Chapter Four Neversmile
Julianna
All I could do was stare at Glory. “You have to though,” I told her. “To save your father, correct?”
Glory looked white in the face as she replied, “Yes, we do. And I’m scared for Dad, because this V woman is…insane. At least according to Jewel who met her. V wants revenge for her mother’s death.”
Finally, someone had mentioned V. I had been waiting and waiting. Just because they knew Deacon did not mean they had met or heard of V. “And her mother is who?” I asked.
“The woman Talon talked about in that video…Ophelia,” Stephano replied. “The infamous Crime Queen. Deacon and V’s mother was the famous O.”
I stared at him then around at all of them then my gaze stopped on Romeo. “For real? Even the cartels are scared of that woman.”
He gave me a nod. “Yes, scary, right? And she is who started all of this as far as I understand it.”
“Olivia Walker was her real name at one time,” Liv said as she looked troubled. “My mom named me after her.” She raised her hand up at me. “Before she knew she was a psychopath, of course. Then Deacon took over for her.”
Glory fumed. “I wanted to pull that trigger so bad that day. But that fucker will run out of luck someday.”
“His luck ran out the day he went after my son and you,” Stephano stated as he looked angry as well. “I refused to even go see him since he arrived. I might just put a bullet in his head instead of talking to him.”
I raised my hands up at them. “I have heard enough. Please do not make any open threats. I am not doubting that he is a criminal. That video proves he is. However, I am an attorney and I do not wish to be called to the stand someday to testify against my will about any of you making threats to him.”
“Threats to him?” Talon griped. “My God, woman. We have been under threats from him for a long while now.”
I stared at Talon then looked over at Romeo.
Shaking his head, he said, “I’m sorry. The minute you stopped at those doors…” Romeo pointed at the study doors. “...you were involved, Julianna.”
I scoffed. “Yes, my Mama always said my nosiness would get me into trouble.”
Stephano laughed. “Your mother is a wise woman.”
I looked away and said, “She is.” I then met Romeo’s gaze to ask, “So what can we do legally?”
“Legally?” he asked. “For this situation?” He shook his head. “Nothing.”
“I don’t know about legal, but we have to make the exchange,” Dante said.
“Then what?” I asked.
Stephano stared at me and gently told me, “I think I agree with what you said before, Ms. Regatta…You have been involved enough.”
“And I agree with my father for once.” Romeo smiled at me.
“I have already heard that you are holding an FBI agent against his will,” I said. “Mr. Descalia showed him to me on his phone, so there is no denying that I saw… it. And that is certainly a capital offense. If I do not immediately run to the police and tell them…I am in it. As that is a damned serious crime.” While all of this was true, I could allow them to push me away from this now. They had Deacon Walker in custody and he might be the only person that could lead me to V.
“So are you going to do that?” Glory asked. “Run to the cops?”
I looked over at her. Like I would. This was the closest I had gotten to a real lead. “No, I can't do that either, really. Stephano Descalia is also my client. He is my firm’s client. So, I’m sort of compromised either way. But I cannot be on board with kidnapping or killing.”
“Then what do you want us to do?” Glory asked.
“That video from the truck stop is incriminating…” I looked over at Liv. “And I know someone like you has more evidence. Lawful evidence.”
Liv gave me a nod. “We have quite a bit and it is not hearsay. However, Deacon will just go underground if he loses his agent status.” She shrugged. “Does he love being FBI? Yeah, he does. But he is more of a criminal than a lawman. He loves playing games. Plotting, planning and doing it all unseen and undiscovered. He is maniacal, intelligent and very dangerous.”
I cocked my head at her and said, “You sound like you know him personally.”
“I do.” Liv shrugged. “Or I did.” She rolled her eyes and added, “Or not?”
We all stared at her.
She slowly shook her head and explained, “This is going to sound incredible, but it is an example of how insane he and his mother were. About 8 years ago, I knew the person he projected himself as. He was never real, but nevertheless, he was pretty much my best friend in school. He became my boyfriend’s roommate in college. He infiltrated our world if that is the right phrase for it? And I never knew who he really was at that time. He was playing these games that early even when we were just students before he and I were in law enforcement. His mother planted him there in my life. Why? To break me and my fiancé up? To set some other things into motion? I am still unsure. I think she was just watching all of us. He was a plant to do that.”
“That’s insane,” I said even though I knew his mother was insane and there seemed to be no reasons for her actions. “So how did you finally find out about him?”
