Two days after visiting Red Room Redemption, I found myself back sitting across from Christian Grey. It was early afternoon and a clear cloud free day. A rarity here in a Washington fall. I could see Christian's under eyes had darkened even more considerably over the past few days and he looked absolutely beat.
"I'll make it quick," I assured him.
He rolled his eyes. "All I've got to do in here is time."
I nodded, tapping my pen.
"Me and my friend visited Red Room Redemption yesterday," I told him, ignoring the way his jaw clenched and he leaned forward angrily. "I think that's where Elena keeps and sells the girls. I think that that's the brothel."
For a long moment, he said nothing. His eyes were fixed on me intensely, absorbing my words.
"And how did you come to that conclusion?" He asked eventually. His voice was even, but I knew he was trying to stay calm.
"I..." I trailed off, unsure of how to answer him. Truth be told, I didn't exactly know myself. It was just a very strong hunch. An inclination. A gut feeling.
"The girl that introduced us," I began, "she was shady and I could tell she was lying. When she mentioned that some of the girls that work there are recommended, it reminded me of what you said about Elena. How she recommended you girls. It made me wonder if it wasn't just a coincidence."
He pursed his lips, silently telling me to continue.
Over the next fifteen minutes, I told him everything I thought was happening and he listened intently without interruption. Afterwards, when I'd finished, his eyes narrowed just a fraction.
"So," he began, "you've come to this wild conclusion with absolutely no evidence? Just a mishap of words said by an employee?"
His voice was doubting and I glared at him, anger bubbling up inside.
"I can't explain it," I said. "But I just have a feeling. A strong feeling that's the place. The employees were strange. The place had bad vibes about it. The fact you have to go through so many hoops to join up? This is the place Christian. I know it."
"You need evidence," he said. "You can't just speculate."
I nodded. "I know."
"I don't want you going back there," he said, his eyes focused on mine with a great intensity. "If you think that's the place..." he shuddered. "Don't go back Anastasia. I mean it. I always had a hunch about it too, but I didn't possibly think she could be so stupid as to hide in plain sight."
I nodded. "Sometimes that's the best place to hide."
He sighed. "Still...I don't want you there again."
I narrowed my eyes at him, and he leaned forward.
"Don't go back," he said again, slowly emphasising each word. "I'm not messing around."
I didn't say anything, just stared right back at him. His eyes were the strangest combination of green and grey I had ever seen. Like a whirlwind of perfect hues, joined together to create the perfect colour. I looked down a little further to see the rest of his features. His jaw and lower face were covered by a beard, but I could still tell how sharp it was. I could see the curve of his lips, full and...
He smirked slightly as he caught me staring. I lowered my gaze back to the table, flushing.
After that, he did something I wasn't expecting at all. He leaned his hand across, handcuffs still firmly placed and brushed a finger over my own hand. I almost jumped at the contact.
"Don't go there again Anastasia," he said again, this time a little quieter. "It's not safe."
I looked up, back into his eyes. We stared at each-other until I finally nodded.
"I won't," I said, just as quietly. "I'll work around it."
His thumb grazed across my own and I shuddered. How could such a simple insignificant touch feel so good?
Don't go there Ana I chided. Absolutely no way. He's was an inmate convicted of murder. Whether he did it or not was not the point.
I withdrew quickly, standing as I gathered my things. I let out a little cough.
"I have to go," I said. "I've got a lot work to do."
He leaned back, surveying me with keen interest.
"Be careful," he said quietly.
I looked back up at him and nodded. "I will Christian. I will."
On the bus back to Seattle, I filled Vanessa in on my interviews with Christian, telling her he'd said nothing of interest. She wasn't impressed and I knew I would have to figure out something sooner or later so that she wouldn't stop me visiting.
Back at home, Kate and I met with Elliot and Mia at the coffee shop to discuss my latest theories. Like Christian, both had their doubts.
"Seems too obvious don't you think?" Elliot said, drumming his fingers against the wooden table. "Surely somebody would know somethings up. One of the customers?"
I looked at him impatiently. "The customers?" I laughed humourlessly. "A bunch of perverted men? They love it. That's why they go there. Why would they say anything and incriminate themselves?"
Mia frowned, her eyes heavy from lack of sleep. I could tell she'd spent the past few nights working all through the early hours. We all looked pretty tired.
"How do we do this then?" Kate asked. "How on earth do we find evidence that there are girls being sold in there?"
