by Lea Coll
“Oh, sorry about that. I wasn’t paying attention,” I said, stopping short. I looked up to see Penny Shaw.
“That’s okay. I was actually trying to call your name but you didn’t hear me,” Penny said.
I stopped and looked around. “I can’t believe I didn’t hear you.”
“Did Ashley tell you I wanted to talk to you?”
“Yes, she did. I completely forgot about it.” With everything going on with Logan and Ashley it had completely slipped my mind. Plus I was more worried about my upcoming talk with Luke.
“I just wanted to talk to you about a few of the cases you handled while I was out,” she smiled.
“Of course,” I said. I wanted to follow Ashley so I hoped Penny’s questions wouldn’t last long.
She pointed to an alley behind us. “I left my files in my car. Would you mind going with me to get them?”
I nodded, taking another look around for Ashley. I didn’t see her as I fell in step with Penny.
“I can’t remember anything unless I write it down,” she continued rambling about work, but I could barely focus. My mind was on Ashley and Luke. I started to feel badly about not saying no to Penny. I was not really in the mood to talk about cases. But I’d already said yes, so I kept walking next to her and trying to nod at appropriate times.
We came to a stop by her car. She pulled out the files and we went over her questions and what I remembered.
Afterwards, I waited while she placed the files back in her car. Then we walked back down the alley toward the street.
“Thanks for helping me, Emma. I really appreciate it,” she said.
“You can call me anytime you have questions. Good luck with everything,” I said, starting towards Ashley’s apartment.
“You too, Emma,” Penny said, as she walked back towards the downtown area. I was lost in thought when a hand went over my mouth and I was dragged back down the alley. I had a sick feeling of déjà vu.
We came to a stop by the parking lot, where my attacker opened the sliding door of a van and shoved me in. I landed on my backside, but quickly scrambled up so I could get a look at him.
He was tall, dark, and lean, with black hair. He was wearing a suit. He did not look like someone who grabbed people off of the street.
It was then that I remembered who he was. I’d met him a few times. The first time was at Luke’s initial fundraiser. “Ben?” While I waited for him to answer I came to the sinking realization that no one knew I was here. My friends thought I was with Ashley, and Ashley thought I was with our other friends. Luke had no idea where I was. Nor would he be concerned. He was busy with his police duties for the festival and talking to potential voters. I started to panic.
He shoved me to the back seat of the van. I looked around, but the windows were tinted. I could see out, but no one would be able to see in.
“Like you don’t know who I am? You’re a piece of work. I told you last time I wouldn’t be so nice the next time I saw you.” His words rang warning bells in my head. Where had I heard them before? “Wait a minute. Mitch said that to me.” Mitch O’Connell was the one who admitted to assaulting and threatening me in the alley. I felt like I was missing something important.
Ben’s face lit up with a smug smile. “I had Mitch confess that he assaulted you and sent those text messages. He had a large gambling debt. I paid it in exchange for his confession. The guys he owed money to would have killed him. So he goes to prison for assault and his debt is paid.”
I felt sick as I watched Ben’s face. I couldn’t believe he would go that far to cover his tracks. Why had he threatened me?
“I thought Mitch’s confession would get the police off my back, but it didn’t. That’s when I knew you told Luke everything.”
At my confused stare, he continued, “Mitch told Penny about our metal theft scheme.”
I knew there had been separate acts of people stealing items which contained valuable metals but I was not aware of a scheme. Then I remembered Brad thought it was part of a larger operation.
“How did you know what Mitch told Penny?” I figured the only thing I could do right now was to keep him talking. Ben was blocking my exit from the van and he was bigger than me. I had to bide my time and make sure he didn’t take me anywhere else.
“Mitch didn’t know that Penny told me everything,” he said.
“Why would she tell you?” Any communication would have been protected by attorney-client-privilege. Did Ben threaten Penny until she told him?
“I met Penny a few years ago when she represented me in court.” He glanced at my face when he admitted this.
That was the last thing I expected him to say. You had to be below a certain income level to qualify for public defender services. When I raised my eyebrow at that, he continued to explain, “My dad cut me off back then, so I had no money. I had no choice but to apply for services. We kept in contact after that. She helped me get a job at Archer. We dated. It took some convincing since I was a former client.” Then he smiled as if remembering. “Then she got pregnant.”
“You’re her baby’s dad,” I said out loud, putting it together.
Ben continued speaking as if I hadn’t interrupted. “My dad is the judge.”
I nodded in response. I remembered that he was Judge Harris’s son. Ben wasn’t paying any attention to me, though. It was almost like he’d forgotten I was here.
“He was pissed I didn’t go to law school like him. He didn’t like that I didn’t have a job and I was living off his money. I decided to prove I could succeed without my dad’s help. I wanted him to be proud of me for once. So I worked my way up at Archer. It wasn’t that difficult since I was the rare employee with a degree.
“I thought my dad would be impressed that I became supervisor so quickly. Unfortunately, he is a difficult guy to please. I didn’t have an advanced degree. I still wasn’t a lawyer. I was a factory worker, according to him. I thought if I had a lot of money that would impress him. With money, I could do anything. I could throw money behind a politician’s campaign to influence them, I could build a casino in Ocean City, and I could buy whatever I wanted without my dad’s help or opinion.” He started to drum his fingers on the seat in front of me.
