"Deidre I know this is tough right now, but it's absolutely necessary until we know for sure, what's going on. If there are plans for another attempt, she's the one you want watching your back. Yes, Charlie can be a bit - overwhelming sometimes, I know. However, I wouldn't trust anyone else with your life. Deidre, this is - about your life. There's someone out there who wishes to kill you, who made a damn good attempt. You're going to have to ride out the storm."
"I know, I know you're right, but this is hell to go through."
"Yes, I know. And uh, it will probably get worse, before it gets better, there's uh, something else, that we need to discuss Deidre. It's been on my mind, for a while now. With everything just now settling into place, we have to cover this, it has to be considered."
"What are you talking about?" She asked turning and leaning against her kitchen counter. Charlie noted the change in her, lifting her eyes from what she was doing to watch Deidre's expression, trying to gauge what was being said.
"Deidre - we uh - we need to discuss, security measures, for your daughter."
"What?! What? My daughter? Wha - what about my daughter? She's with her father Jeremiah. She's safe, that's one of the reasons I let her go to him, just in case. My daughter?"
"Calm down, I'm not trying to upset you, but we can't overlook the possibility of - someone going after her, to get to you. We've been on for ten minutes already. I want you to hang up, and Charlie will dispose of this phone. Don't call me again, I'm coming there."
Deidre clicked off with her ears ringing. Her temples throbbing. She looked at Charlie to see that her eyes were on her.
"You okay Dee-Dee?"
"My daughter? He thinks, that someone might, try and get to my daughter?" Deidre felt as if her air passage was obstructed.
Empathetic to what she was feeling, Charlie rose and took the mobile from her. She was the one that brought it to Jeremiah's attention, and yes, he'd been thinking the same thing, so this announcement was no surprise. Once a client gained the attention of someone wanting something from them, the closest family members became the target. Nothing was more effective. Charlie had a bad gut feeling, they might be facing kidnap of her daughter if they weren't completely careful. Her financial worth, made a life at peace, almost impossible once she'd gained the attention of undesirables. Being wealthy as she was, was a life sentence in itself.
That being the case, due to that current sentence, thanks to someone, another thing she could not do, was to use her own land line phone. Any calls out to Jeremiah, or for making immediate plans, had to be done on a new mobile every time, in case of transmit tapping. Also, upon every return home, Samuel had to sweep the flat with a bug detector to make sure it was clean. Didn't matter that while they were gone, there was someone who stood guard over her flat, making sure no one visited while they were away. If that weren't enough, Charlie had more to lay on her, she would bring it up once Jeremiah was there. With so much needing to be changed as this event took over and altered her life so drastically, Charlie preferred everything be discussed in person.
"I wish he hadn't said that shit to you over the phone. Dee-Dee let's face it, until we know who is responsible - we have to consider that they may use her to get to you. After all, we don't know why they're trying to get - to - you." Charlie slowed at the last part, because she had a feeling that Deidre was going to be sick. She was right. Deidre ran to the bathroom, making it just in time to empty the contents of her stomach. Charlie liked Deidre Charlotte Wherrington, and for that reason, she felt her terror. Even so, they had a job to do, and she had to know what they were up against.
An hour later, Jeremiah sat with her, as Charlie stood aside, silent in listening range.
"We have to do something Deidre, to protect her, just in case, until we find out who's behind it all and stop them."
Deidre leaned back on her sofa, holding her head, it was spinning. She was scared. Scared to death. Afraid for her daughter, and afraid of having to deal with Shawn. She knew him, he would go ballistic over this.
Needing to lay it all out on the table, Jeremiah went on to advise her. "For all intents and purposes, we uh, need to get her back here. Where we can protect her."
"Shawn is going to go through the roof! He barely speaks to me now. This is going to make him absolutely nuts. You don't know what this is going to do to her - to him! She doesn't want to be here, she wants to be with her father, where she is! Oh my god! I just wanna live my life! I just wanna be happy, like everyone else."
"Deidre, there's no such thing. There's no such place. I have my doubts, if there is anyone on this earth, who is totally and completely happy. Every soul living, has some cross to bear, everyone. This - your life - as an heiress, a Wherrington, is yours."
"Well it sucks! There's no let up! Sometimes I feel like I can't breathe from it all! It's just too much! Now this! He's going to hate me for this! Shawn resents, hates - everything connected to my family and our wealth! With good reason mind you. It's the reason for our divorce - well, I had a great deal to do with it as well. You don't know what this is going to do to him, he is not going to like this - at all! How am I going to tell him this?"
"Are you afraid of him or something?" Jeremiah asked.
Deidre wilted feeling weak, miserable, drained from just the thought of having to deal with Shawn. Not sure how to answer that, she could only be honest with him. "Yes, I am. No, I'm not."
"Which one, yes you are, or no you're not?"
"Both! He - you only met him briefly, so you can't know him the way that I know him. He's - different. He's - aggressive - emotional - very domineering in some matters. And - God, how do I explain someone like him to you? He's - well - how can I say this without offending you?"
Jeremiah wasn't sure what she was going to say, but he'd heard the worst of everything in his life so didn't figure she could say anything that would offend. "Don't worry about offending me, just say what you mean."
