by Mary Abshire
“What if it takes him a while to get to the bank?” Andrew asked.
“Then I wait here.”
He either exhaled heavily or blew air over the phone. Emily guessed the former.
“Okay,” he said.
“Remember, wait to call the lawyer until the other matter is resolved. If you need stuff to help, you know where to get it.”
“How are you holding up?”
“I have a raging headache.”
“I’m so sorry. I never thought—”
“Stop. I need you to call my buddy right now. If he can’t get into the bank, then worry about me.”
He sighed over the line. “Stay out of trouble.” His low tone sounded morose.
“I’ll try. And hey, if things don’t work out… I wish you the best.” She returned the receiver to the phone. “I’m done,” she said to the man working on the computer.
Emily hoped Troy would be able to access the database. Without any doubt, it would be risky and costly. But her future was on the line. Andrew had to understand her predicament.
The male officer led her back to the cell while the female cop walked behind her. Hooker one and hooker two were standing near the bars again. Emily had a huge challenge to face now. She had to wait in a small room with a woman who welcomed a fight while she had no idea if Troy could hack into a database. He was good, but breaking into a prison system would require thorough security checks to ensure he wouldn’t get caught. The task could take him days. But she’d suffer through in lockup if she had to. She’d tolerate anything to avoid being sent back to Chicago to face a lifetime in prison.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Andrew stood across the street from the police station where Emily was being held. Traffic was almost nonexistent at the early morning hour. He’d seen a few cop cars arrive with occupants in handcuffs sitting in the back and leave empty minutes later. The temperature was perfect for a night stroll, yet it seemed nobody walked by the station. Not a soul had been by while he’d been standing outside for nearly an hour.
Andrew’s heart had sank a notch lower after speaking with Emily. She sounded okay, but he sensed her concern about her fingerprints. If Chicago police learned about her location, he’d lose her forever. He couldn’t let that happen.
Guilt weighed heavy in his conscience. He’d encouraged her to act like a prostitute. He’d talked her into asking the three men at the subway for information. Some friend and partner he was. If he could give up everything to save Emily from a life in prison, he would.
Hand shaking, he slid the cell into his pocket before he fished out Emily’s phone from his other one. The screen showed several missed calls from Troy. He had to be worried about her. Andrew tapped the screen to call Troy.
“What the fuck is going on?” Troy answered in a not so pleasant tone.
“She was arrested.”
“You told me that two fucking hours ago. What the fuck is going on? Why was she arrested?”
“For prostitution and solicitation.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
Andrew held the phone a few inches from his ear so Troy’s loud voice wouldn’t give him a headache. “I wish. She’s in lockup. You need to access their records and erase her prints and photograph.”
“Oh fuck me.”
“I’d rather not, Troy.”
“Fuck you. And fuck me. How the fuck—”
“It’s my fault. All of this. You can hate me later. I need you to help her right now.”
Troy’s temper seemed high given the frequency of his obscenities. He needed to bring the man back down to Earth for Emily’s sake.
“How the fuck is this your fault?” Troy asked.
How many times did he need to say the ‘F’ word? Andrew had never met a person who used the word so much.
“We left the club and were just talking about how much money hookers can make. She didn’t know and there were some men waiting at the subway station with us. I suggested she ask them. We didn’t see any cops. When you called, she had started chatting with them. She gave me the phone and I stepped away. One of the men gave her money. I think you can figure out the rest.”
“She took money from a man?” Troy asked flatly.
“Not exactly. From what I saw, he gave it to her and she tried to give it back. She didn’t want it.”
“But she touched the money.”
“Yes. So it’s my fault. I’m the one that put her up to asking,” Andrew said, feeling worse by the second.
“If I were standing next to you right now, I’d beat the shit out of you and make you wish for death.”
The depth of his anger came through in his deep tone. It was clear Troy cared deeply about Emily. Andrew deserved any beating and berating Troy dished out.
“You can kick my ass later. Can you get into their system and erase her information?” Andrew asked.
“Maybe. What did she say to you after she was arrested?”
Why would he say maybe?
“She told me to contact you. She couldn’t talk much since there were cops around,” Andrew said.
“Did she say my name?”
“No.” Why would he care if she mentioned his name?
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Andrew snapped. Frustration grew faster than a weed within Andrew from all the questions.
“Fucking A, smart girl. Now, I need for you to repeat word for word what she said.”
His comments weren’t making sense, but Andrew knew better than to question Troy.
“She said for you, her good friend, to access the piggy bank no matter what the cost. She also said Em would get in trouble if you can’t.”
“Is that it?”
“Well, she wants me to wait to call the lawyer until after you’ve done your part.”
“I’m assuming she means Michael Lazzari.”
“Yes,” Andrew answered.
“The lawyer thinks she’s Carrie.”
“We’ll lose our chance to get close to him if he finds out she’s Emily.”
“You will lose more than that if the cops learn she’s wanted for murder in Chicago.”
Andrew started walking along the sidewalk. “Can you help her or not? She thinks you can. I thought you were her good friend.”
