A Legal Trap Ch. 15

"You emailed James Norton, he told you about me."

"I email him every year looking for the best paralegals to recruit out of his graduating classes. James and I go back a long ways."

"Then why have me checked out by Ryan Flint? What did he tell you about me when he called you?"

There was a long pause, "We do a background checks for every applicant, and you were no different."

It was the first time since she answered that Janet sounded like I'd struck a nerve. I could have Paul check to see if her statement about emailing Norton yearly was true - then the deleting of last year's correspondence would look even more deliberate. I wasn't going to show her all my cards, but I was going to leave her with something to worry about before this call ended - like I was now worrying about my job, Jacob, and others discovering the truth about my past.

"My background check was different, wasn't it?"

She was slow to answer, "Look, I don't know what you're implying or if you think there some discrimination angle to be had, but you're outside your league and none of that is viable anyway. I think this conversation is over. Goodbye Elizabeth and don't bother calling..."

I interrupted her, "Not to worry, I won't be reaching out again, I got what I needed to hear from you," I said with enough accusation dripping in my voice to say 'Fuck You' right back at her. "Oh, by the way we've turned over information to the FBI regarding Lafleur and CLogistics in Vancouver. Now this conversation is over..."

I didn't give her a chance to reply before killing the connection. Fuck you, you pompous manipulating lying bitch! I had been used and now she knew I knew it. Might have been a tiny lie to have said the FBI had gotten the Janet to Vincent Jones of CLogistics to possibly a Lafleur connection - but I was determined to stick it to that woman for all she'd dumped on me and screwing up Amber's life.

Maybe in a court of law what we'd found was circumstantial, irrelevant, or without legal footing, but I knew Janet was involved with Amber's abduction somehow. I knew from her answers, her tone... And even if Jacob wasn't up for passing the wisp of a connection in the data we'd found to Landon at the FBI - maybe I could convince Paul to reach out to his new found friend Tim at the FBI. Maybe Tim would drop the possible connection with the RCMP in Vancouver.

Okay, now I feel better! But very much alone...

March 21st 2:31 AM

The pounding on my door startled me awake and at first I wasn't sure what was going on. I heard a voice and then more pounding. It was urgent, maybe even angry, and I almost felt like whoever it was might already be in my unit the banging was so loud. I rolled out of bed, my heart thumping out of my chest and threw on a t-shirt, grabbing a baseball bat I had in my closet before poking my head out of my bedroom to see if the door to my unit was still closed and the lock was holding.

"Heather! God damn it I know you're in there with him!" More pounding, "Open the God damn door!"

I jumped back and retreated to my nightstand to grab my phone, dialing 911 with one hand while clutching the baseball bat for dear life. What the fucking hell?!

"911... What is your emergency?"

I whispered, "There's someone at my door trying to get in..."

"Alright... I see you're calling from a cellphone," the woman paused a few seconds. I could her typing, and then she said, "I've got you located... Looks like an apartment complex, Kent East hill, South East 244 Street, off of 104th Ave South East. That's the Meadows Apartments, what unit are..."

There was a loud thump at the door like someone was trying to kick it in or something. Fuck! A second thump followed a couple seconds later. Oh shit!

"Sir, are you still there?"

I cringed, sir? Did I really sound that bad?! Fuck! I retreated to my bathroom and locked the door.

"I think the guy out there is trying to kick the door in..."

"What unit are you in?"

"203... I'm... Shit, I'm in the bathroom... Is someone coming? The police?"

"Yes, they should be there within a minute... Do you know the person?"

"No! Of course not, that guy is fucking nuts. He's yelling for Heather..."

"Okay, does your bathroom door lock?"

"Yes... I do not know who that guy is...," I complained at just above a panicked whisper.

"Understood... I see this phone is registered to an Elizabeth Gallagher, is that you," she asked almost as if she'd recalled she'd addressed me as 'sir' a moment ago.

"Yes..." I could hear a tapping out by my front door and what sounded like a woman speaking.

"There are two officers in your parking lot, but I want you to stay in the bathroom until I tell you it's alright to leave, understood?"

"Okay... There's a tapping on the door and I think a woman's voice."

"Stay in the bathroom... Should just be a minute. I know this is really frightening, but help is there, hang on... You got this Miss Gallagher."

I could hear the dispatcher talking to someone, then a distinct knocking at my front door and a man's voice. I couldn't make out what he was saying.

"Alright Elizabeth, there's an officer at your door. Can you go meet him?"

"You're sure?" I asked that, but felt stupid. Of course there's an officer at my door! She wouldn't have me leave my locked bathroom if there wasn't!

"Yes, Officer Price and Samson are on site," she paused, "Price is at your door... Stay on the line with me until you've been secured by the officer, alright?"

March 21st 3:18 AM

Officer Price turned out to be at my door and the bad news was there was no one found lurking around or fleeing the general area when they arrived. Officer Samson had walked the grounds and spoke to my neighbor two doors down who happened to be up and poked her head into the hallway to shut the idiot up who was trying to kick my door in.

I got to meet my neighbor officially - though we'd seen each other coming in going from the building the past couple months. She gave the police a rough description of the man trying to kick my door down and hung out long enough to make sure I was okay. There were two a foot prints just under my door knob where whoever that was tried to kick the door in - shit!

When she left I got to answer all kinds of questions about boyfriends or possibly spurned ex lovers or whatever. The one question that made me most annoyed was whether I'd used the name Heather before. Why ask that question? Because I had to produce my driver's license which had my dead name and picture on it from before I transitioned.

I explained I was Trans and hadn't gotten around to fixing my legal documents yet. They made some notes and I eventually got a copy of a police report I could reference should I needed to contact them or had another run in with whoever thought my apartment contained some bitch named Heather. They were polite, but I don't think they were all that open minded. You'd think with as much hate as there was for the police out there they'd be a bit more understanding of the hate thrown at someone who was Trans. Whatever!

All I wanted to do now was sleep, but I was wired. If it would have been light out I probably would have gone for a run, but since it was the middle of the night I was stuck trying to calm down enough to get back to sleep. Where the hell was my bottle of Xanax!?

::: --- :::

Only a couple more chapters remain... Thank you for sticking with this story! Hugz! Rachel