Marco studied the woman sitting across the table from him. Her eyes were drooping and she looked like she was about to fall asleep but kept fighting to stay awake. She tucked her messy brown hair behind both ears with shaking hands.
Her brown eyes lifted and looked straight at him. "I didn't really see anything...I don't know. I don't remember a lot of things. I just...I just want to get the hell away from here," she begged. Her eyes went to her brother. "Gian, please, just take me away from here."
Her brother rested his hand on her shoulder for comfort but shook his head. "You have to stay for questioning."
Marco stayed silent throughout the exchange. He brushed his fingers through his short black hair to wake himself up. He had stayed up all night closing a case and now he stumbled upon another one without proper rest. Gian was taking this case personally. They could hand it over to another team, he thought.
"Tell him what you told me earlier," Gian urged his sister, tilting his head toward Marco.
Khaye hesitated. Marco saw her shiver as she tried to collect herself. "I...I'm not sure what I saw or heard, Gian. I...I don't remember a lot of things. Everything happened so fast."
"Tell him what you told me over the phone," Gian prodded gently, bending down to look his sister in the eyes.
Khaye turned to Marco. She swallowed for strength and said, "I saw her with a man hours before. I think they're lovers. He handed her a bag. I think they made an exchange of some sort."
"Who was it? Did you get a name?" Marco spoke for the first time.
She closed her eyes in concentration. "I think she called him Richard." Her eyes started to water once again and she looked at her brother for comfort. "And he was there, too. He was there...oh God, I don't understand anything anymore. They fought and there was a lot of screaming..."
Marco closed his eyes for patience. He took a deep breath before he said, "Can you recount what you can remember?"
"I said I don't remember a lot of things!" Khaye cried out in frustration.
"Okay, okay, calm down," Gian tried to soothe her. He glared at his partner and added, "She's under a lot of stress."
Marco took another deep breath. So was he and he barely had enough rest. "Okay, I'm sorry. Let's try something different then." He looked at Khaye closely and held her gaze. "Tell us what you did from the moment you got here."
Khaye turned to her brother and he nodded in encouragement. She lifted her shaking hands and placed her palms down on the table to keep them steady. Her eyes locked on Marco's dark ones as she started to talk.
*****
One hour later, Theo opened the door and Richard burst in the room in rage.
"Where the hell have you been and—" and then he saw her sitting on the chair and he stopped. His eyes roamed around her and landed on the scarf around her neck. "Did you find the money?" he asked, his voice dangerously calm.
His brother's eyes met his and Richard got his answer. Theo was a second too late to stop him from storming toward the woman. He saw the look of fear in her eyes as his brother approached and grabbed her face with one hand.
"This is not the right time for this, Richard," Theo calmly said as he watched the woman fight her way out of his brother's grasp.
"She killed her, didn't she?" Richard uttered. He said it as a statement.
"I didn't!" the woman said.
Richard's other hand grasped both ends of the scarf around her neck and pulled. "Richard, stop it."
His brother ignored him. "Did you do it for the money, Desiree?" Richard demanded from the woman. He pulled the scarf harder until she made a choking sound. "Yes, sweetheart, I know who you are. I know every fucking person around Jamaica. I know where you live and every person you care about."
Theo hid his surprise at his brother's words and approached him from behind, saying, "I've already taken care of it. Let her go."
Richard bent down until his face was a hairsbreadth away from the woman's and he whispered, "I will make sure that you pay for it, you bitch. I'll make sure you'll slowly die in my own hands." His hold on the scarf tightened at each word. The woman's face was red, her mouth open as she fought for air.
"Richard," Theo said. His eyes caught the woman's before she closed hers as consciousness left her. Theo reached for Richard and forcefully pulled his brother away. The woman gasped for air when Richard let go of the scarf. She fell forward on the chair and fought for more breath, her hands on the floor, supporting her weight. Richard brushed Theo's hand away from his arm and took two steps back to the woman and kicked her on the side until she came crushing against the wall.
