Only Consenting Adults Ch. 24

[Author's note: Adam has infiltrated Jodie's organisation. He has gathered enough evidence to take down her entire slave trading operation, but at the cost of breaking Eve, the woman he loves, and incriminating himself. He has turned a memory stick over to Colette (I02), Eve's colleague, handing himself in to the police to await his fate.

Alice and Fee (HL09) hold the rest of the evidence required to dismantle Jodie's web of blackmail and deceit. Colette's team need to be very careful and very thorough to ensure justice is done.]

---

SOME SMALL MERCIES

Colette was talking to Harsini, or more accurately her boss was talking at her, standing in the middle of the floor at work. Her colleagues had their heads down, buried in screens or paperwork, as Harsini laid it all out, sweating and adjusting his bulk as he towered over the middle-aged blonde woman in front of him.

He had every right to be agitated, but it wasn't directed at Colette, or at Reece or any of them. He was simply laying out the orders for the investigation, making sure that everyone knew which leads they were following, who was on point to interrogate the prisoners in the holding cells on the floor below. He was under immense pressure to make sure the investigation went by the numbers. He needed everything done exactly right.

"You know what I mean here?" he finished, "If we fuck up even a procedural, we are gonna get reamed in the trial."

"Yeah, I got it. Really. It's okay, I'm not gonna fuck up, boss."

Harsini regarded her for a minute and seemed to relent.

"How's Eve?" he asked in a softer voice.

"She's okay. I went to the hospital last night. They're keeping her in a side room."

"Yeah. Shit, Col, what a fucking shitty business."

He shook his head.

"It can't be allowed to stand," he murmured, "Eve's one of ours and they fucking knew it too, so this is a hit on blue. We go all the way on this one. I don't give a fuck who's involved or how high up they are."

"Col, phone."

Reece was calling out to her, and she turned.

"Someone on front desk. You're on front desk, yeah?"

"Yeah," Colette acknowledged, looking back at her boss.

"Okay, I'm done," Harsini said, "Go see what they want."

Colette took the stairs down to reception, but Harsini's question had brought her back to the hour she'd spent in the hospital room with Eve. They'd talked, but Colette had struggled, taken aback by just how subdued Eve had been, how vacant. She thought about the man in the holding cell, and what he'd done to her, and how he'd gone about it, and she seethed. She wanted to make Adam suffer, but what was worse was that Eve had asked after him and when Colette had told her that his confession had triggered everything, Eve had seemed to sag. It had broken Colette's heart, seeing the woman she knew defeated like that.

And now, they were in the eye of the shit storm, with some high-profile prisoners and sworn statements from everyone in Santuary Point. The fact that two of the statements were from the mistress of a senior exec at a major media company and the wife of the mayor just piled on the pressure. The swoop was already circulating in the thin air way above her paygrade, and they were only twelve hours in.

The desk sergeant nodded to her as she walked in, using his pen to point at two women sitting on chairs in the waiting room. Colette headed over to them and they rose to greet her. She held out her hand.

"Colette Masterton. I'm one of the officers on the case."

The first woman was petite, blonde, dressed in a casual top and tight jeans that showed her off. She took Colette's hand.

"Alice Hastings. This is Ophelia Raine."

Colette turned to the other woman. She was taller, younger, willowy, with the same long blonde hair. Colette shook her hand too, assessing them both.

"Want to come this way so we can talk?" she said, leading them into a room.

Colette watched the women from behind, taking in the details. Alice's casual dress belied the fact that the jeans were a designer label. Ophelia's dress was expensive too, way too good to visit the cops. Manicures, hairstyles, make-up, all pointing to people who shouldn't be here at all. She motioned towards the table and chairs in the middle of the room and closed the door behind them.

"Take a seat. What can I help you with?"

Alice looked across at her friend and said, "You go, Fee. You've got it."

Fee shrugged, taking a seat and fishing around in her handbag. She produced a memory stick and set it down on the table with a click. Colette stared at it.

"Mind filling me in?" she asked.

"Sure. We're here about Sanctuary Point."

Fee was watching her closely. Colette took the seat opposite her, glancing at Alice and then back to the younger woman. She gave nothing away, leaning forward slightly and looking down at the small black shape on the table.

"Go on," she said.

"You're investigating it, right?" Fee asked.

"It's being investigated."

