Not that she was anyway, she prided herself on ‘keeping herself nice’ as her grandmother had put it when giving the talk. Caleb loved her, and she loved Caleb.
She found her folder and starting putting the pages in some kind of order. She had to keep herself busy, otherwise Becky’s voice was never going to get out of her head. It began with the fire department’s report. She may have to explain pretty fast how she managed to obtain some of the documents. She hoped they would be more interested in the contents rather than the means by which they were obtained. Something about the means justifying the end, or something to that effect.
She realised some of the reports and the drug recipes were still at her apartment. She’d definitely need them to give to the police. Without everything present, there would be holes in the story. She picked up her car keys and headed off home.
Going through her apartment, she quickly found the pieces of information she was looking for. One of the good things about being organised is you’re never looking for something for too long.
She looked around the rooms, wondering if she would be able to move back in the near future. She liked Caleb’s place, but it was his home, not hers. Plus, there was no Logan here skulking around.
She sat on the lounge and went through her White Pages, looking for the number of the Cliffton police station. She called the number from the land line, wishing she still had her mobile phone. She was put through to Detective Fletcher. He seemed like a friendly kind of guy, in the very least he didn’t hang up on her. They arranged an appointment at the station for the next day at 10:00am. She didn’t reveal any information to him over the phone, just said she had something important to go over with him.
She hung up and drove back to Caleb’s. Checking her letterbox on the way out, but there was no more mail. She secretly hoped for a postcard, but was disappointed to find it empty – maybe next week.
In Caleb’s home office, she turned his computer on with the intention of typing up her notes. For some reason, she thought they would seem more believable if they weren’t hand written. She waited for the system to boot up. When it finished, a password box popped up on the screen – she hadn’t been expecting it.
She thought about what his password might be. She typed in ‘Caleb’ – it didn’t work. She remembered what he had said to her when they were trying to log into the CEO’s computer at the labs. She typed in ‘God’. It didn’t work either. She tried ‘Jasmine’, nothing. She typed in ‘Ella’, try again. She tried as many words as she could think of, from his mother’s name to the newspaper’s. Nothing worked – frustrated, she turned the computer off and left the room.
Deciding that technology wasn’t going to work for her, she set about with her notepad and pen and started handwriting her notes in greater detail. It might not be typed, but it would be clear and concise.
She worked on the notes all day, only stopping for the occasional cup of tea or snack. She completely missed lunch, only realising when her stomach started to growl. Her hand was aching and she cursed the computer, thinking how much quicker she could have typed it. This was supposed to be the modern age.
She was just finishing as Caleb came home from work. She quickly put everything in a pile and tucked it away. Tomorrow was going to be a free for all. She would be ruining a lot of people’s lives. Some people deserved it, because of their own doing, but some were just caught up in it, because of the people they loved.
Tonight she would just enjoy the evening with her boyfriend. That was her reasoning anyway. Deep down, she knew she needed his reassurance that she was more to Caleb than a blow up doll.
“Hi Sweetie, how was your day?” Jasmine raced up to Caleb as soon as he was through the door and flung her arms around him.
“Pretty good. How about you?”
“Not the best. Did you read the newspaper today? Your mate Chester should write for the tabloids.”
“I know – he gets a bit excited every so often, carried away with himself. Have you heard from Becky?”
“Did I ever. Anyway, let’s not talk about it. I just want to forget about everything tonight.” She didn’t let him go, instead just nuzzled in against his chest.
“How about we go out for dinner then? Some place nice.” He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight.
“Sounds like a brilliant idea.” Jasmine walked up the twenty-six steps to the second storey, her arm still around Caleb. She picked out the best outfit she could from her suitcase and got ready to go out.
Within twenty minutes, they were standing in line at J’Adore, waiting to be seated. It was a personal record. Within twenty-five minutes they were seated at a little table near the window.
Jasmine enjoyed going out with Caleb. He always managed to score the best table in any restaurant. It could have been because of his family money, but she always suspected that it was really his flirting with the waitresses. Money could only get you so far – flirting got you everywhere.
Dinner seemed to pass quickly. They ate and talked about everything and anything. Jasmine was swift to change the topic when it floated back to her investigation. Instead, she asked him about his family and what he would like to do next with his life. He asked her about her plans and whether they should do something more permanent. After all, it was silly having an apartment when she lived with him anyway, he said.
After they had finished dessert, they went for a walk down to the boardwalk. It was a beautiful night. It reminded Jasmine of the calm before the storm. The stars were twinkling in the sky, a light breeze brought the faint scent of the ocean to wrap around them and the warmth from each other kept them close. It was a perfectly romantic evening, which left them both feeling like they were the luckiest two people in the world.
It was almost midnight by the time they made it back home. They stumbled into the house, barely able to see anything other than one another. At the foot of the stairs, Caleb picked Jasmine up and carried her to the next floor and straight into the bedroom. He carefully laid her down and started unbuttoning her blouse. She responded by doing the same to his shirt buttons. They dissolved into each other for the rest of the night.
