Danielle’s tone was icy. “No.” She hung up with narrowed eyes.
Chapter 32
BROUSSARD BEING INVESTIGATED FOR IDENTITY THEFT AND FRAUD.
William did a double-take at the morning’s headline and sucked in his breath. He almost laughed at the absurdity, but anger coursed through his being. How could these guys print these lies?
He read the story through. It claimed he was being investigated for using a stolen credit card to pay for some medical procedure. He slammed his hand down on the desk when he saw they had brought his wife into it, implicating her as well.
“What is this craziness?” William wondered aloud. “It’s bad enough for them to attack me, but they can’t do this to my wife.”
He dialed his attorney and had a terse conversation. Then he called Olivia.
“I am pulling up outside. I’ll be inside in a sec,” Olivia told him and hung up.
William reached to dial Nikki’s number, but the office phone rang. He snatched it up. “Broussard headquarters.”
“Is this William Broussard? This is Channel Seven News,” the person on the other end said. “We’d like to get your comments about the theft allegations.”
“I have no comment.” William slammed down the phone.
The phone rang again, but he ignored it as Olivia stepped into the office.
“William, I saw the paper,” Olivia’s face was grim. “What is going on?”
“I wish I knew,” William said. “It’s some kind of witch hunt.”
“Well, we need to pull together our team and get on this immediately,” Olivia said in crisp tones. She placed her purse on her desk and picked up her phone. “I’m calling Winston now.”
Winston was William’s spokesman. Winston, an old college friend, owned a public relations agency and had signed on to help the campaign.
“Okay, good,” William said. “I’ve already called the attorney, who should be here shortly.”
“I’ll schedule a press conference for mid-morning, after we’ve had our strategy session,” Olivia said.
William smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Olivia. I don’t know what I would do without your help.”
She didn’t say anything. William walked to the back room and punched in Nikki’s cell phone number. He waited for her to pick up. He knew she was just returning from dropping Psalm off at school. “Baby, did you see that craziness in the paper?”
“No, what?” she said.
“It’s a bunch of lies. You’ll have to find a copy and read it. I can’t even tell it to you, it’s so ridiculous. Some mess about us using some stolen credit cards to pay for a surgery.”
“Did you say stolen credit card?”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Stupid stuff. I’m ticked off. But I’m going to sue them for this. It’s just not right. I don’t know how that rag continues to survive, publishing this garbage. I’m sorry you had to be dragged into this. I’ll straighten it out.”
“Wow, that sounds serious,” Nikki said and William could hear the worry in her voice.
“Hey, baby, don’t worry about it. I’ll get it taken care of. They said in the last line that they tried to reach me but calls were not returned by press time. I had one missed call from the newspaper yesterday. I didn’t get a chance to call back but they should have tried a little harder to reach me. They know where I work and where I live.”
“William, everybody is here. The meeting is about to start,” Olivia called sharply.
“Be right there!” William replied. He lowered his voice. “Look, baby, I have to go. We’re about to have a press conference and squash this. Then I’m going to light into that newspaper with a lawsuit for libel. Don’t forget to read the story when you can.”
“I will.”
He hated to hear Nikki sound so forlorn. “It’ll be okay, baby,” William said once more. “I love you.”
William hung up the phone and walked into the main area of the headquarters. Tension was thick. They all sat around a table in the center of the room.
“So, is there any truth to any of this?” Winston asked.
William looked at him as if the man had lost his mind. “Of course not!”
Winston held up a hand. “Hey, man, I meant no disrespect. I’m just trying to see how much of this is true so we know how to respond. I’m not accusing you at all.”
“Yeah, William,” Olivia said. “I know the news media can be vicious, but usually they don’t just flat-out make up stuff.”
“Well, that’s exactly what happened!” William snapped. “I can’t believe you guys think I did any of this.”
Olivia touched his arm. “No, we don’t think you did this. Is it possible your wife—?”
William cut her off before she could finish her sentence. “Olivia, I’m going to interrupt you so you don’t say something really stupid right now. There is no way my wife had anything to do with this. And anyone who says otherwise will have to answer to me.”
Olivia held up a hand. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to insult your wife.”
The attorney scribbled notes on a legal pad. “Well, you just give me the word and I’ll have a lawsuit drawn up before you can even finish your sentence.”
“Thanks,” William said. “I definitely am going to sue. But for now, we need to figure out the media approach.”
They began strategizing, but ultimately settled on issuing only a prepared statement. Winston advised against a press conference, but William insisted. Like Reverend Chance before him, he felt compelled to speak on his own behalf.
The press conference was a brief affair. Reporters flung questions at William, but he refused to answer or acknowledge. Instead, he simply read from the statement he, Winston and the attorney had prepared.
After answering the basic questions, William quickly pivoted around and left the room following the reading, even as reporters hurled more questions. Winston held up his hands and told the reporters that would be all for the day.
