by Clare Kauter
“Have you heard from your brother lately?”
I took a deep breath to calm down before responding. “I have not. How about you?”
“No, no,” he said. “Not yet, at least. But I’m closing in on him.”
“Wow, and so quickly too,” I said dryly. “How long has it been? Gosh, it must be, what, six years? Obviously nothing gets past you.”
“I want to talk to you, Charlotte.”
“I was under the impression that that was what we’re currently doing.”
“Down at the station,” he said.
I sighed. “Ah, well, in that case I’m afraid you’ll have to talk to my lawyer.”
“Hiding behind Adam Baxter, are we?” Harcourt replied, his voice low. “I’m disappointed, Charlotte. There was a time you’d fight your own fights.”
“Have you arrested that person who ran me over yet?”
He paused before saying, “These things are complicated.”
“I’m sure things are getting very complicated for you, Harcourt. Never mind. Evil people always get what’s coming to them.”
With that, I hung up the phone and tried to calm my breathing. My hands shook as I called Adam. He answered on the second ring.
“Harcourt just called me.”
“Did you hang up?”
I hesitated. “Yes.”
“Why did you pause before answering that question?”
Chewing my lip, I admitted, “I may not have hung up straight away.”
“You shouldn’t talk to him without me, Charlie. He’s going to try to trip you up.”
“I know that,” I said.
“Then why did you answer?”
“The number was blocked,” I said. “I didn’t know who was calling.”
“As long as Harcourt’s trying to contact you, you shouldn’t answer your phone unless you know who’s on the other end,” he said. “If it’s someone you know, their number will show up. Otherwise just ignore it.”
“But what if it’s...” Topher? “... someone important?”
“Then they’ll figure out another way to contact you.”
I took a deep breath and on an exhale replied, “Yeah, OK.”
“It’s going to be alright, Charmander,” Adam said gently. “I know it seems shitty now, but we’ll figure it out.”
“Thanks, Adam.” I sighed. “I guess I’d better get back to my singing lesson.”
I thought I heard a snicker on the other end of the phone, but when he spoke, his voice was even. “What are you learning?”
“Santa Baby.”
Yep. Definitely heard a laugh that time.
“I’m not here by choice!” I said. “My friends dragged me along.”
“I’m sure they did.”
“They did!” I said. “And I’m the only one that seems to realise I can’t sing. Everyone else is getting super into it and doing inappropriately sexual dance moves.”
“Are they planning on taking their act door to door?”
My eyes widened in horror. “Dear lord, I hope not.”
He laughed softly. “You’d better get back to it.”
I groaned. “This is going to be the worst Christmas ever. Santa’s been arrested, I’m being harassed by the police and my friends are for some reason convinced that they’re talented. Oh, and my brother is still missing.”
“You should probably talk to your boyfriend about it.”
I gritted my teeth and narrowed my eyes. “Is that your not so subtle way of telling me that you’re sick of hearing my shit?”
“Yep,” he said. “If you want emotional support, you should try talking to someone with emotions.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m rolling my eyes at you, just so you know.”
“Thanks for telling me.”
“I didn’t want the effort to be wasted.”
“Makes total sense.”
“Also, don’t lie. You totally have emotions.” I was at least 75% sure of that fact.
“Sure I do,” he said. “Good night, Charlie.”
As I slipped my phone back into my pocket, I thought about what Adam had said – that I should be talking to James about all this. He’d sent me couple of texts over the course of the day, but I hadn’t replied. I was still annoyed at him for... I don’t know. Being a cop, I guess. For maybe lying to me. For my life not being perfect.
Realising how ridiculous I was being, I took my phone back out of my pocket and sent him a message to explain what had happened today – one Santa collapsing and another getting arrested, even though I thought he was innocent. My phone buzzed with a response.
Yeah, I met that Santa when they brought him in. He was so nice! What are you up to now?
I wrote back.
Tonight’s class is carol singing at the community college. Judging by the teacher’s face I think our group is the worst group she’s ever taught.
The reply came through a second later.
Want me to come and pick you up?
Biting my lip, I thought for a moment. Since there were so many of us, we hadn’t taken the Mustang tonight. We’d all piled into Jo’s minivan. That meant that I wouldn’t have to drive anyone home, and I wouldn’t have to pick up my car tomorrow if James came and got me now. My friends would be seriously unimpressed, but my quality of life would be vastly improved.
Yes, but hurry! I shot back. Before they realise I’m gone.
On my way.
CHAPTER TWELVE
James must have been close by, because he arrived about five minutes later. I hurried over to his black Ferrari, which was a few years old now and very ostentatious, but kind of cool. James opened the door for me from the inside (I still hadn’t quite figured out how to work the handles) and as I was stepping inside I heard a voice from behind call, “And where do you think you’re going?”
James and I made eye contact and grimaced. I stood slowly and turned around. All my friends were standing there, hands on hips, glaring at me. I had the sudden urge to put my hands up and plead with them not to shoot. I heard James get out of the car.
“Nowhere,” I lied.
“You’d been gone for so long we thought you’d been kidnapped!” said Stacey.
