Chapter 35
Grace
”Mr. Allard, are you here as a representative of Mrs. Camille Doucet or a concerned family member?” I rudely asked when I saw him enter the homicide bullpen with Blaze.
”ADA Carta, watch your tone,” Blaze snapped. I wasn”t really sure if he was pretending because I knew the Doucets were pissed with me for painting Saint Allard in a poor light.
”Just askin”, Mr. Doucet.”
”Blaze is fine.”
”And so is Grace,” I shot back.
He sighed. ”We”re both my mother”s counsel.”
”I”d like to make sure that”s something she”s comfortable with, so you first, Blaze. Detective Steele, may I request you to keep Mr. Allard here company.” I didn”t wait for Ash to respond and walked brusquely away from Henri.
”What”s he doing here?” I demanded, pulling Blaze into an empty interview room.
”I couldn”t get rid of him.” Blaze shoved his hands in his jeans.
I regrouped and took a deep breath.
”We”ll improvise, Grace,” Blaze comforted me.
”I don”t improvise; I adapt,” I countered more confidently than I felt. Henri was not supposed to be here. I had a feeling Camille would clam the hell up when she saw him, which was probably why Henri had shown up. He”d find a way to either seduce or threaten her into shutting up.
”We do this with him now. But after, you come back so I can talk to her with you as counsel,” I stated. ”Any problems with that?”
Blaze shook his head.
We went into the interview room, where Camille was waiting for us. She”d been staying at a safe house near Baton Rouge and didn”t seem worse for wear. She was dressed in an Yves Saint Lauren black dress; probably because she was apparently still in mourning for her dead husband. Her hair was coiffed just right. She must”ve done it herself, no way the NOPD guard dogs would have allowed her to have a stylist in the safe house or let her go to a salon.
”Mrs. Doucet, good afternoon.”
”Blaze, darling, you have to get me out of my situation with this safe house. I am plenty safe—”
”Shut it, Camille. That”s not what ADA Carta is here to discuss.” Blaze took the chair next to his mother.
Camille took Blaze”s advice and shut it but kept her haughty ”I”m above you” expression.
Henri sat on Camille”s other side.
I settled down across from all three of them. I opened the file I had prepped. I slid two copies of the same set of documents in front of Camille and Blaze, ignoring Henri.
”We have received evidence that clearly shows that you, Mrs. Doucet, were responsible for transferring funds to a hitman now under federal custody with orders to kill Rome Decuir and Gaia Doucet.”
Henri snapped up Camille”s copy of the documents and flipped through them. Blaze did the same with his.
The evidence, which I was pretty sure Henri had made sure I received anonymously showed that funds from Pierre Doucet”s account had not only found their way to a hitman but also to Camille Doucet”s bank account. One of these transactions was done in the Caymen Islands in person, and wouldn”t you believe it we even had security footage with a time and date stamp of Camille being there. I had my assistant print out the photos from the footage to make my point.
”Camille helps Pierre manage his money. Nothing here says that she used the funds to hire this alleged hitman.” Henri threw the documents on the desk and leaned back in his classic sprawl, the one he used when he was trying to impress upon his audience that he was cool as a cucumber. Which, in fact, he was because he knew these documents in and out.
”Documents labeled A22 and A25 clearly show that only two people are funneling money out of this account. Etienne Noel, who, in fact, is authorized to manage Pierre Doucet”s money, and your client, who is not. I can make a case easy as apple pie—especially when I couple that with Gaia”s testimony about a forced abortion, Rome”s testimony about how you threatened to have him arrested for rape, and—”
”They will not testify against their mother,” Henri bit out.
Blaze held up a hand to silence Henri. ”What do you want?”
”Blaze, no,” Camille exclaimed.
”Camille, let”s not even get started on how pissed I”m with you. But as your lawyer, I”m tryin” to save your pathetic neck, so shut the fuck up and let me do my job.”
Camille looked at Henri and he patted her shoulder avuncularly. Hell, yeah, these two were sleeping together. But she wasn”t afraid of him. Not yet. But she would be.
”I”m not here to make a deal. I”m here to ask your client to plead guilty and save taxpayer funds on a long trial. I have her on conspiracy to commit murder. I take this to a jury, and if they see she tried to kill her own daughter, whom she abused throughout her childhood, they”ll give her the max thirty years.”
I let that sink in and enjoyed seeing Camille”s face go pale. Tears fill her blue eyes. Zephyr”s eyes. Blaze”s eyes.
”I didn”t…I just….” Henri pulled her into a hug and whispered something in her ear.
”She confesses here, gives an allocution statement in court, and I can do fifteen. With good behavior, she could be out in ten.”
I”d read all the reports that Nick and Ash had put together when they”d been investigating the attempted murder of Rome and Gaia. This woman was a monster. Like Liam, she was a sociopath and narcissist who controlled through abuse.
”I can”t do ten years,” Camille gasped. She pulled free from Henri and licked her lips. ”I…what if I can give you something else?”
”Camille,” Henri raised his voice. ”ADA Carta, I want to speak with my client alone.”
I gathered up my files and rose. ”Pause interview.” I rattled off the case number for the recording and turned it off. ”I”ll be back in fifteen minutes. Would anyone like anything to drink?”
”Blaze, do you mind, son?”
”No problem, Henri.”
Blaze followed me out of the room, and I took him to the room next door, where Blaze could watch his mother and Henri through the one-way mirror.
”I can”t listen to them then, but you can as you”re her lawyer of record.” I showed Blaze the switch to unmute and walked out.
Zephyr, Blaze, and Gaia were trusting me, and this was me showing my faith in them.
Blaze was walking a thin line, trying to bring those who wanted to hurt his family down while protecting his mother”s legal interests. But I was under no doubt that between his siblings and his mother, Blaze would always choose Zephyr and Gaia, Nick and Rome. He”d happily get disbarred to protect them, which is why I had left him to listen in on the conversation. Since he was counsel for the client, all communications were confidential and between them open.
I went to Nick”s cubicle. She was looking through some paperwork, her boots up on her desk. She reminded me of how Rome sat in his office.
”You out early, sha. I thought this would take all day long,” she murmured.
”Henri wanted to speak with Camille alone. I left Blaze to listen in.”
”Cause he”s her lawyer.” Nick grinned. ”Nice move.”
Ash came around. ”Come on, partner, we gotta go.”
Nick sat up. ”Where we goin”?”
”We just got a heads up that Zephyr Doucet got beat up in an alley. He”s just left the ER. We better go catch up with him.”
I swallowed. ”Is he okay?”
Ash shrugged. ”He walked out of the ER so he should be.”
”Damn it, you know what this is about, right?” Nick spoke up loud enough that people in the bullpen could hear.
”The gambling debts?” Ash sighed.
”Blaze is pissed with him.” Nick”s voice dropped but was still clear. The gossip hounds were probably taking notes. ”He asked him for five hundred grand.”
”What the fuck?” Ash exclaimed as they walked out of the bullpen.
”Oh, yeah.”
”What did Blaze say?”
”He asked him to go fuck himself, sha.”
”No shit.”
I couldn”t wait to drop this stupid act. I wished Alina Volkov would kick her plan in action so we could move on her and VK Corporation.
I knocked on the door of the room Blaze was in and waited. He came out of the room, looking gutted.
”All okay.”
He just stared at me with shocked eyes and shook his head. ”Let”s go back in.”
”Blaze? You look like an angry bull? You can”t go in there lookin” upset.”
”I got a resting angry bull face; what can I say.”
”Blaze?”
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, then nodded, his face losing some of the steel.
He opened the door like the gentleman he was so we could go back into the interview room with Camille and Henri.