TOTAL ECLIPSE: The Evolution (Sin City Heat Series Book 7)

by S. K. Hardy

  Darrell remembered the call he’d made to her after he’d met with Isaac. “I don’t know, almost five months ago.”

  “And how did that conversation go?”

  He hesitated, but said, “Not well.”

  “Why is that?”

  Darrell’s jaw jumped as he clenched his teeth. “I found out she was untruthful about some things she told me.”

  “How did you find out she was untruthful?”

  “From my…father.”

  “And who is your father?”

  Darrell’s eyes burned with irritation. Lowe knew the answer to that question.

  When he remained silent, Lowe gave him a verbal nudge. “Mr. Monroe? For the record, please state your father’s name.”

  Eyes narrowing dangerously, Darrell asked, “Why?”

  Jerra called his name softly. “Darrell.”

  Sighing harshly, Darrell gave Lowe the confirmation he was obviously waiting on. “His name is Isaac Pattel.”

  Darrell saw the silent message that passed between the detectives before Lowe asked, “And he resides where?”

  “Man, come on,” Darrell snapped impatiently. He wasn’t in the mood for these weak ass mind fucks. “You know good and damn well where he–”

  “Darrell!” Jerra cut in sharply. She leaned in close and whispered furiously in his ear. “This is exactly what they want you to do. They’re deliberately trying to goad you and provoke a reaction. Calm down.”

  Darrell had been staring at them while listening to Jerra. Nostrils flaring he answered the question. “As far as I know, he lives in New York. I’d just found out his identity before I flew there to meet him. I think I maybe spent an hour in the man’s presence, so anything you want to know about him specifically, sorry, I can’t help you.”

  “What did he tell you about your mother that set you off?”

  Darrell looked at Jerra. When she nodded for him to answer, he gave a quick run through of what went down in New York.

  Detective Thomas had been silent the entire time, but when Darrell finished, he commented as if they were four people sitting there shooting the breeze. “Wow. That must have really pissed you off.”

  “Was that a question, Detective?” Jerra asked.

  Thomas glanced at Jerra and smirked. “I’m sorry, let me rephrase that, Counselor. Were you angry when you called your mother from New York?”

  Darrell blew out a breath and massaged his temple. “At first I was, yes. But I said what I had to say, told her I didn’t want her in my life or my family’s lives any longer and that was that.”

  “Well, you certainly have your wish now, don’t you?”

  “Detective!” Jerra’s eyes shot fire. “That is quite enough.”

  Darrell’s face was stiff with anger. “Let me tell you something. Tina and I had our problems, yes, but I never wanted anything like this to…” He glanced away and shook his head.

  “Let’s fast forward to the last day you saw her alive. Around what time was that?”

  “I don’t know, around four, four thirty, I guess. My wife called and told me Tina had visited my son after I asked her not to. I left the office right after that and went to her hotel.”

  “To say that you were angry then as well would be an accurate statement, correct?”

  Darrell shrugged. “I guess, but–”

  “You said you argued.”

  Darrell paused. “Yes.”

  Detective Thomas nodded slowly and opened a file on the table in front of him. Glancing down at it, he commented in a casual tone, “You seem to have quite the temper, Mr. Monroe…especially when it comes to your mother. Is it true you threatened Ms. Gibson before leaving her hotel room that day?”

  Darrell frowned, ready to unequivocally deny that he had done any such thing, but with a flash of clarity, he realized what Thomas was referring to. His eyes went to the file. Darrell snorted and knocked his knuckles rhythmically against the table a few times. Somehow they knew about his argument with Tina, but were trying to see if he’d come clean and tell the truth.

  Sitting sprawled back in the chair, he sneered at the two men in front of him. “You boys been busy, I see.”

  Jerra frowned at him quizzically before looking back at Detective Thomas, this time with extreme caution.

  “Answer the question, Mr. Monroe.”

  “You seem to know so much…” Darrell drawled, gesturing towards the file. “You tell me.”

