by Julia Derek
I made myself hug her back, hoping that she didn’t notice just how stiff I was.
We exchanged phone numbers, then decided to check in later before we met up at Nikkei.
I waved good-bye to Chrissy and left the Victoria’s Secret store.
When I was down in the food court, I texted Gabi in case she hadn’t noticed that I’d left.
She texted me back to tell me to go home and then we would all meet there.
I jumped in a cab and fifteen minutes later, I was walking into my building and took the elevator up to my apartment. Chase and Nick were waiting for me inside my place. They both turned to face me as I entered.
“How did it go?” Chase asked as he came up to embrace me.
“Great,” I said and turned my face up so he could press a kiss onto my lips. “It was much easier to get her to agree to meet up with me tonight than I could ever have expected. Get this: It seems she may not know we went to L.A. Or that we’re even getting along these days.”
Chase frowned. “What do you mean? What did she do to make you think that?”
“She said all kinds of things that made me think this. I’m pretty sure she’s not even keeping tabs on us. But that’s not the most interesting thing I learned today.”
“Oh?” Chase pulled me closer to him. “What else did you learn?
“That it looks like she’s not the one behind the snake in my closet. It seems like someone else put it there.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chrissy was already waiting in the Nikkei lobby when I arrived at five to ten that evening. She was all big grins and hugs when I walked up to her. This time I was not nearly as keen on hugging her as I was wearing a wiretap around my upper body and really didn’t want her to notice it. So I did my best to make the hug as light as I possibly could without it seeming suspicious. I was pretty sure I succeeded because Chrissy didn’t react, only kept smiling.
“Let me get you checked in,” I said as we let go. Together, we walked up to the health club’s front desk and I told the receptionist there that Chrissy was my guest. As members of the exclusive club, we were allowed to bring guests with us inside as long as they had their IDs with them.
When the check-in was taken care of, we took the elevator up to the sixth floor where the rooftop was located. I was trying my best to seem relaxed and make small talk with Chrissy, but it wasn’t easy. I was so nervous my heart was beating like it was on speed despite that I’d taken a big shot of whiskey to calm myself down on Nick and Chase’s recommendation before we all left my apartment. Plus, the knowledge that Nick and Gabi were lying on nearby rooftops with their guns at the ready should further calm me down. But it didn’t. We all knew there was a great chance that Chrissy might attack me when I confronted her. She and I were more or less the same size, both of us around five nine and athletic, which meant I should be able to hold my own. Still, I was definitely not looking forward to getting into a fistfight with her. I could only hope that Nick, who apparently was especially good at precisely hitting targets from a distance, would shoot her in that case.
There were also four cops in a room inside the club who were taping our conversation and who would come out as soon as they’d gotten Chrissy’s confession on tape. They should help too in case she jumped me; they’d obviously hear us fighting from where they were inside the club somewhere fairly close to the rooftop from what Chase had texted me. He was there with them.
The elevator pinged as we arrived at the sixth floor and we walked out onto the roof deck. The sun had set a little over two hours ago, so all the city lights that were now on full blast provided a spectacular view of upper Manhattan under the night sky.
“Why don’t we take a seat over by this table?” I suggested, pointing at a table in a corner around which there were four chairs. “I have some paperwork I want to show you and that I think you’d love to see …”
I really didn’t have anything to show her, but we had all figured that if I had something physical to show her, she’d feel even more at ease. Which was important. In the beginning.
“Sure,” Chrissy said and we walked over to the table I had indicated. “I can’t wait to see it.”
We both took a seat and I pulled out the folder with the fake papers I had put in my purse and placed it on the table between us. I made sure I sat on the chair that was not facing the buildings on which I knew Gabi and Nick were, pointing at us with guns. I was glad we had the table between us as a buffer. This way it would be harder for Chrissy to throw herself at me or whatever she might attempt to do when I revealed the real reason we were here. I had decided I was not going to waste much time getting to it. Why prolong the angst I was already going through? She was clearly comfortable enough around me already, having agreed to come up here with me.
So I took a deep breath and began. “Chrissy,” I said. “You still hate me, huh?”
The content smile on her face died. “What are you talking about? Why would I hate you?”
“Why else would you do what you did to me?”
Chrissy stared at me, having stiffened considerably. This girl catches on fast, that’s for sure. “What did I do to you?” But that obviously didn’t mean that she was about to instantly confess to anything. She made her features seem innocent. Overly innocent.
“You hired those thugs and had me and Chase kidnapped. I know the reason you kidnapped Chase—so that you can get Chattanooga James where you want him. Chase and I are both well aware that you’re trying to steal him from us, so you can convince him to work with you at Morgan Stanley. This way you’ll climb the corporate ladder there real fast. But why did you also have me taken? Do you really hate me that much?”
“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, Elle. Have you gone completely mad?”
She looked at me with so much confusion right then that for a moment I second-guessed myself again. Was it possible that I had mistaken her laugh after all…?
