CHAPTER 21 - SPEAKING

MASTER BEDROOM - TEN MINUTES LATER

JUSTIN

I lift the blankets as Brian comes back with a large glass in his hand. “Lots of Beam.” He answers my unasked question, as he gets back in, I take it from him and sip slowly before he takes it off me. He holds me tight as I roll my ring against my finger. 

“Baby.” He whispers; I try not to react. “I won’t think less of you...” He doesn’t get to finish as I start sobbing “...sssh. It’s okay, I’ve got you. I’ve always got you.” The tears burn my eyes and I can barely breathe. “I cried too, twice.” He murmurs as he massages my skull. 

“You did? When?” I hiccup.

“First time when he ordered me to the pub to show off his successful son. I gave him money and it felt like it was deserved by him for letting me live…”

“Where was I then?” I look up at him and wipe a tear from his cheek.

“Not sure.” He takes a sip and rests his head against the board. “I went to his apartment and he let me get in bed with him…” His shuddering makes me frown. “...he had a semi-wood and it was pressed against my butt! I don’t think he even noticed I was crying, he just thought I was just drunk I guess. And I was. The last time was after I got the picture back...”

“I remember that…”

“No, you weren’t there either…” He kisses away my frown. “...it came out of nowhere. I did a ‘you and Milo’ and sobbed into Lilah. She is a very absorbent furball.” I smile against his chest as the concerned chirruping outside the door gets louder. “Shall we let her in?” Another yowl of impatience. “Correction, them in? I’m coming! Stop yelling!” He grumbles as he starts to get out of bed. 

“Don’t get up!” Alice calls back, then opens the door. “I was checking to see if you needed anything and heard the ruckus.”

Milo immediately hops on the bed with a toy. He looks first at me, then Brian before placing it in my lap. I stroke his head, getting a very loud purr. “I would love to take them with us…”

“We have their pet passports, and it’s a private plane.” Alice reminds me. “So am I packing us all up then?”

“Please!” I grin, I wait for her to shut the door then turn to Brian, who has a soft smile on his face. “This is the last time!” He bats his eyes. “Do not think for one minute that she believes you don’t want to take Lilah everywhere, stop hiding behind my twinkliness!”

“Come on, let’s multitask!” He guffaws as he tugs me out of bed. “First one in gets to top!” I sprint to the bathroom.

SCI ALBION - LATE AFTERNOON

INTERVIEW ROOM SIX 

FAAL

I watch from the other side of the window of Interview Room Seven. When we heard what happened, the first thing Mel said is that she needed to get to both Archie and Luther. Jenny almost won her argument to go with her - she makes me so proud every day.  Warden Scale is trying to keep the annoyed expression off his face, he needs to try harder. When he clears his throat, I nod for the recording to start.

“Ms Marcus, as I said earlier, they do not need to have legal counsel, so there is no need for you to...”

“Warden Scale...” Mel interrupts. “...as progressive as this jail is, there is every need. Now I wish to speak to my clients alone. This will be recorded, as per the law, so your presence is not needed.” 

When he remains seated, Luther sighs. “Is there a problem with that constitutional request, Warden Scale? We have the right to speak to our attorney without you.”

“I haven’t heard what happened either, so me..”

“It is being recorded. Now leave.” Mel interrupts. “Or I can have my clients taken to the 57th precinct, which is a 2 hour drive, they will have to book them in, which could take at least an hour, crime is rife in downtown Pittsburgh. Once that is done, find a room to speak to...” The sharp scrape of his chair makes Mel and Luther smile. “Thank you. Warden Scale departing this interview at 1438.” Mel continues to smile as he slowly makes his way out the door. 

I wait for the Warden comes in. He looks surprised to see me. “And you are?” He prompts when I make no attempt to introduce myself. 

“Representing Justin Taylor-Kinney.” I reply.

“That is what you are doing, not who you are.” He froths. “And why does he need representation?”

