CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” asked Rachelle.
“I have to figure it out,” said Deanna. “I can’t keep seeing things that aren’t there and making myself and everyone else crazy. It’s too much, and I should have done this a long time ago.”
“Just lie down, honey,” said Ashley. “Take in a few deep breaths. That’s good. Now, close your eyes. You’re safe. No one is here that shouldn’t be here. The guys are right there against the wall. No one is going to hurt you.”
Deanna gave a short nod, closing her eyes as she released the last big breath.
“Tell me about that afternoon,” said Rachelle. “What were you and your folks doing?”
“Mom wanted to have a late lunch. She said there was something important they wanted to talk about. We had lunch at Brennan’s and then visited a few antique shops.”
“It sounds lovely,” said Rachelle. “It must have been a relaxing afternoon for the three of you.”
“It was,” she smiled. “Mom loved antique shopping. She was looking for something special, but she didn’t tell me what. It was a lovely day. The first bit of a cold snap last fall.”
“What happened when you left the antique store?”
“We kept walking toward Canal, cutting over to the parking garage. We cut through the alleyway on Clinton to get to Bienville. We always did. It was our little secret shortcut. There wasn’t anyone there.”
“Was that normal?”
“N-no. No. There were usually people there, cutting through just like us or walking. It’s a lovely alleyway that goes all the way through. Dad told a joke, and we were laughing.”
“It sounds perfect.”
“It was. And then it wasn’t. Two men. Two men walked toward us. One was tall and dark-skinned. Maybe Italian or Hispanic. I can’t be sure. He had a ball cap pulled down over his eyes.”
“Did he have any identifiable marks?”
“Y-yes. A tattoo on his neck. A spider. I thought it was weird. The eyes were bugging out like it was surprised, almost like a cartoon. I don’t know why I’m remembering that.”
“What about the other man?”
“He was different. Very stiff and formal. He told Dad they expected more from him. He told him that they needed him, needed him to finish the job.”
“What job, Deanna?”
“I couldn’t hear everything. Mom kept pushing me backwards. No. No, that’s not right. She was pushing me back toward Canal. She said I should leave, but the men told me to stay. A gun. Guns. They had guns. Dad said he wasn’t going to do the job. He refused. The man, the stiff man, looked right at me. He looked me in the eyes.”
Deanna started crying, shaking her head.
“Deanna, look at his face. Honey, I need you to look at the man’s face. Who is it?”
“It can’t be. It can’t be. He’s a friend. He’s our friend.”
“Sis,” whispered Gaspar. She turned to her brother and held up her finger, mouthing the word ‘wait.’
“Come on, Deanna. You can see him. He won’t hurt you. You’re safe here. Who is it? Who do you see?”
“Jamal Buckner. It’s Jamal Buckner.”
“Jamal fucking Buckner. Head of the Department of Energy, former Louisiana governor, and college roommate of Deanna’s father,” said Gaspar. “He set him up and then thought he owned Deanna because of the relationship with her father. He couldn’t imagine that she wouldn’t remember.”
“Do you understand how difficult this is going to be? He’s the first black man heading a major government entity. He was hand-picked by the president and seen as a potential candidate for the next POTUS election,” said Nine.
Rachelle walked into the room, staring at all the men.
“How is she?” asked Gaspar.
“Confused. Scared. Angry. It’s all normal and all good. She remembered everything about that afternoon. Buckner shot her father. The other man shot her mother. When they turned to her, Buckner said finish the work, or you’re next.”
“It explains why there were no witnesses. Buckner probably had someone blocking the alleyway, and any cameras in the area were either removed or disrupted. What a damn shit show,” said Antoine.
“Yep. But it makes sense. He needed the tax issues for Douglass and Jackson to go away so that they could keep working on the pipeline. If it didn’t go away, all eyes would be on them, and he’d lose months of planning. The energy commission and others wouldn’t have approved the pipeline or anything else that they tried to pass in a legal manner,” said Angel. Gaspar nodded at the men in the room, then stood.
“Michael? I know you still have connections in D.C. You are, after all, the former POTUS.” He smiled at his friends.
“What do you need me to do?”
“Get on the phone and start calling. Put a bug in everyone’s ear that you speak with and see what you can come up with. If anyone wants to know details, just tell them you’ve been hearing rumors. D.C. knows what an asshole Leon is. Let’s find a way to stop them all.”