I glanced out the van windows but the parking lot was still empty. Not that anyone could see me, but I wanted to me aware of my surroundings. I needed a way out. I didn’t know if Ben meant to hurt me or what his endgame was.
“First, I saw how much Archer was willing to pay people selling nonferrous metals like copper, brass, and aluminum. It was a quick and easy way to get some cash. So I had some of the guys at Archer do that for me. They stole metals around town and sold them to other metal recycling facilities, then they would give me a cut. It wasn’t enough money though. Plus they were getting caught pretty easily. They were cocky and careless. Brad Campbell was all over the situation. He came around asking questions.
“Then I figured out how to make real money in a way that the higher-ups at Archer wouldn’t figure out.” His face screwed up in disgust. “Unless someone talked, of course. I stole metal fragments and trucked them at night to other facilities. I made over a million in a few months. There’s potential for me to make a lot more.” He paused. A huge grin spread over his face as he looked over at me finally. My breath caught when I saw the evil look on his face. I tried to back away from him but had nowhere to go.
“Archer kept a large pile of bulk metal outside. It was so big if a portion went missing it wasn’t discernible to the naked eye.” He smiled. “I needed a person to alter the scales and one to drive the truck to another facility. I sold the metals for less than fair market value to other companies. I made a killing on it and gave a small cut to the guys I recruited to help. Then Mitch needed money to pay his gambling debts. He stole AC units to sell them for the metals and got caught.” He stopped pacing. “When Mitch told Penny what we were doing, she didn’t believe it.
“I denied it. I told her Mitch
lied to get a break in his theft case. Archer hires transients, drug addicts, gambling addicts.” I remembered that Luke had told me that too.
“So, it was easy to convince her, Mitch was a liar.” He gave me another evil grin. “I can be very persuasive.” A chill ran down my spine. I didn’t know what this meant for me.
“What do you want with me, though? Mitch didn’t tell me anything.” That was a moot point now, since Ben himself just told me everything. There was no way he was going to let me go.
“Stop lying!” He slapped the seat in front of me and I jumped. “Brad kept coming around. He thought something was going on. That all of the stolen metal cases were related somehow. There was something bigger going on. Then he had Luke sniffing around too.”
“But there was something bigger going on. I didn’t tell Luke because I didn’t know anything,” I insisted.
“I always get what I want, Ms. Ryan. I threatened to withdraw Archer’s support of Mayor Good’s campaign in the next mayoral election. Archer provides money for every single thing that goes on in this town. It gives money to the library, city hall, the schools, everything. There’s nothing that Archer’s money doesn’t support in this town and Mayor Good knows that. He’s nothing without Archer’ssupport. I control where Archer’s money goes. The CEO listens to me.”
Ben thought he could control and manipulate everyone and everything to look the other way. Then it dawned on me. “You threatened to withdraw Archer’s support if he backed Brad for sheriff, didn’t you?” Now Brad’s claim that he had the mayor’s support initially made sense. Then Mayor Good changed his mind.
“Yes. I thought I could handle Luke easier than Brad. We were friends in high school. I could manipulate him.”
“I moved to Baltimore and I’m not dating Luke anymore. What do you need me for?”
“I want you to convince Luke that nothing is going on at Archer. Mitch lied to get a better plea deal. Only you can tell Luke that, because you were Mitch’s attorney.”
“Why would I do that? Why would I lie?”
“Because if you don’t, I will tell the attorney grievance commission that you mishandled Mitch’s case. I was there that day remember?”
“Yes, I remember.” I thought it was odd. Luke did too.
“I will tell the commission that you and Luke discussed the case and you gave Luke privileged information. That you conspired to influence Mitch to accept the plea deal.”
I guessed Ben could claim this. Luke was there, but not close enough to hear anything. Luke would deny it and I would too. But would our denials be enough? There was already speculation that Luke and I shouldn’t associate because of our jobs. The public would be all too quick to believe we’d conspired.
“I know what you’re thinking. Luke would deny any wrongdoing. But of course he would lie to protect his girlfriend. Even if the commission ultimately doesn’t believe it happened, there will still be a hearing and you would be suspended, pending the outcome. It would be enough to put a black mark on your career. Luke wouldn’t like the negative attention on his campaign either.”
Ben was right. It would hurt Luke’s chances at sheriff and any hope of us getting back together.
“I need the money.” He took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t want to go to prison. I finally have my dad’s respect. I have a baby now. If this comes out, I’ll lose everything.”
I didn’t say that he probably should have thought of that before he started selling stolen metals. That was not going to help this situation, but the irony was not lost on me.
Ben tried to influence everyone with money, by throwing his weight around, or threatening them. So far he’d been pretty successful too. I needed to convince him that I thought his threat was valid and real, that I was scared of him, and of what he could do to me, my career, Luke. That was the only way I was getting out of this van today. What I did with this information would have to wait until I was in a safe place, away from Ben.
Ben got in my face. “You better do a good job, because if Luke doesn’t get off of my case, I will be back. Do you understand?”
