“And that’s just for the arraignment and bail hearings,” she said, “assuming he is indicted, which is a safe assumption. Call me back in an hour and I’ll be able to tell you what the charges are. From what I remember about the story your friend told me, the case is serious and complicated.”
When a lawyer tells you a case is ‘serious’ and ‘complicated’, what they really mean is that it’s going to be expensive.
In the meantime, Erik, Gabriel, and Dalton arrived. They’d come down from Stanton—a longer drive than us. And their enthusiasm and the smiles on their faces quickly vanished when we told them the news.
“Well, we know what we need to do,” said Dalton.
“We do?” I said. “And what’s that?”
“We need to hire this lawyer and get Jake out of jail.”
Among the six of us, we could pool together about four thousand dollars. I called the lawyer back hoping that if I explained the situation that might be enough for her to get the ball rolling.
“Your friend’s being charged with murder,” she said. “I can help. But I’m afraid the price I quoted you is the lowest I can go.”
“Murder?” said Austin. “There’s no way Jake murdered anyone. Not a chance.”
“Of course he didn’t,” I said. “But he’s being transported, as we speak, to Colorado to face murder charges. That’s a fact.”
“Greta seems to care about Jake,” said Cameron. “Maybe she’s got money.”
“We can put four grand together,” said Gabriel, “and maybe this Greta girl’s good for four grand herself. Then we hire this lawyer, Jake gets out on bail. We’ll have it all sorted out soon enough.”
Gabriel, ever the optimist, - it was a desperate hope and a crazy plan.
It turned out that Greta was in an even worse financial situation than we were. It also turned out that she held on to an even more desperate hope and had an even crazier plan.
“These are all the job offers he’s been bidding on,” said Greta. “This column is for the jobs he’s already done. You see he’s been building up his clientele slowly but surely.”
The surprises kept coming. Jake, not only exploring the deep web - I had no idea he had that kind of computer know-how - but he was also making erotic videos and live streams.
“I had no idea,” I uttered. “You think you know somebody.”
“This is all fascinating,” said Austin. “But how does any of this help us?”
Greta opened another window. “This is the money he’s been making.”
“Not bad,” said Austin. “But not nearly enough.”
Greta opened another window. “And this is the last few days.”
“Wow,” I said. “The numbers really shot up.”
“Are you like his manager or something?” asked Dalton.
“Not exactly,” said Greta. “The numbers shot up because starting from a few nights ago, Jake wasn’t working alone.”
She looked at us waiting for a reaction. We looked back waiting for an explanation.
The explanation Greta gave us had our collective jaws drop.
Jake, you old dog. When were you going to tell me about this?
“Now do you get it?” said Greta. “This is how we can save Jake.”
“You mean...” Cameron started.
Greta nodded.
“But...” Gabriel uttered.
“You said you guys can raise four thousand,” said Greta. “There’s nearly two thousand in the Swan Lake account already. His arraignment is Monday morning.”
“So...” I started but still wasn’t sure where this was going.
“We have two nights to make two thousand dollars,” said Greta, her eyes wide and a smile starting to appear on her face.
“You mean—” Erik started.
Greta nodded, her smile now fully formed. “We fuck our friend to freedom.”
Word from the hospital was that Betty was getting better, but she needed to stay at the hospital for another night, possibly longer. Though there wasn’t any electricity in the cabin, Greta had a few mobile generators she’d brought for the outdoor shoots she was in Perth to do. Any logistical concern we brought up was quickly solved.
“There isn’t time to waste,” said Greta. She pointed at me and added, “Pull the car around.” Turning to Austin, she said, “Austin, you come with me. You can help me with the batteries and the lights.”
Before we could respond, she and Austin were off. Erik, Gabriel, Dalton, and Cameron all stood staring at me.
“You heard the lady,” Gabriel said. “Pull the car around.”
While Greta was setting up the camera and the lights - she obviously knew what she was doing - the rest of us turned in circles looking for some way we could make ourselves useful.
Greta pointed at the bed. “That bed’s not going to do it. And the pictures on the wall have to go. Look through the closets. See if you can find some fresh linens. Search the place, see what you can find. We need to turn this quaint little cottage into something far more exotic.”
“Like?” asked Erik.
“Use your imagination,” said Greta. “Dark is good. Weird is good. Whatever. But quaint’s not going to cut it.”