Confidential (29 page)

"Anna!" I shook my head, "He is basically with another girl!"

"He said he loved you. That he was mad at you, and couldn't talk to you right at that moment. It's only been two weeks since you've been back. He just needs a little time that's all." Anna shook her head knowingly, "Give him time to adjust, you just testified, your emotional enough already. You're just a little overwhelmed, that's all."

I stared at her, blinking, "Are you okay?" She asked me, I nodded numbly.

"Anna…" I smiled, "He said he loved me." She rolled her eyes and grabbed the plate in front of me to throw in front of the sink. "He said it! He said he loved me. To me! And I quote 'Actually loved you…' I mean, he was angry, but whatever… ANNA! HE said he loved me!" I started jumping up and down, "CAMDON! CAMDON LOVES ME!" I was so giddy, "I'll give him time, I'll let him call me."

I was practically walking on air in the morning, and bounced outside, in a cute flowery skirt and heels, ready for the next day of trials. Anna came in a pant suit, looking like a man's fantasy, with a low cut blouse capturing even my attention.

I raised my eyebrows at her, "How's Patrick?" I asked suggestively.

She chose to ignore my tone, however, and answered, "He's doing well, really busy lately, so we haven't had much time to talk." I could tell by the air in her voice that she was trying to make it sound like no big deal. But I definitely caught them coming out of a mysteriously empty room all panting and rustled. I'd get it out of Patrick later.

We slid into the police car, and I eagerly talked to the officer driving, "So how long do you think the trial will continue?" I asked.

"A couple months, if we're lucky." He added. Kill joy, I won't talk to you again. I turned to continue to grill Anna on Patrick.

"I bet it's really good to see Patrick again huh?"

She glared at me. "Yes. It's nice to see all of my friends."

"I was just wondering, you know, when you were going to make a move on him, because a guy that good looking does not stay single for long. Especially with that Christina girl, I would get on it soon." I completely made it up, well, not completely, but Patrick was one the phone with his 'friend' one time, named Christina. I don't know why he didn't do this earlier. Nothing springs a girl faster than jealousy. And he was way too in love with Anna to actually get in any type of functional relationship.

She knew I was baiting her, she had too, but it became too much for her, after
a
minute, she asked, "Whose Christina?"

I rolled my eyes, "Just this girl he's taken out on a couple of dates. She's called a couple times while we were prepping earlier."

"Oh." She said. But it wasn't just any 'Oh', it was a defensive 'Oh', an Oh that starts relationships, you could see Anna wrestle with being irritated, not knowing how to express it on such a sweet pretty face. It was cute.

"What-" Anna began asking
me a
question but her mouth fell slightly open. I frowned at her, "What's wrong? Is there something on my face? Because I look really good today," I noticed the far away look in her eyes and turned around to see what she was staring at, and I stared out the car window in disbelief.

Chapter 16

I opened the door hesitantly and got out and was immediately rushed on both sides of my body by people and cameras. Microphones were shoved in my face and people kept snapping photos of me, blinding my vision. Finally, a couple people had come and parted the sea of reporters to grab my hand and pull me towards the front of the courthouse.

"Heidi!" A voice shouted too close to my ear, "What does it feel like to put the biggest drug lord behind bars!"

"How are you adjusting to life back in Arizona?", "Where did you go when you went into hiding?", "Do you have an official statement yet?"

"What is all this?" I screamed at Patrick O'Connor, the kind detective that led me through the doors and quickly into the courtroom.

"Did you even watch the news last night?" Patrick asked, I shook my head, "When you get back to Anna's place, make sure you do. Where is she by the way?"

"Right here," I heard her say, on my other side, "That is ridiculous, what's their angle?"

He shrugged, "They keep playing parts of her interview, making her out to seem…"

I glared at him, "Making me seem what?"

"They just are showing all the hardships Mickey has put you through, and then clips of the testimony, making it seem like you have a personal vendetta to put criminals behind bars or something."

I rolled my eyes, "That's so stupid." But I couldn't help but be antsy throughout the rest of the day, until everyone pilled out of a pretty boring day of the trial. The stupidest evidence was shown and explained, and although everything was crucial, it could still be boring. And add onto that the thought that somewhere on TV they were playing my testimony, where I started crying and snapped at the defense lawyer all within the same hour was embarrassing.

Anna could sense my anticipation, and when she got back to the apartment, invited my parents over. I didn't want to leave Anna, but I knew the end of the testimony meant that I would need to move back in with my parents… and school…

I quickly pushed those thoughts out of my mind and clicked on the TV. There was nothing on any of the news channels, and I was pretty disappointed. "I'm not on TV," I whined jokingly, "Those camera's had me all excited."

Anna shook her head; "They get tons of footage of court cases all the time and hardly use them. I wouldn't worry to much about it, maybe they'll have a little clip tomorrow."

