by Linda Verji
“Okay, thanks.” Carter immediately pulled out his phone to call a cab.
It was only once he was in the cab that rationality started to beam through his panic. Why had Eve been arrested? Did it have something to do with his mother? His instincts told him that it did. So he called her.
Despite the late hour, Sharon immediately answered the phone. She sounded fully awake when she greeted, “Carter, where are you? Why aren’t you home yet?”
Carter didn’t bother answering her questions. He just jumped in with, “Did you have anything to do with Eve’s arrest?”
The older woman’s sharp gasp rang over the line. “Wh… what?”
“Did you have anything to do with Eve’s arrest?” Carter repeated. His voice was curter than he intended, but he couldn’t help it.
His mother returned haltingly, “Well… well… of course not.”
Carter didn’t know if she was lying or not, but one thing was clear from that response; Sharon already knew about Eve’s arrest otherwise her first reaction would’ve been shock. He demanded, “Then how did you know that she’d been arrested?”
“Huh? What?” Sharon stalled.
However, Carter caught that stall and demanded curtly, “You had something to do with her arrest, didn’t you?”
“I told you I didn’t.” Sharon sounded panicked as she added, “Why would-”
Carter cut her off. “I know that you and the police captain are friends. Did you ask him to arrest Eve?”
“No. Of course not. I would never do that.” Her breathing rushed, Sharon said, “Why don’t I call him and find out what’s going on?”
“Do that.” Carter added, “Meanwhile, I’m on my way there and-”
His mother’s voice went from rushed to shrill in the space of breath. “You’re going there?”
“Yes. She’s my wife.” Surprising himself with how calm he sounded, he added, “I need to find out what’s going on.”
“No, she isn’t your wife anymore. She asked you for a-” Sharon paused to take a deep breath. “Anyway that’s not important right now. Look, Carter, you don’t need to go there. I’ll find out from the captain what’s going on then let you know. You just come home.”
“No.” Firmly, he reiterated, “I’m on my way to Eve.”
“Carter!” His mother screeched.
He hung up before she could say anything more.
* * * * *
THE INTERROGATION ROOM was nothing like what they showed on TV. Eve had expected a room that looked like a prison cell; dull blue walls, a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling, cold metallic furniture that was glued to the floor, and a two-way mirror so others could watch as some huge, balding, stone-faced cop barked at her. But this was nothing like that.
Apart from the grills that barred the window, there was nothing about this room that screamed ‘you’re going to jail, lady’. It was all inviting cream walls, soft lighting and a warm, wood table. Though the chairs had a metallic frame, the cushioning on the seats and back made them comfortable. In place of the two-way mirror was a surveillance camera hanging high above the wall. One might even say that this was a normal room… that is if one ignored the below average temperature.
Eve was freezing.
Her t-shirt, sweatpants and the slippers a kind female cop had given her were no match for the cold air blasting from the air-conditioner. The cold penetrated the synthetic fibers shielding her body to soak through her skin right into her bones. Her teeth were chattering and no matter how she rubbed her arms she couldn’t get rid of the goosebumps that had gathered there.
At first Eve had been glad to end up in a police station instead of a barn out in the wilderness. But now the barn was starting to look attractive. At least they couldn’t mess the air-con there.
Even as she rubbed her arms and tapped her feet continuously on the floor, she was sure that this was deliberate. She’d read somewhere that this was a tactic cops used to increase your anxiety. Well, it was working. Her pulse was racing, her stomach was in knots and she couldn’t stop glancing at the door to see if someone was coming.
Where were they anyway? They’d brought her in here about an hour ago. After ignoring her demands for her lawyer and to know what she’d been arrested for, they’d disappeared. Since then no one had shown up to ask questions of threaten her. Was this another tactic? If it was, then it was also working. Impatience had joined nervousness, and they were biting at her nerves like a rat gnawing at a live wire. Having that camera up there only added to that impatience and left her feeling unsettled because she knew they were watching her. Were they enjoying watching her shiver and squirm? Well, let them enjoy it because it was all they’d get out of her.
It was almost as if whoever was watching her read her mind because just then the door flew open. Eve immediately recognized the tall, heavyset, middle-aged, pasty-faced man who walked into the room with a steaming cup of coffee. Martin Peralta... the station’s captain and another one of Sharon’s minions.
Watching him as he crossed the room, Eve mocked, “I always knew you and Sharon were tight. But not this tight.”
Peralta ignored her comments and instead set the cup on the table between them “Coffee?”
“No thanks.” Eve crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t take things from strangers.”
“We’re not strangers.” Smiling, Peralta sat down opposite her. “We’re friends.”
“Friends don’t arrest other friends.” She studied him. “What am I here for, Martin?”
“Call me Captain Peralta.”
“What am I here for, Martin?” Eve repeated, making sure to enunciate the ‘Martin’.
Irritation flared in his brown eyes, but it didn’t show in his voice when he calmly returned, “You know why you’re here, Eve.”
Eve’s eyebrows arched. “Do I?”
Peralta watched her with narrowed eyes before saying, “You’re here to give me those videos.”
This time she snorted. “Am I?”