Liv scoffed. “When I finally returned home last year, we decided to go undercover at one of O’s strip clubs. Logan and I. We thought we could find out where she was hiding. We didn’t.”
Liv then went on to tell us what happened…
…Bursting in through the door, Logan and Liv looked around the office.
A desk, office chair and a monitor. A large one. Suddenly, it came on and a face appeared on it.
Stunned, the couple stared at the screen.
“I waited a long time for this,” the man on the screen spoke as he tipped his head.
“Deacon?” Liv gasped.
Nodding, Deacon chuckled. “I see you are surprised. Just goes to show you that as smart as you thought you were…” He grinned. “O is smarter.”
“What the hell is this?” Logan asked. “What—” he halted.
“If you could see your faces!” Deacon laughed. “Just a Kodak moment, I tell you.”
“What are you doing, Deacon?” Liv’s voice sounded soft and hurt vibrated in it.
“Aww, I’m sorry. Did you not get that memo?” Deacon shook his head.
“You worked for her?” Liv asked.
“Yes, for all this time. My job was to break you two up. O didn’t want Olivia happy. Then lo and behold, Logan’s daddy made it easy.”
He sat right there on that screen telling the truth yet it was hard to comprehend it.
“Being Logan’s roommate, his best buddy. I reported everything to her. I had a mission to complete.”
“You set me up in this job at the club,” Liv said. “So that means—”
“Yeah!” Deacon exclaimed with a laugh. “You are finally catching up. She knew all about your little sting op before you even walked in here. And I gotta say, Liv… the hair, the getup? Ouch. Sizzling hot. You look good as a redhead.”
“All that time,” Liv spoke. “The visits, the calls you made to me overseas, you being in the FBI.”
Nodding again, he replied. “Yes, yes. She needed eyes on you…”
“What my sister is trying to tell you,” Talon interjected. “Is that once again, he wasted our time with a game. But we don’t have time to list all of the things he and his mother have done. You just need to realize one thing here, he will not give this up, even if we just trade him over. He will come back again.” Talon glared around at us all. “I am tired of wondering which of my family members will be killed. Will my mom survive this? My brothers?” He clenched his fists at his sides. “I am sorry if it insults you but I do not give a fuck about this attorney client privilege crap. Or if you know that I want him dead…period. And I do not give a fuck about breaking the law. Why? Because abiding by the law will not stop this fucker. He works for the law while he murders, kidnaps, attacks and stalks my entire family.”
Liv nodded at him then looked over at me. “We have to stop him, Ms. Regatta. We cannot live like this anymore. We left our home, then we all split up. And still, he is after us. I’m an agent of the law as well, but I cannot see any solid solution except for…” Her voice faded away.
“Except for him being dead, dead, fucking dead,” Glory stated in a seething voice. “There are times when that is the only way. If he lives, we will never be safe. Our kids, our cousins, our parents…No Walker will be safe.” She looked over at Stephano and added, “And now, no Descalia will be safe.”
Stephano shrugged. “No worries. I won’t openly threaten his life again.” He smiled at me. “However, he could get hit by a car or have some accident that has nothing to do with us.”
Romeo shook his head at his father. “Papa…”
“So this man, Jarret Walker.” I now stared at Glory. “Your father. He has been kidnapped?”
Nodding, she replied, “He has apparently. Redemption got a call telling us that.” She looked over at her brother.
He stared at her then glanced down at his cell. Tapping the screen and then scrolling down a bit, Redemption raised his phone to show me an image.
It showed an older man, handsome though. He had a bruised cheek and he looked angry. I glanced up to see the resemblance to Redemption and to Talon for that matter. The Walker men all had similar looks. “So have you received any demands?”
Redemption nodded and used his forefinger to scroll his cell screen a bit. “But this is what I received at first,” he said. “It was with my dad’s photo.” He then handed the phone to me.
I read the odd text message aloud, “What love hath united, death cannot separate.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Talon grumbled.
“It means this V is as insane as he is,” Glory replied.
Redemption nodded. “Then below there is another message.”
“Tuesday, 8 pm,” I read it aloud as well. “Metairie Cemetery at J.V. Harrington’s crypt.”
Glory grabbed the phone from my hand to look at it. “Who the hell is J.V. Harrington?”
“Neversmile Joe,” I replied slowly as I wondered about this part. How odd was it to meet in a cemetery, by a local semi famous character’s tomb?
“Yes, that’s it!” Romeo exclaimed a bit excitedly. “I was trying to remember who Harrington was. The famous New Orleans gambler.”
“Ok, I’m confused,” Redemption said as he shook his head.
