He told her to stay out of it. He said he'd handle everything. He said she didn't need to know the details, but she could go home and sleep easy because Ally Lund and Collin Sandford would not be a problem any longer.
She recorded every word on her smart phone.
Daniel had left the table first. She'd waited for him to leave the cafe entirely before she reached for her handbag, which was on the floor by the leg of the table and retrieved the phone that was sitting in it still recording.
She clicked [STOP] on the recording and looked at the 7mins and 11secs of damning evidence just sitting there on her screen.
'What the fuck are you doing, Melissa?' Her mind demanded of her as she looked at the squiggly line that represented their voice recording. It was such a short little tangle of digital line, but with it should could weave a hangman's noise.
When had she decided make the recording?
Why now? She'd have plenty of occasions to film Daniel speaking of damning subjects that could bring him down, why had this moment been so pivotal?
The answer came to her quicker than the question had. She knew the billionaire would immediately jump to the extreme once she told him about Ally Lund.
Whatever threat the woman posed to them, she didn't deserve to die. They'd murdered her brother. Ally was already the victim here, she didn't deserve to be murdered to save Daniel's ass.
Was that it? Was the guilt suddenly too much for her?
Hardly.
With this recording she could bring Daniel down. There was nothing in that could hurt her, she'd been very careful at wording everything she said with that on mind.
Of course, she was jumping to conclusions. She didn't know for certain he'd actually do it. Maybe he was just going to pay her off? Maybe he would just scare her off?
Would telling herself that ultimately make it alright for her to stand back and let him kill Ally Lund and Collin Sandford?
After all, the two had potentially conspired to sexually assault her in that nightclub bathroom. It wasn't as bad as what their younger brothers had been apart of with Jack, but clearly that sort of behaviour was in their DNA.
She could save them...
There was still time...
But should she? She didn't know them. She didn't owe them anything, their brothers had brought that fate on themselves.
Melissa shifted uncomfortably seeing images of those burning boys before her in the cafe. She gathered up her bag after uploading the recording to her cloud storage account and exited the cafe with the two full coffees and untouched plate of biscuits still sitting there.
Daniel was well and truly gone by now and she moved with purpose back towards home. Blake would likely be a while yet, and she needed more information on Ally Lund and knew just where to get it.
"Good morning," she greeted the doppelgänger at the concierge once she stepped through the doors into the lobby of Watson Tower.
The blonde woman looked pleasantly surprised at being acknowledged and seemed for a moment to have forgotten how to speak English.
"I'm Melissa Wright, my family and I live on the twentieth level," she introduced herself warmly.
"Abby," the girl smiled back after the initial shock wore off.
Were these girls assigned these stupid name shortenings when they were hired, or was it a prerequisite along with their blonde hair and perky breasts?
"The other girl who works here, is she working tonight?" Melissa asked politely.
"Addy?"
Seriously? "No,"
"Annie?"
"No."
"Aggy?"
"Aggy?!"
"Short for Agatha,"
"No!" Melissa had to stop herself from hitting the desk with her fists that were clenched at her side. She took a slow breath and smiled at the girl who was watching her with curiosity and concern.
"Ally?" She asked meekly.
Melissa smiled, recovering instantly, "that's the one,"
"You know it's the weirdest thing," Abby said roll her seeming to forget or forgive Melissa's outburst, "I saw her here this morning, which is totally strange because last night she said she couldn't cover for me this morning and asked me to cover for her when she took off early last night,"
"She left early last night?" Melissa had seen her when she, Blake and Jack headed out to the night club and had thought she must have just knocked off.
Abby nodded and took a breath before saying; "Yeah it was weird, she just called me and said she had an emergency and I came into cover for her but I had a back to back this morning so I am dog tired, and she just gets off the elevator and snobs me off completely like all the other people who work upstairs-"
Melissa held her hand up in the universal sign for 'stop making noise'
"Is she working tonight?" She asked impatiently sure her smile was looking more like a leer at this point.
She'd been prepared for more rambling but the girl just shook her head.
"When is she in next?" She asked, not bothering to smile anymore.
"Well that's the thing," Abby looked dubious, "She just messaged my boss and quit, he's super pissed about it,"
This was not good. Ally had left work early last night to stalk them to that night club. Even if she was familiar with it, and she'd been very convincing that she had, it was clear now that she'd definitely followed them.
So then her and Collin planned the whole bathroom attack? Melissa had thought those guys went down easy. Collin hadn't even tried to get back up. She knew footballers and they'd all taken better hits than that.
Melissa was never in any danger, except that she'd let the convincing little liar into her home.