Chapter 19
Jasmine was in the kitchen with all her notes. She had woken up before Caleb and was getting everything ready for her meeting with the Cliffton detective. She planned on explaining everything she had discovered to Caleb. She didn’t feel right going straight to the police without updating him first. He needed to know the details first so there were no nasty surprises later on.
She checked to see if Logan had risen and found his bed empty. It was only eight in the morning. She wondered where he had gone, but was relieved that she didn’t have to explain it to him as well. She got the feeling he wouldn’t be too happy about what she had to say. She’d rather a policeman have to give him the news instead of her.
“Honey, could you please come into the living room for a minute,” Caleb called. She wasn’t aware he was awake, let alone downstairs in the living room. She hurried in to see him.
“When did you get up? I didn’t hear you.” She went up to him and gave him an extended kiss.
“I’ve been up for a little while. Can you please sit down on the sofa?” Confused, but happy to oblige, she followed his request.
She sat there staring at him. He seemed nervous and unsure of himself – not his usual calm demeanour. She looked up at him, expectantly.
“You’ve got everything ready to go to the police?”
“Yeah, I do. I was hoping to go through it with you this morning, actually.”
“Have you gone through it with anyone else yet?”
“No, I wasn’t going to. You were going to be the first.”
“Good, but I can’t let you go to the police.” He swung his right arm around that was resting just behind his back. He was holding a gun which he pointed directly at Jasmine. Her eyes grew wide in shock, for a moment she could do nothing but stare. She only recovered when she realised
who she was talking to.
“Caleb, what are you doing?”
“You can’t go to the police. I won’t let you.” The gun didn’t waver. He looked her straight in the eyes. “Stand up.”
“Caleb, what are you doing?” she repeated.
“I said stand up and turn around.” She followed his orders. He pushed the gun into the back of her head. Using his other hand, he wrapped a pair of handcuffs around her wrists.
Jasmine started crying. “Caleb, please don’t do this.”
“Walk, and don’t even think about making any noise. I have duct tape; unless you want your mouth taped shut, listen to me.” He moved the gun down to the middle of her back and nudged her. “Walk to the office.” She started walking, unable to stop the tears from running silently down her cheeks. She couldn’t wipe them away. They dropped straight to the floor. She walked past the kitchen and looked at all her notes and the breakfast bowl with a half-eaten Weetbix in it.
In the office, Caleb directed her to sit in the only chair that was in the room. She obeyed, still staring at him, not believing what was happening.
“What are you going to do to me?” she asked.
“I’m preventing the police from hearing your story. Didn’t I ask you to stop talking?” He started pacing.
“You don’t need to do this. I promise that if you don’t want me to see the police then I won’t. I promise. I love you, Caleb.”
“STOP TALKING,” he yelled. He kept pacing left to right, then back again. He kept the gun in his hand, his finger on the trigger.
Jasmine watched him, unsure what to do. She was torn between just following orders and trying to talk him around. The situation didn’t make sense to her; she didn’t feel like she was in her own body. It must be a dream.
She decided to try and get through to him. Just sitting there was going to get her dead. She steadied her voice and said quietly, “How long have you known?” He stopped pacing and stared at her.
“For a few days.”
“You got all the deeds when you picked them up, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
He wasn’t yelling at her, so she decided to keep talking. The more they talked, hopefully, the more he would calm down. After all, Caleb wouldn’t really hurt her. Would he? “Did you know before then?”
“No. How did you find out?”
“I found a copy of the deed. I didn’t think you knew – at least not up until ten minutes ago.”
“Were you planning on telling me? Or would I have just found out about it through the newspapers like everyone else?”
“I was going to tell you this morning. I thought you should know first.”
“Sure you did.”
“Caleb, I did. Do you really think I would want to hurt you?”
“If you didn’t intend on hurting me, then you wouldn’t have made that appointment with the detective.”
“How did you know about that?”
“I know more than you think.” He started pacing again.
“I know you’re just trying to protect them. It’s good that you want to protect those around you, but this isn’t the way. We can keep this a secret together. I promise we can make this right again.”
“How can it be right? My own girlfriend was going to betray me!”
“I wasn’t going to betray anyone. I just want my family to get justice. They are the ones that started this, Caleb. They are the bad guys – not me.” She started crying again. She tried to see how much give there was in the handcuffs, but they were tight around her wrists. She could barely turn her hands, let alone slip out of them. Her shoulders started to hurt from being pulled behind her in such an awkward position.
“It’s not justice sending innocent people to gaol!”
“And it’s justice hurting me? I’ve lost my family! Don’t you think I deserve to see them punished for killing my parents?”
“I think you should keep your trap shut and be quiet. I need to work out exactly what I should do with you.” He waved the gun at her to reiterate the point.
“I thought you loved me.”
“I thought I did too, but you’ve brought this upon yourself. It’s too late now.”
“You knew – all along you’ve been planning this and you still spent last night with me? How could you look at me and kiss me and just be lying to me the whole time?”
“How could you! Weren’t you lying to me too?”
