I sat at my table and contemplated the events of the past weeks. How had I gotten so heavily involved in all of this? All I had ever wanted was for the man who killed my father to be brought to justice. Now, I was on the verge of that happening but it seemed that politics would overwhelm fairness. All of this had seemed so simple. Get in, get what I needed to prove D killed my father and get out. Except it wasn’t that easy at all.
I should let it go, let Roberto be arrested and the chips fall where they may. What happened to Damian was not my fault. It was not my place to come to his rescue. I don’t even know how I could. This was so much more than I had anticipated. I realized, once again, just how far out of my league I was. I also couldn’t deny the fact that I was in love with D, more in love with him than I had ever been with anyone in my life.
I debated what to do all the way up until bedtime, then lay restlessly in the dark to consider it some more. Nothing came to me. I simply didn’t know what to do. A part of me wished that Samuel hadn’t told me anything about all of this. Why had he burdened me with something he knew I was incapable of stopping? I agonized until I was exhausted and fell asleep somewhere in the wee hours of the morning. When I awoke, I knew what I had to do.
“Maggie, I just can’t come in today. I think I’ve picked up some sort of bug.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Janessa. Just get some rest and take care of yourself. Is there anything I need to take care of on your desk while you’re out?”
“No. I don’t think so. Everything is pretty much caught up, and there’s nothing there that will hurt from missing a day on it. I’ll catch up when I come back in.”
“Sounds good. Take care of yourself, and we’ll see you on Monday.”
It was a widely accepted truth in most offices that people who called in sick on a Friday or a Monday, perhaps even both, weren’t really ill. They were usually plotting a long weekend or recovering from one. In my case, I anticipated a very long weekend. It might very well be the longest of my adult life.
I showered and got dressed, trying to hash out the rest of my plans in my head. I couldn’t wait too long or I might be too late, but if I put things into action too early, then I risked him thinking too much instead of just reacting. I had to deal with D on a level he would understand, put him on the offensive so that he wasn’t caught unaware. Even though he knew about those who wanted to do him harm, he had no idea that the hour of reckoning, so to speak, was so close at hand.
I paced and packed, getting my things in order so that I could leave quickly once I was done. There was only one way to make sure that Suarez got the justice he deserved and make sure D was safe, and I intended to see this thing through to the end. I had been strong enough, stubborn enough, to risk my life going undercover to take down D. I had to be the same now to take down the man who was actually responsible. My hands were trembling as I picked up the phone.
“This is Janessa. I need to talk to you, alone.”
“Why?”
“I can’t tell you that on the phone. I need to see you in person. Can you meet me?”
“I suppose. When?”
“Thirty minutes in the abandoned gazebo by Constance Park.”
“I’ll be there.”
I hung up the phone and let out a deep breath. I was shaking all over, but I wasn’t about to falter. This was too important. I hurried out to my car and drove to the old park on the opposite side of town. Very few people came here anymore because it had gotten so run down, so there was little chance of being seen. He was waiting for me as I got out of the car, watching me as I walked toward him.
“You look very different these days.”
“I’m feeling a bit more like myself.”
“It’s a good look. I approve. Now, what are we here for, Janessa?”
“I know who killed my father,” I told him.
“How did you manage that?”
“It doesn’t matter. I know who it was and I know the others who were involved. I can give you all their names but you have to take out Roberto Suarez, and it has to be done before four this afternoon.”
“And why would I just take your word for it?”
“Because you know you can. You know me well enough to know that I am not lying to you and that I want my father’s killer dead.”
“Why before four?”
“It doesn’t matter. I need for you to do this and I need for you not to tell D until after it is done.”
“You know I can’t take out one of D’s guys just because some bird he used to shag told me to do it.”
“If I tell you the whole story, will you do it then?”
“It depends on what the whole story entails.”
I told him everything. He stood there, nodding and grimacing as I listed off names that both he and D had trusted.