“Because he does, and I am not going to give you my name. So take a seat and let us do our jobs?”

“I need to speak to the Governor! I was not apprised of…” He stares at the phone I am holding out to him. “...what is that for?”

“The Governor.” He rolls his eyes. “He’s a very busy man, the quicker you talk to him, the better.”

“Warden Scale take his fucking cell!” 

“Governor Bleak?! I thought he was...I mean I have a…” As his face gets redder, my smile gets wider. I chuckle as he is told in no uncertain terms that because of the high profile of the First Man, this is no longer to be supervised by him. The fact that he let Taylor be transferred from San Francisco by believing his crap about wanting to die near his family makes him question his judgement, since a simple Google search would’ve disproven that, and the request denied. “...he wants to speak to you.” He mutters.

“Imagine that.” I take the phone off him and step away so he can’t hear. I grunt my responses, trying not to laugh as Scale looks like he wants to scream. “Okay, thanks. Bye.” I pocket my phone and smile. “This is where you leave us. A statement is being prepared for the Governor to offer his heartfelt and sincere apologies for the distress that has been caused by this erroneous transfer to the Mayor-Elect, his husband, and his mother and sister in law. And he said after he’s read it, he wants to see you...with your bags packed.”

“But that’s not fair! I…”

“Are finished in this jail, and were willing to try and blame it on Luther Stark, stopping just short of calling him a murderer I should imagine. Although I suspect things would be different if the person he was protecting wasn’t White.” His eyes narrow then he turns to the opening door. I smirk at Tank’s replacement, French, he smirks back. “The Governor sent him for you too...he's going to help you pack.”

“Let’s go.” French orders, he follows him without a word. 

I turn back to the window and tap again. Mel nods and I signal the recording to restart.

MEL

“Interview restarting at 1500, Melanie Marcus, Luther Stark and Archibald Kingsman remain. This interview is to ascertain the circumstances of how Craig Cole Taylor died. Who wants to start?”

“We didn’t kill him!” Archie exclaims, having said nothing since he was brought down. He is looking at Luther for comfort, which he seems to be giving him. “He took a swing, Lute stepped in front of me then he fell down. Taylor I mean”

“I need a bit more detail, Mr Kingsman.” I explain. “Maybe Mr Stark can tell me?”

“Archie, you want me to do that? You feeling better?”

“Hmm. A bit. Reminded me she went that way.” He mutters, how my heart aches for him. Jenny had told us of the circumstances of his girlfriend’s death, now I am on another case for him. “Yeah, you tell.”

Luther taps his hand. “Okay, so we got up yesterday morning, and did our usual meet in the dining room. I wanted to work out, as it was a nice day, but Archie wasn’t feeling it. Taylor had been pissed ever since Jus...Mr Taylor-Kinney came to see him…”

“How did that happen?” I ask, keeping my face impassive, this is a full video recording.

“I asked my attorney, Campbell Wickford, to reach out to Mr Taylor-Kinney to explain that I needed to see him, but not giving him the full reasons why. I ensured that Taylor would be present in the meeting room. He spoke to his father and that was the end of the matter for him. Not so much for Taylor.”

“Meaning?” I prompt.

“He knew that Archie and I are friends, but lately we haven’t been hanging around together so much, Taylor noticed. He asked him if he finally came to his senses and stopped hanging around the bad smell?”

“I told him to leave Lute alone…” Archie states. “...said that he is still my friend, but I was meeting with my attorney’s representative and he didn't want to be involved in that.” I nod, because if I speak I would be in trouble. “He asked what I need an attorney for, told him none of his business and decided to head to meet Lute. But then he followed me and kept asking about my meeting. I told him in no uncertain terms to fuck off...”

“I heard Taylor long before I saw him.” Luther interjects. “He had a couple of his cronies with him. I was about to start my second set…”

Start of flashback

YARD 

LUTHER

I join everyone in staring across the yard as the haranguing snotty tones of Taylor pierce the air. “I will find out what this about, Kingsman!” 

