The Fix Read online

  I needed to start coming up with answers. Even after reading the letter 5 times I still couldn’t bring myself to any solid conclusions. I was so sure that Harvey had killed Penny, but now he was telling me that he didn’t. If my sister’s killer was still free, then i knew it was my duty to bring him to justice, my duty to at least try and find out if Harvey was telling the truth or not. As crazy as that could be, it would bring on a new world of questions if Harvey was being framed. Questions like, what in the hell would happen between Harvey and I? He told me he loved me and I had enjoyed the time I had spent with him. He never treated me poorly and I wondered if we could start a life together, if he was telling the truth.

  I nearly wore a path in the carpeting with how much I was pacing. I let the letter fall onto the table and moved to the love seat in the sitting room. As I sat there with my head in my hands, it hit me. I had left the apartment. I had read enough into his letter to do what he said and to leave my apartment and go into hiding. I had also been followed by that black SUV, so something was clearly happening which, logically, could only mean one thing: Harvey was right. Or at the least, he wasn’t completely wrong.

  I knew that I needed to see him as soon as possible. There was no avoiding it. I grabbed the phone and dialed Mr. Watkins’ number right away. We were going to go and pay a visit to Harvey.

  ***

  It had been two days. Luckily, nothing new and scary had happened and I hadn’t seen a single sign of the SUC since hiding out in one of the Four Seasons’ suites. At my insistent begging, Mr. Watkins had finally agreed to do all he could to arrange for a visit with Harvey. This first visit was going to be difficult but I had to take Mr. Watkins’ advice. Just because everything was adding up, didn’t make it correct. We needed more solid evidence.

  “We need to play this visit as cautiously as possible. We don’t need anyone asking around. If anyone official-looking asks, you’re his sister. If it comes to that, we leave immediately so that they don’t have enough time to check the records,” he said to me as he dabbed a handkerchief at the sweat gathering along his brow and we started the drive. The plan was pretty simple but was just going to require some self-control on my part. As to not attract any more attention than I was sure to get already, I dressed a little more conservatively, putting on a pair of simple black pumps, dark skinny jeans and a green cowl-necked sweater with my hair straightened and its red highlights shining from the sunlight. When we got there, they would take us to a small room where he and I would meet with Harvey for no longer than 10 minutes. That’s all the time we would need. I was not to say anything too revealing to Harvey and I was not to ask him to explain everything to me until we could get the evidence that we needed. That’s why we would ask for one piece of valuable information. Something that he could give us more solid proof that he may be telling the truth. Once that happens, we go back and find out more.

  Knowing that it was going to be a bit of a drive, I had brought my MP3 player. Switching to the Backstreet Boys, I settled back into my seat as Mr. Watkins drove us out of the city and we headed towards the Otisville medium-security prison.

  After what felt like forever, I felt Mr. Watkins tap me on my shoulder indicating that we had arrived at our destination. I packed away the MP3 player and set it in the back of the car as he flashed a badge and exchanged a few short words with a uniformed security officer at an outer gate. He then drove us a little further in to the facility, pulling into a lot outside of a very official looking building. My heart started beating a little faster as I looked at the building.

  We’re really here. I’m really about to go talk to him again.

  It had been a few months since I’d seen him and we’d had no contact other than the letter. Double checking my make-up in my compact as we walked in, I made sure to stand up straight and to put a serious yet striking look on my face. I was sure that I wouldn’t do anything to attract too much attention but I wasn’t going to look frumpy either.

  The light was much dimmer inside and my eyes took a moment to adjust. There didn’t seem to be a lot going on. A couple officers were working in an office — shielded by a sheet of glass — at a counter to our left and I immediately started following Mr. Watkins as he headed towards them. He talked there for a few moments before we were escorted back to a small office by an officer called Blake who stank of pizza from the cafeteria.