“I don’t care what you do with the others. I will leave them up to you and D once Roberto is out of the way, but I want him punished for what he did to my father. Perhaps he was only doing as he was told, but he was the one who did it. I can’t let him use D as leverage to get himself and the others off the hook. He needs to be out of the picture.”
“And you can live with knowing you had a man killed?”
“Yes.”
He studied my face, deciding if he believed my conviction. My voice hadn’t waivered and I didn’t think I would lose a moment of sleep over my actions. If the DEA was willing to let D die at the hands of the rebels who opposed him and let them get by with it, punish them for minor crimes just to get D out of their way, then why should I worry about a piece of human garbage like Roberto Suarez?
“Okay, Janessa. I’ll take it from here. You need to go home and put all this nonsense behind you. You don’t belong in this world that D and I live in. Find a way to move past all this.”
“I’ll take it under advisement.”
“I doubt that very seriously,” he scoffed, turning to leave.
Walking back to my car, I made another phone call, just in case Simon decided he wasn’t going to do as I asked. I held my breath as I waited for it to stop ringing on the other end.
“What do you want, Janessa?”
“I’m in trouble. I need your help.”
“What do you mean you are in trouble?”
“I’m scared. I’ve come up to Stratford and there is a man following me. Everywhere I go, he is behind me. I’m frightened to get back in my car or go back out into an open area.”
“Where are you, Janessa?”
“Right now, I’m in a coffee shop with a little library. It was the only place I could think of nearby that I could just sit for a while with a lot of people around and wouldn’t look out of place.”
“Just stay where you are, Janessa. I’m on my way. Do not leave that shop.”
“Thank you, D,” I replied, trying to sound frightened but relieved. It wasn’t that difficult, as I was actually a bit of both.
“Just don’t go anywhere. I’m on my way.”
I ended the call and got in my car, heading back to my house to wait. I could only hope that all went as planned. Roberto Suarez would get what he deserved, D would be safe for the moment, at least long enough for Simon to give him the rest of the names to deal with. I tried to focus on other things, but I couldn’t think of anything else.
As the remaining few hours passed, I felt like my skin was on fire, pricked with hot pins and needles. It was almost four and I had heard nothing. It would have taken D a good three hours to get to Stratford and then he’d spend a bit of time trying to find me in the library. By the time he realized I wasn’t there, everything should be over with Roberto Antonio and the DEA would have no one to arrest.
I turned on the television and switched it to the local news, anxious to hear anything that might pop up. Even though I was sure it would be covered up by the DEA, there was bound to at least be an initial report of a homicide. Four o’clock came and went with no news and I began to get even more concerned. I hadn’t heard from Simon or D. I expected that Simon would at least let me know it was done and that D would be calling when he wasn’t able to locate me, but there was nothing.
“What did you hope to accomplish by sending me on that wild goose chase, Janessa?”
I whirled around at the sound of his voice, bewildered. Questions flooding my brain faster than I could process them.
“How did you get in? How did you even know where I live?”
“Please, Janessa. Give me a bit of credit.”
“You can’t be here, D. You can’t be here until I know everything is done.”
“You mean until the hit you had put out on Roberto Suarez is complete?”
“Simon told you.”
“No. Simon is on his way out of the country. The DEA was waiting for him at Roberto Suarez’s apartment. He barely got away. He wanted to pay you a visit before he left, but I told him I would take care of things here.”
My blood froze in my veins. It hadn’t occurred to me that Samuel might have been setting D up in telling me what he did. I wondered how much of it, if any, were even true. And now, could D really believe that I had been in on their little plot? Could he really believe I would have tried to help the DEA set him up? The answer came to me in a cold icy blast. Of course he could. Wasn’t that precisely what I had come to the Rockefeller Casino to do?
“D, I didn’t know. The DEA lied to me. They told me I had to get word to you that you were in danger.”
“And you fucking believed them, Janessa? You expect me to believe that?”
