Chapter 31
Andi eyed the hysterical woman, not sure how to help her.
She looked like she’d gone through hell.
Her dark hair was cut in jagged disarray, as if she’d grabbed clumps of it, and cut it off with a kitchen knife.
The woman’s hands were curled defensively, as if she might claw her way out of Andi’s apartment, but it wasn’t the nails that caught Andi’s attention, it was the scars on the woman’s wrists.
Someone had shackled this woman. Someone had chained her up for a long time.
Andi held her hand up when Laith started to come closer.
“Wait,” she urged, keeping her eyes on the woman. “Who did this to you?” she asked softly. “Was it Jonas? A man called Jonas?”
The woman’s eyes widened and she shook her head wildly. “No! The monster did it to me. And he’s coming to do it to you! He thinks you’ll like it. But you won’t! You have to get away! You have to hide!”
“Who,” Andi whispered again. “Give me the monster’s name.”
The woman didn’t move, didn’t say a word, for a long moment. Finally, she said the name, startling every person in the room.
“Lawrence Hoffmeier did this to you?” Andi asked, needing to clarify the perpetrator.
“Yes. Monster. Lawrence.” She licked her lips, her right eye twitching. “I used to work for him. I was in law school. I interned for him.” She shrank down into a smaller bundle. “I didn’t know,” she whimpered. “You don’t know. You have to get away.”
Andi nodded. “Okay. I’ll get away. And if you want, I’ll help you get away. Would you like that? Would you tell the police what the monster did to you?”
The woman didn’t move.
“Can I get you some water?” Andi asked.
No response.
“How about some food? I don’t have much, but I’ll order anything you want.”
She felt Laith move behind her, but she didn’t shift her attention away from the woman crouched on the floor. She heard the gentle snick of the door being closed and sensed that she was now alone.
“He’s watching you!” the woman whispered, her eyes darting around the room. “Cameras. He watches before he catches. Then he knows what you do. That’s how he breaks us.”
Andi had to listen carefully, not sure she understood what the woman was saying.
“You’re saying that there are cameras in here?”
“Yes.”
Andi nodded. “Okay. I’m going to stand up, very slowly, and go tell those men outside. I suspect that they have devices to find hidden cameras and listening devices. Will you trust me that much? Will you stay here and help me?”
Erin didn’t reply, but she didn’t try to scramble away.
Andi stood up and walked over to the sink.
She grabbed a clean glass from the cabinet, then poured the woman some water.
Instead of handing it to the woman, Andi set it on the floor near the woman, allowing her to decide whether to drink or ignore it.
Then she went to the door and whispered the new information to Laith and the others.
“There are cameras in the hallway too,” the woman called after her.
Andi looked at Laith, then the guards. The guards nodded curtly, one of them hurrying off, presumably to get the equipment needed to detect any cameras or listening devices.
It took over an hour, but the bodyguards eventually located ten cameras, all with listening devices. They didn’t disable them. Instead, they collected all of them into a box. Andi suspected that they would be able to trace the location of the original signal.
“The apartment is clean,” one of the guards replied, glancing at the haggard woman on the floor. Andi was sitting next to her, keeping her calm.
Another guard stepped into Andi’s apartment, his arms filled with bags of various foods. He set them down on the coffee table, then backed away. “We’re just outside,” Laith assured her, then disappeared as well.
It took three hours of food, water, and gentle conversation, before Andi got the whole story out of Erin.
“We need to go to the police,” Andi whispered, patted Erin’s hand.
Immediately, Erin shook her head. “Can’t. Lawrence is buddies with the police. I tried that already.”
Andi chewed her lower lip, considering an option. “Would you let my friend try and convince the police to take you seriously?”
Erin looked at Andi warily. “What’s your friend got that I don’t?” she asked.
Andi saw the glimmer of hope in her eyes.
She stood up and walked to the fridge, filling a glass of milk and bringing it back to the emaciated woman.
Andi slid back down onto the floor next to Erin.
“He has money and power,” Andi explained.
“Plus, we have the cameras that were set up in here.” She glanced towards the closed door, smiling faintly.
“I suspect that my guy’s bodyguards have already traced the signal from the cameras to the source, which will add illegal wire-tapping to the charges. ”
Erin picked nervously at a ragged cuticle. “Is that bad?”
Andi chuckled. “Pennsylvania is a two-party consent state. That means that both parties must consent to any kind of recording.”
For the first time since Erin arrived, the woman offered a wisp of a smile. “That’s bad, right?”
Andi shrugged. “I’m not a lawyer, but yeah, I suspect it’s really bad.”
“Good,” Erin whispered, nodding nervously as her eyes danced over the room. “Okay.” She picked at her cuticle for another moment, then stood up. “I have to go.”
Andi stood as well, putting a hand on Erin’s arm. “Won’t you please stay? Here? With me? I know that we don’t know each other, but it feels…like we have a connection. Through Lawrence. And what he did to you.”
Erin shook her head. “No. I can’t.” She touched her head, shaking again. “I have to go.”
She rushed out of Andi’s apartment. When she spotted the group of dangerous looking men standing in the hallway, Erin let out a gasp of surprise and shrunk inside herself.
Huddling in her filthy sweatshirt, Erin crept along the edge of the wall, watching the bodyguards and Laith warily until she was able to get past them.
Then she ran, sprinting down the hallway, muttering, “Must get away,” to herself over and over.
Andi watched Erin’s escape, her heart aching for the poor soul.
She’d been destroyed by Lawrence’s actions, both mentally and physically.
The poor woman would find a place to hide, probably find some drugs that would alleviate whatever horrors her mind replayed for her every moment for the rest of her life.
“Her absence is going to mess things up with the police investigation, isn’t it?” Andi asked, still staring at the now-empty hallway.
Laith walked over to pull her into his arms. “My lawyers are speaking with the police. They have a search warrant and are heading to the prick’s home.”
Andi turned, pressing her cheek against the spot right over his heart. “I’m sorry I didn’t bring the last two boxes to you,” she whispered. “I just…I couldn’t risk it!”
His arms tightened around her and she felt him press a kiss to the top of her head. “I get it, love,” he told her, his voice rough with emotion. “And I love you even more because you tried to protect me.” Then he pulled away. “But, don’t ever do that again!”
She laughed, then pressed against him again. “Right.”
If he took that as agreement, more fool him, she thought. But Andi heard the small grunts of understanding from two of the bodyguards. They knew that she wasn’t going to stop trying to protect her man.