Lola pursed her lips as she thought it through. “What are his absolutely favorite things in the world? Maybe you could find a way of combining them together?”
That was something to think about. What were Lochie’s favorite things? He liked basketball, I knew that from school. He liked making model airplanes, I knew that from his bedroom. What else did he like? I racked my brain trying to recall conversations we’d had.
It hit me like a load of bricks. I knew exactly what I could do for our date. How I hadn’t thought of it before was beyond me. Lola was totally right, all I had to think of was what Lochie really liked.
“Lola, you’re a genius,” I exclaimed happily. I wanted to hug her for giving me the breakthrough. I had lost so much sleep over not having those plans.
“I am?”
“I know what Lochie and I can do for our date, thank you.”
“What is it?” She asked. “You can’t be all excited and leave me in the dark. Tell me!”
I really didn’t want to go into detail, considering her problems with Asher, but perhaps it would take her mind off her issues. I treaded lightly just in case.
After I got her confirmation that it sounded like a good idea, I could enjoy the morning. We lazed on the beach like we were seventeen and didn’t have any problems in the world. It may have only been temporary, but it was a nice break.
I could have stayed there all day, and I would have if I didn’t need to meet with Garrick. We had a quick lunch together before I had to go. Lola assured me she would be okay and we’d discuss the Asher problem again later. I didn’t want to leave her to deal with it all on her own. I was a better friend than that.
Back to reality, I met Garrick, Kyle, and Krom at the offices of Stark & Associates Criminal Lawyers. They were the newly appointed lawyers for Garrick’s case.
I wasn’t sure why I had been summoned to attend the meeting but apparently I didn’t have a choice in the matter. Krom had spoken and so it had to be. I wasn’t brave enough to argue with him on that point. I’d save my courage for something bigger. Besides, I wanted to make sure they were looking after Garrick in the way he needed them to.
The meeting had already started when I arrived. The neatly dressed receptionist led me to the boardroom and closed the door after showing me in. All five sets of eyes turned to face me.
“Sorry I’m late,” I muttered as I took my seat. At least Garrick seemed pleased to see me, the rest just went back to business.
“This is Amery,” Garrick made the introduction. The others all nodded a hello.
“So the charges are quite serious, as I’m sure you are aware,” the lawyer continued. I snuck a look at the business card on the table, apparently his name was Archie Bishop.
He wasn’t as old as I expected, he was probably in his thirties or forties. His dark hair was just starting to have strands of grey and his wrinkles only appeared when he scowled. The much younger associate beside him looked ill with his face ghost-white and appeared out of place in contrast.
“Of course they are quite serious,” Krom replied. He seemed to be over the meeting already. That didn’t take long. “They are accusing one of us of murder.”
The lawyer took it all in his stride. “The only redeeming feature of your charges at the moment is that they haven’t gone for first degree murder. At the moment they are looking at second degree, but they could still upgrade the charge once they have more evidence.”
“It doesn’t matter what degree they choose, the charges must be dropped.” Krom again, his usual loud self. The young associate winced every time he spoke.
Archie kept his cool, however. “I understand and that is our ultimate goal. But we must be prepared for whatever they throw at us.”
“It’s all a waste of time,” Krom muttered, crossing his arms. He hated it when he wasn’t in control of something. I had seen that proven over and over again since he arrived on Earth. He was nothing better than a child at times.
“It may well be,” Archie replied. “But you have hired me to defend Mr. Smith and that is exactly what I’m trying to do. Now, considering you are paying me by the hour, I suggest we move on.” He stared between us all until we each nodded our approval. “Okay, now Garrick, tell me everything you did the morning you found the body. Start from the beginning.”
Garrick shifted uncomfortably in his seat and cleared his throat. “I got ready for work-”
“Start from the very beginning. I need specifics. What time did you wake up? What did you have for breakfast? How did you get to work? Who did you see?” Archie had a pen poised and was ready to take notes, so did his little friend.
Garrick’s eyes darted around the group. He was much more nervous than I had seen him in a long time. I wouldn’t have thought a few lawyers in suits would intimidate him. “I think it was about five thirty that I woke up. I didn’t have breakfast. I left the place and drove straight to work.”
“And can anyone verify this?”
“Does it really matter? I mean, it all happened before I found the girl.”
“Everything matters. If someone can confirm you were at a certain place at a certain time, then it should prove you didn’t have enough time to murder the girl,” Archie explained. He had a surprising amount of patience for a guy in a suit. I was used to the people at the Department snapping at the smallest things. “Did you see anyone that morning?”
“Yeah, there was someone,” Garrick admitted. He was acting very cagey about it, which made me way more curious than I was before.
“I’ll need their name, address, and contact number.”
“Can you do without it?”
Archie’s patience was slipping. “No, Mr. Smith, we cannot. I have to lock down your timeline in order to prepare the case. Let’s start with their name.”
Garrick looked around the room again. I didn’t want to hear what his answer was suddenly. “Her name is Katya.”
“Surname?”