"I'll kill her!" Richard shouted with rage as he landed another foot gutted her. Her body curled up in pain, the breath snatched out of her lungs. No sound escaped her throat but Theo could only imagine the pain she was going through. The veins on her forehead were visible as she waited for the pain to die.
"It won't do you any good," Theo told his brother before he rewarded the woman another kick. She started coughing in pain. A whimper escaped her mouth. "The police are already here."
That stopped Richard. He turned to Theo and demanded, "What? Who called them?"
Theo's eyes traveled to the woman on the floor for a second before he looked at his brother. "Someone else called them. That only means one thing."
"What?" Richard spat out.
"Someone saw something."
His brother turned to the woman once more, bent down and grabbed a handful of her hair. Her cry of pain was weaker than the last one, Theo noted. "It's her. I know it's her."
"You have to think straight, Richard. This is not just about Jamaica's death. This is about our whole fucking operation. So let her go and start thinking straight before we all land in jail. You can deal with her later."
Richard considered his statement but not without dragging the woman to the chair by her hair. She cried out, weakly stumbling on her feet as Richard brutally took her back to the chair she was sitting on minutes earlier.
Theo noted her breathing getting short, the blood on her lips and the way she was bending over her knee in pain. Her hands were trembling and her knees were clasped together. A broken moan of agony came from her as her shoulders shook with it. He forced himself to tear his eyes away from her and focus on his brother's uncontrollable anger.
"Since you are so fucking calm right now, you must have already planned something," Richard said, his eyes still coldly residing on Desiree.
"We can't just easily get the hell out of this place without any plans," Theo told him, blocking his brother's view of the woman to keep his attention. His hands were easily resting inside his pants' front pockets as he talked. "The police arrived sooner than expected—not that we expected anything like this to happen at all."
"It's because of that fucking woman—" Richard said, making a move toward the lady once more, but Theo had had enough.
"Touch her one more time and I'll make sure you're going to regret it," he warned.
Richard stared at him in disbelief. "Don't tell me you are defending the bitch—"
"I don't care what happens to her as long as it is not here," he said, cutting his brother's outrageous accusation. "As I've said, we'll deal with her later." The whimper coming from behind him told him she heard every word. He ignored it and continued to look at his brother with stern eyes. "What we don't need is another body showing up in this room."
He saw how Richard struggled to contain his anger. "Okay," his brother finally said with a nod. "We'll do what you have in mind. But promise me one thing, Theo."
Theo did not say anything but waited.
"After we get the hell out of here, she's mine." Richard said, pointing at the lady behind him.
Theo just shrugged and said, "Now that we've settled postponing your anger displacement issues, like Petroff, why don't we make plans and get the fuck out of here discretely as we came?"
*****
After they made plans in a matter of minutes, the man called Richard left the hotel room and left her with Theo.
Desiree kept her head down. She was afraid that if she moved at all, the pain would attack again. Her breathing was shallow, but it was better than before.
She heard Theo's footsteps come near.
"If you just kept your mouth shut, you will be hurting less," he said in a very calm voice.
"I'll be dead either way," she managed to utter under her breath. Her tears dropped straight down the floor she had been looking at for the past couple of minutes. Her mind was actually entertaining a lot of thoughts. The men obviously knew Petroff. Was Petroff a part of this? Did he kill Jamaica? He was the last person she was with.
"Can you get up?" he asked.
"Why? Are you planning to drag me out of her by my hair as well?"
"I suggest you don't use that tone to anyone including me. It will land you at the worst possible places."
Desiree forced her arms to move and grunted at the pain. She gripped the sidearm of the chair tightly as she controlled her breathing. "If you are planning to kill me, just do it now."
She almost jumped in surprise when she felt his finger touch her chin and gently lifted her head up with it. Her eyes wavered as his strong gaze held hers. His face was blank of any emotions but his voice was low and gentle as he said, "What they are going to do to you is worse than death itself so you better listen to every word I'll say from this very moment or your hell starts here."