But a couple of seconds later I remembered how much she wanted to get rid of Chase—how ecstatic she’d seemed when I told her he was shot and how she’d hoped he was still in bad shape—and felt confident again that this could not be so. She was definitely behind all of this. Okay, there might be someone else involved as well, but she was a big part of it for sure. She had just momentarily let down her guard and now it was back up again. Apparently, she had decided that her best bet was to act ignorant. Which it was, but I was going to make her confess. She was not going to get away.
I gazed at her coolly, waiting for her to break apart.
But she didn’t. She just kept meeting my eyes with the same measure of coolness for several torturous seconds. Suddenly she moved her lips into a polite smile and got to her feet. “I think us meeting here was a mistake. I’m going to leave now.”
Damn. She was better at keeping herself together than we’d counted on. Far, far better.
She started to walk toward the rooftop exit. Oh, God, this is so not good. I had no choice but to use our last-ditch approach then, the card we’d planned to pull if everything else failed. Which it apparently had already, before I’d even really gotten started. Our initial meeting today had clearly made me over-confident.
I couldn’t let her slip away this easily. I refused to let her go.
So I stood up as well, inhaling quietly to focus. I couldn’t afford to let my voice tremble when I told her the lie. I must pull off this part at least…
“I don’t think so, Chrissy,” I said to her back. “We’ve already spoken to the three men you used to abduct us and they all said you were the one who hired them. They’re at the police station this very moment. The cops found fingerprints in my apartment and that’s how we found them. I’m sure you realize that three peoples’ words against one person’s is all we need to get you convicted. It’s over, Chrissy.”
To my utmost relief, she stopped in her tracks and swiveled around toward me, her face twisted with anger. She glared at me in silence. But then
she opened her mouth.
“Those fucking losers… I should’ve known better than to have used such amateurs…. Greedy, fucking bastards!”
“I knew it was you who was behind it all, Chrissy,” I said, glancing at her triumphantly. All I needed now was for her to actually say it so we had it recorded. “You’re the same evil, crazy psycho bitch as you were in high school.” I walked backward to give Gabi and Nick a better chance of getting a good aim at her in case she suddenly jumped me or something. The way she walked toward me, menace on her face, I was expecting her to lunge at me at any moment.
She kept moving, daggers shooting from her eyes that had gone black with mad fury.
“Of course it was I who did it, you stupid little bitch,” she hissed at me. “I was going to let you rot in that room with Chase, that smug bastard. I’d make your life hell, the way you made my life hell in high school. You little rat.” She made an ugly grimace. “I’d fuck with both of your heads until you lost your minds and then I’d probably let you go. I’d fuck you up so much that you’d both be useless, so why even bother killing you? If I had to, I’d have those guys cut your tongues out before I let you go.” She shook her head, tsk’ing as she gazed out over the city. “I can’t believe those losers trashed your place. Obviously they were hoping to find something of value there that they could bring with them. The thousands of dollars I paid them should have been enough, but clearly I should’ve paid them more.”
She laughed an unhappy laugh. “Why didn’t I pay them more? So, so stupid of me.”
The extent of her craziness had made me so tense I felt totally wired, and so light that my legs seemed to have become airborne as I kept moving backward.
“Actually, they never told us anything,” I blurted, feeling the railing of the rooftop against my back then. I kept looking toward the rooftop door. Where were those cops who were supposed to come and arrest Chrissy? Hadn’t they gotten enough to use by now? I felt compelled to keep talking. “I have no idea who those three guys are. I just made that up. The only reason I figured out it was you was because of that crazy laugh of yours and then we found out that you were after Chattanooga, so we put two and two together. All I needed then was for you to tell me in your own words that you actually did it.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “What crazy laugh?”
“When you were pressing that gun against my head that night in the room. Are you telling me you don’t remember laughing then?”
The look on her face told me everything I needed to know in that moment. She actually wasn’t aware that she had laughed then.
“I never laughed!” she hissed, confirming this for me as she came closer. “You liar. Do you think I’m a fucking idiot? Why would I reveal myself to you that easily?” Then that crazy, cackling laugh came out of her yet again. It was so sharp it hurt my ears as it rang through the night in the most wicked manner.
“Whatever you say,” I muttered. I had definitely gotten all I needed out of her. Now, I just had to get away. But I was stuck between Chrissy and the rooftop railing.
I kept glancing toward the door that should open with cops pouring onto the rooftop. And Chase. Where the hell is everyone?
She suddenly calmed down again and smiled at me. As if that crazy person that had just said all those horrible things had never appeared, she said in a good-natured voice, “Well, the good thing is, no one but you and me know about this. So it’s your word against mine. Are you really willing to fight this out in court with so little evidence? You know I’ll get off, just like I did the last time we were on trial. Or did you already forget?”
Before the words left my mouth, I knew I should have stopped myself. But I just couldn’t help myself. “More people than just you and me know about this right now. You’re on tape, honey.”
I gazed toward the entrance of the rooftop. Where were those fucking cops? She’d said enough for us to not only have a case against her, but definitely also get her convicted, for Christ’s sake!
