Alyssa's Desire (19 page)

    "I…I didn't know it was going to be like this. All those people down there are going to blame me for what happened. Walking through them is going to be a nightmare. You don't have to come with me. You can exit the parking garage from the west side and catch the
subway home if you want to. I wouldn't blame you if you did; hell I'd avoid this if I could. It's up to you," Jack said and then he leaned forward to kiss Alyssa.

 
"You stood by me through all of my shit and I will stand by you through all of yours. So let's go," Alyssa said and she got out of the car.

 
Together they bravely walked through the crowd, purposely ignoring the angry shouts and accusations that surrounded them. Almost immediately, Jack was recognized as being the lawyer that handled Masterson's case. People threw garbage in the forms of bottles, half eaten food, and soda cans at Jack and Alyssa as they crossed the police tape and walked toward the entrance. Jack was bombarded with questions from reporters and cameras and sound equipment was being shoved in his face. He kept saying "no comment" as he pulled Alyssa through the sea of uninhibited journalism. Finally they reached the second police barricade that guarded the entrance to the building. Jack told the police who they were and they were allowed to cross. Once they were safely on the other side; Jack told the reporters that he would come out and give an official statement once he was clear as to what was going on. This of course prompted a whole new round of questions, but Jack and Alyssa just turned around and walked into the building.

    Needless to say, all of the news cameras were broadcasting live and Jack and Alyssa's hand in hand journey through the crowd was aired on nearly every ch
annel. The news was tuned in on nearly every TV in the city, including those in the county jail and nearby prison systems. Imagine the pleasant surprise that Trevor Barnes felt when he saw the broadcast and there was sweet, innocent Alyssa Snyder right in the middle of it all. A wicked smile spread across Trevor's lips. At this point he was certain that Valerie's daughter had been the one behind the anonymous statement that landed him in jail. Here she was on the news clearly involved with a high powered attorney, just like Greg Hernida and Mica had said. Their suspicions were true and he knew it. Alyssa had used this lawyer boyfriend of hers to fuck him over in exchange for getting Valerie a lighter sentence. Now here she was, arm in arm with Jack Coleman and Coleman was in some deep shit. This thought brought great pleasure to Barnes and he sent some of the other inmates on a fact finding mission.  He wanted to know everything he could about Coleman and Alyssa as well as the Sam Masterson case. In addition he asked one of his friends to call his associates on the outside, the group who was at the funeral to be exact. He wanted to know if they had seen Alyssa with her special attorney friend outside of work. Barnes had a hunch that their relationship was more than just a fling, and if that was the case it was the perfect opportunity for more revenge.

    It didn't take very long for Trevor to get his answer. His friends on the outside told him that the lawyer had gone with Alyssa to Valerie's funeral and that they seemed very close. They mentioned the fact that they maintained physical contact throughout the service and that they walked and acted like they were a couple. Barnes was very pleased with this information and ordered his people to start putting some pressure on Coleman. Barnes wanted Jack to know that he was coming for him.
 

  
Back at the firm, Jack and Alyssa were feeling a bit overwhelmed. There were so many people in the office, and everyone was running around like crazy trying to control the PR nightmare that was happening outside. To make matters worse, each employee was to be interrogated by the police as they investigated the possibility that someone from Coleman, Patters and Schleicher was involved in Masterson's escape. The police detectives were very interested in interviewing both Jack and Alyssa and they requested that these interviews be conducted immediately. A police officer asked Alyssa to have a seat in the hallway as they wanted to speak with Jack first and then with her. Alyssa couldn't believe the day she was having! First it was the funeral, then the threat and the possible knowledge that her mother's death was not an accident. Then they heard about how Sam Masterson had escaped in a hail of gunfire and now she was going to be interrogated by the police! She thought her head might explode from the stress alone.

   
Alyssa was asked to just sit and wait until after her interview. The police didn't want employees of Coleman, Patters and Schleicher to talk to each other until each one had spoken with a police officer or a detective. Alyssa had to wait for a long time because the same detective that was interviewing Jack wanted to be the one to speak with her. This was due to the fact that the police had listened in on Jack's phone conversation with his father and essentially his alibi is that he was with Alyssa. The detective wanted to make sure that their stories coincided.

   
Since Jack was the lawyer who actually handled Masterson's case, he was the biggest person of interest in terms of Coleman, Patters and Schleicher employees. As a result, Jack's interrogation lasted a little over two hours. During that time Alyssa sat on her chair and thumbed through random magazines that were placed there for clients. She was getting anxious though as time progressed. Finally Jack came out and the detective said he was cleared to go back to work. Then he asked Alyssa to come in for her interview.

    Alyssa was a bit nervous but she knew that she hadn't done anything wrong and neither had Jack. So she told the police everything that had happened. She talked
about their secret romance and she told them about the mess her mother had gotten into and how she had been arrested herself after trying to help her mom. She told the detective that Jack had gotten her charges dropped and that he set her mom up with a better lawyer. She talked about her mother's death and that Jack had taken her to the funeral and she told them about the threats and about the people who had thrown bottles at her windows. The detective just sat quietly and listened to the whole story.

    When Alyssa was finished he told her that her story did match what Jack Coleman said about where he was and what he was doing at the time of Masterson's escape. Then he started questioning Alyssa about what she did during Masterson's trial. She told him that she double checked facts and evidence based on the files that they were given from the prosecution and that she had contacted several psychiatrists asking for their opinions on the nature of the crimes and whether or not they felt that Sam Masterson was in his right mind. She also disclosed that she did a large amount of the paper
work and trial prep. The detective then asked Alyssa if she had ever been to the psychiatric hospital where Masterson was being held or if she knew if anyone else from the firm had visited him there. She said "no" to all of those questions and then the detective told her that she could go.

