Chapter 159

While Emma and Alex traveled back towards his home, Emma continued to hatch out her plan. She would need everyone to cooperate to pull this off. There so much to do and she would not be able to do it all on her own. Honestly, there wasn’t much she could do on her own. There weren’t any resources that she had that she could tap into. However, she had friends and those friends were well connected throughout the city. And she would contract their help. It takes a village, after all. For now, she would keep the grander details to herself. They would all just have to trust her.
The first thing that had to happen was let the shock of the incident die down, and then clear Will’s name.
“We need the CCTV footage from Will’s neighborhood, and from in front of the police station,” she said. “And we need to try and access the cloud drive from his car.”
“The wheels in your head are turning, I see,” Alex smiled. “What are you planning?”
“It isn’t fully formed yet. But, I need those pieces to get things moving. Can you help?”
“Sam told me that they are having trouble retrieving the CCTV footage from the station. Captain Whitlock thinks that either it damaged in the blast or that it could have even been tampered with. The same goes for the car’s cloud drive.”
“Are the police trying to get anything from surrounding areas?”
“Well… they are not too thrilled with Will or the captain right now. They think Will killed a cop and they think the captain is trying too hard to defend him. So they aren’t interested in doing any actual police work. As far as they’re concerned, they’ve caught their criminal.”
“That’s terrible!”
“Yes, it is. It’s also what worries me about him staying there, or even being transferred to the prison.”
“Why?” Emma was confused. “That captain guy said he would be safer there.”
“Sure. Safer from a sadistic criminal who tried to blow him up. But, what about when the captain goes home? Who will protect him from a bunch of angry officers or prison guards? Cop killers, or suspected cop killers, don’t fair well when they are unprotected.”
“No,” Emma’s voice went up two octaves with her outrage. “That’s horrible! We can’t just leave him there! How is that okay?”
“I understand where you’re coming from. But that’s just a side of the world you’ve been shielded from. It’s the other side.”
“So he’s in danger no matter where he is,” she deduced.
“Yes. Unfortunately.”
“Then, let’s get him out of there!”
“Don’t get me wrong, he’s still safer where he is. But yes. We do need to get him out.”
“Okay then. We’ll have to do it. It’s up to us.”
“Well, well, well,” Alex smirked. “You sure aren’t the same girl I met all that time ago.”
“The girl you got punched in the face for. I never thanked for that, by the way.”
“For getting punched in the face?”
“No,” she giggled. “For staying there and essentially watching over me without me knowing. Thank you.” Her voice was warm and grateful, and it touched Alex.
“You’re welcome.”
They arrived back at his home and found Sabrina buried in paperwork on the floor of the sitting room.
“What are you doing?” Alex asked.
“Working,” she answered, not looking up.
“I see that,” he laughed. “What are you working on?”
“I’m trying to draft a press release for all this. Media outlets are chomping at the bit. So I’m trying to give them something to keep them calm for the time being.”
“You’re amazing, you are,” Alex said, his eyes shining with admiration for her.
“I know,” Sabrina winked and flipped her hair.
“This is kind of perfect,” Emma felt a lightbulb go off in her head. “You can draft the press release for Alex’s family investing in Stewart Industries.”
“Oh yeah!” Alex lit up. “That would be perfect.”
Emma left them to talk about that and decided she would take the time to outline her plan. Determination bubbled in her blood and fueled her spirit. She felt strong and electric. It was a new sensation for her. And everyone had a roll in this plan. Even Jess and Spencer. They would need all hands on deck. It had to be perfect this time if they wanted a permanent solution.
She settled herself in one of the spare bedrooms and got to work.
“Okay, I have to get this plan perfectly sketched out.”
She needed to gather all the forms of evidence that proved that Will was innocent of that heinous crime. Somewhere in that evidence they would find clues that led them to the actual perpetrator. That included all the CCTV footage that they could get their hands on. Then they would do a series of press releases about the state of Stewart Industries. Sabrina would be in charge of that. Alex could use all of his connections, that Emma decided she didn’t want to know anything about how he had all of those, to further bolster their efforts.
Spencer was influential in the creative spheres and that would help with Emma’s ultimate plan. Will and the company’s image had been dragged through the mud in the past year. Everything that happened had damaged them all of them far beneath the surface. After they resolved this current speed bump, Emma had to ensure that they did some sort of collective healing. The was the crown of her plan. It was the destination that was entirely contingent on the journey. If they travel the road with precision, they’d never make it.
“You’re busy in here,” Sabrina said from the doorway.
“I won’t be the helpless damsel anymore,” Emma answered her. “Is Alex working on those I asked him for?”
“Yes. He said he’d have it by the morning.”
“Okay. Good.”
“He’s speaking to Captain Whitlock on the low. Apparently, Will’s lawyer has discouraged any direct contact him. Said it wouldn’t look good.”
“Yeah, he mentioned that while we were there.”
“Well, the captain told Alex, that Will had said to get in touch with his assistant. She might have some sort of clue about all this that she doesn’t even know she has.”
“Perfect! What are they doing about not having any leadership?”
“Alex and I are taking care of that. We’re keeping Will’s name out of the press for this incident. As far as they know, Mr. William Stewart is on a spiritual retreat to help him deal with the aftermath of the betrayal and resulting murder of his uncle,” Sabrina finished with a flourish. Emma giggled.
“The idea of Will on any kind of retreat is interesting,” she laughed.
“It’s not a bad idea. When this is all finally over, you two should go on a vacation.”
“We all should,” Emma sighed. “I can’t think of the last time any of us were actually relaxed.”
“Good point,” Sabrina agreed.
“Have you heard from Jess at all?”
“I think she may be shacked up with our friend, Spencer. When I called her last, she rushed me off the phone and I’m almost certain I heard Spencer’s voice in the background…telling her to come back to bed.” Sabrina’s eyebrows wiggled with scandalous glee. Emma squealed and laughed with elation.
“So, when do we let her know that neither one of us will look good in lavender bridesmaids’ dresses?”
Sabrina roared with laughter.
“Girl, you know I’m going to have to lay the pimp hand down on that one.”
The two friends laughed, and enjoyed their sweet moment of mirth. The joy subsided and they looked at each other.
“Who knew that when we met this is where we’d end up?” Sabrina asked, her eyes held part wistful nostalgia and regret. “How did this happen?”
Emma blew out a long, heavy, deep breath.
“Men,” she shrugged.
“If that isn’t some hard truth right there. Men just have a way of making things complicated and unnecessary. But then they make up for it by being sexy and doing magical things to our bodies with those dicks.”
“Sabrina!” Emma blushed a furious shade of red.
“Did I lie?”
“No, but…”
“Then stop all that blushing. Enough with all this fun. We don’t have time for a good time right now.”
“Right. We’ll have plenty of time for play later. Right now, we need to work.”
“What’s going on in that brain of yours? I can see it in your eyes. Your brain is on fire.”
Emma flashed her a devilish grin.
“Sit down. This is a lot.”