by Kyle West
FADE 2 BLAQUE INK PRESENTS
Covert Deception
By
Super Producer Kyle West
Copyright 2016 Kyle West
Published by:
Fade 2 BlaQue Ink
Washington, DC
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without prior written consent from both the author, and publisher Pink Angel Publications, except brief quotes used in reviews.
This work is a work of fiction. It is not meant to depict, portray, or represent any particular real person. All the characters, incidents, and dialogues are the product of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any references or similarities to actual events, entities, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, entities, places and incidents is entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author/publisher.
Editing:
Shari Barnes
of
Fade 2 BlaQue Ink
Dedication
I want to dedicate this book to my late mother, Laura West. Love, you always.
This book would not be possible without the support and direction of my father Nicholas D. West and my big brother Nick M. West.
September, Summer, Lindsay and Mia, you make me a proud father everyday, with love.
Chapter 1
9:07 am -Today starts off to be a regular day for Joseph Williams, an old man, in his late sixties who for over forty years been employed as a maintenance worker for Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. He was there when the airport was known as Moisant Field. He liked working the early morning hours, because that meant he could go home early and play with his grandchildren. Ole' Joe would follow the same routine day in and day out. He took pride in his job and would start off by sweeping along the left corridor first, because not too many people would be there and he could sweep in peace.
He would eventually make his way over to the right corridor to empty, where most people frequented and where there was sure to be a lot of garbage. After he emptied the garbage, Joe would always go into the men's bathroom first because there was not a whole lot of cleaning to do; the women's bathroom was an entirely different story. The men's bathroom is pretty big, so if he paced himself, by the time he was finished it would be time to go home. Joe would always start wiping down each sink; twelve in all. Even though he was an old man he still had the strength of an ox and had no problem mopping the entire bathroom.
This morning was a little different…as Joe began to mop his last stall he noticed something out of place; there was a man sitting on the floor in the stall. Joe carefully walks over to open the stall door. There he finds a man bleeding from the head and face, from what appeared to be gunshot wounds. Apparently dead, the man is fully dressed and has a black travel bag on his lap. He immediately ran out of the bathroom to get the police.
Two days later; Vivian Baylor is a soft spoken woman who is very conscientious about her work. She works as an executive secretary for the Hanan & Hanan Insurance Agency, located downtown in the Pan American Life Building. She works directly for Vice President Carla Hanan.
When she got promoted six months ago, people in the office were surprised that she got the job because she appeared to be meek and mild mannered. She rarely made eye contact with people when she spoke to them. Carla Hanan was a firecracker, who liked to scream and bark orders to everyone. Ms. Hanan really liked Vivian, because she stayed to herself and was very detail oriented.
Vivian has not had a vacation since she got the promotion and she needed at least one day to rest, so she decided to work through her lunch and stay a little late so she could take off Monday and have a three-day weekend. One of her co-workers brought in a pan of peas and rice, oxtails and plantains to share with the office, and convinced her to eat with them. They told her that the work would be there when she got back. But before she could leave her desk the phone rang and it was Amy, the nosy receptionist on the other line.
Amy whispered, "Vivian there are two policemen out here for you."
Vivian responds, "Police? For me? What do they want Amy? I'm eating and I'm starving. What court case are they here for?"
Amy responds in a hushed tone, "They didn't say. Just come out here and speak to them. They don't look real friendly either, if you know what I mean."
Vivian, now a little a little nervous, tentatively tells Amy, she is on her way out to the lobby.
Vivian walks into the lobby and eyes two, tall, well dressed men in dark suits. They're not policemen, they are detectives. Vivian softly introduces herself to the stone-faced men.
The two detectives Chris Roussel and James Favors introduce themselves, then ask Vivian if they can talk to her somewhere in private.
Vivian asks, "Private? Does this have something to do with me? Did I do something wrong? Did I miss paying some tickets or something?"
The detectives respond, "No tickets ma'am. We really should talk somewhere private".
Vivian looks over at Amy who quickly responds, "Oh, Conference Room 3 is open,
Vivian, it’s all yours."
Vivian leads the men into the conference room where she is told that her husband,
Jesse Baylor, was found two days earlier, shot dead at the airport. Vivian almost faints as Det. Favors catches her and helps her down into a chair. Vivian takes a minute to catch her breath, then says, "My husband isn't dead. I wanna talk to him."
The detectives softly repeat that Jesse is in fact dead. Vivian grabs one of the bottles of water in the middle of the large conference table and puts her head into her hands, shaking her head back and forth.
Vivian then says, "This can't be real, let me try to call him."
Det. Roussel cuts in, "Ma'am, I’m sorry, your husband is gone..."
At that moment someone opens the conference room door, excuses themselves, then asks Vivian if she is okay. Vivian tries to compose herself by straightening out her hair and says she that she is okay.
Det. Roussel tells Vivian, "Ma'am, I know this is hard. We shouldn't do this here. We need to continue this conversation at the station ok?”