  “Okay, fine. We lucked out and spoke to one of the maids who happened to be passing by your mother’s room that day at the exact moment you and she got into a verbal confrontation. The door to the hotel room was slightly ajar. The maid says she heard you tell your mother that you would, quote/unquote, ‘bring her world tumbling down around her so fast she wouldn’t realize what happened’. And that it wasn’t the first time you’d ‘wreaked havoc on someone who had pushed you to your limit’. Does that ring a bell, Mr. Monroe?”

  “Wait a minute.” Jerra held up her hand to stop him. “You expect me to believe you just happened to come across a member of the hotel staff who somehow remembers a two month old conversation with one of the hundreds of hotel guests I’m sure she comes in contact with?”

  “Actually, that’s exactly what happened. She came to the manager after she found out which guest had been murdered. The employee remembers Ms. Gibson because, for one thing, she was a beautiful woman and very hard to forget. It seems when Ms. Gibson saw the maid in the hallway after Mr. Monroe left, she asked her to bring clean towels to the room. Ms. Gibson was in a talkative mood,” he shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe she needed to vent, but she told the woman about the disrespectful son who’d just spoken so horribly to her.” Detective Lowe looked at Darrell. “Her words, not mine. In any case, do you deny saying that to your mother, Mr. Monroe?”

  Darrell folded his arms and just stared back at him with cool eyes.

  Jerra knew that look. He’d had enough and was refusing to participate in the cat and mouse game they were so obviously playing. If she didn’t get them out of there now, things would quickly go from bad to worse.

  “Alright, we’re done,” she said, standing and heading towards the door. “Darrell, let’s go.”

  But Thomas ignored her and remained focused on Darrell. “If you have nothing to hide why not answer the question, Mr. Monroe? Either yes or no. Is that what you told your mother? And if so, exactly what did you mean by you’d ‘wreaked hell on someone who had pushed you to your limit’? I have a feeling that’s something we may need to look into.”

  Darrell hunched his shoulders in apparent unconcern. “Do what you think you need to do.”

  Jerra immediately thought about her stepfather’s death and the untimely demise of the men who had shot Roni. The last thing they needed was for the detectives to start digging around in Darrell’s past.

  “I said that’s enough,” Jerra snapped sharply. “Darrell…”

  Darrell stared at Thomas unflinchingly. Several beats passed before he stood and followed Jerra to the door.

  “One more thing, Mr. Monroe.”

  Clearly out of patience, Darrell swung around and took a couple of steps towards the detectives before Jerra grabbed his arm. “Yeah? What’s that?”

  “Darrell, not another word.” Jerra’s voice sounded tense to her own ears.

  “Where were you two days ago between the hours of 7 p.m. and 2 a.m.?”

  “I was at home,” Darrell replied in a tightly restrained voice.

  “Were you alone?”

  “He was with me, Detective,” Jerra interjected.

  “He was with you.” Lowe scoffed, sitting back in the chair and looking at Jerra with skepticism. “You’re his alibi. Very convenient.”

  Darrell leaned forward, his eyes never leaving the other man’s. “I don’t need an alibi. I didn’t kill my mother,” he said in a low voice. “Instead of trying to railroad me for something I didn’t do, shouldn’t your focus be on finding out who did kill her?
”

  Jerra tugged at Darrell’s arm until he reluctantly stepped back. However, the angry scowl stayed on his face.

  Jerra turned to calmly meet Lowe’s suspicious glare. “I don’t see what’s so ‘convenient’ about it. I do live there, Detective. And yes, I got home around six o’clock. We were both home all night. And since you seem to have developed early tunnel vision in regards to my husband, let me give you another piece of information that might provide some insight into who may have a motive to harm Tina. At the moment, I’m working on a very high profile case. A man was arrested almost a month ago for issuing a threat against me because I’m representing the accused murderer. Now, we both know that sometimes these threats can extend even further to a person’s family. Hopefully, that’s not the case here but it is a possibility.”

