Jack In The Box novel Chapter 24

“Jack has been caught and they are bringing him back to the asylum.” The male Nurse Marvin told me on the phone.

“Jack? You mean Jackson Wolfe?” I asked.

“Yes. Him. There’s no other Jack in the same wing, remember?”

Oh god.

“When are they bringing him?”

“Tonight. The officials are not taking any chances this time. They are flying him through a chopper. Did you know our hospital has a Helipad? How cool is that?”

I couldn’t be bothered about a Helipad at the moment when I had more pressing matters to think about, starting with how the hell had they managed to find Jack? Unless, they found him because he wanted to be found. There was no way that Jack could ever surrender on his own accord, not when he believed that he was innocent.

Being caught only meant that he would be prosecuted, and most likely get hanged for his crimes.

Jack had to have a motive to come back. Or, I was thinking too much into this, and Jack could have let his guard down and walked into a trap which seemed as likely as me winning a lottery. My gut feeling was that Jack had got himself caught on purpose.

“Marvin, please call me when they bring him in.”

In the meantime, I arranged for an attorney, his name was James McIntyre. He wasn’t the best in the country, but I trusted him and he was Maddy’s recommendation. He had won many cases and there was no doubt in my mind that if push came to shove, I knew James wouldn’t rest until he had fought dirty by my side.

During afternoon, James met me in a cafe where we discussed about the case. I told him the truth, what had happened while I was with Jackson and when the truth spilled out I couldn’t omit the sex part. James didn’t seem happy about it, he said sleeping with Jack had complicated my side and proving me innocent would be more difficult in court.

“So whose side are you on?” He asked taking a large bite of his powdered donut, smearing all the white powder above his upper lip, making it seem like a white mustache.

I couldn’t hold it in and laughed.

“Remember something funny?” He asked, skeptical.

I waved a hand, I wasn’t going to tell him about the powdered mustache. “It’s nothing.”

“Honestly, I’m not sure whose side I’m really on. I lived with Jack for a few days, and he didn’t seem like the person that people make him to be. He is dangerous, I have no doubt about that but I don’t think he killed anyone. He was quite vulnerable when he told me about his mother’s death and I believe him, James. He cried in my arms that night and I’ve never seen Jack like that. If he really is a psychopath, he wouldn’t have any feelings.”

James continued to look at me, he was measuring his words. I knew it. The powdered mustache was kind of distracting. He said. “I’ve seen people like him all my life in this line of work, Riley. They tend to analyze people and strike when they see a weakness. From what I hear, Jack sounds manipulative. He could have faked those tears to have your attention. Psychopaths think we are foolish. They also think they are superior.”

“I’ve worked with patients that had anti-social personality disorder and Jack to me, doesn’t seem like any of those.” I pointed out.

“And that’s why he’s higher on the spectrum. High functioning psychopaths, the intelligent and educated ones. They can become who they want, Riley. CEO, doctors, lawyers and that’s why they deceive people easily.”

I sighed. What he said actually made sense, but I didn’t want to admit it.

“I have to go to the station and I’m already dreading it. Agent Flint won’t leave a stone upturned and he is hell-bent on putting me behind bars. He thinks I helped Jack escape last time, which is true but he also thinks the kidnapping is staged which is not true.”

“We have some alibi, Riley. You are in safe hands.” He said smiling. I took pity on him and wiped the powdered sugar off his lips.

He cleared his throat. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

The interrogation had turned into a screaming match. Poor James, he’d turned from attorney to referee in point five seconds after the first question.He’d specifically told me that they would do their best to rile me up and make me furious, to see if I fumbled with words and gave them the confession they needed.

None of that happened so they had wasted their precious energy. Agent Flint was literally breathing fire. If he thought he could scare me with his dirty tactics, he thought wrong.

“No matter how many times you’re going to ask me that, Agent Knight, my answers are not going to change. I. Did. Not. Kill. Anyone.”

James kicked me under the table, leaned in and whispered. “He’s doing it on purpose to make you angry. Let me handle this. Just keep quite.”

Agent Flint’s continued to stare at me with impassive expressions. No one could depict what was going on in his mind. “Miss Frazer, I hope you don’t blame me for grilling you for the information but this is all part of my job. You are the missing piece to this puzzle and only you can help us understand what is going on. If you confess to everything right now, I promise you on my—”

James cleared his throat. “Agent Knight, you and your team has been harassing my client here under the pretense of an interrogation. It’s been two hours and you still haven’t gotten anything from her.”

“Because she’s playing by his rules.” Flint interrupted James.

“Miss. Frazer has said nothing but the truth until now. She went to the cabin that night under duress and what transpired after that wasn’t part of any plan. She’s not on Jackson Wolfe’s side.”