"Shawn is - in some instances - well - he's - black! Emotionally driven, he's blacker than you."
"What?!"
"I mean - I mean - his thinking is very - black militant. He has little or no respect for the law. Is disdainful and cynical of the political arena. He prefers the company of black men, uh -..." Deidre shook her head chuckling, "He feels at home in the company of, well - God I hate saying this, but - he's right at home on the street hanging out with black hustlers. He's - blacker than you."
Jeremiah sat with his mouth slightly open.
"Sorry Jeremiah, no offense - but - he has a few sides to him. He's very unpredictable and things you wouldn't expect to come from him, because he's a white male, comes from him! Even after our divorce I discovered more shocking things about him, things from his past, before we were married. While we were married, he would get in these moods and take off. I always found him by this older woman's house, he called her mama JoJo, or, he was at the pool hall with this big black man King Louie, or, he was in the streets, hanging out. There were times, when I hadn't a clue of who it was I was married to."
"But you loved him. Something about that bad boy, rough guy image drew you." Jeremiah detected.
"Not really. I met him in college. Shawn is very educated, which is a contradiction I know. There were no signs of this other person during that time. That other person that he is, just slowly crept in and then it, he was just there. I suppose, learning about that other side of him, was a sort of, turn on. He's just - different."
"You still in love with him?" Jeremiah asked, hating that he needed to know.
"I will always love Shawn, always. Yet, it's over and I accept that now. I just wanna get on with my life. However this, is going to stir his anger back up towards me, and I don't want to deal with it. I just don't!"
"Jeremiah why don't you talk to him then?" Charlie added her input, having listened to it all.
"Oh please Jeremiah! I can't deal with him. Not with this. Not with Angela being a target, he is going to rage through the roof. I
can't - I can't do it. Please, can you handle it for me?" She pleaded.
Jeremiah took several deep breaths thinking about it. His mind forming the image of the man he met at the hospital. He looked at Deidre, her eyes were moist and pleading. "Before I talk to him, I need to know what you're willing to do, to protect her?"
"She's my daughter, I'll do anything for her! I love her! Its why I gave her up, so she could have a real life, so she could grow up and know what it's like - to be loved by someone - who knew - how to love." She started sobbing.
Charlie looked away. Seeing this woman, the way she just did, made her walk off onto the balcony. Samuel was sitting out there at the table under the broad umbrella, he was reading a book. He looked up from it to her. "Everything okay?" He asked.
Charlie stood at the railing, looking out over the city. "I hope you're really ready for this. Because I have a gut feeling, we're gonna have to kill somebody before it's over and done."
"Charlie you're too intense. You need to learn to relax and just let what comes, come."
"I am relaxed!"
"You're tense, you're pumped. Don't get trigger happy."
"Fuck that! I have a job to do. They mess with that lady, or her little girl, doctors gone be picking led, like Negroes use to pick some cotton! You can believe that shit!"
"Calm down... shhh, everything is going to be okay. We'll do what we have to do, I promise you that. I'm here for you." Jeremiah held Deidre in his arms, reassuring her of what he meant and he did mean it. He didn't know how things got so turned around, but they had. His original intent was gone. His mother was not the only victim here. No doubt she was only one of many. What stunned him was that their own flesh and blood daughter was, as it would seem, expendable as well. Jeremiah shivered. As powerful as he wanted to be, nothing in him could make him turn on his own flesh and blood.
"I just want her to be safe. I just want her to be happy and I don't care, what it takes. How much it costs to make sure of it. My daughter's life, will not be ruined by this. So when you talk to him, whatever you two can work out to assure her safety, I will back, one hundred percent."
"Okay. In order to see to this as we should, I think we should go there. You and I, to meet with him."
"Can't you go? Do I have to go?"
"You really don't want to see him do you?"
Deidre shook her head, "No I don't. Not when we have to lay this on him, no. Shawn McPherson, loves his daughter. When it comes to protecting her, he is dangerous. When it comes to protecting anyone he loves, he is dangerous. He is not to be crossed. I could tell you some things about him, from our time together. There were times, when he truly frightened me. He has a rage in him. He can smile, laugh, joke, love one moment, and in the next, he can change. He has a trigger, that I believe when pressed, would make him capable of killing."
"Has he, ever killed anyone?"
"No... I don't believe so. But, if put to the test, he could. There's something in him, that he could."
Jeremiah sat a moment thinking it all over.
"Jeremiah, for Angela; for the child that his new wife is carrying, he would kill. Without - hesitation."
Chapter 201
Madison...