  Jerra felt Darrell’s eyes on her but kept her attention on the detectives. If someone murdered Tina as a way to get at her, she didn’t know how she would live with that, but now was not the time to dwell on it. For some reason these bastards were out to get Darrell. He was their main focus. All of her attention was required to carefully navigate through the detectives’ motives and keep him off their radar.

  Squaring her shoulders, she lifted her chin and directed an icy glare at them. “As my husband had already stated, you need to stop throwing these veiled accusations towards him and do your job, which is looking elsewhere and finding out who really killed my mother-in-law.”

  Detective Lowe pressed his lips so tightly together they almost disappeared in his ruddy face. “Of course we’ll check into the person who issued the threats against you, Mrs. Monroe, see if there is anything that links him to Ms. Gibson. But for the record, we know how to do our jobs, ma’am. A thorough investigation will be done. You don’t have to worry about that.” Lips curled into a nasty sneer, his bushy eyebrows bunched together as he turned his sour glare back to Darrell. “We’re finished…for now. It might be a good idea if you didn’t plan any sudden trips for the time being, Mr. Monroe.”

  “Oh yeah? Thanks, I’ll take that under advisement.” Darrell’s tone was deliberately sarcastic. He gave them an exaggerated wink before slamming out the room.

  CHAPTER 46

  “Why’d you do that?”

  Darrell’s voice was low and his tone clipped. They’d been driving for fifteen tension filled minutes before he finally asked the question Jerra had been waiting on since they’d stormed out of the police station.

  “You know why.” There was no need to even pretend that she didn’t know what he was talking about.

  “No. I don’t. If I did, I wouldn’t be asking you.” He took his eyes off the highway long enough to peer at her through the darkness. “Why did you tell ‘em that? Why did you tell them you were home when you weren’t? You didn’t get to the house until after ten o’clock from your meeting with Justin.”

  “You know as well as I do where they were heading with that line of questioning.”

  “Yeah, I did. I figured that out before we even got there. I didn’t need you to lie for me, Jerra, so why did you? Is it because…do you think I did this?”

  “No!” Jerra half-turned in her seat to face him. “Of course not!”

  “Then why did you–”

  “Because…I don’t know, I wanted to protect you! Innocent people go to jail all the time. I’m not saying that’s going to happen with you, but I…I panicked. I know I’m supposed to be objective and separate my personal feelings, but I can’t do that. Not with you. I don’t plan on giving them any reason to pursue this ridiculous theory of theirs that you killed Tina.”

  “So you lie?” Darrell tried not to yell, but concern for her caused his anger to soar through the roof.

  “Yes!” Jerra shouted back in a trembling voice. “And if I had to do it all over again, I’d say the same thing!”

  “Great. What do you think they’re going to do when they find out the truth, and they will find out. Them mu’fuckas ain’t playin’, Jerra.”

  “I know, but–”

  “But nothin’, baby. I guarantee you they’ll eventually find their way to the firm and end up talkin’ to Justin. Then what?”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Jerra turned around in her seat and stubbornly stared out the window. She jumped when Darrell hit the steering wheel with his fist but didn’t look his way.

  Neither of them spoke the rest of the way home. After Darrell pulled into the garage, he killed the ignition and sat with his elbow propped against the door. Jerra remained where she was as well, but eventually made a move to get out of the car.

  “Wait.”

  She slowly let her hand fall away from the door handle and gave him her full attention.

  “I’m sorry I snapped at you. I shouldn’t have done that.” Darrell reached over and rubbed her stomach, smiling a little when he felt movement beneath his hand. “Even my baby is upset with me.”

  “You have a lot to deal with.” Jerra placed her hand over his. “It’s okay.”

  “It’s not okay.” He laced their fingers together and stared at her. “My only excuse is that the thought of you getting tangled up in all of this scares the hell out of me.”

  Jerra glanced down at their joined hands. “I didn’t mean to make things harder for you.”

  Darrell blew out a soft breath. “You don’t get it, do you? It’s not about that. I don’t give a damn about things being hard for me. The only thing I’m worried about is you. I don’t want any of this to touch you, understand me?”

  Jerra nodded, her eyes big and full of unshed tears. “I didn’t think. It was just instinctual to protect you.”