I was shaking. I knew that the monster D claimed to be was standing right in front of me. Perhaps I could not see if before, but it was surfacing rapidly. He was going to kill me. The DEA had played me very well, counting on my affection for him to bring him down. They had assumed I would deliver the message to him and he would take Roberto down himself, giving them a confirmed murder rap to pin on him and hopefully, putting him under their thumb.
“It’s the truth, D. Samuel filled my head full of lies.”
“Samuel?”
“Yes, Samuel. Jack Knife. He’s alive. He’s DEA.”
“And you fucking knew this?”
“No. No. Not until recently, after I was already back here, away from you and the casino. I had to go to the DEA for a final interview and I found out then.”
“So, you still talked to the DEA after I let you leave. Simon told me you were a liability, but I wouldn’t listen.”
“I am not a liability. I gave them nothing. I gave them nothing but information on the guys who were trying to hurt you.”
“You gave them everything, then, Janessa. You gave them leverage. You let them see that you were protecting me, that you had a weak spot and that they could exploit it. Sit down.”
I did as he said, sitting in the kitchen chair that he was pointing to and looking at him tearfully. I tried to hold back my fear, my pain, but it leaked down my cheeks without any real shame of its own.
“What are you going to do to me?”
“You don’t get to ask any questions right now, Janessa. All the questions will come from me and you will answer them fully and honestly. Leave nothing out. Understand?”
“Yes,” I said, my voice barely audibly.
“What?”
“Yes.”
“Better. Start from the beginning and tell me everything. Let’s start with Samuel.”
I told him everything I knew, from start to finish, trying not to babble or leave anything out. Lying to him now or leaving anything out could well mean the difference in life and death for me. So far, he hadn’t hurt me, at least not in any physical way, but if he saw that I was being dishonest, that could change. I could only tell him what I could and hope for the best. When I was done, he sat down in the chair opposite me and put his head in his hands for a moment before looking back up at me. He looked haunted.
“Come on. We’re packing a bag for you.”
“A bag? For what?”
“Just do what I tell you to, Janessa,” he growled, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward my bedroom where he stood watching while I threw a few changes of clothes and some necessities into an overnight bag. He picked up my phone and handed it to me.
“Call your neighbor, the one who tended your house while you were gone, and tell her you are going out of town for a few days.”
“Why?”
“Do it, Janessa. Make it sound normal. Got it?”
“Ye-yes,” I stammered, shaking as he handed me my cell phone.
“Mrs. Peaches? I’ve decided to take a weekend trip. Would you mind terribly watching my house for me?”
“No problem, honey. I miss the days when I used to just go on impromptu road trips. Enjoy yourself and be safe.”
“I will. Thanks.”
I had barely finished when he took the phone from me, ending the call and stuffing it in his pocket. He picked up my bag and grabbed my arm, leading me into the garage.
“Give me your car keys.”
I fished them from my pocket and handed them to him. He unlocked it and put me into the passenger seat, warning me not to move as he walked around and got behind the wheel. It had begun to get dark outside as the garage door opened and we backed out of my driveway. Looking around, I saw that no one was out to even give my departure a second thought. I felt a sadness sweep over me. So, this was how it would all end. No one would pay for my father’s death and probably no one would pay for mine, which was most likely very near.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Damn it, Janessa. Just stop with the fucking questions,” he barked at me, his eyes never looking away from the road that unfolded ahead of us.
We were headed out of town, away from his side of it and into only he seemed to know where. I watched the miles unfold as town after town passed by my windows. It was late when we finally stopped, hundreds of miles away and in a small fishing village on the coast. My heart pounded as the car left the road, the tires crunching noisily down a deserted gravel road that ran parallel to the cliffs on one side and thick forest on the other. It wound back into the woods for a short stretch before ending in front of a small cabin that appeared deserted.
So, this was it. This was where it would all end for me. My mind raced with options. I could try to run, but out here, where would I go? I could run for the cliffs, jump. Wasn’t it better to end myself than give him the satisfaction? How could I have believed this man had ever had any feelings for me? He had no feelings at all, for me or anything else. Damian Diaz was every bit the monster he proclaimed himself to be.