Caged

by Shanna Ehrlich

  Now that this little piece of the puzzle was filled in, it all seemed so obvious. It had been staring him in the face for weeks. He knew he was on to something, his gut told him he was, and now he finally had the answer.

  Keith immediately left and drove to the med-school building in downtown Phoenix, parking in a handicap spot just to get a jump on what he was sure to find.

  Taking a page from Carter’s book, he hid his nice guy attitude and replaced it with something hard, something that told people the only way he was leaving there without answers was to go get an officer and a warrant. If he had to, he would tear that building apart piece by piece to find what he was looking for. However, the false bravado was not needed. He handed his card to the first person he saw and she escorted him directly to the Dean’s office who was just returning from lunch and had no other appointments.

  “What can I do for you Mr. Nichols?”

  “I’m working on a murder case and I need to know if you take inventory of every drug you have housed in this facility.”

  “Of course we do. Is there a specific drug you’re referring to?”

  “Yes. Codeine. I need to know if you had any go missing back in May and I would like the file of every student who could have had access to the supplies.”

  “I can lookup the past codeine logs,” she told him, typing something into her computer, “but it’s nearly impossible to narrow down the students who would have had access. There are too many. I may as well hand over our entire roster.”

  The Dean pulled her glasses down from the top of her head as she looked closely, gliding a finger along the screen to locate what she was searching for. “Here. May seventh. We were short a 450 milliliter bottle of liquid codeine.”

  Keith clapped his hands together and almost cheered out loud. May seventh was two days before the murder and while it wasn’t incriminating, it sure was coincidental. “What if I give you a student’s name? Could you at least look and see if he could have had access to the bottle, maybe more access than someone else?”

  “I can try. What’s the name?”

  His phone buzzed in his pocket for at least the third time and he pulled it out, glancing at the screen. Well it was about fucking time. He quickly told the Dean the name he wanted her to search for and answered the phone without a greeting. “I’ll meet you at your place in twenty minutes. I’m going to need your help with something.”

  Keith idled at the large, iron gate and reached through his open window to enter the code, an act he’d done so many times his fingers knew which numbers to press as if they had a mind of their own. The gate slowly opened and he inched forward, willing it to move faster.

  Another vehicle pulled up behind him as he accelerated once again, the edge of his car barely escaping a run-in with the sliding metal. The driver behind him honked, likely judging his aggressive behavior, it wasn’t something you see in a well-off neighborhood like this, but Keith could care less, he was focused on one goal and that was getting to Carter’s house. Carter would know what to do, where to go from there.

  He sped down the winding street with headlights in his rearview, the trailing vehicle keeping up with his quick speed. After several turns he pulled into Carter’s driveway and the vehicle followed suit, parking beside him. What the fuck, he worried to himself, wondering if he was going to have to call Carter out to help him fight off some crazed, rich neighbor pissed off at his reckless driving. If this had happened two weeks ago Keith may have been too timid to get out of the car, would have rolled down the window and apologized, but not now. Now he was looking for confrontation, relished the idea of getting in someone’s face, of possibly throwing a punch or getting hit himself. It would be a hell of a lot better than pretending like everything was perfect when in reality it was all a big pile of shit. That was his life these days; getting up in the morning and pretending like it would be a good day, going home at night and pretending like Annabel wasn’t a lying, cheating whore of a wife. His breakthrough this afternoon was the closest he’d been to happiness in the past few weeks and he wasn’t going to let some asshole try to take it from him.

  Stepping out of the car, he slammed the door behind him and rounded the front of both vehicles to meet his mysterious assailant and came face to face with Carter.

  “You okay there? You were driving like a fucking maniac.”

  “What the hell,” Keith heaved out a breath, somewhat disappointed he wasn’t going to get in a fight. “When’d you get that? I thought you were a psycho neighbor or something.”

  “I’ve had it for a while. I just don’t drive it very often,” Carter told him while walking to the front entrance.

  “I can see why. That thing’s got to be a gas guzzler.”

  “She is.”

  Searching for the right key he found it soon enough and opened the tall, heavy door, pausing to disarm the alarm. Keith slid past him and made himself at home per usual, flicking on lights as he strolled to the kitchen for a beer. “Where were you today? What was so important you had to miss our meeting, which went pretty fucking amazing by the way.”

  “Sit down Keith,” Carter gestured his head toward the circular dining table. “You should sit.”

  Keith’s heart seized in his chest. He had a feeling he knew what Carter was going to tell him, and while he claimed he wanted to know, a part of him still didn’t. Once he knew it would all be real, there’d be no more pretending, and while he hated the pretending, he was anxious for it to stop. It’s what was holding his discernibly perfect life together.

  Keith sat down at the table and drank half the beer in his glass before nodding his approval for Carter to continue.

  “I’ve been looking into Annabel like you asked and I know it’s taken me a while, but she’s been covering her footsteps, or someone’s covering them for her. Did you know her phone’s untraceable, or rather her calls are? Every call she’s made for the past six weeks or so have been erased from all records. Like she has a phone, but never uses it. Weird right?”

