Confidential (6 page)

"And I'm not asking you to. But we do need to talk about one thing, if this has become more of a situation than we believed, which your lawyer tells me it has, then next time you go down, your mother and I should be there."

"Dad," I said, in a slightly annoyed voice, "I don't want you guys to be a part of this."

"We're your family sweetie; you know we would be no matter what."

"No, it's not that." I plopped down on the couch, a little angry. "It's Mom. You know how she is, you know anything and everything I say will be everywhere in like, two seconds-"

"Your mom knows her boundaries. It might not seem like it…"

"Dad." I said sternly. "She has no idea where to draw the line." He started to speak and I cut him off. "At all. And you know it. I'm sorry, but it's really not something we all need to do
together
."

"Can you stop talking like a brat? I'm trying to help." I shut my mouth and remained sitting, anger boiling up, I hated getting treated like a child. "Both your mother and I will be joining you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes. I had the lawyer schedule a meeting for us."

I got even angrier until he started walking upstairs, leaving me downstairs, alone, by myself, in the dark. All of a sudden images filled my head of being grabbed, kicked, punched and pulled. My breath increased steadily while my eyes searched the room rapidly, the largeness of the space seemed to be swallowing me whole. Every corner, every door, held the possibility of someone else, someone else to finish the job, to kill me.

"Um…" My voice came out shaky and quiet. "Dad?...Daaaad?" Still no answer. "DAD!" I shouted.

"What?" He angrily came back downstairs.

"I-I- uhh. I, uh, I have
a
question."

He gave me the most irritated look. "What Heidi?"

"Why were they in your room?" It really was a question I wanted to ask.

"I have no idea. And it's definitely something I will be discussing with the police tomorrow. Now go to bed."

But I couldn't. Going to sleep when it was light outside was fine, but now I was by myself. Alone. All night, I couldn't sleep. At first, I would try, but I was afraid as soon as I closed my eyes that someone would come up behind me. If they got into my house before, they could do it again.

I paced my room and looked out the window, seeing a police car parked not far from my house. I watched as the young woman shifted in her seat and it gave me comfort, knowing there was someone there. Soon it started getting light out; that, with a combination of exhaustion, finally put me to sleep.

"Heidi." My mother's arm shook my shoulder. "Heidi!" I rolled over and grumbled, looking at my alarm clock. Great. Three hours of sleep. Love it. "Heidi get up, we have a meeting at the police station. They want to ask you more questions."

"Can't they just come here?" I mumbled, cuddling closer to my pillow, only to have the covers thrown back by my mother.

"You look awful. Are you getting sick?" I rolled over and stared at her.

"I'm tired."

"Your hair is a mess." She sat down next to me on my bed, and began brushing through it with her fingers. "When was the last time you got it deep conditioned? I'm going to call Theresa, what you need is a good trim, maybe some highlights."

"I don't want highlights." I was barely awake and she was picking at my hair. I liked my hair. It was strawberry blonde. No one I knew had a color quite like it. It looked like some blonde variation of Strawberry Shortcake's. Mine was long, and naturally straight. But it held curls really well, so I didn't mind.

She sighed. "Honey, you really need to get cleaned up. I will not let you walk out in public looking this way."

"Mommmm." I sat up. "I literally just woke up. Will you give me twenty minutes?"

"Fine. Be downstairs, we leave in an hour." She walked out of my room, heels clicking.

"Ughhhhhhhhh," I let out, completely tired. I don't know how I dragged my ass out of bed. I kept my messy hair, and opened up my closet only to have my eyes glaze over at my wardrobe. It was a good thing I used to preplan outfits; I wandered over to
a
hanger and put on a pretty cream colored dress with ruffles and pale pink ballet flats. I was pale, having never really accomplished getting tan at all, but it worked with the outfit.

When I walked downstairs, my mother smiled approvingly. "That's so much better dear."

I didn't even bother to acknowledge it. I felt like the walking dead I was so exhausted.

And it definitely showed. Once we were in a room with Detectives Kaiser and O'Connor, Joan Johnson, my parents, and myself, I was practically falling asleep, but Joan nudged me. I snapped my head back up only to see everyone staring at me expectantly.

"Yes?" I asked, more rudely than I should have, but I needed sleep.

Detective O'Connor got up and walked a little bit closer to me, resting his arm on the table. "Thank you for coming out again Heidi."

"No problem." I yawned.

"Before we ask you anymore questions, Detective Kaiser and I would like to know if you have any yourself."

I looked over at Kaiser whose aging face looked ragged and overworked. I guess I wasn't the only one who had a rough night.

"A couple." I looked over at my dad, who was staring at me expectedly. "Do you have any idea why they were in our house?"

"Actually, we do. We have recently discovered a likely motive, and thanks to your information, wrapped up some details that there were mere speculation."

"Ah," I said, "I see. And um, what might this grand discovery be? Does this mean that there is no chance that I would have to leave?"