I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t gone that long,” I said.
“She’s not joking,” said C. “We literally thought you’d been kidnapped. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“I called her,” said James. “I need her help with a case.”
“What case?” asked C, eyes narrowed.
“The Santa Claus flasher,” I said.
“We have a guy in custody, but I don’t think he’s the right man,” James added. “Charlie was on the case, so I thought I should probably talk to her about it.”
C crossed her arms. She wasn’t believing any of it – obviously. She knew better. Jo looked equally as suspicious. Stacey was pouting, disappointed that I was ditching the party. Lea was biting back a smile. Gina looked like she couldn’t care less if I was there or not; she just wanted to get back inside where it was air-conditioned.
“But it’s a girls’ night,” said Stacey, sounding like she might cry.
“A man has been wrongfully imprisoned, Stace,” I said. “He needs my help.”
“But you’re going to miss the movie,” she said.
Ah, yes. What a disaster. I was going to miss tonight’s one-star movie.
I shrugged. “Sorry, Stace.”
Jo and C were still glaring at us.
“Are you sure you don’t have something else you want to tell us, Charlie?” C asked pointedly. I gulped. Surely she wouldn’t out us like this...
“Come on,” said Lea. “They have to go. Let’s get back inside so we don’t miss any more of the lesson.”
I don’t know if she was doing it to help me out or if she just really wanted to get back to singing, but either way she was helping.
“Fine,” said C. “Go.”
I could tell that she was hoping I’d say som
ething about me and James, but I wasn’t even close to ready for that conversation yet. That required serious planning. Also strong sedatives. And maybe body restraints. (Hey, it’s good to be cautious.)
“It was nice to see you all,” said James, causing Lea, Stacey and Jo to start giggling in a way that was kind of embarrassing for everyone present.
“OK, bye!” I said.
The others went back inside while I slipped into the car, relieved that I’d managed to escape but still kind of nervous to speak to James. I rolled my eyes internally at myself (which is a lot like not rolling your eyes at all, but kind of just thinking about it) for acting like a child. Come on, Charlie. You’re not a teenager anymore. Use your words.
“Harcourt called me before,” I said.
James frowned. “Did you talk to him?”
“Not for long,” I said. I was going to continue speaking, but I hesitated.
“What’s wrong?” James asked, noticing that I was struggling to choose my words.
“Adam – Adam says I shouldn’t talk to Harcourt without him around.”
James nodded. “Yeah, he’s right. I was going to suggest that, actually.”
I frowned, giving James a look of total disbelief.
“What?” he asked, catching the look.
“You didn’t say that when we talked yesterday,” I said. “You said he just wanted to ask questions about Topher. I was under the impression that you thought it wasn’t a big deal.”
“I don’t know if it’s a big deal. I doubt you’ll need a lawyer present, but it’s good to be cautious,” he said. “But don’t tell anyone at the station I said that. Police officers tend not to be big fans of lawyers.”
I nodded slowly. “So Harcourt hasn’t asked you any more about Topher?”
“Not yet,” said James. “I still don’t know why he’s reopening the case. Maybe he doesn’t want me to know for whatever reason.”
“James?”
“Yeah?”
“Why haven’t you asked me if I know anything about Topher?”
He smiled. “Because I know you don’t know where he is.”
“How do you know that?” I said. “I could keep a secret.”
James smirked. “If you knew where he was, you’d have dragged him back here by the ear and made him face up to his issues.”
I chewed my inner cheek. “I don’t suppose you have any idea what those issues might be?”
James sighed. “No, Charlie. He didn’t pass that information on to me before he left. As you well know.”
“I know,” I said. “I just always hope you’ll remember something you’ve forgotten to tell me.”
By this time we were back on Madison Hill.
“Charlie, everything’s going to be OK. I promise. I won’t let anything happen to your brother,” said James. I gave him a small smile in response as I studied his face. There weren’t any tells as he said it, and I found myself believing him. “Do you want me to drop you at your house?”
I was tempted to ask to stay over at his place, but I decided against it. Sure, if I went home my friends would probably force me to watch a crappy Christmas movie with them, but staying with James didn’t seem like a great idea either. How would I explain that to my housemates? Plus I didn’t want Harcourt to somehow find out and stop trusting James. And there was a part of me that wasn’t sure I trusted James, either. I was briefly grateful for Stacey’s crazy social schedule keeping me and James apart. We hadn’t had a chance to spend all that much time together, which made it a lot easier to feel kind of OK about not trusting him.
Alright, that was a lie. It still felt crappy. But it could have felt a lot worse.
“Yeah,” I said. “Just drop me at my house.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The next morning I woke up with a crick in my neck and a pig snoring away beside me. I picked my phone up off the bedside table and checked the time. It was eight o’clock! My god, I hadn’t slept in this late since... well, forever. Adam had let me have these two days off in lieu of my weekend, and even though I’d told him I wanted to work, he clearly hadn’t sent anyone around to pick me up for training. I knew it – he did have emotions hidden deep down.