“Yes, of course. I don’t want to be reported to the commission and I don’t want Luke’s career to be affected. I’ll do it. Then I will go back to the city. I don’t want to hear from you again. Do you understand me?” It was a risk to threaten him. But I did this to show I didn’t have a stake in the outcome. I just wanted to leave town.
Ben looked at my face to determine whether I was telling the truth or not. Whatever he saw there must have convinced him. “Now I’m going to let you go. You’re going to talk to Luke today. You will convince him. If not, your career is on the line and depending on my mood, your life.”
I drew in a sharp breath at that. Now I didn’t need to convince him of anything. I was scared of him and it was written all over my face.
Ben opened the door and I hopped out. As soon as I did, I spotted Luke coming around the corner with Tanner. I ran into his arms.
Luke looked surprised, but his arms came around me. “Where have you been?” I turned to see where Ben stood beside the van. He looked ready to bolt. I wasn’t sure what to do.
“Why were you with Ben?” Luke asked, confused now.
“Ben was the one who assaulted me and threatened me,” I answered, deciding to tell him the truth. Ben couldn’t escape. I was with two officers now. Luke shoved me behind him, pulled his gun, and told Ben to get down on his knees.
“What else did he do, Emma?” Luke asked, as he waited for Ben to comply. Ben looked scared and unsure. I thought he would bolt at any second.
“He grabbed me and threw me into the van. He wanted me to lie for him. He said if I didn’t, he would ruin my career and yours. He told me how he’s selling Archer’s bulk metal to other companies. That he blackmailed Mitch to take the fall for assaulting me,” I said in a rush.
Ben must have decided he was trapped and that running would be futile. He got down on his knees and Tanner cuffed him. Tanner held him by the arm and called for back-up. Ben was glaring daggers at me. I didn’t feel sorry for him at all. He brought this on himself.
Luke turned around, taking me in his arms. Then he pulled back slightly to get a good luck at me. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“No, I’m okay. He just shoved me into the van to talk,” I answered, my lips turned up in disgust. “How did you know I was missing?”
“Ashley was worried when you didn’t come to her apartment. She called Sawyer, and you weren’t with them. They said you’d left to follow her. She knew your bag and car were here so you didn’t go back to the city. I thought something was wrong. So I grabbed Tanner and we started to look for you. We ran into Penny and she told us she’d last seen you here.”
“That’s good,” I said, relieved that Ashley had been concerned when I didn’t come back to her apartment.
“You’ll need to come down to the station and make a statement.” He hugged me to him and whispered in my ear. “And we need to talk. Not here though.”
I looked up at him in confusion. I couldn’t handle a relationship discussion right now.
“It’s nothing bad. I was hasty when I said we couldn’t make a go of this. I want you Emma,” he said, to reassure me.
I didn’t know if he was saying this because I was missing and it scared him or why he hadn’t contacted me earlier. But those questions could wait. I was in his arms and safe. That was enough for now.
ASHLEY AND SAMANTHA CAME RUSHING in the door. “Oh my gosh, Emma! We were so worried,” Ashley said, giving me a hug. I was waiting in the station to give my statement.
I hugged her and then Samantha. “Are you okay?” Samantha asked, squeezing me tightly.
“I am now. Thanks for telling Luke I was missing.” Even though Ben didn’t do me any harm, I was still thankful Luke arrived when he did and the ordeal was over. Ben couldn’t manipulate anyone else.
“Luke was frantic when he figured out you weren�
�t with me or the others. He was completely beside himself,” Ashley said.
That felt good to hear. “I wasn’t sure if you guys would even realize I was missing or know where to look for me. I thought I was on my own. I wasn’t sure what he wanted,” I said.
“Sawyer told me that you’d gone after me. I had a nagging feeling something was wrong. So I called Luke to see if he was with you. He went into cop mode and started to look for you. I feel so badly that I ran out of the pub and you followed me. It was my fault. I don’t know why I let Logan get me so riled up.”
“Ashley, Ben is a psychopath. There’s no way you could have known. Penny was dating him and didn’t know.”
“What?” Ashley and Samantha exclaimed at the same time.
“There’s so much you don’t know,” I explained the whole story to them. When I finished, Tanner came into the room.
“Are you ready to make your statement, Emma?” Tanner asked.
“Yes, let’s get this over with,” I said.
It would have been a conflict of interest for Luke to take my statement. I’m sure the details would have pissed Luke off too. It would be quicker talking to Tanner about it. “I’m glad you’re okay,” Tanner said, once I’d signed off on the statement.
“Me too. I’m glad you guys showed up when you did.”
“That was all Luke. When Ashley called him, he had a bad feeling. He didn’t waste a second looking for you. We ran into Penny and she said she’d last seen you by the parking lot where you discussed a case.”
“I’m glad Luke’s instincts were right,” I admitted.
“That’s why he’s such a great cop,” Tanner said, as he led me out of the room into the hallway where Luke was waiting. He slapped Luke on the back and told us to get out of there.
“Are we going to your place?” I asked cautiously. I didn’t want to assume but Ashley had my bag with her when she came into the station.