I leaned forward, both palms pressed flat on the table.
"Easy," I stated. "We get someone to go in."
Kate looked at me dubiously.
"A man," I confirmed. "A man who's looking for a girl."
Everyone around me looked at me like I was crazy, but none of them wanted to be lawyers. Sometimes, you had to get messy for the greater good. This was the greater good.
"Who on earth would do that?" Mia asked, scepticism thick in her voice.
I opened my mouth to say we'll figure it out, but Elliot interrupted.
"I've got a good friend," he stated. "Name is Luke Sawyer and he works in private security. I trust him. He's helps me with the case whenever he can. He owes me a few favours. He'll do it."
I nodded.
"Arrange a meeting," I stated. "And then we'll get started."
The next morning, we met with Luke Sawyer. He was a tall guy with a muscular build who looked like he meant business. I went over everything I had gathered, and he listened intently, taking notes. He agreed to check out the club and see if he could get a membership, but he was quick to make no promises.
"I've done my research on it last night," he said. "There's a lot of loops to jump through. A lot of men are declined."
"I'm not surprised," I sighed. "They'll probably be all sorts of checks. They'll need to make sure you're not some sort of FBI undercover."
Luke nodded. "Exactly. My best bet is to just go and have a chat first. Not to look too eager or interested. Really scope it out."
We all agreed and he said he'd be going there tonight with Elliot as his driver. Mia and Kate would be working on finding out which men had memberships there to see if there was any dodgy info on them online. As for myself, I was heading back to visit Christian.
On the way there, I told myself over and over again that I was seeing him again so soon to tell him of our plan. That he needed to be in the know. That I needed to see him face to face so I could read him. That's what I told myself and I refused to consider the other alternative.
When I arrived however, I gasped as he walked through the doors into the interview room. His right eye was swollen and puffy, and he had a big cut above his brow.
"What happened?" I asked immediately.
He sat down, saying nothing.
"Tell me," I demanded.
He looked at me hard. "They know," was all he said.
"What?" I asked, bewildered. "Who knows what?"
"She knows someone's looking into my case. She must have paid someone in here to keep lookout on me. They must have told her about my visitations."
My heart beat instantly sped up, fear flooding my senses.
"What happened to you?" I asked quietly, after I found my voice.
He cracked his knuckles, and I could see they were bloody and bruised. He'd put up a good fight.
"Got popped by a couple guys out of the blue," he said. His voice was tired.
I was about to reply, to ask if he was okay, but he slid a piece of paper across to me.
"I wrote you something," he said. "A poem of sorts."
I looked up at him, puzzled.
"Read it carefully," he stated, before abruptly standing up and signalling the guards.
"Where are you going?" I asked. "We haven't talked about our plan."
"Stop," he said harshly. "It's over. It's done. Stop looking into the case. Stop with the planning. Go home. Go back to law school. Just stop."
Unexpectedly, I felt my eyes start to prick with tears. I blinked them away angrily, turning away. The guards came and escorted him out as he walked away without a backwards glance.
On the way home, I felt sort of hollow. Like I didn't quite know what to do next. Everything had happened so abruptly. So strangely. I couldn't quite make sense of anything. Rummaging through my bag to find my phone and tell Kate, I found the paper Christian had given to me. In the chaos of my mind, I'd almost forgotten. Quickly, I read it over.
I'm afraid of the endless time that passes, seemingly nothing that helps in
Escaping these prison walls
They Are trying to give me a reason to stay but I feel I must keep
Going
To try and become a better man, to do my time and
Kill the evil parts of
Me
Thank you for trying A
Nobody ever did
I read it over and over again, unable to make sense of the nonsense I was reading. It was badly written with terrible grammar and the sentences were nonsensical. What on earth was he trying to say? I knew Christian was an intelligent man but...
I stopped. He was an intelligent man. Very. He wouldn't give me a piece of garbage. He'd told me to read it carefully. It had to mean something. Something he wasn't able to say...
I read between the lines. I read it backwards. I read every other letter and just when I was getting frustrated, I read it vertically. Down. The first word of each line now suddenly so obvious as it stared out at me on the page.
I'm
Escaping
They are
Going
To try and
Kill me
Thank you for trying
Nobody ever did
My breath hitched. By looking into his case, I'd made him a big red target. Elena wasn't playing games anymore. This beat down was a warning. They were going to kill him, and he was going to attempt to do the only thing he could.
He was planning an escape.