Charles made a dash for the door. Joshua exhaled as if irritated by the action. Charles had just made it to the door when he felt the collar of his tuxedo jerked around his throat and then found himself flying backwards. Joshua put his foot on Charles’ chest and applied pressure. “Don’t irritate me again—understand.” A knock sounded at the door. He looked at Celeste. “Would you mind getting that? It’s for you.”
She could not believe how fast the man caught Charles and jerked him back. She was still staring in disbelief when he spoke to her. “What?”
“The door is for you.”
Celeste took a wide path around the stranger. When she opened the door, the police and another man in a tuxedo were there.
“Nate,” Joshua smiled as he walked over to the man in the doorway allowing Charles to breathe again. “Man long time no see.” He extended his hand. “How the hell are you?”
Nate Raines remembered the cocky Joshua from a number of assignments they had worked on. He was arrogant as all get out, but knew how to get the job done and could definitely hold his liquor. “Joshua, what in the hell are you doing here?” he smiled.
“Catching dumb criminals—man I mean dumb.”
“I don’t know man, this was a fifty million dollar embezzlement scheme you just broke. If it hadn’t been for a very smart employee of Davenport, they would have gotten away with it.”
“Get the hell out of here,” Joshua looked over his shoulder at Charles and Celeste who were now in handcuffs. “I underestimated your dumb ass,” he said to Charles. Joshua touched his earpiece. “The AG is about to speak, I have to go. We have to catch up Raines.” He pulled a device from his jacket pocket. “I believe everything you need is there. You’ll make sure they make it to headquarters. I can’t wait to hear this story.”
L
Joshua walked in the ballroom just as Attorney General Harrison took the stage. Joshua made his way to the table and noticed seats were empty. He unbuttoned the single button on his tux jacket and whispered, “The wolves have been caged.”
“The money?” Julia asked.
“Recovered.” Joshua smiled. “Where’s Diamond?” he asked.
Zack looked back at the entrance as he had several times and there were no signs of her. “I have no idea. I spoke with her a few moments ago and she said she was on her way.”
“She’ll be here Zack,” JoEllen said patting his hand. “Don’t worry.”
But Zack was worried. Nothing would have kept Diamond from being there with him. However, that had to take a back seat, for the Attorney General had just called his name as the Businessman of the Year. The applause drowned out the thumping of his heart that told him something was wrong. Something was very wrong. The thought followed him through people extending handshakes and congratulations as he made his way toward the stage.
The honor was a hollow one. A few moments after accepting the award, Reese abruptly stood. He whispered something in Xavier’s ear then left the room. Zack thanked the AG for the honor, and then made short work of his speech. “What’s going on?” he asked Xavier the moment he reached the table.
“Reese received a call. There’s a fire at the site.”
Before Xavier could say more, Zack took off. “Zack what’s up? Zack?” Xavier chased after him.
“Diamond’s there.”
All the occupants of the table stood at the announcement. Joshua touched his earpiece. “There’s a fire at the site.”
“I’ll secure the AG and meet you there.”
L
The fire was now raging. The left side of the house was destroyed as fire fighters worked desperately to contain the blaze. Chief Hasting was directing his men when one yelled, “We have two bodies back here.”
“What?” he yelled. “This is a model home, no one lives here.”
“I got two bodies in the back Chief. That’s all I can tell you.”
Then it dawned on him Ann had been staying on site. But who could the second person be? The Chief took off around the house like a bat out of hell.
They had just reached the entrance of the complex and could see the smoke rising towards the sky, As soon as they turned in, an ambulance raced past Xavier who was driving. Zack looked at Xavier. “Push it dammit X-man!” Xavier stomped on the gas, following the ambulance.
The flames coming from the house caused Zack to shudder. “She’s not in there Zack. She’s not in there.” Xavier exclaimed.
Zack jumped from the car before it stopped. He ran in front of the house and couldn’t believe this was happening again. The house he could rebuild, but where was Diamond. “Was anybody in the house?” He yelled at one of the firemen.
“Two bodies in the back.” The fireman said then continued with his duties.
Zack’s heart stopped. “Diamond!” he screamed as he ran towards the back of the house. Xavier was right behind him. “Diamond!” He yelled again. By this time Joshua was next to him. He grabbed Zack and followed the Emergency Medical Team towards the back of the house. A group of firemen were looking at something on the ground. “Diamond!” Zack yelled again.
The Chief rose from his kneeling position next to a body. He pushed the EMT tech through the group of men then turned to Zack. “No Zack.”
“Get the hell out of my way Richard.”
Joshua followed the tech then screamed as he fell to his knees. Zack stopped fighting Richard and stared at Joshua’s back. “No.” he shook his head. “No,” he pulled away from the Chief. Xavier began shaking his head refusing to believe what the scene indicated. Joshua stood, with a body in his arms. “Get a medevac here now!” he yelled into his earpiece. Joshua had Diamond in his arms as he spoke. “We have two injured. One with smoke inhalation the other with second and third degree burns. I need a burn unit ready in ten!”
Zack ran over and fell to his knees in front of him. “Diamond,” he whispered as he pulled her from Joshua and held her to his chest where his heart was about to explode.
