Page 13 of Valentine Dare

“That may well be the case, but have you spoken to her mother?”

“Pam. No, she’s done a disappearing act, but that shouldn’t be a surprise to Jenny. She does it all the time. She’ll show up when she’s good and ready. No doubt she’s staying with her sister.”

Claire tutted. “Her sister who refused to let Jenny stay with her.”

I felt as if I was watching a tennis match. They were talking about me as if I wasn’t in the room. Russell’s dark eyes were fixed on Claire, and her blue eyes on him. I realized that this was lawyer’s talk. Their way of handling things. I remember dad said never trust a lawyer, they’re only after one thing and that was to win. I could sense that as the atmosphere in the room, which was once friendly, became tense.

Mom doing disappearing acts again. I would come home from school, and she would be gone. No note, nothing, and when I questioned dad about it, he would be like, “Oh yeah, she’s gone for the week.” No explanation or anything, I would call her cell, and she would confirm she would be home in a week. I didn’t think anything of it, until now. As it dawned on me, Russell was right. She’d leave, with no explanation and I never asked any questions. Why should I? She was my mom, not the other way around, so when she told me she’d be back, I would just naturally assume it would be the case, and she always did return.

“What do you want Russell?” Claire asked abruptly.

“Jenny’s signature,” he said as he reached for the case. “I need her to release funds for her dad’s bail and other things.”

Claire choked. “And your fee.”

He nodded as he hesitated taking out his laptop. “Of course.”

“Why do you need me to sign? And what are the papers?” I acknowledged, not seeing him take anything for me to sign, but rather for me to log on to his computer.

“Your dad has some offshore accounts in your name. I need you to put in the code. He told me that you have it. Once done, then I’ll get paid, and you will too.”

I titled my head to the side, thinking dad was never looking out for my best interests. Why had I been so naive to think otherwise.

“So, he used his daughter to set up an offshore account in case he got caught by the FBI,” Claire said as she took her Macbook out. Then, she opened and pushed it to the side.

Russell ignored her as he pushed his in front of me and said, “Put in the code.”

Claire stood up. “Look, what is in it for her?”

“Excuse me?” Russell asked as he raised an eyebrow.

“Jenny has nowhere to live, she has no money, even her phone line has been cut off. What does she get out of this once she releases the money?”

“There’s five million in that account. I’ll take out my fee, the bail money and…”

“How much is bail set for?”

Again, I was stuck by this war of lawyers. They were talking about me, as if I wasn’t even here.

“Bail is set at four million.”

“No doubt, your fee will be the remaining one million.”

He shrugged. “No, not that much, but Roger has made it clear he needs some funds for a place to stay, etc.”

“And his daughter?”

Russell went a bright shade of red, something I’d never expected to see. There was no me in this equation. It hit me; the only person looking out for my interest was Claire, no one else. Dad had sent Russell to get the money.

“If Roger doesn’t come out, and we don’t pay his bail, then he won’t be able to organize things properly. Jenny, you do want your dad out, right? You don’t want him staying behind bars.” Russell stroked my hand, which rested on the table, as if he was my friend, my protector, something he’d never shown before and certainly didn’t today when he arrived at the office.

“She wants what’s best for her. I just don’t understand how you managed to get bail. Which judge?”

Russell ignored her question, and once again turned toward me. I remembered I told dad a code once, but then after I told him, I realized I’d given him the wrong code. Not by accident, but on that particular day, I was having a hard time with Kurt. Confusion clouded my mind, and when dad told me he was looking out for my future, he wrote down the code, and I left his office that day. It was only after, when I reached home, I acknowledged I’d told him a three instead of a two. This is why Russell was here. He’d already tried based on the code that dad had given him. Now, the only money was at the touch of my fingertips, and I could sense Claire didn’t want me to give it.

As Russell drew his Mac to himself and turned to me he demanded, “Jenny just give me the code. I’ll do everything myself and you don’t have to worry about a thing.”

My fingers were shaking, and Russell’s stare felt as if it went right through me. The smile he’d greeted me with a few seconds ago disappeared as he repeated the question.

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