“Of course you are,” I told him. “You would have to be a cemetery buff or have gone on those Metairie tours lots of times to know about him.”
“Apparently, you have been there lots,” Romeo said as he nodded at me. “I haven’t really but I love odd history and Neversmile was super odd.”
Everyone in the room looked back and forth at us as if we were from a different planet.
“Neversmile?” Liv asked in confusion as she tilted her head.
“Si…Joe Neversmile is a part of New Orlean’s illustrious history,” Stephano interjected. Smiling at us, he nodded. “I heard about it years ago. His story got me and the man himself was someone I admire. Davvero meraviglioso…An absolute winner. The perfect gambler.”
“Until he wasn’t.” Romeo scoffed.
“I’m not sure he wasn’t,” I argued.
“He got offed in his car, Julianna,” Romeo reminded me. “I think he cheated at a card game or someone thought he had.”
“Ok, ok,” Talon exclaimed as he raised his hands up at us. “What the hell does he have to do with this?”
I looked over at him and pondered this for a minute. He was right. What did this story have to do with Deacon Walker?
“I have to agree with him,” Romeo said. “I don’t get it either. Why have the exchange there at his crypt?”
I took out my phone and said, “Just a second.” I quickly looked up the famous gambler story. “I seem to remember…” I nodded as I read over the article. “Yes…”
“Oh, I cannot wait to hear this,” Dante said.
His father Stephano agreed. “Si, si. This should be interesting to say the least.”
I stared down at my cell screen and read part of the famous story…well famous in the South, at least. “On July 21, 1924 Joseph Harrington was returning home in his shiny new Buick Roadster, purchased only ten days before, from a successful night of craps and card playing – when he was gunned down on the corner of Louisiana and Constance Street – just a couple of blocks from his house.
Harrington was found slumped over the wheel of his car while it was still running with a split lip and $1304.04, tucked away in a secret pocket on the inside of the breast of his shirt, next to his undershirt known was a “gambler’s pocket” so it wouldn’t be picked. The first line of the State’s newspaper article reporting his death was simply – They got Joe Neversmile . He was nicknamed as such for his uncanny ability to read his hand without looking up and never revealing the slightest hint with a twitch of face, or a raise of an eyebrow to the hand he held. It was also said he could make the dice behave .”
“Bene, bene,” Stephano cut in as he looked amused. “The story always intrigued me. The man was a pure gambler if there ever was one. A charmer as well. And yes, he pulled stunts or crimes you might call them and no one knew it had been him. They say he amassed a fortune from that and not just cards. Historians agree that he might have been the slyest criminal ever to live here.”
“Until Deacon,” I corrected him.
Stephano stared at me as he seemed to get the similarities. “Oh, dios mio…”
I nodded and pointed it out, “The description is familiar, right? Neversmile sounds just like the man I watched in Glory’s video earlier. He’s a gambler, secretly a criminal and smart, though no one could ever catch him.”
“Until now,” Romeo stated smugly.
I shook my head at the irony and then read a bit more aloud from my cell screen, “Neversmile’s murder remains unsolved. But that is just one mystery to Neversmile’s death, there are more. The day after his death, Harrington was placed in a receiving vault. Bertha, his distraught widow, selected a design from Albert Weiblen for his tomb. She wanted a seated bronze female angel figure to appear to be laying a spray of roses outside on one side of the doorway of the crypt. A local judge passing on the succession of Harrington refused to approve the expenditure for the tomb, saying it was out of proportion to the assets of Neversmile’s estate. Bertha was determined and paid three thousand dollars to Weiblen all in cash – in denominations of 20s and 100s. Not that much of a mystery as to where the money came from, but she used it for her husband even after he was dead. Bertha died twenty-five years later and was buried in the tomb she built for Neversmile. On the tomb it reads: What Love Hath United, Death Cannot Separate. To this day, visitors still leave change on Neversmile’s tomb where the angel statue is laying the roses, in honor of the stoic gambler.”
“Interesting story but why do it this way?” Dante asked.
“I wonder about that too,” Romeo spoke up. “This V plans for us to make the trade at night, in a famous cemetery, in front of this gambler’s tomb?”
“Games,” Glory spat the word out. “She’s playing the same games Deacon plays.”
Liv nodded and looked over at me to add, “They play with people’s lives though, not with cards.”
I had to agree. But I also wondered if V knew who she really was? Or had O brainwashed her into believing she was really her daughter? I need more information. I wasn’t even sure if Deacon knew who his supposed sister was.