“Shit,” the officer said as he opened the door to the small meeting room.
Chapter Twenty-One
Chase
It seemed like Jordan had been in the room with Officer Reyes for hours. I had watched an officer go into the room with some paperwork and another officer brought a small snack and water. None of them seemed to care at all that I was right there.
Jordan and I had not had a chance to discuss her story or what exactly she was going to tell them. I didn’t know if she was going to tell them about coming over from Liechtenstein or getting kidnapped by Escabar. I didn’t know if she was going to tell them about me putting her in the safe room at my house or the men beating me up. My nerves went crazy as I imagined all the things that might be going on in that room. I was out of control, and I didn’t like it one bit.
Then, I saw the Captain as he started the long walk toward me down the hallway. His eyes pierced through me, and I knew he was friends with my father. Suddenly, I realized that even if I tried to keep this all from my father, it was highly likely he would find out from one of his friends on the police force.
But we had moved beyond worrying about me getting my father’s company. I needed to be responsible and ensure the safety of the people I loved, and I couldn’t do that anymore. Only the Special Crimes Unit and Caption George Bastrop could help us.
“Chase, I’d like to say it is nice to see you, but I don’t think the circumstances call for that,” Captain Bastrop said as he shook my hand and sat next to me.
“Yeah, I got myself into some serious shit, George.”
“Well, let me see if we can figure a way out for you and for your father. I would hate for any of this to get back to him. I hear his health hasn’t been well lately.”
The Captain didn’t wait for me to respond and made his way into the conference room with Officer Reyes. It made my stomach sink to hear him say he had heard about my father’s health being poor. I didn’t know what was getting out to his friends and the public, but maybe my father was sicker than I thought. Maybe I had been so caught up in my own world that I hadn’t spent enough time checking in with my own family.
After Captain Bastrop went into the room, it was another hour before I saw Jordan appear in the doorway. She looked exhausted, both emotionally and physically, and I didn’t want her to be left sitting in the hallway alone for hours like I had.
“Thank you for answering all our questions, Mrs. Foster. You can have a seat,” Officer Reyes said.
“Actually, we’ve had a pretty rough couple of days. Is there anywhere Jordan could take a nap or get some food while she waited for me?” I said as I looked at Captain Bastrop.
I certainly didn’t want to be difficult, but Jordan was my wife now. And I was going to do whatever I could to take care of her – especially since I felt a huge sense of guilt for getting her into the situation that we were in.
“Officer Reyes, take her down to the staff bunk room and grab her some lunch from the cafeteria. I’ll get questioning started here,” the Captain said.
“Yes, sir.”
“Thanks,” I said quietly and then kissed Jordan on the cheek before I made my way into the small conference room.
As I entered the room, I realized it was much more like an interrogation room than I had originally thought. It was more comfortable, as there weren’t any bright lights shining in your face and more comfortable furniture. But there was no doubt that the room was being recorded, and we were only a step away from being arrested if we said or did something stupid.
“Chase, let’s get started,” Captain Bastrop said.
“I’m an open book. I’m here for your help, so I’ll tell you everything. But what if I did something that was illegal in the midst of everything?”
“Chase, I can’t guarantee you won’t get charged with a crime, especially since I don’t know what it is you did. But from what I know so far, you and your wife are in some serious shit. You can call an attorney if you’d like or we can just talk this out and see if we can figure out a way to get you two kids out of this mess.”
Captain Bastrop now had the black book in his hands that I had given to Officer Reyes. It was clear that the information in that book was immensely important to the police department. My gut told me that my petty crimes would not be an issue.
“I don’t want an attorney. I just want to keep my loved ones safe. Can you make sure that happens?”
“I’ll do my best, Chase. You did the right thing coming here. Now, let’s talk about this book. Tell me how you got your hands on it.”
There was so much that had happened before I stole that black book, so much more involved in the story than I’m sure even Captain Bastrop really understood. I closed my eyes for a second to think through the story and try to decide the best place to start.
“I had been fucking around and wasting my father’s money, so he cut off a lot of his support. I was stupid and had been gambling, going to some underground clubs. One night, I wasn’t able to pay my losses. Jose Escabar offered me a loan, plus another fifty thousand, to get me by until I got a hold of more money.”
“So, you took a hard money loan from Jose Escabar to cover your illegal gambling loss?”
The way he said it made me sound like a total loser. I hated it. I hated to hear my own words coming back at me from a man with such power and respect.
“Yes, sir.”