Joseph (2 page)

He grinned and laughed drunkenly waiting until the approaching waitress delivered his whiskey. When the server left, his face grew grave again. Taping her closed hand lightly, he lowered his voice, his demeanor completely serious and sober. “Ember take this with you to wherever you’re going. The information on that thumb drive is evidence. I’m in some pretty deep shit at work. I don’t want to involve you, but you were the only person I knew I could trust and the only one who was leaving the area legitimately. No red flags when you drive away.”

“Dale what are you talking about? Are you in danger? Have you gone to the police?”

He scanned the room. “I can’t go to the police or the courts. They’re involved and this situation is significant. My law firm had me doing forensics accounting research. One thing led to another and after months of digging and a lot of clandestine and unauthorized investigations I ended up with the information on that drive. I may just be overly cautious, Emmy, but if something happens to me, if I suddenly end up missing or dead? Get that information to someone out of this state. Find someone who has the power to make people listen. You can’t give it to anyone in the state of Louisiana. Take it national. A major network reporter or maybe the FBI.”

“Wait…what? Dale, you’re scaring me. What are you mixed up in?”

His eyes warmed and he smiled softly. “Hopefully nothing, probably enough to get me disbarred and maybe, just maybe, enough to piss off some really powerful people. But now you need to do me one last favor.”

Ember put her hand in her sweater pocket and dropped the thumb drive. “Really? All this drama and a favor too?”
Could the day get any worse
?

“Yeah, honey. I need you to stand up, slap my face and call me a bastard. Anyone who’s in here has to infer that we are not parting as friends. I don’t want anyone to get the idea I would give you anything to hold onto. Get out of here and don’t contact me. I’ll find you if I need that the drive or if things turn out to be nothing.”

“Dale, you know I won’t do that and I don’t like this. Seriously, you’re scaring me. Let’s just go and find someone to help.”

He shook his head and leaned back in the chair, slipping into his drunken act once again. “Nope!” He chugged his drink as she watched.

With the gusto of a drunkard declaring a known fact to the world, he shouted, “What? You’re leaving
me
? Woman, how in the hell do you think you can do better than me? Is he all that? Can your new man even afford you? Shit, just get the fuck away from me and stay away. Why are you still here? Are you deaf?”

Ember’s narrowed her eyes at him before she whispered, “Dale, don’t do this, please.”

He laughed viciously. “Get lost, I don’t need or want your pity. Go screw your new man.”

Ember stood, her body shaking, whether from the gravity of Dale’s situation or the physical demands of the last week, she didn’t know and didn’t care. “Dale, please. Stop this now.”

“Get out of here! If I never see you again, it will be too soon! Fucking bitch…”

Ember shook her head slowly as he motioned to the waitress for another drink. That he was trying to protect her from his unseen menaces was obvious. “Alright if that is the way you want it, goodbye Dale.” She turned and walked out of the restaurant while everyone in the crowded establishment watched her.

On autopilot, Ember drove to her apartment complex and waved at the night security guard. She walked through the foyer into the elevator heading to the fourth floor and her second to last night in her apartment. The living room was vacant expect for a few boxes. Each had been labeled, packed, taped and were ready for the storage company to come get them in preparation of her upcoming hiatus.

Hiatus, experience, vacation. Whatever she called it, the goal—no stress. Lost in rebellious desire, she longed to drive leisurely across the country and see everything. Stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon, climb the Rockies, drive over Hoover Damn, swim in the Florida Keys, and travel to the Northeast in the fall to see the leaves turning.

But all of her plans of fun and adventure seemed to crash and shatter around her feet tonight when Dale had given her this stupid thumb drive. She stood in the living room and looked at the small object in her hand. The callous seriousness of life seemed to rudely intrude into her headlong attempt to run away from it.

“Damn it, Dale, what have you gotten yourself into?” Her voiced echoed in the darkness of the nearly empty room. Ember closed her eyes and said a silent prayer for him. Walking into the bedroom, she dropped the drive onto her nightstand, pulled off her clothes and let her hair down as she walked into the shower.

