It’s day 26 and I go over the plan I have in my head for the hundredth time today. I have unscrewed the shower screen and have it placed it strategically in the bathroom, waiting for my attack. For the last seven days I have woken up every morning determined that today is the day, today I’m going to escape, but then I’m so scared I’m going to mess it up and end up dead and my love will really lose me that I chicken out. I have to be positive my plan will work before I do it or else it’s just a death wish. I just wish I knew if the coverage of me in here is going back to base somewhere else or if this is the only outlet, because if this is the only outlet I have a much bigger chance of getting away before anyone knows I’m gone. I know what shift Carl is on and I have to do it when the young boy is here, as I have a much greater chance of surviving against him. He won’t even talk to me because he knows I’m trying to break down his defences. I have strategically started to call myself Cinderella and asked the two men to call me Joshua’s nickname Cinderella on the offchance that the person doing this is someone we know and that they may refer me as Cinderella to Adrian. He knows that he and I are the only two people who know about that. It’s a long shot, but I’m trying anything.
I got my period this morning, and I cried. Both tears of sadness and tears of relief. I had been holding off my escape, half thinking that I may have been pregnant and I didn’t want to endanger Joshua’s and my child, but I needn’t have worried. I’m not pregnant and that makes me just plain sad. I just pray I survive this and we get the chance to try again. More and more I know that as time goes on my chances of getting out of here alive are diminishing. I will wait now until my period finishes because if it works and I do get away, who knows how long I will be in the forest. My eyes flick down to my feet. I don’t even have shoes. How do you escape through the forest without shoes?
Adrian
“Are you ready?” Nicholas asks me.
I nod and swallow my fear. We are in the foyer of our building and I am doing the first press release since this nightmare began. With the court case coming up I need to make a statement on behalf of Joshua. There must be at least fifty reporters and cameramen here. Bridget sits in the front row with Abbie and Cameron. Ben and the security line the walls, and I’m as nervous as all hell.
I walk to the small podium at the centre of the room and with shaking hands retrieve my notes that Nicholas has written for me.
Hmm, hmm. I clear my throat.
“Thank you for coming.” The cameras start to click.
“Thirty-eight days ago off the coast of Portofino, Joshua Stanton and his beloved fiancée Natasha Marx were staying on the luxury liner of a friend. They attended a wedding and during the course of that wedding, unbeknown to them, their drinks were spiked with the drug Rohypnol. Joshua Stanton awoke in the morning to find Natasha missing and a large…” I stop as I struggle to read the next words. You can do this. “Amount of blood on the deck. Natasha had been attacked overnight when Joshua was unconscious.” The cameras all click double time and my eyes flick to Nicholas who stands silently against the wall next to Ben. He nods reassuringly. I take a deep breath and continue. “The coroner ruled Natasha Marx’s death as a result of massive blood loss was a direct result of the premeditated attack on her. We, Natasha’s family, are devastated at the loss of her life and Joshua Stanton is in deep mourning. After an anonymous tip off, police searched Joshua Stanton’s properties to uncover eight vials of Rohypnol that had been planted there by the perpetrator with the intention of framing Joshua Stanton for the murder.”
I swallow the lump in my throat as the cameras click and the reporters start to buzz at the impending story. “Joshua Stanton does not know who put the Rohypnol at his country estate, nor does he know where his beloved fiancée’s body is. He is deeply in mourning and currently being held in Corcoran Penitentiary for a murder he did not commit.” I stare down the barrel of the camera with renewed purpose. “These allegations against him are false in every regard. Joshua Stanton is innocent and has been framed. We will be fighting these allegations on all fronts and are confident that justice will prove to be the victor and the true criminal brought to justice. It is our greatest wish that Natasha’s body can be recovered so that she may be laid to rest in peace.”
The cameras go crazy and reporters start to scream questions. “Mr Murphy, Mr Murphy.” They call. I bend back to the microphone. “No further questions will be answered. Thank you.”
Adrian
With Joshua I stand outside an office in the courthouse. Joshua has been freed from his cuffs and has two security guards following him. Today is the court case, and we need to get him out of here. We are waiting for his lawyer and, like clockwork, he walks up the stairs towards us with his three PAs trailing behind him.
He smiles warmly. “Hello, I’m Vincenzo Di Luca.” Wearing a dark grey suit he is flawless, we have hired a new hot shot lawyer who doesn’t lose.
Joshua and I shake his hand. Joshua could have only one person with him in this meeting and he chose me. I am as nervous as hell.
“Joshua Stanton,” Joshua replies
“Adrian Murphy.” I nod.
We follow him into the designated office, and I feel myself become a little awestruck at being in Vincenzo’s presence. The rock star of the legal world, he represents murderers, Mafia, hitmen and politicians to name a few. He is a large Italian man with model-like good looks and the personality of an asshole… or so I hear. He has a cult following on social media, and he’s a bit like Joshua in that his outsides don’t match his insides. Too good looking to be this successful and intelligent, the puzzle doesn’t add up.
We sit down at the table and he sits calmly and clasps his hands in front of him on the desk. His eyes bore into Joshua’s. “I have been studying the case for the last week and I have a few questions I need answered,” he replies.
“Yes,” Joshua answers.
Joshua is very nervous and empathy fills me.
“The prostitute you had sex with in Sydney?” Vincenzo continues.
Joshua drops his head in shame; he would never normally talk about something like this in front of these secretaries. “Yes,” he replies.
“How did you first meet her?” Vincenzo asks.
Joshua hesitates. “Um.” His eyes flick to me sitting next to him and I nod to him to go on. “She arrived at my door as a housewarming present,” he replies.
Vincenzo nods and scribbles down notes. He doesn’t even flinch-what must he hear doing this job?
“Who ordered that present?” he asks.
Joshua hesitates.