“You are.” Scowling fiercely, he demanded, “Where are the videos, Eve?”
“What’s the matter?” She crooked her lips into a half-smile. “Didn’t you find them when you searched my house?”
“You know we didn’t find anything,” he bit out.
“Oh, so you just admitted that your searched my house without a warrant.” With her chin, she gestured towards the camera. “Is that thing working? Cause I want it on record that you all are just gangsters pretending to be police officers.”
Peralta answered with silence, which meant that the cameras weren’t working anymore, not that she’d expected them to be. No sane cop would want this kind of interrogation on tape. But one never knew. Peralta and his subordinates had proved that they weren’t smart or sane.
Arresting her in front of all those people must’ve been a plan hatched out of panic because no strategist would’ve done such a stupid thing. Too many people had seen them. These idiots had probably assumed that the videos were somewhere in her house and were just looking for a way to get her out so they could search it.
Fortunately, she wasn’t an idiot. The originals were in a safety box at her bank. She’d also handed copies to Benisio, Nina and her lawyer so they could post them if something happened to her. As an extra precaution, she’d hired a tech genius to create a hidden site for her containing everything she’d collected. That site required that she sign in every morning to keep the footage from being let out into the wild, wild internet.
“So what’s the plan, Martin?” Eve’s top lifted into a sneer as she asked, “Are you going to beat them out of me?”
“If that’s what I have to do.” His nasty tone and the malice in his beady little eyes said that he meant his words.
Anyone would’ve been frightened. And Eve was too. Her already surging adrenalin leapt in terror and she could feel sweat gathering in her armpits and palms, but she still kept a straight face. The fastest way to get screwed over by weasels like this wa
s to show them that you were scared of them.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Calmly, she reminded him. “Everyone knows that your guys took me. If I turn up with bruises, well... it won’t turn out well for you.”
“Maybe you just won’t turn up at all,” Peralta countered with his own sneer.
“Oooh! Death threats! How original!” Eve gave him a mock shiver. “I’m so scared.”
“You should be.” Peralta’s scowl was back. “Listen to me, Eve. Right now I’m being nice to you. But if I don’t get the location of those videos, things won’t be good for you.”
“No, Martin. I’m the one being nice here,” she countered, “and if I don’t get out of here within the next hour things won’t be good for you.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that Sharon’s not the only one who I have videos on.”
He blinked once, twice then again. Almost as if he was trying to convince himself, he said, “You don’t have anything on me. You don’t.”
“Sir, you’ve been Sharon’s minion for years. You’ve had many, many meetings with her. Considering all the footage I have, do you really think you’re not a star in any one of my videos?” Eve shook her head and gave him a disapproving look. “Dude! Come on.”
“What?” Peralta exploded to his feet with such force that his chair flew backwards. His eyes wide with shock, he demanded, “You have videos on me?”
“Yup!” She popped the ‘p’ loudly just to irritate him further.
With his fists, he slammed the table with so hard that the cup shook and the hot coffee splashed around dangerously. It took all of Eve’s self-control not to jump at the sudden violence or to cower because of the expression on the man’s face. He looked furious. He looked insane. He looked like he was about to reach across the table and strangle her with his bare hands.
“Where are they? Who has them?” Peralta yelled. “Benisio? Nina Wu?”
Despite the terror that was squeezing at her insides, Eve kept her voice even as she said, “You know I won’t answer that question.” She paused a minute then acting like she’d just remembered something, she added, “Aaah… but I can tell you this. If I don’t show up at my desk by eight a.m., you’ll find yourself on the morning news.”
Apparently, it was possible for Peralta’s anger to multiply. He screamed, “Are you threatening me?”
“Of course!” Eve mocked, “Was I not being obvious about it?”
Glaring at her, he opened his mouth as if to yell something else. However, no words came out. He closed his mouth again then opened it. No words. Finally, he pulled in several ragged breaths as if to calm himself down before moving backwards to grab his seat. He yanked it back into its original position then plopped back on it. Though far from calm, his tone was less furious as he demanded, “What do you have on me?”
“Everything Sharon used to make you her minion plus more.” Eve grinned. “Yes, Martin, I know about your mistress and the son you have with her.”
His breath rushed out in a whoosh and his eyes widened until it seemed like they were about to pop out from his face. “How do you know about them?”
“You’re shocked about that?” Eve shook her head disapprovingly. “They’re like your least serious secret. Should we talk about all your dirty little deals with dealers when you were part of the NARC squad? Or the not so little payments you received from well-heeled clients to lose evidence?”
Peralta’s mouth fell open. He tried to say something but no words emerged.
So Eve stuck the knife in deeper. “Maybe you’d like to discuss how you and your men covered up for… What was the name of that cop? Jesse Bridges?”
Peralta’s sharp gasp was proof that Eve was on the right track.
She continued, “Yeah, I know that you covered for Jesse Bridges after he beat that suspect to death. And let’s not even start on how you and Sharon screwed Benisio over-” She paused to take a breath. “If I were to list everything I know about you, we’d be here all night. Let’s just say I know everything and I have it on tape and paper.”
