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Julie
I’ve been home for a week. My therapist, Theresa, thinks that I’m suffering from PTSD and prescribed Xanax to help with the anxiety. I had initially started to feel anxious and panicked at night when Devan would turn off the light, so he started leaving on the bathroom light to help me sleep. I know I can’t have him do that forever because it’s not fair to him to have to sleep with a light on. I still haven’t been able to go back to my apartment, though. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go back there and think it might be time to start looking for another one. Maybe one in a safer part of town. I haven’t returned to work yet either, my passion for reporting isn’t as strong as it once was.
I have a lot of things that I need to make decisions on. My life. My career. I haven’t quit my job, and Travis has been great at letting me take the time off even though I’d only been working for him for five months. But I can’t keep sitting here all day doing nothing.
“Devan, I need to get back to work. I can’t continue sitting around here feeling sorry for myself.” I plead with him. “I need to write. I may not be ready to go back to work, but I want to finish this story.”
“Julie, I’m not telling you not to work. I just don’t like the idea of you still chasing this story. It took you away from me once already. It nearly killed you and I can’t bear to think of what might happen next time.”
“Believe me, I know. I’m not chasing anything, Devan. No more phone calls or emails. I’m ready to write it and when I’m done, I’m handing the entire thing over to the police.”
“And how do you expect to do that without going out there and gathering more information?” He asks, both eyebrows raised to his hairline and his head cocked to one side. His arms are crossed over his chest causing his biceps to bulge as he flexes. I can see the tension rolling off him in waves and I know he’s worried.
“Devan.” I lower my voice and give him a seductive grin that I know makes him pay close attention. “Would it help if I did it all from here?”
“What do you mean?” He asks lowering his arms to his sides, the fight completely drained from him.
“I mean, I have everything I need here. The entire story, all the information I collected. Everything, including the interview with my source.”
“How is that possible? Your phone was destroyed the night of the interview.”
I smile at him as I realize that he has no idea. “Devan, I emailed the audio file to myself as soon as I got to my car. I emailed it to more than one email address actually just to be sure that I would have it.” I smile at him as he cocks his head to the side and raises a single eyebrow at my confession.
“You promise?” He asks, stepping close enough to put a hand softly on my cheek. “I don’t think I can bear it if anything happens to you again.”
“I promise, Devan. I’m ready to put an end to this story. I don’t want it anymore, but they need to be caught.”
“Okay, angel. I’ll leave you to it then. Let me know if you need anything.” He softly kisses my lips, running his thumb along my cheekbone. He lowers his hand before stepping away. Then he turns and walks to his office, leaving me to work alone in the dining room.
I sit down and start to put together all of the information that I’ve collected over the past two months. I boot up my laptop and open my word processing program, loading the outline I’ve slowly been putting together. I have a list of ten businesses that have been involved in the robberies and have confirmed each of them with my source at the LAPD as being linked. I have each of the business owners’ names listed. I verified that each of them had a new video surveillance system installed by Precision Security. I was able to verify that Jerry was included on the installation for the security system at all ten of the businesses as well. But we’ll just skip that for now since I’m not ready to think about him yet.
I open my email and see if I have anything back from my contact at the LAPD. Reading through the email, I see that all of the business involved in the robberies have filed their insurance claims with the same insurance company. “Bingo!” I exclaim a little louder than I mean to.
The first thing I need to do is research what my source mentioned about the same types of robberies in Portland. I pull up a Google search and begin typing. It doesn’t take long for several news articles to come up. I browse through a few of them and compare the details to the robberies taking place around the city now. The next article I open is about the insurance companies and my breath catches in my throat.
An insurance fraud case has resulted in multiple arrests with more charges to be filed soon. According to Multnomah County court records, insurance adjusters recruited local businesses to allow burglaries to occur at their properties in order to collect gains through insurance claims.
Several business owners are facing charges for their role in the fraud as well. Investigators said insurance adjusters were able to inflate the cost of damages and losses to properties in order to keep a portion of the proceeds for themselves.
Two Portland area adjusters, James Sutton age 32 and Edward Beardman age 23, have been found guilty of racketeering charges and have been sentenced to 180 days of jailtime and five years’ probation.
Suddenly, I’m unable to breath. There’s a loud buzzing in my ears and my heart starts beating so hard I’m sure it’s going to burst through my ribcage. My hands start to shake uncontrollably, and I hear a high pitch whining sound coming from somewhere in the room. It takes me a few minutes to realize that the sound is coming from me. “Oh, Edward.” I think to myself. “What have you done?” Suddenly, there are hands grabbing my shoulders tightly. I push away from the table, trying to get away from my attacker, but I’m being held in place by the forceful grip on my shoulders. My hands come up to cover my face, afraid of the beating that is sure to follow.
