Dangerous Conceit by Ali Lee

Chapter 42

Twelve hours and nothing. No food. No drink. Nothing. Lexi shivered as she jolted awake from her nightmare. The sweat that soaked her blouse chilled her in the cold drafty room. She looked around in a panic, able to run as far as the locked office door. Then she remembered where she was. She looked out of the small window on the door and down the empty walkway outside. Multiple doors lined the hall.

It was not quite six in the morning. She watched some bustling from officers who ended their shift; other than that, Lexi was alone and no one bothered to come see her. She went back to the metal chair and sat, laying her head against her arms on the table. It figured they would question her about Kenneth. If anyone deserved to be here, he did.

Her attention suddenly focused on the speaker as a shadow appeared outside of the window looking in.

“Emmalyn Taylor.” An officer said, tapping on the speaker to the room. His voice was indifferent as he said her name, his shadow bobbed outside the door.

“Yes.” She wondered what he wanted. A cup of coffee would have been fantastic. She doubted he would offer her that comfort.

“You have a visitor.”

A visitor? Lexi knew that visiting hours did not apply to those being questioned. He was not fooling her. “I don't want to see anyone,” she said.

The officer ignored her and started unlocking the door anyway. “You don't have a choice, so get comfortable.”

The officer ushered a woman inside, a worn looking woman much younger than her wrinkles indicated. The drug use had not been kind. Her body walked slowly to the opposite side of the table and sat, glancing back at the officer holding the door.

“I’ll call you if I need you,” she said and turned to Lexi, her smug look mocking Lexi’s situation. “Well…look who ended up in jail.”

“Just passing through, actually. What are you doing here?” Lexi crossed her arms, giving herself protection from her mother who sat across from her. Gloria pulled out a cigarette and lit it up.

“I'm here to talk to you, why else?”

“What do you want? We haven't talked since your husband sent me away.”

“Yeah…that's the problem, Lexi. My husband’s missing.”

“Okay. What does that have to do with me? You know he always stays gone for days—nothing new.”

Gloria sneered, her lipstick splotchy from the cigarette between her fingers. “It's different this time. You know it is. Don't play stupid.”

“You know what I don’t know. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve the way you treated me. I wasn't a bad kid. I made good grades and always cleaned the house.”

“You didn't have to do anything. You ruined my life the day I found out I was pregnant. I'm here to make a deal with you.”

“A deal for what? Nobody owes you anything. You already made it out big at my expense.” Lexi leaned back in her seat, escaping the pungent draft of the cigarette smoke. The sickly scent instantly reminded her of the times her mother watched Kenneth take out his anger on Lexi.

Gloria took out a small piece of paper from her purse. “Let's call it a trade, Lexi. I know you know what a trade is. You see…Tomassi’s men took Kenneth and left me with nothing. I want four hundred grand for my loss. Tell them what I want or you can start making plans to decorate your cell.”

“Forget it. I'm not playing your twisted game, so you might as well give it up, Gloria.”

Gloria dove across the table with one quick swipe and slapped Lexi across the cheek, leaving a scalding handprint in its wake. “So fucking disrespectful. You never did learn any manners. I'm giving you a month to come up with the money. If you don't, I’ll give out the names of your contacts with Moretti.”

“Then I’ll go to jail. I don't care,” Lexi said, unfazed by her mother's threats.

“No? I bet you will care.”

“The group will never give you the money, so you might as well give it up.”

Gloria chuckled, “Oh, they will, trust me. They won't have a choice when they realize I can send you to jail for a very long time.” Lexi noticed the assured look in her mother's eyes, wondering if she lost her mind completely. She must have been insane to threaten Angelo. Did she want to die?

Then Gloria stood and threw a picture down in front of Lexi, a warning to finalize the deal. “While you were off doing jobs, I made sure to visit Maura. Get me the money, Lexi, or I’ll take your daughter while you rot in your cell.”