But what did she find out when she was there?
Confirmation that Melissa and Blake had a connection with Daniel Hennessy.
How did that change anything?
Collin Sandford might have known that his brother and cousin were involved in that attack on Jack. If Daniel was friends with them, maybe she felt she now had a motive.
Of course Daniel hadn't done it for Jack but that no longer mattered.
Melissa called the elevator without acknowledging the concierge again and was riding it back to the twentieth floor mulling all of this over.
She stepped off the elevator and walked through the front door to the sound of the television.
Blake wasn't back yet, his key wasn't sitting in the bowl by the door and she stowed hers and her shoes before dumping her bag by the fruit bowl and wandering into the living room.
Jack and Tyler were watching television, fully clothed and a comfortable distance from one another, not unlike the comfortable distance any plutonic friends might sit from another plutonic friend.
Jack smiled and waved at her still looking tired and Tyler did the same. Apparently they couldn't get back to sleep and were now just a couple of zombies in front of a television.
She was walking back into the kitchen when Jack bounded out of the living room towards her, "hey Mel, I was wondering if we could borrow your laptop?" He asked.
She'd been meaning to pick one up for him. She didn't mind lending it to him, she'd removed her security passcodes so he could, whenever he needed to, but teenage boys were so disgusting sometimes.
"Sure," she told him with a carefree smile. She had other things on her mind right now rather than what Jack was doing on her laptop.
"Thanks," he said but stood there smiling expectantly.
"Something else?" She asked him patiently.
"Oh, um, just wondering where it is?" He added, "I couldn't see it in the dining room where you usually leave it,"
Oh, no.
Melissa crossed the kitchen into the hallway quickly and was standing in the doorway to the dining room. Low and behold, her laptop was not sitting at the end of the table where she normally used it. The cord was still plugged in though.
She lifted her phone to her ear and speed dialled the number for the concierge downstairs, surprised she even had it.
"Watson Tower Concierge, this is Abby!" Came the perky greeting.
"Abby, this is Melissa Wright, I just spoke to you" she reminded her in a business like fashion.
"Hello again Mrs Wright," she seemed to place emphasis on her name as if she were letting someone know who she was speaking to.
Melissa dismissed that. She was probably gossiping to a co-worker.
"You said that Ally snubbed you off like the other people who work upstairs?" She remembered her mentioning right before she'd cut her off.
"Yeah, she completely did, I reckon she found a new job, you know levels two to four are office units, right?"
"Abby," Melissa spoke over her cutting her off, "what made you think she got a job here? Besides ditching work?"
She had a hunch. She'd run into so many of those office workers over the years they'd lived in Watson Tower and they all carried the same thing with them whenever they entered or left.
"Same laptop," Abby responded and Melissa hung up promptly.
"Fuck." She swore loudly and fought the urge to sling her phone at the tiled floor. She quickly logged onto her cloud account and deleted the recording she'd made from her coffee with Daniel.
It would have downloaded to her laptop the moment she'd uploaded it in the cafe.
But what if Ally had already found it on her laptop?
"Fuck!" Melissa growled at herself. She should never have recorded it.
Why had she recorded it?
She heard Jack come up behind her with a concerned look on his face, "something wrong?"
She grimaced at him, "I think I left it at work, is all," she lied and he seemed to think that a reasonable excuse to swear, "sorry mate,"
He shrugged, "Tyler just wanted to show me the uni he's going to next year, it's ok we can do it on ours phones, I just like big pictures is all," he smiled and padded back into the living room.
So Tyler was heading off to Uni next year? Jack would be crushed if it was no where nearby.
She huffed, 'get some perspective Melissa,'
She pulled out her phone again, suddenly grateful that she didn't throw it at the ground and clicked on [Find My iPhone] she scrolled through all of their connected devices until she found her laptop and clicked on it.
She got a location immediately. Someone was already using it.
Why did she not buy Jack his own laptop and leave her passcodes active?
Who could she ask to come with her to retrieve it? Blake? No. Jack? Definitely not. Not if Ally knew about what her brother had done to him.
Daniel?
Fuck.
She hated herself for knowing that he was really the only person in her world that could be of any help to her in this scenario.
How could she possibly have thought of using that recording against him?
She needed him.
She grabbed her car keys, called the elevator and was surprised when voice called out to her from behind.
She turned to see Tyler slip through the apartment door into the foyer and close it behind him.
She didn't have time for this.
"Hey, I was just hoping to..." he started awkwardly and Melissa put on her best understanding face.
"We really don't need to do this," she told him patiently.
Impatiently.
