His Absolute Authority: A Scandalous Billionaire Love Story (Jessika, #3) (12 page)

He looked just about as confused as I felt.  I doubted either of us knew what to do right now.

I did the only thing I could think of.  "Go in the bathroom with Elise and Lucent," I said.  "Just in case.  I'll answer the door and make some excuse.  It's probably nothing.  If he asks, I'll tell him you're in the shower, and..."  And that was it.  That was the entirety of my plan.

Asher nodded and slipped away as quietly as he could.  The front door was closed and my apartment's floors weren't especially squeaky or anything, but secrecy was possibly important right now, so quiet was good.

"Hold on a moment," I said.  "You startled me.  I was cooking breakfast.  I dropped a spoon.  I'll be right there."

I didn't know how any of what I said added up to make much sense, but I needed to waste a little time while Asher went into the bathroom.  The door wasn't locked, but he might need to explain everything to Elise and Lucent and to make sure they stayed quiet.  I peered down the hallway towards my bedroom and the bathroom, waiting a second.  Everything looked good.  As good as could be expected, at least.  I didn't hear Elise shouting and screaming, at any rate.  That was probably good?  Good enough.

I didn't quite enjoy the idea of my husband being in a bathroom with another naked woman, but I didn't really have a choice at the moment.  I was almost certain Elise would stay in the shower behind the shower curtain, anyways.

The wooden spoon hadn't fallen completely into the pasta sauce, so I picked at the tip of the handle and fetched it out, then lay it against the side of the pot.  Just in case, I turned off the heat, too.  This was all we had to eat, so it wouldn't really be that great if I burned it, now would it?

I hurried to the door and unlocked it, then opened it a crack.  A police officer stood outside, waiting for me.  When the door opened, he shuffled to the side to make his appearance.

"Ma'am," he said.  "Mrs. Landseer?  Your landlord told me it might be you, and I recognize you from your pictures."

I hoped he meant regular pictures, and not the sex ones.  I was wearing my t-shirt and sweatpants, anyways; there wasn't much sexy to recognize there.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"Um," I said.  What was I supposed to say?  Er...  "May I ask why?"

"I don't mean to scare you, ma'am, but we have reason to believe that there may be dangerous individuals in there with you," he said.

Well, shit.  How could they even know that?  I stared at him, confused.

"Lucent Storme and Elise Tanner?" he offered.  "Lucent's the Director of Public Relations for your husband's company.  The information I received from the station says that Elise works with you directly as part of Landseer Publishing.  Is that correct?"

"Yes, I know Elise and Lucent," I said.  And... what?  "I'm sorry, but I think you're confused.  They aren't here.  It's just me and my husband.  Asher.  We... well, we came here because of the commotion.  I'm sure you understand what's going on?  I didn't think anyone would know about this place, so we thought it'd be the easiest way to get some privacy."

The officer nodded.  "Sure.  Certainly.  I understand."

"So... I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not very comfortable with you being here right now."

Wow, Jessika.  I berated myself mentally, because how terrible was that?  Yes, officer, get away from me, I don't want you here.  I said it a little nicer than that, but I felt like the situation could have been handled better.

"I understand you and your husband want your privacy, Mrs. Landseer.  I'm not trying to impose in any way.  Still, if you could just let me inside so I could talk with you both and see for myself, then I'll be on my way.  I'm not trying to cause you any problems.  This isn't a threat, ma'am, but please understand that if you don't let me in, I'm going to have to call in some squad cars to keep a watch on the area while we get a warrant to search the premises."

"A warrant?" I asked.  "Don't you need probable cause or some sort of reason for that?  It's just me and my husband.  I really don't mean to be rude, but..."

"We've been searching for Lucent Storme and Elise Tanner for over a day now.  No one's been in contact with them, from what we've heard.  They're potentially in some deep trouble, but we just want to bring them in for questioning first.  We believe that at least one of them is the cause for the fire at your mansion the other night.  I know it must be a shock with everything that's going on, though.  It's always hard when we can't trust the ones that are closest to us.  You were close to Lucent and Elise, weren't you?"

"I really don't think they started the fire," I said.

He shrugged.  "Maybe not.  Maybe they did?  That's why we need to bring them in for questioning."