*****
Marco's head snapped at Khaye's words. "Tattooed hands?" he asked, his eyes looking at Gian. His partner obviously knew about it, thus the reason they were taking this case.
Khaye nodded. "He has tattooed hands. If there is nothing I cannot forget, it's those hands."
"What happened after that?" he asked.
"He left. Then Jamaica took something out of her suitcase. I didn't see it. But she took something and gave it to him. And then he was gone. The next I saw him, he was knocking on her door. Everything was a blur then. Things went crazy."
"You said you listened from the other side of the connecting door. Tell us what you heard."
Khaye swallowed. "There were a lot of threats. Jamaica was shouting for the men to stop. And I heard her say something about putting the knife down. Then there was...I don't know. There was more fighting and there was a lot of grunting sounds. I can't remember. I just remember thinking I had to get away before they found out."
"What about her friend, Desiree?"
Khaye looked blank for a moment as she racked her memory. "I can't remember. Jamaica left her at the bar, I guess. I saw her with a man when I was running to the elevator."
Marco frowned. "What were they doing?"
"I don't know. He was pulling her away. I can't remember."
"Which direction were they coming from? Can you remember?"
"I'm not sure. The elevators maybe. I don't know." She paused and looked at Marco. "You are not suspecting she did it, are you? I just told you that Petroff and that man, Richard, were the ones inside the room with Jamaica. Desiree wasn't there."
"But you cannot say for certain that when they left the room, Jamaica was dead, right?"
Khaye opened her mouth to protest but no words came out of her mouth. She shook her head. "I hate Desiree and Jamaica to death, but I don't believe Desiree killed her. They're best friends!"
"Then why can't anyone find her now?"
"Why don't you freaking find Petroff and that other guy? They knew each other and—"
"They knew each other?" Marco cut off.
Khaye pursed her lips and composed herself. "The way they talked to each other, I am certain they knew each other. Jamaica knew them both."
"How can you be certain?"
Khaye looked at her brother for a moment before she answered, "They were talking about some money and a client. I can't be certain. They were shouting and fighting. I heard Jamaica cry out and then there was just silence."
"But you did not hear anything that would point either of the two men did it."
Khaye bent her head down and shook her head.
Marco turned to his partner and said, "We have to find Petroff, this guy Richard and the other woman. No one leaves this hotel until all are accounted for. I want a report from Crime Scene ASAP."
*****
Theo dropped the warm towel on her lap. "Clean yourself up." When she did not make a move, he added, "Don't make me do it for you."
Slowly, he watched her move one hand and reached for the towel. She winced when the cloth touched her face.
"Desiree," he uttered, causing her hand to pause what it was doing. "Your name is Desiree."
She did not answer and continued to wipe her face then her arms. "What are they going to do to me?" she asked instead.
He honestly didn't know. Ms. Kane was on her way and as far as Theo knew, whatever the lady was planning to do to Desiree was the lesser evil to what Richard had in mind.
"If you just do what I told you to do, you'll be fine."
She let out a bitter scoff.
"You don't believe me."
"Why would I when that man kicked the shit out of me and you just stood there watching?" she spat out. "You don't even believe me when I say I didn't kill her, do you?"
His eyebrow twitched at her words. "People do a lot of unbelievable things for money, whether they are good or not. Having a good fuck with you doesn't change the fact that you were caught running away with a bag of millions."
A slow chuckled escaped her lips and he waited as it progressed into laughter. And when she lifted her head to look at him, he was taken aback by the fresh tears on her cheeks. "Having a good fuck with me should have told you that I did not kill my best friend. I returned to our room after a good fuck with you, saw her on her bed, slept on my own and woke up and found her covered in blood."
Theo just shrugged. "Try telling that to Richard when you cross paths again."
"You don't really care what they do to me, do you?"
One corner of his mouth lifted. "Yes, you're right. I don't care."