"No- I want to- Jack agreed- I just need to clear the air," he stammered and his face was growing red.
The elevator arrive and she grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him in, "you have thirty seconds," she told him as the elevator door closed.
He was surprised at her forward ness but took and breath and started, "so what you saw the other night,"
"Jack giving you head?" She responded almost heartlessly, there was no time to beat around the bush, if they were going to have this conversation it needed to happen quickly.
He turned a deeper shade of red.
"Look, Tyler, I appreciate you're young and inexperienced, but you know Blake and I have tried just about every version of sex there is, right?" She steamrolled him and his eyes widened. "You've been living with us long enough, yuh must have suspected?"
"Jack mentioned some things," he nodded still blushing fiercely.
"Good, that save us a lot of time," she said as they passed the tenth floor, "so you and Jack fooled around a bit, it's no big deal,"
"We weren't-" he started but she held her hand up and he stopped talking.
"Whether it's how you felt about it or not that's how he felt about it, I guarantee it," she explained.
He nodded. So he understood that.
"He is an attractive gay man and you're an attractive potentially confused man-" she started and this time he interrupted with;
"Definitely straight," he mumbled but she ignored him.
"Either way; you're hot, he's hot, even if you aren't attracted to him, he's definitely attracted to you and there's not a lot you can do about that except to not lead him on," she pointed out and he had the decency not to suggest that he wasn't.
She felt bad for him but they were passing the fifth floor and she needed to wrap this up.
"Look, bottom line, how much do you care about him?" She stared him down and made him look her in the eyes so that she could see the truth.
"He's my best friend," he answered correctly, "my only friend,"
She'd have to look into that later, but for now it would do.
"Than stop blurring the lines," she told him flatly, "nobody like a dick tease,"
He blushed fiercely again.
"I believe you can be great friends for a long time," she lied. "But if that's all you can ever be for him, than make sure that's all you are,"
He looked at his feet.
"Can you do that for him?" She asked then as they passed the lobby and the elevator was pulling up in the underground carpark and the door opened.
She waited because she needed to hear the answer to this.
"Can you?" She demanded,
"I want him to be happy," Tyler admitted and there were tears of fury in his eyes, "he's been hurt so much, and he means so much to me, I would do anything for him,"
Anything?
"If that's true that you cannot continue to hurt him by placing yourself between him and his happiness," She told him.
She knew that was the backbone of why Blake and James lived their lives seperate from one another, but it needed to be said.
Maybe they could still find a way to make it work.
"I won't hurt him," Tyler told her adamantly, "I'd kill anyone who ever hurt him,"
Really?
She wasn't sure when her mind had started working on this boy but that was what she wanted to hear.
"There will always be people who want to hurt him," she informed him seriously, "as an openly gay man, there will always be someone,"
"Like those guys in the park," he said coldly.
She'd never spoken to Tyler about Jack's ordeal. She didn't even really know how much he knew.
"Come with me," the words escaped her mouth before she could stop herself and she felt instantly guilty as she walked purposefully away from the elevator.
He didn't hesitate to follow Melissa to her car.
"Get in," she said to him feeling more guilty by the minute.
He climbed into the passenger seat looking confused. His eyes went back to the elevator and she placed a hand on his knee.
"Text him," she told him quickly, "tell him you'll be back right back, you're just coming with me for a run to get my laptop,"
He nodded and complied.
Melissa pulled her red and black Lexus LC500 out of the carpark and it rumbled you through the multi level underground carpark until they were out on the seat.
She tossed her phone to him. "Navigate," she ordered him and he scrambled to catch it before looking at the map.
"Find my iPhone?" He asked her curiously, looking at her screen.
"Directions," she snapped at him as she wove between the traffic.
"Left!" He answered immediately and she took a left speeding down a side street she would never normally follow. "Where is your laptop? This isn't anywhere near the hospital,"
"We're not going to the hospital," she told him and sped up and around the cars possibly affronted by her driving.
"Take this on ramp," he told her and she moved off onto a tollway.
Not ideal. If something went down there'd be records of her car coming this way.
She missed the on-ramp on purpose, "no tollways," she hissed at him.
He stuttered as he tried to readjust his map reading skills. "Ok take the next left but then immediate right, there's a service road that loops around to a truck lane," he told her and she was impressed with his working knowledge.
He smirked her approval at him.
"I spent a lot of time driving since Daniel bought me that car," he admitted blushing.
Made sense to her.
"So where are we going?" He asked her once they were safely on the freeway and it was clear they would be for a little while.
"My laptop was stolen," she admitted and he looked confused.
