by Adams,Claire
Adam pushed the “End” button with his chin and then looked at them all and said, “Help is on the way, guys, hang tight.”
The police and an ambulance showed up within twenty minutes after Adam had spoken with Kyla. I heard a man’s voice outside say, “This guy needs medical,” and suddenly remembered the limo driver. He must have been who we had heard scream. I hoped he was alright.
Two uniformed officers came inside first. They had their guns drawn and did a search of the house before removing the tape from me and the others. As soon as they had gotten Alex freed, he grabbed his cell phone out of the drawer under the kitchen counter.
“Sir, no phone calls yet. We need to talk about what happened here first.”
Adam gave Alex a questioning look. Who would he be calling at a time like this?
Alex looked reluctant but he sat back down and as if suddenly remembering what had happened, he said, “Mom Dad, are you guys okay?”
His mother simply nodded, and his father looked angry again and said, “Fine, glad you held off on your call long enough to ask.” By that time, detectives were on the scene. The lead detective, a man named Jeffrey Stout asked whose house it was and Alex told him it was his. He then asked what had happened tonight, and Alex described the past forty-five minutes or so to him.
The detective took the names and relationships of everyone in the room, and then asked,
“Did any of you recognize anything about either of these men?”
We all said that wet did not.
“Mr. Fritz, do you have any idea what they were looking for?”
Alex ran his hands across his face and through his hair before saying, “I am the East Coast campaign manager for the President. I don’t know if they thought there would be money, or campaign information here…there’s not. I don’t keep anything like that here. It’s all strictly confidential and it is kept at campaign headquarters.”
“Hmm,” the detective said, as he made a note on his pad. “You don’t seem to have very good security here for a man who is so important.”
Alex looked like he was getting frustrated with the detective. He stood up and said, “I just told you, I don’t keep anything confidential here. I don’t have money here. I don’t even own a safe. I didn’t think I needed more security than I have.”
“Sir, please sit down,” the detective asked him. Alex wasn’t used to having people tell him what to do anymore, but in this case, he did as he was told.
“Mr. Hanson, I recall that recently your ex-wife was murdered in an apparent robbery. Do you think there may be any relation here?”
Adam shook his head slowly and said, “None that I can think of. They arrested Miles Brigham IV for Marjorie’s murder. I obviously don’t believe he’s guilty, since my firm is handling his case. The problem there is that I don’t know who killed Marjorie, or why, so I couldn’t really say if this was related or not.”
The detective made another note and then said, “Ms. Winston, you’re from the UK?”
Alicia told him she was and he said, “You can’t think of anything at all that was familiar about these men?”
“No, they had on masks, their builds were both very large, and I don’t even know anyone that big. Their hair was covered and they never spoke.”
“Yes, that’s what makes me think maybe one of you knew them. They didn’t want their voices, or their accents to be recognized.”
“Their accents?” Alicia asked,
“Yes, the man outside, Frank, the limo driver, heard them speak when they thought he was unconscious. He said they spoke with British accents.”
“I really didn’t recognize them...” Alicia began.
“I believe you,” the detective told her, “just heard your accent and thought, maybe… Anyways, I’d like to get each of your statements individually. The EMTs are going to take Mr. Fritz to Mercy and have him checked out. Mrs. Fritz, you are welcome to go with him if you like, I’ll check in with the two of you later.”
Mrs. Fritz already had her coat on and her purse in her hand. The EMTs had put Mr. Fritz on a gurney, despite his protests. She thanked the detective and followed them as they took him out the door. The detective looked at Alex and said,
“Mr. Fritz, before we begin the interviews let’s take a walk through the house. You can tell me if it looks like anything is missing.”
Alex reluctantly followed the detective out of the room. Adam put his arm around me and pulled me in close, kissing my temple. "You okay?”
I turned towards him where his arms could envelop me “I’m fine, just wish things like this would stop happening to us.”
He kissed me on top of the head and said, “Me, too, baby.”
Alex and the detective were gone about half an hour. Adam made coffee, and he and I were at the table sipping a cup when they came back in the room. Alex looked more agitated than he had before. The detective asked which of them wanted to go first, and I volunteered, hoping it would give Adam a chance to talk to him.
CHAPTER TEN
ADAM
When Alicia and the detective had stepped out, I asked, “Was anything taken?”
Alex looked beat. His eyes were rimmed in red and he had run his fingers through his hair so many times it was sticking up on top and out on the sides. He looked at me and said,
“Some files from the cabinet in my study. It was nothing important. I don’t think they even looked at them. Just grabbed ‘em.”
“Why don’t you sit, Alex? You look like you’re about to fall down.”
Alex nodded, and I thought he was about to sit down,
“Let me get you a cup of coffee,” I said, before realizing that instead of sitting Alex was headed back to the counter between the dining room and kitchen to grab his cell phone. “Who the hell do you need to call so badly?” I asked him.
“I need to make sure my people know what happened before the press gets a hold of this. We need to prepare a statement. Reassure everyone that nothing pertaining to the campaign, or donators was taken.”