“Are you fucking questioning my loyalty?”
Andrew hadn’t intended to anger him more, but the clock ticked away and Emily needed her records erased. “Will you help or not?”
“Of course I will fucking help her. I’m not you or any other motherfucker who brings her down.”
Andrew stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Troy’s words hurt as much as a punch to the gut.
“She’s lucky to have you,” Andrew said in a grim tone.
“This goes beyond being fucked up.”
Andrew couldn’t agree more. “What can I do to help?”
“You can do what she told you to do—nothing. Go back to the apartment and stay there. I’m going to try and get into the system. I’ll call you later and give you a status.”
Andrew continued to head to the subway. “I tried for almost an hour to get information from the police station about a bail hearing and they wouldn’t tell me anything.”
“It’s Friday night in New York, or rather it was. I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep her until Monday. They would here in Chicago.”
“I’m heading back to the apartment now. How long do you think it will take you—”
“I don’t have a fucking clue, but you better pray, angel, I can get into it soon before they find out who she really is.”
“I’m guessing sorry won’t account for much.”
“You’re fucking right. And by the way, the poison will arrive today. I’ll let you know when I get it. You might want to pray I don’t use some of it to kill your fucking ass.”
Silence on the line prompted Andrew to lower the phone. Troy’s number disappeared from the screen. He’d ended the call after his threat.
<
br /> Andrew couldn’t blame Troy for his anger toward him. Had Andrew not encouraged Emily to talk to the men, she wouldn’t be in jail. Head lowered as he walked, guilt sank its sharp teeth deep into him.
Reaching the subway station, Andrew jogged down the steps. The terminal was as empty as he felt without Emily. A touch of despair flowed through him as he recalled her last words. She wished him the best if she didn’t make it out. Without her, he had nothing. He was nothing but a man who did more harm than good. She gave him strength and courage. She inspired him to be a better person. She made him laugh and happy. She filled him with hope and desire. He couldn’t imagine moving forward alone.
Emily believed Troy could do anything. Andrew believed in Emily, so he had to have faith Troy could help her. Emily’s incarceration was a bump in the road and they’d hit plenty along the way to destroy demons. They would get through this somehow. And if by some chance they didn’t… Andrew would have a new mission while he was on Earth.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Emily sat on the bench near the dirty-blonde drug addict. The woman snored loudly, but at least she didn’t bother Emily as much as the loud mouth next to her. The Hispanic had left hours ago and seven more females had been brought in to share the cell, which brought the total to twelve in the five-by-five room. Of the new arrivals, four appeared to be prostitutes and three looked strung out on drugs. The obnoxious woman with dark hair and foul body odor on Emily’s other side was one of the latter.
“This is fucking shit the way they treat us,” she mumbled. “Pigs got no right to arrest me.”
Emily rolled her eyes. The stinky woman had been yapping non-stop about how she was arrested by mistake and the cops had treated her bad.
The male wannabe with her head half shaved hadn’t moved from the spot across from Emily. She had her tattooed arms crossed and continued to stare at Emily. Out of all the scantily dressed ladies in their cell, especially the one sitting next to her, the lesbian kept her eyes fixed on Emily. Why? Her impassive expression made it difficult for Emily to figure out if the woman wanted to kill or rape her.
Stinky woman patted Emily’s arm. “I can sue them, ya know.” Her breath stunk so bad Emily wondered if something had died in her mouth.
Emily shoved the woman’s hand away. She wanted to knock her out to shut her up.
The three whores sitting across from her had been chatting non-stop since they’d arrived together. They all wore short skirts and skimpy tops except for the gal with bleached hair. She wore a tight white shirt and no bra. Her headlights beamed from her large breasts. Again, why wouldn’t lesbian chick stare at that?
“Pigs picked me up for no reason,” stinky woman on Emily’s side said. “No fucking reason. We should all demand our rights. We don’t belong here. Those pigs—”
Emily jerked her elbow up and jabbed it into the stinky woman’s nose. The woman’s head hit the wall with a thud. Her body slid sideways toward Emily. She rose from her spot and let the stinky woman collapse on the drug addict’s lap.
Everyone in the cell looked at Emily. She waited for someone to say something or call for the guard. No one moved except the dirty blonde. She wiped her nose and then resumed sleeping.
The lesbian clapped her hands. “Well done.” She looked at the hooker next to her and said, “Move.”
The three hookers scooted closer to the silent woman at the end of the bench. A space opened up next to the lesbian.
“Have a seat,” she said.
The woman didn’t intimidate Emily. If she wanted to fight, Emily would stand up and give her what she sought. If the lesbian tried to touch her inappropriately, Emily wouldn’t hesitate to use force to protect herself. The stress of waiting to find out if she’d have to go back to Chicago was wearing her down. It wouldn’t take much for her to snap. She sat in the vacated space.
“I’m Terri,” the lesbian said.
“Carrie,” Emily said.
“She was getting on all our nerves. You did us a favor.”
The semi-compliment surprised Emily.