  “I need all of the personal belongings that you’ve brought with you today, ma’am. They will be kept safe for the duration of your visit,” stammered Officer Blake. I politely handed him my purse and emptied what little I had in my pockets onto the top of his desk. “Now just to cover the basics,” Officer Blake went on, “Please be sure to remain on your side of the table at all times, there is absolutely no contact allowed. Please keep your voices at a respectable level, and please keep your clothing on at all times. I’ll trust your attorney to point out anything else that may come up if it’s needed. There will be officers posted outside of your visitation room and they will promptly escort Mr. Goldman out of the room when your time is up.” It all definitely seemed simple enough. “Any questions?” he asked, looking directly at me.

  “Not at all,” I replied, matching his stern look.

  He led us out of his office and through a couple of longer corridors before stopping at a plain white door. I figured that Mr. Watkins pulled quite a few strings to get us a meeting like this. Didn’t they normally do this with phones and glass windows, or in a big open room with other visitors? I wasn’t going to openly complain, the privacy would be nice, as this wasn’t exactly a topic that I wanted to discuss with all of the Otisville facility. He escorted us into the room and had us sit on one side of a small rectangular table. He gave us each a stern look before uttering, “Remember the rules”, and leaving the room to make sure the guards were at their post and the prisoner was brought in accordingly. When the door closed, and Mr. Watkins and I were alone, he turned to me.

  “Just remember to keep your head up. If he’s innocent, than we will get to the bottom of this. We just need to be sure, that’s why we’re here.”

  “I know. Don’t worry, I’ve got myself in check,” I told him. What I told him and what I felt were two very different things. Now that we were here, I felt torn. This man was a damn good lay and was kind to me the entire time we were together, he was also trying to convince me that he loves me and that he’s innocent. The other party of me was still holding on to the anger that I would need to push him away if all of this turned out to be some scam to break him out of prison. A glass of water slid lightly in front of me. I looked over and Mr. Watkins flash me a quick, understanding smile.

  He must be able to tell how uncomfortable I am.

  I gave him a small smile back. It was nice to have encouragement.

  The door opened, and that’s when I realized just how difficult it was going to be.

  Three things had changed about Harvey during his short stay in prison. His normal attire of a nice, tailored suit was traded for a bright orange jumpsuit; his hair, which was normally under perfect control, was slightly more aloof and had a softer appearance, making me want to run my fingers through it; lastly, he wasn’t wasting all of that extra time he had on his hands. It was clear that Harvey was using much of his time to maintain his physique and I could already see a clear difference in how prominent his chest and arms were as they bulged through the bright orange jumpsuit. Damn. This man was gorgeous. I shifted in my chair a little as the officers sat him down on the opposite side of the little table before leaving the room.

  You could cut the tension with a knife. Harvey had not taken his eyes off of me since stepping into the room and I was not about to back down, meeting his gaze the entire time. I noticed one more thing that had changed about him. His eyes. As I watched him, I could see the worry etched into the corners of his eyes. That had not been there before. His eyes almost made him look older. Not an unattractive older, but rather a wise and distinguished type of older.
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br />   “You look great, Kelly,” he whispered.

  My breath caught a little. I quickly cleared my throat. I needed to be strong, one way or another, I needed to keep my composure and soldier through this.

  “Mr. Goldman, Ms Lee and I are here in response to a piece of communication that Ms Lee has recently received. Ms Lee, this is your chance to tell Mr. Goldman what is on your mind,” Mr. Watkins spoke professionally, but the look he gave me when speaking was much softer than his tone. He knew that this was difficult. He knew that I was torn having to be harsh, but at the same time wanting things to work out like they did in fairy tales. But this wasn’t a fairy tale, this was getting to the bottom of who murdered Penny. This wasn’t about who loved who and who said what, this is about who killed my sister. Period. I calmly took a sip of water without breaking eye contact with Harvey.

  “Mr. Goldman,” I started on a professional note. I saw him set his face a little firmer and sit up straighter in his chair. He definitely did not like me calling him Mr. Goldman. “As convincing as your letter was, there was no solid proof. We understand that was for safety reasons, which is why we are here. This is your one, and I do mean your one chance to clear your name. Give us one piece of information that could lead to some kind of solid evidence to back up our story. If your information checks out, we will arrange a lengthier visit with you.”

