AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kendall slides the door shut behind me.
“Halley, take a seat and meet Howard Renard,” Caleb says. “Howard, here, forged the passports that you found and he’s got quite an interesting tale to tell.” Caleb’s smile is cold. “The floor is yours, Mr. Renard.”
The man swallows nervously and shoots Caleb a fear-stricken look.
This makes me wonder what exactly Caleb has done to him to put that particular look in his eyes.
My brother-in-law just smiles pleasantly. The only person Caleb smiles at and actually means it, is my sister. For everyone else, that smile usually ends in a lot of damage.
“I…” Howard begins, shooting Halley a quick look. “Lily came to me with a kid with
her. The girl was nine or ten.” He hesitates then goes on, “We were classmates in high school and I don’t know how she found out about my side business all those years later but she came to me and she was scared. I didn’t know what trouble she was in but she was quite messed up. I didn’t want to help her because I didn’t like her back in school and I was doing quite well for myself, see, so I didn’t need her money.”
Halley takes a step back, leaning into me.
I can feel the tremors in her body even as her face is calm.
“She left but then she came back and threatened me with all these things she somehow knew about me. And she said she’d go to the police. S-So, I made her four sets of documents each, for her and the kid, and she left. I’d nearly forgotten about it, but a few months later, I got a call and this person asks me whether I had made a document for Johanne West and Rose West. It was one of the identities I gave Lily and the girl. I thought it was the cops, so I hung up. I got another call a day later and I took out my phone line. Three days later, my whole workplace is trashed and the roster that I kept was missing.” He’s pale as he finishes his story, “I packed up and left the next day. Didn’t want the feds looking me up.”
There’s a terrible silence in the wake of his words and it’s Halley who breaks it, “Was it a man on the other line?”
Howard stares at her, blinking uneasily. “No, it was a kid the first time, a boy. And then it was a woman the next time.”
“A kid?” Halley looks confused.
I recall the young policeman who she claims to be her friend. But for now, I don’t say anything.
“He seemed really young.” Howard is sweating now. Then he glances at Caleb, his lips trembling. “Look, I told her everything I know. Please let me go now.”
Caleb waves his hand at him.
I watch the man get up, clearly relieved.
“Just one more thing.” Halley slips herself free from my loose grip and walks towards him. As soon as she reaches him, she grabs him and knees him in the balls. Her usually sweet voice is vicious as she sneers. “This is for humiliating my mother that day.”
Howard is on the floor, whimpering, and she kicks him again for good measure.
I’ve never seen this much venom in her face before.
She hisses down at him, “I remembered you opened your mouth. And I remember everything you said to my mother.”
When she raises her foot again, I intervene, worried that she might actually kill the guy this time.
She doesn’t fight me, letting me drag her away, but the look in her eyes is hateful and I never want to be at the receiving end of it.
Lucas walks forward and toes the man, asking in an amiable voice, “Are you quite done? I’ll escort you down.”
Once the door closes behind them, Caleb says in a mild tone, “Good aim.”
“Thank you.” Halley’s voice is steady. “That wasn’t the first time I’ve done that.”
Kendall hurries over and inspects her, grabbing her hands. “You okay?”
Halley nods her head and then looks up at me. “I didn’t know why I never remembered him. But when he started speaking, it was like I was back in the dingy basement while he was smirking at my mom. When we left, she sat in the car and she wouldn’t stop shivering. He said some awful things to her.”
My hands tighten around her waist. “This still doesn’t get us anywhere.” I look around the room. “All we know is that a young boy and a woman called up Howard to find out about the forged papers.”
“He said four sets each,” Caleb says.
