Chapter 26

It was nearly midnight when Amber finally left the hospital. And as the glass door of the hospital entrance slid to a close behind her, she pulled out her phone to make a call. There was no need for secrecy anymore. She could make the call freely now without any fear of Fabian finding out. The cat was after all already out of the bag.

“Amber…” the recipient answered her call almost immediately. It was Liam Smith, and the very sound of his voice made her blood curl.

“I have what you want.”

She could practically hear him gloat over the phone.

“Come to me, I’m at home.”

He sent her his location, but he didn’t have to. She had already googled up his place beforehand and found it to be surprisingly near the hospital. It would take her less than twenty minutes on foot to reach his place.

She ended the call and looked up at the sky. It was a cloudless night and above her, the stars twinkled to a silent song as the moon continued to cast its pale haunting glow down on earth. She wondered if she would ever get to see the moon again.

***

Fabian stood beside his window and looked at the stars for a long time. His jaw was clenched, and his knuckles had turned white from the tightening of his fists. All this time Amber had been living in hell and he didn’t even realize it. He shook his head in disbelief, thinking back to how scared she would be whenever Liam Smith’s name came up. The son of a bitch had been holding her by a dog’s leash all along. Right there and then, Fabian wanted to strangle Liam. It didn’t matter if he held any evidence over the murder case, the man had no right to blackmail Amber and her brother!

“V?”

“Yes, Mr. Williams?”

“Run a background check for connections between Liam Smith and a Vincent Rodriguez asap.”

Something did not sit well with him. And he had to find out what it was before it was too late.

***

John Grant was working overtime again. What was initially thought to be a simple black and white murder case had somehow mutated into one with shades of grey. It turned out that the person who had been wiring money to Vincent Rodriguez was Liam Smith, the CEO of Smithsonian Holdings. It had not been easy to trace the funds back to Liam. Apparently, the funds went through two very different third-party companies before it was transferred to Vincent Rodriguez. But the question was, why would Liam Smith go through all that trouble?

John tapped his head with a blue ball pen. Its ends had been chewed to the point of no return and his older colleague was fast asleep on the chair opposite where John sat. His head was slumped to the back and his mouth was slightly parted. Drool trickled down his chin as he snored.

John crumpled a piece of paper and aimed it at his colleague’s open mouth. The crumpled paper hit flew across the table and hit his colleague’s nose before it rolled onto the floor. His colleague continued to sleep on. The older man was obviously worn out. John shook his head with a wry smile and continued to study the reports.

I’ll have to call this Liam Smith tomorrow, he thought. He remembered seeing the name in La Fire Club’s list on the night of Vincent Rodriguez’s murder, but the CCTV had shown him leaving the club hours before with one of the hostesses the murder took place. He had the perfect alibi. But what if he had planned it that way?

John popped the end of the pen into his mouth and started chewing again.

Yes, what if?

***

Amber stood in front of Liam’s residence. Contrary to Fabian’s simple but exquisitely designed home, Liam’s was flashy and screamed for attention. Two mini golden busts of Plutus, the Greek god of wealth rested on both sides of the main door of a triple story mansion. They were illuminated by two extremely dull downlights that happened to also be painted in gold color. Around her, a symphony of crickets began to chirp. 

His house was surprisingly quiet and secluded, given that it was just a block away from the hospital. Amber sucked in her breath and pulled at her denim bag. Her hand slipped into the bag’s back pocket for her stun gun only to brush against a strip of her morning-after pills.

Oh.

It was then she realized she had only taken them once. But it didn’t matter, she had a more pressing issue on hand right now. And this particular issue was called Liam Smith.

She cleared her throat and rang the doorbell.

“Come in, the doors not locked,” Liam’s voice called out through the intercom.

They always invite you in.

She pushed the door open and stepped forward into the darkened foyer, wondering if she would ever get to see Fabian again.

***

Anson could not sleep. His mind kept going over his conversation with Amber earlier.

“I’m going to meet up with Liam tomorrow night,” she had said. He recalled Amber laughing over how close Liam’s house was to the hospital and how she would just hop over tomorrow after visiting Anson.

But why tomorrow night? he frowned. He got down from the bed and hobbled around, testing the weight of his body on his legs. He found himself surprisingly mobile for someone who had been knocked over by a car.

Am I thinking too much? Didn’t she say she had the blueprint?

Anson decided he was being paranoid. Yet his disquiet remained. He recalled her giving him a hug and planting a sisterly kiss on his forehead before taking her leave earlier. There was nothing strange in her actions, it was normal for her to give him hugs but the look on her face right before she left his room haunted him.

It was the look of someone who was about to step off the plank and jump into a sea of sharks. It was the look of fear.

She’s not going tomorrow, she’s going tonight! Shit!

He looked out of the observatory window. There was no sign of Dirk, or Kirk and the nurse. Slowly, Anson went to the door and peeked out of it, thanking his lucky stars that the policeman had not cuffed him to the bed.

Then as quietly as he could, he slipped out of his room. The hallway was deserted and to his surprise, the CCTV’s wires had been pulled out. He could see two wires, blue and red dangling slightly below the camera.

Dirk disabled the CCTVs!

A smile crept up his face. Things only got better from here, for right on top of the nurse’s station was an abandoned black leather jacket and a matching cap.

Talk about luck.

Anson snatched both the jacket and cap from the counter and quickly slipped into his new attire. He couldn’t be caught running around in a hospital gown. Especially not with his butt hanging out…

And right outside the janitor’s room was a discarded pair of jeans.

Anson inched towards the janitor room which lay just a few feet beyond the nurse’s station and carefully pulled the pants in his direction. He could hear strange sounds coming from the janitor’s room.

“Oh Dirk…you’re so huge!” a woman’s voice breathed. It sounded like nurse Betty’s.

“It’s Kirk,” was the grunt of a reply.

“Kirk…you’re so good…”

Anson almost vomited out his chicken soup there and then. Quickly he grabbed hold of the pair of jeans and bolted out of the emergency exit which was situated next to the janitor’s room. As he limped down the staircase, he could only hope that he was not too late.

***

Fabian paced back and forth, waiting for V’s findings. It was taking V too long. He bit his knuckles wondering whether he should give Amber a call.

“Leave her alone, she’s probably back at Margaret’s and fast asleep,” the devil waved his hand in the air, dismissing Fabian’s worries.

“She is being blackmailed by that son of a bitch! You really think she’ll just laze around and do nothing?!” the angel fumed, its wings flapping furiously.

“You swear a lot for an angel,” the devil stuck its tongue out.

“The fuck, just call her already!” the angel finally lost its cool and screamed.

Damnit.

He couldn’t wait anymore. He had to make sure she was alright. He cursed himself for not insisting on accompanying her at the hospital. 

Maybe I shouldn't have let her out of my sight.

Immediately, Fabian whipped out his phone to call Amber, but when he pressed the dial button, all he got was her voicemail.

It was too late. She had blocked his number.