“I’m not sure.” His gaze was on his hands as he fiddled with his fingernails.
“Okay, how about a contact number?” Silence answered his question. I wasn’t sure what was worse, hearing Garrick confess about having a one night stand with a girl he didn’t even know, or watching him have to talk about it in front of a bunch of strangers.
“Why were you waking up with this girl?” Krom asked. Clearly he didn’t quite understand Earth guys yet.
Archie had the sense to continue on quickly. “Were you at her place, or yours?”
“My place,” Garrick answered, finally one he could answer without squirming. I guessed that was why the girl was still there in the morning. He probably wouldn’t have stuck around if he was at her place.
“Do you think you would be able to find her again? Maybe if you returned to where you met her?”
“Perhaps. I’d seen her there a few times before that night.”
“Good.” Archie continued on with the questions, extracting the information like they were teeth. Garrick was really trying to be helpful, but he wasn’t much use. He simply didn’t have the answers Archie needed to secure his case.
Finally, they moved onto the next issue. “We have the DNA test reports from the coroner’s office. They found trace amounts of DNA on the body.”
Garrick took a sip of his water before replying. “It was my DNA on her, wasn’t it?”
Archie nodded and slid the report across the table. “They only found yours and no-one else’s. This makes your case a little trickier, but it doesn’t sink the boat altogether. We can explain why your DNA was on her.”
“But not why it was the only DNA,” Garrick stated.
“The real killer was most likely a professional, or really lucky. He might have known not to leave any traces of himself on her.”
Silence filled the room as the clock on the wall ticked off the seconds. I wondered how much each of those wasted seconds was costing Krom.
Garrick spoke next. “Who was she? The girl, I mean. She was
so young. All I know is her name.”
Archie consulted his notes before replying. “Her name was Chloe Walter, she was sixteen years old, and had two brothers. She went to school, got good grades, and was well loved by everybody, by all accounts.”
“Is there anything about her which could indicate how she got herself in that situation?” Krom asked. Trust him to blame the victim for her own murder.
“She came from a good family, went to an all-girls school, and lived in a middle class suburb. There was nothing to foretell of her demise,” Archie explained. He shuffled his notes as everyone sat in silence.
“Did she like math class?” Garrick asked, so quietly everyone looked at him to make sure they had heard right.
The solicitors both seemed a little confused before Archie replied. “According to her last report card, she did well in math. I guess you could deduce that she liked it.”
Garrick nodded. I had no idea why he thought it was important to ask that question. Whether Chloe liked numbers didn’t seem relevant to anything. No-one questioned him on it though and I certainly wasn’t about to.
Kyle was the next to speak. “So what do we do from here? What should Garrick do now?”
Archie was relieved to move on. It was far easier dealing with the facts and legal process than dwelling on the poor dead girl. “Garrick needs to stay out of trouble. If he can’t do that, then he needs to stay out of sight. Grab some movies and sit in front of the television until your court date if that’s what it takes.” Considering Garrick was sitting there with a shining black eye, it was probably good advice.
“That is what he will do then,” Krom decided, like it was his decision to make. His arrogance never ceased to amaze me, he was worse than having four parents.
“Good,” Archie continued. “Because the world’s media is watching this case very carefully. Ever since the arrest the government has been under enormous pressure to put more controls in place over the, um, new settlers.”
“You can say aliens,” I interjected. I didn’t like it when people danced around what we really were. It was more insulting for them to make up new words to describe us than call us the obvious. We were aliens, by the very definition of the word.
He went on as if I didn’t say anything. “The police will be ensuring that not an item is out of place in the process. It would only take one slip up for some political parties to have enough ammunition to cause the government to bow to their demands. It is in your best interests, Garrick, to be the most upstanding member of the community.”
“I understand,” Garrick agreed. He was a smart guy, he knew what he needed to do. The trouble was his temper and his lack of control over it. As long as no-one provoked him, he could be the kind of person they needed him to be.
The meeting ended with a round of hand shaking and promises to keep each other updated. The lawyers left first as the receptionist returned to collect us and be our escort to the elevators.
I hung back with Garrick for a moment. “Are you okay? That was pretty intense.”
“Yeah. But I’m not the dead one,” he joked, but he was only pretending. He was decidedly upset, it was written all over his face. “Do you think this place has a bathroom? It should do, right?”
“I’m sure it would.”
“I’ll be right back then.” I watched him go in search of a restroom, feeling more useless than I ever had before. Knowing I couldn’t do anything to help him was painful, but only a fraction as bad as what he was feeling.
The receptionist had disappeared when I turned around to leave. I had to find my own way back through the maze of corridors to the lifts. I walked slowly, trying to remember the way I had come in. It was easier said than done.
Finally, the elevators came into view, just as Krom’s voice carried through the air. I stopped, not wanting to interrupt the deep conversation he seemed to be having with Kyle. I lingered just around the corner out of sight.
“It has to be the Originals behind all this,” Krom said. “You should see all the paperwork they’ve lodged with the government. They’re not going to be happy until we’re all gone or locked up.”