Joshua took the oxygen mask from the tech and placed it over Diamond’s face. He then checked to see the cuts on her arms, neck and upper body. “She’s still alive Zack and going to stay that way!” he ordered.
Xavier was watching as they worked on Diamond when he heard, the other Tech say. “She’s crashing.” He turned to the other body that was on the ground. Something told him not to look, but he couldn’t stop himself. They stopped what they were doing and began trying to revive the other person. Chief Hasting stepped in front of Xavier. “You don’t need to see that son.”
Xavier looked into Richard’s eyes. “Is that my mother?”
Richard lowered his head, “Yes.”
Xavier walked to the men working on his mother and looked down at the body. For a moment, only a moment, he held no hope that the woman would survive. But then the longer he stared at her, the more his mind willed her to survive. “I need you mother. Don’t leave me again.” Just as the words escaped his lips, the heart rhythm on the portable monitor beeped.
The medevac could be heard overhead. Samuel jumped off as soon as it landed and ran over to Joshua and Zack. Once he assessed Diamond’s injuries, he went to Xavier. He turned to the medical team and yelled. “I need this victim transported immediately.” He spoke into his earpiece. “Call Dr. Amber Nicolas at Johns Hopkins. I want her flown in within the hour.” He turned to the men that had now secured the body on the gurney. “Let’s move her out.” He ordered. He then ran back to Joshua. “She ready?”
Joshua looked at Zack. “I’ll take her.”
“Zack look at me. Zack! We’ll take good care of her. X-man needs you. We’ll take care of Diamond.”
Zack hesitated, then eased his grip on Diamond. Samuel picked his sister up in his arms and his knees almost buckled. The pain cut so deep seeing her like this. He placed her on the gurney as Zack looked on. He then turned to Xavier. “We’ll follow in the car.”
So many emotions were flowing through Xavier’s mind that he did not know which wa
y to turn. Zack walked over to him, wrapped his arms around his brother and held him. “You’re going to have a chance to talk to her. I promise.” Xavier believed his big brother, because he had never broken his promises. He returned the hug. Zack hit him on the back. “Let’s go X-man.”
Chapter 31
In interrogation room number one, Samuel was with Celeste as he questioned her about the fire. “Look I told you I don’t know anything about a fire. I told you my only interest here was getting the money to support myself and my daughter that was all.”
“Tell me again how you got involved with Charles Meeks.”
“He sent me an invitation to the open house with his telephone number on it saying there would be compensation for my time.” She huffed, “When I called we arranged to meet in Fredericksburg to discuss the details. He told me he wanted to bring Zack to his knees for something that happened back in high school,” She waved her hand as if the information wasn’t important. “Then he mentioned how different my life would have been if Zack had accepted the NFL contract and I had married him instead of Teddy. He said if I help him distract Zack for a while, he would guarantee enough money for me and my daughter to live comfortably for quite some time.”
“So your role was to distract Zack. What was Teddy’s role?”
“What? Teddy doesn’t know anything about this. Hell, I don’t even know where he is and don’t care. He lost his ability to take care of us when he injured his knees. Hell it wasn’t like he was an NFL staple the way Zack would have been. He had a contract, but it was only for 2.7 million for three years, then a lousy 4.2 the next four years. Once he busted his knee, the league disappeared. We lost the house and everything else we had. My only savior was Chanté’s talent. Once we get her on the right stage, she’ll be able to take care of us financially. Since Zack was the one that ruined my life in the first place, I see no reason why he shouldn’t be the one to fix it. Hell, it’s not like he doesn’t have the money.”
“Why not just ask him to help you and your daughter rather than trying to run a scam on him?” Reese, who stood quietly in the corner asked.
Celeste narrowed her eyes on him, “The last time I asked Zack for anything he said no and chose his brother over me.”
“It wasn’t a choice!” Reese lost his cool for the first time during this entire situation. “Don’t you get it? It was about love for his family—family, Celeste. Right or wrong, good or bad, there is no choice when it comes to family.”
“You’re right Reese, and I would do anything for my family.” She slammed her hands on the table “Anything to help my baby girl live out her dream. I damn sure am not living mine.”
Samuel put up his hand to stop Reese from speaking further. “Would it surprise you to know your husband is here in Richmond?”
A look of confusion spread across Celeste’s face, she shook her head, “Teddy is not here, he would have no reason to be.”
“Then it would surprise you to know Meeks has also been in contact with your husband?”
L
In interrogation room number two, Charles Meeks, wasn’t even sweating bullets. It was as if he still had control of things. That concerned Nate Raines, but it did not show on his face.
“Mr. Meeks I have to say I admire your work. It took my team hours to dismantle your plan to embezzle millions from Davenport Industries. What I don’t understand is why you wanted to destroy Xavier Davenport. After all, he recruited you into the company. Gave you a more than lucrative contract and yet, you set out almost from the very beginning to destroy him.”
Charles crossed his legs and sighed as if he was bored. “You all still don’t get it. This had nothing at all to do with Xavier. He’s a decent boy, his only fault is he worships the ground his brother walks on.”
