by Iris Bolling
Roark turned off the video, wondering why in the hell would Hepburn Dunning be involved in WITSEC. First he checked the records for cases involving the Giuliani family. He sat back stunned at the information. There were a total of 53 arrests associated with 22 indictments against the Giuliani family. As much as he wanted to, he did not dig any deeper than the basic information for he knew it could cause an investigation. Then he would have to explain why he was looking at the case.
Between the pending arrest warrant, the recording on Walker Dunning and the Cainan Scott situation, Hepburn Dunning was dealing with a number of issues that could have attributed to his murder. It was hard to weigh which, the Walker, or Cainan situation could lead to the answer of who done it.
He looked up at the knock on the door. The woman always blew his mind at first glance.
“Drum roll please. The lovely Grace Dunning is in the room.” Roark stood to greet her.
“Hello, Roark.”
His steps slowed. There was something in the tone of her voice indicating something was amiss. He kissed her cheek only to receive a chilly response. Taking a step back he examined her face. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Rather than answering him, she stepped aside. Roark took note then followed suit, returning to the chair behind the desk.
“You made an appointment to meet with Daisy. Why?” She asked. “And why are you in here working behind my father’s desk?”
Roark ran his fingers through his hair, then sighed. He sat back in the chair then pointed to the chair in front of the desk. “Have a seat. This is going to be a bit rocky.”
“They are simple questions, Roark. The truth should not be difficult.”
He watched as she sat, crossing those glorious legs he loved. There was something off with her, he could tell. The warm, teasing spirit he usually encountered with her wasn’t there. He would have to address that later. The situations he had just discovered were far more important.
He sat forward. “I have three situations that have come to my attention. Two I will discuss with you. The third I will need to speak to your brother Myles about.”
“All right.”
Her response caught him off guard. “Where is my Heather today?”
“Grace is all you get, Roark. What is it you need to discuss?”
“Okay.” Roark nodded. “Straight to business. I want you to listen to this, then tell me who is speaking.” He clicked on the recording. He could tell when the voices caught her attention. She sat up, then listened intently as the argument played again. He could see the difficulty she was having hearing her father’s voice. Yet, that emotion was nothing compared to the anger that appeared on her face at the threat made by her uncle. When the recording finished, he clicked it off.
“Where did you get that recording?”
“Can you identify the voices on there?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “My grandfather, my father and my uncle.”
“Did you know your grandfather had stripped your uncle completely from his will?”
“No.” Grace shook her head. “Daddy told me Granddaddy’s assets were to be distributed evenly between him, his brother and his sister.”
“What about the threat to your family by your uncle. Do you believe, like your grandfather did, that Walker was capable of following through on the threat?”
“Yes, I do. I witnessed it.”
Roark sat forward. “What do you mean, you witnessed it? What did you witness?” He watched her sit back, sigh, then shake her head.
“Uncle Walker is the type of person you have to be shown just how far he will go. If he thinks you have a weak spot he will try to exploit it.”
“What did you witness, Grace?”
She closed her eyes. “I was eight, playing dress up in my mother’s closet when I heard a door slam. I jumped up then ran to the door of the closet. I could hear my mother shouting at someone to get out of her room. I was frightened because my mother never raised her voice. Then I saw her run to the bathroom, but a hand grabbed her by the hair and yanked her back. The man flung her on to the bed. She was kicking him, shouting for him to get out. It wasn’t until he fell to the floor that I recognized it was my Uncle Walker. He wiped some blood from his mouth, where my mother had kicked him. He looked so mad and he was so big. But my daddy told me that a bullet can bring down anything no matter the size. So I ran over to my daddy’s closet where he kept his clothes. I climbed up on the shelf and got his gun. My daddy kept his bullets in a drawer so I pulled out the top drawer of the dresser and got a bullet. I put it in the gun like my daddy showed me, then I walked into the bedroom. My Uncle Walker was on top of my mother, with his hand over her mouth. I fired one shot. Uncle Walker scrambled off the bed like the pathetic little man he was. My mother walked over to me with her hand out asking me for the gun. I shook my head no and said I was going to shoot him in the balls cause that’s what Daddy told me to do.”
Roark smiled. “What did your mother do?”
“She took the gun from me and said, ‘I will shoot him for you’.”
“You were eight years old and you knew how to load and fire a gun?”
She nodded. “It was a ritual in our family. At the age of five we all learned how to use a gun.”
“Why?” Roark had to ask. “Your family has always been well off. It’s not like you were from Hicksville where learning to fire a gun was second nature.”
“No.” She nodded in acknowledgement. “But we always had to protect ourselves from one thing or another.” She shrugged.
“Did you see him do anything else?”
“Not after that. Uncle Walker learned to stay away from me.”
Roark nodded. “He is not a good person, Grace. But you already know that.” He hesitated, then looked into her eyes. “Do you believe Walker had anything to do with your father’s death?”
“I do,” she replied without a pause. “Don’t ask me for proof or evidence because I do not have that. But if I had any doubt before, I don’t now. That recording sealed it for me.”
