Chapter 46
Drake
I put down the documents, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. I can tell from the looks on their faces that I was unable to reach any of my fellow Council members. Not even Reed and Vector.
“So, there was no information gleaned from the interviews conducted with the rest of the trainee riders?” Councilor Ember asks.
I just finished walking them through a comprehensive summary of all the interviews carried out with the rest of the trainee riders.
As well as my interview with Harlow. The Councilors have the full transcripts in the file before them, and audio excerpts were sent to each of them yesterday.
It’s a loaded question; one designed purely to underscore Harlow’s guilt.
“No.” I shake my head, keeping my voice level.
“Did anyone see anything suspicious at Harlow Santos’s bungalow the night before when they visited with her?” Councilor Ember presses, consulting her notes as if she doesn’t already know the answer.
“No,” I say.
“And Jordyn Simons knew nothing about a cellphone, either in her possession, smuggled in, or planted?” The same Councilor looks down at her papers, her finger tracing a line of text. “The same Jordyn Simons who was implicated by your rider?”
“She said she knew nothing.” The words burn coming out. Why am I being made to repeat everything all over again? “Please keep in mind that if the cellphone was planted by Jordyn Simons, she wouldn’t just come out and tell us about it.”
“Unfortunately, with the gross lack of further evidence, it’s Harlow Santos’s word against Jordyn’s,” Councilor Arrow says from his seat at the far end of the table. Again, stating the obvious.
I don’t say anything because what’s the point?
I can see they’ve already made their decision long before there is a meeting to decide.
A meeting I won’t be permitted to speak at.
I’ll be a witness to their decision about Harlow’s fate.
The writing is very much on the wall about how that meeting will go. This is an impossible situation.
“And none of the information on the cellphone pointed to Jordyn Simons as being the real owner of the device?” Councilor Thorne asks.
Of course not. Fuck!
It was planted.
“The information didn’t point to Harlow either.” There’s an edge of anger and frustration in my voice that I can’t quite suppress.
“Yes, but the device was found in Harlow Santos’s bungalow.” Tairn leans forward, his expression smug. “Everything points to your trainee rider being guilty. It isn’t looking good for you, Drake.”
It takes everything in me not to go over there and punch him square in his face. It would be just the ammunition the bastard needs to put the final nail in my coffin. I need to stay calm, no matter what he throws at me.
“This isn’t about Drake, Tairn,” Reed says.
“No, but he will be affected by our decision, one way or the other,” Tairn counters. “I say we vote now and put this to bed. It’s clear that the female is guilty.”
My chair scrapes loudly against the stone floor as I start to stand, my anger reaching its boiling point.
“We will follow protocol,” Head Councilor Vector says.
He gives me a pointed look, and I force myself to sit back down. To hold back the retort building inside me.
“You all have the evidence,” Vector continues. “If anything new is uncovered, you will be the first to know about it. We will reconvene at the end of business today to cast our votes.”
Anything new.
There won’t be anything new because nothing more is being done to find more evidence.
They all rise to leave. I remain seated for a moment, watching them file out.
Then I stand, turning to go to Reed. I need to talk to her.
Reed gives me a subtle signal to wait.
I do as she says.
“My office,” she tells me once everyone has exited the chamber. I’m glad she wants to see me, too. I thought I was going to have to talk her into a meeting.
As we walk down the corridor, Tairn, Ember, and Arrow are ahead of us, talking so casually about Harlow’s guilt that I feel a growl building in my chest. They speak as if her fate is already sealed, as if the vote in this afternoon’s meeting is just a formality.
Reed squeezes my arm, drawing my attention back to her. She shakes her head, eyes wide in warning.
Fuck! She’s right. I need to keep my control. This isn’t over yet. I need to fight this.
We enter Reed’s office, and she closes the door behind us.
“This is bad, Drake,” she tells me. “Did you suspect anything about your rider?”
“No, because there was nothing to suspect.” I turn to face her fully. “I believe her when she says she’s innocent.”
She lifts her brows. “It’s understandable that you’re upset. You not only stand to lose your rider but your position on this Council, too. The next intake of Tributes is only in nine months.”
“It’ll be impossible to find a new rider within the next three months.
A new Councilor will be appointed in my place.
” I’m sure Tairn has several options lined up already.
He’s vying for Vector’s position. He needs to surround himself with individuals who will vote in his favor when the time comes.
“I’m sure that this is a setup, Reed. It isn’t aimed at Harlow at all, but at me. They want me out.”
“Careful, Drake. That is a bold statement.”
“Surely you can see it?”
