His Absolute Authority: A Scandalous Billionaire Love Story (Jessika, #3)

by du Lys, Cerys

"Can you explain the message you left on Elise Tanner's voicemail, then?" he asked.

  "Message?" I asked. Oh shit. I didn't want to be vulgar, even in my mind, but this was just an "Oh shit" kind of moment, you know?

  "I don't have an official transcript on me, so forgive me for paraphrasing," he said. "The general gist of it sounded like you knew exactly where she was, that your husband, Asher Landseer, had spoken with Lucent the night before, and Jeremy, which you've informed me is the name of your driver, was coming."

  "Oh," I said. "I can explain that."

  Dean smiled, patient and quiet. I was absolutely positive he didn't believe me right now. "Sure. Go on?"

  "Well, I found my phone eventually, so... I thought I'd call Elise's phone after."

  "And leave her a message," he added for me. "Which she'd be able to listen to, since she didn't have her phone on her." He sure was making it rather evident that he didn't believe me, wasn't he?

  "You can call your own phone and press some number to listen to your messages, you know? I thought I'd leave a message just in case she did that," I said.

  "Sure, we can go with that."

  "And... the part with Asher is confusing. I was kind of nervous at the time. I was talking about something else. We had some problems at work, you know? Landseer Tower. Lucent and Asher were trying to figure that out, so... well, it's silly now that I think about it. None of that was really important."

  "The part with Jeremy?" Dean asked.

  I tried to think. What had I said exactly? "I didn't mean that Jeremy was coming to get Elise," I said. "I don't know where Elise is, so that'd be kind of impossible, anyways. Jeremy was coming here, to bring Asher and I uh... well, he brought us ice cream. Again, I realize that's not exactly logical, but he really did. We kind of ate it all, though. Do you want to see the empty containers?"

  They were here. Or there. Somewhere. They were in the trash, waiting to be taken out. This was kind of a true story. I wasn't exactly lying. I mean, I was lying, but just not exactly. It was half a lie, because we did get ice cream. I wasn't sure if I was a terrible person or not.

  "Do you mind if I look around now, ma'am?" Dean asked. "I'll only be a second, I promise. A quick check and then I'm done."

  "My husband's in the bathroom, though," I said.

  "Right," he said. "That's not a problem."

  "You don't want to look in the bathroom?" I asked.

  "Should I expect to find something in the bathroom?" he countered.

  "No. Um... my naked husband? That's about all you'd find. And a toilet. Sink. Shower. Um... we have some soap. Nothing fancy. I haven't actually been back here for a long time, so everything's kind of sparse, to be honest, I..."

  This was going nowhere very fast, and we were all about to go to jail, I was sure of it. I didn't want to go to jail, but then who actually wants to go to jail? Probably no one. Asher's ex-wife, Beatrice, was in jail, though. Sort of. It wasn't exactly a terrible place. Kind of cushy and comfortable, to be honest. It was the sort of place they sent people who could afford to pay for extra facilities. She had her own apartment, even. I mean, she was locked up and confined, but she basically just sat around in a cozy room all day and was allowed to watch TV or read or whatever in her own space. She used to be married to Asher, so she had money from then, but she had plenty of money from her own family, too. She didn't need to marry Asher for his money, even though in the end she'd tried to take as much of it away from him as possible.

  Sort of. That was a long story. I didn't have any money. I didn't think I could afford to go to a place like that. They'd send me to some dreary and dismal place where all the woman had nicknames that had to do with car parts, like Hubcap and Muffler, and... I didn't even know where I got that part from. Why would they be called Hubcap and Muffler?

  This was bad. Asher could go to a nice jail, certainly. It might ruin Landseer Enterprises, though. He'd still be able to afford a bit of luxury. I was sure he'd try to pay for me, too, but then I'd feel terrible. We very well couldn't just go to jail together, you know? I didn't think it worked like that. And what about Elise? She couldn't afford much, either. Maybe we could be roommates. Prison roommates, in a jail cell together. We'd need nicknames, I guess. I could be Window Wiper and she could be... Rearview Mirror.

