ChapterSeven
Carla
As soon as I am able to think again, I head to Asher’s bedroom. And did I shimmy my way there? Yes, I did cause my outfit gave what it was supposed to give. I slip into Asher’s bedroom and quietly take a look around his domain. It looks nothing like him, or what I would expect his bedroom to look like. I take my time going to his closet because I am busy looking and touching all his stuff. I’m usually respectful of people’s belongings and boundaries, but Asher makes me want to act like a spoiled brat around him. I finally make it to his closet and nod my head yes, because this is a dream closet. It has three floors to it, the very top looks like a library. Who has a library in their closet? The second floor is all casual clothes and the first is mostly dress clothes. I make my way over to the spiral staircase to the second floor. The drawer swooshes open quietly, and I find what I am looking for, his hoodies. I find one that has Gideon Properties and turn to take the stairs back, but another option catches my attention and I have to laugh at the perfect absurdity of it. I sit down at the top and use the slide to go back to the lower level. I land in a shallow pit filled with jumbo sized pillows and I just lay there laughing. Only an architect would put a slide in a 3-level walk in closet. I finally get out of the pillow pit and find a bathroom that looks barely used to pee and change my underwear, cause that conversation he had with me downstairs ruined them. I find a washcloth and tidy up, slide on the fresh panties, place the soiled ones in a waterproof lingerie bag and slip his hoodie on. It actually drops to my knees, and I debate taking my skirt off too, but I decide against it.
I stand there in his bathroom in his hoodie, which he is not getting back, I think, as I take a deep whiff of the sweatshirt and moan, it smells just like him. If I walk out of this bedroom in this sweatshirt, I am telling Asher I belong to him, I am in essence giving my consent to be his in every way. I mean I came up here on auto pilot but now that the sex rush is fading, I am thinking more clearly, is this a commitment I really want to make? Asher doesn’t seem like the type of man to walk away from anything he claims as his. Am I ready for that? I am thirty-six years old and I have never been married, I have no kids and I make a shit ton of money. I come and go as I please and don’t have to answer to anyone. Do I want to give that up? I almost give up the ghost when the knock on the door literally has me jumping out of my skin.
“Carla, everyone is here, we’re just waiting for you.” Jaasiel says through the door. At least I think it’s Jaasiel.
“Okay, I’ll be right down.” I reply back through the door. Well, it’s now or never I think as I reach for the hem of his hoodie. I make my decision and walk out of his room to head nervously downstairs. What will his reaction be when he sees the decision I’ve made?
Asher
I‘m on pins and needles with anticipation of what Carla’s decision will be. I tried to wait I really did but that outfit, nah, she wasn’t going to go another day unclaimed. I can wait another eleven days to touch her like I want but her going another day not knowing if she is mine, unacceptable. So, I’m sitting in the living room with my family like I am not going crazy on the inside. A few seconds later, Jaasiel walks in without Carla and the anticipation is just about to kill me. Everyone is talking and eating the food Jaasiel put together and for the millionth time I wonder why he won’t cook professionally. Even if he doesn’t cook in a restaurant, he could be a private chef, or cater, hell he could teach the culinary arts. At the same time, I understand not wanting to change the dynamic of something you love by bringing expectations and pressure into the mix, it can take the enjoyment out of it. But still this man is a culinary genius. I go to take another bite of this shrimp concoction he made, and the spoon freezes and a smile breaks out over my face as she walks in wearing one of my hoodies. That makes three punishments since she is in my hoodie and that was not one of the options, I gave her. Defiant to the bone and I am going to love fucking all that defiance right out of her.
She comes and sits next to me at the dining table, and we get down to business. The twins bring what they have discovered, along with Jabarri, Cole and what we got from the M.E.’s office and I think once we lay it all out on the table, we’ll have everything we need to clear my name.
“Well, I was able to determine that the angle of the camera that faces that hallway had been readjusted. If you compare the old angle to the angle of that night going forward, you can see the difference. The problem is you’re so tall it caught you going in and coming out, but it’s too high up to catch the average height person coming and going.” He opens the laptop and starts the video, and sure enough you can see me go in the room, but the angle is so high you can’t even see Antonia walk in with me, and then a few hours later you can see me walk out alone.
“Okay?” I say questioningly.