Dale loved the drama in his job and seemed to be drawn to intense situations and activities which is one of the many reasons they never really clicked. Ember dealt with enough tension at work as a trauma doctor. Any additional stress away from the hospital was the last thing she wanted. What she wanted she’d probably never find. She wanted someone to hold her when she came home feeling like a shell, void of emotion and decimated because a patient didn’t make it. Silent strength, a loving touch, knowing deep inside that he would love her no matter what else happened in the world—she longed for that kind of connection. Ember sighed and fought back tears. She had it once when she was too young to know what it was. A sniff and huff of laughter buoyed her thoughts.
Depend on Dad? Hell, he was never there. And Mom? Mom died way too young. Oh and the boyfriend you trusted who cheated? Yeah, you’ve got trust issues girl.
She knew the psychobabble and could recite the textbook language…just like Dr. Sebastian taunted. Em knew she wanted someone to lift the smothering sense of responsibility off her shoulders—just for a while. She knew why. What she didn’t know was who. Now wasn’t that a conundrum.
Conundrum? Do people actually talk that way?

“So I’m smart. Sue me.” Ember tried to shrug off the thoughts, but the echo of her voice reinforced the loneliness in her heart. The room where she stood had never been a home. It was a place to sleep and shower. She’d never had friends over, never decorated it or even painted. The white walls stood as unadorned as the day she’d moved in. Whatever, she was leaving. Making a change. Em stared at the wall for a minute and decided the next place she lived she would paint. She turned on her heel and headed to the bathroom. Stopping after three strides, she looked back over her shoulder.
What color?
A soft green of new life and growing things. I like green.

Once in the shower, the hot water flattened her waist-long auburn hair over her shoulders and down her back. She washed quickly, a habit derived from always being late getting home or being in a hurry to get back to work. With efficiency long ago ingrained, she finished her shower and padded out of the bathroom.

She stood wrapped in a towel at the door to the bedroom and looked once again at the small silver drive that Dale had given her. Damn him for getting mixed up with something that could be dangerous. Ember went back into the bathroom and dried her hair, careful to straighten the curls that were the bane of her youth. She turned off the light and tried to sleep, but the conversation with Dale replayed in a loop through her mind. That mental film coupled with the stress of her pending transition cooked up a perfect recipe for insomnia. The sun was starting to rise when she finally fell into a fitful rest.

Ember woke, looked at the clock and then bolted from the bed. Her restless night had cost her the majority of the morning.
Too much to do to sleep until noon, girl!
Quickly dressing she headed out, running her final errands before she loaded up and left the Big Easy. She gave a quick wave to the security guard after once again confirming her forwarding address for mail had been given to the apartment complex office. The storage company was being let into her apartment next week by her apartment manager.

She drove to the bank and emptied her savings and checking accounts starting the process to close both. The weight of the cash in her purse made her smile. Her money manager had strict instructions for handling her investments. She only needed to load her suitcases tomorrow morning and she would leave New Orleans in her wake. The drama from last night slipped away as she scratched off the last item on her to-do list and headed back to her apartment.

Ember was relieved to be finished with all the running around that needed to be done in order to finally leave. After a quick meal, she took the trash to the outside dumpster while her computer booted up. She needed to check the weather, her emails and waste some time reading the news before she finished her last minute packing. Returning to her apartment she read the headlines of the Times-Picayune.

Her breath caught as the local headline appeared
.
Belle Chase Lawyer Found Dead in Apparent Suicide
.
Her hand hovered over the mouse and it literally shook as she clicked the link. Dale’s picture filled the screen. The short article indicated coworkers had gone to his house when he did not show up for a court appearance and found him dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Dale murdered!
If he had told the people who had killed him where the evidence could be found, she might be next. Intense, overwhelming fear stood every hair on the back of her neck erect up as if some ingrained instinct signaled imminent attack. Ember bolted up and turned off and unplugged her computer. She raced into her bedroom and threw the remaining toiletries from her bathroom into her suitcase and zipped the bag closed. She checked her jeans pocket for holes, and then pocketed the silver capsule. Stuffing her computer and charger into its case, she gave her apartment one fleeting glance before she shut and locked her door. Walking out of the building for the last time, she loaded her luggage, waved robotically to the security guard and drove out the gate. The calm shell she portrayed was fast separating from the freaked out woman underneath
. Fuck, what do I do now? Who in the hell am I going to call?

Think, damn it! Oh God, who can I get this to? Holy shit, where do I go?

