In the Wake of Wanting (45 page)

- -
She knows your security code? Are you serious?

- She was a guest in my apartment for a week while Pryana stayed in her dorm room. I don’t really owe you an explanation.

- -
This just gets better and better. Know that I think it’s incredibly… Stupid.

- Thanks for your unsolicited opinion. I trust her.

- - Like you once trusted Asher?

“Please take this from me before I hurl it across the room again,” I tell Coley, placing it in her awaiting hand. She doesn’t even bother to look at it to see what’s upset me, instead setting it out of the way on the island with hers.

She signs something with her hands, speaking afterwards. “Were you getting something to eat? Or drink?”

I spell out the word
yes
. She shows me eat and drink again, and I sign
drink
back to her.

“May I have some water?” I watch her hands closely and nod my head as I get two glasses out of the cabinet. As I prepare our drinks, she teaches me
glass
,
ice
,
pitcher
,
countertop
and
thank you
.

“Let’s sit down in the living room,” I suggest. She shakes her head and signs a long string of words. I raise my eyebrows, waiting for an explanation of what she just said.

“There’s no way in hell I’m going in there again until that camera’s gone.”

“It’s blocked.”

“I don’t care.”

“Okay.” I offer her a seat at the kitchen table, which she graciously accepts and thanks me by signing once again. In my rudimentary ASL skills, I spell out a question for her:
R U O K?

“Do you feel like you’re sitting outside the principal’s office awaiting your punishment?”

“Not really,” I tell her. “I’m angry that those moments were stolen from us like that. I’m angry at myself for not protecting you better. Even though there’s no way I could have ever imagined someone would do such a thing… I just wish you hadn’t been so exposed.”

“How much could you see?” she asks. “Was it clear? Blurry? Is there any way we could say it wasn’t us?”

“We could Google it.”

“I don’t want to.”

“From what I saw, we were looking out the window before we began,” I tell her softly. “And the picture’s surprisingly good. It’s obviously us.”

Someone knocks hard on the door, causing us both to jump. She turns around in her chair, keeping her eyes trained on me as I welcome two uniformed officers into my apartment–an older man and a younger woman. “Mr. Holland,” the man says, “I understand there was a possible break-in at your apartment?”

“I’m guessing there must have been. Someone has glued a camera to the bars on my balcony.”

“A video camera?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll show you.” They follow me through the apartment.

“What do you expect they wanted to film with a camera on your balcony? Birds?” he teases me.

I look back at him, surprised that he doesn’t know already. The woman looks completely oblivious, as well. When they get outside, they realize the lens is pointing inside the apartment. “Oh, look at that,” the woman says. “Right into your living room.”

“Yeah,” I comment.

“How did you discover this?” the man asks.

“Officer… Smart,” I say, seeing his name on the patch on his shirt, “someone posted a video of my girlfriend and me online. We found out this morning.”

“A video of you and your girlfriend?” I nod toward Coley. She waves with tempered enthusiasm. “Hello, miss. And what was this a video of?”

“Oh, my,” the female officer says as she drops her phone to her waist. “Oh, that’s not good.”

“No, ma’am. It’s not.”

“Let me see,” Officer Smart says, reaching for the phone. Lieutenant Mills doesn’t hand it over, though.

“You don’t need to see it. It’s a sex tape.”

“Oh, boy,” he mumbles. “Ohhhhhh, boy. Miss, how old are you, if I may ask.”

“Eighteen,” she says.

“Got some ID on you?”

I simultaneously scratch and shake my head. “It’s in my purse.” She hurries into the other room to get it.

“This sucks snow cones,” she mumbles as she walks past. I bite back a smile; she’d be pissed if she knew I was laughing right now, but I can’t not laugh when she says that. Another knock at the door rescues me from getting caught in my amused state.

My parents and Danny look about as stressed out as I’ve seen them. “Hey,” I say. None of them says a word as they walk in. I start to shut the door, only to see two other people following.

“I assume you haven’t met Coley’s parents yet? We just ran into each other in the lobby,” Dad says to me.

I take a deep breath and finish buttoning up my shirt. She didn’t tell me they’d be here so soon. The video must have been up for hours for them to be here already. I reach out for her father’s hand. “I have not. I’m Trey.”

“Can we come in?” her dad asks, choosing to ignore my polite gesture.

“Of course, please.” I meet Coley’s eyes across the apartment as she talks to Officer Smart, hoping she can see my sheer and utter frustration and anxiety.

“Mom! Dad!” she exclaims, rushing to them and hugging them both. “Did you meet Trey?”

“I’m Special Agent Fitzsimmons. This is Officer Beth Fitzsimmons from the DCPD. That’s my daughter.” They’re not speaking to me at all. They’re both directing all of their attention to the other cops in the room. “What have you found so far?” My dad and Danny introduce themselves, as well, and the six of them start asking questions and sharing details. It would probably make sense to include me, but it distinctly feels like one of those moments in my life where the adults are handling things–they’re treating me like a child.

Coley and I put our arms around each other while I try to figure out what to do. I feel like the NYPD sent their two least competent officers to my place today. Nobody briefed them on what happened before they got here. Coley’s dad could have the FBI on it for all I know. I can tell her mother won’t take shit from anyone. And from the looks of things, my dad is still somehow disappointed in me for this.

“Are you okay?” Mom walks over to me and takes my hand.