“Keep watching,” He replies and I swing my eyes back to the screen. About five to ten minutes after I walk out you can see the door open, not a lot but wide enough for a person to slip in and about ten minutes later the door opens again.
“That could have been the room attendant,” I say.
“Have you always been this impatient?” he asks with frustration. And once again I look back to the computer screen. And sure, enough the door opens again, this time wider and a few seconds later it is ripped back open so forcefully it bounces off the wall and I know that is when the attendant found the body.
“So, someone did what… moved the camera? How did we not notice that?”
“No, someone went into your system and changed the parameters of the angles.”
“There are only a few people who would have access to the system to be able to pull that off. Can you tell who did it? Or what password was used?”
“Looks like it was the security password used to make the changes. But it wasn’t one of your security staff. Apparently, there was a commotion outside, a few nights before the incident, and the security room was left unsupervised. It was just long enough for someone to sneak in the room right before the door closed. I guess they forgot to secure the system in their hurry to get outside and diffuse the situation. Your server, Lynn was the one who changed the angles of the camera. By the way, I sent the footage to an independent expert, coincidentally, the same one the prosecutor’s office likes to use for verification, so they can’t say we tampered with it. We should have their findings in a couple of days.”
“The fuck? Why would Lynn do that?”
“Oh, I think I have the answer. It appears dear sweet Lynn took out a loan to cover her school tuition in full or get kicked out of school. The problem is she took the loan from a loan shark, for lack of a better term, and they were getting ready to do some serious damage to the young lady if she didn’t pay the loan back in full, plus interest. Well, miraculously she was able to pay the entire loan back in full, with interest the day after she changed the angles on your camera. According to Lorenzo, the collector for the loan sharks, she set up a time for them to pick up the payment, but she never showed up and they never got the money, I am assuming she took it to survive on the run.” Eliza explains.
“Wasn’t that a gamble? I mean Asher could have gone into any one of those rooms. How did they know he would be in that particular room?” Josh asks.
“That’s my room, Josh. Whenever I am at the club and want to participate, I use the same room. It is set up specifically for me.” I say as I realize I made it way too easy for whoever this person is to set me up. “So, then we can just have Lynn testify that someone paid her to change the angle. That and the rest of the evidence should be enough. Also, she should be able to tell us who that person is, and we’ll have Antonia’s killer too.”
“That’s what we thought too, but she’s gone. We went to her dorm and her roommate told us she hasn’t been seen since the night you were arrested. Her bank records show she cleared out her bank account the same night and she’s disappeared. We’ve been looking for her, but it looks like our girl is smart, she is using cash for everything and probably a different name. So far, we haven’t been able to locate her.” Eliza says.
Great. I think.
“Well, I think I’m next.” Cole says. “All of the members and guests check out, as well as the guests that night. It was a lot later in the night so if a guest arrived by then they may not have had to go through as much as they would’ve at initial check-in.”
“And you checked all the fobs the guests are given during check-in to see if one was used, that wasn’t checked off our check in list?” I ask.
“Um, actually no I didn’t think of that. So, I will get right on that.” Cole says as he pulls out his phone and begins tapping on it.
The fob is an extra precaution I use. They can be used to track who goes where in the club. The members have different level fobs, and it limits the rooms available to them. Platinum level members have the most freedom while bronze level is the most restricted. But what they don’t realize is there are various sensors throughout the club that picks up on any fob in the area. It was another precaution I set up to cover myself and my workers and guests. The only people who know the system exists are Cole and I.
“As expected, there are several different distinct DNA sources that were found on Antonia’s body, including yours. Also, the strangulation marks on her neck indicates a person with much smaller hands. And there were no fingerprints on her neck so whoever killed her wore gloves. Why would Asher leave his DNA on her, but then use gloves to kill her? It makes no sense at all,” Cole continues.
“What I want to know is why didn’t the police or the prosecutors’ office see this evidence and do their jobs by looking for the actual killer instead of gunning for me?” I seethe out. Over the past couple of weeks, we have lost clients and partnerships due to the press that’s been constantly running the story of my arrest for murder in my ‘seedy sex club’, their words, not mine. Besides that, Cole’s been dealing with our members who want to cancel their membership at my club. No one wants to be tied to a murder or wonder if they’re going to be discovered as a member of said ‘seedy sex club’. And if the cops would have been a little more concerned about actually finding the killer and not railroading me, they may have found her real killer by now.” I seethe.