Wings of Deception (13 page)

“Who
wants me there
?
Cannon
,
Belk
?
T
h
ose
rotten
…
.
”

“
Yes!” She cut him off knowing his temper was
fl
aring.
“Yes, you know it is and
,
Jacks
trust me,
if
they want you, they will have you, one way or the other.”

“I will see them in hell first!”

“
Y
ou don’t believe in hell, remember?” It was almost comical
,
but just
a
lmost.

“I am going to tell you what is
happening
,
if you will believe it.

“Try me.”

“They found out that you never had plans to leave New York before their offer
,
so when the little girl got their attention they planned a little
surprise
for you.”

“What are you saying?
They want to get even with me because I would not take their offer to run for the senate
?
”

“I am saying that they have your prints on the murder weapon, the one that killed that judge
, you know the one I’m talking about,
and they have someone who will swear that you were
with her
at the time of the murder.”

Jacks was
bewildered
.
H
e expected most anything but that
,
and when he
did
not say anything, Sheila continued. “It was a set up Jacks. I am afraid that you are now under their power, just like I am.
”

He could hear the remorse in her voice. A bit calmer he asked her, “Sheila, why didn’t you warn me? You let me fall into the trap, why?”

“Because they have my dad in a similar position and he
will
die if I do not do everything they want.”

“Is that why you married that freak
?
B
ecause they blackmailed you
?
Well, you can just tell them for me to do their best, I will not be threatened.
Naw
, put that slime ball on the phone, I will tell him myself!
”

“
Morgan is giving me some
rare
privacy to talk to
you,
he’s not i
n
the room. It won’t happen again for I am totally isolated
here,
so you have to listen to me now.
If you don’t do what they want, they will kill me and
d
addy. Please Jacks, I do
n’t
care much about me but my daddy has never hurt any
one
in his entire life.”

“Sheila, they are bluffing.”
But he was thinking about being brought in for questioning. Now it made sense.

“You are wrong. The
y don’t
bluff. Ask th
at
judge…oh
,
but she is dead isn’t she? Jacks,
please
come,
just
meet with them, please!”

Jacks
was
doing some fast thinking,
What
ever
could they possibly want with me to go to
such
lengths
?
”
H
e shook his head in disbelief. To have someone murdered was not playing around. He would have to go if he wanted to find out who was
behind
Judge Langley’s murder. He asked Sheila, “
This is my fault isn’t it
?
O
kay, I will figure something out.
Do you know
how many people they have in their
control
here?”

“More than you would believe.”

“
Even i
n the
police department and the legal system?”

He was thinking about the detectives who had questioned him about Langley’s murder.

“Yes, and in
some
of the
government departments too.”

“Okay, so I come for this meeting, then what?”

“I cannot say. I don’t know. I only know what I have told you, that’s the God’s truth Jacks.”

She began to cry and
he could hear
someone sa
y
, “Give me the phone!” Then, “Hello Jacks, my sweet darling here has clued you in I hope. You will have to pardon her though, she gets emotional. Now, do we have an understanding
or not
, Jacks
?” The Jacks was emphasized
and Morgan Belk laughed.
“
I see we do.
Have our girl Tina set you up with a flight and we will arrange to have a car pick you up
at the airport.
Bring a tux
.
T
here is a celebration going on that night. Oh, and if you think of not coming, just remember I have Sheila here and…well use your imagination!

“
Y
ou
sonofabitch
!”

“Maybe
so
, but I am
betting
I will see
you Thursday night
.”

The phone went dead and Jacks uttered
words
he had to have made up but when his temper
subsided
,
he sat down and put his head in his hands wondering if
this was all real
. He thought about his assistant.
Tina. Who would have guessed?
I knew I did not like something about that woman!

So
,
i
f
Morgan and his associates
were behind having
Judge Langley killed, he was sure they would have no qualms about doing the same
or worse
to Sheila or her father. So now what to do
?
I
f he did not do what they
wanted
,
they
would
suffer
and
he would no doubt be locked up for the murder of Judge Langley.

The next day he told
their
girl Tina to make reservations. She never said a word which would be inductive to knowing he sensed anything
. He thought it better to not act out of the ordinary
,
so he forced himself to go through the motions of working the next two days.

Jacks was a smart man and he knew that if Sheila said the people had members of their whatever the hell they called themselves, embedded in Mississippi
,
then it would do no good to go
to the police with the situation. Not since he had already been questioned. He would make the trip to New York and meet with Belk. He was sure he was not going to like whatever
the people
wanted but
he could not take a chance that anyone else would suffer because of him.
Judge Langley would not be dead if not for him. This he was sure of.

                                                                              SEVEN

A surprised Honey
agreed to meet
Jacks
when he called. She could not imagine wh
y
he wanted to see her
,
but the urgency
of
his voice
over the phone
caused her not to hesitate. He did not want to meet at the clinic so they were meeting at a small café
,
m
idway between the Reservoir and Philadelphia. She
arrived
there first and
selected a table in the back
of the room where they could talk with a minimum of distraction.
He
had
insisted it should be where they could talk privately.

Jacks was
only minutes behind her and she waved him
back
when she saw him
.

“Miss Magill, thank you for meeting me. I was afraid after the last time you
saw me
,
you
might not want to see me
again
. I owe you an apology.”

She
was curious
, “Surely you didn’t bring me here for an apology
,
I
thought you might have good news about Carol.
You are going to leave her family alone
,
aren’t you?
”

The waitress appeared to take their order
,
so the
y
both ordered a sandwich and drink. That out of the way,
Jacks picked
up
the conversation
,
“Miss Magill…”

Honey
interrupted him, “Excuse me Jacks
,
but if you insist on being called just Jacks, I
t seems only fair you s
hould
call
me
just
Honey
.”

When h
e laughed
,
she got her first glimpse of
his
charm
but
he
quickly reverted
back
to his serious
countenance
.

“
Honey
,”

It was said with such ease as it had r
u
ng over and over in his mind
the last few days. He
had
thought it over carefully before decid
ing
to trust her. Now he was willing to believe the charges against the Bowler’s were all a
deception
to entrap him into something
much more sinister
.

He shut his eyes
briefly
to clear his thoughts
then
continued, “
No, I am not here to relieve your mind about Carol.
However, t
his does have something to do with all that
. F
irst of all
,
I
need to
ask that anything we talk
about here
be kept confidential
. Can
you
do that?”

“If you ask
me to,
then yes, I will keep your confidence. You sound so serious
.
You have to know that
all of us from church
have been praying
for the ACAA to drop th
e whole
thing with the Bowler’s
.
”

He
r words caused him to
wonder what he was doing
there
and for a minute regretted coming.
“I am quite sure you remember that I do not believe in your God. I am not here to persuade you to not believe
,
nor am I here to be persuaded to believe
as you
. 
I support your right to believe in anything you want to but
I am here because I
also
believe there are things happening that involve your
religious
beliefs.
”

He
hesitated
long enough to take a deep breath. “
I am here
…
Honey
…
because one person has
already
died because of your God and I do not want to see the same thing happen to someone else.”

Honey
was trying to digest what Jacks was saying but she was lost in his words. “I do not understand. What are you saying?”

Jacks explained, “The judge who dismissed
Carol
’s case, is dead.”

“
Yes
, there
was a burglary.”

“
It was made to look like
a burglary
but she
was murder
ed because someone wanted her dead.
”