Pulling onto the interstate a thought struck her.
Could she? Would he even remember her?
Ember’s mind settled on the one person she could contact to help her although reaching him could prove difficult.
Difficult? If you don’t do it, you could be dead. How’s that for difficult, you idiot?

Okay, so how do I do this? I’m in danger. What do I do?

She’d watched enough crime TV to know to stay away from any form of electronic monitoring. Ember put the SUV on cruise control as she fished around in her purse for her cell phone. Opening the window she tossed the phone out and watched it shatter in a thousand pieces behind her.

GPS tracking on her vehicle was a possibility. She veered off the interstate and worked her way to a mall and parked. Ember walked into the shopping center and located a kiosk that sold prepaid cell phones. She bought three with cash and called a local cab company with one. Walking to her SUV, she retrieved her computer bag, deposited the cell phones, and crammed the contents of the smaller suitcase into the larger one. Taking one suitcase and her computer bag she walked to the far side of the mall and got into the waiting cab. He drove her to the bus station where she paid cash for a ticket on the first bus out of town.

At the bus station, Ember scanned the loading area carefully. There were cameras in the lobby, but not under the overhang. She moved out of the lobby keeping her face averted and waited. When her bus pulled in, she got on and sat in the very back seat. Once the vehicle lumbered out of the depot, she dialed a number she knew by heart.

“Hi, Mrs. King, this is Ember Harris. I know this must be a surprise, but I was wondering if you could give me Joseph’s telephone number. I’m in the process of moving and I seem to have misplaced it.”

“Ember! Honey, how have you been? It has been forever since you called. Tell me how are you doing? You said you are moving? Where are you going?”

Ember responded politely to the matriarch of the King family. “Yes ma’am, I’m sorry for not calling sooner, but working sixty to seventy hours a week at the trauma center didn’t leave me much time to visit.”

“Well, you’re forgiven since you called now, dear. Where are you moving to?” Amanda King had evidently settled in to catch up. Ember mentally groaned.

“Ummm…I don’t know yet? I’m taking an extended vacation and I’m going to do some traveling. I went from high school to college to med school and then straight to work. I never took any time for myself so…”

“So now you’re taking care of yourself. I’m so happy for you, dear. Can I expect to see you while you’re on vacation?”

Ember shivered at the thought of Amanda King being in trouble because of the drama that surrounded her. “Ah, you know Mississippi isn’t on my list but who knows, I may just show up one day.”

“I’d love that, dear. You know you’re always welcome here. You’re practically a member of the family.” Ember loved Mrs. King. She was an amazing woman who raised a family of five boys and three girls single-handedly after her husband was murdered. Ember had always felt welcome at the King home. The house seemed to burst at the seams with people and love.

Ember not only felt that love from the gentle woman who led the family, but from Joseph, her oldest son. The one time in her life she felt safe, wanted and loved was when she dated Joseph. Could she reach out to him after all this time? Should she involve this wonderful woman and her family in the torrent of events swirling around her?

Amanda King was a saint and helped her bury her aunt four years ago. The older woman walked her through the multitude of funeral arrangements and stood beside her at the grave site. She made Ember dinners and caught her up on her children’s exploits, travels, and occupational choices. Mrs. King spent a particularly skewed amount of time talking about Joseph, Ember’s first love, ensuring she knew he was still single and worked for an international security firm. That was the reason she was calling now.

“Yes ma’am, thank you. Ahh…Mrs. King, I can’t find Joey’s telephone number. Would you happen to have a way I can get in touch with him? It’s kind of important that I talk to him right away.”

The pause at the other end of the line was pregnant. Finally, Mrs. King asked, “Ember, honey, are you in trouble?”

Ember didn’t respond. A long pause followed and in the end she couldn’t say anything.

Mrs. King sighed. “Okay sweetheart, I’m giving you his emergency contact number. Leave a message and give him a number to call you back. I don’t know if he is in the country or overseas, but he will call you as soon as he gets your message. It could take a couple days or longer. Maybe you should call Jacob or Jared? They’re in the states and they could help you if you’re in trouble. If you need a lawyer Jason has an office here in town.”

“No ma’am, I don’t need a lawyer. I really just need to talk to Joey. If he doesn’t call me back soon, maybe I’ll ask for Jared’s number. Okay?”

“Alright, dear. I won’t pry. Lord knows I want to, but I won’t. Here is the number.”