“If you go anywhere near her”—Lexi darted across the table and reached for her mother's neck—”I will fucking ki—“

The guard from outside barged through the door and jerked Lexi to the floor. He held Lexi despite her hysterics as Gloria smoothed out the collar on her shirt. “I will talk to you soon,” she huffed and sauntered out, leaving Lexi screaming at the guard.

“Let me go! I swear to god if you don’t let me go, I will—”

“You will what?” He slammed her back to the floor and gripped his hand over her mouth.

“Fuck you!” She muffled out the words as she sunk her teeth into his hand, the guard yanking his hand from her mouth. Before he could hold her again, Lexi punched him in the ear and made him stumble, freeing her legs. She kicked him in the chest. As he fell backwards, she jumped up, ready for his next move. She waited for another round when two more guards burst in; each one grabbed an arm while the first man stood to his feet.

“Do you have any idea what assaulting a police officer could land you on top of a murder charge.”

“I haven't been charged with anything,” she popped back when he backhanded her mouth.

“Maybe I’ll handle you a different way,” he taunted, pushing his hand against her blouse.

“All of you are sick,” Lexi spat. She jerked her arms and fell as deadweight in their hold, the two guards bashing her against the wall to make her stop.

“We could be a whole lot worse.” The guard squeezed her mouth hard when the door to the room lurched open and Donnie stood firm, glaring with disbelief.

“What the hell is going on here?” Donnie stared at the two guards restraining Lexi; then he focused on the officer with his hand over her mouth. “Get the hell out of here, all of you. No one was to talk to this woman unless I was in the room.” Donnie looked at Lexi; his stiff jaw showed that he was furious with the situation. “I placed strict orders concerning her. Whose fucked up idea was it to act against those orders?”

“Sir, I was following—”

“Don't you dare give me that shit! My orders trump whatever dumbass told you otherwise. And you,” he pointed at the officer in front of her, “I will have your badge. I don't know what you do in Homestead, but we don't play that sort of shit here.”

“She tried to attack me. We had to restrain her.”

“The hell you say. You shouldn’t have even been in here. Get out of this room.”

The man scowled at Donnie, looking at the others who instantly released her. “You’ll regret talking to me that way. You don’t know anything,” he said as they left the room.

“Fucking bullshit,” said Donnie as he gestured Lexi to sit. She managed but was still out of breath and shaking from her struggle. “You want to tell me what happened?” Donnie walked to the table and pulled out the chair across from her, watching her shake her head as he sat.

“I don't trust you.” Lexi crossed her arms with determined silence, wondering who let her mother inside.

“Sweetheart,” Donnie said. “I’m the only man you can trust in this joint.”

“If you’re the one who’s going to question me about Kenneth, can we get it over with so I can get out of this hellhole?”

“There's nothing to question. The witness recanted their statement.”

“Witness,” Lexi scoffed. “There was never any truth to any of it.”

“The witness was anonymous…seems like you know who it was though.”

Lexi remembered her mother's message and grabbed the small crumpled number off the table. “I know nothing,” she said and stood. “Can I leave?”

“Give me a minute to get your paperwork. Then I'll walk you to the front.”

Ten minutes later, Donnie reentered the office and looked at Lexi. “You're free to go but before you do…” Donnie reached inside his shirt pocket and took out a white envelope. “Give this to Rafa. I can't talk to him myself right now. As you saw, things aren't so good on the home front.”

“What is it?” she asked, slipping it in the back pocket of her jeans.

“Just some info, sweetheart. I trust you to give it to him, so cut me some slack in return.”

Lexi nodded and Donnie returned the gesture, holding the door open so that she might go through. “Your ride is waiting out front. Follow me.”

A minute passed as he led her to the entrance. She could see Ray there along with another man that she was not familiar with. Lexi started to leave but made a quick glance back at Donnie as she did. “Thanks for saving me back there.”

Donnie half smiled at her words and nodded, maybe earning a little of her trust.