  Wow, that was easier than expected.

  Harvey had finally broken eye contact with me and was now just staring, almost blankly, down at the table in front of us. “Adamo Leone,” he whispered. “Look into Adamo Leone. He will lead you to an underground pornography warehouse that will be heavily guarded, although it may not appear to be so at first glance. The traffic is key, it ebbs and flows. Adamo has connections to a man named Buruchi.”

  Mr. Watkins and I exchanged curious looks but he just shrugged and picked up his case, motioning for him to follow. I looked back at Harvey before standing up and turning to head out the door.

  “Kelly!” Harvey called out. I turned to look at him. “When my story checks out, you’ll come back?” he asked. My heart nearly melted for him. He looked like a little boy who’d had all of his favorite things taken away from him and who’d been put in time-out for far too long. I gave him what I thought was an encouraging smile but I felt it come out more like a twitch. I turned and quickly left the room before he could see the tear in the corner of my eye. It was getting hard to hold my resolve. I wanted him to be telling the truth.

  As we walked back into the office for me to gather my personal belongings, I couldn’t stop thinking about what could happen if he was right. Was I really about to get involved with the Italian mob? Hell, even asking the wrong questions could get you killed. This would change my entire life no matter which way it ended up.

  Once we got into the car, Mr. Watkins turned to look at me. “Alright Kelly, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to take you back to the Four Seasons. I’m going to talk to some people and make sure that you have protection in your suite for a little while. At least until we can look into this lead a little more. Once I hear more on the matter, depending on the results, I will contact you directly and we will talk more. This could prove to be extremely dangerous so I really need you to lie low for a while. I know that’s tough for a girl your age but it’s going to be the safest thing for you right now.”

  “I understand. I’ll be good,” I replied, buckling my seat-belt.

  “You do really get it, right? When I say extremely dangerous, I mean they can and will rape, torture and kill you, before hiding your body and making it look like an accident. They do not play around, Kelly.”

  I looked him right in the eyes, and with the most serious face I could muster I said, “Yes I get it. There are probably people right now who want my head on a fucking platter!” Catching my breath for a moment I added, “I’m sorry. I’m just a little overloaded at the moment. Yes, I understand. You can trust me. I’ll be good.”

  After looking at me for a moment longer, he finally came to the conclusion he wanted because he started up the car and we headed back to my temporary home.

  ***

  I’m pretty sure that it had been the longest three weeks of my life by the time I heard back from Mr. Watkins. Three weeks spent reading any book I could get my hands on and watching every DVD I could think of while not stepping foot outside of my suite. They wouldn’t even let me get my own car. One of the security guards that had been assigned to me went and retrieved my car from the Ritz; the black SUV was nowhere in sight. The guards even took turns doing any shopping that I required, doing everything they could to make sure I was tucked away, safe and out of sight. When the phone rang, I nearly knocked over the end-table jumping up to answer it.

  “Hello?” I said into the speaker.

  “Kelly, hey this is Robert. Mr. Watkins and I have been in contact and he told me to give you a call. We’re going to drop by tomorrow morning to talk. Does that sound alright with you?”

  “Hold on a sec, let me check my schedule…yea pretty sure I’ll still be sitting here,” I laughed. I heard him laugh a little on the other end.

  “Alright, we’ll swing by tomorrow. We’ll call up to your room before coming up. Have a good night and we’ll see you then.”

  “Goodnight,” I replied and hung up the phone.

  Maybe I would finally get to hear about what’s been going on. Ever since we got back from visiting Harvey, I hadn’t heard anything regarding the information. I was so curious to know where it had led them.