“Yeah, but going from paperwork to murdering a teenage girl, that’s quite a leap,” Kyle replied. He was obviously the voice of reason.
“They were going to do more to Member Amery, if you remember.”
“But they didn’t go through with it.”
“Only because she was lucky to escape.” That comment made me smile a little, except it wasn’t luck but Lochie that had allowed me to escape. He was my hero.
“So how are we going to handle it?” Kyle asked. My ears pricked up, curious about what Krom had planned. No doubt he had a plan, he always did. He just chose to keep them to himself most of the time.
“That all depends on what the Department does. There will be more incidents, I have no doubts about that. We need to be ready to deal with them as they arise. Nobody is going to take our kind for fools, nobody.”
The elevator dinged and their feet shuffled as they got in. I hesitated for a few seconds to make sure they were gone before edging around the corner to wait for Garrick.
If Krom was concerned about more things happening to the aliens, then I was terrified about it. I never expected our integration to be easy, or for the acceptance to happen overnight, but I did have a higher regard for people’s compassion. I thought they would at least see the humanity in us and respond to that. While most of the population did, many still didn’t.
But it wasn’t like we had a choice. Our planet was going to be destroyed by the asteroid. If we didn’t settle on Earth, then we were all going to die. The integration had no choice except to work. Perhaps if the project was allowed to run to term, it might have turned out better. The Originals had ruined that and were continuing to cause us trouble.
If Krom was expecting more incidents like Garrick’s bogus murder charge, then any of us could be the next victim. Garrick was an easy target because of the attention he had received during the initial integration. Perhaps I was next? Or what about the sweet families that had settled? Any of us could have been walking around with a target on our backs. The thought was chilling.
“Thanks for waiting.” Garrick’s voice brought me back to reality. He hit the call button and we waited for the elevator in silence. His eyes were red ringed now but I didn’t mention it.
I dropped Garrick home before heading for the supermarket. There were a few things I needed for the big date the next day and I didn’t think Garrick was up for shopping. He would only have moped around behind me and likened it to being tortured.
I gathered the chocolates, snacks, and other items and headed for the checkouts. I wasn’t exactly in the shopping mood myself so it was definitely just a get-what-I-need mission and not a general browse.
At the checkouts, I recognized Rubette on one of the registers. I lined up in her queue. I couldn’t help but notice she had the least amount of customers. Most of the shoppers would rather wait in a longer line just so they didn’t get served by an alien. It was disappointing to say the least.
“Amery!” Rubette said as she started on my items. “I’m so glad to see you. How are you?”
“I’m good. What about you?” I was determined to sound much happier than I felt. I think I pulled it off.
“It’s so great being able to work and get out amongst everyone. I’m learning so much and meeting new people every day. I love it here, Amery, I really do.”
“That makes me really happy to hear, Rubette.”
“It makes me happy to say it. When we were on Trucon, I could never have dreamed we’d finally come here and be able to live the life we wanted.”
I hoped and prayed to God that Rubette and her family would be able to continue on with that new life they had carved out for themselves. Just the thought of the Originals ruining all that for them was enough to make me want to punch something.
Finishing with Rubette, and promising to visit her again so
on, I was almost at the door when I was stopped again. Ella stepped in front of me, smiling widely. “Amery, I was hoping to run into you sometime.”
“Hey Ella. Thanks again for inviting me to your party, it was a really great night.” I could almost guess what was about to follow but I didn’t want to be rude and start walking in the opposite direction to avoid it.
“I’m glad you could come. Things got a bit wild, huh?”
“Just a little, but in a good way.”
She hesitated as she tried to find the words she wanted to say. Unfortunately, she managed to find them. “So… how’s Garrick?”
“Besides being like a bear with a sore paw, he’s fine.”
“Oh, I hope he wasn’t too hurt,” Ella said with genuine concern. The poor girl, I was certain she was smitten with a certain someone.
“Just a few bad bruises, probably nothing compared to the dent to his pride. Hopefully Mack felt worse when he woke up this morning.” So far, she hadn’t mentioned their dirty dancing, maybe she was just as clueless as Garrick about it? Maybe she had no memory whatsoever? God, I hoped so. She was going to get her heart broken so badly.
“Oh, good.” She paused again. “He didn’t happen to mention me at all, did he? I mean, I know we were both pretty wasted towards the end of the night but, you know, I thought perhaps he might have said something?”
Damn it. “Um, he hasn’t really said anything. He’s been pretty busy with the lawyers and stuff today. There’s a lot going on.”
“Of course. I’m sure he’s got a lot on his mind, things much more important than me.” She was doing a terrible job of hiding her disappointment. I wanted to kick Garrick for leading her on. The worst thing was that he had no idea he had done it. Even while doing it, he was probably clueless about the damage being wrought.
“You’re important, Ella. It’s probably just not a good time. He can’t really think of anything with the charges hanging over his head.”
“No, no, I totally understand. I should go, I’ll see you around.”
“Thanks again.”
Project Integrate Series Boxed Set Page 76