I look back at the food. I am hungry. I need to stay strong. I slowly eat the food that has now gone cold and I take two of the painkillers with some water. This is a nightmare. I pace through the room for another hour as I wrack my brain for some answers. So there are two men here and I am being looked after. Why?
Ransom, they want money.
If Joshua is in hospital who will they send the ransom note to?
I have an hour-long shower as I wrack my brain, trying to work out who is behind this. I get out and look through the wardrobe for some pyjamas. A pair are folded in the top drawer and I shake my head as I put them on and lie on the bed. I have no idea what the hell is going on. I can only hope the demands gets through to the right person. God, what a mess. I look back up at the television and see a different angle of the crime scene being filmed from the chopper and I frown at the screen as I sit forward. Is that Jesten standing near the water in the crowd? The camera shot moves and he moves out of focus. I flick to the other television that is ten minutes behind the first news and I wait for the story to come back on. I stand closer to the screen and the story comes on.
There. Right there by the water. Jesten. Jesten is at the crime scene. What the hell is he doing in America?
Adrian
I stand nervously at the terminal waiting to see that face. It feels like a lifetime since I saw Nicholas last. My mind drifts to the last time he came to my office and I couldn’t even look at him. I knew then that if I made eye contact with him it would be all over. I frown as my eyes stay focused on the ground.
Everything happens for a reason and maybe the reason Nick came into my life was to help me work out who killed our beautiful Natasha and how to prove Joshua innocent. This is the biggest challenge I have ever faced. I’m so grateful that he has come to help me and I won’t be facing it alone.
A deep sadness sweeps through my body. I’ve never felt like this before. I can’t believe Natasha’s dead-how can she be dead?
I’m so gutted. I can’t even imagine how my dear friend Joshua is feeling. He lost his soulmate and now the world thinks he killed her. The media coverage on this story is just crazy. If there was anyone in the world who didn’t know who Joshua Stanton was before, they do now. Every channel on every platform has hourly reports about Joshua and his past. The stories they are digging up are scaring even me. My eyes flick back to the clock on the wall for what feels like the hundredth time. Nicholas’s plane is delayed. For some reason the image of Joshua and Natasha dancing at that fancy dress ball we went to in Sydney keeps running through my mind. It has been for days. Why that image? The way they looked at each other, the way he held her. I keep remembering him swinging her around, her carefree laughter and the deep love apparent in their eyes. How will he ever recover from this? How do you ever fill a hole so deep?
I am pulled from my thoughts as the doors open and Nicholas comes walking through.. His smile broadens when he sees me. He gently leans down and kisses me on the cheek before pulling me into an embrace and I hold onto him tightly and close my eyes. “Thank god,” I murmur.
He pulls out of our embrace and kisses my forehead. “I’m here now,” he whispers into my hair as he senses my inner turmoil.
I smile and nod, embarrassed that I have just revealed how much I need him at the moment, and I take his laptop from him and we walk toward the luggage terminal.
“Did you have a good flight?” I ask.
He smirks. “Not really. Fifteen hours on a plane is never good.”
I nod and smile nervously. He’s still beautiful-nothing has changed since I saw him last. I feel like I have known him for years and yet we only spent that month together. It’s weird the connection we have. Why do I feel like this?
His eyes linger on my face a little too long. “It’s good to see you,” he murmurs.
Emotion overwhelms me and I feel like bursting into tears. “It’s good to see you too, Nicholas.”
We wait for his luggage in silence and I can feel my nerves rising.
“I’ve booked you into a hotel,” I reply.
His eyes meet mine. “I’m not staying in a hotel,” he responds.
I frown in question.
“I’m staying with you, Adrian.”
“Nick.” I shake my head in frustration. I should have known he would do this.
“In the spare room. There is nothing sexual about this visit. I am here to help you find who did this and to handle the press. That is all. I am a man supporting my dear friend through one of the toughest times of his life. My mind is far from sex, Adrian.”
I smile softly. “Thank you,” I whisper and after a moment of holding his eyes I add, “So is mine.”
Joshua
I get out of the car with the chains on my hands and feet. It’s just on dark and I have been transferred from the police station to the prison. I have never been so terrified. I know what goes on in these places and it is not fucking going on with me. God help the bastard who tries it. The adrenaline has already started to pump heavily through my veins. I’m angry, so angry I can’t see straight. Not only has the person stolen my beautiful Natasha’s life, they are now stealing mine. This was a planned set-up. Their aim all along was to frame me for their crime. I am going to rip the life from their bodies quicker than they can say the word die.
“This way.” The guard ushers me toward the doors and into the office where I am fingerprinted again and inducted into the system. Eventually, after an hour of paperwork, I am led into a long corridor lined with cells.
“Oh yeah.” A big bald man calls, “Looky, looky what we have here.” He purrs.
I glare at him through the bars and keep walking down the hallway to the collective sound of wolf whistles. Oh my god, this place stinks of body odour, cleaning fluid and sex, and my stomach rolls at the thought. Eventually we get to the end of the corridor and the guard slides opens the barred door with a key and holds it open. My eyes search the space: a small single bed with a plastic mattress on one side and a stainless steel toilet with no toilet seat and a sink next to it on the other. No windows, no doors. My eyes close in pain. I can’t stand the thought of being locked up in here. I feel claustrophobic. I can’t stand it. Don’t leave me in here. No.
“In,” the guard grunts.
I bite my bottom lip to try and stop myself from losing it.
“In,” the guard repeats.
I hang my head and slowly enter the small cell. He undoes my handcuffs and feet chains and gives me a small smile. “Keep to yourself,” he whispers quietly. “Don’t get into any trouble and you will be rewarded.”
I nod and drop my head.
“I will bring you some blankets. Have you eaten?” he asks.
I shake my head with my eyes cast down. Food is the absolute last thing on my mind.
“I will bring you back some food,” he replies, but hesitates before he leaves the cell and my scared eyes rise to meet his.
“You will be ok,” he says reassuringly. “Keep to yourself,” he repeats as if trying to warn me about something.
I nod and drop my head again. Another guard comes up the aisle pushing a trolley and takes off some blankets and passes them to the guard and he puts them on the end of the bed in a folded pile. He then takes a tray of food and puts it on the bed.
I stand at the doorway and look down the hall. I need to run. I need to get so far away from this horrible place and have it wiped from my memory forever. My heart starts to race at the thought of being locked in here. I can’t handle it. I’m going to go crazy.
The guard’s eyes watch me closely as if he’s seen this many times before. He must know when a man is close to the edge.
“Just eat your dinner and go to sleep,” he says.
I drop my head again.
“Just eat your dinner and go to sleep,” he repeats, somehow knowing that those words will calm me.
I nod reluctantly.
“Just eat your dinner and go to sleep,” he says softly as he closes the door behind me. I swallow the lump of fear in my throat as I hear the key turn in the lock. His eyes hold mine for a moment through the bars and I want to beg him to let me out. I’m innocent. I didn’t do this.
He gives me a sympathetic smile. “Joshua, just eat your dinner and go to sleep,” he repeats again as he gestures to the bed.
I nod and find those words more comforting than he will ever know as I watch his back disappear down the long corridor.
I turn toward the bed and see the silver tray on the end and repeat the words in my head. Just eat your dinner and go to sleep. My heart is racing and I feel like I am about to have a heart attack. I keep repeating those words again and again in my head as I cling onto them for a lifeline and as if on autopilot I do just that. I eat the cold dinner and make the bed with the linen they have supplied and I lie down knowing that the only relief I will ever have in my life again is when I dream of my precious girl and her unwavering love. She is with me. I can do this.