by Lauren Wood
“So how do you know her?”
“We met not too long after I moved here to change my fate. I got in with the wrong people. Meri helped me out of a really bad spot and I owe her. I am always a woman that repays my debts. She would never take it before, but now she needs me and I want to do anything I can for her.”
“Including calling in your own debts?”
Ashlyn shook her head no. “You help me because you want to. I have told you before you don’t owe me anything Sam, but please help me.”
I did owe her and I assured her that I would. I hoped more than anything that I was able to help her and her friend. If Ashlyn cared so much, then I was supposed to as well.
“I will go over there and figure this out. We will have her back before you know it.”
“I really hope so Sam. I know if anyone could help me, it would be you.”
I wasn’t so sure, but I was sure that I was going to do my best. I left Ashlyn’s apartment and made my way home to pack. My assistant settled all of the slight arrangements that were necessary in less than an hour. I was on a redeye to Thailand. I wasn’t sure what was ahead of me, but I knew for sure that it was going to be interesting. With very few facts to go off of, at this point it was all assumptions and conjectures.
Chapter 3
Meri
This was turning into a total nightmare and in my nightmare it didn’t seem to have anyone that actually spoke English in it, which made it even harder to figure out what was going on. I knew that Carol was gone, but I didn’t know why they were holding me in some cell instead of looking for her.
What’s worse was that I couldn’t make a call. This was not all like it was supposed to be. In all of the movies that I have ever watched, the person that goes to jail gets to make a phone call. This hadn’t happened. I didn’t have a lawyer, I don’t think anyways. I had several people ask me questions in the native language. I now wished more than ever that I had learned a little bit more before I had come here. I didn’t think I would be in this situation, but I should have known that something was going to happen. It really is just my kind of luck that things like this happen.
So I waited in a cell for what felt like years, but was only a few days before things started to change. I still wasn’t sure if the change was going to be a good one or a bad one, but I did know that at least I was relieved to have someone that spoke English that I could understand. There were a few people that knew a few words, but that was mainly from TV and wasn’t consistent with any kind of real communications.
“Miss. Ellin, I have been sent here to help you. Can you come to the bars please?”
I was turned away from the bars, sick of the stares from everyone that passed by. When I turned around, I didn’t expect the tall American with the boyish good looks staring back at me. For a moment I had to wonder if I was seeing things. Had I fallen asleep and this was some kind of wishful thinking dream? If a lawyer did come to my rescue, he wouldn’t look like this.
But if I was awake, I wanted to talk to someone that could understand me. I needed someone that could explain to these people that I didn’t do anything wrong or even just tell me what it was that was going on. I just wanted to know at least why I was being held and when I was going to get to leave this god forsaken place that I found myself in.
“That’s me.”
“I could tell since you are the only white woman in this place, although I was expecting someone different.”
I didn’t know what he meant by that, but it felt like he was giving me a compliment in some off way. I didn’t want that. I wanted to know that he was here to get me out or at least give me some answers. I had never been so scared and frustrated in all of my life.
“Yeah, that’s me. The stupid American stuck in Thailand prison and I don’t even know why. Are you here to help me get out?”
“You don’t know why you are here?”
I shrugged. “Not really. I went to a restaurant and then a club a few nights ago with my friend Carol. She was trying to stay here with Rico, but I convinced her to come back with me. We have to get out of our apartment and I am supposed to be in New York for a job. Now Carol is gone when I woke up and I haven’t seen her since. About five minutes after I woke up, the cops were surrounding the house and I was taken into custody. Nobody seems to know English and no one will tell me anything. I don’t know what I did or what I am supposed to do.”
I let it all out and even though I didn’t think that any of it was going to help me all that much, all I could think was how much of a relief it was to get it off of my chest. I was confused, but at least I had someone that would understand me when I said something. The fact that someone else might be listening was more than I could imagine. It was that important.
“Wow, okay, well that was a mouthful. How long have you been here?”
“I don’t know. A week, a month? It feels like I have been here forever. I am starving and more than a little terrified of the water they want me to drink.”
He handed me a bottle of water through the bars. “My plane just touched down, so I haven’t stopped anywhere. I will bring you some things when I have a minute. In these types of jails, the family usually brings what their loved ones need to get them through.”
“Well I would appreciate it, but that doesn’t tell me what is going on? Please tell me that you know.”
“You are being charged with her murder, Carol Dungee.”
“She’s dead?” I felt like I had been hit hard, my body moving back a few steps. I had just seen her a couple of days ago. This didn’t make any sense.
“Well they think she is, though there isn’t proof of a crime actually being committed because there is no body. Things are different here though. I tried to tell Ashlyn that before I came. I spent the flight going over some of their laws and I can tell you now that we have a long road ahead of us.”
“Give me some good news please… What did you say your name was?”
“Sam.”
“Give me some good news Sam.”
“I am here and I told our mutual friend that I would do everything I can to help you. I always keep a promise.”
