Chapter Fifty-Two
CAMILA
As soon as I hung up with Janet, I called my mother-in-law and explained the situation to her, asking her to lend me the family jet so I could make the trip.
It was the most unusual request for a loan of my life. My usual request was to borrow some clothes from Evelyn, it never went much further than that.
The next day, at eleven in the morning, the jet was ready for me. There were exactly twenty-four hours until the hearing.
There was still a relatively long delay for takeoff to be authorized, and upon arriving in Denver, I still had to struggle to find a taxi and get it to the address that Janet had given me.
Thus, it was already after four in the afternoon when a taxi dropped me off in front of a small house, located in a simple neighborhood of the city.
I got out of the vehicle and walked slowly to the door of the residence. I confess that I felt scared when I thought about what might be waiting for me.
Taking a deep breath, I rang the doorbell. It took a few seconds for a small crack in the door to open and a figure to emerge.
A very different one from what I imagined I would find, in fact.
She was simply an old lady. A lady who was certainly almost or over eighty years old. She looked at me with her curious brown eyes.
“Good afternoon, child, how can I help you?”
Okay, maybe it's a thing that comes from being raised by a grandmother, but old people were my weak point. I could be furious, but just the presence of one was enough to completely undo me.
Okay, I was the same way with children and cats. And I suspected that Apollo had turned me into a weakling for dogs too.
Okay, I was a wimp about a lot of things, that was the truth.
“Good afternoon. Is this Julian Green's house?” I confess that I hoped she would say no. It would be harder to threaten that son of a bitch if there was an old lady around.
“Yes, it is, dear. He's in the shower, but if you want to come in and wait.”
She opened the door wide, and I accepted her invitation. As I passed through a small entrance hall, I saw two children — a boy and a girl, both about three or four years old — sitting on the floor, playing with building blocks together. Sitting next to them was a cat.
Seriously, God, what are the chances of that?
“Julian Green has children? And a cat? What a...” I murmured, so low that only I could hear myself.
The sound of paws on the floor was heard by me. I looked down a hallway, where a medium-sized crossbreed dog was coming from.
“ And a dog...” I concluded.
How wonderful! The complete combo of my weaknesses. If I had been careless, maybe they would have had a panda in the bathroom.
There was no longer any possibility of me going ahead with the plan to set fire to the residence if he didn't agree to help me.
Shit!
“I’ll call Julian, make yourself at home,” the old lady said. There was a doll on the couch, and she hurried to pick it up, making room for me to sit down. “Excuse me, what’s your name?”
“Lucy,” I said the first name that came to mind. Everyone knew a Lucy, Julian probably did too. “Tell him it’s Lucy, please.”
She nodded and left. I sat there on the couch, watching the children play and keeping my attention on the little dog (after all, just because Apollo had become my friend didn't mean that all the other canines would automatically be my friend too).
It was about ten minutes before Julian arrived in the room. When he saw me, I got the impression that he would rather meet the devil than me.
He was a large man with thinning brown hair who looked like he was already beginning to go bald, although he appeared to be in his early thirties.
The old lady came back and called the children to go to the room so that Julian 'and his friend' could talk alone, and the two furry friends followed them. I sat there, looking calmly at Julian, who remained standing in front of me, as if he were seeing a ghost.
“It's a pleasure to meet my best man again,” I said ironically.
“What are you doing here? How did you find me? They told me you wouldn't remember anything the next day.”
I noticed he kept looking down the hallway and speaking softly, which gave me a clue that he didn't want the old lady in the other room to know about me. Or about the shit he'd done.
“We don't remember. But nothing that an investigation wouldn't help. Now, are you going to sit down so we can talk?”
“I have nothing to talk to you about.”
“So, you’d rather talk to the police, then?
Is that old lady your grandmother? I think she and the kids would be a little scared if the cops showed up here, don’t you think?
Oh, and just to be clear: my lawyer knows I’m here right now.
Don’t even try to do anything to me, or she’ll really call the police. ”
Looking convinced enough, he sat down in an armchair that was facing the sofa where I was.
“You don't need the police, Miss Collins. I'm not going to do anything to you.”
“You ' ve already done something to me. You put drugs in my drink and my fiancé's, you booked a hotel room and made us go there so that we could be caught leaving in the morning. And you were probably the one who filmed us drinking together on your cell phone, right?”
“But I didn't hurt anyone. I put an even smaller dose of the powder in your cups because I was afraid it might be too strong.”
“How very thoughtful of you,” I said ironically “But what you did to Alice, a baby, could have hurt her very seriously.”
At that moment, I slightly bent my torso forward, and I had to control myself so that the memories of that didn't make me fly towards his neck.
I had learned the day before that I was capable of breaking someone's nose. I had nothing to lose by doing it again.
