Brave New Girl (Behind Closed Doors Book 1)

by Grace Herbst

  “Did you like them?” Roxanne asked Penny. Once again, Roxanne had no trouble denying she was responsible.

  Penny frowned. “I’d prefer if they hadn’t been stolen.”

  “As I told Ashley here, none of you have any proof against me,” Roxanne reminded them. “And I doubt the police would believe you without proof. So you’re out of luck. You can show yourselves out.” She turned to Ashley. “That includes you. You are no longer welcome in my apartment.”

  Ashley was happy to oblige. She just took her things and she headed to the door. Lucas and Penny were about to leave when there was another knock at the door. Roxanne groaned. “Now who is it?” she asked before throwing the door open.

  Ashley froze as she saw Simon standing in the doorway. “Where is she?” he demanded. Lucas moved in front of Ashley protectively as Simon pushed past Roxanne. His eyes burning with hatred as he stormed over to Lucas and Ashley.

  Lucas didn’t even let Simon speak. “If you want to hurt her, you’re going to have to go through me,” he warned him.

  “That can be arranged,” Simon replied as he pulled out a gun and pointed it at him, leaving everyone horrified.

  Chapter 21

  There was silence as Lucas held up his hands. He continued to stand protectively in front of both Ashley and Penny. “Let’s not do anything crazy here. Why don’t you put the gun down and we’ll settle this man to man?” he suggested, trying to calm him down.

  Roxanne tried to keep her cool as she shut the door. “Lucas is right, Simon. Besides, you’re outnumbered. And I’m not going to let you shoot them in my apartment.”

  Simon swung the gun around her way and glared at her. “Shut up! This is your fault too!” he exclaimed angrily. “Giving me a pair of earrings for Penny when you knew they were stolen. I want my money back!”

  “I don’t have your money,” Roxanne told him. Apparently, she wasn’t as intimidated as the others with someone waving a gun in her face. “And I don’t see how any of this is my fault. All I did was give you a beautiful pair of earrings which I knew your girlfriend would like.”

  “A pair of earrings that were stolen,” Simon reminded her. “Thanks to you, everyone thought I was the one stealing from them. You promised you would help me get Penny back, but all you did was make it worse. Now get over there with the rest of them.” Roxanne looked at him, but she complied. She walked over to the others. “Sit down.” Ashley, Lucas and Penny sat down on the sofa while Roxanne sat down in a lounge chair. “Is anyone else here?” he asked as he glanced around the rooms. Roxanne shook her head. “Good.”

  As Simon paced back and forth, Ashley studied him, using the skills she had learned from her aunt to understand him. From what she had observed, he had followed Lucas and Penny with the intention of confronting her. And only her. Running into Roxanne, Lucas and Penny wasn’t part of the plan. Since he was furious at not only her, but the rest of them too, she had a feeling this only made the situation worse. He couldn’t possibly be considering hurting Penny too. Getting her back was the main reason why he was doing all of this. Yet, she didn’t quite understand something.

  Ashley decided to take a chance. She had to get some answers. “If you were angry at me, then why did you go after my aunt? Because she was your psychologist?”

  To her surprise, Simon was willing to answer. The anger was still in his voice. “Because she broke doctor patient confidentiality. She wasn’t supposed to tell anybody. At least Penny isn’t a blabbermouth like she is.”

  “I don’t know what Penny told you, but my aunt didn’t tell me anything specifically,” Ashley defended. “We were talking about the earrings and she warned me to stay away from you. That’s all. I was the one who connected the dots.”

  “Why don’t you keep your nose out of other people’s business?” Simon asked. “Why did you even care to warn her? You two aren’t even friends.”

  “Because I’m the type of person who stands up for what’s right,” Ashley defended. “She may not be my friend, but I still didn’t want to see her get hurt. And if you truly cared about her, you wouldn’t be doing this.” Ashley waited for a reaction from Penny. To her surprise, Penny didn’t say anything. She was completely quiet. Ashley couldn’t believe Penny was sitting there and not defending herself. Ashley realized Penny hasn’t been herself since she walked into the apartment.