But while William could push off the members of the press, he had no such luck with Reverend Hicks, whose eyes were red with fury at the story. “Look, I’m suspicious of that White newspaper just like you are, but I’ve been around a long time, and I’ve never known them to completely make up a story.”
“Well, I’m telling you, that’s what they did,” William said, resenting the fact that he had to defend his wife to this man. But Hicks had pulled many strings to get him to this point.
“Well, is there any portion of truth at all to this?” the preacher asked, staring at William.
William refused to be intimidated, and stared right back. “I told you before. No.”
“You need to watch your tone, now, young man,” Hicks glanced around the campaign office, but nobody made eye contact.
William sucked in his breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm himself. He knew he couldn’t offend the man who questioned him. “Sorry, sir.” William cleared his throat. “I will get to the bottom of the story. Believe me, somebody will pay for this.”
Chapter 33
Nikki raced to the computer and typed in the address for the newspaper’s Web site. The top story was the one she feared. She got knots in her stomach as she read the report, proclaiming she and her husband used a stolen credit card to bilk a local hospital out of thousands. She sat down hard in the chair and dropped her head in her hands.
She knew Troy’s hookup was probably not the best thing to do, but at the time, she had convinced herself it was all right. After all, her child had been in such a serious condition.
Now, two months later, Nikki knew the day she had been dreading had finally arrived. “And you call yourself a Christian,” Nikki chided herself. “Danielle is right. Who are you fooling? You just can’t get it right. You knew what you were doing was wrong. You can’t walk in the Word. At every turn, you make the wrong choices. Why do you even try? Just give up. Go on back to your old ways. Stop pretending.”
Nikki’s insides quivered as
she realized the magnitude of what she had done. She wanted to call on God’s name, but shame held her silent. How could she pray now when she had done something so bad? This wasn’t a tiny thing. This was against both God’s law and man’s.
She cried bitter tears until her throat hurt. Finally, with no more tears left, she wiped her face. Nikki knew she needed to talk to someone. And there was only one person who would understand. She washed her face, grabbed her keys and drove to Danielle’s job.
“I’m here to see Danielle Esperanza, please,” Nikki told the woman at the front desk.
“I’m sorry, she’s on the floor right now.” The woman’s tone was pleasant.
“Okay,” Nikki said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. “I have an emergency. Can you just get a message to her?”
The woman nodded. Nikki quickly scribbled a note and handed it to the woman, who disappeared into an elevator. Within minutes, Danielle was standing before her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Have you seen today’s paper?” Nikki whispered, glancing around.
“Girl, you know I don’t read the newspaper.”
“Well, you should start,” Nikki said and pulled out a crumpled copy of the story she had printed from the Web site. Danielle read it and her eyes widened.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“No,” Nikki said. “What am I going to do?”
“What about me?” Danielle said. “I could get in trouble, too, if my name comes out.”
Nikki soothed her friend’s concern. “Your name wouldn’t come up. You know I wouldn’t bring you into this. But I’m scared. What do I tell Will?”
“Well, just tell him you don’t know what these people are talking about,” Danielle said. “Who is he going to believe? His wife or some stupid reporter?”
“Well, I can’t keep lying to him,” Nikki said. “I feel horrible as it is now for lying to him to begin with.”
“Well, it’s a bit late in the day for that,” Danielle said. “You did what you had to do. Your child is all better, isn’t she?”
“Well, yeah, but—”
“So,” Danielle said. “If he gets mad at you for protecting your child, then forget him.”
“Well, it’s not that simple.”
“Yes, it is,” Danielle said. “Listen to me. You are a great mother. You did what you had to for your child. If he can’t understand that, then obviously he doesn’t care about you or Psalm.”
“Well, I didn’t exactly tell him the truth,” Nikki reminded her friend.
“So?” Danielle said. “Big whoopity-do. If you had told him, you knew he would have been acting all goody-good and would have tried to keep you from doing it. He would have beaten you over the head with God and whatnot. And really, this had nothing to do with God. This was about you and your baby.”
“Well, let’s say even if I can get him to forgive me, what about the story? It could ruin his career.”
“Look, you can’t spend your life worrying about other people all the time,” Danielle said. “William will be all right. Do you know how they found out anyway?”
“No,” Nikki said, then she snapped her finger. “You know what? I remember seeing Spencer Cason’s wife at the hospital when I registered for Psalm’s surgery. You know she works there.”
“That old, bad-built hussy? You think she snitched on you?”
“Well, her husband is working for the opposition.”
“So, what, you want to go get in her face?” Danielle said, pushing up her sleeves. “We can do that. It’s been a minute since I’ve fought a girl, but we can get down, you know.”
Nikki rolled her eyes and let out a short laugh. “Girl, you are so ghetto. We are not getting ready to go fight some woman. That’s the last thing we need to do.”
“Okay,” Danielle said. “But I’m just saying. We can handle this.”
Nikki shook her head. Worry laced her voice and lined her face. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I have really messed up this time.”