Roark picked up the folder, then handed it to her. “This may add fuel to the fire. As the legal representative for the Dunning family, you will have to decide how you want me to proceed on this.”
She took the document from him and began to read. Looking up, she raised an eyebrow. “An arrest warrant for Walker?”
“Yes.” He sat back and watched her glance over the document, look up at him then continue reading. “Where did you get this?”
“Your father left it with Daisy with instructions to give it to me if Walker did anything to harm your mother,” Roark replied.
“Does Daisy know what’s in here?”
“I don’t know. These are only copies. I am certain she has the originals.”
He watched as she sat back down. “How do you want me to proceed?”
She looked up at him. “Lock his ass up.”
Roark held his hand up. “Let’s think it through.”
“I don’t need to think anything through, Roark. Lock his ass up.”
“Grace, if he is responsible for your father’s death, wouldn’t you want him locked up for life rather than a few years in a federal system in a cozy dorm room for a white collar crime?”
“But we don’t have him on murder, Roark,” she exclaimed. “We have him on embezzlement.”
“This has been kept safe for this long. I say we hold off on making an arrest until we learn more about what happened to your father. If he was responsible for your father’s death, we will get him on murder. Trust me, we will get him.”
Grace put the folder on the desk, sat back then stared at him. “Trust you?”
The way she spoke caused him to proceed with caution. “Yes, Grace. You have always been able to trust me. You know that.” He tilted his head. “What’s going on with you?”
“Ten years ago, did you deliberately keep Jonathan from contacting me when he had to leave for home?”
His hear
t skipped a beat as she stared at him. He should have known that was going to come back to bite him in the ass. Roark sighed as his hand wiped down his face. He stood, then slowly walked over to her. He kneeled next to her, then looked up.
“Grace.” He took her hand in his. “Jonathan was going to leave you. Having a career was more important to him, than you were. I couldn’t let him continue to drag you on with the hope that one day, whenever it suited him, he would treasure you like the woman he loved.” He sighed. “If he loved you, he would have taken you with him, or at the very least searched for you that day. For the last ten years, Grace, it’s been me, right beside you. Me, not Jonathan. Even when he landed for your father’s funeral, I knew he wasn’t going to stay. He was still caught up in his career. Look how quickly he turned that plane back around, right back to Phase…that is the love of his life, Grace.”
Grace pulled her hand away. “Jonathan….Jonathan was here for the funeral?”
“Shit,” he muttered under his breath. “He didn’t tell you that?”
Grace stood, looking down at him. “No, Roark. But you are going to tell me now. When was Jonathan here?”
Roark slowly stood, taking in the full impact of her anger. He cleared his throat, then answered honestly. “The day after the news broke.”
The look in her eyes made him feel like dirt. He considered, for just one fleeting moment, not telling her the truth. Maybe, he could get away with a half-truth. No, he closed his eyes, resigned to the fact that he had to come clean if he planned on salvaging any part of their relationship. “I blocked his passport.”
The expression on her face was one of pure disbelief. “How could you, Roark? With all that I was dealing with, all that I was going through. You kept the one man who could have eased my pain from me at a time when I needed him. Roark, how could you do that?”
“He didn’t have to turn back, Grace,” Roark shouted. “He was here. If you were important to him, he has power, he should have found a way to stay.”
“You put that doubt in his mind, Roark. He would have no way of knowing how much I wanted him, needed him here because you put that doubt in both of our minds with the crap you did ten years ago.”
“I was twenty-one years old, Grace. Smitten by a girl for the first time in my life. I would have turned over heaven and earth to have a chance at you,” he yelled. “I didn’t see why you had to have the great Jonathan Michael and not me.”
“Because I loved him,” she yelled back. “I loved him then, I loved him over the ten years, and I love him now.”
Roark exhaled. “I see it, now. I get it, Grace…I get it.”
“Do you….Roark?”
He nodded. “I do,” he exhaled. “Answer one question honestly, Grace. You never considered me? In all these years, you never once thought of me in that way?”
She held his stare, then walked away, stopping at the door. “Handle the information on Uncle Walker in the way you see fit. I will let Myles know you need to speak with him on the third situation.”
“What about us, Grace? Where do we stand?”
Grace turned back to him. He wondered if she could see the hurt in his eyes. The disappointment in the revelation that he would never have her.
“You stole years from us, Roark. Years that Jonathan and I could have been together and you lied about it. I can’t trust you as a friend, now. I…can’t.”
She turned then walked out the door.
CHAPTER 21
“Daisy.”
“You’re home,” Daisy replied as she walked into the kitchen to see Winnieford removing her scarf. “How is that man?”
Winnie smiled. “You really need to lighten up about Walker Jr. He is harmless, for now.”
“That man is never harmless.” Daisy put a tea pot on the stove. “And don’t you forget it.”
“Well, he is the last thing on my mind right now. I can tell you that.” Winnie giggled.
Daisy stared at her. “Have you been drinking?”
Winnie smiled. “I have had a cup of tea or two at a delightful little shop in Williamsburg.” She sat down at the island. “The owner has magical teas that wipe the stress away with one sip.”
