no idea and I haven’t got the slightest idea of how to find out either.”
“What do you plan on doing with all this information?”
“I guess gather enough evidence and go to the police with it all. Not the Avalon police though, the head is also involved.”
“This is dangerous, Jaz. I meant it when I told you that you can’t beat these people. You will just end up dead somewhere. They will not hesitate to act if they think you know all this. I couldn’t stand it if they took away another one of my family.”
“I’m being careful. The first they hear of it will be when the federal police are knocking on their doors.” She thought about the phone calls that she had received and decided to keep them to herself.
“Why don’t we just move away from everything? Buster and I have been talking about travelling through Europe for a few years. Why don’t you come with us? We’ll just leave all this crap behind us and never come back.”
“Because I think Mum and Dad deserve some justice. And plus, Dad might be out there somewhere.”
“Caleb could also come with us. We’d have so much fun just seeing where the road takes us. Caleb has some money in the family, right?”
“If you want to go to Europe, then I think you should go, but I have to stay here and finish this – one way or the other. Maybe then I can leave town and never look back.”
“You’re stubborn, just like Dad. How could I leave my sister here? I’d be worried sick about you.”
“Give me a few weeks and I swear this will all be over. You never know, Buster might get a promotion to CEO when his father is in the gaol.”
“That’s a nice thought. I should get going, before I’m missed. Be careful, Sis. Seriously, besides Gran and Gramps, you are the only family I have, so don’t do anything stupid.” They stood up and tucked their chairs underneath the table, then hugged each other.
“I won’t, I promise.” She watched Lucy descend the stairs, following a few minutes later.
* * *
“We are so going to get in trouble for this.” Jasmine giggled as she followed Lucy through the open window of her bedroom.
“Shhh, you’ll give us away,” Lucy scolded.
They climbed down the trellis on the side of the house before dropping down onto the ground below. They knew it was a safe exit; they’d done it many times before. Where there’s a will, there’s a way – so to speak. They crept down the road as quickly as possible to the waiting car that was parked around the corner. They opened the door and climbed in without another word. The car started and drove off across town.
Number 287 Shell Lane was abuzz with activity. Teenagers filled the house, dancing and talking all over the place. The music was almost too loud to hear anything else, even when you shouted during the conversation. Lucy took Jasmine’s hand and guided her through the throng of bodies. She led her through to the kitchen before turning around.
“Don’t get lost and don’t get into trouble! We’ll meet back here in two hours. Understand?” Jasmine nodded her acknowledgement.
“Can’t I come with you?” A look of panic filtered through her eyes.
“No! How lame! Just mingle, dance, whatever, but don’t get lost.” Jasmine watched as Lucy disappeared into the crowd. She looked around the kitchen. It was a nice house; they had obviously crossed over the tracks into the better part of Avalon. She had no idea whose kitchen she was standing in. She walked over to the refrigerator and opened the door. It was almost empty, save for some butter and celery. She wondered what you could possible cook with just the two ingredients.
<
br /> Two, obviously drunk, boys staggered past her. On their way, the shorter one of the pair gave her a smile and an air kiss. She shuddered at the image; it wasn’t exactly a turn on. She ventured out of the kitchen and into the living room. The music was pumping; bodies were gyrating to the beat. Lucy wasn’t anywhere in sight. A girl walked past and offered her a tray covered in plastic cups. They were filled with an unknown blue liquid. She accepted one, picking it up off the tray. She took one sip – it burned her throat as she swallowed. Subtly, she placed the cup on a nearby table. The thought of drinking the entire thing made her queasy.
For the next two hours she stood on the fringe of the party. There was no-one there she knew, they were all older. For the most part, she tried to pretend she was invisible. With each passing minute, she regretted begging Lucy to take her. What was she thinking? Being sound asleep in her nice warm bed was so much more appealing right now.
She felt a tap on her shoulder and spun around as quickly as she could. Lucy was standing there, a huge grin spread right across her face.
“Having fun? It’s a rockin’ party! Did you see Duffy doing the robot dance? He cracks me up every time.”
“I want to go home, Lucy. I don’t like being here.”
Lucy grabbed her hands and started moving them to the music. She tried her best to get Jasmine to dance with her, but to no avail.
“Okay, we’ll go home. We need to find Sinead first, she’s our ride. Follow me.” Lucy gripped Jasmine’s wrist and dragged her all through the house from room to room. Eventually, Sinead was found in the arms of a boy. They waited patiently for her to come up for air.
When she did, she was happy to drive them home. Apparently, she had been looking for an excuse to leave the guy anyway. Jasmine considered she could have just used her legs to walk away, but that didn’t occur to Sinead.
The ride home was long. Sinead was careful not to attract any attention from the local police. Instead, she took every back road possible and did so at under the speed limit. Jasmine thought she’d never get home at that rate. How exactly that was staying away from police suspicion, she didn’t know. If she was a member of the police force, she would be looking for vehicles doing that exact thing. It showed they had something to hide.
Ashes to Ashes Page 24