"Why didn't you bring Blake with you?" He asked seeming unsure of himself, "if you're going to confront a thief I'm not much of a fighter,"
"I thought you said you'd do anything for Jack," she demanded coldly.
Definitely going to hell.
"I would," he declared, "I will, but what had this got to do with Jack?"
"Everything," she lied. Though it was technically the truth, for her it was all about Blake and saving him from Daniel.
But also sort of about saving herself.
And also sort of about saving Daniel.
Dammit.
"The laptop was stolen to get at Jack?" He asked, sounding confused and angry, "I'm still not sure why I'm here and not Blake?"
"Because Blake doesn't know what I did for Jack," she hedged, "and if he or Jack knew..." she shook her head.
Hopefully Tyler would realise he didn't want to know either.
"Is this about that bus crash?" He asked her boldly.
She looked at him sharply. So Jack has told him about those boys.
Tyler's face grew serious. Very serious and he took a deep breath without taking his eyes off of her, "it was you?"
She didn't answer him and he took that as assent.
"Jack still thinks it was Blake," he said looking back out the windshield, "or Daniel, he'll never ask either of them,"
"He's ok with it?" She asked him narrowing her eyes and expertly speeding her way along the freeway in that way other people always seem to do but whenever you try it you get caught.
"Not really," Tyler shrugged, "that's why he doesn't really want to know, but he will always wonder,"
"If he found out for sure?" She prompted. Beeping her horn at a slow car in the overtaking lane. The car pulled hastily out of her way and the Lexus roared forward.
"I don't think he'd get over it," Tyler admitted, "he wanted everyone to let it go, but he feels guilty because he's glad they're dead,"
Melissa looked at the road without nodding. She was in action mode right now, she shouldn't be inking about how this might affect Jack, she had more pressing matters.
But for the sake of getting Tyler on side.
"Blake had nothing to do with it," she assured him, "I don't know if you can tell him that without letting him know who did,"
"It was Daniel?" Tyler asked then.
No one ever suspected her. She didn't respond and he took that as a yes.
"So who stole your laptop and what have they got to do with those guys if they're all dead?" It was a blunt question, and a side of Tyler she'd never seen. Cold and unyielding.
Would he really kill for Jack?
"Take this exit," he told her sternly.
She did so and the traffic thinned out almost immediately.
"The grey building at the end," he told her and she pulled the car up several buildings down.
Well she was about to find out.
She turned to him, "these people are related to some of Jack's attackers," she told him bluntly.
He nodded, looking up the street at the building.
"They're already certain of Daniel's involvement," she pointed out, "they just need evidence and I may not have been able to convince her that I knew nothing,"
He looked at her curiously, "but there's nothing damning on your laptop?"
"There was," she admitted. "I don't know if they saw it before I removed it,"
Why the fuck had she taken that recording?
"Ok," he said and climbed out of her car.
So he was taking point now?
She caught up to him quickly and together they moved along the pavement looking about as they went. There weren't many people in the street and the cars that past didn't seem to have any significant interest in them even if they did gawk at her car.
That wasn't very well thought out. Plenty of witnesses to remember a bright red luxury coupe.
When they approached the building Melissa climbed the steps first to the ugly old door with the multiple intercom button panel up the side of it.
So many homes crammed into a three story building.
She pressed the first one.
No answer.
She pressed the next.
Still no answer.
Tyler meant forward and pressed all twelve buttons and the food unlocked in front of them.
"Hello?" Came a familiar voice from the intercom.
Melissa checked them panels silently to see the button for Apartment D was lit up.
"Is somebody there?" Ally's voice asked and Melissa looked at Tyler meaningfully.
He cleared his throat quickly, "Hello Miss, my name is Riley Benson and I was just hoping to take a moment of your time today to talk about clean energy options,"
The little light just turned off.
"A thief and an eco-terrorist," Tyler surmised and followed Melissa through the door into the building.
To say the building was shabby inside would have been kind. The place was so run down which foot scrubbed floor boards and graffiti. There was even a flickering lightbulb every couple of metres.
"None of them live here," Melissa pointed out, "Wickham is an expensive school, their families have to be well to do,"
"Evil lair," Tyler asked covertly as the passed apartment C.
There was only one more door on the end.
Melissa paused outside the door and dig through her bag for a can of mace which she quickly passed to him.
He took it curiously.
"I don't know what these people are capable of," Melissa told him as she turned back to her own handbag, reaching in and jostling her taser just in case she needed it quickly.
They knocked.
Tyler stood next to her and she heard him gulp audibly as footsteps inside grew closer and the door opened.