"But you're investigating it."

Colette sat back in her chair and folded her arms, surveying the women opposite. They weren't the first to show up. Reece had been covering front desk overnight and they'd had someone else come in, trying to extract information. It felt like the rich and famous were coming out of the woodwork surreptitiously, probing. It all added fuel to the fire, the nervousness of these new faces. There was something on those encrypted hard drives from the Spa that were now on the desk in Harsini's office. The sooner they could get them over to the specialists, the better, Colette thought to herself.

"What do you have for me?" Colette asked, eyeing the memory stick. "What's on there?"

"Evidence. I don't know what you got, but we need to talk," Fee replied.

"Really? Okay, evidence of what?"

"We know about Davis, what he was involved in. Jodie too."

Colette maintained an impassive expression, but her nerves were suddenly tingling. These women had come in from the street and named two of the people in the holding cells.

"And how do you fit in? What's the story?"

Alice spoke this time. "We know what they do. We have a list of names."

"That's great. Let me add them to the list and we can cross check."

"No, uh, you don't understand. We have all the names."

Colette's focus was on Alice now.

"And?"

Alice's nose wrinkled in frustration. "We have their network. We have the people they're blackmailing, how they did it, where."

"Okay."

"Okay? Seriously? These people are everywhere. It's not just Sanctuary Point. London, Tokyo, New York."

Colette tapped the little black memory stick.

"How did you two come into possession of this key information?" she asked.

"I was... uh. I was...." Alice stammered, her voice faltering.

"She was blackmailed into service for them, her and her husband," Fee interjected.

"Blackmailed?"

"Yeah, Jodie. She made them do awful things, entrapping others too."

"So there are others? Who?"

Fee gave her a withering look.

"Me, for a start. Look, Colette, we don't have time. Is there a supervisor we could speak to?"

"He's real busy at this exact moment, Ms Raine. Let me see if I can help you instead," Colette responded with an icy edge in her voice.

"Officer, you need to know," Alice said, "You raided the place, so we're assuming you cleaned out the offices. There are videos. They could destroy a lot of people's lives. If any of it leaks, people are going to get hurt."

"Starting with you?"

"Me, Fee, uh, a half dozen other people I know of. They've been going for years, they're international. You're, uh, are you getting that?"

Colette could see the fear in Alice's eyes, and it made her pause. She picked up the memory stick.

"May I keep this?" she asked.

"Yeah," Fee replied, "Keep it. That's progress. Take a look at the names."

Colette slid the memory stick into her pocket and stood up. The two women rose from their seats.

"I can't offer you anything," Colette told them, "All I can say is this. We're on the case, and thank you for coming in. We'll be in touch for statements in due course, once I've reviewed your notes. At this point, I would urge you to not leave the city, and to carry on as normal. I'll get back to you."

"That's it?" Fee murmured, "We served them up on a plate, and that's all you got for us?"

"Unfortunately, yes. We have a procedure. Just understand that your information will be treated with great care."

"After all we fucking went through?"

Alice took Fee's arm, but the younger woman didn't relent, staring defiantly back at Colette's face. Colette's expression softened, and she let the weariness wash over her.

"What you've been through is awful. There are others who have been through similar. We need to do this right. We need to make sure it's airtight," Colette said. "A close friend of mine got hurt in this, so I feel it too. Trust me, okay?"

Fee glared at her, but Alice stepped forward.

"Thank you," Alice said, "We'll wait for your next steps. I know you'll be discreet."

She nudged Fee towards the door, but before they left, she turned back to Colette.

"I have two boys. What their father was made to do will destroy them if they ever found out. I know you'll be discreet."

---

Colette nodded at the duty sergeant, indicating the cell door.

"Need a word with wonder boy," she muttered.

"Sure."

He slid the key into the lock and there was a loud click.

"All yours," he said.

Colette swung the door open and stepped into the cell. Adam was sitting on his bunk. Colette closed the door behind her and a moment later she heard it lock. Adam didn't move.

"They treating you okay?" Colette asked, "Food good? Any complaints?"

"I'm fine. Thanks for your concern."

Colette smiled at him, then replied, "Fuck you. I wanted you in genpop. They'd use your carcass as a doormat."

"And how are you, Colette?"

There it was, that shift. Adam was way too smart for the good-cop, bad-cop scenario.

