Chapter 30

Amber sat quietly at the back of the Wrangler wrapped in Fabian’s jacket as the jeep made its way back to the police station. She stared out the window and into the night sky just looking at the twinkling of the stars.

Behind the jeep, Fabian’s Aston Martin trailed closely, never once losing sight of the jeep in front.

“You could have been killed,” the detective broke the silence, turning his head over his shoulder to look at her. But Amber did not answer.

The detective sighed, shaking his head, and turned to face the front once more. Amber closed her weary eyes and played with the metal cuffs that restrained her hands, feeling the cold, hard metal. It was nothing like Fabian’s warm protective hand that had held onto hers earlier.

“Redd? I know you didn’t do it,” Fabian had clung onto her hands desperately as he searched her eyes moments before the detective read her rights and cuffed her.

“Don’t say anything to them. I’m getting my attorney!” he had yelled as she went into the detective’s car.

I’m sorry, she whispered in her mind.

She wondered how life in prison was going to be like. She wondered if she would ever get to see Anson graduate. She wondered if she would be able to step into Margaret’s bakery again. And most of all, she wondered if she would ever get to hold Fabian’s hands again.

***

Fabian kept shaking his head in disbelief. He could not believe that Amber had just taken the life of Liam Smith.

Impossible! She can’t even lift her own luggage bag, let alone take a man’s life! His mind was still reeling from seeing the detective drag her away into his jeep.

Just then, a black cat jumped in front of his car and Fabian swerved to the right, narrowly missing the green-eyed mammal. He’d been too consumed by the thought of Amber and trailing the jeep that he failed to take note of his surroundings. V was right, he should have set the car on auto-drive.

He had almost hit a man in black on the way to Liam’s residence too.

Strange.

His eyes narrowed as he allowed V to take over the wheel.

It could have been pure coincidence, but the fact that the man had suddenly appeared out of nowhere made him wonder.

What if?

Amber had insisted she was the one responsible for Liam’s death, but anyone could tell that it was a blatant lie.

What if?

Yes, what if someone else was responsible for Liam’s death? The question worried him, and a name kept popping up in his head. It was the name of the man he had saved from the brink of death just days ago.

“V.”

“Yes, Mr. Williams.”

“Run through the car’s black box for images of the guy who crossed my path from earlier on. Run a facial recognition program for the image as well.”

“Yes, Mr. Williams.”

He looked ahead and saw the back of Amber’s head at the back of the jeep. Caught in his headlights, her hair appeared like a fiery flame. He had to wonder if the man under the black cap had the same fiery red hair and emerald, green eyes as Amber’s.

It made perfect sense if his intuition was right. Amber had weaved her way into his life for the sake of her brother, it would only make sense that she was taking the rap for something she did not do for the sake of her brother as well.

He did not know whether to laugh or to cry.

“V?”

“Yes, Mr. Williams.”

“Check if Anson Banks left the hospital between twelve to two this morning.”

“Yes, Mr. Williams.”

He shook his head. He had to confirm his hunch with V’s findings first.

Moments later, a grainy but visible image of the man appeared on the screen of his dashboard. One look at the image and Fabian’s heart almost stopped, for staring back at him were the same haunting pair of emerald-green eyes that Amber Banks had.

The answer’s staring right at you in the face!

It was Anson Banks.

***

Kirk the policeman was scared shitless. He had just enjoyed the best sex of his life with a beautiful nurse at the back of the janitor’s room only to sneak out afterwards and find his attire gone.

What sick joke is this? He wondered in desperation as nurse Betty helped him into the janitor’s uniform. He was dead meat if his superiors found out that he had been fooling around instead of standing watch.

Quickly, he zipped up the overall and headed straight to room three zero eight where a great big observation window opened up to a sleeping Anson Banks on the bed. The young red head’s blanket had been pulled up all the way to his chin as he snored away and Kirk the police had to smile. He had worried himself over nothing.

But just to be on the safe side, he decided to cuff the Anson Banks’ hand to the bed frame once he woke up. The redhead definitely seemed healthy enough to move around now and Kirk couldn’t afford to have the patient running around wreaking havoc. A proud smile played on Kirk’s lips as he gave himself a pat and nodding at his professionalism.

Yup, this guy’s not going anywhere under MY watch.

But he had to wonder though, just who on earth had taken his clothes?