BRIAN (The Callahans Book 1) (97 page)

              “You don’t trust me?” he teased.

              “Ha, no, that’s not why. This is a huge victory for One World, and I’d like to take pictures, update our website, and work on a press release to send out to a number of environmental blogs so we can get the word out, perhaps attract other communities into reaching out if they need our help.”

              Taylor took a moment to press the intercom button on his console so he could talk to his driver. “Let’s head back to the Escala,” he said.

              After a few minutes of driving in that direction, Taylor’s cell rang, and when he picked it up, Rose could hear Detective Tavaras coming through the line.

              “Can you swing by the precinct?” he asked.

              Taylor said that would be no problem then redirected his driver to the new address.

              The Seattle precinct was a block from the bay, and when Rose stepped out of the limo, she smelled the warm, salty air and felt a fresh breeze on her face.

              They made their way inside and checked in at the front desk. The officer behind the counter asked them to wait, while he put in a call to Detective Tavaras’s desk upstairs.

              The police station had a frenetic energy that put Rose on edge. It was crowded with a line forming up to the front desk. As they waited, she overheard people arguing about paying someone’s bail, getting directions to the parking division up the street, and detailing statements about identity theft and vandalism and noise complaints. All the while, Taylor held her hand, and used his other to send e-mails on his smartphone.

              Soon Detective Tavaras stepped into the waiting area and greeted them.

              As Taylor and Rose got to their feet, he said, “Thanks for coming down. Come up this way.” He started for the stairs around the corner. “We’ll talk in one of our interview rooms.”

              The detective held the interview room door open when they reached the second floor and crossed through the homicide department, and he shut the door as Taylor helped Rose get situated in one of the chairs.

              After Taylor sat beside Rose, he said, “There’s a laptop computer on the table.”

              “That’s right,” said Detective Tavaras. “As I mentioned, there was no footage on the security cameras at the Escala, but I was able to pull footage from two cameras, one across the street and one up the block from your building.”

              “Okay,” said Rose.

              “Now, we’re in a bit of a pickle, because Rose won’t be able to see this footage, and you weren’t there that night,” he went on. “But I’d still like to find out if you recognize any of these people.”

              Clearly, he was addressing Taylor, and Rose wasn’t sure how she would be able to help given the circumstances, but she was glad to be there.

              “I cross-referenced the list you gave me,” he explained. “The list of everyone with a duplicate key to your suite, and individuals I found on this footage. If I’m not mistaken,” he went on, cueing up the first clip on the laptop, “this is an employee of Davey Construction, one of the managers, is it not?”

              Rose sensed Taylor leaning closer to the screen.

              “Yeah, that’s Frank Wright.”

              “That’s what I thought. Frank Wright made a statement to police at the Starlight site the night Rose was blinded by chemicals.”

              “Frank Wright?” she asked. “That’s his name? He told me I deserved to go blind.”

              Detective Tavaras held his tongue, then asked, “To be absolutely clear, you did not give Wright a copy of your key?”

              “No, absolutely not.”

              “As you can see here,” said the detective, pointing to the screen. “Wright definitely rounds into the Escala about five minutes before Rose was attacked.”

              “Hang on,” she said. “I know my attacker was wearing dress shoes.”

              Taylor added, “And Frank wouldn’t have the authority to get the security department to step out so he could kill the tapes.”

              “Okay,” said the detective. “We’re still putting pieces together. Right now, Wright was one of the people who had no business being at the Escala.”

              “Who is the other?” asked Taylor.

              Before answering, he cued up the second clip of footage.

              Taylor’s breath hitched in his throat as it played, and then under his breath, he said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

              “What?” asked Rose.

              She sensed the men exchange a worrisome look.

              “What? Who is it?”

              “I don’t know if I should tell you,” he said, taking her hand.

              “Just tell me, one of you, please.”

              Detective Tavaras said, “It’s Carter Simmons.”

              Taylor was due at the new Starlight site in East Bellevue, and though Rose had planned on making the drive with him to take pictures of the new site to document her achievement, she was completely shocked that Carter had been in the Escala the night she was attacked.

              Like Frank Wright, Carter wasn’t one to wear dress shoes, and Rose would like to think she would recognize him in some way—his stature, his smell, his vibe—but just because she hadn’t, didn’t mean it wasn’t him.

              Even though Rose had her suspicions as to who might be at the top of this twisted pyramid, she felt the first step toward solving the mystery would be to confront Carter.

              Why had he been there that night?              

