Criminal Detective

Boyfriend?

Both ladies stared down at Adrian, their ears waited expectantly for him to put meaning behind his words.

"Help her how?" Sasha asked. Adrian took a deep inhale before he spoke.

"She told me she needed help, to get out of the manor. She said that she was trapped"

Claire arched an eyebrow "Trapped?"

"Yeah?" Adrian said then looked between the two ladies "Wait, don't you guys work for Adkins?"

"Do we look like we work for Adkins?" Sasha asked and Adrian raised his hands.

"I mean-" Sasha walked up to Adrian who pushed his back further into the wall in fear

"Keep talking"

"What do you mean trapped?" Claire asked. He stared again at both ladies, his eyes held both a mixture of fear and confusion as he still had no idea what was happening. But even with how clueless he was, he could tell that he would face dire consequences if he didn't comply.

He swallowed then continued.
"She told me her and the girls were being held in the manor against their will,"

The ladies turned to each other then back at him.

"How? Why?" Sasha asked.

He sighed "Adkins has a lot of skeletons in his closet. She told me that some of the girls owe him a freak ton of money while others just know too much he doesn't want out in the public. So, he keeps them locked up to have control over them"

"Owe him money? Doesn't he manage them?" Claire asked.

"I don't know the full gist around the whole thing. Amanda didn't get the chance to go into detail before she died"

"What about the skeletons in his closet? What do the girls know?"

"A lot" Adrian sighed "For one, he does nasty business with cartels, gangs, cults, mafias. Does a whole lot of money laundering, murder, you name it"

"His hands are just in a whole lot of bad crap, a lot of bad crap you'd think a man like Adkins would never do" Adrian continued.

Claire stared silently.

None of this was news to her.

"Okay, back to Amanda..." Sasha said.

"Yeah, what did you mean by she wanted you to save her? And, why you?"

Adrian looked down to his feet then sighed.
"I hate to admit it but, we were actually dating"

Claire's pupils widened "What?"

"I know, I know" He sat up "I'm a junkie and I'm not all that attractive but, there was this connection and we just seemed to work. So we made something out of it"

"How did you guys even start dating?" Claire asked.

"Instagram" He said and his face fell. Claire looked at him then Sasha then back at him with only one thought in mind.

"There's a whole lot more to this, huh?"

"I don't care about any of this" Sasha frowned "Just spit everything that concerns your being in this footage out of your mouth, nothing else"

Even though Claire wanted to know way more than that she nodded her head in agreement. They didn't have the time nor the patience to dabble into his romantic life or any information that played no role in helping them with what they needed.

"Okay" He sighed "She hit me up one night, telling me that she was able to get her phone back from Adkins. Apparently, he usually takes it off the girls for a decent amount of time before he either hands it over to them or they have to steal it from him"