I didn’t know if he was talking pure crap or not. The man was handsome, almost too handsome to be taken seriously and I hoped more than anything that he wasn’t one of the many men that fell for Ashlyn. If that were the case, his competence may be in question, but he was as good as it was going to get. I didn’t know anything about him besides the fact that I could understand him and he could understand me. This business with Carol was going to take longer to process than anything else.
“You need to find Rico. He was the last one with us and he was the one that Carol was seeing. I don’t know who he is, not really. We met him when we first got here and the two were inseparable the whole trip. Rico knows something.”
He looked through some notes and told me that Rico had already given his statement to the police. “He says that the two of you were fighting about her staying. He says that you were the last one to see her alive.”
It was just another blow and I was reeling with a dump of information. It was all too much and I grabbed the side of the bars.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just haven’t eaten much in the last week or so. I need to sit down. Do you mind?”
“Not at all. Let me check into my hotel and see where I can get with the local law enforcement. That will give us a better idea of why they are making this conclusion. I will also set up a deposition so that you can give your side of it. Maybe we can even get you some kind of bond or release pending the investigation. I am going to try my best to get you out of here Meri, I promise.”
“You said that you don’t take back promises.”
“I don’t, so when I say that, you will know that I am telling the truth. I am going to figure this out and I will be back here in a couple of hours.”
I didn’t want him to leave. He was the only light I had seen in this particular tunnel in some time and
I wanted him to stay and talk to me. I felt like I was missing that human connection. Not just that, but there was something about the man that appealed to me. Even in the midst of all of this, surrounding by such complicated circumstances, I had wanted him to stay just because I wanted to be around him. Sad, strange and even more confusing than all of the rest of the emotions running through me.
But he left and I was left to ponder all of what he had said. I didn’t know what the charges were that kept me here, but even in my worst nightmare it wouldn’t have anything to do with killing my best friend. I didn’t even want to think about something happening to Carol. I knew that it was obvious something had happened, but I have no idea what. I knew that she was not there when I woke up, but my heart told me that Rico knew where she was and what happened to her.
I tried to remember all that I could, but each thought left me quickly. I swear that it was because I hadn’t eaten in so long. I was just going to have to wait for my lawyer to come back. I was more worried at the minute about if I was going to get some dinner, far more than I was worried about what my legal strategy was going to be. I could only think of the short term at the moment because the long term was just too impossible to fathom.
It felt like hours before Sam came back, but he came back. He didn’t have much good news to bring me, no easy fix as it were, but he did bring me food and at the moment I was far more interested in that, then anything else.
The sweet talking man with the sexy smile was just going to have to wait.
Chapter 4
Sam
She was starving. I could tell by the way she was only interested in food. So I let her eat while I talked to her jailers about her accommodations and maybe bringing some more things in there with her. The poor young woman was lying on a bed that was mainly dirt with a little bit of straw mixed in. I had a feeling that it was there to soak up the moisture as half of the ceiling was spider-webbed with cracks that I was sure would leak. It was appalling to me and it made me realize how insane it was for people back home to complain. This was no place for any human to be, let alone such a beautiful young girl.
I wanted to know how Meri and Ashlyn knew each other. There was obviously an age difference, but I didn’t know what that meant. I didn’t know much about Meri, but she was now my client and information was power. The more I knew about Meri Ellin, the better I would be able to defend her when it came time to go to court.
When I got back, she had tidied up the plates and wrappers. Everything was gone and I was surprised such a small woman could eat all of that so quickly.
“Are you ready to talk to me Meri? We don’t have a lot of time. I need you to tell me everything that you remember, no matter how unrelated it may appear, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t significant in the long run, so I need it all, unedited.”
She shrugged and told me that it wasn’t a problem. Meri was so sure of herself, but it didn’t take long into questioning to get that she wasn’t as calm and cool as she would have liked to have been. She was so focused on the guy name Rico that had popped up out of nowhere and I was inclined to think that way as well. But there was no proof on either count. It was all speculative and I was hoping that the lack of proof was what was going to get us out of this mess.
“So what did you do after you left the club?”
“I don’t know. I just remember dancing at the club and having a few drinks. The next thing I know, I am waking up in my bed at the hotel alone. Carol was nowhere around and I went outside to see if she was getting a morning swim before we left and there were cops everywhere. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, so I just went with them. What else was I supposed to do?”
“This is a problem, this not remembering. You were most likely given something when you were drinking at the club. There are many things that can be slipped into a drink undetected that can put a woman of your size out quite easily.”
She didn’t like what I was saying to her, like she had never even considered it, but that was the truth. I had seen it before and in this scenario it was really bad because there was no telling what happened to her. I had to ask, but I didn’t know how to in a delicate way.
“Are you sure that nothing was done to your person that night?”