“Julie!” I hear Devan’s voice. “Julie! Calm down, baby. It’s me.”
I force myself to open my eyes. What I see in front of me is the most pained expression I’ve ever seen on Devan’s gorgeous face. I make a promise to myself never to be the cause of that broken look again. I take a deep breath and concentrate on slowing my heartrate. “Oh my God, Devan. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize to me, angel.” He says as he puts a hand against my face and wipes away a tear I hadn’t realized had begun rolling down my cheek. “You did nothing wrong. What happened, baby?”
“I don’t know. I read a news article from Portland and I guess it was just too much at once.” He narrows his eyebrows at me in confusion as he reaches behind himself and drags a chair over so he can sit with me. “I don’t mean the article itself. It was what the article was about.” I turn the laptop toward him so he can read the article too. When he finishes, he puts both of his hands in his lap and turns his gaze to the floor.
“Julie. There’s something you should know.”
I tense up, my back straightens against the back of the chair. “What?”
“When you were in the hospital, your mother and Edward came to visit you. I went to lunch with Matt and Marie to get away for a little while, and when I came back...” He stops and swallows several times audibly. I can see the tension in him as he grinds his teeth, causing a muscle to twitch in his jaw. He looks up at me, uncertainty written clearly across his face. “Edward was in the room with you alone. He was... confessing to you.”
“What?” I ask in a whisper.
“He said a few things about why he tried to get you to drop this story. He said he knew where you were being held because it was his building.”
I drop my head into my hands and close my eyes. This was just too much. The man that I’d known my entire life was connected to this. “What happened to him?”
“He was arrested. I called Detective O’Neil and he came to the hospital to arrest him. He’s still in jail.” He puts his hand on my knee. “Julie, I’m sorry. I should have told you.”
“No. I understand why you didn’t.”
“Is there anything that I can do?”
“Can you hold me for a little bit? I think I’m ready to put everything together, but I need to walk away from it for a little while. Clear my head.”
“Okay.” Devan stands and reaches his hand out for me. I put my hand in his and stand up slowly. We walk into the living room and Devan sits in the armchair across from the couch. He pulls me down into his lap and curls me into his chest. With one arm around my waist, he runs soothing strokes through my hair with the other. We sit together like this for several minutes and the tension in my body slowly diminishes.
“I think I should find a new apartment.” I blurt out trying to take my mind off of my story.
Devan’s movements cease and I can feel him tensing beneath me. “What?”
“My apartment. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go back to it after what happened. I won’t feel safe there anymore.”
“Yeah.” He says as he starts rubbing circles on my back. “You could move in with me.” He kisses the top of my head.
I sit up so I can look at him, thinking this might be a joke. What I see is sincerity and love in his gaze. He lifts one eyebrow and gives me the crooked smile that I’ve come to love so much. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. I love having you here. I’ve been in this house for years and it never felt like a home until you started staying here with me. Move in with me, Julie.”
He’s right. I feel so safe here with him, in his home. It makes sense. “I love you, Devan.”
“I love you too. So that’s a yes?”
“Yes. I’ll move in with you.”
“Good. I’m glad you agree because I had no intention of letting you leave anyway.” I lean back and backhand him on the chest, and he laughs at me. I’ve missed that laugh. With everything that’s been going on lately, I wasn’t sure if I would ever hear that laugh again. He puts both hands on my face, caressing my cheeks and pulls me closer for a kiss. I didn’t realize until now that I was missing this too. So much that I used to take for granted, that I’d almost lost. I’ll never take anything for granted again.
I shift so that I’m straddling his hips, one leg on either side of him. It’s a tight fit in this small armchair, but I can’t bring myself to care. I wrap both of my arms around his neck and deepen the kiss, his hands going to my waist holding me steady. It’s only then that I realize I was grinding into him.
“Not yet, angel. You haven’t even gotten your stitches out yet and I don’t want to hurt you.” I hate it but I know he’s right. I close my eyes and rest my forehead against his and he wraps his arms around my waist and holds me close.
“So.” I start, ready to keep the conversation flowing and calm my throbbing libido. “I don’t think I’m going to publish my story.”
“What? Why not?”
“I don’t think that’s the career path that I’m comfortable pursuing anymore.” I tell him honestly. “I’m not sure if it’s just for now or forever. But after everything that happened, I think I need to take a step back and think about it some more.”
“That’s probably a good idea. I don’t think my heart could handle you doing it anymore anyway. At least not for a while.”
