Chapter 29
Jack
A little while later, the doorbell rings, and Benson looks at Laine. “They’re here. Don’t be embarrassed. They’ve seen much worse. Be honest and answer as best you can.”
She nods, her face ashen, as Trish goes to answer the door. In a moment, two detectives enter the room. The air is thick with tension, and I can feel a collective breath being held as we wait for them to begin their investigation.
Laine’s hand trembles as she reaches for her cup of coffee. She’s scared. I want to tell her everything’s going to be okay, but I don’t want to make a promise I can’t keep.
Benson introduces us to the detectives.
“I’m Detective Natalie Han, and this is my partner, Don Musk. Do you mind if we take a seat?” she asks.
Trish clears her throat. “Please. Can I offer you a cup of coffee? Juice?”
“Coffee—black would be great,” Detective Han says.
“Me too,” adds Detective Musk.
Trish jumps up and pours from the carafe, placing a cup in front of them.
“We’re very sorry to have to meet you under such ugly circumstances,” Detective Han says. I can tell by the tone of her voice that she means business. She looks around the kitchen. “We understand that you received an email with some rather lewd photos and a video. Is that right?”
Trish and I nod. Laine remains silent, her eyes focused on the floor. Benson Thomas speaks up, his voice gruff with authority.
“Yes, that’s correct. And several other people she knows have received it as well. But to be clear, neither my client nor any of her friends were involved in the production or distribution of the photos and video. It is not actually Laine who appears in it, despite what the emails say.”
Detective Musk waves a dismissive hand in the air. “Yes, yes. We’re aware of that. We’re just here to gather information and see if we can find any leads. This will be assigned to our cybercrimes unit.”
Detective Han turns her gaze to Laine. “The email everyone received came from your email address?”
She nods. “But I didn’t send it.”
“Did you share your password with anyone?”
She shakes her head. “No.”
“Did you leave your computer unattended at work or in a coffee shop?”
“I’ve been working from home since February, and I don’t take my computer to coffee shops.”
“Do you have any idea who might have sent the email? Anyone who would benefit from sending this type of content to your circle of friends?”
Laine shakes her head, her voice barely audible. “No.”
“Who would want you alone with no friends?”
Laine again shakes her head. “I don’t know.”
“Has anyone shown a romantic interest in you? Maybe doesn’t want you dating Jack?”
Laine looks at me, her eyes wide. “I don’t think so.”
“You should look at Kent Johns,” I interject. “He’s a doctor at the hospital who’s been very interested in her. I told him to back off while we were on a trip recently.”
“You went on a trip with a third party?” Detective Musk asks.
Trish laughs. “A big group of us went to a stag and hen party in Penticton.”
Detective Han looks down at her notepad. “What was his response when you told him to back off?”
I shrug. “He seemed to back off.” Kent doesn’t seem like the type for this anyway.
“Have you had any strange emails or hang-ups on your phone?” Detective Musk asks.
Laine looks at her hands in her lap. “Nothing more than usual.”
Detective Han looks at Trish. “Who do you think could be behind this?”
Trish thinks a moment. “Laine recently wrote a story about government corruption. She broke that and did months of research, and then the Sun ran it for weeks. There are people facing jail time. But I’m not sure they’d want to punish her this way...”
I nod. “I agree. This seems focused on Laine’s friends, not her professional work. This is an attack on her personal life.” My heart lurches as those words leave my mouth because suddenly, I realize I do know someone interested in ruining Laine’s personal life. But I need to be sure before I involve the police.
Officer Musk reviews the video and looks over at Laine. “You’re sure this isn’t you?”
Benson sits up straight in his chair. “She’s positive, and both Ms. Standing and Dr. Jonathan Drake here are able to corroborate that Laine has physical features that differ from the woman in the video. We’re positive that this is a very expensive deep fake. That should narrow our pool of suspects.”
The detective nods. “Do you know anyone who could do this?”
“I don’t know anyone who could personally make a deep-fake video or photos,” Laine says, looking horrified all over again.
But we do know many people who could pay someone to make a deep fake. I keep that thought to myself for now.
Trish shakes her head. “Just about everyone I know could hire someone to do this, but I don’t know anyone who would.”
Detective Han taps her pen on her pad. “Well, if you think of anyone, let us know.” She slides her card over to Benson. “We’ll need to talk to them as well. In the meantime, we’ll make a report and see if there’s enough to investigate. We’ll need you to come down to the station and fill out some paperwork, and I’ll get this into cybercrimes this morning.”
“Thank you, detectives.” Benson stands and extends his hand.
We all murmur our thanks, and then Trish shows the detectives out.
She returns, and we just sit silently at the kitchen table.
“I can’t believe someone would do this,” Laine finally says, her voice shaking. “It’s not even me, but I feel so violated.”
Trish puts a hand on her shoulder. “We’re here for you, Laine. We’ll get through this together.”
I nod in agreement, but my mind is already racing. I need to do some digging. “Can I borrow your laptop?” I ask Trish. “I want to do some research.”
“Of course,” she says.