  “I know.” Darrell smiled at her tenderly and leaned across the front seat to give her a loving kiss. “Protect me by having my back the way you did tonight…without putting yourself in jeopardy. That’s how you can protect me.”

  Jerra nodded. “Okay.”

  “I love you, Jerra. I trust you more than anyone else on this earth.”

  “I love you too.”

  Darrell stared at her intently. “Yes, but do you trust me?”

  Before she could answer, his phone, which was lying in the storage console in the middle of their seats, lit up with a text from Lorenzo. Darrell picked it up and read it then skimmed through his call log. He’d missed several: Dom, Angel, Bryan, Carl. He saw his cousins had called as well.

  A random thought popped into his head that it was strange seeing all of the people who’d called to check on him. He remembered a time when Marcus had been the only person who gave a damn whether or not he lived or died. Funny how different things were now.

  Darrell frowned when he saw another name on his call log. His Uncle Joseph. Again, he remembered the last conversation he’d had with Tina and the cryptic message she left him with. He wished with everything in him that he’d allowed her to tell him what she’d been so desperately trying to share. Sad to say, he just hadn’t been able to trust her. Not after all the other lies she’d told him. Now it was too late…for a lot of things.

  “Are you okay?”

  Startled, Darrell glanced at Jerra. He’d become so lost in his thoughts that he’d forgotten where he was. Clearing his throat, he held his phone up. “Lot of missed calls, that’s all. Come on.”

  He got out then came around and opened her car door, then followed her into the house. His steps slowed before they made it to the family room. “Why don’t you go on upstairs, get out of those clothes and take a nice hot bath? I’ll be up once I return a few of these phone calls.”

  “I know you want to call Lorenzo, but I’m sure everyone else will understand if you wait until the morning.”

  “Yeah. I need to check on Gab, then bring Lorenzo up to speed and let him know what happened with ‘Officers Happy and Friendly’,” he grimaced. “I’ll call Marcus, Dom, and Angel, then text everybody else to let them know I’ll be in contact with them tomorrow.”

  “Okay,” Jerra replied softly.


  His eyes suddenly clouded over. “One conversation I’m not looking forward to having is telling D.J. that Tina…his grandmother is gone.”

  Jerra nodded. She’d been thinking about that as well. “He’s going to be so upset.”

  His face tense, Darrell leaned down to kiss her again, then turned to go to the room he used as his personal space. Just before he turned the corner, Jerra called his name.

  “Darrell?” She waited until he turned around. “I’m sorry about your mother.”

  She didn’t call Tina by her name, she acknowledged her for what she was. Whatever the circumstances may have been, whatever their differences, Tina was his mother.

  Unable to speak, Darrell just nodded before walking out of the room.

  “Are you serious?” Lorenzo hissed into the phone. Glancing over his shoulder to make sure the door to Gabby’s bedroom was still closed, he moved towards the kitchen. “They consider you a suspect? They think you…” Lorenzo bit off the rest of the sentence.

  “Yeah. They do,” Darrell said wearily.

  “That’s fucking ridiculous. Why would they even suggest that?”

  “They did more than suggest. Seems they spoke to someone that worked at the hotel who heard us arguing.”

  Darrell closed his eyes tight for a moment as that day flashed through his head. He stood up abruptly and started pacing back and forth as he forced himself to focus on what Lorenzo was saying.

  “And because of that they jump to the conclusion that you murdered her? People argue all the time. What did you tell them? I hope you kept your cool and didn’t let them provoke you into saying anything they might be able to use against you later.”

  “I admit I got a lil’ hot, but Jerra was there. She insisted on sitting in while they questioned me.”

  Lorenzo released a low sigh of relief. “Good.”

  “Enough about that. You said Gabby’s asleep?”

  “Yeah. She was hysterical. I had my doctor come over and give her a light sedative. She ended up crying herself to sleep. I carried her to her room a little while ago. I’ll make sure I keep an eye on her tonight. We’ll fly out to Vegas tomorrow.”