Vivian agrees and walks with the two detectives through the office lobby. Amy can tell something is not right as she continues answering the phones trying not to make eye contact with Vivian. It is then when Vivian's best friend and co-worker Ronelle Carter enters the lobby.
Ronelle questions, "Viv what's wrong? Who are these dudes? Girl, you okay?" Vivian hugs Ronelle and softly tells her that Jesse was found dead a few days ago.
Ronelle grabs Vivian and gives her a big supportive hug and asks what happened. Vivian tells her she doesn't know. A protective Ronelle firmly holds Vivian, looks the detectives up and down then turns to see Amy being her usual nosy self. Ronelle snaps to her, "Um, Ms. Busy Body nothin' over here that concerns you ."
Amy quickly turns around continuing her work.
Ronelle sharply checks the detectives, "What do you guys want? Where are you taking her?"
Vivian interjects and states, "They are detectives Ro. Everything is ok, I’ll be right back.”
The detectives ignore Ronelle escorting Vivian to the elevator.
Ronelle states, "Viv I’m coming with you. What happened to
Jesse? Where’s the body?"
Det. Huntley tells Ronelle, "Ma'am we understand your concern but you need to step back. You are not making this situation any easier here."
Ronelle is about to show off her boisterous attitude until Vivian asks the detectives, “Please…I need my friend right now. Can she come with me please?”
After a second or two the detectives nod yes.
The detectives escort Vivian and Ronelle to their official car down in the parking garage.
Ronelle decides to drive her own car to the police station instead, while Vivian rides with the detectives.
As soon as they arrive at the station Det. Roussel offers Vivian a cup of coffee to relax her. While seated police officers Huntley and Dees; the first two patrolmen at the murder scene introduce themselves to her. They have Jesse's personal effects to give to Vivian.
They stand in as Det. Roussel asks Vivian a couple of questions.
After twenty minutes of questioning, Det. Roussel is sure that Jesse's murder is not a random case.
He asks, "Did your husband have any enemies ma`am? Where was he traveling to?"
Vivian responds, "I don’t know where he was going. Enemies? Not that I know of?"
Det. Roussel asks, "You know we found your husband two days ago…. Didn’t you wonder where he was? Didn’t you worry when he didn't make it home for dinner?"
A nervous Vivian replies, "My husband is often away from home. He was out of town for business."
Det. Roussel quickly asks, "Do you know where?"
Vivian hesitates then responds, "Uh, to be honest I forgot. My husband travels a lot and it is hard for me to keep track of where he is."
The three policemen in the room slyly look at each other with a certain level of doubt.
Det. Roussel shakes his head and responds, "We had to do beau coup overtime just to ID your husband ma’am. We had to find him on the airport security tapes to get his license plate number to find out who he is. He drives a Lincoln Navigator correct? Yes that’s how we found that we had Jesse Baylor of Shreveport.”
Det. Roussel continues, "Did you and your husband move to New Orleans recently ma`am?"
Vivian tells him, "Yes, we moved back here together almost a year now."
Officer Dees jumps in, "We went to the Shreveport address yesterday, ma`am and they said nobody named Baylor ever lived there."
Vivian doesn't respond.
Det. Roussel continues, "So we tracked the Navigator back to a dealership in
Kenner you did buy the truck in Kenner ma’am correct?”
Vivian nods yes.
Det. Roussel finishes, "Yeah the service department over there gave us your work number that's how we found you Mrs. Baylor."
The three policemen are now not as warm to Vivian as they were earlier. They suspect that she is holding back information.
Det. Roussel then asks Vivian, "Mrs. Baylor can you tell me why your husband had this with him?"
Det. Roussel shows Vivian a plane ticket to Europe and a pictured passport of
Jesse...but under a different name.
Vivian is shocked and replies, "No".
Officer Dees then asks, "Where did Mr. Baylor work ma'am? We want to go ask some questions over there."
Vivian answers, "He is in the Army."
Officer Huntley quickly drills her, "What base ma’am?”
Vivian tells the officers that she does not know. She adds, “My husband travels around a lot for the army! I don’t know!”
A frustrated Det. Roussel firmly asks, "You don’t know? How long have you been married Mrs. Baylor?! You don't seem to know much about your own husband!"
Ronelle then jumps in to defend Vivian, "Hey! Alright, this is bullshit!
We are outta here. C'mon Viv.” Ronelle directs to the policemen, “This woman just found out her husband was murdered! What are y'all doing?! Show some damn compassion!"
Officer Dees snaps, "Ain’t nobody asked you anything Miss! You need to sit down!"
Det. Roussel raises his hand to tell his men to calm down. He then says, "Mrs. Baylor, we are truly sorry about your loss, but our job is to find out who killed him. We need you to also explain these items here." Det. Roussel places in front of Vivian a plane ticket to Europe, and a passport with her picture...also under a different name.
Vivian is absolutely stunned! She pushes the items off the table onto the floor, and shouts, "What is this?! What is going on!"
Again, Ronelle jumps in and yells, "Nah! We out! Viv let’s go!" She stands and leads Vivian to the door.