  Keith could only nod. Of course it was weird.

  “That’s only the start of it. Unless you know something I don’t, she’s also hiding fifteen million dollars from you in a Grand Cayman account.”

  “What?” He’d heard him loud and clear, but was shocked by the intel. This wasn’t what he was expecting to hear. “That’s not possible. Annabel makes good money, but nothing close to that. Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure. You said she acted different after her trip to New York so I started researching there and I don’t have physical proof, but I think someone gave her the money.”

  “Why? Who?”

  “I don’t know. There is technically a second name on the account, but it’s a code. A code associated with someone and used to act as a form of ID, but I can’t get a confirmation on who it might be.”

  “I don’t even know how to fucking compute this. What the fuck are you telling me? Someone arbitrarily gave my wife fifteen million dollars while she was on vacation for a week? This is ludicrous. Was it the guy from the picture? The one in the file. When we first met, the file you gave me had a picture of Annabel with another guy. Find out if it was him.”

  “It wasn’t him. Or if it was you wouldn’t have had anything to worry about. He’s dead. Hit by a drunk driver about a month ago. He was the son of the District Attorney. Made the papers and everything.”

  Keith could care less about this random man who was no longer alive. The only thing he cared about was getting to the bottom of this crazy scenario. “Where were you today?” he asked Carter again.

  “I followed her. She was eating at a restaurant. I sat in plain sight, pretending to be just another customer. I noticed her eying someone sitting at a table nearby. It wasn’t a quick glance either, she was looking at him like she knew him. That’s when I texted you and said I wouldn’t be able to make it. I had to stay, had to find out what happened. So I stayed put, watching it all go down. It took a while, but the man finally noti
ced her interest and he asked to join her.”

  Keith’s nausea rocketed to an all time high. He was seconds away from running for the nearest bathroom. If Carter tells him Annabel slept with this mystery man he just might. He began begging God in his head, please no, please no, please no, but deep down he knew his pleas were meaningless, of course she was having an affair.

  “They talked for a while, nothing of importance, but she did tell him she was married. They acted like strangers, but there still was a familiarity between them. Like they were pretending not to know each other.”

  “So what happened?” Keith spoke up, antsy for him to get to the end of the story.

  “Nothing. He paid for her meal and I thought they might leave together, but then they didn’t. They left separate and she ended up coming back in with a friend. Sara. They stayed for another fifteen minutes and then left. She went back to her office.”

  “So she’s not having an affair?” he asked with a hopeful tone. Maybe she’d gotten herself into something else. Maybe he’d jumped to conclusions when he thought she was cheating.

  “I didn’t say that. I’m just telling you what I know. I need more time. I can figure this out.”

  “Maybe I should talk to Annabel instead. Tell her I know about the money. She’d have to tell me the truth. That’s not something you can lie about.”

  Carter suddenly seemed frustrated. “You do what you want, but I think you’re an idiot if you ask her now. Just give me a little longer. A few more weeks. I’ll get you your answers and then you’ll know for sure.”

  Keith didn’t want to wait, wasn’t sure if he could. Ignoring his wife when he thought she was cheating on him was one thing, but it was suddenly so much bigger than that now. What if she was in trouble? What if she got caught up in something bad? Why else would she have all that money? Even if she met someone else, why would they give her that much money? It wasn’t normal behavior. There was something bigger going on.

  Staring off at the wall, he let everything Carter had just told him sink in. The phone, the money; it was like the plot line to a secret spy movie only he knew without a shadow of a doubt his wife wasn’t a spy. A liar yes, spy no. The right thing to do would be to ask her about it, if she lied he could still have Carter keep looking into it, but then again, how would he know she was lying? And if he told her he knew about the money he’d have to admit to having Carter look into her in the first place and then it would be even harder to pin something on her. She’d be trying to cover her tracks more than she already was. Carter was right. He needed to bide his time, continue to play his role in this relationship until everything was out on the table.

  “You’re right. I won’t tell her.”

  “Good. I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but it does. And it’s not just you. I’ve never had a client who didn’t want to jump the gun at the first word of news. That’s why I usually try to gather it all and give it in one lump form, but I’ve been taking too long with you. I didn’t want you to think I wasn’t looking into it. I am. Obviously.”

  “I know you are. And I’m glad you told me. In a way it makes me feel better. Hopeful maybe.”

  “Well don’t get too hopeful. I’m not trying to be a prick, but I don’t see this ending well for you. I think you should start preparing yourself for the very likely possibility that this relationship might not work out. I don’t want to see you hurt in the end.”

  Keith leaned his head back, resting it on the top of the chair and groaned. He had always been an optimist at heart, but Carter was right, looking on the bright side of things wouldn’t do him any favors if things didn’t go his way. He had to be ready for the worst case scenario. “Fuck.” Keith threw an arm over his face, embarrassed of his situation.

  “Look, let’s talk about something else. Tell me about the case. What’d you find out? How do you know it was Chris?”