Ember ended the call after she scribbled the overseas number down. Forcing a deep breath to steady her shot nerves, she called the number. The ringing stopped abruptly and a computer beep sounded. She drew a shaky breath, “Joey, it's Em. Ember Harris. I think I’m in trouble. Please call me back. Ah...Joey… I’m…I think…please would you give me a call. I need help.” She left the number of her third phone, powered down the second phone, took out the battery and the SIM card. She broke the card and threw it on the floor. The phone ended up dropped in the toilet of the bus. A flush ensured it went down into the septic tank.

Joseph King, the boy she knew years ago had been her hero. Her mom had raised her alone. Ember’s dad was a drunken leech who drifted in and out of her childhood, but was never a constant. When her mom died of cancer, her Aunt Caroline took her in. Ember transferred from a huge Ohio high school with over two thousand students to a small Mississippi school with less than one hundred in her class. Most of the people in the school had been friends since they were in kindergarten and their social circles and cliques were formidable. As a quiet and introspective teen, the death of her mother forced her even further into herself. Tagged as the new ‘city girl’ she was circled by the hormone-crazed boys at the country school. All the attention she received from the young men garnered her spite and ridicule from the local girls who desperately tried to attract the boy’s attention.

She did her best to avoid talking with anyone, but one afternoon about a week after starting school four boys surrounded her at a lunchroom table. She tried to get up and move, but one pulled her back down. The other three laughed at her surprise.

“Where you going so fast, princess? What? Is the city girl too stuck up to be around us? Do you think you’re too good for us, honey?” The blond’s sarcastic southern drawl taunted her.

Ember glared at him. “I’m done with lunch and I don’t want to talk with you. Go talk to those girls over there and let go of my arm now.”

The crowd of boys laughed as the tanned blond continued, “Hey, who said we just want to talk with you, sweetheart? Those girls don’t know things like you city girls do. How about you teach us what you know?”

A loaded lunch tray thudded on the table and a deep voice rumbled, “Get your hand off her arm, Kirby, or I’ll break it.”

Em looked up at her savior. He was taller and broader than any of the boys at the table and appeared older.

“Fuck off, King. This is none of your business. We were just introducing ourselves to the new girl.” The blond boy’s voice held bravado, but Ember could tell he was afraid of the young man at the head of the table. The three other boys slid down the bench moving away from the angry newcomer.

“If I have to tell you again, you’ll be picking your teeth up off the floor.” As he growled out his response, four more young men walked up behind him, all with similar looks of short cut black hair and chiseled features. All were exceptionally tall, but none had the intensity of the boy standing over her.

“Hey, we didn’t know she was your girl, King. We don’t want no trouble with you or your brothers.” One of the boys that backed away from the table spoke trying to calm the situation.

“My brothers are the
least
of your concern, Caleb. Y’all get away from her and stay away. If I see you or anyone else near her again, I’ll beat the shit out of you for pure enjoyment.”

The blond let go of her arm and the boys moved away from her table. Ember raised her eyes up to him and smiled nervously. “Thank you. I’m Ember Harris.”

The young man sat down across from her and his brothers walked away following the offending boys as they retreated. He was wearing a letterman’s jacket and the letter was covered in pins from track, football, basketball and baseball.

“I’m Joseph. Joseph King. I couldn’t help notice you had a little difficulty. Not a lot of friends around today to hang with?”

Ember shook her head. “Ah…no. The girls here don’t like me because the boys do. If I don’t talk to the boys, they think I’m stuck up, but at least I don’t get harassed by the girls. The head cheerleader wanted to fight me because I talked to her boyfriend. Like I knew the guy was dating her? I asked him one question. I guess ‘where’s the office?’ is a come on. Anyway it’s not a good way make friends or to start at a new school.”

He looked at her and sucked his teeth thoughtfully finally declaring. “No, I guess not.”

Ember looked at him and drew a deep breath. She straightened her back in a show of bravado she really didn’t feel. “Would you please do me the favor of pointing out which girl is going to try pick a fight with me because
you’re
talking to me?”

Joseph huffed out a sound almost resembling a laugh and shook his head. “None, I don’t have a girlfriend and the last time I checked half of the school was afraid of me. The other half is too stupid to be afraid of me.”

Ember laughed at the absurdity of his statement. “Afraid of you? Why? I think you’re kinda nice.”