“Mom, there’s nothing I could have done to prevent this,” I start in on her angrily. “We’re victims of a crime, and I’d really like to think you two are on my side, but–”

“Trey, Trey, Trey…” She squeezes my hand tightly. “I know. I’m sorry about this morning. We didn’t have any of the facts, and we drew all the wrong conclusions.” She lets go of me and reaches out for Coley’s hand. “I’m Emi.”

“Coley… Fitzsimmons. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Her eyes begin to water. I know this isn’t how she’d wanted to meet my mother. I know that image my parents saw of her is not the one she’d want as a first impression.

“Don’t cry, sweetheart,” Mom says as she holds her arms out. My girlfriend lets go of me and falls onto my mother’s shoulder, releasing her insecure tears.

“I’m a nice girl, Mrs. Holland,” she sobs. “I can’t imagine what you must think of me, but I am so many things that video doesn’t show, and those are the things I wanted you to know about me.”

“I know,” my mother whispers, running her hand down Coley’s braid. “I know. Trey’s told us you’re a writer on the paper with him.” Sadly, they know very little about her, but at least it’s a starting place. Feeling that my girlfriend is in good hands, I walk over to everyone else.

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” I speak over their conversation, “but I may be able to provide some insight into this situation. This is
my
apartment. Care to include me in this?”

Everyone stops talking and looks at me.

“Okay, maybe I did mean to interrupt,” I say, swallowing hard. “Mr. Fitzsimmons? Mrs. Fitzsimmons?”

“It’s
Special Agent
Fitzsimmons to you,” her dad interrupts.
No, I’m
not
going to call him that.

“Daddy, he’s not gonna call you that.
Martin
, Trey. Just call him Martin.” He glares at his daughter, but doesn’t argue with her.

“I’m Trey, Coley’s boyfriend.” When they appear nonplussed by my introduction, I just continue on. “The camera is mounted out on the balcony–”

“No apology for what you’ve done to our daughter?”

I look her father straight in the eyes. He’s actually my height, but more muscular than I am. “What?”

“Would you care to apologize for the embarrassment you’ve brought on my daughter and my family?”

“Martin–”

“Dad? I’ve got this. Mr. Fitzsimmons, maybe you don’t understand what happened here. Your daughter and I were both victims of a crime. We’re also both adults who were willing participants in what happened last night. I honestly see nothing to apologize for. I brought her here, feeling we were in a private place. I had no way of knowing someone put that camera on my railing and recorded us. I had no way of knowing they were going to put it online. All I want to do now is have the camera removed, make sure there are no more, get the video taken down, set consequences for places that continue to broadcast it, and find out who filmed us and posted it in the first place. I don’t have time to argue with you about who you think was irresponsible. I know for certain that Coley and I were
very
responsible last night.”

“Shutting the blinds would have kept any of this from happening,” her mother says.

“I’m twenty-seven stories up with a park view. Look outside. Can you see into any windows? Well, no one can see into mine, either, Mrs. Fitzsimmons. I’ve yet to close the blinds since I’ve moved in.” She’s taken aback by my candor. “I apologize for my bluntness,” I concede.

She nods once.

“Any idea who would do this, Trey?” Danny asks.

“Yeah. I had a run-in with a paparazzo at the airport when I picked up Zai last Sunday. We got into it, and he threatened to do something… something like this.”

“What do you mean?” Coley’s dad asks.

I glance back at my dad. I’m not sure why–maybe hoping for a boost of confidence or something. I know he can’t help me, though. “When he was taking pictures, I was in the middle of breaking up with my… ex-girlfriend.” I shake my head, hating that everything has happened in such a condensed timespan and wishing I had been honest and open with someone in my family about my feelings for Coley weeks ago. After taking a breath, I look back into her father’s eyes to finish my explanation. “He was prying; asking why I was fighting with Zaina. He asked if I was cheating on her, and I told him I wasn’t–because I wasn’t. Coley and I were strictly platonic until after the breakup. Just good friends. But the guy said he was going to find who…” I can’t say it like he said it. “…who I was fooling around with. As if he knew I was lying or something. He said he was on a mission.”

“How did it escalate to that, Jackson?” Dad asks.

“I don’t know. He wouldn’t leave me alone. He insulted me. I insulted him. I wasn’t in a good headspace in the first place,” I admit. “I’m pretty sure the whole interaction’s online.”

“And how do you think he would get in?”

“I have no idea. I guess we need to ask the doormen.”

“Do you always set your alarm?”

“Religiously.”

“And no one has your code?”

I shrug my shoulders. “Aside from you guys and Liv and Jon… Coley does. Jenny does. The maintenance staff lead does.”

“Coley has it?” Dad asks.

“She stayed with me the week after Pryana was raped. Pree was sleeping in Coley’s dorm room.” I look away from his squinty stare as he obviously tries to piece everything together.

“Coley’s
incredibly
trustworthy,” her mother says, defending her. “Who’s
Jenny
?”

“His housekeeper,” Mom says as she and Coley join in the conversation. “She’s
also
very trustworthy. She’s been working for our daughter for nearly four years and for Trey for nine months.”

“So that leaves your maintenance staff,” Danny says. “We need to question them for anyone who may have come by asking to see you.”

“We could look at the security footage, right?” I suggest.

“We need to narrow down the timeline.”

“It’s only been a week since my encounter with the photographer.”

Our lawyer nods. “Yeah, I can call the company.”

“We’ll go downstairs and talk to building management,” the cops say. “We need to bring some detectives in to get some prints and look for other cameras, maybe mics. You never know.”

“Can we do that today?” Dad asks.

“Yes,” Mr. Fitzsimmons says. “I’ll make sure it happens today.”