   
Once Alyssa was cleared to join her coworkers, she assisted Jack and the rest of his team in damage control. They met with some public relations specialists and they went over ways to address the media and to ease the minds of people in the community. Part of this included having Jack make a public statement denying the involvement of the firm in any way other than advocating for Masterson to be placed in the care of mental health professionals. Jack's father and the other name partners were also conducting their own internal investigation to make absolute sure that none of their employees had broken the law or had contact with Masterson outside of their knowledge. Jack's father introduced himself to Alyssa and promptly put her to work gathering information for this purpose as well. Alyssa was happy that Jack's father trusted her enough to ask her for help.

    With everything that was going on at Coleman, Patters and Schleicher, Trevor Barnes figured that it would be utter chaos inside the office itself. Between the media, the protestors and the firm employees running around like crazy, he was right. Barnes made a phone call to a friend and asked her to deliver a special message to Jack Coleman and he gave her specific instructions on how to do it. Barnes's messenger was a woman named Marisa Romera. She was a beautiful
Italian girl from the Bronx. She was just as much of a heroin addict as most of Trevor's crew but she kept herself up and that made her the ideal candidate for this particular mission. Marisa had come from an upper class family and she looked the part. She had a classy style, always wearing designer clothing and high end jewelry. She never left the house without wearing makeup and fixing her hair up nice.  Barnes told her to dress like an attorney and to tell the police that she worked at Coleman, Patters and Schleicher so she could get into the building. He then wanted her to leave Jack Coleman a special "love note" on his desk. Trevor told Marisa that no one would even notice her amidst all the confusion and that she should be able to slip in and out without attracting attention.

    Marisa carefully wrote down the message from Barnes. It was a cruel note, but Marisa wrote it on fine parchment, with elegant handwriting. She thought that the classy look would add to the insult and make Jack Coleman take notice. Then she dressed up in a designer business suit, pulled her hair back and headed downtown. Trevor Barnes was right about Marisa's ability to blend in. The police didn't question her or even ask her for ID when she approached the front door. Instead they just let her pass without question.

   When she got to the actual office, no one seemed to notice her even though none of them had ever seen her before. She walked through the office like she knew where she was going, even though she had no clue which office belonged to Jack. She grabbed some papers off of a random desk and she weaved in and out through all the people who were racing around the office. She wandered the hallways until she finally found the glass office with Jack's name on the door. She knocked but there was no answer. Without hesitation, Marisa opened the door to Jack's office and peeked inside. No one was there so she entered and she closed and locked the door behind her. Then she made her way over to Jack's desk. She briefly went through the drawers, hoping to find money or drugs or something, but it was disappointingly clean. So she positioned the letter on Jack's desk, prominently displaying it by leaning it up against Jack's pencil holder and a small bonsai tree that he kept on his desk. Then she quickly exited the office and she slipped out of the building. No one had seen her come in and no one had seen her leave. Her mission was executed with absolute perfection and she happily reported back to Barnes to tell him exactly that.

    About two hours later Jack went into his office to get some files and he saw the letter. It was in a sealed envelope that simply had his name on the outside. He opened it up and to his great dismay he read the horrible note inside.

   
Seems to me that the little whore that you run with has a big fucking mouth and rumor has it that you put her up to it. Revenge is best when it takes the ones you love. Valerie is dead. Guess now it's time to get rid of the boyfriend. I'll be seeing you soon, Jack.

    Jack did not want to tell Alyssa about the letter. She had simply been through enough already, so Jack put it in his pocket and he headed to his father's office. He ran into his father in the hallway talking with some of the
other associates. Jack stood there silently and allowed his father to finish addressing his employees and then Jack asked if he could speak with him privately. Edward invited Jack into his office and Jack closed the door. He then told his father everything about Alyssa's mother and her arrest, including the statement she made. Then he talked about the threats that were made to Alyssa and he showed his father the letter.

   "
I just found this. It was placed on my desk here at the office within the last two hours. I think Trevor Barnes is out to hurt Alyssa and anyone she cares about," Jack said as he handed his father the note.

     Edward looked over the note and frowned. He called the district attorney and relayed the story to him. The DA's response was daunting. He told Edward that the letter and the threats could possibly be traced to Trevor
Barnes but it was highly circumstantial and that any lawyer who had any idea of how to bring a good defense would get it thrown out as such. There was really no way to find out who else was involved unless Trevor talked and there was zero chance of that. Trevor Barnes was already serving a twenty year sentence and even if they brought him up on harassment charges, it wouldn't make much of a difference in his sentence and it would probably put Alyssa in much greater danger if they tried to go after them. Edward figured as much and honestly so did Jack.

    Jack told his father that he was taking Alyssa and getting out of there for their own safety. Edward didn't argue and he simply told Jack that he had already done everything he could to take care of the Masterson mess anyway. The best thing for everyone is if he and Alyssa
laid low for a while. Jack agreed and then in an odd show of affection, Edward hugged his son and told him to be safe. Then Jack went to look for Alyssa. He found her making phone calls and relaying official statements to newspapers on the firm's behalf. Then Jack told Alyssa that someone else would finish the calls and that they needed to leave right away. On their way out Jack grabbed another paralegal and he asked her to finish making the calls that Alyssa was working on and then he hurried Alyssa out of the building.

    "Jack, what’s going on?" she asked as he was practically dragging her through the parking lot by her arm.