  “I think I would be doing her a favor by getting rid of you two,” Simon said as he kept the gun moving between Ashley and Lucas before he turned the gun to Roxanne. “I don’t know why I even became friends with you. All you gave me was a friend with benefits relationship because Penny refused to do it with me. Not to mention stolen earrings. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t shoot you too.”

  Roxanne just scoffed at him. “I doubt you would be that stupid to shoot three people in my apartment. You’ll never get away with it. Especially since you’re already on the run. They will connect the dots instantly and you’ll be arrested for not only assault, but also murder. So why don’t you just let us go and we’ll let you go?”

  “So you can go straight to the cops and have them chase after me again?” Simon replied. He shook his head adamantly. “No way! Nobody is going anywhere.”

  “We wouldn’t go to the cops,” Penny told him. Ashley still couldn’t believe how cooperative she was being. This was a side of Penny she had never seen before and she really didn’t like it. She liked the Penny who stood up for herself. What happened? What caused Penny to be so reserved? “Besides, my parents wouldn’t believe me. They never do.”

  Realization hit Ashley as she read in between the lines. This wasn’t the first time Simon had hit Penny. Ashley couldn’t believe Penny would stay in an abusive relationship. Especially since she seemed like she could speak up for herself.

  “See, this proves you’re better off with me,” Simon said almost proudly. “I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for you.” Ashley could see he was getting more agitated than before. His accusations were all over the place. “If you would have stopped moaning about Lucas and Ashley, none of this would have happened.”

  Ashley turned back to Penny, hoping she would stand up for herself. However, she was still quiet. In fact, she looked a little pale. “Penny, are you alright?” she asked. Everyone turned their attention to Penny, who looked like she was going to throw up. She was holding her stomach like she had really bad cramps. “Where’s your bathroom?” Ashley asked Roxanne. Roxanne pointed the direction as Ashley got up from her seat. Simon turned the gun to her. Ashley glared at him. “I’m just taking her to the bathroom. That’s all.”

  Simon was quiet before he nodded in agreement. “Don’t take too long.”

  Ashley helped Penny get up from the sofa and she led her to the bathroom. From the way she kept holding her stomach, Ashley knew she wasn’t faking her illness and it wasn’t a ploy to escape from Simon. Penny was really sick. “Do you want me to try and convince Simon to let you go?” she whispered. “You should get to a hospital.”

  Penny shook her head adamantly. “He will never do it,” she whispered back. “You saw him with that gun. He’s not thinking straight.”

  Ashley had never seen Penny so terrified before. “I know, but I don’t care if he’s not thinking straight. You’re going to the hospital,” she said determined.

  “No, I’m fine,” she assured her. “I just need to get to the bathroom.”

  Ashley wasn’t convinced, but she didn’t argue. She opened the door and she watched as Penny walked into the bathroom. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked. Penny nodded. Ashley had never seen her so quiet before. She shut the door for her and Penny locked the door.

  She wanted to give her privacy, but she also wanted to be close in case something happened. In her gut, Ashley knew something was wrong. If only she could get Simon to understand Penny was in trouble.

  Ashley walked back into the living room. Instead of sitting back on the couch, she stood in the doorway. Simon gestured
for her to sit back down on the sofa, but Ashley stood her ground. As scared as she was, someone had to stand up to him. “I don’t know what’s wrong with Penny, but I think she needs to get to a hospital. You need to let her go.”

  “You heard her. She’s fine,” Simon told her. “Now sit back down next to your boyfriend.” Ashley didn’t bother to correct him, but she continued to stay where she was. She knew she was taking a risk, but she wanted Simon to understand the seriousness of Penny’s condition. “Are you deaf? Sit down!”

  Ashley had an idea, but she wasn’t sure how he would react to her words. He had been a client of her aunt’s. It was possible he would get even more upset if she talked to him like she was his psychologist. “Look, I understand your frustration. You’re mad at me and my aunt. I get it. Just please don’t take it out on my friends.” There was a short pause. “Or Roxanne.”