It was before lunch, and Derrick made up his mind that his situation had to be dealt with; no more putting it off as if it would go away. After the events on the previous day, there was no way he would continue to take this matter lightly. Finishing up the last of his students' grades—letters and warnings, for those that were jeopardizing their place on his teams—he addressed all that would be mailed off to their homes, then closed off the remaining grades in the large manila envelope. Looking over everything one last time, he made his way to the office with all of his letters to be mailed. Entering, he met up with a few other teachers. He shot the breeze, placing his letters in the appropriate boxes. Gearing up to face Margaret Wheeler, he turned to the counter, speaking with the office workers awaiting her appearance. She was at the school doing the same that all of them were doing: completing their year-end work to wrap it up for the summer. One of the ladies who knew the work he did for the summer, was setting it up with him to visit her neighbors. One was looking to get a deck built, and another was hoping that he would finish their basement for them. Derrick took down their addresses and telephone numbers and promised to contact them. This is how his summers began. Not once in the five years since he started doing contract work in carpentry and building for the summer, had one began without at least three jobs lined up from the very start. Within five minutes, there was the possibility for two, and that morning, one of his students stated that his parents wanted a quote to build an extension off the back of their kitchen.
As he'd been putting away the contacts given, the office door opened and two more instructors entered, one of them Margaret Wheeler. He was ready, no more stalling and waiting.
Margaret felt her chest tighten at the sight of his tall, very broad figure standing there leaning against the high counter, his back to the door. His rich deep voice, volumes above the others, full of bass and stunning timbre; his voice was the kind that while in the midst of others, it would always stand out, make you look up and around, wondering who was speaking. Once you found the source, the man and the voice, the pair…matched. Margaret longed to know both intimately. His masculinity was an instant aphrodisiac for any woman who loved all that entailed the description of a real man. Derrick Paul McPherson fit and then some. It hurt to be so attracted to a man that, for whatever reasons, would not register and act on the fact that he could have her if he wanted her. He must know that! Margaret agonized. She tried not to be the type of woman who would humiliate herself, grovel over a man, the way she use to be as a young girl in school, throwing herself at guys, to be used and then rejected. It had been years since she'd felt this way about a man — until this one came into her life, that is. There was no need for the fiery hell after death; living, alive…and having to face him, knowing there was no attraction, no chance to have fulfilled what she most yearned for…was the purest kind of hell. No burning fire could compare to what she was feeling. If it weren't for the other teacher that met her in the hall, joining her on her way to the office, she wouldn't have gone in, seeing him through the large glass pane door. No such luck; the teacher had joined her, and now she had no choice but to face him.
She braced up, girded herself, and walked in speaking to all as if life was all rosy and nothing was wrong in her universe. Derrick turned to her, nodded politely, stood away from the counter waiting for her to speak with everyone and place her mail according, and without further ado said, "Ms. Wheeler? I need to speak with you concerning some important matters; your class or my office?" he asked in a way that seemed normal and standard with any two instructors at the school. What else was there left to say in answer? She smiled. "Sure, my classroom is closer," she agreed.
He stepped to the door, forever the gentlemen, holding it open for her to pass through, asking, "How are you today?"
All things considered, she felt like shit. She wasn't about to tell him that; her answer was, "I'm fine. You?"
"Looking forward to a busy summer with my boys. By the looks of it, we'll start off with lots to do," he responded, letting her lead the way. Her body language, no matter how she guarded herself, showed her nerves. She gave off slight tremors and catches with every other breath. Derrick didn't like causing upset to any woman. He didn't like having to do what needed to be done, and wish it hadn't come to this, but he couldn't have a repeat of yesterday's event. They arrived at her classroom; again, he opened the door for her to cross through.
"I bet they're looking forward to it," she responded, smiling up at him, heading over to her desk to lean against, fighting back tears, so afraid of what he would say once they passed beyond the lighthearted banter. Her back was to him now, she could hear him gently closing the door. He was quiet a moment as if gathering his thoughts.
"Can I please defend my actions first, Derrick, plea
se?" she jumped in, before he could speak, needing to get her feelings out. Her back was still to him, because it was hell to face him.
"I, uh, wish you wouldn't. I don't want to drag this out. I just need to—"
She spun to look up at him, cutting him off, "Please, Derrick, give me a chance to say something! You think this is easy for me? Come on, you must know? How can you not know? The way I look at you! The way I've bared myself to you…hoping, praying that—godalmighty—right now, I'm in hell, Derrick! I'm in hell! It's hell to love someone so much—the way that I love you—and yet, find nothing, not even the tiniest return! You think I want to feel this way? You think I want this? What person in their right mind, would want to feel what I feel, knowing how you despise me!"
"I don't despise you; that's a little strong," he defended, at least that much. She was crying. Distraught, face blotchy, her mascara was starting to pool beneath her eyes. "Come on, don't do this. Someone could come here any moment. You don't want anyone to see you like this."
"You know what, right now…I don't care. I don't ca-a-are!" She began sobbing.
"Don't do this! Not here!"
"I can't help it! You're destroying me! You're ripping my soul right out of my body and tearing it to shreds and you don't even care! I never thought you like the rest, cold! Yet the truth is, my agony means nothing to you."
"Look, we can't do this here."
"Yes! It has to be here, I have no choice but to do this here, you refuse to meet me anywhere else!"
If she was going to carry on like this, Derrick felt he had no choice. The very last thing he wanted was for someone to come into the middle of this and witness how she was carrying on; it would be around the school in no time. People would automatically jump to the wrong conclusions, because that's what they wanted. The wrong conclusion. The truth was boring, and no one was entertained by that, if any, they were few. "Okay, I'll meet you at the park."
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