Love's Protector: A Maverick's Shield Novel (23 page)

“Did you hear what they were saying?”

“No I didn’t. I was across the street so I couldn’t make it out. They were just very loud that’s how I knew someone was in there with her.”

“Did you see who it was?” he asked.

“No sorry. My mom made me come in the house before whoever it was had left but I did talk to the woman that was parked outside of my house though.”

“What woman was that?”

“She was sitting in her car looking in the direction of Mrs. Graciette’s house with binoculars. It looked as if she was trying to look through her living room window or something.”

“Did you know her?”

“No. I only talked to her because I liked her car. She had one of those Chevy Camaros from the 70’s. It was red with a racing stripe and I thought it was cool.”

“Can you remember anything else about her?”

“I remember she had long jet black hair like that lady from the Adams Family except it wasn’t that
long. Oh, and she had the coolest fuzzy dice hanging from her rear view mirror. I remember them well because I thought about how cool it would be to steal them and give them to my aunt Angela for Christmas.”

Jason frowned.
“Your aunt Angela?”

“Yeah, one of the dice had that name written on it and it’s also my aunt’s name so I wanted to steal them so I could give them to her but I chickened out and as I said, my mother had made me come in the house by then anyway. That’s about all I can remember about that day. I’m sorry.”

“No that’s quite alright sweetheart. You were plenty of help to me. Thank you for calling me.”

“No problem. If I think of anything else I’ll be sure to give you a call.”

“Please do. You have a good night.”

“Who was that?” Amour asked from behind Jason as he slid his cell back in his pants pocket.

He gently grabbed Amour’s arm and led her to another isolated place in the large room. “That was Rachel Monroe.”

He could tell she’d also forgotten about her because she frowned for a second. He could also tell when she’d remembered because her eyes widened. “Oh, what did she say?”

“Angela was there.”

“Where?”

“At your mom’s house that day.
Rachel told me that she saw her parked in front of her house in a 70’s model Camaro.”

“My mother’s?”

“No, her own house.”

“How did she know it was Angela?”

“She described her as having black hair and she saw her name written on some big dice that were hanging in her car.”

“Oh my god!
That’s why she talked so bad about my mother. Maybe she was in on all of this.”

Jason looked around and then back at Amour. “Or maybe she did it.”

“But why would she have wanted my mother dead?”

“I don’t know, but my suspect list just got a little bit longer.”

The few days leading up to the party were spent mostly with the two of them laying low and Jason following up on a few leads that Alex had given him without much success. But now they potentially had something. Angela...what could
she
possibly have to do with any of this? As far as Amour knew they were only co-workers and former friends. Why on earth would she want her mother dead? Did she actually kill her? What about Pierce Harrington? Pierce…the man that she was staring at across the room looking ridiculously smug and full of himself. Standing there, smiling for the camera and shaking hands. Then there’s Beatrice, she wasn’t smiling. As a matter of fact, she was looking rather tired. Could she have killed her? And what about Riley and Westfield? Did the two of them lie about what happened to cover up her murder? All of this was once again starting to make her sick to her stomach. Was it wrong for her to hate five people she didn’t even know? Maybe. But she couldn’t help it. She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn’t even realize Jason was behind her until he tapped her on the shoulder.

“Hey…Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m just ready to get this over with.”

“Do you want me to go and talk to him alone?”

There was no way she was backing out of this. “No, I’m fine. How are we going to get over there to talk to him?”

“Cheryl just told his campaign manager that you hosted an online talk show or something about politics.”

She chuckled. “What?”

“I know, just go with it okay. All you have to do is act like a journalist or something and tell her that you want to ask Harrington a few questions and take a photo with him. He’s up for re-election so any publicity that’s not negative will be good for him.”

“Do you think that’s going to work Jason?”

“It depends on how hard you sell it honey.”

“Why can’t
you
do it?”

He looked at her with a cocked eyebrow. “Amour, I’m a six foot three inch man with muscles and tattoos. Does it look like spend my time interviewing politicians on the internet?”

“I guess you have a point.”

Jax quickly walked up to them. “Come on guys we don’t have very much time. Harrington will be leaving soon.”

“We’re ready man,” Jason said.

