Not just a taste for the wine, she thought, her smile growing bigger.
They hadn’t openly discussed it of course, but Jet’s concerns over Dan wanting to be part of her life were fading with every day that passed. She was still too scared to ask him how involved he wanted to be. The memory of their one night together had grown more intense during their separation. Jet wasn’t going to ruin things though. She really enjoyed Dan’s friendship and she didn’t want to risk losing it. While Edie was certainly a loyal and close friend, Dan was the only one who understood what she’d been through these last few months.
‘Excuse me.’
Jet looked up as the guy in the cap and sunglasses stepped in front of her.
‘Yes?’
Before she had time to react, he slipped an arm around her waist and guided her away from the footpath towards a waiting sedan she hadn’t registered earlier.
Jet stiffened, then fear took hold. She pushed away from him as hard as she could, once, twice, then three times—to no avail. Panic choked her windpipe and the sickly sweet scent of the man’s aftershave made her feel dizzy.
She brought her left heel up with the intention of stepping on his polished black shoe, but the man wrenched her sideways and shook her fiercely. She felt a sudden, sharp pain in her side.
He gave her a dark look. ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Got it?’
Jet swallowed and looked down between them. He held a knife to her side, down low underneath his leather jacket where it couldn’t easily be seen. The tip of the knife was sharp enough to apply an uncomfortable pressure through both their layers of clothing.
Jet nodded slowly, too terrified to make any more sudden moves.
‘Smart woman.’
He started moving again. Jet didn’t struggle this time. The shock was making her feel numb and somehow it didn’t even feel like it was her body he was manhandling.
When they reached the rear door of the sedan, the man cast a look in both directions up and down the street. Jet followed his gaze and with a sinking feeling deep in the pit of her stomach, saw nobody was nearby. The closest person was over a block away, separated by traffic lights.
For a brief second Jet considered screaming out, but the knife was still pressed so firmly into her side she didn’t dare.
‘After you.’
Jet stumbled as she was pushed into the back seat of the car and sent sprawling onto the leather.
‘Hurry up.’
She felt the man shove at her from behind, trying to make room for him to get in beside her. She lay awkwardly across the back seat, face down. Jet shifted herself up onto her elbow, which was when she realised she was still clinging onto her mobile phone. It was pressed between her stomach and wedged at the back of the seat.
Jet looked up and recoiled when she saw two other men watching her from the passenger and driver’s seats. They were wearing caps and sunglasses too, so she was unable to get a clear look at their faces.
The one in the passenger seat saluted her in greeting. ‘Ms Temple.’
‘I said move.’
‘Ow!’ Jet cried out as he pushed her from behind again. As she was forced toward the other side of the car, she hit the call button on her phone, blocking it from view with her body. It brought up the recents list. She pressed Dan’s name and quickly slipped the phone into her suit jacket pocket.
She had no way of knowing if he would be able to hear anything that was said. Or if he would think she’d called him by accident and just hang up.
She just hoped and prayed that if he did stay on the line, he’d remain quiet.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Dan gave up staring at the spreadsheet he’d been trying to make sense of all afternoon when his phone buzzed. He should have finished for the day long ago, but with nothing else to do but wait around for a certain someone’s call, he’d been in no rush to head home to the cottage alone. With a quick glance, he saw that it was Jet and his heart beat faster.
You’re pathetic, he told himself, but couldn’t stop his goofy grin at the sight of her name.
They hadn’t discussed how they somehow managed to speak to each other every day, but he wasn’t about to bring it up. He liked to think of the subject as a big, but pretty, pink elephant sipping a matching Rosé in the corner of the room. The elephant was enjoying the Rosé so much even she couldn’t be bothered to make them aware of her presence.
He hit the accept button and put the phone to his ear. ‘Hey, did you get the wine?’
He frowned at the muffled sound of voices. Whose he couldn’t tell.
He lifted the phone away to check it was definitely Jet calling. It was. It was the same story when he put it back to his ear again. Muffled voices. Male, by the sound of it.
Dan’s frown deepened.
Dan moved his gaze out the window to where the vines were rustling gently in the twilight. Jet obviously hadn’t meant to call him. It sounded like she was still at work, in a meeting most likely. He should just hang up. He moved to put the phone down.
‘You need to let me go.’
Dan’s hand froze a few inches from his ear. Jet’s voice was unmistakable.
The male’s reply was soft, too soft.
‘You can’t just abduct me from the street on my way home from work, throw me in this car and expect no one to notice,’ she said.
Dan’s blood ran cold. He’d never really believed it was possible, but it was as if his limbs had been put in a deep freeze. He scrambled up from his seat, accidentally knocking his chair backward in the process. He winced as it clattered onto the concrete floor behind him.
He didn’t stop to survey the damage and bolted straight for his father’s office.
Marty looked up in surprise and when he registered the look on his son’s face, his eyebrows raised in a question.
Dan put a finger to his lips to indicate he should remain quiet and then carefully set the phone on the desk in front of them, like it was a ticking time bomb. He pressed the speaker button and turned the volume up as loud as it would go.
‘If I were you, I’d do exactly as we say.’ The male voice was distant, but audible.