              She wasn’t looking forward to this. It had been so hurtful of him to take Taylor’s medical records to the press, completely disregarding her order not to. And if that hadn’t been bad enough, she still hadn’t dealt with his betrayal. Hearing Carter and Layla feed the press twisted truths mixed with lies at the press conference, and then hearing them boast that they should get credit for One World, made Rose wonder if she even knew them. They had acted like strangers—enemies, even. And why? Because she had had no choice but to kick Layla out of One World? Layla had used a grenade to stop the construction of the pipeline, and that had been her second violent offense. What did she and Carter expect Rose to do with that information? Thank them? Was the fact that Rose had put her foot down enough of a reason for them to try and steal all she had worked for?

              If Carter truly had something to do with her attack, and she prayed he didn’t, she couldn’t face him alone. It wouldn’t be safe, not to mention she was expecting Layla to be there, as well. Two against one would not bode well. So Rose called Hector and Jenny to see if they would be up for what would surely become a heated confrontation.

              Not five minutes after Taylor left for East Bellevue, Hector and Jenny were knocking on the suite door. Rose let them in after she heard Jenny announce their arrival through the door. She then pulled on a light jacket that Taylor had gotten for her and asked, “Are they still staying at the Travel Lodge?”

              “You want to hear something crazy?” Jenny asked.

              “I’m really not sure,” she said fearfully.

              “It’s not crazy,” Hector corrected her. “It’s downright ludicrous.”

              “Oh God, just tell me.”

              Jenny stepped in and spoke low. “They’re staying here at the Escala.”

              “What?”

              “In Porter Montgomery’s room,” added Hector.

              Rose had a difficult time processing the news.

              “Of course he has a room here, and because he’s a billionaire, he never actually stays here, but apparently they’re all thicker than thieves ever since Carter went to the press with Taylor’s medical records.”

              “How did you find out they were staying here?” Rose said, desperate to find out they had been misinformed.

              “Layla told me so herself,” said Jenny. “She was trying to recruit me. Carter and she are trying to steal all the members of One World out from under you.”

              “Why the hell would they be in cahoots with Porter Montgomery? He has been our enemy since the start of One World. We collectively hated him when we were in undergrad. This doesn’t make any sense.”

              “We agree,” said Jenny. “But the only way to get answers is to head down to the thirty-eighth floor and talk to them.”

              As they made their way to the elevator banks and rode one down to the thirty-eighth floor, Rose attempted to wrap her mind around the strange reality she was facing, but it was too much to grasp.

              When they reached the suite door, Hector knocked loudly.

              “They’re expecting us,” said Jenny, speaking in a low voice. “Not you, but the only way to get Layla to give us the suite number was to tell her Hector and I were heading over to hear her out about their new organization.”

              Hector snorted a disgusted laugh. “They’re calling it Our World.”

              Rose was inclined to roll her eyes. “That’s original,” she said dryly.

              The door popped inward and Layla startled, saying, “Rose.”

              “That’s right,” she said in a firm tone. “We’re overdue for a talk, wouldn’t you agree?”

              Layla sighed then asserted, “You kicked me out of One World. You kicked Carter out by association. You don’t have a right to be mad at us for starting our own activist organization.”

              “Seriously, Layla?” she challenged. “That’s what you think I’m mad about?” Then, sarcastically, she added, “How are you enjoying Porter Montgomery’s suite?”

              “Gee, I don’t know, Rose. I’d say we’re enjoying it as much as you’re enjoying Taylor’s.”             

              “What’s that supposed to mean?”

              “It means I’m not going to let you stand here and act like Carter and I were wrong to get into bed with Porter, when you’ve already gotten into bed with Taylor, quite literally, I might add. I’m not going to stand here while you call the kettle black, when you’re the pot and just as dark.”

              “Let us in, Layla. I’m not going to argue with you from the hallway.”

              Rose sensed Layla shaking her head, but when Hector and Jenny barreled through, unperturbed, Rose took hold of Jenny’s arm and followed.

              “What’s she doing here?” asked Carter, who by the sound of it was seated on the living room couch.

              “What do you think, Carter?” said Rose impatiently. When she reached the center of the living room and Jenny guided her to a sofa chair, she sat. “I wanted to talk to you both because I was attacked the other night, and the detective working the case caught you, Carter, on security footage. He thinks you’re a suspect.”

              “I didn’t attack you.”

              “I know that. The person who attacked me had dress shoes, and I could sense he wasn’t as big as you. But now that I understand you’re staying in Porter’s suite, I have a whole new set of questions. The first one being, what in the hell is going on?”

              Carter sighed then said, “He’s funding us.”

              Rose laughed, his statement was so outlandish.

              “Laugh all you want,” said Layla. “It’s true.”

              “It doesn’t make sense.”

              Carter went on to clarify. “Starlight has competitors. Porter approached us after you kicked us out of One World. He said he had an idea. He wants us to shut down his competitors’ pipelines, and not interfere when he builds ones with Starlight.”

              “And you agreed?” When they said nothing, she added, “That makes you total hypocrites. I can’t believe you. I feel like I don’t even know you.”