  I was going a little bit crazy, but I felt like I had a perfectly good reason for it.

  The police officer calmly walked through my living room, investigating everything. There wasn't much to investigate, so he moved on rather quickly. He started down the hallway towards the bedroom, but then the bathroom door opened.

  Lucent stepped out, looking mostly dried, though his hair was tousled and wet. He wore his clothes from last night; dress pants and a fancy button-down dress shirt.

  He nodded to the policeman. The officer nodded back.

  "Dean," Lucent said.

  "Lucent," Dean said.

  "Thank you for coming."

  "Sure, yeah. Not a problem. Someone had to. You owe me big, though."

  I wanted to die. I was almost positive I nearly collapsed onto the floor and passed out.

  ***

  We all sat in the living room, talking. Maybe not all of us were precisely in the living room, but Dean and Lucent sat at the dining room table. Elise sat on the couch nearest to Lucent, and Asher and I sat on the other side opposite Elise. Most of the talking was being done by Dean, Asher, and Lucent, with Elise listening with somewhat rapt attention, and me watching on.

  I really wasn't sure what was going on, except to say that no one was being hauled off to jail, and it didn't seem like anyone was going to be, either. None of that made a whole lot of sense to me, but it seemed like a fairly good situation, all things considered.

  "I don't know what's going on, Lucent," Dean said. "The station is going crazy wanting to bring you in. There's rumors going around about you kidnapping the woman you're with, and—"

  "Miss Tanner," Lucent said, interrupting him. "The woman in question is Elise Tanner."

  "Yeah, sure. Exactly," Dean continued. "The Chief really wants to bring you in, though. Won't listen to anything else. Refused to accept Asher Landseer's stance. It's kind of understandable, because something like that could go either way. It's not like we can let a known arsonist stay on the loose. The thing is, there's no real evidence. Circumstantial at best. A suit jacket? Come on."

  Lucent nodded. "Understood, but unfortunately there may be more to it than that. There shouldn't have been anyone with access to that room," he said. "Mr. Landseer and myself, yes, but other than that, no one else should have been able to gain entry."

  "I get that, but the hallway door was unlocked. For all anyone knows, you went in there for some hanky panky with your lady, forgot to lock the door when you left, and someone took advantage of it after the fact."

  Elise scrunched up her nose, indignant. "We didn't do that in there."

  Dean laughed. "It doesn't really matter if you did or not. It's possible it could have happened. No one's listening to any alternatives, though. If someone brings something else up, their protests are instantly shot down. Innocent until proven guilty, but that's not how it's going right now. They're basically saying Lucent is guilty all the way through. The Chief is using the fact that no one can get in touch with you as even more supposed evidence that you're guilty."

  "What should we do, then?" Asher asked.

  "I apologize for being candid, Mr. Landseer, but we shouldn't do anything. I will leave, as previously stated, and you may return to your everyday life," Lucent said. "I believe this is what we agreed upon last night."

  I glared at Lucent. I wasn't necessarily angry with him, but the way he pushed aside all emotions and tried to treat the problem like a simple issue to be solved as logic dictated really bothered me.

  "We're all in this together," I said. "I don't care what you say, Lucent, but whatever happens we're all in this together."

  Elise nodded fast. "I agree with Jessika."

&nbs
p; "My apologies if my statement was unclear," Lucent said. "I certainly don't wish to separate each of our issues forever, but we must deal with them one at a time, and the easiest way for us to control the current situation is if we separate ourselves for the time being. If the situation is as Dean says, it's far more agreeable for me—and, perhaps Miss Tanner, if she'll accompany me—to go somewhere else for the time being."

  "Definitely," Dean said. "I was sent here to scope out the situation, but it's mostly a done deal. As soon as I leave and report back, no matter what I say, I'm sure they're going to send a couple of squad cars to surround the building and keep an eye out for suspicious activity. If they have to, they're going to claim it's for Jessika Landseer's safety, after all of the media attention recently."

  "We'll leave immediately," Lucent said.

  "What about breakfast?" I asked. "Can't you at least stay for a little while? Ten or fifteen minutes won't hurt, will it?"