“No. The difference is I thought you didn’t know. I thought we would have one perfect night together before everything crumbled around us. I thought we would be able to get through this together. You’re a bastard.”
“You think calling me names is going to make this any better? You’re just giving me more reason to shoot you right now.”
“And then what? Bury me in the backyard? My grandparents will come looking for me, Lucy will come looking for me – she knows we’re living together. It won’t take long before people figure it out. You really want to ruin your life for these people?”
“My life was ruined when I met you. Now shut up!”
Out of the corner of her eye, Jasmine thought she saw movement beyond the doorway. She tried not to stare, just in case Caleb saw it too.
She kept glancing to the door. She thought for sure something had moved outside in the corridor. Her heart stopped when she saw a definite outline of a person. Was it the cavalry come to save her or someone to help Caleb dispose of her body? She hoped for the former and tried to calm herself.
The figure came into view, suddenly standing in the doorway. Caleb stopped his pacing and ran at him. Logan sidestepped into the room and avoided the tackle. Jasmine’s heart sank, whatever the reason Logan was there it would not be to rescue her. Caleb, angry that he had not been able to get a hold of his intruder, waved the gun at him, ordering him into the far corner.
Logan glanced around the room, spotting Jasmine’s arms handcuffed behind her back. He followed the command to stand in the corner. “Man, just chill. What do you think you’re doing?”
“Shut up! I told you to get out of here!”
“I thought you’d do something crazy like this one day, but to your own girlfriend? What’s up with you?”
“I’m protecting you. You like living in this house don’t you?”
“How about you stop waving that gun around?”
“How about you SHUT UP!” Jasmine watched as Caleb got even angrier than before. Obviously, he hadn’t been expecting another hostage. If Logan was a hostage, she doubted he would be here long. They would most probably swear not to tell anyone, shake hands, and get on with the rest of their day.
Caleb was standing at the door, his attention now diverted from Jasmine. The gun was still in his right hand, except now it was aimed squarely at Logan’s chest. Jasmine cast her eyes around the room, trying to work out if there was another escape route. The windows were small, but she could easily crawl through them. That is, if she could remove the steel security screens in lightning-fast speed with her hands tied behind her back. She used to watch Wonder Woman on TV when she was younger. She doubted whether even Wonder Woman could pull that off. Besides the door, that was the only way out of the room.
“So what’s your plan, Caleb?” Logan spoke softly, as if speaking to a child having a tantrum.
“My plan is to make you both shut up.”
“Are you going to kill us both? Is that how you’re going to make us shut up?”
“Well that depends on you. I’ve got to kill her, but you have a choice.”
“Why are you doing this? What’s she done?”
“She poked around and found out too much.”
Jasmine couldn’t keep quiet any more. If she was going to get out of this, she needed dumb luck or to talk herself out of it – there was no way she could physically overpower Caleb. “Caleb thinks he’s protecting his family.”
“Shut up!” Caleb swung his arm back towards Jasmine.
“Logan, did you know Caleb�
��s parents are drug dealers?”
“What’s she talking about, man?”
“Both of you – no more talking!” Caleb’s face was sweating now and his hand was shaking slightly. He swung the gun back and forth between the two of them.
Jasmine stared straight into Caleb’s eyes. “The Marshalls’ money comes from manufacturing and exporting drugs. Turns out their son doesn’t fall far from the family tree.”
“Is that true, Caleb?”
“Yes, which is why she has to die. She’s going to tattle to the police.”
“Caleb, look at me. You haven’t done anything wrong. It’s your family that is going down, not you. If we all walk out of here right now, you are not going to gaol. Your life isn’t going to change.” Jasmine tried to negotiate. She thought of all the cop shows she watched on TV every week. The strategy of the ‘good cop’ was meant to provide a way out for the criminal. She was trying to show Caleb the ‘out’ of the situation.
“My life won’t change? Do you think I earn enough to pay for this house? Who do you think bought my car? What will happen to my little sister?”
While Jasmine and Caleb were talking, Logan saw that Caleb was distracted by her. He took the moment and ran at Caleb, knocking him to the ground. Jasmine was momentarily stunned. She saw the two men on the ground wrestling each other for the gun. Her sink or swim instincts took over and she ran for the open door.
Out in the corridor, she looked left and then right, unsure where to go. The house was big. There was a good chance that she could never be found in it if she hid. The front door was on the opposite side of the house. She might be caught trying to escape.
She turned right and ran upstairs. Trying to run as quietly as possible, she headed for the guest bedroom at the end of the landing. The same one she had stayed in only a few weeks before. She struggled to open the door with her hands still cuffed and stepped in.
The room was so quiet and so normal. It was a world away from being kept tied up by your boyfriend, who was threatening to shoot you dead.
She pushed the door closed behind her and crawled into the small closet. It was difficult closing the closet door, not only because her hands were behind her back, but also because there was no doorknob on the inside. Closets weren’t exactly meant to have people inside them. They were meant for clothes and shoes.
Ashes to Ashes Page 28