“I think your parents are right, you do need a vacation. You should see yourself right now,” I told him.
Alex seemed to not hear me. He dialed the phone and stepped into the other room as I was still talking. I stood up and walked nearer to the partition that separated the two rooms. I could hear Alex talking, but couldn’t quite make out what he was saying. I stepped closer, and suddenly Alex pulled open the swinging door and said,
“What are you doing?”
I decided not to even try lying. I was tired of this entire mess and just wanted some answers. “I want to know what’s going on, Alex. I want to know what you’ve gotten yourself involved in.”
Alex didn’t say anything for a few moments, and I thought he wasn’t going to answer. Finally, he said, “Okay, but not here. After the police leave, I’ll meet you somewhere and we’ll talk. I’ve needed someone to talk to for a while now. Please, though, don’t say anything else until they’re gone.”
The detective that brought Alicia back was just leaving the room so I only nodded at him. He turned to me and said, “You still okay?” She smiled at him and nodded.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ALICIA
Adam left to go with the detective for his interview. Alex went back into the kitchen with his phone and left me alone in the dining room. I picked up my phone and saw there was a text message. It was from David. He said he was nearby, but as long as we were okay, he didn’t want to come in and blow his cover. I texted him back and said we were okay. I asked if he knew what was going on. His next text said,
“Yes. Have the two men in custody, we will talk tomorrow.”
The detectives at last told Adam and me that we could go home. Alex was planning to go to Mercy hospital to check on his parents. Adam offered to go with him. Alex hesitated, and then accepted Adam’s offer. Undoubtedly, it would give them a chance to talk. I was okay with driving myself home, but Adam didn’t like the idea. We were all still
shaken up by what had happened tonight, and he didn’t want me to be alone. He called Kyla, and while we were waiting for the contractor that Alex must have paid a fortune to come out so late at night to hang a new door, she arrived to take me home.
CHAPTER TWELVE
ADAM
When the new door was finished, Alex and I headed to the hospital. I drove, as I was becoming more concerned about Alex’s state of mind by the minute. I wasn’t sure if it was Alex’s anxiety about how his parents were doing, his anger about his home being violated, or what he had said earlier about needing to talk, but it was blatantly obvious that he had something heavy weighing on his mind.
We drove silently for the first few miles, and then Alex broke the silence at last by saying,
“I hope we can still be friends, after I tell you what I have to say.”
I glanced sideways at my friend. I felt only pity for him right now, but I knew it was due to the situation, and soon the anger at what Alex had been involved in would return. I only gave a slight nod of my head and waited for him to go on.
“I’ve got myself in over my head, Adam. I don’t know what to do. This all started out to be my dream. The job I always wanted, and I knew I would be good at it…I am good at it, when I’m left alone and allowed to do it,” he sighed heavily and raked his hand through his hair and down across his face again. “But, there’s too much money involved, too much power at stake, people just can’t leave it alone.”
“What people?” I asked as we merged into the swarm of traffic waiting to pay their toll to cross the bridge that led back into the city.
“People like Brigham who wanted to control me because he felt like I owed him something for installing me in this position and others, bad people. These aren’t people you mess with, Adam. I mean, my career is not all that is at stake here. They are coming after my family now.”
“Alex, You’re not making a lot of sense.”
He sighed again, “I know, I just don’t know where to start. The jest of it is this…I was placed in my position by Brigham, to control the funds that were coming in to the campaign and make sure that the people who were elected would be ‘sympathetic’ to his cause. That is, look the other way when it came to his shoddy practices in the Gulf, and stand up to the EPA when they started breathing down his neck.
“It sounds a little shady, I know, but I looked at it as an opportunity to do enough good that it would overshadow the other things I was doing. The President is a good man. He hasn’t been in office long enough to do all of the good that I know he can do. I thought that I was doing some of what it would take to allow him to fulfill the promises he had made to the American people in the future. I did my job well, and I was doing such a good job, that money literally started pouring in. That kind of money began to attract the attention of other people.”
He got quiet again as we made the turn into the hospital parking lot. I found a space and turned off the ignition. I looked at Alex and said,
“Who were these other people?”
“First, I met a man named Johnston at one of the fundraisers. He said his boss owned a large textile company in the UK and was planning on moving it into the States. He said they wanted to support American politics in an effort to ease their transition. Again, not exactly the most honorable motives or intentions, but I told myself that as long as the money was coming in, the President could get re-elected and that was the end goal, right?” He didn’t wait for an answer, I knew the question had been rhetorical.
Alex continued, “Their money started pouring in, and at first it was all good. Then, I met the man at the top, Mr. Grant. He’s a refined, smooth-talking, mean son-of-a-bitch. He told me, in the politest way possible, that he had arranged for Vick to be killed. He said he was going to make sure that Miles Brigham IV was found to be responsible for it, and he said I was going to make sure that the money he had put into the campaign stayed liquid enough to be moved around. He introduced me to his son, Jack. Jack became my main contact after that and let me tell you Adam, Alicia is lucky to be rid of that snake.”