Marty’s gaze locked onto Dan’s in realisation. Dan reached for his Dad’s phone and brought up the voice recorder app. He hit record and set it down beside his own phone.
‘What do you want?’ Jet’s voice was louder and calm, but it sounded strained.
Dan gripped the edge of the desk. If they hurt her ...
‘To set the story straight. When you testify, you tell the truth.’
There was a short pause.
‘Are you talking about Alex?’
‘Don’t fool around with us, bitch. You know that’s exactly who we’re talking about.’
‘Why wouldn’t I tell the truth?’
There was laughter, the deep, male kind. Another glance at his father confirmed what Dan didn’t want to face—there was more than one of them.
‘You really are a dumb bitch, aren’t you?’
Dan froze at the sound of a whimper. They’d hit her. He desperately wanted to stand up and hit something himself—anything—to release the fear he was experiencing right now. He could only imagine how much more sickening that fear was for Jet.
‘You do what your ex-husband tells you to.’
‘No. No, I don’t—’
‘He made you disappear so we couldn’t find you—’
‘No! No, that wasn’t him. Andrew had nothing to do with that—’
There was a scream and Dan’s heart leapt out of his chest. He and his Dad jumped up at the same time.
‘Do you have any idea where she is right now?’ Marty asked Dan in a soft whisper.
‘She said she was in a car, but I can’t hear an engine,’ he replied, equally as soft. ‘At best guess she was coming home from work as she leaves around this time most nights. They could be in her car or have taken her when she was walking to her car. She parks in the street.’
; Marty nodded and strode from the room. Dan heard him pick up one of the phones in the main office area and forced himself to sit down and keep listening.
‘You’re full of shit.’ There was so much hatred in the man’s voice, Dan closed his eyes.
‘You can lie to us all you like, but if you lie on the stand, I can guarantee not even your ex-husband will be able to protect you.’
‘Please. I don’t understand.’ Jet’s voice was softer, like she was finding it hard to speak. ‘What is it you think I’m lying about? Tell me, so I can help you.’
Smart girl, Dan thought. She was trying to cooperate, as hard as it must be in her situation.
‘Where should we start? That Alex drugged you? Or that you saw an underage prostitute the night of his party?’
‘I was drugged,’ Jet replied carefully. ‘I don’t know by who.’
‘That’s not what Andrew Temple says.’
‘Andrew Temple is a prick! Why do you think I divorced him?’
Silence followed and Dan felt a brief moment of pride for Jet’s impressive spirit. He heard laughter but it didn’t make him feel anymore relaxed.
‘I’m glad we can agree on something,’ one of the men finally said when their laughter had subsided. ‘What about the prostitute?’
‘I don’t know! I was drugged at the time. Before that I’d come across a room full of men and women having sex, but it was dark. All I know is that I saw a young Asian girl before I passed out. Whether she was a prostitute or not, I couldn’t say. She looked just like a regular girl to me, but like I said, I wasn’t really in a position to make accurate judgements.’
More silence followed. Good girl, Dan thought. They were listening.
‘I’m going to tell you this only once, alright?’ the man who did the talking said. ‘Alex did not drug you. I swear my life on it. And he was trying to save Crystal, not mess her up.’
‘Save her from what?’
‘Never you mind. All you need to say is exactly what you just said to us—that she looked like a regular girl.’
‘She did look like a regular girl! Why would I lie about that?’
‘There you go. That’s the truth. That’s what you need to say when you get up on the stand. Not that Alex is seen with prostitutes.’
‘I don’t see how that will help. No matter what I say I saw, Crystal was a prostitute and Alex’s semen was found on that other young prostitute—’
Jet cried out, and Dan jolted in his seat. He sat there shaking, waiting for Jet to say something. Her voice was the only lifeline to her he had.
‘That,’ said the man, ‘was a set-up. Alex never touched that girl.’
‘OK, OK. Please.’
‘Think about it, media princess. Who has the connections, money and power to set something like that up?’
Another pause. ‘Not Andrew?’
‘You said it yourself, the guy’s a prick.’
‘But why?’
‘Who knows? A guy like him takes a dislike to someone like Alex, he makes him suffer. He thinks Alex drugged you, doesn’t he?’
Holy shit. Dan stared at the phone. Could these guys be telling the truth? Was Alex Benedetti really innocent and could he have been set up? By Jet’s bastard of an ex-husband, no less?
‘We want you to give Andrew a little message from us,’ the man continued. ‘Can you do that? Let him know that if Alex goes down, next time we won’t just be having a chat. Oh, and that tight little piece of arse he’s hooked up with at the moment? We’ll have some fun with her, too.’
‘You think you can blackmail Andrew Temple?’ Jet’s voice held disbelief. ‘You don’t know who you’re dealing with.’
‘Are you willing to bet your life on it?’
‘Fuck! Cops!’ One of the other men shouted.
Dan heard the main guy swear, too.
‘Bye, princess.’
A door slammed and an engine revved. There was a muffled clatter then the line went dead.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Oddly, time seemed to slow down when Jet was thrown from the car.
