Chapter 153 - Esquire

Harry stepped out of the shower and picked a towel from the towel rail as he walked out of the bathroom. He dried his short mop of black hair using the towel, not minding the trail of water he left in his wake as he went to his bedside to pick up his phone which he had heard ringing immediately he stepped into the shower. 

Seeing he had missed two calls from the same unknown number, he narrowed his eyes as he tried to figure out who it possibly was. Jade Hank. She was the only one whose call he was expecting, so he dialed her number immediately.

Harry briefly wondered if she was still the same person she was when he had met her four years ago. She had been really cute and funny then, with her long brown hair and intelligent blue eyes. He remembered the irritation he had seen on her boyfriend's face when he had seen them both discussing at the porch that night, and how he had later overheard them fighting because of him. 

She had promised to show him around her neighborhood the next day, but after the argument with her boyfriend, she had begun to avoid him. She wouldn't join the family for dinner, but would rather have hers alone in her bedroom with her boyfriend. And once she walked into the living room and saw him sitting there she would return to her bedroom. He had pretended not to notice, but nothing she did had gone past him unnoticed, so he had used work as an excuse to cut short his holiday with the family. He didn't want her being uncomfortable in her home because of him. 

Harry shook his head to get rid of those thoughts as he focused on drying his body while waiting for her to take the call. 

Jade who had just walked into her bedroom and slumped on her bed, sat up when she heard the vibration of her phone in her handbag quickly took it out. She received the call when she saw that it was from Harry, "You are a difficult man to reach, Mr. Harry Jonas," Jade greeted.

Harry's lips twitched in amusement when he heard her voice, "Coming from someone I've been waiting to hear from since the last twenty-four hours, I'm flattered," Harry retorted with humor in his voice, and Jade smiled.

"Well, better late than never, right?" She asked as she kicked off her shoes.

"Sure. Good morning Jade Hank, Esquire," Harry greeted with a smile in his voice, making Jade giggle at his humor as she placed her phone on the bed and put it on speaker so that she could take off her clothes. 

"I see you haven't forgotten," Jade said, remembering their conversation that night four years ago, and how he had asked about her title as a lawyer, and she had told him she would prefer to be referred to as 'Esquire' rather than 'Miss'.

"How have you been?" Harry asked as he stood in front of his dressing table, checking out his nude reflection in the mirror as he talked to her. If she knew that he was dressed in his birthday suit while talking to her, she was definitely going to freak out and probably call him a freak too.

"Busy. I hear you've been making my brother a lot of money, thank you," Jade said, quickly switching the subject as she didn't want to talk about herself. 

There was nothing to talk about anyway. She had spent the last four years since their first meeting being busy. After her misunderstanding with Todd over her harmless conversation with Harry, she had avoided being in the same room with Harry just so that Todd wouldn't misunderstand her. And then Harry had left two days later to take care of Tom's business. Todd had lost his life some weeks after that Christmas holiday, leaving her angry and devastated. So yeah, she had kept herself very busy since then. 

Busy? Quite an unusual response, Harry mused, "Making your brother money, makes me money too, so there's nothing to thank me for," Harry pointed out, before clearing his throat.

Enough of the chitchats now, "So, I wanted to talk to you about the case involving your witness. You do realize that I need to understand what is going on, so I can find your witness, right? I mean knowing what the case is about would help me to know the possible places to look, I don't know if you get what I'm saying?" Harry asked as he walked to his nightstand to pick up his Bluetooth earbuds so that he could keep talking to her while he getting dressed. 

"Hmm..." Jade hummed thoughtfully as she stood in front of her dressing mirror looking at her naked body. She looked thin. Too thin. Her mother was going to freak out if she saw her in this state. 

"What I'm saying is that I need to know some of the possible suspects. That way I can easily check them to see if they know anything about your suspect's disappearance," Harry explained as he connected his Bluetooth earbuds before proceeding to wear his undies.

"I get what you are saying, Mr. Jonas..."

"Harry is fine, Esquire," Harry cut in. 

"Yeah I'm sure Harry is fine," Jade said playfully, making Harry chuckle. He was glad to know that despite the years she hadn't lost her playfulness. That was the first thing he had noticed about her the first time they met. The way she loved to play with words.

"So, you were saying?" Harry reminded her.

"I was saying... Oh, my God!" She exclaimed when she suddenly heard a loud bang that sounded like a gunshot outside her apartment.

"What was that sound?" Harry who had also heard the bang, asked as he paused buttoning his shirt to listen. 

"Uhm... I don't know," Jade said, her mouth had suddenly gone dry and her heart was beating very quickly as she picked up her phone from the bed, "I need to check it out. I will have to call you back..."

"No! Don't hang up," Harry rushed to say, "Just remain on the line while you check," Harry said in concern as he could hear both the concern and fear in her voice.

She was his best friend's younger sister, and there was no way he could allow her to hang up the call after hearing something like that. He owed it to Tom to make sure that his sister was alright.

"Uhm... okay."

A part of Jade was grateful that he was willing to remain on the call with her while she checked out what was going on. She took in a deep breath before she quickly picked up her bathrobe from where it was hanging and shrugged into it as she headed for the door.

Her heart was beating fast against her chest as she approached the door, and Harry felt just as nervous as he waited for her to tell him what was going on. He didn't know what was worse between the silence and the suspense. Perhaps he should try to say something to calm her or maybe he should just keep quiet while they waited for them to see what it was?

He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it when he heard her open a door, and then shrieked in shock.

"Oh, my God!" Jade exclaimed as she took a step backward inside her house. Blood drained from her face, and she gripped the phone even more tightly as she looked down at what looked like blood splashed all over her doorstep. Lying face up in front of her door was a dummy's head that looked exactly like her, with what looked like a bullet hole on its forehead, and a white paper on the ground beside the dummy. 

The words on the paper were also painted in red, "GIVE UP THE CASE, BITCH. IT WON'T BE A DUMMY'S HEAD NEXT TIME"

She looked down the street, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She noticed that the few houses around, had their curtains drawn up as though every one of them was scared to find out what was happening outside.

"What is wrong?" Harry asked, making her gasp in shock as she threw the phone down. She had forgotten that she was on the phone with Harry, even though she had been holding the phone to her ear the whole time. 

"Jade? Jade?" Harry asked in alarm, wondering why she had suddenly gasped. Was there someone in her house? "Damn it!" He cussed when he remembered that Tom had said she was receiving death threats.

He quickly hung up and dialed her line once again, while he hurried to wear his clothes.

Jade closed her eyes as she tried to calm herself. Her brain wouldn't function properly if she was too scared. Some of her colleagues had experienced worse things, and even though this was the first time something like this was happening to her, she needed to remember that it was normal. This was normal for a lawyer. Some cases were dangerous and she had to live with it.

Taking in a deep breath, Jade picked up her phone, "We will have to continue this conversation some other time," she said with forced boldness once she accepted Harry's call. 

"Can you at least tell me what that was about? What is going on?" Harry asked, feeling relieved to hear from her. 

"A displeased defendant left me a present.. I need to call the police," Jade said making Harry frown, "You can't tell my brother about it," Jade warned before hanging up.