"Unfortunately, it must remain confidential. And not necessarily, in fact, your testimony is part of the foundation of this case. It's crucial, and you need to be protected."

"Wait-" my mom cut in. Oh Jesus. "My daughter has to go into hiding?"

We all stared at her. There was no mistaking the excitement her voice held. She sounded…eager. Great.

"No. I'm not going. I refuse to go." I turned to my dad. "You promised me I could finish high school. Here. In Phoenix."

"Honey." My mom inched closer to me, lowering her voice to a whisper. "It won't be too long, I bet it won't be that bad. Plus, you're
needed
."

I rolled my eyes, while my dad actually acted like a parent should and started asking questions. "Is this really that dangerous? First it was just a mugging, then it was a decoy. What exactly is going on? And shouldn't you be having someone protecting my daughter at all times if someone tries to harm her again?"

I felt my heart swell a little. Aw. Daddy.

"There is only so much we can tell you," Kaiser stated. "The less that you know the better. Clearly." He pointedly stared at my mother.

"This meeting is more a briefing than anything else, and since Heidi is seventeen, she is old enough to decide whether or not she wants these answers explained. However, if the time comes when she needs to go somewhere safer for a couple days, we can get a court order from the judge, if necessary," Detective O'Connor explained.

"Without our consent?" My dad frowned.

"It's for her own safety, I'm sure you would have consented," O'Connor assured, continuing to stare at me. "Now, Heidi, the information you know." He turned to look at everyone else. "And anything the rest of you know, must remain a complete secret. No one should know anything. If any information, any at all, leaks out, it could jeopardize our entire investigation and you will be held in contempt of court."

At this point, both detectives stared at us with hard eyes, and I felt like an elementary student in the principal's office over a cheating scandal.

"Is that understood?" Kaiser said stone cold.

I nodded, and everyone acknowledged their understanding.

"Great," Detective O'Connor said, his attitude changing immediately to a more cheerful tone. "Now, I know how hard it is for Heidi to speak about some of these things and it's important to just tie up some loose ends. I think my partner and I would appreciate some one-on-one time with her."

He gave them
a
flash of his pearly whites, and I could see my mother and Joan staring into is blue-green eyes, glazing over his Patrick Dempsey hair and nodding dumbly. My father just patted my hand. "Would it make you more comfortable if we left?"

I nodded and gave him
a
little smile. My parents got up to leave and Detective O'Connor/Dr. Dreamy look-alike turned his attention to Joan Johnson. "A lawyer won't be needed. Don't worry; we'll call you in if it gets to a questioning point." And she was ushered out the door.

As soon as it shut the entire atmosphere in the room changed.

"I know you're only seventeen," Detective O'Connor began, "but it's important to us," Kaiser smirked at that, stating his thoughts on the matter, "that you know a little bit about what you're getting into."

"These are very dangerous people," Kaiser spoke up. "They're not your typical drug dealers or crime bosses. There's a huge shipment coming in and they're under a lot of stress, which explains why they were so sloppy when it came to keeping you alive."

Ever the
charmer
, that one.

"Why were they in my parents' bathroom? How did they get into my house?" I wanted to know if I was safe in my home.

"They broke in and were looking through some of your dad's files."

"My dad?" I asked shocked. "What on earth would they want with my dad?"

"There is a lot at stake here for them. We believe that they have a large shipment coming in from Mexico, but due to the recent increase of security at the border, the trucks are being searched, thoroughly." Kaiser looked at me.

"Where you aware that a bank was recently broken into?"

I thought back. I didn't really watch the news "Oh! My school went into lockdown that day. Yeah I remember, it was the same day I was attacked." My mind started to wander but Kaiser brought me back.

"They are unable to access their accounts, which were frozen when they skipped out on bail. They took large sums of money, that with the collection Mickey is believed to have, the deal is worth over fifty million dollars."

"Fifty million dollars? Of what?" I asked in disbelief.

"Crystal Meth. Our sources let us know they have tampered with the drug and modified it, but it needs to be kept at
a
certain temperature. Coincidentally, so do photovoltaic panels that will be shipped from Mexico to Arizona as part of the new solar plant being built."

"I'm still… confused. Why where they interested in my dad?"

Kaiser looked at me like I was stupid. "There are several solar companies in Arizona, and more fighting to move here. In order to ensure the success of the shipment of the photovoltaic panels, in which the meth is hidden in the containers of monocrystalline silicon-"

"Mono what?" I asked.

"It's part of the solar panel," O'Connor explained.

"That has to be kept at the certain temperature?" I guessed.

"Exactly." He smiled, while Kaiser let out frustrated breath.

"They broke into your home, to make sure your father was supporting the company. If he was, then it was almost guaranteed to be a success. You're lucky he had already approved it and could stay in the dark. I wouldn't have put it past them to take you as blackmail."