Amour collected her thoughts, took in a deep breath and walked up to the crowd of reporters and photographers that surrounded the senator with as much confidence as she could muster up. She pushed her way through the crowd and managed to get a spot in the front next to a short bald man holding a camera that smelled like he had put on a whole bottle of very cheap cologne. After the senator answered a few questions from the reporters around him, he suddenly started to walk off.
No…where was he going?
Next thing she knew, he was whisked away by three bodyguards and taken outside.
Shit!
Now what? Hell, what was she going to do anyway? Ask him if he murdered her mother right in front of all the paparazzi? Well if he did murder her, getting exposed would’ve served him right. Talk about bad luck. Even though she was pretty sure she’d get another opportunity, she couldn’t help but be disappointed.

Jason walked up behind her after the crowed had thinned out and rubbed his palm on the back of her head. “It’s alright sweetheart. We’ll get a chance to talk to him don’t worry.”

She shot him an angry look. “I’m not worried, I’m pissed!”

“Don’t be. Come on, let’s go home.”

As they made their way home, Amour explained to Jason what went on with Beatrice and Caroline in the ladies room at the party. He was fairly silent about the subject, she guessed because he was once again thinking of strategy. It seems he was always thinking. Sometimes so much it almost scared her. After about ten more minutes of “thinking” he finally spoke.

“Is that all you got from the senator’s wife and daughter?”

“Yeah…but it was strange though.”

“What was strange?”

“Caroline was acting kind of weird. She seemed to be in a hurry to get her mother out of the bathroom and away from me.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.”

“It doesn’t?”

“No. After talking to Mrs. Pruitt and seeing the color of her hair I put two and two together when I first saw Mrs. Harrington.”

“You seem to have come to the conclusion that she’s guilty.”

He glanced at her and then back at the road. “Not one-hundred percent but pretty close.”

She felt the same way but how they were going to prove it, she had no idea.

* * *

The next morning, Jason and Amour decided to pay the man that had attacked Amour a visit in the county jail. She didn’t want face him, so Jason left her behind in the visitor’s waiting room while he went inside. After doing some research, he found out the man’s name was Marcus Wright and he had a rap sheet as long as a football field. Jason sat at the small desk that housed the phone and stared into the glass window awaiting Marcus’ arrival. When he finally came out and sat down in front of him, Jason picked up the phone and smirked because he couldn’t believe such a pussy looking man had the nerve to be her attacker. He’d guessed that was probably why he attacked women. He probably couldn’t take a man on if his life depended on it.

Marcus grabbed the phone receiver, placed it to his ear and looked up at Jason giving him a smug grin. “What the hell do
you
want? I have nothing to say to you!”

Jason glanced away for a couple of seconds and then looked back up at him, this time with no expression. “Look you asshole, I don’t have time for all of your shit! I’m going to ask you questions and you’re gonna answer them. Got it?”

Marcus scowled. “And why should I do that?”

“Because I have friends in here that will see to it that you get your ass kicked on a daily basis if you don’t. And by ass kicked I mean shanked several times and don’t think the guards in here will give a damn about some rapist getting the shit beat out of him because they don’t. So unless you want to today to be the last day you’ll be able to digest solid foods then I’d suggest you cooperate. As I told you on the phone, you have no idea what I’m capable of either.”

Marcus looked as if he’d seen a ghost. He stared at Jason for a few seconds and the spoke. “W…What do you want to know?”

Jason looked at him like he was the dumbest person on earth. “What do you think I wanna know? Who are you working for?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Why not?”

“Because If I do, they’ll be much more merciless on me than you ever could. I do wanna get out of this hell hole alive one day.”

Jason leaned in closer to the glass and stared him in the face. “And if you don’t tell me who it is now, you will be laying in a body bag by the end of the day. Take your pick. Considering the fact that you just got your ass kicked by a girl whose hands were all tied up, I’m sure the men in here won’t have a problem doing their business with you so it should be an easy decision for you.”

Marcus scowled at Jason for making that comment, but he didn’t acknowledge it. “If I tell you can you promise me that they won’t find out?”

“You just tried to rape and kill my girlfriend; I’m not promising your ass anything!”

He smiled. “That chick’s your bitch?”

As much as Jason felt like punching a
hole straight through the glass and strangling this jerk, he kept his composure. “You have ten seconds to start talking.”

“Ok man! I don’t know exactly who the brain behind the whole operation is. I was just following orders from Armando.”

“Who the fuck is that?”

“I don’t know; he just goes by that name. He told me that his boss wanted the blonde chick dead so I just did what I was told.”

