Page 43 of Hold Me

“You’re the crazy, beautiful girl who pays a lot of money to play video games with him and take him to movies. He can’t stop talking about you. Haven’t seen him smile that way either... not since... Heather.” He looks away, frowning, then meets my eyes. “What do you want?”

I sit on the bed and sigh. “I don’t know if you’re going to believe me, but I’ve got to try. Caleb doesn’t want to tell me anything, but I... I think he’s being held against his will. Like you.”

“Am I supposed to congratulate you for putting two and two together?” He tilts his head. “Or do you want me to tell you that yeah, Caleb would have so invited you on a date if he could?”

“No, I want to help you. Is everyone here...?”

He shakes his head. “Some are just junkies. Would do anything for Raphael as long as they get their fix. And some enjoy the whole thing.”

“Okay. What can you tell me about Raphael? What does he have over Caleb and you?”

“Doesn’t matter. No one can do anything about it.” He chews on his lip. “Believe me, we tried. Didn’t end well.”

I reach into my bra and pull out a small box.

Isaac raises an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

I open the box and show him a small camera. “If I want to talk about this to the cops, I need evidence or at least a testimony. If you let me record an interview with you or something, I can assure you it will go to an honest cop. Even if you get arrested, I can help you.”

He vehemently shakes his head, crossing his arms. “It’s not going to work. I can say whatever you want, but by the time you get the cops anywhere near here, we’ll be all gone and they’ll never find Raphael or us, and he’ll make sure I never say another word ever again. Not that my word would be worth anything anywhere. And you’ll never get that camera out of here anyway.”

“Well, I got it in, didn’t I? The box is made of a special material and the detectors won’t react to it.”

“It won’t work. They’ll search you before they let you out. The only reason they didn’t ask you about the box is because it looks like one of those in which clients sometimes bring drugs for themselves. But I’m sure they’ll ask you to give it to them for inspection on your way out.”

Shit. I don’t have any weed to cover the camera with it. “Then what can we do? Do you know where the cops could catch Raphael in action when he can’t disappear through some hidden exit?”

He worries on his lower lip, rocking on his heels. Then he looks up at me. “You know what? I’m feeling suicidal tonight, so you’re in luck.”

“What?”

He saunters over to me and takes the camera, inspecting it. “How does this work?”

“It’s a battery-powered camera. Has a power button behind it. There’s a memory card inside it. Not big, but it’ll have to do.”

“It doesn’t have Internet connection or anything?”

“No. I couldn’t risk anyone detecting it here.”

“Good.” He looks pleased.

I get to my feet, unsure what he’s planning to do.

“I can get you footage of Raphael at his worst.” He gives me a long look. “Are you sure you want to do this? You’ll need to figure out how to get the footage back, but I’m sure Caleb can retrieve it for you from Raphael’s room.”

“Wait, what are you going to do?” His earlier words come back to me, and I gasp. “No! If it’s going to get you killed, don’t do it.”

He smiles. “You’re really serious about this. I like that. Caleb wasn’t wrong about you.”

“But...”

He raises his finger to shush me. “Not a word. You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this.”

“Can you tell me anything that can...?”

“No,” he interrupts. “We don’t have time for that. But tell me, how did you get here? What do they have on you?”

“A video I wouldn’t want people to see.”