“So,” I said, still trying to grasp all of what Alex was telling me. “The point of killing Vick was to frame Miles?”
“I guess,” Alex said, sounding wearier than ever. “You see, Grant had approached Vick before he and Miles had their falling out. Miles told Vick to blow him off. Brigham runs his own shady deals, but he knew these guys were going to be trouble of the very worst kind, and he told Vick so. Vick said thanks but no thanks and went on with his life. Problem was, when Miles found out that Vick was sleeping with his daughter’s boyfriend, he wasn’t willing to stand behind him any longer. This gave Grant the opportunity he needed to get rid of both Vick and Miles. Kill Vick and his boyfriend, and frame Brigham. Unfortunately, the boyfriend got away, and no one has been able to get to him. He’s surrounded by Feds and Grant’s people want no part of that. They didn’t see him as a big enough player to worry about, anyways.”
Alex took another break. He started to open the car door to get out, but I stopped him by saying, “What about Marjorie? What did she do to get involved in this mess?”
Alex looked surprised, and by the look on his face I thought he was going to deny knowing anything about that. Instead, his denial seemed to turn into resignation and he said,
“They went there looking for you. I swear, Adam, I didn’t know about it beforehand or I would have stopped them somehow. Jack is obsessed with Alicia, Adam. You have to keep him away from her. I was there when he heard the news about Marjorie. He was livid. He said the fools were supposed to have ‘gotten rid of the buffoon who thinks he’s going to marry his girl’. They were supposed to have gone in and made it look like a robbery. Kill you, and leave Alicia grieving. Jack believed that would be enough to push her right back into his arms.
“Instead, they found Marjorie alone. She was never one to do things the easy way; I don’t have to tell you that. They said she gave them hell, scratching and clawing at them like a wild-cat. She wouldn’t shut-up and the men, afraid someone would come up to the apartment to find out what was happening, had killed her. They tried to make it look like a suicide, but she had fought them too hard, and the murder was apparent. They weren’t worried, though. They knew you would be the primary suspect, and Jack paid that journalist, Rose Dugan, a pretty penny to skew everything she wrote against you. He even fed her information that he had gotten from a bug he’d planted in your offices.”
I was trying to process all of this information. The attorney part of me was already going over in my head what kind of charges Alex was apt to face over all of this. I had one more question,
“Was that all the break-in was for at the office? Just to plant the bugs?”
“Partly, but remember, they still wanted to ruin Brigham, as well. Stealing his files was all part of their end game. They took the others, just to try and make it all look random.”
“And what about tonight? The detective said the driver heard their accents, and they were English. Was that Grant?”
“Tonight was about making me pay for trying to stand up to them. I tried to tell them I didn’t want to be a part of this anymore. They didn’t take it too well. This was why I didn’t want my parents staying at the house. I was afraid they would try to get to them when I wasn’t at home. I should have done more to protect them.”
Alex opened the door the rest of the way then and said, “I don’t know what you’ll do with all of this information, but I know that you’re too honest of a guy to let it go. I’m okay with that. I’m tired. I want it all to be over. Right now, though, I need to see my parents and make sure they’re okay. I’ll be expecting the authorities when I get home.”
He stepped out of the car and without allowing me to say anything else he closed the door and headed up the walk towards the front entrance. I watched him go, all the while trying to figure out in my head what kind of deal I would ask for after Alex agreed to testify against all of these people and I became
his attorney.
I drove back to the city, home to Alicia. Tonight, I just wanted to lie in her arms and think only about her and how happy she makes me. Tomorrow with a clear head, I would think over all of what Alex had told me before calling David.
I wanted to offer my services to Alex, and convince him to tell David what he had told me tonight himself. I was still angry at my friend for allowing himself to become involved with these people, but I could see the anguish in his eyes and hear it in his voice.
Alex was in over his head. He wasn’t a murderer. He wasn’t a bad guy. He had gotten drunk on power and allowed it all to go to his head and cloud his judgment. I would have to give some thought to the bad press that representing the man who had been somewhat involved in the murder of my ex-wife, but I honestly believed that deep inside Alex was still the person I had grown so close to over the years. He was the friend that had stood up for me at my first wedding, and sat up with me at night through the bad times with Marjorie.
I would have to convince everyone else that the true bad guys here were the ones who would kill a man, and frame someone else for it, and kill a woman who just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time.
I thought about how glad I was for Alicia’s good judgment in not waiting to talk to Kyla about Jack; he was a lot more dangerous than either of us had thought. Alicia had been getting a bad feeling from him from the start, but I had mostly written my dislike of the man off to simple jealousy. I hadn’t wanted this man who was so obviously still in love with my fiancé to keep popping up in our lives. I shuddered when I thought about how many times Alicia had been alone with the man. I pressed harder on the accelerator, aching to get back and hold her in my arms.
Kyla had gone home by the time I got there, but Alicia was waiting up for me. She could see in my eyes and the sag of my shoulders how tired I was. She didn’t ask me to talk about it. She simply took me by the hand and led me to bed. After helping me strip out of my clothes she curled her soft, warm body up next to mine and just let me hold her.