I pull back and look in his eyes. “You aren’t going to be disappointed?”
“Why on earth would I be disappointed?” He asks, pulling back suddenly as if I had slapped him.
“I don’t want you to think of me as a failure.” I say honestly.
“Julie.” He says, putting his hands on my shoulders. “You could never be a failure in my eyes. You’re the bravest, smartest woman that I know.”
“I doubt that.” I push away from him, wanting to stand up and turn away. But he pulls me back and wraps his arms around me tighter.
“No, it’s true. Even a phoenix has to burn in order to rise up from its ashes. Don’t let your past dictate your future. If you want to write, then write. If you want to go back to school and learn to do something else, then that’s what you’re going to do. If you just want to take time and figure it out, then take all the time you need. I’ll be here to support you no matter what you decide.” He puts his finger under my chin and angles my face toward his. “I. Love. You.” He says, kissing me between each word.
I run my fingers through his silky hair. “Thank you, Devan. I love you too.” I fold myself back against his chest, wrapping my arms around his waist, and bask in the greatness that is my life. My heart is full even when my mind is working against me. “I still don’t want to publish this story. I want to hand the entire thing over to the authorities and help them close this case. I want to see these people brought to justice.”
“Okay, angel. As long as you’re sure that’s what you want.”
“I’m sure, Devan.” I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life. I don’t have to publish the greatest story or have my name on a bus. But knowing that I was able to help put these people behind bars was going to be more than enough for me. “It’s not worth it. The fear. The pain. All for chasing a story. When the end result could take me away from you.”
“Okay. So, get everything put together and tomorrow we’ll call Detective O’Neil. He’s the one that helped me the most when you were missing. We’ll go see him tomorrow.”
“I have everything on my laptop, it’s already outlined. The only thing I would have had left to do is write the article but I’m not doing that. I don’t want to look at it anymore right now.”
“Okay, then let’s order dinner and watch a movie.”
“That sounds perfect.” We decide to order Chinese from the place up the street and curl up on the couch together to watch a classic on Prime Video. When I start to fall asleep before the movie is over, Devan picks me up and carries me bridal style to the bedroom. He helps me to change for bed, kissing each of my bandages as he exposes them. Then he lays behind me, pulling me into his chest. For the first night since I got out of the hospital, I sleep the entire night peacefully.
The next morning, Devan calls Detective O’Neil. He decides to come to us instead of us coming to the station and says he’ll be here at ten. “So, when do you think I should empty out my apartment?” I ask him as I help clean the breakfast dishes.
“I can do it for you, so you don’t have to. I know you don’t want to go back there.”
“I want to try, and I think I’ll be okay if you’re there with me. I just know that I wouldn’t be able to stay there by myself.”
“We can start today if you want. We can pick up some boxes and go start packing your things. Are you going to have any problems breaking your lease?”
“I might. But I think, under the circumstances, my landlord will get over it.” I smile at him and sit down at the dining table to boot my laptop. I want to have everything loaded and ready to go when the detective gets here.
Just before ten, there’s a knock at the front door. “Stay here. I’ll get it.” Devan says as he stands. He returns withing a few minutes with a tall man with dark blonde hair and green eyes. He’s about the same height as Devan and about half as wide in the shoulders. He’s wearing a light blue button-up shirt with, dark jeans, and a navy blazer. I can see his shield badge clipped to his belt and realize this is the detective that Devan was telling me about.
Standing, I walk toward the man and hold my hand out. “You must be Detective O’Neil. I’m Julie. I understand you were instrumental in helping Devan with finding me?”
“Not really ma’am. I didn’t do much, but I’m happy to have been able to help in any way. I’m glad to see you’re back home safe.” He smiles and takes my hand in a gentle shake, barely touching me with his fingertips as if he’s afraid I may break. “Devan said you had some information you wanted to share with me.”
“I do. I’ve been working on it for a while. I have everything on my laptop if you want to follow me into the dining room.” I say as I turn and begin to walk away. Both Devan and the detective follow me. I take a seat at the table, on the long side so there is enough room for us all to be facing the laptop. Devan sits to my left and places a hand on my thigh. Detective O’Neil sits to my right. I bring up the outline and angle the laptop more toward the detective so he can look while I fill him in on the information.
“This is quite the outline. Why don’t you tell me about what you’ve found, and we’ll go from there?” He says as he starts to scroll through the program.
“Would you like something to drink before we start?” Devan asks. “I’m going to get a glass of water myself.”
“I’ll have a glass of water also.” Detective O’Neil says. Devan leaves to go to the kitchen to get the waters.