I slipped out of bed as gently as I could so as not to wake Arnold, who was drooling on the other pillow. What was I going to do today? I needed to help Bob to take my mind off Topher and Harcourt. But I’d hit a wall yesterday afternoon and now I wasn’t sure how to proceed. I wanted to talk to Bob and let him know that he had someone on his side. The trouble was that as far as I knew, he was still locked up at the police station, and if I wanted to go there I would run a high risk of bumping into Harcourt.
What should I do? Maybe I’d try calling James and see if he could think of a way to get me in. After I got dressed (in a white dress and sandals), I decided to dial his number, but he didn’t answer. I guess that would make sense if he was at work. I made my way to the kitchen and cooked myself some toast, still mulling everything over in my mind. How likely was it that I’d run into Harcourt at the station, really? Lea and I had stolen evidence from another detective once (for a good cause, I promise) and Harcourt hadn’t seen me then. He was hardly likely to be hanging out near the cells. He’d be upstairs in his office if he was there at all. I took a bite of my peanut butter toast and made my decision: I was going to visit Bob.
Once I finished eating, I headed to the garage to pick up my car. Arnold was still asleep upstairs so I decided to leave her at home today. Besides, sometimes people were weird about you taking animals into places and I didn’t know what the police policy on pigs was. I snorted with laughter at that thought. Of course pigs would be allowed in the police station – what was I thinking? Nonetheless, I let Arnold rest.
As I drove down to the police station, it occurred to me that Bob might already have been bailed out. I decided that I’d double-check at the front desk and if he wasn’t there anymore I’d visit him at home. I parked a little way down the street from the station, not wanting to run the risk of Harcourt seeing my car out the front in case he came looking for me. I made my way to the front desk and told the guy standing there that I was hoping to visit Santa. He checked that Bob was still in lock-up and then asked me to take a seat while he called someone to come and escort me to the cells.
A few minutes later, an officer appeared. Perfect! It was Joe Winton. He was friends with James (and, back in the day, my brother), plus he was dating my housemate Lea. While he thought my paranoia about Harcourt was unfounded, he still knew to keep him away from me. I couldn’t have hoped for a better result.
“Hey,” I said in greeting.
“Hey,” he said, but he didn’t smile. “Um, are you sure it’s a good idea coming here? I mean, unless you’re here to talk to Harcourt –”
“I just want to visit Bob and get out of here as quickly as possible,” I said. “Harcourt doesn’t even need to know that I’ve been.”
Joe nodded. “OK. But if he sees you, he’s going to insist that you answer his questions.”
A thought occurred to me. “I don’t suppose you know why he’s so desperate to talk to me?” I asked. Joe had been friends with my brother, but maybe Harcourt didn’t know that. There was a chance Harcourt might have told him something.
Joe shook his head. “He’s reopening Topher’s missing persons case, but as far as I know he hasn’t told anyone why,” he replied. “Not that he would tell me – I’m a uniformed cop, not a detective or anything. It’s not really my area.”
I nodded, a little disappointed. Why didn’t anyone seem to know anything?
Joe led me through the station to the desk by the cells where he had me sign in before I was allowed to go in to visit Bob. Once the admin was complete, I walked down the corridor and stopped outside Bob’s cell. It was a small room with bars at the front. Bob sat on a small bed in the corner, staring at the wall opposite him.
“Hey, Bob,” I said, snapping him out of his reverie.
H
e turned to look at me and raised his eyebrows, surprised. “Charlie, what are you doing here?”
“I came to visit,” I said. “I know you’re not the flasher.”
He smiled sadly. “Thank you, Charlie. Unfortunately no one else seems to agree with you.”
“I know, but don’t worry – I’ll get you out of here,” I said. “I have a photo of the real flasher. I’ll find out who it is and clear your name. You’ll be out of here by Christmas.”
“Thank you, Charlie,” he said. “I appreciate the effort.”
“I’m a little surprised that they’re keeping you in here, to be honest. Surely you should be out on bail.”
“I’m afraid I don’t have the money required to post bail, and even if I did I don’t have anyone who could act as surety.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?” I asked. “You’re such a lovely man. I’m sure there are hundreds of people who would be willing to go surety for you.”
“You’re very kind, Charlie.”
“I would do it myself, but the police chief guy here isn’t much of a fan of me. I’m sure he would do everything he could to stop me.”
Bob shook his head. “I couldn’t possibly let you do that, even if it were an option. No, I’ll just place my faith in the legal system to find the person who is truly guilty.”
“God, I hope the situation isn’t that dire,” I said, scowling. “The legal system really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
Bob smiled. “Everything will work out in the end.”
“I know it will,” I said. “I’ll make sure of it. But trust me, it’s not going to have anything to do with the police. Now, can you think of anyone who might have tried to set you up?”
Bob frowned. “Oh, no. I’m sure it’s nothing like that. Probably just some free-spirited prankster. I’m sure he didn’t mean to cause any harm.”
I sighed. “Bob, you’re so naïve. Are you sure you can’t think of anyone who would have something against you?”
He thought for a moment. “Well...”
“Yes?” I said eagerly.