  After hearing the news about Annabel, Keith wanted to curl into a ball and forget the whole conversation happened. The food in his stomach still threatened to escape and if Carter was just his friend and not his business partner he would have excused himself home where he could wallow alone, but tonight wasn’t about him. It was about what was best for Jason. Carter had connections everywhere, he was the mind behind the research. He’d know how to get more answers.

  Keith went on to describe to Carter what the toxicologist said about the test and how it was very likely codeine in his system and not heroin. He also reminded Carter that Chris was a med school student and could have had access to a bottle of codeine and just as suspicious, a bottle of codeine went missing from the med lab just two days prior to the party. “The only problem is there’s no way to prove it. The Dean said Chris would have had access, but so did hundreds of other students. I don’t see how we can pin it on him.”

  “Don’t worry about that. I can figure that part out, but what’s the point? Even if he did drug Jason, it doesn’t mean a murder didn’t happen. He’d just be an accomplice.”

  “You see, I don’t think so. The toxicologist said when people were high on codeine they don’t have the effort to move. They’re in a trance-like state. Jason wouldn’t have had the strength to strangle her; to hold her down while she fought against him.”

  “Then why don’t you lead with that? There’s your reasonable doubt right there.”

  “Because it’s not enough,” Keith slammed a fist on the table, the anger from their previous conversation still lingering. “I don’t want to take a chance on a crappy pool of jurors who would rather be doing anything else but listen to some rich kid defend why he is innocent. People jump to conclusions when it’s someone wealthy. They judge them harder. I want the case dismissed. I want Chris to admit he killed her.”

  “Okay, but just because he may have drugged his boyfriend doesn’t mean he killed Melanie.”

  “That’s exactly what it means. Think about it. In Chris and Jason’s situation, why would he drug him? I doubt it was for entertainment value. He drugged him for the same reason a guy would drug a girl. He wanted something from him at the end of the night and when he went to get it Melanie was in the room.”

  “So he decided to kill her?” Carter asked, not sure if he could get on board with Keith’s theory. “I agree he had motive, he was in love with her boyfriend, but he also had a lot going for him in life. Why would he give that all up?”

  “Because love makes you do stupid things.”

  Twenty-Three

  Keith woke up early, the sun not yet up and his alarm an hour away from going off. He had tossed and turned all night; thinking about the case, about Annabel. She laid next to him, her breathing peaceful and quiet. She was oblivious of his feelings, of his knowledge. Carter told him from the start it was best to keep it that way. Under no circumstances was he to let her know she was being investigated, but it’s easier said than done, especially after the bomb Carter dropped last week.

  Like a loving, unsuspecting husband would, he cuddled up close and draped an arm around her mid section. He wasn’t intending to do anything more than hold her, but his dick had a mind of it’s own, a mixture of morning wood and depravity. It’d been over two months since they last had sex. Sometimes your hand just can’t get the job done as well as you need.

  Placing kisses on her neck and down her shoulder he heard her respond, still half asleep, but he knew what his wife sounded like when she was turned on. He moved a hand up to her chest and squeezed lightly on a nipple, feeling it harden beneath her tank top. His dick was ungodly hard and he rocked into her, enjoying the friction between their covered parts, but knew what he needed most. He just didn’t want it to be rushed. He needed the connection, the intimacy and everything else that goes along with love making.

  Trailing his fingers lightly, he traced down between her breasts, over her stomach and then down lower, sneaking beneath the elastic of her underwear. She was bare. Shaved completely clean, just the way he liked, and he couldn’t help but moan. “I miss you Annabel.�
� He dipped his hand lower. “You feel so good. Spread your legs baby.” Only she didn’t spread her legs. She froze instead and her heart picked up speed, almost as if she was scared of him. “Hey. What happened? It’s me.” He rolled her toward him, her eyes now open and coherent. “Don’t you miss me? Miss us? We were so perfect. I want that. I need it Annabel. Don’t you see how much I need you?”

  “I’m tired Keith,” her voice wavered. “Maybe later okay?”

  “No. Not later,” he crawled on top pinning her down. “I’m your husband. We used to do this all the time. You loved it in the morning. What changed? Tell me goddamn it,” he screamed, not meaning to be so loud. Releasing her wrists, he quickly made work of pushing her underwear down while she resisted beneath him.

  “Stop it Keith. Fucking stop.”

  “No. Tell me why. Why can’t we do this?” She continued to squirm, but he wanted to show her what she was missing, remind her of how they were when they were together.

  “Don’t!”

  “Why? Why the hell not? I love you Annabel. I want to make love to you.”

  Keith didn’t see her response coming, only felt the burn. She hit him. A cold, hard smack on the face that stung in more places than his cheek, and stopped him dead in his tracks. He stared at her with hatred in his eyes, just for a moment, and then jumped up and stomped to the bathroom, slamming the door as he entered. There was a knock some time later, light and timid.

  “Keith,” she said through the door.

  “Go away. Whatever you have to say I don’t want to hear it. Just go away.”

  “I think we should talk.”

  Keith threw his head back and laughed; a manic expression. They were way beyond needing to talk.

  “Please babe. I’m sor—I shouldn’t have done that. Just open the door.”