"Then why bother making an effort to get me out of here—"
"Unlike my brother, Desiree, I don't like violence. I don't like blood as much as possible. I make sure that does not happen in my presence. For now, I want to get the hell out of here and you're coming with us because we have to erase as much traces as we can without spilling more blood. That's my job. Whatever happens to you after we get through this is none of my concern."
"But earlier you said—"
"Those were my personal advice based on experience. That doesn't mean I'll help you get through the hell. From the moment we walk out of this hotel, you will be in their hands and you'll be on your own." He turned away from her, stopped. "And one last advice, Desiree," he added, "they will not see you as anything but a piece of fine furniture. They'll get the most out of you until there's nothing left."
The knock on the door came just as he was finishing his statement. He walked toward it and swung it open.
"Theo, I heard you need some help?" Ms. Kane asked, greeting him with her sweet smile. "I came with my gears," she added, lifting two black leather bags.
He stepped aside and she entered the room in her red high heels, carrying her usual classy air with her. Her red hair was tightly tied in a bun on the top of her head and she was wearing her classic look of black suit and skirt. As a lady in her fifties, Ms. Kane was doing a good job taking care of herself. But then that was her job—taking care of everybody's looks.
"Oh my..." she gasped with exaggeration when her eyes landed on Desiree sitting hunched on the chair. "I have so much work to do! Just look at her poor state, my boy! Who the hell did this to her?"
Desiree looked at the newcomer warily, fear in her eyes.
Theo walked and stood beside Ms. Kane and said, "I hope you can do it in under an hour. We don't have much time."
*****
"I have a plane to catch," the man with gloved hands said to the officer, his voice impatient. "How long are you going to question me?"
"We just need to see your passport, please."
"This is insane," the guy uttered as he fished for his passport inside his suitcase. The officer took it from him and carefully studied it.
"How long have you been staying in this hotel?"
"Just two days. Can you hurry up?"
"Where were you between 11 PM to 3 AM this morning?"
"In my bed, asleep. I had a long business meeting. You can check the fucking cameras."
The police officer's eyes wavered but he did not say a word. They had been having trouble with the security cameras but it was not an information they were willing to give to just anyone.
"Mr. Kane, you are here with your..."
"My mother and she's right there standing with my brother and his wife."
The elegant red-haired woman was standing a few meters away, waiting for her turn. She was talking to a couple who looked as impatient as the man he was talking to.
The officer looked at his passport one more time. He finally closed it and the man did not hide his sigh of relief. He started to move toward the exit when the officer stopped him. "One last thing. Can you take off your gloves for me?"
"Why the hell would I do that?"
The officer was starting to feel the heat and he snapped, "If you want to get on that plane, you have to take your gloves off. Else you'll have to stay for another night."
"This is crazy. You'll hear a complaint from me," the man said, taking his gloves off.
No tattoos, noted the officer. He gave the arrogant man an empty smile and said, "You can go now. I'll be happy to hear your complaint."
"Fuck you," the man said before striding off to the exit.
"Next!" he called out to the man's mother who eagerly walked toward him with a smile. "I'm sorry if my son was such an ass. He came out of me, but he got his father's genes."
The officer just smiled and requested for her passport. She dutifully handed it over and waited for his decision. She looked young for her age, but she didn't look anything like the picture of the model they were looking for. He gave her a pass and got a grateful pat on the shoulder in return.
Next were the arrogant man's brother and his wife. The man didn't look like his brother at all, except for the same black hair and dark eyes. "Passports, please." He noted the man's clean hands. No tattoos.
The wife had short, dark red hair that reached her nape. She looked pale, but she nervously smiled at him. He had seen a lot of nervous faces for the past hour. If news of a murder was going around, everyone was bound to get jumpy.
He opened the woman's passport. "It's new," he noted. Her photo was a mirror image of her present self.
"We had it renewed before we flew here," the husband answered.