Obviously, Peralta hadn’t expected her to know so much about his dirty deeds. His anger dissipated like a balloon that had just lost all its air, and shock swept in to take its place. Flopping back into his seat, he stared at Eve in disbelief. “You have all that?”
“I have all that.” Eve nodded. “The only reason I haven’t used it on you is because I’m not Sharon. I don’t use people’s dirty pasts to make them do even dirtier stuff for me. However, I have no problems using their pasts to defend myself. So don’t test me, Martin.”
“Don’t test you? Don’t test you?” Peralta shot to his feet. His fists curled into balls beside his body. “You’re about to find out what real testing means.”
Eve should’ve seen it coming. Bullies like Peralta always assumed that fists would win where words couldn’t. Despite his bulky physique, he moved with the speed of a boar to circle the table. He cocked his fist and let it fly. The punch caught Eve right in the side of her face. Though his hand was empty, it was like being hit with a hunk of meat and she fell off her chair with a pained cry.
“Where are the videos?” Peralta screamed as he shoved the chair aside so he could get to her. His foot kicked out to catch her right in the ribs sending excruciating pain through her body. “Where are the videos?”
Even if she wanted to talk, there was no way she would’ve managed it with the pain swooping through her. Only a whimper emerged from her lips.
“Where’s the video?” He reached down and grabbed her by her braids. It felt like he was ripping the hair right out of her scalp. Eve had no choice but to stagger to her feet to ease the pain as instinctive tears jumped to her eyes.
She had no idea how it happened, or how she saw the cup on the table through her cloudy eyes. Somehow, she lunged forward and grabbed the cup. Hot coffee spilt onto her hand but that pain was nothing compared to the ripping in her scalp.
Peralta demanded, “Where is the- aaaah!”
His words turned into an unmanly scream when she turned and tossed the coffee straight at his face. He let go of her as he staggered backwards with his hands going up to cover his face. Instinct, adrenalin and fury took over. Eve grabbed the chair she’d been sitting on by its stiles, lifted it then let it fly.
The cry that tore from Peralta’s throat was almost as satisfying as the thump of the chair as it smashed into the side of his body. He staggered sideways because of both pain the force of the chair. Lifting the seat again, Eve came after him.
In all her thirty-two years of life, no man had ever dared hit her. Not even her father. Who the hell did this bastard think he was? The only words ringing in Eve’s mind were ‘I’m going to kill him. I’m going to kill him’.
With all the force she was capable of, she swung the seat like a bat straight at his body. The force of it was enough to send him to the ground. But even him crumpled on the floor and whimpering wasn’t enough for her. Fury circling through her, she lifted the seat again. Unfortunately, the door flew open right then and two cops rushed into the room.
Everything was a blur from there. All Eve remembered was someone yelling ‘get her away from him’, the chair being forcibly taken from her then being pinned face to the wall. Even then she still tried to get at Peralta but the cop who had her pinned was much stronger than her. The other cop went to check on the captain but when Eve tried to lunge at him again, the cop took Peralta out of the room.
“Calm down.” The cop who was holding her sounded surprisingly soothing as he said, “Calm down.”
Her cheek and the front of her body pressed against the cold wall, Eve took in ragged breaths. Eventually, her breath evened out as the rage faded. The cop who was holding her loosened his grip on her wrists. Eve immediately turned to face him.
Concerning glinting in his eyes, the bald, Latino-looking, thirty-something year-old man asked, “You okay?”
Eve didn’t answer she jus
t glared at him.
The cop studied her then sighed. He moved to grab the seat from where it had been thrown during the commotion then set it next to the table. He ordered, “Sit.”
Eve didn’t move.
More firmly, he ordered, “Sit.”
This time she did.
“Do you need water or something?” he asked with obvious pity in his tone.
That pity annoyed Eve more. If he was working for Peralta, then he had no right to pity her. He was a pond-scum just like his boss. So she looked away from him and didn’t answer.
He watched her for a couple of seconds before heading towards the door. He reached for the doorknob but hesitated. Turning back to her, he said, “You shouldn’t have done that. He’ll come at you again.”
“Let him.” Eve’s eyes narrowed into a knife-like glare. “See if I don’t kill him this time.”
The cop watched her for another second before sighing and shaking his head. He opened the door and left.
It was only once Eve was alone that everything that had just happened started to sink in. Had she just been assaulted? The throbbing of her face and the lingering pain in the side of her body and scalp screamed ‘yes’. This wasn’t in her plan. She hadn’t expected things to get physical. As her adrenalin and bravado faded, fear seeped in. What if this was just the start? What if there was more coming?
She had no back-up plan for torture.
CHAPTER 17
They left Eve alone for quite some time. It could’ve been an hour or maybe even more, but it certainly felt like an eternity. Though on the outside she maintained her stone-faced façade, on the inside she was a bundle of quaking, knotted nerves. What if Peralta came at her again?
Being in this precinct had lulled her into a false sense of security. This was the place where laws were enforced, she’d assumed. Nothing bad could happen to her here, she’d thought. But she’d been wrong. This was Peralta’s kingdom and he was the law. Given what had just happened, it was clear that he could do anything and none of his subordinates would stop him.