"Did you have anyone you wanted to call?" Colette asked, dismissing his question.

"Yeah, but not right now. I guess you have a lot on, and I guess I'm going nowhere."

"Yeah, nowhere."

Adam stretched himself out on the bed with his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. His eyes shifted to her.

"It went well, then," he said.

Colette shook her head, and replied, "That's not for you to know, you piece of shit. You only hear what I tell you, and I'm gonna tell you nothing. Get used to the sound of these four walls."

Adam shrugged, and said, "Yeah, this is good, for now. Just let me know when you want my confession. Like I said, you're pretty busy with everything else right now, aren't you?"

He kept pressing, but Colette stared back at him, poker-faced. This was not her first rodeo, and there was no way she was giving Adam anything.

"There's one thing," Colette mused, "Something that I keep coming back to, that maybe you can help me get my head around."

"Fire away."

"At the coffee shop, when you approached me with the memory stick, remember that?"

"Yeah."

"Remember you told me what was on it, and that you'd give me it in exchange for immunity?"

"I do."

"Here's the thing. You were negotiating to save your neck. What if I'd said no? What if I'd failed to negotiate your precious little bit of paper? You were arguing the toss with me while Eve was bundled up and ready to be shipped off to some fuck halfway around the world as his personal fuck slave. What if we hadn't come to the party with immunity?"

"I'd have just given you the stick anyway."

Adam held her gaze, stone-faced. Colette stared back at him, then she turned and rapped on the door. The lock clicked open and she turned away.

"There is a call," Adam said.

Colette paused and looked back over her shoulder.

"Cassidy Hayes," Adam continued, "Tell her about Eve."

"Fine," Colette said.

Adam broke out into a broad grin. Colette whipped around to face him.

"What the fuck is so amusing?" she snapped.

"I'm not amused, I'm just relieved."

"What? Why?"

"I'm glad that Eve's safe. I'm glad that you're looking out for her. She's going to get through all of this."

"That's a big fucking assumption. I've told you nothing. She might be safe, or she might be in a fucking body bag, and you'll never know."

Colette was fuming now. She wanted to cross the room and lay hands on the man stretched out smiling on the bed. She wanted to bury her fingernails into his face.

"She's safe," Adam countered, "You got there in time, you managed to scoop everything up, everyone. I bet Jodie's down the corridor from me right now, isn't she? Her and her sidekick. Rosa's out and permanently away from him. Eve's in an observation ward, as per protocol, but Cassie'll get her out of there and set her right. Eve's tough enough to get through all of this, and you're now sitting on enough to take down the entire operation."

Colette took a step towards him, her hands balling tightly into fists, before she checked herself.

"How the fuck would you know all that?"

"Because Cassie was there at Sanctuary Point when you arrived, with Rosa. You found Eve in the Silent Room using the keycard that Cynthia gave you. You found the hard drives in the office."

"Or it all went to shit and I'm left picking up the pieces of the thing you did," Colette hissed, menacingly. "You don't know anything."

"I do. You and Cassie had a long talk."

"You're wrong."

"Am I?"

Colette set her expression into a cold smile and she turned back to the door. She tugged it open, feeling suddenly glad to be able to shut this man away behind steel and concrete, and get out into the open air.

"Whatever stories you tell yourself so you can sleep at night," she called out as she left.

"I know it's true. You just told me."

She paused on the threshold and shot him a withering look.

"I asked you to call Cassie. You said fine. You didn't ask for her number though, because you already have it."

Colette slammed the door shut and gave the sergeant a curt nod. The lock clicked home; Colette heard it behind her, she was already striding away.

---

Eve was in a private room, overlooking the park. The ward nurse brought Colette to her and stopped her at the doorway.

"Just take it easy. She's medicated."

Colette nodded, and then entered the room. Eve was sat in a chair, dressed in a hospital robe with her long dark hair cascading down her back in an unkempt mane, looking out of the wide window. The sky was a strange hazy orange colour. She turned her head to acknowledge Colette's presence.

"It's creepy," Eve said, looking back out at the view.

In the distance, a thick wall of black smoke was billowing up into the sky, covering half the horizon. Colette pulled up a chair and plopped down next to her friend.

"Yeah, it's all burning, up in the mountains. It's been going about a week. There were a few smaller ones, but they sorta joined up."

"It looks scary."

