Room Service

by Chance Carter

  “I need to see my brother. Now.”

  The desk clerk reached for her phone. “I'll have to call through to Chief Cartright and make sure he agrees.”

  “Forget it.”

  Jenny pulled the strap of her purse higher onto her shoulder.

  “I'll go speak to him myself.”

  The desk clerk looked nervous. It was clear she didn't like protocol to be broken.

  “But you can’t,” she said coming out from behind the desk. “That's not how we do it here.”

  “It's how I’m doing it,” Jenny told her as she strode down the hallway.

  The desk clerk hurried along at Jenny’s heels.

  “If you think acting like this is how you are going to get your way, you are sadly mistaken. The Chief won’t stand for it. He will send you away without a second thought.”

  The door to his office was closed, but Jenny knew Chief Cartright had to be in there. The desk clerk would have sent her away and told her he wasn't in if he weren’t there. She knocked once and then a second time a moment later. Not wasting any time, she turned the handle and pushed the office door open.

  Chief Cartright was cleaning his service weapon when she entered. He dropped the gun in surprise. Luckily it was neither loaded nor in one piece or her entrance could have caused quite a tragic chain of events. He pushed it aside on the desk as he stood. Judging by his face, he did not liked to be interrupted and especially not by Jenny Dale.

  “What’s the meaning of this?” he roared at the clerk. “We have an intercom system for a reason at this station. Visitors can't just walk around here doing what they damn well please!”

  “That's what I told her, Chief,” his employee replied nervously, “but she demanded to see Joey Dale, and she wouldn't wait for me to page you.”

  “That's enough.”

  Chief Cartright waved her away with the back of his hand.

  “Go back to your desk and get back to work. I'll take care of Miss Dale.”

  Jenny glanced back to see the desk clerk nodding vigorously. Her face was white. She closed the door and left them alone together. Jenny could hear heels scurrying off down the hall.

  “You've got some nerve, girl.”

  Chief Cartright didn't sit back down. Instead, his steely blue eyes stared menacingly across the desk at her.

  “You think this place is your own personal playground? In my police station, you respect my rules. You don’t just walk here unannounced.”

  “I want to see my brother.”

  “Why?”

  Chief Cartright's lips tightened, his eyes squinting.

  “I heard he is being transferred.”

  His smile widened and she wanted to punch him in his idiot face. Just like Joey had done, she thought.

  For the first time in her life, she realized she was proud of her younger brother. The bruise around Chief Cartright's right eye had faded, but it was still visible.

  “I wanted to come and see him before you smuggled him away to another facility.”

  “I'm not smuggling your brother away. He committed a crime. He has been arrested, and now he is awaiting trial. Our courthouse here is too small, so he has to go to the next town, one with a suitable facility.”

  His smile didn’t fade as he spoke.

  “It’s procedure, I assure you. It is all above board.”

  Jenny laughed.

  “Since when has your police work ever been above board?”

  Chief Cartright's smile disappeared.

  “Is that what you think, Miss Dale? Do you have some kind of complaint to file in regards to my police work?”

  “I'm not here to discuss your shortcomings.”

  “You're just here to see your younger brother.”

  He nodded. It was clear to her that he was enjoying sparring with her.

  “To say goodbye, or to talk about his shortcomings.”

  At least he has never killed anyone, she wanted to say.

  “I'm sure you are far too busy to stay here chatting with me.” Jenny smiled sweetly. “So why don't you just get that nice woman out there to fetch the key to the holding cell and I will get out of your hair.”

  For a second, Jenny thought he would deny her request. He had the power to do so, after all. He could even have her forcibly removed from the police station if he really wanted to.

  Instead, he reached for his desk phone and paged through to the clerk.

  “Miss. Dale will be going through to see the prisoner. Make sure she’s in there no longer than a half hour.”

  He placed the phone down forcibly in its cradle before he looked back up at Jenny.

  “Will that be sufficient, Miss Dale? No one likes a long goodbye.”

  Jenny didn't give him the benefit of a response. She turned for the door went back out into the hallway where the desk clerk would surely be waiting.

  “Oh, by the way,” Chief Cartright's called out behind her, “I hope you didn't upset Lawrence too much when you went by the shop earlier. He is rather a sensitive man. Likes to keep to himself, you know.”

  He was smirking when she glanced back at his face.

  He was baiting her, and appeared to be waiting for another fight. He truly was making her uncomfortable, even though she fought to remain strong. She felt concern for Lawrence. They had visited him at closing time with the hope that they wouldn't be spotted. It seemed as if their best efforts had been for nothing. Chief Cartright had either seen them or been alerted by someone else.

  “I don't know what you are talking about,” Jenny told him calmly. “We were there for a bottle of wine. Roy said Lawrence knew a good brand he thought I might like to try and was kind enough to let us in after hours to sample a glass. I hope that doesn't get him into any trouble, Chief.”

  “What wine was that?” Chief Cartright asked.

  “You might not know the brand since it's only sold in major cities. It's called Rosaceae. Comes in a neat, blue bottle.”