I begin before Devan returns. “A few months ago, there was a robbery. I didn’t think much of it at the time but after another one within a few days happened, I started to think they might be connected. Then another one, and another after that. There were four in one week and no evidence at any of them. So, I reached out to a contact at the LAPD to see if there was any connection at all.
“After I started asking around and interviewing business owners, I got an email from an anonymous source. He told me to follow the surveillance. It didn’t make sense at the time, so I ignored it for a few days. After a couple more robberies happened and I told Devan what my source said, he recommended that I find out about the security systems installed at the businesses.
“As it turns out, they all had a surveillance system installed by the same company, Precision Security, as you can see here.” I point to the outline showing the video surveillance installed at each business and the dates they were installed. Devan returns with three glasses of ice water and I take a sip. “Thank you.” I smile at Devan and reach out to take his hand before continuing.
“I interviewed the business owners at each of the locations. That’s how I found out about the security company. I talked to the manager at Precision Security, but he denied involvement. I did find out, however, that each business had the same installer. His name is Jerry.” I pause and take another sip of water. I’m going to have to finish this story, and there are parts that even Devan hasn’t heard yet.
“Then I started getting notes left on my car. There were three total. Devan, what happened to the notes?”
“I gave them to the police when you first disappeared.” He answers. “Are you able to get them?” He asks the detective.
“Yeah. I can get them. They’re in the file at the station.” Detective O’Neil says.
“That’s good.” I say, relieved that I don’t have to tell him what the notes said. “Anyway, I got notes that were threatening but I didn’t think anything of them at the time. I got security at work to start escorting me out to my car each evening after work. Until one night, a new security guard refused to escort me, and the third note was on my car when I got to it. I freaked out and told Devan and took the rest of the week off work. That Friday, I met my source in person and he told me about the same robberies happening over a year ago in Portland. That’s here on the outline.” I point to the meeting with the source. “I have that interview recorded if you want to hear it, so I won’t go into too much detail.
“Basically, he was a claims adjuster and was hiring businesses to be robbed in order to split the claims. He was charged with racketeering and lost his job. After the interview, I went back to my apartment to grab a few things before coming back here and that’s when I was attacked.
“They took me to an abandoned warehouse, which is where you found me. They beat me and tortured me. Jerry is actually the last one I had any interaction with. I didn’t know it was him at the time, until he told me right before he brandished the knife. He said he wasn’t going to kill me but that I would bleed to death before I was ever found.” My voice started to break, and my hands were shaking. I could feel Devan becoming tense next to me and he squeezed my hand tighter.
“I was terrified. I knew for sure I was going to die. When I didn’t feel it anymore when he cut me, I thought for sure I was already dead.” I look over and see that Devan’s eyes are closed. He’s probably remembering what he felt when I was taken, what he saw when he found me. “He laughed each time he drew the knife along my skin. When he plunged it into my stomach, he said it would be just deep enough to make me bleed. He wanted me to suffer. He wanted it to take a long time for me to die.” I wipe away the wetness on my cheeks. “There aren’t enough words for me to express how grateful I am that you guys found me.” Devan opens his eyes and looks up at me again. He smiles that wonderful, crooked smile and leans over to kiss my cheek.
“Yesterday I found the article from Portland. It named two insurance adjusters that were arrested and charged with racketeering. James Sutton, who I assume was my anonymous source. And Edward Beardman who I’ve known my entire life. His mother and my mother are best friends. And he confessed to being involved while I was lying unconscious in the hospital. You have him in custody.”
“We do.” Detective O’Neil takes a sip of his water and sighs. “This is excellent work. Do you mind me asking why you have it, though?”
“I wanted to be an investigative journalist. I was trying to break a big story that would get me noticed so I could get a better job. I don’t want that anymore.”
“I see. You’ve done excellent work. Actually, I’m almost disappointed that you’ve found more information than the police working the case have. And I think that we have everything we need to be able to close it completely.”
“I’m glad.” I say. “I’m ready to see something good come from all this, because so far all it’s done is bring me so much pain. I hate it. I don’t want it anymore.”
“Here.” Detective O’Neil says as he angles the laptop toward me again. “Can you email me this outline, all of your contact information for the business owners, and the audio file of the interview with your source?” He hands me a business card with his email address.
“Yes.” I tell him. “I’ll do that now.”
“Thank you. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for everything that you went through. I’m glad you’re home.”
“Thank you. So am I.” I attached the files to the email and pressed SEND. The three of us stood and walked to the front door to see the detective out. Devan and I decided to spend the rest of the day watching movies again and refusing to even answer the phone if it rang. It was time to relax.