"Well, they aren't here," I said, firm.

He smiled.  He was either incredibly patient, or he didn't believe a word I said.  "Can I please come inside for a second, ma'am?  I promise it won't take long.  If they aren't there, then it's just in, out, and we can both be on our way."

"Why do you think they're here?" I asked.

"When our initial search didn't turn up anything, we did a trace and track on their cell phones.  Lucent's phone didn't turn up much, but according to our records, Elise called you last night.  Also, again according to our records, her phone is in your apartment right now."

I stared at him blankly, mouth dry, lips tight together.  Briefly, I wondered what would happen if I slammed the door shut right now, went to get Asher, Lucent, and Elise, and... what?  None of us had a car to escape in, and I really didn't think that'd work all that well, anyways.  If this were the mansion, perhaps.  As it was, my old apartment building wasn't quite the sturdiest place in the world.  I was fairly positive that this police officer could bust down my door in a matter of seconds.  It was just him here right now, but he probably had back up waiting outside, too?

I had no idea.  I didn't know anything about proper police procedure.

"Can I come in, ma'am?" he asked again.

"Yes, just... yes, you can, but they aren't here.  My husband's in the shower.  I'm sorry.  I don't feel very comfortable about this, but... yes, yes, come in.  Fine."

I opened the door wider and invited him into my home.

***

B
efore Asher and I started cooking for our morning meal, we'd cleaned off the small dining table and made it somewhat presentable.  I showed the police officer to the table and offered him a seat.  He glanced around the room, looking for signs of something strange.  Thankfully, there wasn't much here.  Everything Lucent and Elise owned—mainly, their clothes—they'd took with them into the bathroom, so...

Or, not quite.  Sitting on the peninsula counter, off to the side and near the man's current seat, was Elise's purse.  Which, I thought, probably had her phone in it.  Which, again, was... kind of incriminating evidence, wasn't it?  Er... whoops?

This wasn't looking good.

"Do you want something to drink?" I asked him.

He shook his head.  "No, thank you.  Do you mind if I take a look around now?" he asked.  "It won't take long."

"I'm not sure I feel comfortable with that," I said.  "Um... do you mind waiting until my husband is out of the shower first?"

He nodded politely.  "That's fine.  Can you let him know I'm here?  I don't want to rush anything, but I'm sure we all have better things to be doing."

"Yes, right.  Uh..."  I checked his shirt for a badge and a name or something?  Truthfully, I didn't know what I was looking for.

"Dean," he said, guessing at what I was doing.  "Officer Dean Thompson."

"Alright," I said with a nod.  "Just... just hold on a moment."

I hurried to the bathroom door, taking small, tiny steps.  When I was right outside it, I knocked.  I didn't know why I knocked.  Did wives usually knock on the bathroom door when their husbands were taking a shower?  I certainly hadn't ever done it before.  I usually just went right in.

"Asher?" I called out.  "There's a police officer here.  Officer Dean Thompson.  He thinks that Lucent and Elise might be hiding in here?  He wants to look around.  I'm... uh... I'm just a little nervous, though?  You know, all that's going on?  I asked him to wait until you were done in the bathroom, so..."

"Alright, honey," Asher said.  I didn't think he'd ever called me that before, but it sounded good?  Maybe?  "I'll be out in a second.  I'm sure everything's going to be fine."

Yes, well, I was sure everything wasn't going to be fine, because Lucent and Elise were in the bathroom and Officer Thompson would definitely want to check in there for them, and then... well, that was it.  They were in there, and he'd find them.  Not much more to it, really.

I had frying pans?  That sounded extremely illegal and wrong, though.  What was the punishment for assaulting a police officer with a frying pan?  Probably nothing good.  Also aiding and abetting fugitives or something.  They weren't exactly fugitives yet, but if I was trying to hide them from the law, that uh... that didn't look good for anyone.

Or did it?  Why would I hide Lucent and Elise from the police if they set Asher's mansion on fire?  Or did that not matter?  I didn't know how this worked.

I ignored it for now and went back to the kitchen area.  I sat in the chair opposite Officer Dean and nodded politely.

"Nice day today, isn't it?" I asked.

"Yes, ma'am, it's a nice, sunny day out.  Good weather we're having," he said.

"Are you sure you don't want a drink?" I asked.