“Who is
his
boss?”

“Are you deaf man? I told you I don’t know. I did hear him on the phone talking to a female.”

“How do you know that?”

Because every time he got orders he would always say “
Yes ma’am
!” I figured it was some old lady or something. I went with him to pick up some money at someone’s house in Bel Air once also. ”

“What else?”

“Nothing man! I swear that’s all I know.”

Jason knew he was telling the truth because he was shaking uncontrollably and he knew Marcus didn’t want to repeatedly get his ass kicked while he was inside of twin towers. His next move was obviously to find out who this Armando person was and also who this
ma’am
was he was getting orders from. If they were picking money up in Bel Air, then that probably was where this mystery woman lived. Bel Air is a very affluent community. It’s actually somewhere a person that was very rich would live; someone like a Hollywood star, an athlete, the co-owner of an exclusive lounge or…a politician.

“It’s looking more and more like Beatrice is our girl,” Jason told Amour as they walked through the parking lot of the twin towers.

“Why? Is that who he’s working for?”

“No he’s taking orders from someone named Armando and
he’s
been referring to
his
boss as ma’am. He also told me that he’s gone to a home in Bel Air to pick up cash before with this guy. If I’m not mistaken, Senator Harrington lives there.”

“Are you sure?”

“Not at the moment but I need to see if Chandra could possibly get Marcus’ phone records so I can see who he has been calling besides you.”

“Do you think she can do that?

“I’m sure she’s capable.”

“Alright.”

Jason slid his cell out of his pocket after getting in the driver’s seat of his truck and dialed before putting it up to his ear.

After a couple of rings, a female voice answered. “West Side Community Station, this is Officer Winslow.”

Good, she was still there. “Hey Chandra, it’s Jason.”

“Hey! What’s up?”

“I need you to try and get the cell phone records of an inmate at Twin Towers.”

“Okay…who’s the inmate?”

“Marcus Wright. He’s the one that kidnapped Amour last week.”

“Oh, alright.
That’s gonna take a little bit of work because our precinct didn’t handle that arrest but I’m on it.”

“Thanks Chandra.”

“You got it!”

Amour looked up at Jason. “This all seems like quite a ridiculous thing to kill someone over. So they had an affair. Even if they would’ve gotten exposed so what? Pierce Harrington loses his job? Is that really worth murdering someone over?”

He gave the guard at the exit to the parking lot his ticket and then drove out of the lot when the barricades lifted. “To someone like him, yes. Losing his seat not only means losing his job, it also means losing his status, his money, his reputation and all of his power. Beatrice would be felt sorry for instead of admired and revered. She and the senator would probably divorce and their whole lives would turn to shit. Once you get a taste of living on easy street, it’s hard to give it up and yes, some people will commit murder to keep it.”

“I guess.”

By the time they’d gotten onto the 10 freeway, Chandra had called him back. She’d gotten in contact with another officer at the Mid-City precinct and they’d given her the information she needed.

“Wow that was fast,” Jason said to Chandra.

“It’s not hard to get info from cops when you’re also one. They just assume that it’s business.”

Before he could reply to her, he suddenly felt someone hit his truck from behind as they entered the 10 freeway causing him to lose control and swerve off to the other side of the highway. Amour screamed as he managed to gain control of the wheel again and avoid oncoming traffic. Shots were fired nearly shattering the back window of his truck as he tried to make his way back to the right side of the road and one of the off ramps.

“Get down Amour!”

She screamed again as two more shots were fired hitting the passenger side of his truck. He slammed on the gas pedal and headed
towards the Crenshaw exit. He glanced out of his rear view mirror and saw a large black truck chasing him. He turned left onto the large street thanking his lucky stars that it was mid morning and it wasn’t a lot of traffic. Because of that, he was able to navigate quickly through the neighborhood in hopes of losing whoever this was after him. He had no such luck though. The other car was tailing him very well and very closely. He quickly turned into the parking lot of a fast food restaurant, sped up and made a sharp right turn in the narrow alley in back of the place causing the other car to miss the turn completely and crash into the brick wall in front of them. The sharp turn also caused Jason to side swipe the wall and head straight for a homeless man pushing a shopping cart in his direction. He honked his horn at the man but it was too late to stop. He swerved to the right to avoid him and crashed head first into a large tree at the end of the alley.