“I didn't hurt the girl. I took good care of her, even fed her and changed her diapers.”
“You left her alone and defenseless on the floor of a gas station,” I raised my voice, furious at that memory.
He motioned for me to speak more quietly, looking back down the hallway.
“It was for less than a minute. And I was the one who told the girl at the counter that I had heard a baby crying coming from there.
I stayed hidden for a while, watching to see if she would actually go and check and to see if she would call the police.
What if she was crazy and did something bad to the girl?
I have children, ma'am. I would never do anything to hurt a child.”
So, the two children were indeed his kids... Good to know.
Well, but the fact that he was a father did not exempt him from all his guilt.
“Did the Harrises hire you to do that?” I prompted, crossing my arms in front of me.
“Look, miss... I could get in serious trouble if I tell you who hired me.”
“You'll get into more serious trouble if I call the police.”
“Yes, it was the Harrises,” he declared, defeated.
“And the nanny was an accomplice, wasn't she? That whole scene of you threatening her with the gun and pushing her to the floor was pure theater, I bet.”
“When we drew up the plan, we also analyzed the place and saw that there were security cameras there, she couldn't just hand the girl over to me. Oh, but the gun was a toy, I don't mess with those things, no.”
“What a relief! You don't deal with weapons, you just drug people and kidnap little children.”
“It was just to scare you. I repeat: I wouldn't hurt the child. I would never accept a job like that.”
“Wow, he has principles...” I rolled my eyes.
“Look, I know I did things I shouldn't have, but.
.. You saw it yourself, I have two small children, I'm a widower... The only family I have is my grandmother, who raised me, but her pension barely covers the money for the medicine she needs to buy every month. I was about to be fired from the hotel. When Mr. Caleb came to me, he made me a very generous offer. In addition to the money, he paid for my tickets back here to my hometown, so I could stay with my grandmother and my children, who I had to leave behind when I got the job at the hotel.”
That disarmed me for a moment. As I mentioned, old people and children were my weaknesses, and his arguments combined the two.
However, the end did not justify the means. And I was certain that this man had no idea of the extent of the harm he was about to cause.
“You did this so you could be with your children, Julian... But do you have any idea that the things you did could prevent another father from having the chance to be with his daughter?”
“Mr. Caleb told me that Michael Turner would be a terrible father to the little girl.”
“Oh, sure. He's a good grandfather, isn't he? He paid someone to kidnap his own granddaughter.”
“Look, miss... I'm really sorry for what I did. But it's done, there's no going back. And I really needed that money I got for this. Michael Turner has enough money to solve all his problems.”
“I've thought so too. But it was with Michael himself that I understood that money really can't buy everything. Look at all the money he has... and it won't be enough to allow him to keep his own daughter.”
“I really feel sorry for him. But there's nothing I can do.”
“There is. You can undo all the harm you've done by going with me and telling the judge everything.”
“Mr. Caleb told me that he might call me for future jobs. And I can't refuse that. I'm unemployed and have two children and an elderly grandmother to care for. I can't afford to burn myself with someone who is giving me opportunities.”
“Opportunity to drug people and kidnap children? Have you told your grandmother that your money is coming from that?”
“Shhh, lower your voice!”
I laughed, finding it funny that a man that size would be so concerned about the image an old lady would make of him.
Well, I was also a child raised by my grandmother, I understood that better than anyone.
“Do you think your children will be proud when they grow up and discover the things you did? In fact, will you be able to lay your head on the pillow and sleep peacefully knowing that tomorrow a father could lose the opportunity to raise his own daughter, because of you ?”
“I can deal with this guilt.”
“And I can call the police.”
“It'll be horrible if you do, but it's part of my deal with Mr. Caleb. If I go to jail, he'll pay for my lawyers, as long as I don't tell anyone about his involvement. If I have to confess what I did, I'll say it was a personal matter between me and Michael Turner.”
Of course... just like the guy at the bar had done. I should have been recording that conversation, but I hadn't even thought about it. In my naive mind, my arguments – and threats – would have been perfectly capable of making that man agree to go with me.
“If you've said everything you came to say, miss, I think you can go now.”
He stood up and pointed toward the door. But I wasn't about to leave. Not that easy.
“I'm not in a hurry. I can stay here all day.”
“You'll get tired.”
“No problem.”
At that moment, his grandmother returned to the room.
“Sorry if I'm bothering you, I'm just passing through the kitchen, it's time for the kids' snack. Lucy, don't you want to have afternoon tea with us?”
It still took me a second to remember that 'Lucy' was me.
I looked at Julian, who glared at me, then turned his face back to the old woman.
And I smiled my most charming smile.
“Of course, ma'am. I'd love to stay with you!”
She smiled and headed into the kitchen. I looked back at Julian and added, “Maybe I will even stay for dinner too?”