  "I don't mean to be the one to tell you this, ma'am, but I've really got to step back outside soon before my partner comes looking for me. If I don't, he'll radio something in, and they'll have more people here within five minutes. As soon as I step outside and call it in myself, it'll be about five minutes, too. That's really all the time you have."

  I jumped off the couch quickly and ran to the kitchen. "Fine. Then one or two minutes. You both can't leave without eating something. You'll starve. Where are you going to find food?"

  "I'm sure we can find food, Mrs. Landseer," Lucent said. "There's an abundance of convenience and grocery stores outside the immediate area."

  "Yes," I said. "You've got to get outside the immediate area first, Lucent. And that's going to take some time, so..."

  Asher and I hadn't had a lot of time to prepare the food yet. The pasta sauce was warm, but I hadn't added the chopped vegetables, and none of the pasta was cooked. Obviously we didn't have time for that, but we had a little time for something. I picked up the cutting board and brought it to the sauce, then tossed all the vegetables in. Stirring fast with the wooden spoon that was already in the pot, I mixed everything together. I fetched a pair of partly cracked bowls from my cupboards and spooned some sauce into each, then snatched up a pair of spoons, too.

  Carrying both bowls, I ran to the other side of the peninsula counter and into the living room. I handed Lucent one, Elise one, and then I went back to sit with Asher.

  "Eat!" I said. "Fast! Hurry."

  Elise shrugged and started spooning chunky pasta sauce with raw vegetables into her mouth. If she didn't have the bowl in her hands and so close to her mouth, she would have probably gotten it all over her shirt. As it was, it worked.

  Lucent hesitated, though. He scowled at me, bowl in hand, spoon handle tentatively held in the other.

  "I really don't believe this is—" he started to say.

  "Eat!" I said. "If you don't eat, I'm going to have Asher fire you."

  "I already attempted to tender my resignation last night," Lucent said. "I was declined. I doubt this will—"

  I turned to Asher. "Asher," I said. Just his name, just that.

  Asher shrugged at Lucent. "Sorry, Lucent. I guess if you don't eat, you're fired."

  "I refuse to be fired," Lucent said, scowling. "That would be extremely unacceptable."

  "It's good," Elise said in between a mouthful of food. "These peppers taste nice. A little sweet, and really crisp and crunchy. I like them a lot."

  Lucent tried a bite, continuing to scowl the entire time. After he started chewing, he nodded in appreciation, though.

  "An unorthodox breakfast, but quite delicious," he said.

  "I'll be on my way, then," Dean said, moving to stand. "You folks have a nice breakfast. Elise, Lucent." He nodded to each of them, then to Asher and I. "Asher, Jessika. Sorry for the strange meeting. Never thought I'd need to do something like this, to be honest. I'm not going to be able to get involved any more than this. I just wanted to warn you all and do what I could. Hopefully the rest works out for you."

  I didn't know whether to thank him or ask him a million questions. Why was someone from the police force friends with Lucent? And not just friends, but he was willing to skirt the law for him? That seemed to go above and beyond a regular friendship. Granted, Asher and I were doing the same thing, so perhaps not. Asher and I weren't police officers either, though. Would it be different if we were? I didn't know, but I didn't think so.

  "Oh, right," Dean said, stopping when he was standing next to Lucent. "Almost forgot. I thought these might come in handy for you. I took a few liberties. Hope you don't mind."

  Reaching into his pants pocket, the man offered Lucent a slim wallet. It had slots for different types of cards on the side, with another thin slot in the center for money. No folding or anything like that, just a simple, straight to the point wallet.

  Lucent nodded and took the offered item. "You have my sincere gratitude, Dean," he said.

  Dean Thompson smiled. "Sure thing. Stay safe, Lucent. You've been a real help. I don't know who you've pissed off to have this happen, but I'm sure you can handle it. I'll see if I can find anything else out, but I doubt it. Your best bet is to lay low and see if you can figure out who actually started the fire."