  Jenny didn't give him a chance to respond as she closed the door firmly behind her. She knew her words had made an impact, even if she had not been there to witness it.

  * * *

  When Roy arrived back at the house with Isabelle and the dog in tow he found the cabin surprisingly empty.

  It was Isabelle who found the note on the kitchen table and handed it to him. For one horrible moment, he had wondered if she had simply taken off for New York. He cursed himself for being so distrustful. He didn't want to doubt Jenny. He wanted to trust her completely. In the space of a few days, she had become everything that mattered to him.

  He didn't like that she had thought to go to the police station without him. Chief Cartright clearly had it out for them, and it didn't seem right to send her into the lion's cage alone. They had planned on placing the call to the police commissioner as soon as he returned home. Now it looked like that would be delayed once again.

  The note didn't state when she had left the cabin, so he had no clear idea of when she would return. He debated driving out to the station and to join her but he couldn't leave Isabelle. Jenny had already told him the dog had proven useless as a guard when the stranger had been creeping around outside. He slept right through it, in fact, more concerned with staying close to the girl than he was with keeping intruders at bay.

  Roy sent Isabelle and her friend out onto the beach to play while he attempted to get his thoughts in order. He couldn't shake the idea that Jenny may be putting herself in danger. After all, Chief Cartright had to know by now that they were building a case against him. Roy had even come to the conclusion during the drive home that it had been the police chief he had chased through the woods the other night. He imagined Cartright had realized where he had dropped his badge and went back to retrieve it, only to find Roy had got there first.

  Roy had originally left the badge locked away in a dresser drawer, but in the past two days, he had taken to carrying it around with him in the pocket of his windbreaker. He didn’t want Chief Cartr
ight to break into his place in search of the badge. He had already done enough damage when he ransacked his truck. Roy had taped a piece of cardboard across the window until he could find the time to drive it down to the garage at the bottom of the hill and have the glass replaced.

  He stood up from the kitchen table and looked out the window. He was hoping he would see Jenny's coming down the lane, but all was quiet.

  He hoped she knew what she was doing.

  Chapter 29

  Jenny followed the desk clerk down to the holding cells.

  Having been reprimanded by her boss, the clerk was reluctant to give Jenny her usual attitude. Instead, the walk was in silence. Jenny didn't mind. It gave her time to get her thoughts in order. She had, after all, only a half hour in which to tell Joey everything that had happened over the past couple of days.

  She waited impatiently as the desk clerk unlocked the door and pulled it open. The clerk waved her inside and closed the door firmly behind her.

  Joey stood up from his bunk when she entered. He looked surprised to see her there again but smiled. It was a welcome change from the distrust she had seen on his face at their last visit.

  “You're back.”

  He stepped up to the bars.

  “I'm being moved in two days, Jenny. Chief Cartright wants to transfer me out to the medium security prison in the next town.”

  He looked worried, and Jenny's heart went out to him. If she could have dragged him from this mess right this instant, she would have, but it would all be over soon, and he would once again be a free man.

  “I don't think that's going to happen,” she told him. “I'm calling the police commissioner.”

  “What?” Joey was wide-eyed as he looked through the bars at her. “Jenny, you don't understand. He's going to want solid evidence. He won't leave his office for less.”

  “But we do have solid evidence, Joey.”

  She reached through the space between the bars and squeezed his shoulder.

  “You're going to be out of there soon, little brother. Just hold on a little while longer.”

  Joey still didn't look entirely convinced by her claims.

  “What evidence? What do you have?” he asked.

  “Roy went back to your house.”

  “I thought you said it had been damaged in the fire.”

  “Only the ground floor. Fire Chief Miller gave him the key so he could go in and do a little investigating of his own.”

  “Isn't that illegal?” he cut in suddenly. “They could get in big trouble for doing an unauthorized search like that.”

  She waved off his question.

  “I'll get back to that.”

  She continued on with her story.

  “Roy searched your bedroom to see if there was anything the police may have missed. He was looking for something that would pin the murder on someone else.”

  “I doubt there was anything there.”

  He studied her smile critically, as if he weren't sure he could entirely trust it.

  “He found something under the bed. It was a police badge. Roy said that the number printed on the front isn’t yours.”

  “No, it wouldn’t be,” Joey told her. “My uniform is here. It was confiscated when I was placed in here, because it had Chloe's blood on it. Chief Cartright has it locked away somewhere as evidence.”

  “Roy wrapped it up in a handkerchief and has kept it with him ever since. He thinks Chief Cartright came back for it the night he was going through your room.”

  “Chief Cartright?” Joey looked stunned to hear the news.

  Jenny realized with horror that she had never actually told her brother that she and Roy had come to that conclusion. She felt a sinking feeling of guilt in the pit of her stomach. This wasn't the way he should have found out.

  She watched as he sunk down onto his cot with his head in his hands.

  “Joey, I'm so sorry.”

  Joey looked suddenly up at her. His face was drawn in pain, and she immediately wanted to step past the bars and go to him.

  “He was the one having an affair with Chloe?” Joey asked.