The officer looked at both passports and returned them when he didn't find anything suspicious. "Can you tell me where you were between 11 PM and 3 AM this morning?" he asked for the nth time that day.
"Well, we were having sex," the man answered without hesitation.
The officer had a hard time keeping a straight face. He cleared his throat and smiled at the couple. "Have a nice trip back home. Sorry for the inconvenience."
"No problem," the husband said, taking his arm by the hand. The officer watched in curiosity as the couple walked away. The wife had a small limp that nearly went unnoticed. He shrugged and said, "Must have been a pretty hard one."
"Can you move it?" another guest asked with annoyance.
The officer tore his eyes away from the couple and went back to work.
*****
"Where is she?" demanded Richard the moment they climbed inside the car.
Theo closed his eyes as he rested his head against the headrest of backseat. "With Ms. Kane."
"You planned this, didn't you? You knew what I was going to do to her and—"
"Shut the fuck up, Richard. Jamaica's dead, I get it. Someone killed her and I don't care if that woman did it or not. In case you forgot, we still have to get out of this goddamned city so get a grip and focus on the task at hand."
"What is Ms. Kane planning to do to her?"
"I don't really care," Theo said, eyes still closed. "For now, I just want to get home."
*****
"They got away somehow. I just know it," Marco said later that afternoon.
"I can't believe it. How did they do it?" Gian asked out loud.
"There's no trace of them anywhere."
"As always," his partner uttered bitterly.
Marco turned away and started walking. "But they cannot keep getting away forever."
"Yeah? Well, they have managed to do so for years. They jump from one country to another."
"They are not leaving the country for a while. We'll catch them this time."
"Why do you think that?"
"With a murder like this, they will not risk it. Plus, we have something they don't know."
"What?"
"It's who," Marco answered. He looked at Gian and added, "Your sister."
****
"Are you feeling well, my dear?" Ms. Kane asked.
Desiree's head snapped toward the door. "When are you going to let me go?" she asked. She was physically okay. Her bruises were starting to heal and the soreness was ebbing away.
She had been in this place for two days now and she had not seen any shadow of Richard or Theo. Somehow that scared her even more. Not knowing was worse.
Ms. Kane had been creepily nice toward her, taking good care of her health. The woman sure knew how to do her job. She had successfully cut and dyed her hair, covered Richard's tattoos and even made minor changes on her looks that even she had trouble recognizing her face. The passports they presented at the exit were printed in the hotel room and everyone acted like it was not big deal, like it was an everyday thing. From all the careful preparation to the exit, everything was smooth. Nothing could have gone wrong.
And Theo was true to his words. She was on her own the moment they stepped out of that hotel. She prayed she would not see him or his brother again, but something told her the opposite was bound to happen.
Though she was not chained to her bed, she was still a prisoner. The windows and doors were locked from the outside, making her think that the room she was in was not designed to keep people out, but to keep them in.
Ms. Kane looked at her with a smile, her hands clasped together in front of her. "My dear, after what you've done, you cannot expect us to just let you go. But—" The lady held up her hand to stop her protest, "that doesn't mean we don't have plans for you. Why don't you start eating? They told me you have not been touching the food we give you. They are not poisoned, my dear."
"People will start looking for me."
"Oh, yes, of course. Actually, they already are. I saw the news."
Desiree's eyes widened with hope.
"Apparently, they are looking for suspects for the murder of your friend."
"Suspects?"
Ms. Kane pulled off a fake look of surprise. "Why? Did you think that after disappearing without a word on the same night that bitch friend of yours was murdered in the same room you shared will make you a victim?" The woman laughed. "Don't be absurd."
"But I—"
"Now, please eat whatever we give you. You'll have a long night tonight." She started to walk toward the door.
Desiree frowned. "What?"
"Did I forget to tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
Ms. Kane opened the door and though she was smiling, she looked at Desiree with cold, empty eyes. "You're going to be auctioned among the world's gallant bidders, my dear." She winked and left Desiree with a look of horror.