Chapter 11 (Present day)
Nikki sat at the conference table across from Claire and hammered her pen on the legal pad in front of her absentmindedly. It was a habit she'd picked up from Paul that seemed to pop up whenever she was agitated. Claire gave her a withering look from over the top of her glasses. "Sorry," Nikki muttered and made a big show of putting the pen down with exaggerated gentleness. She lasted a whole two minutes before looking down at her watch and exploding, "Oh for goodness sake! Where is the woman? She has absolutely no regard for time; she's fifteen minutes late already." Claire just shrugged and carried on making notes without even looking up. She was already accustomed to Andi's tardiness. Not that she endorsed it; she had just given up trying to change the firm's feisty little investigator. She always produced what was needed, that was all that mattered.
"Speak of the devil," Claire said as she watched Andi push through the glass doors. She was wearing what Claire liked to call her "outfit", Knee high leather boots, a skin tight skirt that left nothing to the imagination and her patented leather jacket. She approached the two women who she'd kept waiting, smiling warmly at Claire but affording Nikki but a stiff nod. She hadn't decided yet whether she liked Nikki Wade, but she sure did enjoy pushing her buttons.
The first time Nikki had met Andi she had thought Claire had been joking when she introduced the tiny, exquisite Indian girl as their lead investigator. She looked more like someone who should appear on Bollywood big screens, her beauty was intense, even in her garish clothing. She had quick amber eyes that hinted at the intelligence behind them, a perfectly proportioned body and long, dark hair that Pantene would pay billions for in one of their adverts.
She put a large brown envelope down in front of Claire and tapped it with her index finger, "You are going to like this." Andi pulled up a chair and when it became clear she wasn't going to elaborate Nikki sighed, "How about giving us a bit of a briefing on what you managed to dig up, please?" She added after a brief pause. Andi turned her amber eyes onto Nikki, staying silent for a few seconds just to see if she could make her squirm under her piercing gaze. Nikki held her eyes without falter, Andi shrugged; "sure," she said as she leant back in the chair and crossed her legs, affording Nikki an uninterrupted view of her thigh.
"You asked for something juicy, and that just happens to be my specialty love," she said with a sneaky smile. "Turns out, little Scotty had a best mate. Said best mate is currently sitting in a cell in one of Her Majesty's Fine prisons serving five to ten for several counts of fraud and extortion. Seems being born into money makes some people think they are untouchable. Max Bartholomew Doring learned the hard way that he isn't above the law, no matter what his daddy does. But he's a conniving little bastard and it just so happens that Max has something we want. For a price." "Of course he does," Nikki said in exasperation, "are you sure this little bastard isn't just playing with us to get a reduced sentence?" "My first thought as well, now I haven't had much time to work it all out just yet but there does seem to be a hint of truth to his story so far," Andi said as she lace her fingers together under her chin and used the toe of her boot to swivel from side to side on the chair.
Nikki could tell that Andi was doing her best to try and irritate her by not just getting to the point. What she couldn't understand was reason for her little game. Claire seemed absolutely oblivious to the power play unfolding in front of her as she prompted Andi to continue. "Well, according to Max, Alex was just supposed to be part of some depraved game these two sickos came up with to pass the time. They would pick girls, usually first years, those of lesser means than themselves and always ones that they suspected were still virgins. They would be all charming and sweep them off their feet but the ultimate goal of the whole game was rape. Their innocence had to be taken, not willingly offered." The words were said with such calm detachment but Nikki was sure she saw pain flash across Andi's eyes. "The rush was that the girls actually knew the identity of their attacker, it was as if they were daring them to tell. And none of them ever said a word. Unfortunately for Scott, things didn't exactly go quite as planned with Alex."
"So our boy Max is willing to tell the court all of this in exchange for a reduced sentence then?" Claire said as she looked up from her notes. "Not exactly…" Andi said. "Max doesn't want the world to know that he was Scott's wingman, you know, bad press and all that." "Lovely, our con man has conditions. So what is it exactly that his royal highness of fuck ups is willing to give us?" Nikki spat through clenched teeth. "Ah, well that's where the envelope comes in. He gave me a name, just one for now, like I said, he's a conniving little bastard." Claire handed the envelope over to Nikki who ripped the seal and emptied a stack of photos onto the table.
"That is Julia Fogwell, one of Scott's victims." Andi said as she tapped the top photograph. "Well that's it then, if the girl comes forward then we don't need Max and he can stay in jail and rot for all I care," Nikki said as she studied the pretty girl smiling up at her from the photo. She had on a high school sports kit and her foot rested on a football. "I wish it were that easy," Andi said with a sigh, "when I spoke to her about it she practically had a nervous breakdown, started balling her eyes out. Told me if I said a word she'd flat out deny it and sue me for slander. Max must have scared the bejesus out of her somehow."
"Fan bloody tastic! So we are back to square one. It seems we are going to have to rely on our resident sleaze ball for our information. I'm assuming he has conditions?" Nikki said as she tossed her pen down onto the table. "Firstly, he wants out of lock up, like yesterday and he wants his name well clear of all of this, as if he was never a part of it." Andi said. "And what exactly will he be putting on the table?" Nikki asked. "The name of a girl who is willing to talk… and the video clip." Andi said. "What video clip?" both Nikki and Claire looked confused. Andi shifted her gaze from one set of eyes to the other as they stared at her. When she was satisfied that she had fulfilled her need for dramatic appeal she continued, "He claims that Scott got a kick out of filming his conquests and reliving them later. I'll give you two guesses as to the identity of the camera man. He's willing to give us Alex's video clip"