  He stared at her until she nodded her head slowly.

  “Damn it,” he cursed under his breath.

  “I'm so sorry I told you like that.”

  Jenny felt tears welling up in her eyes. She had wasted so many long years not caring what her brother was doing with his life or how he was doing. Now, it was one of her highest concerns.

  “Chief Cartright was sleeping with my wife.”

  She knew Joey was barely listening to her. His head was so wrapped up in the news he had just heard.

  “That bastard was with Chloe.”

  “Joey.”

  Her voice wavered as she looked in on his broken face. She didn't know what else to say.

  “Damn it, Jenny. Why did it have to be him, of all people? I get that Chloe wasn't happy with me. We married young and had Isabelle. But why did she have to go out of her way to hurt me like that?”

  He looked up at her, tears streaming down his face. “Was I that horrible?”

  “No,” she told him gently. “Chloe should never have started an affair. She should have known better.”

  There had been many conversations with Chloe where she told her best friend that Joey was the one who should have known better or Joey should be the one making sure Chloe knew he cared. It seemed strange to have the conversation in reverse now. She wished that her best friend had just been straight with her. She had never agreed with the concept of having an affair, but she thought Chloe could have told the truth.

  “Did she ever tell you about it?”

  Jenny had been expecting the question. She would have asked the same thing.

  “No. Chloe never said a word to me about it. I think she knew what I would have told her.”

  “To leave me, take Isabelle and head for the city?” Joey muttered.

  “No, I never would have told her to leave you.”

  “You hated me,” Joey reminded her. “So why didn't you?”

  “Because.”

  “Because what?” he demanded.

  “Because that's not how you sort things out!” she yelled back at him. “You don't run and hide. You face things and make sure they get sorted out, or you just end up sad and alone with nothing to live for.”

  She dropped back, her throat sore from raising her voice. Tears pricked at her eyes. She knew she was talking about herself when she made that statement. Running away had been exactly what she had done all those years ago. She could have stayed and made amends with her brother. Heck, she could have left and still made an effort to reconnect with him.

  Instead, she had put more distance between herself and her brother. In light of the events of the past few days, she was becoming more unsure of why she had left Ombrea so many years ago. It was clear that if she had stayed and worked at building their relationship back up, she would have benefited greatly.

  “Oh, Jenny, we’ve got the world's worst sibling relationship, don't we?”

  “I think we got most people beat,” she said with a playful smirk.

  He looked up at her cautiously.

  “Think we could ever fix it?”

  “Busting you out of this place is a start.”

  He held up his hands like a man looking for salvation.

  “Hallelujah! If you can get me out of this hell-hole, I’ll be the best little brother in the world.”

  “I'd settle for my brother back.”

  Chapter 30

  Roy was relieved when Jenny's Neon rolled into view.

  He had grown tired of pacing the cabin and had taken a beer out onto the front porch to wait. That one beer had quickly turned into two as he impatiently anticipated her return. Isabelle and the dog had been too distracted to notice that Jenny hadn't come home yet.

  Jenny raised her hand, waving as she closed the driver's side door. He stood as she came to meet him and stepped up onto the wooden deck. He took
her in his arms and held her there tightly.

  “What kind of an idiot move was that?” he asked into her hair. “You think it was a good idea to walk into the lion's den alone like that?”

  “Well, he didn't eat me,” she responded as she tilted her face up to meet his dreamy eyes. “He tried, but I put up a good fight.”

  “I wasn't joking,” he cautioned her gently. “Chief Cartright is no fool. We've got to be smart about how we handle him.”

  “It looks like we weren't smart enough.”

  Jenny nodded toward his deck chair, and he sank back into it. She settled into the one beside him.

  “He knows that we went to see Lawrence.”

  “What?”

  Roy sat forward, concerned. He looked across at her.

  “What happened at the station?”

  “Chief Cartright mentioned to me that he knew we had been. He made out like we were harassing Lawrence by going.”

  “Because he's done the old man so many favors,” Roy muttered sarcastically. “He's been an absolute saint.”

  Jenny nodded.

  “He said Lawrence was a sensitive fellow who liked to keep to himself.”

  “That's a threat if I've ever heard one,” Roy told her. “He thinks he has the upper hand because he could unleash Lawrence’s secret at any time.”

  “Right.”

  Jenny still felt horrible for what she had told her brother earlier. It wasn't any easier telling Roy what had happened. “There was something else, too. I accidentally told Joey that our prime suspect is Chief Cartright.”

  He realized that he hadn't even considered what it would be like to share that news with Joey. He had been more focused on proving the guy’s innocence than he had been about keeping him in the loop. He had been to visit Joey before, last week, in fact, before Jenny got to town. Joey had told him everything he knew and not once had Cartright’s name come up. It was clear Joey didn’t have any idea his superior had been sleeping with his wife.

  He suddenly felt guilty for not having at least mentioned that it was a possibility. After Roy had started trying to get the town on his side about Joey, Chief Cartright made it very clear he wasn't to show his face around the station anymore. Roy backed off, but his investigation continued, much to the Chief's annoyance.