  Dean started to leave, so I got up to follow him so I could lock the door behind him. He tipped his hat and nodded to me before he left. "Ma'am," he said. "Sorry for the fright. I admit I kind of wanted to see what you'd do, too. You stayed calm under pressure, though. I'll see if I can use your story about the phone and cell records to keep things quiet around here, but I doubt it'll help much. You've got about five minutes. That's all I can do."

  I nodded slowly. I honestly wasn't sure what to do. "Well, thank you," I said.

  I wanted to say more, but I didn't know what I should be thanking him for. It seemed like he was trying to be helpful, but giving us five minutes wasn't much help. It was more than nothing, at least.

  "You all have a good day," Dean said before stepping out into the apartment building hallway. I closed the door behind him.

  Lucent put his bowl of food on the dining table, sliding it towards the center. He'd only eaten half of it. Like our five minutes of time, it was more than nothing, at least. Elise ate a little more than that, but not by much. When she saw Lucent finishing with his, she took one more bite and then reached forward and put her bowl on the table, too, setting it near his.

  "You'll need to leave your phone, Miss Tanner," Lucent said. "It should be safe enough for you to bring your purse, though."

  "Alright," she said. "What's that he gave you?"

  Lucent flipped the wallet around in his hands, treating it like an old, prized possession. It looked brand new, bright, fresh leather with crisp, clean cards in the slots on the sides. He slipped loose one of the cards and glanced at it. Was that what I thought it was?

  "It appears to be false identification," he said. "Though it is of a higher calibre than a completely fake counterpart. By all means, it should be as useful and accurate as the real thing."

  I stared at him, wide-eyed. Elise didn't seem nearly as alarmed or concerned with any of this. On the couch, Asher just shrugged. Who were these people? What kind of friends did I have? And my husband? Um...

  "Alright, but what about me?" Elise asked.

  Lucent flipped the wallet around and pulled out another of the cards. It had a woman's picture on the front; nearly—or if I had to guess, exactly—identical to Elise.

  "Here you go, Miss Dunst," he said, offering the card to her.

  She took it and inspected it. "This is me?" she asked. "Josephine Dunst?"

  "For now," he said. "Yes. I apologize you weren't allowed much of a choice in the matter."

  "Josephine Dunst?" I asked. I went to Lucent's side and stared at the other card in his hand. It had Lucent's picture on it, but according to the information, he was now Max Hollowell.

  Maybe I shouldn't have been too surprised, but I was. Those were the fake names Asher and I used
when we escaped in secret to a small bed and breakfast in the middle of nowhere to get married.

  I looked from the card to Asher. My husband smiled back at me reassuringly.

  "I picked out the names before we left to get married," Asher said. "I didn't want to scare you, but Lucent helped me with some of the minor details. If I paid for everything using a credit card under my real name, the press would have found out. We still paid for everything. Nothing was stolen, but..."

  I didn't even need to guess to know that the remaining two cards in the wallet were credit cards issued to Josephine Dunst and Max Hollowell. Were they even real people, or was their entire existence a scam? Was it some convenience created by Lucent to do things like what he was about to do? To do what Asher and I had done? The two situations seemed entirely different, but in some ways I supposed they weren't. Both involved elaborate lies, but... was that bad? If the credit cards were real and everyone received payment for their use, then it wasn't hurting anyone.

  Right?

  I tried to convince myself of this, tried to accept it, but I didn't know if I could. I didn't know if I couldn't, either. It wasn't really a matter of either/or, it was just a matter of realization and understanding. I needed to take some time to think about all of this, but we didn't have any time for me to do that right now.

  "I'm going to get you some things," I said. "I know you're in a hurry. I'll help you. You can go out the back way. I'll show you where it is. There's a park in the back. It's not really visible from the street and there's a walkway all the way through it that comes out a couple of blocks away. That should give you some time, to..." To what? I didn't know. I didn't finish that sentence, because I didn't know if it had a real ending.

  I ran down the hall to my room and flung open the drawer in my bedside table. There were a couple of spare batteries, a mini notepad, and a pen. I took all of them, even though I didn't know what Lucent or Elise would use them for. Then I went over to the other bedside table to see what was there: an envelope and two stamps. I took those, too.

  Asher stood in the bedroom doorway, watching me.