Chapter 29
“We should learn from our mistakes.”
Shannon
~~~
I let out a sigh of relief, breathing in fresh air once our house came into view. Spending two days at the trap house was no joke. Matthew had me making and taking supervised calls, escorting him to drug drop-offs, and endangering my life repeatedly.
After paying the taxi driver, I turned to see my mom surging towards me, hands out, ready to coat me with her love. “My goodness, I was so worried about you,” she cried out, enveloping me in a tight hug.
“I’m okay,” I whispered, tears gushing out of my eyes and soaking her shirt wet. I could barely believe I lived to see this moment.
“I thought I was going to die. I was so scared,” I said amidst sobs. Her arms tightened around me, her silent tears wetting my back. “It’s okay, sweetie. You’re safe now.”
Ashlie’s enthusiasm as she embraced me from behind put a smile on my face. She traced kisses all over my neck and cheek, all the while crying hysterically. Seeing them like that broke my heart, I didn’t want to picture what was running through their minds when I went missing.
“Your father has been running around like a mad man, looking everywhere for you. We need to call him now,” Mom said when pulled apart.
Barely ten minutes passed when Dad barged in, his eyes scanning the living room till they landed on me. Unexplainable emotions flashed in them as he crushed me in his warm embrace. I couldn’t contain myself from breaking down again, what was I thinking letting Matthew take me away?
“Are you okay? Did he do anything to you?” I shook my head but he wasn’t satisfied, checking me for bruises by squeezing my hands and legs for confirmation. “You can’t do that to us ever again. You should have listened to me when I told you to get out of his car.”
“I know, I’m so sorry.”
He tucked loose strands of my hair behind my ear, giving me a weak smile. “Don’t apologize, I’m not angry. I was just so worried about you.”
Mom’s hand went over my shoulder as she asked, “Do you want to talk about what happened there?”
“It was horrible, I can’t do that again. I had to stay alert every second, frightened for my life. I kept picturing the place getting raided, resulting in a shootout.”
Dad squeezed my hand. “It happens all the time, I’m just glad it didn’t. What happened to the tracker and your earpiece?”
“I put the tracker where you told me to. As for the earpiece, I don’t know what happened, it suddenly went silent.”
He froze, staring at me with a blank face and unblinking eyes. I felt my body weaken, something was wrong.
* * *
The door to the interrogation room opened, the director walking in first, my dad’s absence not going unnoticed. It was the first time he’d showed up without him and it bothered me. Especially because of his nonfriendly aura and the scowl he never forgot to put on.
I sat up, struggling to give a bold impression as my eyes landed on the new face in the room. He was leaning against the wall with arms folded on his chest. The director’s gaze followed mine, catching on to my curiosity. “This is special agent Jeffrey Daniels, you will be working with him to bring Morgan down. I flew him over because he’s proficient for this kind of case.”
“What about my father?”
His scowl loosened for a second as he said, “He’s working on some facts concerning your statements. I will let him know you were asking of him but right now, I need you to cooperate with Daniels so we have something to go on.” A subtle nod from me acted as his go-ahead to leave the room, probably to attend to more important matters.
Jeffrey pushed himself off the wall and occupied the seat before me, the table being the only barrier between us. He was clad in blue jeans and a black T-shirt that matched the cap on his head. He was probably in his late twenties and I wondered how he would be more skilled than the old lads I’d been working with the past months, including my father. Had I met him outside my circumstance, I would have mistaken him for a journalist, a teacher, a librarian, anything but a cop.
He pointed at the camera on the wall directly facing me. “I would like you to know that this interrogation is going to be recorded. If you consent, we’ll go right ahead to the questions.”
I was a pretty observant person, I could barely go into a room without examining it. I spotted the cameras immediately I walked in. It was weird to know someone was watching us but I didn’t mind so I leaned back in my seat and said, “Ask away.”
He brought out a piece of paper from his back pocket, unfolded it, and read through what I saw to be the first question before voicing it out to me. “What did you say happened to the tracker and the earpiece?”
“I don’t know because I did as ordered and gave the earpiece back to the tech guy once I got here.”
“Where exactly did you go with Mr. Morgan?”
I shut my eyes and shook my head. “I don’t know, I was blindfolded the whole time.”
When next I checked my watch, an hour of questioning had passed. I was readying myself to go home when he asked me to over the details I’d give him again. I growled at his request, we’d done that severally, giving me a headache each time. But he kept urging me to do it so I could refresh my memory of anything I may have forgotten.
Truth be told, he was doing it so he could catch me lie, I knew the game all too well. Angry, I grabbed my belongings and jerked off the seat. Without saying another word to him, I left the room. I couldn’t locate my father so I opted to call him when I got home.
Once the elevator door opened, Kayleigh’s shrill voice assaulted my ears as she threw me back into the elevator, her hands enclosing around me. “You need an ass whooping for keeping me on the edge like that.”
All I could do was giggle, I’d missed her terribly. “You should be happy to see me, not whoop my ass.”
“Girl, if this ain’t happy, then I don’t know what is,” she said, stepping back and taking my hand before leading me to where her car was parked. Lionel was leaning on it with a smirk on his face. Excitement bubbled inside me as I walked into his open arms, the longing to see my friend fulfilled.
