Chapter 158

As promised, Sabrina had arranged safe and covert transportation for Emma and Lizzie. The driver was also given a password for extra security. The car ride was long, tense, silent. Lizzie always fell asleep while in a car, so Emma was thankful for her daughter’s peace. When she got older, they would tell her about how craziness her infancy had been. Their world was a mess, and they had done their best to shield her from everything. So far, they’d been successful and she wanted to keep it that way.
Alex greeted her when she arrived, and ushered her inside. Sabrina took the sleeping baby girl upstairs so she could continue to rest.
“I just got a call from Will’s attorney,” he said, pulling out a chair for her. “He told me of the charges. They’re completely ridiculous, but the cops are hurting and they are out for blood.”
“So, no one is doing anything about it?” Emma asked, fists resting on the table.
“Sam Weaver is the best attorney there is. He’ll make sure these charges don’t stick. But we have to work fast, before this leaks too far.”
“I’m already working on that,” Sabrina said as she walked into the room. “I’ve contacted the major news outlets. Captain Whitlock already issued some kind of stoppage to reporters so no one can air any details. But I reached out to a journalist and promised him an exclusive interview. So, he is going to help us by spreading a false story that will satisfy the masses for now.”
“Damn, you’re good,” Alex and Emma said in unison.
“I know,” Sabrina smirked. “But you two need to get to the station ASAP. I’ll stay with the babies. Go.” She shooed them away. Alex and Emma rushed over to his car, and he raced over the station.
“Did he tell you…” Emma began.
“Yeah, he did,” Alex sneered. His knuckles were white with the strain of his grip on the steering wheel. “I never got their friendship. He was a weird kid. Not like ‘fun weird’, but like, ‘I sit in the wall and watch you sleep’ weird.”
“What does that even mean?”
“He had a strange obsession with Will. Everything Will did, he wanted to do. Everything Will had, he wanted to have. There was one year that he intentionally matched everything Will wore. He used to tell everyone that they had the same middle name. He even started talking to another girl in our class named Grace just because that was Will’s girlfriend’s name. I never liked him.”
“Will never noticed this?”
Alex let out a long, heavy sigh.
“What you need to understand about Will, especially at that age, is that he was hungry for validation. Starving for it. If anything, all that strange attention made him feel important. To be perfectly honest, there may even be a good chance he didn’t even notice it. He was so wrapped up in Grace… his world didn’t have capacity for anything else.”
Emma felt small for a moment.
“He really loved her, didn’t he?”
Alex glanced at her for a moment and noted the sadness in her eyes.
“He thinks he did. That wasn’t love, Emma. He was an emotionally abused little boy who just wanted someone to love him. His parents were horrible, and until his grandfather really got involved, Will had no idea what affection was. Then Grace came along and gave him a taste of it and he was hooked. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t have done to keep that.”
“That’s… really sad,” she said, looking down. “This whole situation… he must be feeling really confused.”
“It’s true,” Alex lamented. “He’s definitely feeling some type of way. But, you need to know that his feelings for you won’t be dampened for you at all. If anything, once we come out of this, his feelings for you will be stronger.”
They arrived at the station, and stopped cold at the sight in front of the building. Twisted, burnt, charred shell of what used to be a car was cordoned off with bright, yellow caution tape. Parts of the front of the brick building were singed or crumbling. Windows were cracked. The most horrifying was the blood that would forever stain the sidewalk. A permanent reminder of what happened there.
“Don’t look,” Alex took Emma by the shoulders and lead her away. “You don’t need to look at that.”
After everything she’d been through, along with the fact that she was Sabrina’s best friend, Alex had come to look at Emma like a younger sister. He wanted to shield her and shelter her, even though he knew she didn’t need it. But he’d grown to care for her, and so he would do his best to make sure she knew that.
In the station, Sam Weaver waited at a desk closest to the holding cells.
“Sam!” Alex called out to him. Sam looked up, saw Alex, his body sagged with what seemed like relief.
