Watch Out for the Big Girls
Page 21
Agent McCarthy and his wife each held one of their baby girl’s tiny hands while crying out. After a few more minutes, a helicopter hovered over the scene. Its propellers were strong. It blew away the empty plastic chairs and destroyed the tent over the podium and, even worse, the pictures and the flags that once sat on top of the caskets ripped away into the artificial wind.
A medical team jumped out with a stretcher and loaded the McCarthys into the air lift.
* * *
“Imfuckingpossible!” Agent Reddick grunted while standing in the center of the crime scene, scratching his balding head out of pure frustration. He slowly removed his sunglasses and scanned the living room with no heartfelt compassion over anything other than losing a grip of his case.
At first, the federal detention center didn’t take Officer Douglass’s claims seriously. In fact, they had laughed at him as he approached the CO’s station in a frantic panic. It took the most real tears he could pour out to show them his pain. They still took their time before they finally called up the chain of command. Eventually, the captain on duty checked with the ITS phone technicians and had the call replayed. He couldn’t believe what he was actually hearing. He immediately notified the local authorities and then the Federal Bureau.
After the locals had kicked in the door with their guns drawn, they quickly lowered them, surrendering, knowing they were too late. The killers were obviously long gone. But the angel of death was still there.
The bloody mess in the kitchen had been cleaned up. Loretta’s body was placed back in the living room, sitting upright in the couch, next to her daughter. Both of her lifeless eyes were pulled back wide open to look as if they were watching the television in front of them. A single hole in the center of each of their foreheads was the only thing that didn’t look calm and peaceful about them. An index card was planted in the arms of Cameron’s doll. It read, WAR ISN’T ABOUT KILLING SOLDIERS, IT’S ABOUT PROTECTING THE CIVILIANS. NO ONE IS INNOCENT.
Agent Reddick slammed the card down hard on the coffee table and let out a loud bellow. His cry nearly shook the walls.
Chapter Forty-two
Diamond parked her Range Rover in back of Club Panties. The front entrance had been boarded up and police tape was spread all around it. She made her way to and entered through the steel back door. She hit the switch to the only remaining light that wasn’t busted out. When the room illuminated, an instant migraine appeared out of nowhere at the sight. It looked as if Hurricane Katrina had struck the area. She stepped over the debris as she slowly made her way upstairs to Starr’s office. Reality smacked her hard in the face as she stepped in. The walls, floors, and couches had all been stripped. The aquarium glass tank had been shattered. Dead fish and the smell of them were inescapable. She got nauseated and quickly exited.
She headed back downstairs, all of the way to the sublevel. She walked through the dark tunnel and entered the Double G meeting room. It was also torn apart. She went farther down to the private office. The round table in the Ovary Office was split in half, the shelves were stripped, and the file cabinets were empty and broken down. The expensive wall paintings that once hung were ripped apart. Tears of anger and sorrow filled Diamond’s eyes at the sight. The entire club had been demolished and diminished, all except for one room.
Diamond entered the secret security room. The dozen monitors were still running. Many of the recorded CDs were removed, but she was sure the hard drive hadn’t been erased. That would be giving the authorities more credit than they deserved, she knew. Just as she had figured, they hadn’t thought that far. “Amateurs,” she spat under her breath as she attempted to pull up everything that had happened, hoping to make sense of it all. She rewound back to when the FBI entered their establishment and started tearing things apart. After punching in an unlock code she had full access to whatever footage she wanted. She was grateful Starr had trusted her with the information.
She started with the hidden cameras in Starr’s office. She gritted her teeth at the image that appeared on the screen. A sense of jealousy and betrayal swept through her body. She knew it would only anger her if she sat and watched, but she made a mental note of it. Now was not the time for her to allow her personal feelings to take precedence over the bigger picture. She fast-forwarded past the sexual episode with Starr, Felicia, and Monica. She stopped when she saw the familiar image of someone.
“What the hell?” Diamond’s spider senses immediately went off. Despite being a member, she knew the person had no business being there by herself. Diamond watched as the culprit cautiously snooped around like a police dog.
“What the fuck is she looking for?” she asked no one in particular. Coming up empty-handed, she watched as the girl exited the office. Diamond continued to sit, rewind, fast-forward and watch for the next hour. Aside from one of her sisters being out of place and out of pocket, she was still coming up with nothing. She was sure she was missing something. Think, D, she told herself. She was certain she was overlooking something.
She squinted her eyes as she carefully studied the footage. Out of nowhere, a thought came to mind. Diamond rewound to the part of the recording she had decided to bypass. She jealously watched the sexual escapade in its entirety. She had already told herself she’d deal with that matter at a later date. Right now, she had to stay focused for not only Starr, but for herself and the rest of the organization. There was no way she was going to sleep or could sleep for that matter, while her boss/lover was locked down. There was no doubt in her mind that Starr could handle any situation she was put in, but she could not stand to see someone she loved confined. They had talked about worst-case scenarios in the past and what Diamond should do in the event one came to light. That day had come. Starr was incarcerated and Diamond knew what she had to do, needed to do.
She lightly chuckled at the cat fight between Starr and Agent Constanza as she continued to search for the smallest of clues in the video surveillance. She watched as the agents spilled out of the room one by one with Starr in tow. That’s when she noticed what she had missed the first time around. It was quick, but not quick enough for her not to notice it the second time around. She watched closely as Monica scooped up the cell phone that Starr had dropped with her pants. Her eyes grew cold. “Fucking bitch!” Diamond cursed.
She leaned in closer to the screen to her left and turned up the audio. The one to her right had ended and appeared snowy on the screen. She was hoping to hear something to go off it but audio was inaudible. She stuck a blank CD in the hard drive’s slot and recorded the entire scene she had just witnessed. She smiled to herself for a job well done. “Gotcha!” she stated matter-of-factly aloud.
Just as she was about to remove the disc, she noticed out of her peripheral vision that the screen to her right had now come back on. An image appeared on the it. Diamond drew her attention to the screen. Her eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets behind what she saw.
“What the fuck is this bitch doing?” she questioned as she squinted her eyes.
This time it wasn’t Monica she was referring to. Confused would be an understatement to describe Diamond’s feelings right now. It wasn’t until she saw the Double G member remove something from under the Ovary Office’s desk that it all became clear to her.
Diamond stuck another disc in the recorder.
“You sneaky-ass motherfucka,” Diamond blurted out as she waited for the footage to download.
Minutes later she ejected the new disc and tucked it, along with the first disc, into her purse. She shut everything off, then stood and made her way to the service elevator. Her mind was all over the place. She was hurt and angry by what she had witnessed Starr partaking in, but she was more angry behind the new piece of information she had just come across.
Nobody crosses the Double Gs and gets away with it, was her final thought as she exited the elevator and strutted her way out of Club Panties. She knew the information she possessed in her purse was priceless. The value of it was enoug
h for her to decide not to reveal it to Starr or anybody else for that matter. At least until she figured out the perfect time to do so. With Starr now behind bars, she knew she had to be the eyes and ears of the organization. After seeing what she had just witnessed on the monitor’s screen, she decided it was time for her to step up to the plate and temporarily take charge of the Double Gs.
To Be Continued