"No, thank you, ma'am."

"You can call me Jessika," I said.  "Jessika is fine.  Can I call you Dean?"

He nodded.  "Sure.  That's fine by me."

"Alright."

That's how that conversation went.  Then we sat there in silence, occasionally glancing at one another.  I felt like I was on some awkward high school date, where neither of us knew what we were doing, nor how we were going to progress past dinner.  Except we didn't even have any food to occupy the time.

I decided to take drastic measures.  I planned them for a quick second, then I sprang into action.

"You mentioned that Elise's phone called my phone," I said.

He nodded.  "Yes, according to the phone records.  Do you want to tell me what she called you about?  Did she sound distressed?  Alarmed?  Hurt?  This is off the record, but we're less suspicious of her than of Lucent Storme, for various reasons.  I can't go into the exact details, of course."

"No, no," I said, nodding.  "Yes, of course, I understand that.  The thing is, she didn't call me."

"We have accurate records showing she called you," he said, deliberate, yet not harshly.

"No, I mean... her phone called me.  That's true.  I didn't explain that well.  See, um..."  I got up and went to the counter and fetched Elise's purse.  Rummaging through it, I pulled out her phone.

"She must have dropped it," I said.  "Jeremy found it and he gave it to me to hold onto for her, since Elise and I work together, so I was going to give it back to her, and—"

Dean interrupted me.  "Jeremy?"

"Oh, that's Asher's driver.  He drives me around, too.  He's very nice.  Good at driving.  That's his job, so..."

I must have sounded like an idiot, but he just nodded at me.  "Sure.  Alright."

"So... this is going to sound very stupid, but I couldn't find
my
phone last night.  And you know how if you're with someone you who has their phone and you can't find your phone, you ask them to call you so it rings?"

Dean nodded.  "Mhm."

"Well, that's all that happened," I said, finishing everything up.  Whew!  That wasn't as hard as I thought.  It sounded believable, too.  This was good.

"I don't want to sound skeptical, but the phone call lasted for a good while, Jessika," he said.

Oh.  Well...  I shrugged.  "I really couldn't find it.  I heard it, you know?  The ring.  I keep it low, though.  It rings and it vibrates, so usually I just feel it more than I hear it, but I heard it last night and I just couldn't figure out where it was and... well, then I found it."

He nodded, looking more than doubtful, one eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"It fell between the couch cushions," I added.  "It's in the bedroom now if you want me to go get it?"

"No need, ma'am," he said.

I nodded.  Nodded again.  Kept nodding.

"Can you explain the message you left on Elise Tanner's voicemail, then?" he asked.

"Message?" I asked.  Oh shit.  I didn't want to be vulgar, even in my mind, but this was just an "Oh shit" kind of moment, you know?

"I don't have an official transcript on me, so forgive me for paraphrasing," he said.  "The general gist of it  sounded like you knew exactly where she was, that your husband, Asher Landseer, had spoken with Lucent the night before, and Jeremy, which you've informed me is the name of your driver, was coming."

"Oh," I said.  "I can explain that."

Dean smiled, patient and quiet.  I was absolutely positive he didn't believe me right now.  "Sure.  Go on?"

"Well, I found my phone eventually, so... I thought I'd call Elise's phone after."

"And leave her a message," he added for me.  "Which she'd be able to listen to, since she didn't have her phone on her."  He sure was making it rather evident that he didn't believe me, wasn't he?

"You can call your own phone and press some number to listen to your messages, you know?  I thought I'd leave a message just in case she did that," I said.

"Sure, we can go with that."

"And... the part with Asher is confusing.  I was kind of nervous at the time.  I was talking about something else.  We had some problems at work, you know?  Landseer Tower.  Lucent and Asher were trying to figure that out, so... well, it's silly now that I think about it.  None of that was really important."

"The part with Jeremy?" Dean asked.

I tried to think.  What had I said exactly?  "I didn't mean that Jeremy was coming to get Elise," I said.  "I don't know where Elise is, so that'd be kind of impossible, anyways.  Jeremy was coming here, to bring Asher and I uh... well, he brought us ice cream.  Again, I realize that's not exactly logical, but he really did.  We kind of ate it all, though.  Do you want to see the empty containers?"