Infinite Loop - Chapter 24

Suspicions Remain

Amber jerked at the revelation, but quickly steadied herself.

“Alright, you’ve got me,” she confessed. “My father is the district attorney. But it’s not what you think.”

Warren looked down at the traffic on the street.

“Ok, you tell me what I think,” he breathed. “It’s obvious you could have told him where I was since we came ashore. I have seen no cops here, so maybe I trust you. What’s your angle?”

“If you know who my father is, then you know most of it,” she told him as she crossed her arms defiantly.

He turned to her.

“What the hell are you talking about? You were following me, remember? And I still don’t know why?” Warren said.

“You spent the whole damn night spinning one lie after another, from what I can tell,” he continued. “Maybe I was too dumb to follow up on that. But now, I find out you’re the daughter of someone who would put me in the hangman’s noose if they captured me. It doesn’t make sense.”

Amber looked away, clutching her hands as she paced in front of the sofa.

“Ok, I followed you since before Havana. You left town with something about my father,” she said with cold eyes. “You’re a blackmailer, and I want what you have on him. Give me that, and you can leave the city. I won’t let the authorities know where you went.”

Warren stared at the woman, his mouth half open at the news.

“Lady, you need to slow down. What the hell are you talking about?”

Amber stepped closer to him, and her eyes flashed.

“You know what I’m saying. You and your associates have some information on my father,” she insisted. “That’s why he let you leave Boston. Everyone knew my dad was about to put you in front of a grand jury. Suddenly you’re in Havana. That’s not a coincidence. Give me what you’re holding over my family, and I’ll make sure you a 24-hour head start. That’s fair enough!”

Warren looked at her, the shock quickly spiraling into a manic laugh. He turned to the window, then shouted to the dead scriptwriters in the sky.

“What the hell are you doing? That is so cliché. What type of hack writers are you?”

His outburst over, he stared down at nothing in particular on the street. Slowly, his shoulders drooped. Finally, Warren turned to her, hating how she stared at him. Clearly, she believed what she just told him. Now she looked scared of him.

“Ok, I’ll play along,” he said. His calm demeanor surprised both of them.

“When and where did you discover I was involved in blackmail? You’ve never even hinted at such a thing before. It would have been a splendid time to tell me this while we were on the ship.”

Carefully, Amber placed the sofa between them. Her expression showing her anxiety about him.