50 Shades of Drake 3 and 4

Chapter Eighty-Five

    "I'm sorry...before we start, can we have a minute to talk?" Destiny asked the detective.

    The detective tilted his head to the side. "Sure."

    Destiny stood up and waited for Brian to do the same. The police station was bustling with activity. Uniformed officers and suited detectives mingled, handcuffed detainees were shuffled through the station, and it seemed that every few minutes, a phone was ringing. She led Brian away from the detective's desk and towards the only corner of the station that seemed not to be congested with people.

    "What's up?" Brian asked, looking down at her.

    "Are we sure we want to talk to him?"

    His brows knitted together. "What do you mean?"

    "He's not even going to tell us if Aubrey was there, or if he's okay. Aubrey might not have even been there."

    "Palmer deserves to go to jail," Brian told her. "Whether he has Aubrey or not, we should help the cops."

    "What if helping them puts Aubrey in danger?" she hissed, glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "What if he really did leave on his own and us helping the cops makes Palmer want to go after him?"

    "What if Aubrey was there and the cops still need more proof to nail Palmer to the wall?" Brian countered.

    She crossed her arms over her chest and glanced towards Detective Wegman, who was on the phone again. "I don't know if I trust him. Why wouldn't he just tell us whether or not Aubrey is there?"

    Brian followed the direction of her gaze and leaned against the wall. "The only thing I can think of, is maybe Aubrey was there and maybe the police are concerned for his safety. Palmer has connections. He has people helping him - there's no way I'm supposed to believe that he is the one who climbed through Bridgette's hotel room window to kill her, which means someone else did. So maybe they're hiding details about Aubrey being involved because there's still a potential for him to get hurt."

    The ferocity in her eyes died down a little. "I guess that could be a reason why, yeah."

    "Plus, think about it," he added. "We walk into the police station claiming to be people who care about Aubrey, but for all the detective knows, we could be working for Palmer. Trying to figure out where Aubrey is so we can kill him."

    "That does make sense." She sighed and let her arms fall at her sides. "Okay."

    "Okay?" he asked, searching her eyes. "So... we're going to tell him what we know?"

    She nodded. "Yeah."

    They returned to Detective Wegman's desk.

    The detective ended his call and looked at each of them expectantly. "Well?"

    "We're ready to tell you everything we know," Destiny told him.

~~~~~~

    Their stay at the police station was no one or two hour affair. Despite the fact that Brian's and Destiny's statements would be recorded, Detective Wegman still wanted to grab his partner and a uniformed officer to bear witness to the statement. He stressed that their department couldn't be too careful in the handling of this case.

    Destiny didn't know whether or not their delicate handling of the case should make her feel more confident in their ability to handle the case, or more worried for Aubrey's well-being.

    The detective asked for her to start at the beginning, so she explained the interview she'd conducted - not in intimate detail, mind you. That interview between her and Aubrey, which felt like ages ago now, had gotten quite steamy. But she did mention to them the fact that Aubrey named Harry Palmer as well as several other politicians in that article as having stonewalled a program that would have helped thousands upon thousands of children and teenagers.

    "Can you name the other politicians that were mentioned in the article?" Detective Wegman asked her with his pen poised and ready.

    "Yes. Daniel Schaefer. Christopher Rowland. Greg Chaplan. Michael Ashford. Trenton Ellis." She squinted her eyes in concentration. "There could be one or two more, I don't know...I can get back to you on that."

    The detective scribbled the names down, then leaned over and spoke in low tones to his partner. When he straightened his posture and addressed Destiny, he said, "Good. That's a good list. You can continue with the story."

    Hours. Hours on end explaining everything that had happened. The article. The accounting documents being leaked to the press. Destiny researching Palmer to find dirt that they could use on him, since he'd launched an attack on Graham Enterprises. Palmer somehow knowing that he was being investigated. The threats received from Palmer, and Palmer meeting with Aubrey. The video Palmer showed Aubrey on his phone, the video he used for extortion. Bridgette's involvement. Carlos's attack, and his involvement. Rafael's murder. Bridgette's murder. Steve McClintock's involvement and shortly thereafter, his murder. The near kidnapping of Destiny and Jeremiah Tiggs's involvement, and his resulting death. The flash drive.

    The mention of a flash drive with hard evidence against Palmer caused the detectives to exchange glances. "You have, in your possession, evidence of Palmer's involvement in criminal activity?"

    "Along with a document from Bridgette, where she outlines her involvement and what she witnessed," Brian replied.

    Once that cat was out of the bag, it was easy to determine that she and Brian wouldn't get to leave the station any time soon. The detective wanted to view the content immediately, and had a secure laptop computer brought to him for the purpose of viewing the contents of the flash drive.

    By the time Destiny and Brian were free to leave, the sun wasn't out anymore. It was playing a game of Hide N' Seek, leaving a pink and purple sky in its wake.

    "Wow," Brian muttered as they walked to his car. "I thought we'd be able to get a lot more done today."

    "Hopefully the information we gave them will help to speed things along, so they are able to tell us what the hell happened at Palmer's house," Destiny said, strolling beside him.

    "I have an idea...but it might not be a good one," Brian told her.

    She angled a look at him. "What's the idea?"

    "Checking out Palmer's house."

    She cringed and shivered. "I don't know..."

    "You don't have to go," he said hurriedly. "Actually, you shouldn't go. I can check it out, and you can stay in the hotel room."

    "By myself?" she asked in a tiny voice. "On the flip side of that, you going to his house by yourself?"

    He brought a hand up and ruffled his hair. "Shit, you're right."

    "I don't know if visiting his house would answer anything. With the ambulances we saw, say we found a puddle of blood on the floor. We wouldn't know if it was Palmer's, or Aubrey's, or someone else's."

    He pulled his car keys out of his pocket and disengaged the car alarm. "True. Shit, I thought I had something."

    "I say, we eat something, and brainstorm, and get some rest," she told him. "Tomorrow, we can start fresh. If we were going to do something crazy like check out Palmer's house, I'd prefer for it to be in the day time."

    "Smart," he said, opening the driver side door.

    "I have my moments," she quipped.