“Not from me you won’t! You are not as all powerful as you think, Sperminator!” I guffaw as I remember his face when Justin called him that. He looked like wanted to punch him, he was so furious, but if he made a move on Justin he knew I would stop him. I somewhat regret telling Archie what he called him as he has that same expression on his face, so quickly I make my way over. “Not so much fun is it? To be on the outside looking in.” 

“I am not on the outside!” Taylor bellows. “I am…”

“Of course you are. You are with your son, since the day he came out! You rammed his now husband’s jeep when they first started seeing each other. You gave him a kicking, and that led to Justin saying he would never come home. When he was attacked, you celebrated the light sentence the attacker got. You tried to sabotage his life with the splash and slash of his art work, but you hired goons who were too stupid to read. Then you almost got away with a light sentence, but because of Copthorne being indicted it was reviewed. Like I said, on the outs because he is married to him. They are happy, you are dying…”

“You fucking asshole!” Taylor screams. 

“What's the matter? Don’t you like having your life spread out in lurid detail for all to hear? So how come you have gotten here all of a sudden? You’ve been away for two years, why do you want to die here?” Archie taunts him, I can see the veins pulsing in Taylor’s cheek and neck. “Are you hoping to cause some embarrassment to...that’s it, isn't it?! You got transferred here so that you could get something out of it! You know how much he would protect him!” I freeze as that did not occur to me at all. “What were you and Vance talking about in the few months that you shared this place?”

“Shut up!” Taylor snarls, then turns away, but I see him clearly, as he whirls back to face Archie, his fist balled, I grab his arm and shove him backwards. He hits the dirt but gets up immediately. “Oh, you have this coming, Stark!” He bellows. “I cannot wait to kick your ass!”

“Not even in your wet dreams!” I scoff, getting between him and Archie. 

“What's going on here?!” A guard shouts as he approaches. 

“He tried to hit Kingsman, and Stark stopped him.” A voice calls out, and I am stunned, having braced for blame. “Kingsman was calling him out on his shit, Taylor’s shit, about him and Vance talking. Taylor wanted to know why Kingsman was in an attorney meeting all day yesterday. He swung at Kingsman and Stark put him on his ass. I will make a statement to that affect because that is what happened.” I take a look at the guy who spoke and recognise him as one of the guys Taylor was lording it up with when I first saw him here. “Like I said to you, Taylor, never lie in prison.”

“Okay, go to the Warden’s off...Taylor!” The guard yells as he crashes to the ground. “Code blue!” He shouts as he turns him over, he has his hand clutching his heart. 

He is struggling to breathe. I drop to my knees and try and get him to open his mouth, but he fights against my help.

“Taylor, let him help you!” The guard shouts and tries to still his thrashing form.

And then he goes completely still. His eyes become fixed and I know that he is dead…

End of flashback

LUTHER

“The guy who spoke up for you, I need his name.” Mel tells me and I frown. “I need to corroborate his…”

“No, I understand that. Can he come in here?” I gesture at the window and she nods. Faal is in quickly. “What's going on outside?” I demand. “Archie had told me that Little Pittie had to cancel their meetings and I want to know why.”

“Little Pittie?” Faal smiles, I don't return it. “We told Justin, so when it hits it…”

“What is going on?” I repeat.

“Lindsay and Vance screwed and are still together.” Faal sighs. “We are most likely overreacting, but it is best to be safe; we got everyone to Portland. Also, she wanted a notarized agreement, saying we don't want the money back she owes.” 

I turn to Mel. “Are the files sealed?”

“What files? From the trials you mean?”  She frowns. “Yes, they are. Why?”

“Open them up.” I order then turn to Archie. “You were on track! They were planning something, the two of them, Vance and Taylor!”

“Luther…” Faal begins but I shake my head at him. “...what?”

“Call Campbell Wickford, he can show you everything that I dug up on Brian and Justin and shared with his Sperminator!”