“All I see is damning evidence against Harlow.” She shakes her head. “Those messages to the Mainland detailing everything we’re doing at the Academy… It’s clear that she’s a spy, Drake.”
“What is clear is that whoever used that phone is a spy. I don’t believe it was Harlow.”
“She is your rider. I understand why you still remain protective of her, but you have to face the facts.”
“The facts are all very fucking convenient, if you ask me.” My voice rises slightly. “Why was so much deleted from that cellphone? Whole call logs and messages. I smell a rat.”
Reed shrugs. “It’s normal for spies to delete damning message threads.”
“Why not delete everything, then? Why leave some damning information still on there?”
“I don’t know that, Drake.”
“Don’t you think it was odd that everything left on that device was neutral? Nothing pointed to a particular person,” I ask.
“Harlow was trying to keep evidence against her to a minimum. She was ready with a story that backed up her innocence. She was careful to cover any directly damning evidence.” Reed sighs.
I snort. “That makes no sense. Why not delete everything and then claim she used the phone to call home? That it was all innocent and harmless. That would have been the better way to go.”
“You’re probably right. There are inconsistencies, but the fact remains that your rider looks as guilty as hell. She is going to be found guilty, and you will have to step down.”
“I’ll give you my theory,” I say, stepping closer.
“Everything that pointed to Jordyn as the owner of the cellphone was deleted. Everything that was neutral but damning was left to implicate Harlow. You just admitted that there are holes. I believe that Harlow was framed to get rid of me. Someone wants me off the Council. They don’t want peace between Draig and Mistveil.
They’re more than likely our spy, not Harlow. ”
“I’ll admit that your theory holds some water, but we need hard evidence, or my hands are tied.” Reed’s expression is sympathetic. “Believe me, this is the last thing I want for you or for the Council. Or for our people, for that matter.”
“We need to do something, Reed.” There is desperation in my voice. “We only have a couple of hours, or all will be lost.”
“What do you propose?”
“The call log was completely deleted,” I say, thinking out loud.
Reed nods. “Yes, and our tech department tried to restore the information and failed.”
“Let’s face it, Reed, we don’t have the best technical division. I’m not surprised that they were unable to restore the information. I have a friend—”
“A friend?” Reed looks horrified.
“He is an expert at—”
“No. It wouldn’t work. We can’t go outside of properly appointed channels.”
“We can if they’re better and more equipped to get the answers we need. Please, Reed.” I’m not above begging at this point.
“I hate this, too. I pushed for you to be appointed, Drake. Believe you me, I don’t want to see you kicked out. But we can’t go down this path. Any evidence gleaned will be thrown out of Council immediately.”
“Not if you’re involved. Come with me. Observe the whole thing. I know that Harlow is innocent.”
“What if she isn’t? If word gets out that we did this, I could face penalties. I could be booted, too.” She looks scared, eyes wide, worry lines pinching the corner of her mouth. “Let me speak with Vector, I—”
“No!” The word comes out as a growl. “This needs to stay between us. When we have something to take to Vector, we’ll go and see him.”
“You know he’ll turn you down,” she says, voice flat, eyes narrowed.
“Probably, and then our hands would be tied,” I tell her.
“We could be accused of getting your friend to plant false evidence.”
“You can’t plant a call log, Reed. You can retrieve one if you know what you’re doing.
We need to get to the bottom of this. We need to find out who is working with Jordyn.
Who exactly is driving this. I have my suspicions.
We were told that there are spies within our ranks.
This is an opportunity to find them.” My voice rises with excitement.
“If we get sufficient evidence, we can take it to our peers and force them to allow us to act.”
“I don’t know.” She looks like she’s thinking about it. I might have her. I hope I do.
“I trust Harlow.” I meet her eyes. “My rider is innocent, Reed. That’s all you need from me. You need to trust me on this. Trust my gut instincts, please. I know her.”
“You think you know her.”
“I know her. I believe her.” I implore her with my eyes. “You know me, Reed. I’m a good judge of character.”
Reed looks skeptical, her jaw working as she considers my words. The silence stretches between us, heavy with consequence.
“Fine,” she finally says. “I’ll retrieve the cellphone so that you can take it to your…
friend.” She shakes her head, looking like she might change her mind any second.
“This stays between us. I’m going with you because I need to be involved every step of the way, otherwise they’ll say you fabricated everything in a desperate attempt to stay on as a Council member. ”
“Thank you.” I heave out a sigh.
Thing is, I don’t care about my position as Councilor. All I care about is Harlow. I need to clear her name. That’s all that matters to me right now.