Page 68 of To Have and to Hold

“Do you blame me?” I asked. “Or your son?”

The glint died. “Do not bring up his name.”

“He’s the one who screwed up. Had he not been collared, I never would’ve gone down this road and found out your scheme.”

“I’m well aware, Mr. Rolfe, that one kid screwed up and another kid found the success of the ages through that mistake, and that I am in here because of two. Fucking. Children.”

“You’re bitter.”

Oak guffawed. “Damn right.”

“Pissed enough to do something about it?”

I caught his interest. “Like what?”

“Get back at me somehow? Teach me a lesson?” I got close to him. “Use your connections to induce a kind of suffering never felt before?”

“Well, that’s detailed.” Oak leaned back and crossed his arms. “What bug is up your bonnet this afternoon?”

“If you have, I’ll find out,” I said. “There’s only so much reach you have in prison, and you’re going to be here for a long while.”

Oak cocked his head, but asked, honestly curious, “What do they have on you?”

I told myself to remain calm. “Who? Who would have something on me?”

“The cartel,” Oak said with the matter-of-fact tone of this is life. Deal with it. “How are they getting to you?”

At my silence, he added, “I’ll tell you how they got to me. They used my daughter. First as a threat. Then they took her, sent me pictures of her bound and gagged. I did what they asked—didn’t call the police, provided them the ransom. But they didn’t care. They raped her anyway. Two, three, four men.”

My manipulations in getting him to talk got caught in the shock. I offered the only words I could—Emme’s face prominent in my mind. “I’m sorry.”

“I was terrified they were going to kill her, despite my meeting every command.” Oak looked off in another direction. “They didn’t, of course. They sent her back to me.” Oak cut back to me. “Stella was broken. Then they said if I didn’t do exactly what they wanted, when they wanted, they’d do my wife next. Then my son. That is how I found myself in the drug trade, Mr. Rolfe. So, I ask, what are they doing to you?”

Honesty dripped from every one of his words, though it was hard to take him seriously, knowing how good he was at a lawyer and how skilled he was at tactics. Imprisonment allowed him—forced him—to refine those skills even further.

“Four days ago, my ex-fiancée was abducted,” I said, rougher than I intended.

“Ah.”

“I’m trying to find her.”

“What do you have so far?”

“Nothing. No clues, barely any evidence. Just a phone call from the kidnapper, but even that was vague.”

Oak flicked a hand at me. His expression, previously alive and filled with torment as he described his daughter, went dead. “It’s not them. Or me through them, for that matter.”

“How do you know?”

“These men deal in trades and power. They don’t simply take a woman and do nothing. They don’t sit in silence and wait for you to figure out evidence or chase a trail. And they certainly do not contact you for no reason.” He fired off, “Ransom. Payment. Deals. If they’d asked you to fix cases you were prosecuting, bury evidence, let their men free, then I’d believe it. If they’d taken this woman for the purpose of getting Max Torro off charges, I’d certainly say you were a newly-minted member of a cartel.”

At my expression, he added, “I still have TV privileges, Mr. Rolfe. I’ve been following the Torro case.”

“I’m not sure if I should believe you.”

“And I don’t necessarily care.”

Oak didn’t have much to lose by divulging this information—or advice, as he saw it. It was ringing true, though I couldn’t buy into everything he was spewing out. But if I were the reason for Emme’s abduction, there would be more demands. Especially considering my position in the prosecutor’s office and my “friendship” with Dex Abrams. With four days of no instruction…Oak could be right.

“You should know by now, never trust a lawyer.” The playful glint was back in Oak’s eye. “I don’t expect you to believe everything I say. I’m in here, aren’t I? But we seasoned attorneys, we have our secrets and do our dastardly deeds to protect both our assets and our clients. If you think everything I’ve told you is a lie, I wouldn’t defend myself. Maybe it is.”

“I’m not here for your games.” Yet, something was niggling at me. Oak poked at a fact in my head that was taking a minute to fully grasp.

“If you’re here for enlightenment then you’re sorely misled. I’ve been at this thirty years, and you might’ve gotten lucky once, but if you think a kid like you can discover all the reasons behind the things I’ve done—”

Then it clicked. I jumped out of my chair and peeled out of the room. “Guard!”

“Rolfe? Rolfe!” Oak called behind me.

But I was already flying down the hallway.

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