"But I thought Patrick said they were showing clips last night?" I looked at Anna but she just shrugged, opening the door to let my parents in.

"This is… nice." My mother gently stepped into the apartment, her eyes sweeping over the area, judgment clear in her eyes.

My Dad, forever her opposite, didn't even look at the room, just came right over and gave me a hug. "We were in the court when you gave your testimony, you did great honey."

"Thanks dad!" I smiled at him, and I stood up to help Anna set the small table for four, "How are you guys doing?"

The distance between my parents and I was apparent, and I know my mom especially didn't like me being with Anna. I'm sure she wanted me home to show off to all her friends, her daughter who just got back from helping the police. Yatta yatta yatta. And I knew it bothered my dad because of the whole 'I'm your parent, she isn't' thing, he had already addressed it several times, and it was starting to become a problem between them.

I finished setting the table, "Did you ever get find that bottle of asian salad dressing we got?" I asked absentmindedly, rummaging through the refrigerator.

Anna let out an annoyed sigh, "No. And I'm so bummed; it looked like such a good kind too. I haven't found it anywhere. Are you sure you put it in the cart?"

"Positive! I put it next to the pack of fresca, remember?" I sat next down to my mom, who was flicking her acrylic nails.

"That's right," She just shook her head, "I have no idea where it could have gone. Its like that one time we got that lamp-"

"And the shade totally went missing." We both started laughing. "That was so weird!"

"I swear it was one of your friends, Marcus probably. He would do something like that." Anna scoffed, jokingly.

"Whose Marcus?" My dad asked, "One of my friends from Iowa." I explained to him. I turned to look at my mother. "That's a really annoying noise. Can you stop that?"

"Heidi." Anna said sternly, I turned back to my mother, and mumbled "Sorry." Both of my parents looked at me strangely, and Anna shifted awkwardly. Whatever.

"When will Heidi be able to move back in?" My mom asked curiously.

Anna's face contorted into a sad smile, "Whenever you guys like, she knows who to call if she feels in danger. Her part of this is over with, so technically, she's all yours."

I instantly choked up, and I saw her do the same, it wasn't going to be the same, Anna would be busy with the wrapping up of the trial, I wouldn't get to see her nearly as much…

"But Anna, I don't-" She put a hand over mine and squeezed gently, shaking her head as if to say,
Don't have this conversation now,
I swallowed my words, and ate the rest of my meal in silence, the permanent shift in mood apparent. My parents left after dinner, excited to have me back and I reluctantly told them we'd make arrangements soon.

Anna stood in awkward silence for several moments before speaking, "You know you can't keep staying here, you're parents would never allow it, and you're going to need to go back to school, you need to get back to some type of normalcy."

"But I like living with you. It's so much easier than living with them." I paused, "I'm gonna miss seeing you all the time."

She pulled me into a hug, which I would only let her do, "I'm going to miss you too," She tightened her grip, "But we're still going to see each other all the time, I promise." She started to get teary eyes and gave me one last squeeze before letting me go. "I'm wiped. Your parents are exhausting to entertain. Girls night tomorrow?"

"Course." I smiled, knowing I was going to need her more than ever, if I was going to be going back to my parents so soon.

*  *  *

I moped into the kitchen, pouring myself a healthy dose of cinnamon toast crunch and skim milk before plopping down on the seat in front of me. "Its so frickin' early," I mumbled to myself, even though I knew Anna couldn't here me. I was already in a sullen mood, knowing I was going to be leaving Anna soon, it just made everything so final. That it was all coming to an end. I sighed as I thought about my foggy future and continued to mope until I was interrupted by Anna's loud gasp.

Her apartment is so small, I heard her exclamation from the other room before she anxiously called my name. "Heidi… you need to come see this. Quick."

Curiosity gripped me, and I was instantly by her side on the pull out couch, now back to its original form.

"
What?
" I hissed, staring at the television. Anna was watching to the Today Show, as per usual, and I stared in horror, as the moments of my testimony were played back for me on
national television
.

Clips instantly began to play, little parts of my testimony, with Matt Louwer voicing over my story, with a tragic, somber, voice.

"
And what did they do to you in this ally?"
Daniel's figure asked, as he walked slowly towards me, giving me one of his intense stares.

On the TV screen, I did look beautiful, but extremely uncomfortable.
"I couldn't
tell
who was doing what. But one dragged me by one of my arms, and the other kicked me in the stomach. I couldn't breath."
My last sentence came out in a whisper, my body visibly shaking.
"They began hitting me and hitting me, so I tried to crawl away…"
My voice died out.

It phased out to a different clip this time, one where Daniel was especially grilling me, throwing my heart wrenching pain to the jury.
"And what was it like, being uprooted, during your school year, Junior year, one of the most important years of high school, and forced to live in a completely different environment, with no contact to your family or any of your friends for
months
?"
and then again, with him asking, "
And how did it feel, when you had to leave, again, after you were just getting used to your new home?"