“You taped me, you fucking bitch?” she screamed and then she finally jumped on top of me, her hands wrapping around my neck. Somewhere out of the corner of my eye, I saw the rooftop door opening and people entering through it. But they were too far away, the rooftop too big. As Chrissy kept squeezing her palms against my neck, I swung violently back and forth in an attempt to get her off of me. We were both tall and athletic, so it was an even fight, yet I felt that she was winning. It was getting harder and harder to breathe.
Why aren’t either Gabi or Nick shooting her? What are they waiting for? She’s going to kill me…
I felt how the conscience slipped out of me, every second a little more. The world shrunk around me, the lights got dimmer, all the tall buildings fuzzier. Then, right as I felt I was about to faint, something inside of me screamed no. With what was left of my strength, I managed to pull myself together and threw her off me in one powerful swing. As her hands slid off my neck, I saw her fall backward against the railing, tripping so hard on something that she actually fell over the railing and off the rooftop.
I heard her scream as she fell and landed with a nasty smack against what could only be the track that ran around the entire building four floors below. Catching my breath still, I turned around and peeked down over the railing. And there she lay, immobile on the rusty red material that covered the running track club members used every day. Even from as far away as I was, I could tell that blood was spreading in several rivulets from her blond head, looking black in the dark of the night.
The next thing I knew two cops were beside me, grabbing hold of me.
“Are you okay?” one of them asked me, the other glancing down at Chrissy splayed on the track.
“Yes….” I mumbled, grasping my throat where Chrissy’s hands had been only seconds ago. It had all gone so fast, I wasn’t really sure what had just happened. Had I actually thrown Chrissy over the railing? It sure seemed liked it, unless she had thrown herself over it, which I doubted. Didn’t that make me a murderer? I buried my face in my hands as I considered this possibility. Was I a murderer?
I could feel arms grabbing me and pulling me away from the railing. I let them take me away and out from the rooftop and into some room that was one floor below. There, Chase was, red in the face with two big guys flanking him, holding onto him on either side.
He glared at them. “Okay, can you let me go now?”
They did and he rushed up to me and took me in his arms, holding me close.
“You did so good, Elle,” he whispered into my hair. “So good. Thank God. I wanted to come out there and help you, but the two gorillas over there wouldn’t let me.” He nodded with his head at the two men behind us and snorted, clearly pissed off. “But you took care of her all on your own.”
“Why… why did it take them so long to come?” I stuttered into his chest, still breathing shallowly. “Didn’t they hear that she was getting ready to attack me?”
“I think the idiots took the wrong staircase,” Chase huffed, shaking his head in disbelief. “I could hear them running up some stairs, then back down again and passing by outside this room before they apparently found the right one. I tried to leave as soon as you mentioned the laugh, but before I could get out of the room, those guys grabbed me and pinned me down and the other two cops left instead.” He clenched his teeth. “The ones holding me told me to calm down, because the others would get to you in a matter of seconds. But of course it took a lot longer than that. And they still wouldn’t let me go. I was going crazy I was so fucking pissed.”
He brought me closer. “Then I heard the scream and I was so scared that had been you. But fortunately the cops got to you at last and I could hear your voice, and I knew you were okay.”
My phone rang in my jacket pocket then. I let go of Chase to answer it.
“Hey Gabi,” I said into the phone.
“Thank God you got her off of you!” Gabi exclaimed, gasping into the phone. “Nick and I are on our way over. We�
��ll be there as soon as we can. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Then I just had to know. “Why didn’t you shoot her? At least try?”
“We did shoot. Maybe you didn’t hear it. We have silencers on our guns. But we did shoot. It was tough to get her because you guys were so closely ensnared all of a sudden. But I think Nick got her right as you pushed her off you. Or maybe right before.”
I pictured the moment when I’d managed to get her off me. Maybe it had been so easy because she’d already been shot. I had after all been very weak in that moment, so it had surprised me that I had succeeded.
“Are you with Chase?” Gabi asked.
“Yeah, he’s right here.” I felt his arm around my shoulders then. I turned to him and smiled.
“That’s good,” Gabi replied. “Don’t go anywhere. Nick and I are about to enter the health club. We’ll be there in just a couple of minutes.”
“No worries. I’m not going anywhere.” Then I hung up.
Even if I had wanted to go somewhere, I wouldn’t have been able to, because in that instant my knees weakened, and I would have crashed to the floor if Chase hadn’t grabbed hold of me.
I let him lift me up and put me in a cushioned chair right outside the room. Then I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chase was cupping my face and gazing into my eyes for the longest time before he finally leaned in to meet my lips with his. Softly, softly, he landed feathery kisses on my mouth, my cheek, my jaw, along my neck until he reached my collarbone. Looking into my eyes again, he pulled down the part of my tank top that went over my shoulders, then continued trailing my skin with those same light kinds of kisses. He covered my shoulder with them, then came down toward my breasts that he removed from their bra cups. Weighing them in his hands, he showered them with kisses as well.