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“What?” Her voice was shrill, shock raising its volume far too loud for a man who’d been out of it only a moment earlier. “That’s ridiculous? This isn’t the wild west. It’s bloody Sydney. That’s got to be illegal.” She reached for the phone again, but Jake put his hand on hers, stilling her movements. He entwined their fingers, and she wrapped an arm around him, grateful that he didn’t appear to be hurt too badly. “They have Phoenix, Jake. What if they hurt him?”
“Fuck.” He rubbed his forehead with his free hand. “I don’t think he’d do that… but I don’t know. I don’t trust them.”
“We need to call the police then and get him back,” Cassidy urged.
“My father operates in a grey area filled with shadows and secret handshakes.” He shifted, sliding down a little so he could rest his head on Cassidy’s shoulder and sighed. But it wasn’t one of contentment. It was weighted. Heavy. “He’s a lawyer, but he doesn’t do normal legal work. He fixes problems for people in powerful positions, but he has a high price. Instead of getting paid in billable hours like a normal lawyer, he stockpiles favours. He does something for you, and he expects a favour in return in the future. Sometimes it’s legal, and other times not so much. But when he calls it in, he expects you to comply, or he makes public whatever dirt he holds.” He huffed out a laugh that held no humour. “He’s been responsible for anything from the end of marriages and the ousting of politicians at every level of government, right through to people serving life in prison or avoiding it. He has eyes everywhere too.”
“He threatened both of us, and his goon took Phoenix. We need to go to the police, Jake. Call someone. Anyone. We can’t just do nothing.” Cassidy shifted, trying to dial again, but before she could, Jake’s phone rang from across the room.
He sighed and stood up, walking slightly unsteadily to the chair his jacket was slung over. It stopped ringing before he picked it up, but when he looked at the screen, he closed his eyes and shook his head. Blowing out a breath, Jake pressed a few buttons, bringing the phone to his ear. “Charles, hi,” he answered after a moment. He nodded. Nodded again and said, “Yeah. I’ll come in and clean out my office.” A pause. He shook his head and pursed his lips. “Fine.” He lowered his phone and grasped the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “That was my boss, my father’s best mate. I don’t have a job anymore. Apparently, he just accepted my letter of resignation to finish immediately.”
“What? You didn’t send him anything.”
Jake sighed. “This is what my father does. I wasn’t even supposed to be working with Charles. I was accepted into the residential division, but my father pushed for me to be in commercial. He had more control that way. Now he’s telling me he’s pissed.”
“Fuck that,” Cassidy muttered and called the police. The man might have thought he was untouchable, but Cassidy was not going to back down.
*****
They’d been out all morning, combing the streets around Jacob’s apartment, searching every inch of the nearby park. They’d shouted themselves hoarse. But nothing. There was no sign of Phoenix. The police had come and gone too, telling them to wait for a call, and Cassidy and Jacob had gone straight out again, this time driving around. But all they did was cover the same ground they’d covered on foot. Cassidy was shaking, panic clawing at her throat. Was he hurt? Had the man working for Jacob’s father just pushed him onto the street? Put him in a rideshare or a cab and sent him home? Or had he done something far more sinister?
Cassidy’s mind was running in circles, and she was fighting against imagining every worse-case scenario. She couldn’t fathom it. Refused to believe that something worse than Phoenix going home had happened.
But as the hours ticked by, it was becoming harder.
When Cassidy’s phone buzzed, she jumped for it, fumbling as she lifted the device. She frowned. The name that appeared wasn’t someone she’d expected to hear from. Frank Walker was one of her smaller clients, but he was also a favourite. Summoning all her professionalism, she answered, amazed that her voice was steady. “Frank, good to hear from you. How can I help?”
“Cassidy, sorry to call you on a Sunday, but this can’t wait until tomorrow. We’ve been reconsidering our representation, and as of Monday, we’ll be transferring our properties away from CIR to another agency.”
His words were like a slap to the face, shocking in their intensity. “Oh, um,” she stammered. The niggle of concern that Jake’s father wielded more influence than she had given him credit for grew, and her concern for Phoenix ratcheted up. Surely this was a coincidence, though. “Okay. May I ask why?”
“I’d actually prefer not to say.” She looked at Jake, wide-eyed, and he scooted closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Through the phone she heard the rustling of papers in the background. “I need to go, but Cassidy?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you. It’s been a pleasure working with you.” She opened her mouth to ask why they were leaving if it had been such a pleasure. What had she done? But the line was already dead.
“You okay?” Jake asked, his brow furrowed and lips turned down in a frown.
“That was one of my clients. They’re pulling their properties from me,” Cassidy explained, hating the vulnerability in her voice. The uncertainty and confusion too. The fear that his father was responsible. If he could persuade a client with whom she had a great relationship to move their work, what else could he do? What else had he already done?
Jake ran his fingers through her hair and tugged her close, wrapping Cassidy in his embrace. She rested in his arms but couldn’t relax like she wanted to. Klaxons wailed in the back of her mind, telling her to get as far away from Maxwell Denyer as she could.
Moments later, Jake’s phone rang. It was the police, but not the officer he’d expected. Jake put the phone on speaker. “Sorry, what was your name again?” he asked.
“Mr Denyer. I’m Senior Sergeant Campbell. I have taken over the investigation from Constable Moynihan.” Cassidy flicked her gaze to Jake. He’d paled, his jaw clenching hard.
With a small shake of his head and a huff of breath, he said, “I have Cassidy here with me, Sir. You’re on speaker.”
“Hello, Miss Phillips. I have some news for you both in relation to Mr Phoenix Black. We contacted Mr Black within the last hour. He assured us that he was unharmed as you had reported. We spoke about your allegations against Mr Denyer Snr, and he provided us with his explanation. Your stories do not match, Mr Denyer and Miss Phillips. The allegations you made against Mr Denyer Snr are serious, and yet, it seems that the most damning evidence is against the two of you.”
“What?” Cassidy demanded. “What evidence?”
“Mr Black has declined to press charges against you—”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Cassidy threw her hands up in the air and stood, unable to contain the sudden burst of anger surging through her. “We were assaulted, just like him. How is there evidence against us? What is the evidence? We deserve to know.” Her voice rose until it was shrill in pitch as she yelled at the police officer.
Jake gave her a sad smile and pressed a button on the phone before saying in a resigned voice, “This is what my father does.” The police officer kept speaking, but it was white noise in Cassidy’s ears. Everything turned fuzzy around the edges, and she couldn’t concentrate on his words. She couldn’t fathom how their story had become so twisted unless there were people lying.
