Page 76 of All the Ways You Save Me
I slip into Madeline’s closet just as she presses the button to let Jason in. Through the slats in the closet door, I hear her greet Jason and apologize for making him wait, and then his reply drifts back to me. It’s been over a decade since I heard the voice of my childhood best friend, and a wave of memories crashes over me. Jason was the one person who I always believed cared about me. The one person I trusted more than anyone. Is it possible that not only did he knowingly involve me in something illegal, but he used me to take the fall? I can’t wrap my head around it.
“I have really bad cramps,” Madeline says, her voice strained like she’s not feeling well. “That’s what took me so long to answer. I was in the bathroom. Would you mind if we did this another night?”
“We can just chill on the couch,” Jason says. “I’ll make you some tea.”
“That’s so sweet,” Madeline replies. “But I think I want to just take a bath and go to bed.”
I shift, and my head bumps against an empty clothes hanger. I quickly grab it as it clacks against the one next to it. My heartbeat pounds so loud, I’m sure it’s audible.
Jason doesn’t seem to hear any of it though because he’s busy urging Madeline to let him stay. “Come on, I drove all theway over. Let me just hang out with you for a while. I’ll give you a back massage.”
I ball my hands into fists. She asked him to leave. Several times. If a woman asks you to leave,you leave.But it doesn’t completely surprise me that Jason would try to negotiate to stay. He could always wheedle and charm his way into getting whatever he wanted.
Except Madeline. Jason wanted Madeline but she was the one thing he couldn’t have.
At least not until I was out of the picture.
I think I’m going to puke.
“Alright, just let me use the bathroom before I go,” Jason says after Madeline asks him to leave again. I hear a phone and keys jingle on the counter, and I slide back into the depths of the closet. Jason’s footsteps tap past me, and it takes every ounce of strength to keep from flinging open the door and punching him. I hold back only because I know it could endanger Madeline even more.
A few minutes later, Jason walks past again, and Madeline lays it on thick, thanking him for coming and promising dinner when she’s feeling better. I hate listening to her being so nice to him, and even more that I can’t go out there and throw him on his ass.
I’m relieved when the front door swings shut and the deadbolt clicks. A moment after that, Madeline slips into the closet and finds me in the dark, leaning up and pressing a kiss to my mouth. I pull her against me, finally able to relax. She reaches down to take my hand, and I feel something small and metallic press against my palm.
“What is this?” I whisper in case Jason is still out in the hall.
“It’s the electronic key card to Jason’s office. I stole it from his keyring when he was in the bathroom.”
“Won’t he notice it missing?”
I feel her head shake against my chest. “Tomorrow is Saturday, and he usually plays golf on Saturdays. As long as we get it back on Jason’s keyring before Monday, I don’t think he’ll notice. But we need to go right now.”
FORTY-FIVE
PRESENT DAY
Garrett
Madeline doesn’t need to direct me to the warehouse where Jason works because I’ve been there dozens of times before. It’s where I dropped off dry cleaning and delivered sushi and unknowingly picked up box after box packed with cocaine.
After Jason left, Madeline and I decided that if we couldn’t include him in our plan, we’d have to find proof of Waylon’s illegal activity on our own. A part of me is holding out hope that maybe Jason isn’t involved and something in this warehouse will prove it.
We hide the car in an alley down the street. Madeline reaches for her door handle, but I put a hand on her arm to stop her. “What if someone is in there? I think you should let me go in alone.”
She shakes her head. “Waylon is never there at night. If Jason works late, it’s usually just his assistant Layla who stays, too.”
I remember the guys who used to hand me packages to deliver out the back door, and I wonder if that’s Layla’s job now.
“If she’s in there, she’ll know me,” Madeline continues. “I can pretend that Jason left something, and I came by to pick it up. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than her encountering a strange man all alone.”
We approach the building on foot, and I keep an eye out for security cameras. I don’t remember there being any ten years ago, but I wasn’t really looking, and times have changed. There’s nothing mounted on the brick walls around the building, though, and I wonder if they don’t want evidence of what’s coming and going. We enter the space using the key card Madeline took from Jason and step into a dark, quiet lobby.
“That’s where Layla sits,” Madeline whispers, nodding at the desk. “I don’t think anyone is here.” The hallway behind the lobby is pitch black, so we use our phone lights to find our way.
“I think we should look for a storage area,” I whisper. “Somewhere that they’re keeping the drugs until they send them out with their delivery drivers. That’s the kind of evidence the authorities are going to want.”
Madeline gestures to a row of doors. “These are the offices, so I think the storage is back here.”