  Having Simon put his attention on her made Lucas realize he had an opportunity to get the gun away from him. Simon cocked the gun at Ashley. Ashley froze as Simon stepped forward. Lucas got up from the sofa and he lunged at him. Simon turned to point the gun at him, but Lucas was already tackling him to the ground. The gun went off and Ashley was relieved to find she wasn’t hit. As Lucas and Simon started fighting over the gun, Roxanne hurried out of the room. Ashley wondered for a moment where she was going before she realized it was the perfect opportunity to call the police.

  “Don’t worry. I have it handled,” Roxanne said confidently as she reappeared with a gun of her own. She pointed it at Lucas and Simon, who were still struggling for control over Simon’s gun. They immediately stopped what they were doing and the gun was dropped. Lucas quickly grabbed it and got up from the floor. He went over to Ashley as Simon got up slowly. Roxanne didn’t keep her gun out of his range. “He’s not going anywhere.”

  As Ashley was on the phone with the operator, she checked on Penny to make sure she really did need an ambulance. She knocked on the door and Penny pulled it open. However, there wasn’t a chance for her to ask when Penny gave her an answer. “I’m bleeding,” she said weakly.

  “An ambulance is on the way,” Ashley assured her as Lucas came over to them. She handed him the phone as she tried to comfort Penny. “Everything’s going to be alright,” she assured her. A loud popping noise and a shout interrupted the conversation and Lucas and Ashley exchanged looks before they rushed back into the living room.

  Simon was lying on the sofa with one hand holding his shoulder. Roxanne was nowhere in sight. Ashley noticed her backpack was missing. “Damn it,” she cursed. She shouldn’t have showed off the jewels. Now Roxanne took off with them. Who knows if Mrs. Spencer will ever get her jewelry back now?

  When the police arrived at the apartment, Simon tried to throw accusations at both Lucas and Ashley. However, the police had already had their suspicions about him and the gun Lucas handed to the officers did belong to Simon’s dad. So it was clear he was going to be charged and arrested. However, Ashley wondered if he would still be able to get some professional help so this doesn’t happen again.

  The officers who took the case were not the same ones who handled her car accident. So they didn’t know who Ashley was when they interviewed her. Once they had given their statements, the police were ready to escort them out of the building. However, Ashley wanted to tell the police the truth about the robbery at Mrs. Spencer’s jewelry store. She just didn’t know what would happen to her once she gave her confession.

  “Why don’t you wait here? We’ll have someone to take you home soon,” the officer told her.

  “Actually, I have a confession to make,” Ashley said. The officer raised his eyebrows in surprise. “I want to confess to a robbery.”

  “Why don’t we talk about this down at the station?” the officer asked. Ashley nodded. As she followed the officer to the car, Lucas gave her a questioning look. He excused himself from the officer who was questioning him and rushed over to them. “We just have a few things to settle down at the station.”

  Lucas turned to Ashley. “Do you want me to go with you?”

  Ashley gave him a gentle smile. “No, you stay with Penny. I have to do this by myself.” She let out a heavy sigh. “It’s time for me to face the music.”

  It was a relief for her to leave. This place was giving her the creeps. She had a feeling she wasn’t going to return to this neighborhood again. In fact, she knew she wasn’t going to return again. She was done with Roxanne and her lifestyle. In the last couple of days, she realized it wasn’t what she wanted to do.

  If she really wanted to go back to the way things were, she wouldn’t have felt the need to confront Roxanne about being involved in the robbery. She wouldn’t have felt guilty about drinking at the party. She would have continued drinking and partying without caring about the consequences. Ms. Bartlett was right. She did have some issues to work out. First thing she wanted to do was confess and deal with the consequences. She was done lying to herself. She didn’t belong here. She never belonged here. She had a clean slate. She was given a second chance for a reason. It was time to show it.

  Chapter 22

  When they arrived at the police station, Ashley was escorted to an interview room. As she was telling the story to the police, the questioning was interrupted by the door opening. Ashley stopped the conversation as her father embraced her in a tight hug. “Thank goodness you’re okay.” His tone changed from relieved to anger as he turned to the police officers. “What is going on here?” Kyle demanded. “Why are you questioning my daughter? She has just gone through a traumatic experience and she doesn’t need to be treated like a common criminal.”