His blue-green eyes seemed to search her face almost as if he was looking for a way to tell if she was lying. “You really
aren’t
afraid of me are you?”

“Umm…no. Perhaps I’m one of the stupid ones?” She crossed her eyes at him pulling her lips in a pucker. He choked on the milk he was drinking. The liquid flew from his mouth and she shrieked with laughter. His laughter echoed on the ceramic tile walls of the lunch room, drawing the attention of just about everyone, especially his brothers who looked at each other and smiled.

He wiped his mouth while still laughing, “No, Ember, I don’t think you’re one of the stupid ones. What’s your next class? I’ll walk you.”

From that day, they’d been inseparable. Ember noticed the wide birth everyone gave him and because she was his friend, they left her alone, which suited her just fine. She eventually heard the rumors about him, how he left school, tracked down and killed the man who had murdered his dad. Some of the girls even went so far as to tell her Joseph was dangerous and violent that he would hurt her. She knew he wouldn’t. He was always gentle with her.
Too gentle.
His devastating aggression fascinated her—excited her. If he ever, even once, had taken control of those make out sessions, she would have melted. But he didn’t. His restraint frustrated her to no end, but how does a seventeen-year-old girl tell her boyfriend that? No, Joey was a master of discipline. He never lost control during a fight and always stopped when he knew he had won. He was always victorious. It did seem that everyone in town feared her Joey. She laughed to herself. Nobody else called him Joey, not even his family.

The two spent their senior year together talking, dreaming, planning their lives or just enjoying the peaceful silence of being together. Both knew that the relationship would end after graduation. With a maturity beyond their years, they accepted it. He wanted to join the Marine Corps and travel the world. She wanted to go to college and dreamed of being a doctor. They were best friends.

Ember compared every man she had ever dated in college and after to him. None ever came close to meeting the thrill Joseph’s commanding presence gave her.
If only he used that power in other ways
. If she had only known then what she knew now? Would she have begged Joey to stay? Would she have become a military wife? More times than not it seemed her life-long drive to become a doctor had cost her more than she wanted to pay. She’d learned too many hard, unrelenting lessons, felt bitter disappointment, survived a mentally abusive boyfriend, a cheating fiancé and suffered through too many disappointing dates to count. If she had known?
I would have followed him to the ends of the earth.

When the phone rang two hours later, the shrill noise jarred her frayed nerves. She struggled to answer the unfamiliar phone, the shaking of her hands making the effort even more arduous.
How the hell do I answer this thing?
Ember hit a button hoping it was the right one to connect her to the caller. “Joey?”

“Yeah, Em it’s me. Explain why you think you’re in trouble?” The sound of his voice crumbled all her stoic defenses. She swiped at a tear and spoke softly into the phone. The closest person was five rows up, but she whispered anyway. “Oh, thank God, Joey! A friend gave me a computer thumb drive for safekeeping last night. He said if something happened to him to get it to a person I could trust--someone at a national level. I didn’t know who else to call. Oh, my God.” Ember drew a shaking breath willing herself not to dissolve into tears. “Joey, he was found dead this morning. The paper said it was a suicide, but…he would never kill himself.”

“Where are you and do you still have the drive?” His deep rich voice melted her to the core, similar to the voice of the young man she once knew but now deeper with a terse, clipped edge. His voice held a distinct chill, a distance. Ember’s mind raced. Perhaps he wouldn’t help? How much
had
he changed over the years? Was she wrong to reach out to him? Well, hell, it had been fourteen—no fifteen years.

“Joey, maybe I freaked a little bit. I don’t know. I didn’t really know what to do so…I think I may have over reacted? Hell, I threw my cell phone out on the interstate and left my truck in a mall parking lot. Maybe I watch too much TV, but I didn’t want to be tracked so I bought prepaid cell phones and I’m on a bus heading to Kansas City. All with cash—of course.”

“Being careful keeps people alive. I need information. Now. The man’s name? Where did this happen and do you still have the drive?”

“Dale Landis, he is…
was
a lawyer in New Orleans. I have the damned thing in my pocket.” He didn’t respond. Nothing. No words, no indication he heard her. Ember looked at the face of the phone to ensure they were still connected. Finally, he responded.

“Turn off the phone and take out the SIM card if it has one and the battery. Put the phone back together in two hours. I’ll contact you.”