CHAPTER NINETEEN
As soon as Janita and Von walked into the Webster mansion and saw the entire family there, except for Mrs. Webster and Hawk, they both immediately sensed that something was seriously wrong.
They all were staring at them with even more venom in their eyes than they had on yesterday.
And Chief Donnally, the man they both despised, was at the heart of it. He was standing in front of the family.
But Janita gathered herself and kept it together. She was going to be professional even though she knew Donnally never could. “We were asked to come here,” she said.
“You better be glad I didn’t arrest you at your mama’s house.”
Von looked at Janita. But Janita was frowned and looking at Donnally. “Arrest me?”
“These kind and considerate people behind me, these Websters, didn’t have to give you any grace. But they did. They didn’t want to make a scene in your community by taking you away in handcuffs.”
Janita was completely perplexed. “What are you talking about, Donnally?”
“That’s Chief Donnally to you!”
“What are you talking about, Donnally?” Janita asked him again. Chief be damned! This fool was talking about arresting her.
Minka and Dray glanced at each other. They liked her spunk. They couldn’t stand Donnally either. When their Dad wasn’t around, or Hawk or Matty or Nat, Donnally treated the younger Websters with disdain too.
“The best thing for you to do is to confess right now, young lady,” Donnally said.
Von was beside himself. “And what is she confessing to?” he angrily asked him.
“We know she had something to do with Mrs. Webster’s kidnapping,” Donnally said.
Every Webster in that room were staring at Janita when Donnally said those words.
They wanted to see if she acted guilty or not.
Minka, Dray, and Babs, and even Nat, all thought it was nonsense and told Donnally so before Janita came.
But the jury was still out with Matty and their father.
And in their household, their father, followed closely by Matty, ruled the nest.
But while the Websters were staring at them, Janita and Von were staring at Donnally. And it wasn’t a stare of fear. It was a stare as if they were wondering what was he cooking up now.
“Your fingerprints were on that door.”
Von frowned. “The car door?”
“No, you idiot,” Donnally said.
But William cut him off. “Watch your language, Dale,” he said as if he was well acquainted with big-belly racists like the chief of police.
Donnally, who actually feared William and Matty, did calm back down. “The door I’m talking about is that false door they used to take Mrs. Webster out of that dressing room.”
Janita and Von were confused. “What false door?” Janita asked him.
“I just told you which one.”
“There’s no false door in that dressing room. Even Miss Ellen didn’t mention any false door.”
“That’s because she didn’t know about it.
We pulled up the blueprints to that clothing boutique and found it.
And we found fingerprints on it too. On the outside of it, and on the inside of it.
The kidnapper apparently figured we would never find out about some false door the way she had, so she wasn’t as careful.
And those fingerprints,” he added, “belonged to nobody else but you!”
Von was floored. So was Janita. “Me? I didn’t even know about some false door!”
“Oh your ass knew about it,” Donnally said.
“And it makes perfect sense, too. You’ve only been working for Mrs. Webster for just three months when she was kidnapped.
She had no security before. Was able to come and go as she pleased and nobody in Brackenridge bothered her.
But as soon as her husband wanted security for her, and she chose you, she ends up kidnapped?
That never set right with me. And then we got you when we found those fingerprints. ”
“But those aren’t my fingerprints.”
“So the DNA lying too?” Donnally grabbed the handcuffs off of the back of his belt and grabbed Janita.
But Von grabbed Donnally. “Leave my sister alone!” he cried out.
Nat and Dray hurried to Von and pulled him away from Donnally before he got arrested too. “It’s okay, little man,” Dray was whispering in his ear. “It’s okay.”
But Janita was worried about Von too. “I’m alright, DeVontay,” she said as Donnally was cuffing her. “It’s going to be alright.”
After cuffing her, Donnally frisked her and removed her weapon. “Where you’re going, you won’t be needing this for a while,” he said.
And when he said those words, Janita’s heart just dropped. Even Matty and William could see her pain. But evidence was evidence. They could never turn a blind eye to irrefutable evidence.
“If you just tell us where my wife is,” William said, “then all will be forgiven.”
“I had nothing to do with your wife’s kidnapping, sir. I’m being falsely accused!”
“That’s what they all say,” Donnally said. “Everybody’s innocent. Yeah right!” He slung her upright. “I’m taking her downtown.”
But Matty stepped up. He knew how those racists in town treated people who looked like him. “Donnally?”
The chief looked at him. “Sir?”
“There had better not be a scratch on her,” Matty said. “Until we get to the bottom of this, you treat her with respect. You hear me?”
Donnally didn’t hesitate. He knew the power Matty and his father wielded in that entire state. “Yes sir,” he said, and then gingerly began taking Janita away.
Von was beside himself. “Nita?” He cried out.
“I’m okay,” she said. But they both were misty-eyed. And she knew he would try something drastic. That was why she said it. “Find Hawk. Tell him what’s happening.”
She couldn’t believe she said it, but she said it because Hawk was all they had. And they didn’t truly have him. Then Donnally took her away.
Von looked at the Webster family. “Where’s Hawk?
” he asked them as he fought back tears.
But they were all still processing the news.
Because what Donnally said made perfect sense.
Why would Reecie be fine with only a driver all those years, but within three months of her having a driver and a bodyguard, she was kidnapped?
And that girl’s fingerprint was on the inside of a door she claimed she didn’t know existed? They were all still baffled.
And besides, Hawk never allowed anybody to keep tabs on him. They didn’t know where he was either.
But Dray couldn’t bear the kid’s tears. He leaned toward him in a whispered tone. “I’m not certain of this,” he said, “but on the rare occasions when my big brother comes to town, he usually doesn’t stay here at our family home. He usually checks in at the Sawsberry.”
It was a five-star luxury hotel in town and Von knew exactly where it was. He looked at Dray. “Thanks man,” he said. Dray squeezed his shoulder. And then Von hurried out of that house.