Det. Roussel then asks Vivian if she can please identify Jesse's body before she leaves. Vivian is told that she can do the ID from the coroner's pictures instead of having to view the corpse.
Vivian asks the detective if Ronelle can do the identification for her, Det. Roussel says yes, and shows Ronelle the pictures. She quickly nods her head conforming that the man in the coroner’s picture is in fact, Jesse Baylor.
Det. Roussel ends the questioning and tells her that he will be in touch. The detective keeps the plane tickets and the forged IDs but returns Jesse's personal belongings to Vivian.
Ronelle grabs Jesse's travel bag for Vivian, and the two women leave Det. Roussel's office.
Outside the door the two women quietly look at each other saying nothing then embrace each other tightly as they sob together.
Ronelle and Vivian live in the same condominium complex up in the North Carrollton area of New Orleans. Ronelle moved down to New Orleans from Brooklyn, New York five years ago. They are close friends. Ronelle convinces Vivian to stay with at her home. Vivian leaves her car parked in the garage at their job, downtown.
Ronelle never liked or trusted Jesse as she reminds Vivian of just that during the ride home. She turns to Vivian and says, "I told you, Jesse wasn't shit! I told you! How did they get your passport Viv?"
Vivian replies, “That wasn’t my passport. I don’t know what that was.”
Ronelle bellows," There's no telling what that man got you into girl!"
Vivian with trembles in her voice, "I'm scared Ro."
Ronelle has a two-bedroom condo which she shares with her ten-year-old son, Alex. She invites Vivian to spend a couple of nights at her place. A still shaken Vivian accepts her offer she then expresses, “ Ro I need to stop by my place first. I have to pick up a few things. Drop me off and I'll walk over to your place as soon as I'm done okay."
Ronelle drops Vivian off in front of her home four units down from her condo. Vivian leaves her purse and Jesse's travel bag in Ronelle's car and hesitantly walks up to her front door. As she inserts the key into the lock turning the doorknob a man approaches her from behind. The undetected man stops about two feet behind Vivian and in a low toned voice says, "I'm looking for Vivian Baylor."
Vivian is so startled that her knees buckle. She abruptly turns to look back at the mysterious man. The man is about 6'2", bald, a dark skinned black man with an athletic build. The man notices that he startled Vivian so he pulls out his police badge, "I'm sorry to have scared you; I’m Detective Ron Ellis with the New Orleans Police Department. May I please come in and ask you a few questions?"
Vivian is frozen in fear as Det. Ellis carefully walks over to her holds Vivian by her elbow and helps her into her home. Det. Ellis sits Vivian down on her brown suede couch, “Are you okay now ma’am? Can I get you some water or something?” Vivian catches her breath, “I've answered enough questions today. I’m tired and I need to deal with personal family matters right now. I can’t handle all of this right now. "
"I totally understand Mrs. Baylor, and my sympathies go out to you. I just have a few questions, five minutes please." Det. Ellis insists.
Vivian reluctantly nods her head yes.
Det. Ellis tells Vivian that he thinks that Jesse's murder was a professional execution.
Vivian interrupts, "No. I can’t do this. Look, I told you guys earlier I don't know what happened to my husband. Detective you're goin
g to have to excuse me please." As she tries to stand from her couch. Det. Ellis tells her not to get up, and that he’ll let himself out. He then adds, "Mrs. Baylor I came over to check on you because you might be in danger, real danger. Your husband’s killer is probably still here in New Orleans and we need you to tell us everything."
Vivian has no idea what Det. Ellis is talking about. She shakes her head and says, “Everything? Good day detective, it’s been a tough day for me.”
Now standing outside Vivian’s front door Det. Ellis says, "Yes, again, sorry for your loss. I don't mean to scare you but if you feel uncomfortable about anything or remember anything that can help us, please give me a call. Here is my card.”
Vivian blows Det. Ellis off by telling him, "Yeah. I'm fine thank you."
Before leaving Det. Ellis tells Vivian that he will come by tomorrow to check on her.
As soon as the detective leaves Vivian gathers up some sleepwear and beauty supplies and walks over to Ronelle's house.
That evening Vivian is understandably tired and drained of emotion, to a point still in shock. Now at Ronelle’s home Vivian is not in the mood for conversation. Ronelle tries to get Vivian to talk and open up a little but it’s hard for Ronelle to say anything nice about Jesse. Vivian and Jesse Baylor got married nine months ago after a brief two-month courtship. They have lived apart for most of their marriage because of Jesse’s military commitment. Vivian truly loved her husband and doesn't appreciate Ronelle always talking bad about Jesse.
Tonight Vivian just didn't have the energy to defend her husband’s legacy and tells Ronelle that she wants to go to sleep. Ronelle sends Vivian to sleep in Alex's room...Alex will sleep on the pull-out couch in the living room. Vivian is so tired; she is unable to move off the couch. Ronelle brings her a blanket and pillow and Alex constantly brings Vivian hot tea and pastry. Alex is just as protective of Vivian as his mother is, so he refuses to leave her side as she huddles on the couch.