“And neither is she on ours. Makes no difference really. Tell me, Riley, did you also sleep with him under duress?”

“That’s enough Agent! You’re straight up bullying my client now. I will not have you pressuring her like that.”

“Agent Knight. This is a colossal waste of your time. Believe me. You’re not going to get any new information from me. I’ve been honest with you with everything that I’ve told you until now. If you still think I’m Jack’s accomplice...”

James threw me a warning look.

Flint looked at James and back at me. “Yes, Miss Frazer?”

“Then prove it.” I said.

“Do you understand what you’re saying?”

I smiled. “Yes. I’m quite aware. I’m challenging you, Agent Flint. If you think I killed the nurse and helped Jack, please prove it. Try and find the evidence. I’m sure you have a team of experts at your disposal.”

“Riley.” James warned me.

Flint and I played a game of who-stops-staring-first and he lost because he blinked and looked away. “I promise you, Miss. Frazer, if you are involved in this in any way. I will not hesitate to put you under arrest.”

“Please. Don’t hold back.” I said.

“We are done for today, if we have any leads, we will contact you again, Miss. Frazer. And if you remember something, I’m just a call away. I hope you will co-operate.”

I turned to leave, when the agent called me out again. “A word of advice. You may feel like he’s a good person now, but once he’s got what he’s wanted from you, you’ll be nothing more than a body in the morgue.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

When I walked out of the station, I threw up my breakfast. Just the thought of Jack playing mind games with me made me sick. I was on the verge of tearing up.

“Did you see the way he was talking to me?” I asked James. “Like I’m Jack’s whore.”

“It’s actually Riley. Cody is such a sweet boy. In fact he’s my favorite here.” I said.

Cody may have grown a Pinocchio nose there, his face light up with pride. “I like you too, Ri Ri. Come sit with me.”

His mother excused herself to go to get a coffee refill. I sat down beside Cody. He stared at me open mouthed. “You smell nice, Ri.”

“Thanks.”

He scooted closer and kissed my cheek and then a little closer to my lips. After that his palm started to move towards my breast. I caught his hand before that and stood up.

“Cody! You’re not supposed to do that!”

A few months back, he’d done the exact same thing and I wasn’t able to stop him that time. When his mother walked back with her coffee, my face was probably burning.

“Why not?” He asked. “I like it. You’re so soft. Let me touch it.”

His mother stared at me with regret, understanding dawned her. “Please don’t tell the doctors. I’m sorry on his behalf.”

“I understand Mrs. Sanders.” I assured her. “It’s not his fault.”

It really wasn’t. Cody stared at me with unabashed longing. Even though Cody had a mind of a child, his body was that of an adult which had physical adult needs like any human being, and his childlike innocence didn’t allow his mouth to have a filter.

Mrs. Sanders’s eyes began to water. “I know he has needs. He’s not a child anymore. I was wondering if I can take him to a--”

I shook my head. “The doctors said there’s a possibility he may become normal again.” I looked at Cody who was talking to his Panda. “I’m sure he wouldn’t want you to do that if he knew better. I suggest you to wait some more time and I’ll talk to a doctor who can help him with this.”

“Riley” Someone interrupted us. I glanced back to find Tory, who was in charge of the visitors room. “They won’t bring Jackson down here, not when there’s a risk of him escaping again. All his visitors are supposed to go to the room.”

“Alright. I will go upstairs.”

“Wait.” She said before I could leave. “He doesn’t want to see you.”

“What?”

“Jackson is not taking any visitors and he specifically said he doesn’t and I’ll quote ‘I don’t want to see Riley.’” I could see Tory passing me the sympathetic looks, ones that bordered to pity. “Riley, whatever happened in the cabin, if I were you I’d think of it as a nightmare and let it go. People like Jack, they seek power and can go to any extent to achieve their goals. You cannot trust him. He’s got what he’s wanted and now he doesn’t want to see you.”

I refused to believe that but I didn’t say another word and walked out of the room. I wondered if Jack didn’t want me to see him because he didn’t want me involved in this. If he wanted to end whatever that was between us, that was fine by me but I needed answers. I walked into the lobby and was speaking with Maddy who was consulting me about another patient who refused to eat meals when I saw some guards clearing people from the way and manhandling a restrained patient. It was Jack.

The slight stubble that he had last time was gone, his face was clean-shaven and his dark locks were cropped. As if he sensed me looking, his eyes met mine and held my gaze for a couple of seconds before looking away.

“Where are they taking him?” I asked Maddy.

“To the police station. The FBI is going to sit him down around the clock and get a confession out of him.” She said. “He looks like he’s had enough, doesn’t he?”

I bit my lip from screaming because I realized what Jack was going to do. He was going to give the killer what he wanted.

Jack was going to confess to the crimes.