Danielle squeezed her shoulder. “It’ll be okay.”
“How do you know?” Nikki asked.
“Just deny your involvement. They probably can’t prove anything.”
“And what about Will?”
“What about him?” Danielle asked. “You saved his child’s life.”
“But will he see it that way? Will he forgive me?”
Nikki paced the large dining room with its hardwood floor, her socks muffling any sound. She had put Psalm to bed early and prepared William’s favorite meal. Her stomach was in knots as she practiced what she would say, and how. She sat on the couch and read over and over that day’s devotional, about God granting strength against adversity. She felt it must have been written for her. She felt she needed to muster strength from somewhere.
She jumped when the key jiggled in the door at a quarter to nine. William entered, and immediately let out a sigh.
Nikki scrambled up from the couch and quickly walked to him, reaching for his jacket, but he pulled her close. “Hey, baby,” he said. “How was your day?”
“All right.” Her voice came out in a squeak. She cleared her throat. “How was yours?”
“That doggone story consumed my day,” he said, walking to the stove where he saw macaroni and cheese, chicken fried steak and cabbage. “This looks good.”
“I thought you’d want some of your favorites after such a long day.” Nikki tried to make her voice sound light and casual.
“Well, I don’t even know if I can eat after dealing with that mess all day,” William said, pulling off his tie and letting it fall to a chair. “It just burns me up that I had to lose a whole day of campaigning to deal with this. I don’t have a lot of time to let the voters get to know me and now, not only do I have to play catch-up, but I’ve got to do damage control.”
Nikki scooped the steaming food onto a plate and poured him a glass of tea and placed the plate at his spot on the table.
He raised an eyebrow. “You’re not eating?”
“Oh . . . I . . . uh,” she stumbled. There was no way she could eat anything; her stomach felt like somebody was tap dancing in it. “I already ate.”
“Oh,” he said. “I guess it is kind of late.”
He briefly bent his head in prayer, then scooped up a forkful of macaroni. “Baby, this is so good. Just what I needed after a stressful day. I hope you didn’t catch too much flack from all those lies today. Has anybody called you?”
She picked at the polish on her fingernails. “No. Well, the neighbor from across the way acted like she didn’t hear me when I spoke to her when I was outside checking the mail. I could tell something was up.”
William put down his fork and gestured for her to come close. When she did, he put his arm around her. “I’m so sorry you have to deal with all this,” he said. “I guess it’s the first bit of dirty politics we’re facing.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Nikki said, feeling guilty.
“Well, don’t you worry,” William said, taking a bite of cabbage. “This thing is going to blow over in no time.”
Nikki took a deep breath. It felt like a grapefruit was lodged in her throat. She wished they were talking about something benign, like the good report Psalm had just received from her kindergarten teacher today. “Um, baby? There is something I think you should know.”
William looked up from his food. “Sure, what’s wrong? You’re not looking too good.”
She cleared her throat and tried to swallow, but it felt like cotton was sticking to her tongue. “You remember when I told you I found the money for Psalm’s surgery?”
“Yeah, you said the insurance company finally agreed to pay.”
“Well, that’s not really what I said.”
“You sure?” he took a swig from his glass. “That’s what I thought.”
“I know that’s probably what you thought,” she took a deep breath. “And I probably didn’t correct that assumption. Wha
t really happened is that I, uh . . .”
Her voice trailed off and the words wouldn’t come out. William’s eyebrows drew together in concern. “What’s wrong, baby? Just spit it out. You can tell me anything.”
She clenched her teeth and sucked in another breath. Then she blurted: “The story is true.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The story. In the paper. About the, um, credit card, um, fraud.”
William laughed. “Girl, you had me going for a minute. Stop joking.”
She planted her hand on his shoulder. The smile evaporated from his face when he saw how serious she was. He sprang from the chair. “Nikki. You’re not serious!”
“Baby, I didn’t know what else to do.”
William put his hand to his head and rubbed his eyes. “How, Nikki? And why?”
“Danielle’s boyfriend said he could get me a hookup and help pay for the surgery.”
“Danielle’s boyfriend? You mean that little low-life thug you said she is dating?” William was incredulous. “The one you said is always into some scheme?”
“Well, I didn’t know exactly what he was doing, but—”
“You didn’t know?” He yelled the words.
“All he told me was to sign the paperwork and somebody would take care of it,” Nikki said.
“Sign the paperwork? The story said there was forgery involved. You signed someone else’s name?”
“Yeah, but—”
“And you’re telling me you didn’t know what was going on?”
“Well, I mean, I suspected, but I, well, he never just came out and told me what—”
“Nikki, I can’t believe you’re telling me this now!”
“But, baby, I didn’t think—”
“Of course you didn’t think!” William flung the words at her. “Nobody in their right mind would come up with some craziness like that! You let this man go and get you caught up in one of his stolen credit card schemes. What person in their right mind uses stolen credit cards?”
Scandalous Truth Page 14