Trapped in the vehicle with those men, it was as if everything had been happening in bright, vivid motion, like technicolour. Every breath she’d taken had felt life-giving. Every word she’d spoken, defining.
But then the engine roared to life and she’d been cruelly shoved from the moving vehicle, which was when the world seemed to slow to a snail’s pace with a sickening thud. At first there had been only pain. Her tailored jacket hadn’t been enough to protect her from the fall and she was left with painful gashes on her elbows, and up and down her arms. The same for her knees and legs. Fortunately, her face escaped the worst of the damage. She had a small gash on her cheek that didn’t require stitches, although there was colourful bruising coming up under her left eye.
It was all a horrible reminder of what the men said they would do to her if she implicated Alex Benedetti.
‘There,’ the twenty-something female paramedic called Daisy said. ‘You’ll just want to apply light pressure like that for a while longer.’
Jet nodded once and took the cold pack the paramedic gave her. She rested the left side of her face onto it and the stinging cold felt good against her throbbing cheek.
Daisy stood and continued to survey Jet. ‘You were lucky.’
Funny. Jet knew what Daisy was getting at, but she couldn’t bring herself to agree. Although Jet wouldn’t have any lasting injuries from the evening’s events, she didn’t feel as grateful as she should.
She noticed Daisy take a furtive glance at Jet’s luxurious apartment when she bent over to collect her equipment.
Maybe Jet was being ungrateful. When the police officers had surrounded her on the street only moments after being thrown from the car, it hadn’t taken them long to spring into action. Once they established Jet didn’t need immediate medical care, they’d bundled her into the police car and driven straight to her apartment. Jet had no doubt it was Commissioner Roberts orders. The less public spectacle for a high-profile witness like Jet, the better.
On arrival at her apartment the police officers had settled Jet into her favourite armchair with sympathy, but it hadn’t taken them long to start asking her questions. Within ten minutes, the paramedics arrived and Jet noticed there had been no siren to highlight their arrival.
An hour later all she wanted was for everyone to leave her in peace so she could curl up in bed and forget tonight had ever happened. With all the changes she’d been making to her business these past couple of weeks, she’d almost believed Jet Appleton could be a reality. Now it felt like she was destined to endure the shadow of Juliet Temple for the rest of her life, no matter what she did.
With a genuine smile at Daisy, Jet thanked her and said goodnight. Then she slowly made her way into the kitchen to refill her glass of water, her cuts and grazes stinging with every step she took. As she closed the fridge, she paused at the sound of unfamiliar male voices.
It took her three long seconds until she recognised who the male voices belonged to. Time sped up again and a wave of dizziness hit her. Jet reached out for the bench to steady herself.
***
The entire journey along the freeway Dan wondered what the hell he was doing. He had absolutely no business getting in the car and driving to Sydney like some dickhead knight in shining armour. Except for the quiet presence of his father sitting in the passenger seat he may have turned the car around at least five times. But Dan had made such a scene about wanting to see Jet was safe with his own eyes, he couldn’t exactly change his mind now.
Once they exited the freeway at Sydney’s leafy northern suburbs, Dan drove purposefully through the traffic. The bright lights streaming past all looked the same. Even approaching the harbour, the glittering lights of the city at night and the iconic Harbour Bridge barely registered. All he could think about was Jet.
When the GPS directed them to drive along one of the eastern suburb’s most expensive streets, Dan w
as only vaguely aware he’d entered a part of Sydney the city’s most elite were lucky to inhabit. The only thing that he noticed when he entered the opulent foyer of Jet’s apartment complex was that the old stairs creaked in places as he took them two at a time.
Marty kept pace with his son, arriving on the third level just moments behind him.
‘Gordon,’ Marty said.
For the first time since they’d left the Hunter Valley, Dan hesitated.
The Police Commissioner stood at the entrance to Jet’s apartment talking quietly to another police officer. Despite wearing civilian clothing, he somehow commanded respect. Dan wasn’t sure if it was his impressive height or simply the way the man held himself with an air of calm. Like his father, Commissioner Roberts’ trim physique suggested he was fit for his age, and his cool grey eyes looked like they never missed a thing.
The Commissioner’s grim expression relaxed when he saw the two of them.
‘Marty.’
Gordon and Marty shook hands. Then, to Dan’s complete surprise, they closed the space between them and gave each other a firm hug, patting each other on the back like mates did.
‘You shouldn’t have come,’ Gordon said when they separated.
Marty nodded at Dan standing behind him. ‘I know. Try telling that to Dan, though. Juliet became part of the family while she was with us.’
Dan stiffened at the use of Jet’s old name, but he caught himself and gave the Commissioner a respectful nod. ‘I hope it’s not out of line, but I wanted to see if she was alright.’
Gordon nodded and stepped closer, including Dan in the circle. ‘She’s doing fine, considering. Juliet is a tough woman, but truth be told, it will be good for her to see a familiar face right now. She doesn’t have any family here.’
Things Dan knew all too well. ‘Is she inside?’
Gordon stepped aside. ‘The paramedics have just finished with her.’
At the mention of paramedics, Dan didn’t hesitate and strode inside. He found himself in a foyer area and became momentarily disorientated. What sort of apartment had a foyer?
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