"Yeah, the front got away from them. They've lost fifty properties up there, one dead. At least, that's so far. Some of the communities have been cut off. The word is that it's a lot worse than that."

"How big is it?"

"About fifteen million acres, and it's still going."

Eve stared out at the thick, dark column of smoke and shivered.

"How're you?" Colette asked.

Eve shrugged, her eyes still fixed on the brooding horizon.

"How's Adam?" Eve asked.

"We got him. He's going nowhere," Colette replied with satisfaction. "You don't have to worry about him any more."

Again, Eve just nodded. Colette paused, trying to pick the right words.

"Look, I know you're on your own. I thought maybe... uh."

Eve didn't respond.

"Look, Kent's out of the country. I've got room. Did you want to come home with me?"

"Yeah, that'd be good. I'd like that. This place is giving me the shits."

Colette smiled at the dark-haired woman's choice of words, seeing a little glimmer of the woman she knew, and Eve smiled back.

"Let me see what I can do. They've done all the tests, right?"

"Yeah. All of them. I'm so done with the questions."

"Let's bust you out. I'm fucking so done with the questions too."

Colette gave Eve's hand a little squeeze, then she got up to go and find the nursing staff. It didn't take long to arrange; Colette got the sense that they were struggling to work out what to do with the quiet woman in the side room. She came back in and wrapped Eve up in her coat and got her signed out, walking her to the car in nothing but her hospital gown and slippers.

Eve was quiet in the car on the way home, so Colette turned the music on. They came to a stop light and she looked across at the woman in the passenger seat: Eve was sound asleep. Eventually they got home, pulling up the driveway of Colette's house. She reached across and gave Eve a gentle nudge to wake her.

Eve sprang awake instantly, her eyes flaring, hunting around until she locked on Colette's face.

"Hey, it's okay. We're home. I got you home Eve. We're all good."

"Yeah, okay. Uh, okay. Good."

Eve took a moment to settle herself down, unfastening her seatbelt and opening the car door. Colette got her inside, leading her to the guest bedroom.

"Where's Kent?" Eve asked.

"He's on a posting. I'm home alone for three months. It sucks. Look, do you need anything? Hungry?"

Eve eyed the bed, and replied, "Nah. I'm full of shit hospital food. I just wanna crash."

"Yeah, no problem. I'll give you a call in a few hours."

Eve didn't reply, slipping off Colette's coat and handing it back to her. Then she shimmied out of the hospital robe and kicked off her slippers, to slip naked into the bed. Colette found herself staring at her friend's bare body. Eve didn't seem to notice that she was nude, as if it was usual. Not for the first time, Colette wondered just what Adam had put her through. She slipped out of the bedroom, closing the door gently behind her.

Colette wandered through to the back of the house, out through the double doors and into the back garden. She got out her phone and punched a number. It rang for a long time before picking up.

"Hello?" came a female voice.

"Hi. My name's Colette Masterton. We met at Sanctuary Point yesterday."

"Of course, how are you officer? How can I help?"

"Uh, just stick to Colette. This is an unofficial call, Ms Hayes."

"I'm calling about Eve," Colette continued, "I was told you might be able to help."

There was a pause on the line.

"What do you need?" Cassie asked.

---

Later that night, after they'd eaten and Eve had helped Colette tidy the dinner plates away, there was a knock at the door. Eve's head snapped up, fearfully.

"It's okay. I'm expecting a visitor," Colette placated. "You just have a sit down on the couch."

Eve regarded her warily, then replied, "Okay."

"Be right back."

Colette went to the front door and opened it. A petite woman with expensively-styled blonde hair and a touch of makeup was standing in the doorway. She was dressed in jeans and a casual top, wearing ballet flats, with a bag slung over her shoulder.

"Colette? I'm Cassie."

"Cassie, hi. Thanks for coming. I guess you've got your hands full so I appreciate you making the time."

"Not a problem. How is she?" Cassie asked.

"I dunno. I was hoping you could tell me. You're the shrink, right? You know how to deal with this."

"I'll try my best."

"You got the other girl, I heard."

"Rosa? Yes. She's staying with me at the moment."

Colette grimaced, muttering, "This is a really fucked up business. Look, come in, let me take you through. She's in the back."

Colette led the other woman through to the back, to where Eve was perched nervously on the couch. Her eyes went wide as she saw Cassie appear.