“Alex,” he stood and held out his hand. They shook hands and then he looked over at Emma. Sam Weaver was an older man, perhaps her father’s age. He was uptight and stuffy outwardly, but the crinkles at the corners of his eyes told of story of a loving marriage or perhaps playing with grandchildren.
“This must be Emma,” he smiled at her.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Weaver.”
“Please, call me Sam. Come. Will is in the holding cell. We have to be quick. I was able to stall his transfer, but not for much longer.”
They walked over to the cells. Will was sitting on a bench, his back was hunched over and he rested his forearms on his thighs. Emma had never seen him look so defeated. She hated it. Will lifted his head at the sound of footsteps coming towards him.
“Emma.” He scrambled towards the bars, his fingers curling around them. She ran up to the cell door and grabbed the bars where he had. “I hate for you to see me this way… but I am glad you’re here.”
“Of course, I’m here,” she said as she stared into his unusually dull honey eyes. That flint and fire that she loved about them so much had dimmed so much that his eyes appeared almost brown. “I’m going to get you out of here.”
“Don’t worry about that right now,” he said.
“Why?” she protested. “You’ve done nothing wrong! There is no reason for you to be in here!”
“Captain Whitlock and I talked,” Sam spoke up. “and due to the circumstances that have brought us to our current predicament, we deemed that the securest coarse of action would be that William remain incarcerated for his own protection.”
“What?”
“He’s saying that because some psycho out there is after Will, he’ll be safer if he stays locked up,” Alex clarified.
“At least for the time being,” Will added.
“So, what can we do?” Emma implored.
“My main concerns are twofold. One, I need you and Lizzie to stay safe as possible. I mean it, Emma. This man will at stop at nothing to hurt me. That means neither one of you are safe.”
Emma looked down and pulled something out of her pocket.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“He was there,” her voice cracked. “At my apartment. He was there. He left me flowers. And this note.”
“Give it to me,” Sam said.
“Why not the captain?” Alex asked.
“It’s best that he isn’t seen interacting on a personal level with either one of you at this time. Especially alone.”
“Makes sense.”
Sam cleared his throat and read the card the aloud.
“You can place these… on his grave. I hope you have a black dress,” his voice fell as he got to the end of the note. “I’m going to turn this over as evidence.” Sam rushed towards Captain Whitlock’s office.
“He was at your apartment?” Will’s grip on the bars tightened. The golden glow was back in his eyes, but it was rage that lit them. “That little son of a bitch dared to go near you?”
“Will, calm down,” Alex put his hands up and whispered. “You have to remember, you’re in the middle of a damn police station. One where the officers in it think you blew up one their own. And look, Emma is right here. And Lizzie is with Sabrina. He didn’t touch them.”
“You’re right,” Will took slow deep breaths. “You’re right. Sorry. I’m not thinking straight. This whole thing has me messed up.”
“With reason,” Emma said, reaching through the bars to touch his face. “We’re going to get through this, okay?”
“Yes,” he sighed, leaning into her touch. “God, I’ve missed you.” He turned and kissed her hand, reveling in the feel of her skin.
“I’ve missed you, too.”
“I had so much planned for this weekend. Most of it involved being in bed.”
“We’ll have our weekend.”
“Oh, we will. When I get out of here… the things I’m going to do you….” he whispered, his voice husky. Alex cleared his throat.
“Still in jail cell,” he reminded with a not-so-subtle cough.
“Right,” Will shook his head to clear his mind. “I don’t know what I’m going to do about the company. There is no one to run it while I’m locked away.”
“Don’t you have like… a vice CEO?” Emma asked.
“I did, but he got arrested after the investigation. Most of the high ranking people in the company were corrupt. I was running pretty much everything on my own.”
“I can take care of that. I’ll make a public announcement that my family is investing in Stewart Industries. That should keep stock prices high while we sort this out.”
The wheels in Emma’s head began to turn at Alex’s words. An idea formed in her mind. There were more than a few ways that she could help Will. Men had done enough. It was time for women to take over.