  Another police officer was behind him and he spoke. Ashley recognized him as one of the officers who had interviewed her when she had the car accident. “As I tried to explain to you, your daughter is confessing to a crime, but it has nothing to do with Simon Green.” Kyle gave him a confused look. “It seems your daughter is confessing to stealing some jewelry from a store last spring.”

  Kyle looked at his daughter for an explanation. Ashley took a deep breath before she spoke. “The only reason I’m doing it is because I brought the jewelry with me. I was hoping to do the right thing and return it to the original owners. Yesterday, I found out the jewelry store I had robbed was owned by Roxanne’s mother. I confronted Roxanne and she confessed to stealing from not only her own mother, but our friends and neighbors in Emerald as well.”

  Kyle interrupted her. “Roxanne was the thief? It wasn’t Simon?”

  One of the officers shook his head. “No, Simon Green may have assaulted your sister and threatened to kill your daughter and friends, but he had no involvement in the robberies that were happening around Emerald.”

  Ashley continued her story. “I wanted to give her a chance to redeem herself like I was doing, but she didn’t care. And after we were able to get the gun away from Simon, we left him alone with Roxanne while we checked on Penny. The next thing I knew, Roxanne shot Simon and took off with my backpack full of stolen jewelry.”

  “Why did you keep the jewelry for so long?” one of the officers asked.

  Ashley shrugged. “I don’t know. I knew it was wrong to steal in the first place, but I think I was still so angry at my dad that I felt like having some fun. I kept the jewelry because I thought I was going to do something with it, but I never did. Right after that, I had the car accident. And we moved to Emerald. So I never had a chance to return the jewelry until now.”

  “We are on the lookout for Roxanne Spencer as we speak,” one of the officers said.

  “Are you going to arrest my daughter?” Kyle asked. “Ashley’s a minor. Shouldn’t her confession be inadmissible because she confessed to a crime without a parent or a lawyer in the room?”

  Before any of the officers could answer, Ashley spoke up. “Dad, it’s fine. I know what I did was wrong and I should be punished for it. Like I said, I wouldn’t even be in here if it wasn’t for the fact that I brought stolen jewelry w
ith me with the intention of returning it to the rightful owner.”

  Someone knocked on the door and the door opened again. “Mrs. Spencer is here,” the officer told them. Ashley let out a heavy sigh. She wasn’t looking forward to seeing Mrs. Spencer. She had gone off about Roxanne stealing from her store. She couldn’t imagine how she is going to feel when she finds out Ashley was an accomplice.

  Kyle disappeared with the other officers and Ashley knew he was going to try and convince Mrs. Spencer not to press charges against her. That was going to be a challenge. Mrs. Spencer wanted her jewelry back and she wanted the person responsible arrested. Although, she was determined to prove that her so-called daughter was the one who did it. She never mentioned the accomplices if there were any.

  Ashley heard a commotion outside the hall, but she couldn’t understand what anyone was saying. The door flew open and Mrs. Spencer stormed into the interview room. She pointed a warning finger at Ashley. “I knew you looked familiar. You were the young woman who almost killed that little boy.” Ashley wished everyone would forget about that car accident. “And now I find out you were helping my so-called daughter rob my store. How dare you! You came into my store making me believe you were a true customer and here you were staking out your next prize. Don’t come into my store again or I will call security.”

  “I didn’t know you were the owner of that jewelry store until yesterday,” Ashley told her as her father returned into the room. “When I robbed your store last spring, I was going through a rough time. I didn’t care about the owners. I didn’t care about my consequences. I just wanted to have some fun. Now I’m trying to own up to my mistakes.”

  “And you just decided to do that months after you stole from me?” Mrs. Spencer asked. “Well, I’m glad your conscious got the better of you. However, I don’t see how that helps me out. From what I understand, your friend Roxanne has taken off with my jewelry again.”