“Glad to help.” Emily wrapped her arms in front of her.
“You’re not in here for disturbing the peace.”
“Oh? How do you know?”
“This is New York, they don’t arrest people for petty crimes. So what are you in here for?”
Emily took in a long breath. “Stupidity.”
Terri chuckled. “Aren’t we all?”
Hours had passed since she’d made her call to Andrew. At least she’d guessed it had been hours. She had no way of knowing the time since nobody had a watch and they were in the basement of a building with no windows. Her headache had transformed into a diluted pain weighed down by fatigue. At some point she needed to rest. But her anxiety level had yet to decrease. She kept waiting for the guards to take her for questions about her true identity. The wait was driving her insane. If she could make it to the next day without out them coming for her, then she would know Troy had managed to get rid of her records.
Her thoughts turned to Andrew. She wondered how angry Troy had been with the news of her imprisonment. She could hear Troy now cursing up a storm. He could hack into anything, but it would take time and that one thing was not a luxury she had. Even if it took every dollar she had, she would give it to him for erasing her prints and picture in the database. And if he managed to do so before Chicago police noticed her location, one of her next challenges would be trying to stop him from killing Andrew.
The clicking sound of the door down the hall hushed the ladies. The clatter of steps on the linoleum grew louder. Five guards appeared on the other side of the bars. One of them was the female who’d escorted Emily to make her call earlier.
“Attention please,” the female cop said. The mumbles from other people in other cells silenced. “We’ll be taking you in groups to use the bathrooms and visit the cafeteria. You’ll have twenty minutes max to use the facility and eat. If you don’t finish eating, you will have to wait until lunch. If you don’t make it to the bathroom, you will have to wait until later. Get ready.”
Terri leaned closer to Emily. “Do you want to know what stupid thing I did to get here?”
Emily didn’t care, but she decided to listen so she’d stay awake. “What did you do?”
“I was stupid enough to think my girlfriend loved me. We’d been living together for over a year. She said she loved me. She seemed happy and had said she was. She had some guy friends I knew about, but they were just friends. No big deal. I came home and found her fucking one of them on our bed. I was so upset I grabbed a knife from the kitchen and stabbed him. I was going to try and cut off his dick so she could keep it as a memento, but the cops arrived.”
“You’re very creative. I like the idea of a memento,” Emily said.
“I would have aimed for his dick first, but he came at me when he saw the knife, so I rammed it into his stomach.”
“Ah, makes sense.”
“She said she loved me and then fucked a guy in our bed. How can an honest person do that? She had to be lying to me.”
Terri had a point, but taking another person’s life and facing murder charges seemed a bit of an extreme response.
“I understand you’re hurt, but you’re facing major jail time. Seems like you got the short end of the stick,” Emily said.
“What would you have done if you were in my shoes?”
“Me? I would’ve kicked my girlfriend’s ass before shoving her out the door. Fuck her if she’s going to treat me like dirt. I don’t need people like her bringing me down.”
Terri shook her head. “I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“You can’t let your guard down, ever. The people who hurt you the most are the ones you love. You have to stay strong for yourself. Don’t let anyone hurt you like that.”
“You’re smart.”
“I’ve been hurt enough to learn a few things.” Growing up with parents who belittled her plenty could have molded her
into an insecure woman willing to accept verbal abuse. She thanked Troy for helping her become self-confident and a fighter.
“Why do they do it? Why do they want to hurt us?” Terri asked.
“It’s not intentional, not always anyway. They do it to feel better about themselves. They aren’t thinking about your wellbeing. So you have to look out for your best interest. Nobody else will no matter how much they profess their love for you.”
“Are you in here because of a man?”
“Well, sort of, but not in the way you’re thinking.”
“Do you love him?”
“No. Oh no. We’re just friends.” Emily refrained from saying partners since it would lead to a line of questions she didn’t want to answer.
“Is he using you for something?”
Emily delayed her response as she thought of the right way to answer. Andrew needed help to get to the demons and destroy them. Without her, he would have an incredibly difficult time since he didn’t have any money or resources. In a sense he was using her, but she’d agreed to help him in exchange for his assistance in getting past the pearly gates to heaven. Emily considered their deal more of a trade off since they were both benefiting from each other’s cooperation.
“I’m guessing he’s getting something from you and you don’t want to admit it,” Terri said.
“We have a deal.”
“Uh huh. See, all men want something. Be it sex, be it money or drugs, kids, whatever. They all want a woman to do this or give them that and they all claim they will do something in return. But do they ever follow through? No. Do you know why? Because they only care about fucking and showing off. I’ve never met a man who didn’t want something.”
Emily hated to admit it, but Terri was right. Every man Emily had ever met, including Troy, required money or some kind of action. But Emily only delivered or agreed to deliver when she acquired something in return. That was the rule of the game.
Clear to Emily, Terri had been taken advantage of or she’d witnessed too many of her friends get hurt by men. While Emily believed the majority of the opposite sex thought more with their cocks than their brains, a few men proved their value. The entire male race couldn’t all be bad.