              “Trust us, we have our reservations,” said Carter. “But at the same time, we didn’t have a penny to get Layla out on bail, and when Porter came along offering to drop the charges so long as we agreed to work with him, what were we going to say? He’s already given us thousands to get started on planning to shut down his competitor’s new pipeline that is going in next month.”

              “I’m so happy for you,” she said in a tone dripping with sarcasm. “So whose idea was it to take Taylor’s medical records to the press?”

              Carter spoke up right away. “You know I’d never betray you—”

              “Unless the price was right,” she supplied. “So Porter Montgomery has completely bought you. He told you to give Taylor’s private records to the press, and you did?”

              Jenny asked, “Why would he want his own son off the project?”

              “Because,” said Rose, “I was getting through to Taylor. And if Porter couldn’t take me out, then he’d take out his own son.” Rose drew in a deep breath and asked, “Why was Frank Wright here in the Escala the other night?”

              “We have no idea,” said Layla, and what surprised Rose most was that her former friend’s tone sounded truthful.

              “Who attacked me?” she asked.

              “I couldn’t say for sure,” said Carter, “and we had nothing to do with it. But I’d bet anything it was Porter who gave the order.”

              “And the two of you can live with yourself working for him?”

              “At this point,” said Layla, “we don’t have a choice.”

              “Don’t give me that,” she said, shaking her head.

              “No, really,” said Carter. “We’re scared.”

              “Scared of what?” she challenged, wondering if she could stomach any more of their explanations.

              “We can’t prove it,” said Layla.

              “We don’t even remember it,” added Carter. “But we’re certain he drugged us.”

              “What?” asked Rose in disbelief.

              “The afternoon you were attacked,” Carter went on. “Porter met us here to discuss the Exxon pipeline, which is our first project now that we have his investment. He made the drinks.”

              “Within minutes I had tunnel vision and I was severely mentally impaired. It’s like I had the mind of a child and all I could think was I couldn’t believe how drunk I had let myself get.”

              “But it didn’t make sense,” said Carter. “In the moment, we thought we were drunk, but looking back, we’d only had half a glass of alcohol.”

              “The insane part,” Layla continued. “Was that I felt happy. So incredibly happy, and Rose, you know me. I’m not a happy drunk.”

              “Then maybe an hour after feeling that way and barely hanging onto the conversation we were having with Porter, who by the way, had absolutely no reaction to the fact we were practically falling out of our chairs, it all goes blank.”

              “We can’t remember a thing.”

              “Just like Taylor the night of Porter’s charity function,” Rose observed.

              “That’s what we were thinking,” said Layla. “Except we never flipped out.”

              “My guess is that this time Porter used scopolamine without the PCP and MDMA,” said Carter.

              “But that’s not the worst of it,” said Layla. “He had us do things, strange things, which we found out about because the next day someone slipped a packet of photos under the door.”

              “So he’s blackmailing you?” Rose surmised.

              “In case taking his money isn’t enough to control us,” said Carter.

              “What did you do? What do the photos show?”

              Layla looked disgusted and grimaced as she said, “I lured the security guards out of their booth.”

              “And I turned off all the cameras in the lobby, elevator, and on the fiftieth floor.”

              “Oh my God,” said Rose. “You have to contact Detective Tavaras and tell him.”

              “And get arrested?” Layla challenged. “Or killed if we mention Porter’s name?”

              “We didn’t want to say what we did at the press conference. We don’t want you to hate us, Rose,” said Carter, sounding remorseful. “But there’s nothing we can do.”

              “He’s a dangerous man,” she said, wishing she could see their faces. “If you say he drugged you, then I believe you. And it gives me insight to the fact that he drugged Taylor, as well. He destroyed Taylor’s career. And he tried to kill me. There has to be a way to bring him down.”

              “If there is,” said Carter, “one that won’t get us all killed or sent away to prison, then we’re with you. But we can’t take any risks. We’re too scared.”

              In that moment, so was Rose.

              The first step would be telling Taylor that his father was the one who had drugged him that night, the reason he had spent months in a psyche ward and lost his medical career. But would he believe her? He hadn’t even suspected his father, so what made Rose believe he would suddenly take her word?

              With Hector behind the wheel, Rose in the passenger’s seat of the One World Jeep, and Jenny in the backseat, they drove out to East Bellevue where the rest of One World would meet them to take pictures of the new construction site.

              When they arrived, Jenny verbalized that the trench looked well underway. There was a corporate trailer to the east of the trench just where it had been at the prior site in Bellevue. Bulldozers and construction workers were crawling all over the place, a fact that Rose was aware of thanks to her keen sense of hearing.

              As soon as they stepped out of their Jeep and made their way towards the trailer, Taylor descended the trailer steps, joining them.

              “Hey,” he said, taking Rose’s hands.

              Regretfully, she said, “We need to talk.”