  I laid out some comfy clothes for the next day — I had started to love my yoga shorts indoors — and crawled into bed. It was going to be difficult to sleep, my mind was going crazy thinking about meeting with Robert and Mr. Watkins in the morning. It felt like the sun wasn’t going to rise fast enough. I put my new Nature Sounds disk into my MP3 player, slid my headphones on, and sank back into a stack of fluffed pillows to try and clear my mind. It must have worked because the last thing I remember was the vision of Harvey, jacked after a prison workout, standing in front of me with his jumpsuit hanging off his hips. With a smile playing on my lips, I finally drifted off to sleep.

  The voices were quiet but someone was definitely talking in the living room outside of my bedroom. I wished I could hear what they were saying. I was just so comfortable. I opened my eyes a little before squeezing them shut again. The sunlight streaming in through the window happily announced the arrival of a bright, new day.

  If I could be that bright in the mornings, maybe things would have worked out for me a little differently.

  I pulled my headphones out from where they had gotten tangled underneath a pillow and checked my MP3. player. Just as I thought, the batteries had died sometime in the night. At least it played long enough to help me get to sleep. Getting out of bed, I climbed into my comfy clothes and slid on my plush slippers before heading out of the bedroom door, throwing my hair in a ponytail as I went.

  As I walked I saw Larry, Robert, and Mr. Watkins all sitting around the room speaking candidly with the two guards. “Good morning,” I managed to mumble as I turned and headed for the coffee that I could smell coming from the kitchen.

  “Good morning,” I heard them all reply, almost in perfect unison. Once I had my mug of coffee, I padded back into the living room and took a seat on the couch across from Robert. He cut straight to the point.

  “Well, Harvey’s tip paid off. I put some guys on Adamo for a while and then pulled them back before anyone got suspicious. While they were following him, they found the warehouse and even caught a quick glimpse of Buruchi. Unfortunately, they were not able to get a photograph. The same days every week the traffic around the area picks up and then it dies back down. Being in a warehouse district, nobody has really put two and two together yet. At this point, Harvey’s story is checking out,” he explained to me clearly. I took a second to soak it all in, just absently nodding and sipping my coffee. “Kelly? Are you following me, because I’m go
ing to have to ask you to do something and you probably aren’t going to like it?”

  “Don’t worry, I follow you, I’m just still waking up.” I yawned and tried to look like I was completely enveloped in what he was telling me. I was paying attention, I just have never been a fantastic morning person.

  He nodded and continued. “We need to hear more from Harvey. If he wants you to help him, than you need our help and we’ll need the whole story. We’re going to arrange for you to have a longer visit with Harvey. I know I can get you half an hour, I’ll try to get a little longer but no promises. I need you to wear a wire and ask him to tell you what he knows. We need to make sure that we get as much information as possible to track down Buruchi.”

  I looked up over my mug towards where Robert was sitting, “In telling me his story truthfully, he’s likely to divulge information pertaining to crimes he has committed. How do I know that if what he says is true, and we catch the real killer, that you’re not just going to turn around and slap him with different charges?”

  “If what Mr. Goldman says is true, I’m sure some kind of arrangements could be made,” chimed Larry, giving Robert a stern look. A thoughtful look flashed across Robert’s face for a brief moment and then it was back to its serious setting.

  “You have my word in front of these witnesses that I will not proceed with additional charges,” Robert said, sounding truly sincere and not once breaking eye contact. I knew that there weren’t many people I could trust right now but if there were then they were in this room. I nodded and agreed to wear the wire. We talked a little longer regarding certain questions I could use to get Harvey talking. I didn’t expect it to be difficult but it was always best to be prepared.

  ***

  A week later, I found myself back in Mr. Watkins’ car and on my way to the prison for our meeting with Harvey. I took a slight risk regarding the rules for clothing during visitation, I wanted to still give Harvey a subtle reward for the information that he provided so I wore a v-cut top with a lace camisole underneath, making it difficult to see through but still providing an eye-catching pattern while hugging my voluptuous form. I was sure he would approve. I slid on my headphones and sat back in my seat, watching out the window as we went. The trip seemed to go much quicker than the first time and in what felt like no time at all, we were pulling up outside the gates of the prison.