Daisy raised an eyebrow at her. “Uh huh. Did she use bourbon or rum?”
Winnie rested her head on her hand as she leaned on the island, then closed her eyes. “Bourbon, I think. The tea was blissful. Oh!” She snapped up. “I met a woman there. Believe me, it was a welcome change from the conversation with Walker.”
Daisy nodded. “What did Walker Jr. have to say for himself?”
Winnie waved her hand. “A bunch of bull crap,” she laughed. “Do you know he had the nerve to insinuate I could not handle things. As if I was a broken child or something.”
“You know who you are, Winnie.” Daisy poured the hot water into the tea cup. “Walker Jr. can only wish he was half the woman you are.”
Winnie laughed. “Walker Jr. couldn’t handle being a woman. The first signs of a cramp, he would fall over crying like a baby.”
“Did you eat anything at the tea shop?” Daisy asked a little concerned about Winnie’s state of intoxication. And make no mistake, her friend was drunk.
“Yes, I did.” Winnie brightened. “The cutest little croissants, with honey butter. They were simply delightful.”
“Uh huh.” Daisy continued to eye Winnie as she brought the cup of tea to her lips.
“Oh and I met a woman there. Did I say that already? Oh well.” The cup clattered when she sat it back down, a little excited. “We had a heartfelt conversation about coping with losing the love of your life.”
“Is she drunk too?” Daisy asked as she sat on the opposite side of the island with her tea.
Winnie laughed. “I’m not drunk, Daisy. But after a visit to Walker Jr., as you can imagine, there is quite a bit to sort through. The tea simply helped to clear my mind.”
“And did it clear your mind or muddle it more?”
“Yes, I think. At least enough to know Walker Jr. is up to something.” Winnie shifted in her chair as she picked up the tea cup holding it with both hands.
Daisy leaned across the island with her chin resting in her hand. “How did he give himself away this time?”
“Oh, he said all the right things, talking about making amends, taking responsibility.” Winnie smirked. “He even brought up the day he attacked me and Grace appeared out of nowhere.” Then she mocked him. “‘I would like to think I would have come to my senses before anything really happened.’ Can you believe he went there?”
“You should have asked how it felt to have Grace holding a gun to his balls?”
Winnie laughed. “I don’t know about Walker, but it hurt me to see my little girl with a gun in her hand.”
“I was proud of her that day,” Daisy said. “She scared Walker shitless, that’s for damn sure.”
“Yes, she did.” Winnie smirked, then sobered, shaking her head. “But you know, I could not help but get the feeling that whatever Walker is up to has to do with Grace.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I don’t know. Each time he said her name a chill went down my spine.”
“Pay attention to those signs, Winnie,” Daisy cautioned. “Your gut won’t fool you.”
“I know.” Winnie sat her cup down. “Have you heard from Myles this morning?”
Daisy looked at the clock and laughed. “Morning left a few hours ago. It’s well after two. Myles had meetings all morning, but you did just miss Grace.”
“Oh, I did? Was she looking for me?”
“No, she had a meeting with Roark,” Daisy replied. “I’m not sure it went too well. She was in a mood when she left.”
“Hmm, I figured that relationship would change once Jonathan Michael arrived. Grace has been yearning for that man since forever. I wonder how she and Jonathan are doing?”
“I think they have kindled a few fires.”
“Really?” Winnie smiled. “Why do you sa
y that?”
“She had that day after a good love making glow.” Daisy smiled. “And from the looks of it, that Jonathan fellow hit the mark.”
“Grace deserves that young man in her life. She’s had to deal with a lot since Hep’s death. And now, I fear she will not have peace of mind until she knows exactly what happened to her father.”
Daisy put her tea cup down. “What about you, Winnie?” She examined the woman she considered a friend. “How are you doing with the news?”
“I’m pissed.” Winnie turned to face her. “To the highest level of pissivity, that’s how pissed I am. If I wasn’t such a lady I would be working with Jerome and Mike on the investigation. Once we discovered who killed my Hep, I would whip their ass then try to stomp them into the ground until they were knocking on the door of hell.”
Daisy raised an eyebrow. “Tell me how you really feel, why don’t you?”
Winnie sighed. “On one hand I want to know who and why. But I don’t want the children spending their lives trying to find answers. I need them to be happy, find love, fill the house with babies and…..” She sighed again. “I just don’t want them to waste a day of living.”
“I know, Winnieford, I know.” Daisy covered Winnie’s hand with hers. “Myles is on his way. Jerome mentioned something about him and Chrystina talking about getting married. And now, Grace is settling down with Jonathan. Two down, three to go.”
Excited, Winnie’s eyes widened. “Did Myles ask Chrystina to marry him?”
“Not yet.” Daisy beamed. “But he did ask me to have a team to pack up her place and move her to his house by this weekend.”
“That is wonderful news.” Winnie smiled at her. “You really think Grace is ready for a one-on-one relationship with Jonathan?”
“I think Grace has been waiting for exactly that.” Daisy nodded.
