AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shrug. “I don’t really remember.”
“Try,” he says firmly.
“Do you remember what you did three months ago on an uneventful night?”
“Look, Ms. Graham, we can either do this here or take you down to headquarters. I suggest you check your memory.”
I peer at him. “I think I’d like to call my lawyer.”
“Why?” Hall interjects, finally coming alive. “What’ve you got to hide?”
“Nothing, I just don’t like being harassed, Agent Hall. I told you I don’t remember the specifics of that night other than what I’ve already told you.”
“Really?” Hall says, rising from his chair with a folder in hand. “Maybe these photos will jog your memory.” He opens the folder and fans the photos out on the desk.
Immediately, I recognize them as me and Sebastian leaving Last Call after he’d rescued me from Sergei. How in the hell did they get these? If they saw us leave, wouldn’t they have seen Bash arrive…without me? I suspect they must only have the departure photos or else they’d totally have busted me for lying about Sebastian picking me up from work being as he would’ve arrived at Last Call without me.
In the photo, I’m looking shellshocked and wearing a coat that’s obviously too big for me and clunky shoes. Thank God Bash had the good sense to clean up and change clothes before we got in his car to go home. His license plate is showing so it’s no use lying about our identity.
I gamble everything on the notion that his is all they have.
A smile springs to my face and I tap the photo. “Ah, that’s right, we stopped off at Last Call for food. It’s his best friend’s establishment. I’m not crazy about it, being a strip club and all, but the food is decent.”
“Where are the bags of food?” Hall asks as Roberts watches me closely.
“We decided to eat there so Bash could catch up with his buddy.”
“Oh, so it’s all coming back to you now?” Hall says failing to hide his annoyance.
I shrug. “Your memory would come back too if someone showed you photos from the evening that took place months ago.”
“Why are you dressed like that?” Hall presses.
I examine the photos and chuckle self-deprecatingly. “Yeah, I’m such a klutz at times. While there, I bumped into a waiter carrying a tray of drinks and it went all over me, down my scrubs and into my shoes. So, I had to borrow Bash’s coat and someone’s shoes.” Was this their smoking gun?
“Ms. Graham,” Roberts raises his voice. “Sergei Petrosky was last spotted at Last Call on the night of November 28th at around 6:20pm but was never seen leaving. Sebastian was observed leaving Last Call at 7:30pm that same night that Sergei managed to vanish into thin air. Our sources tell us that Sebastian Petrosky is the new head of that crime family, the only reason they’d name a new head is because the current one is dead, not simply missing.”
I sit patiently letting the silence stretch out for a bit before I say, “I’m sorry, was there a question in there somewhere?”
“Let us paint the timeline, lady,” Hall says planting his hands on the desk and leaning in at me. “You finished work at 6:30pm but you’re never seen leaving the garage, you just seem to vanish into thin air. You see, we reviewed the camera footage of the back of the hospital that night, at no time are you seen departing the hospital nor is any car of Sebastian’s description seen pulling up to give you a lift. The next time you are spotted is here,” he jabs a finger at the photos, “looking pretty rough wearing nothing but a man’s coat and someone else’s shoes, leaving out the back of Last Call with Sebastian. It appears to us that this is where he found you after work, but unless you’ve taken up stripping for extra money, what would you have been doing there?”
My heart races but my mouth remains clamped shut.
“I’d suggest you were stripping, but with a rich boyfriend like Sebastian that would hardly be necessary and besides he doesn’t look too thrilled to see you there. If anything, he looked pretty pissed. Which leads me to believe, you weren’t there of your own volition and Sebastian arrived to take you home.”
I clasp my hands in my lap to hold them steady.
“What we can’t figure out is how the hell did you get there since your car, and yes, the cops checked, was still in the parking deck where you left it that morning. Which means you didn’t drive yourself to Last Call, somebody took you there and it sure as hell wasn’t Sebastian.” Hall leans in so far I fear he’ll topple over the desk. “How did you get to Last Call the night of November 28th?”
I swallow in a dry throat. “I’ve already told you.”
Hall slams his hand down on the desk top. “Alright, get up, we’re taking you down to headquarters. Call your attorney and tell him to meet you down there.”
Oh, my God, they’re serious.
Hall is removing cuffs from his hip and moving toward me. I get up and back away. “You can’t do this, on what grounds are you arresting me?”
“Obstruction of justice,” Hall says cornering me.