She retrieves her laptop from the living room.
As I begin my search, I can feel the weight of the situation bearing down on me. My stomach churns. If Kent Johns is involved, I’ll make sure he never practices medicine in British Columbia—maybe even all of Canada—again. But even though he’s acted a bit strangely lately, I’m not sure he’s capable of this. Still, I’m going to find out.
Because I need it to be Kent Johns behind this, not the other person my gut tells me is involved.
Just after lunch, I drive away from the police station, where Laine insisted I drop her to file the report, in slow-moving traffic. My heart is heavy with the weight of all this, and I didn’t want to leave her, but I need to check in on Abdo. I refuse to let anything else go wrong with his healing.
Still, I feel terrible for Laine, and I pray this won’t have professional repercussions. I consider calling Frank King at WMC, just to make sure he’s clear that none of this is real. But I don’t know for certain he received the email. I don’t want to bring it to his attention if he didn’t… I feel a sense of dread about all that lies ahead for Laine, even under the best of circumstances. She’s humiliated, and this isn’t going to do anything for her ability to trust.
My phone rings, and when I answer through the Bluetooth system, my father’s voice fills the car. “You need to cut all ties with her,” he says without preamble.
“Why? What’s happened?” I ask, my stomach tightening. I already know what he’s going to say.
He doesn’t reply immediately, and I can tell he’s trying to control his temper. “I’ve seen the video,” he finally says.
A chill runs through me as my father continues, calling Laine names that make me cringe. I don’t understand his hatred for her, and it makes me wonder what he’s capable of.
“I love her,” I say, cutting him off. My voice is quiet but determined. “I want to marry her.”
He’s silent for a moment, and I can almost feel the tension radiating through the phone.
“She’s not going to be in your life,” he declares.
“Why do you hate her?” I ask.
There’s a long pause. “I don’t hate her,” he insists, his voice low. “I hate what she represents. She’s a distraction. You’re supposed to be focused on coming back to the family business and building our future, not wasting your time on some girl who’s already shown you she’s not serious about her own future.”
I grit my teeth, feeling my anger rise. “You mean the video and photos?” I ask. “Those aren’t real, Dad. That woman is not Laine. That’s not who she is. She has a great job, and she does good in this world.”
There’s a heavy sigh on the other end of the phone. “I know you care for her,” my father says. “I’m sure it’s painful to discover this about her. But it’s good that you know. This relationship isn’t going to work. It’s not sustainable. She’s cheated on you. Now, grow a pair and man up. You need to focus on your future, on what’s right for you. Anything else is just embarrassing.”
I shake my head. This isn’t about the video. He’s always wanted her gone from my life. Well…not always. He seemed fine with her until Mom died. Or maybe Mom’s illness just distracted him for a while. I don’t know, but I feel like he’s getting desperate now. Could he have done this?
“That video is a fake,” I say firmly. “It is terribly embarrassing for Laine, but it has nothing to do with me. I won’t cut ties with her. I love her, and I want to be with her. She needs my support now more than ever. And you should know, she’s not what’s keeping me from quitting medicine to take over Drake Logistics. She would support whatever I wanted to do. But, Dad, I hate that business. I always have. Mom knew that, and you should too. I chose to pursue medicine because that’s what I love and what I’m good at.”
He scoffs. “That business paid for your education, and for the six months a year you spend gallivanting around the globe. As if poor people want boob jobs…”
I pull into my parking spot at the hospital and cringe. “You know that’s not what I do for Worldwide Medical Care. Listen, if I don’t fit into your vision for the future, so be it. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t know when my taking over the business became the main criteria for our relationship. We have someone very capable of managing the business already in place. You don’t need me.”
There’s silence on the other end of the phone for a few moments. “Fine,” he says curtly. “No one likes her but you.”
“I think you have that backward, Dad. My friends have all made it clear that they support her and want her in my life. They’ve always wanted that, even when I was the one screwing things up.”
“Was it Steve, or maybe Phillip, in the video?”
What an ass. “It wasn’t her, Dad. And it wasn’t anyone we know. I’m telling you, it’s not real.”
“It was her. You’re just deluding yourself. She’s making a fool of you and sleeping with all your friends.”
“How can you be so sure? Are you behind this? I mean, you did try to buy her off. That didn’t work, so you tried this?”
I hold my breath, wondering if I’ve hit the nail on the head.
“I can’t believe you think I would do something like that.” His words are slow and exact, his voice cold. He’s raging, and no matter what I say, I won’t get through to him. Because it isn’t about me. It’s about him. He’s been impossible like this since Mom died.
“Dad, I have to go. I’m at the hospital to see my patient. But you need to back off about Laine. I want to have a relationship with you, but she’s going to be part of my life. If you can’t manage that, I don’t know what that leaves for us. I want you to be happy, and I wish you could want that for me too.”
With that, I hang up, feeling both relieved and anxious. I know standing up to him will have consequences, but I also know this has gone on long enough. Maybe too long. I don’t know what I’ll do if I find out he had something to do with that video.