Chapter 22: <b>bold moves</b>
Derrick was brought to the hospital soon after the police arrived. The police contacted my parents, and they acted like they were terrified and feared for my safety. Not that anyone in the police force believed them for a second.
Chrissie was sitting in her car, talking to some officers about what had just happened. They took statements from most of the people that lived in the complex. Thankfully no one died in the fire and the explosion.
Chrissie was suspiciously withdrawn as they were taking the statements. It was like she didn’t care about what they said. I started thinking about Oxycotton. Chrissie couldn’t be her? Could she?
She drove to Ubel’s apartment, fully knowing where it was. She was nervously twitching as I approached her. I needed to ask her some questions, but I had to do it discreetly. If she knew I was onto her, she might hand me over to Ubel and Basty.
“Did you find Scott?” I started.
“He’s in the hospital. The last thing I heard was that his condition was critical but stable. That was yesterday.” It was four in the morning. The darkness shrouded us as we worked with getting the situation under control. I was probably just in the way of the workers. The nosy musician that caused Scott to lose the case. It was all such a waste. All the poor that had lost their home because of Ubel’s illegal activities. And this was my safe little town. The town where nothing happened. I must’ve been too blind to see, or too numb to care.
“Let’s go to the station,” Chrissie said.
“I don’t want to go there. I’ve already created more than enough trouble for Scott.”671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6dCZaXROW4
“You need to give your statement to Darren.” I closed the door and she started driving. We were about thirty minutes away from the station. We had more than enough time to talk. Still, I didn’t want to come across as apprehensive.
“Can you do me a favour when you get there?” Chrissie asked.
“Depends on what you’re asking.”
“Can you avoid telling Darren that I was there? Tell him you called me from a payphone or something. I wasn’t actually supposed to be there, and being there in my uniform and with the car when I wasn’t supposed to can get me into trouble.”
“Why were you there if you weren’t supposed to?”
“It’s none of your business,” she snapped. “I apologise.” She sounded ashamed of her outburst. I agreed to not saying anything, and admitted that I didn’t even want to say anything to Darren. I told her about what we’d seen that night outside 45 Sundrive. She nodded and understood the situation. She didn’t look surprised, which made me even more suspicious.
We arrived at the station half an hour later. Darren stood in his cubicle with a cup of coffee. His round eyes followed me as I walked behind Chrissie.
“Jenkins! I’m here,” he shouted. How did he remember my name?
“I don’t particularly want to talk to you,” I said.
“Please, just talk to him,” Chrissie begged. I looked around the room. There were at least a dozen officers here. If I made a scene, they would all see it. Now was a good a time as any to expose Darren for who he truly was.
“I saw you at 45 Sundrive Avenue that night. You handed and envelope over to the man that works for Bastyboy,”
“Keep your voice down,” Chrissie pleaded.
“I don’t know what you’re getting at.”
“Listen up officers. Bastyboy is the leader of a human trafficking ring! This man, this superior officer, handed an envelope over to one of his lackeys. That must mean he’s involved somehow!”671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC0VDGNwn5U
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Bastyboy, Oxycotton, Ubel. That all means something to you, right?” Chrissie flinched as I mentioned Oxycotton. I had her now. She wouldn’t get away with it anymore. As soon as Scott got back, we would take her, expose her for who she truly was.
“Stop, Onila,” Chrissie said. Now she sounded angry as well. “It wasn’t what it looked like.”
“How do you know?”
“I can’t say,” she whispered. Darren fumed. He shook from head to toe and gritted his teeth.
“I’m going to get the answer out of you somehow!” I screamed.
“How?”
“I’ll kill you if that’s what it takes!” He pulled his handcuffs out and proceeded to cuff me.
“You’re under arrest for threatening an officer,” he said calmly. His anger had vanished.
“I didn’t mean it. Not like that!” I fought back. He tried to lift me, but I wriggled too much.
“That was a death threat,” Chrissie informed.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxtJIJLCXfF
“You know I didn’t mean it, Oxy.” She flinched again.
“Don’t call me that ever again,” she hissed. Darren tried lifting me again, but I kicked him in the groin. He slumped over and held his family jewels. I heard the clicks as the officers in the room found their weapons. They held their taser guns ready.
I put my hands in the air. An officer manhandled me into a cell. Chrissie followed us with her taser gun ready for action.
They threw me into the isolation cell. I cried and banged on the door, but no one came. The room was tiny like a shoebox. The only resemblances of furniture were the mattress and toilet.
I sat down on the mattress, wondering how anyone could sleep on the thin piece of fabric, and thought at the kidnapping. Something didn’t make sense. Was Chrissie on her way to see Ubel to find out why he had deleted the Documents? I didn’t know where Chrissie lived, but she had to live pretty close by in order to get there so fast.
Scott would have to tell me where she lived. He probably knew.
I paced around the cell, thinking about it all. John Bashor had partly killed his wife and Em to save me. Even though it wasn’t his sole motivation, it still gave me a guilty conscience.
Some hours had probably passed when Chrissie entered the room to feed me. I refused to talk to her, even when she begged to explain it all. I didn’t want to hear it. Not from her. She had been a part of it. She had been a part of the stalking and of the kidnapping, and of the explosions. How could she live with herself knowing her master had killed many of her colleagues?
“Please let me explain. Whatever it is you’re thinking, it’s not that bad. I have a problem, and I need help.” She kept her voice down but I could hear the desperation in her voice.
I just ignored her.
When she had exited the room, I tried to look through the peephole. I didn’t expect that I could see on the other side. I jumped when I saw a big, round eye, looking through the hole. That bastard Darren was looking in at me. When he saw my eye in the peephole he moved away from the door. He stood in the background, smiling at the door. He probably thought, “Finally, that bitch is trapped”. I felt like a caged animal. I continued the pacing. I pranced back and forward across the floor.
Hours probably passed. I ate my food and took a piss. This made me feel even more like a caged animal. The only thing that was missing, was fucking another poor captive animal.
After a while I fell asleep on the mattress. I woke up a couple of times. Mostly because the floor was so hard under me.
Around dawn the next day (don’t ask me how I knew it was dawn, I just felt it) the door opened. It was Scott. I ran up to him and pressed my lips against his. He smiled and kissed me back.
Then he wrinkled his nose and looked at me.
“Your breath is awful,” he complained with a serious look on his face.
“How are you?” I asked. He pulled up the leg of his trouser and showed me the horrible burns.
“I didn’t get away quick enough,” he smiled half-heartedly.
“But you got out of the hospital?”
“Yeah. I had a serious concussion and really bad burns, but except from that I was fine. The man got away.”
“I saw him.”
“When?”
“…I was kidnapped,” I said quietly.
“What?” he roared.
“I’m going to tell you, when I get out of here.”
“I talked to Cameron Brown, the chief. You’re free to go.”
“What, seriously? Thank you,” I hugged him.
I showed the finger to Darren as we went. His beady eyes followed me as we went out. Scott and me, hand in hand. Chrissie stood outside with her arms over her chest. She ran up to Scott and hugged him. As she hugged him she sent me a look. That look said more than a thousand words. It said: Don’t tell him a single thing. Or else…
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