“What do you mean?” Meri really didn’t understand and I almost dropped it. If something had happened though, there was a way that DNA would still be present. It didn’t look like they had let her take a shower or wash up in any way, her skin and hair visibly dirty. I had to see if there was some proof that way.
“Well I mean you are a beautiful woman Meri and men like that would sometimes use those kinds of drugs to take advantage of you.”
Still she was drawing a blank.
“In a sexual way.”
“Oh, no that isn’t possible.”
“You may not know. We should have you tested.”
“I would know, trust me.”
Meri was so adamant and obviously uncomfortable about it that I dropped it. If she was sure, who was I to make it worse? “So what else can I do?”
“Get me out of here?”
“I am going to talk to the judge in the morning, see if we can get you released. I can’t promise anything, but I am going to do my best to let him see things my way. The fact that you have a job waiting for you and a respectable one at that, I am hoping that we can grease some wheels and get this moving along.”
I was about to turn away when she called out my name. I don’t know why the sound pulled at my heart strings so much.
“Thank you Sam. I know that you didn’t have to come here.”
“I promised your friend that I would.”
“Ashlyn is the best for sending you.”
I didn’t know what to say. I was afraid in some ways that I wouldn’t be able to succeed. What if this poor woman was going to be stuck here? I couldn’t think of it. It seemed like a horrible fate for such a woman, any woman, but Meri in particular. There was something about her that made me want her free so that I could really get to know her. After hearing her story, I knew that she did not belong here. Most of them didn’t surely, but Meri certainly did not belong in such a place. She was too delicate for it.
Leaving was harder than I would have imagined. When I got back outside, I got my phone back from the guard and walked to the car I had rented. It was compact and hard to fit in with my height, but I made the best of it. I drove to the hotel in a daze, my mind reeling with questions and less answers than I was comfortable with. I wanted to know what was going to happen tomorrow, but I really wasn’t sure.
The phone rang in my hand and I saw that this was the twelfth missed call from Ashlyn. I didn’t know what to tell her, but I knew leaving her in the dark was no way to deal with such a woman. She was like me. She wanted answers, even though I didn’t have many to give.
“Ashlyn, I was just about to call you.”
“I have been calling you for hours! What is going on Sam? It is like the two of you just dropped off the face of the earth.”
“Nothing like that Ashlyn. They won’t let me have my phone inside the jail. So the guard had it. I just left a few minutes ago. Had to power up my phone. Calm down mama bear.”
She didn’t like my little nickname for her and I thought for a minute, I can almost guarantee that she wanted to come through the phone and slap me.
“How is she?”
“She is no worse for wear. A little hungry and thirsty, but we took care of it.”
“So she is okay?” The relief was evident in her voice and I was more intrigued than ever, my mind coming up with all kinds of scenarios that would bring the two together. They seemed like polar opposites.
“Yeah she is good. She has your spirit.”
“Trust me. Meri has more spirit than I do.”
“She looks rather young.”
“I met her years ago when she was still a teenager. I became very fond of her after she helped me out of a jam when I first moved here. I don’
t know what I would have done without her and even then Meri had far more moxie than I had seen in anyone else.”
Again I wasn’t quite getting what I wanted, but like all lawyers should know, information took time and finesse. It was all that I could do to hold my questions in. It just gave me far more curiosity than I had before.
“Well I am going to talk to the judge in the morning. I am sure we can get her some kind of release, even if it is only temporary until the trial. The charges are subpar at best, no evidence. I am hoping to have this all said and done in the next few days.” I was talking far more confidently than I was, but clients didn’t want to hear that it all rested on the whims of a couple of people. They could have fought with their spouse, had a bad dream or morning, it all depended on so many factors. That was the truth of the justice system that no one ever talked about. I needed the stars to all align tomorrow so that I could do what I said I was going to do.
“Really Sam! You don’t know how happy that makes me!”
I was hoping that I was not getting her hopes up for nothing. I answered a few more questions for her and I got off the phone with her by the time I got to the hotel. I was greeted by several lovely women that I would have usually tried to seduce, but not tonight. I was exhausted and I had my mind on someone else.
Instead of taking the slight woman up on her offer of some company, I made my way upstairs to mull over the day. It had been excited and different, not at all what I had expected. Meri was not at all what I had expected. I had always lived in the city and I had never met someone like her before in my whole life. She was far too open, yet guarded on other aspects. Even when she was explaining her night, the way she wrinkled her nose about certain things made me wonder how innocent she really was. I did know that after talking to her for a little while, I was about as sure of her innocence that she was charged with as Ashlyn. There was no way that Meri could do such a thing.
The more I thought about it, the more none of it made sense. When I got up the next morning, I hit the ground running. I got some breakfast and planned to take it to Meri as soon as I had talked to the judge. I got enough for him as well, knowing that food played as much of a part of greasing a wheel as money did. I wanted to make it clear that I was willing to brown nose the right people if need be. It killed my pride, the ego that had grown with my bank account, but then again it was probably good for me to be humbled a little.