Nate frowned as if he was confused, “So this wasn’t about bringing Xavier down? It was his project, his baby so to say. If it wasn’t about Xavier, who was the target?”
“Don’t you know anything? It was Xavier’s project, but it was Zack’s money. Money that I helped him acquire over the years. That’s right, me. The nerd that couldn’t even sit at the lunch table with him and his boys.” He nodded his head realizing he was now a little heated. He settled back down, then looked at Nate. “My target is Zack, not Xavier. “ He held Nate’s glare. “You were one of those kids in high school too weren’t you?”
Nate was a top notch investigator who knew how to read what people said. It wasn’t lost on him that Charles used the word is and not was. “What kids?” Nate sat back and asked.
“You know,” Charles turned to face him. “The popular boys. The ones all the girls followed behind. I bet you were a three letter athlete too, weren’t you. You look like you could have been one of them.”
Nate shook his head. “No, I’m afraid not. I was heavy into math during high school.” Nate laughed. “I couldn’t dribble a ball for a million bucks back then. Now, give me a calculator, and a Wall Street Journal and I could make you a million.”
“So you were like me,” Charles gave him a good look up and down then smiled. “They didn’t make nerds like you when I was in high school.”
“I don’t know about all of that. I didn’t know you back then, hell I don’t know you now. But if you were ignored, or had people walk by you in the hall like you were just a part of the lockers or something, then yes, that was me.”
“So you understand how they use you to make them millions then toss you aside, like you never even matter in their life.”
“Did Zack do that to you?” Nate shook his head. “At some point enough is enough.”
“You’re right. And I had enough of Zack’s superior attitude. All I ever wanted was to help him, be around him. But he never had time for me. Oh he was nice enough, but he just never made time for me. So when the opportunity arose I took it. I knew Xavier was looking for a Finance Officer and I made sure my resume was in his top ten. When I interviewed with him, I mentioned my relationship with his brother. That surprised him. But I knew I was in then.”
“Did Zack begin to appreciate your help once you started working for him?”
“Hell no. He was paying too much attention to Diamond Lassiter and not enough attention to the construction business.”
“They had an office affair going on?” Nate acted appalled.
“Well,” Charles looked around to make sure no one was in the room. “It wasn’t known for a while. But I knew. I saw them.”
“You saw them in the office?” Nate sat forward and asked.
“On his office floor,” Charles frowned. “How tacky is that? I couldn’t stand to watch them going at it like dogs in heat.” The expression on Charles’ face changed. “That’s when I knew, nothing about Zackary Davenport had changed from high school. He would never know or understand my worth to him. A short skirt and long legs was all he was ever interested in.”
Nate prayed his expression of total bafflement did not show on his face as he asked his last question. “This plot to bring Zack,” he hesitated, but couldn’t think of another way to phrase the question. “To his knees was because he did not appreciate the special friendship you believe the two of you could have had?”
“Exactly.”
“So you’ve been secretly in love with him since high school?”
Charles tilted his head to one side. “Infatuated is more accurate.”
Nate sat back in his chair. He wanted to take the pad he was writing on and throw it in the air. “Charles I have to say, I’ve worked on a lot of strange cases in my day. You, my man have set the bar high for originality.” Nate stood to walk out of the room.
“Thank you Nathan.” Charles smiled and took in all of the man at the door, “You are much taller than I thought before.”
Nathan walked into the room next to the interrogation room. Joshua, Samuel and Reese sat looking at the monitors in both rooms. They all turned and looked up at him. All he could do was shake his head and say, “A woman scorned doesn�
�t have shit on a man scorned.”
Joshua stood to leave, but could not resist, “I think he was checking you out Nate.” The room was silent for a moment then every one of them broke out into laughter at the expression on Nate’s face.
Nate joined in for a moment then said. “Neither of these idiots started that fire.”
“No, I’m going to find Teddy Blanchard,” Joshua stated.
“Don’t kill him,” Samuel ordered.
Joshua frowned, “Why do you always have to take the fun out of things?”
L
As it turned out Joshua did not have to go far. When he stepped into the lobby of the station, Theodore Blanchard and his daughter were at the front desk.
“I need to make a statement regarding the fire at Davenport Estates tonight,” Teddy said.
The officer nodded, “Come with me.”
Teddy turned to his daughter, hugged and kissed her. “I want you to sit over there and don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything.”
Sitting in the waiting room of the police station Chanté thought about her parents. Both of them were really nice people, if you took the time to get to know them. She wondered if either of them knew the type of stress their issues had caused her. There had been times when she didn’t know who was the parent and who was the child, when it came to her mother. And as for her daddy, well, he lost his mind when he lost his contract. He knew the moment he lost the contract, he lost mommy. Didn’t he know if that was the case, he never had her in the first place? But this latest move had her stunned. Her daddy was being a father. What happened was wrong and had caused someone to be physically injured. He always prided himself on teaching her right from wrong and that there are consequences to all actions. With all that he had done, it was his responsibility to keep her from making bad decisions. So now they sat in the police station where her dad had taken them the moment the medevac took off and he realized someone was hurt. He told her he had to do what was right.
Teach Me (The Gems & Gents Series) Page 27
