Chapter Nine
It was after seven in the evening that Michael received the text back. He’d expected Tyler to have checked his phone sooner than that, but he supposed he must have been busy. Probably busy with that girl, Jamia. That was what worried him, especially after he saw the reply that Tyler had sent him.
You were right. Jamia is the daughter of Frank Morgan. I double checked, and it’s true.
And now, the plot really thickened for Michael. Why would Frank Morgan’s daughter be sniffing around Tyler Preston? Surely, this had to be some kind of plot. There had to be some sort of ultimatum here. In his eyes, it made the Morgans even more complicit in the death of Trent Preston. Something weird and suspicious was going on, and he didn’t know what, but he was determined to get to the bottom of it.
Caught up in his own conspiracy theories and feeling that he was unable to trust the police who’d been assigned to the case, Michael East decided to take the law into his own hands.
Dusk was beginning to set on the city, and it was an ideal time for his little adventure. He left the office which had virtually become his permanent home over the past two weeks, and made the drive across town to the Morgan residence. He had the address on file, it wasn’t difficult to locate amongst all the obsessively organized paperwork at the office. He didn’t have much of a plan, other than knock on the door, and speak to Frank. He was fairly sure he could sort all this out if he could just speak with him. He’d always seemed reasonable enough in the past.
Half an hour later and he was parking outside on the street where the house was located, noticing the big electronic gates leading up the driveway were actually open already.
As he got nearer, he gasped, his eyes widening.
Detective Sal Foster’s car was parked right outside, on the driveway of the Morgan residence.
Shocked, curious and wanting to know more, he crept along the gravel path towards the house, activating one of the security lights and freezing for a moment. He wasn’t sure why, but his heart was racing. He kept telling himself that Frank was a nice guy. That they could sort all this out by talking. That Sal was probably here just to ask him a few questions about the case. But he couldn’t shake that uneasy feeling. There was something weird going on. Sal was definitely some kind of bent cop, which meant he couldn’t trust her. Could he trust her reason for being here?
He slowly approached the window of the living room; the only place he saw any lights on, and cautiously stood on tiptoes, pressing his face to the glass.
His eyes widened in disbelief at the sight before him.
***
Tyler didn’t know what to think. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t have thought anything. He wouldn’t have cared that he was sleeping with – and possibly falling for – Frank Morgan’s daughter. He didn’t care about business rivals or any of that bullshit. It didn’t matter to him. But these weren’t any ordinary circumstances. They were right in the midst of a murder case and according to Michael, Frank Morgan was one of the suspects in his father’s death. And a few days after, his daughter worms her way into his life. He told himself it was a coincidence. It had to be. After all, it was him who had sought her out, not the other way around. She hadn’t exactly been chasing him. Although she must have known who he was, and the connection between him and her father, right from the beginning. Why hadn’t she told him? Why had she hidden her surname and her true identity from him? He didn’t want to believe that something untoward and dodgy was going on, but his imagination and paranoia was running away with him.
He needed to speak with her. That was the only way to clear things up. But at the same time, he was nervous to know the truth. Still, they’d already arranged that he would be giving her a lift that evening, so at around ten, he headed over to the bar.
“Hey, sugar,” Jamia smiled cheerfully as she saw him, and Tyler’s heart almost melted all over again.
He grinned and leaned over the bar as she gave him a peck on the cheek. Then he remembered what he had learnt and his smile vanished.
Jamia picked up on it immediately. “What’s wrong?”
Tyler glanced at the clientele in the bar, not wanting to get her into trouble for failing to serve people. “We’ll talk about it later,” he mumbled. “Could I get a beer?”
“How many have you had already?” She looked at him warily.
“None.”
“Alright.” She served him, not saying anything else, able to tell there was something wrong, and for a while, there was an uneasy silence between them, which was very unlike them. So far, they’d always happily chatted away, or had comfortable silences that neither of them minded.
“What is it?” she asked again after half an hour, when she had a bit of a break in between serving people. “Just tell me, Tyler. I hate pussyfooting around. Just give it to me straight. What’s the problem?”
Tyler bit his lip, looked down at his beer bottle and peeled some of the label off, then looked back up at her. “What’s your last name?”
The question didn’t seem to shock her, and immediately, she knew what this was about. “Ah…”
“You’re Frank Morgan’s daughter, aren’t you?”
She chewed her lip and nodded. “Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? I mean, when you found out who I was…Did you know he was a suspect in my dad’s murder?”
“Honestly, I didn’t,” she replied quickly, shaking her head apologetically. “I didn’t find that out until I spoke to Michael. And I didn’t tell you because….I didn’t want you to think I was like him. I’m nothing like him. I rejected that kind of lifestyle when I was eighteen and I – “
Tyler held up his hand in confusion. “Woah, one second. What do you mean? What do you mean you’re nothing like him? I mean, what…what is he like?” he asked quietly, kind of concerned now.
“You mean…you don’t…know?” Jamia blinked at him, speaking equally as quietly.
“Know what?”
“Well…he’s…he’s a gangster.”
Tyler didn’t have much chance to take that in. His phone beeped loudly and he swiped his finger across it, staring down at the message that popped up on the screen.
“Also, Tyler um…I know this is a really bad moment but I was gonna tell you tonight anyway, I’m kinda late for my period, which is really unlike me and – “
“We used a condom,” Tyler muttered flatly. He wasn’t really paying much attention. He was staring at his phone, trying to process the message he had just read.
“Yeah, I know but sometimes things can – “
“I hate to interrupt but…” Tyler flipped his phone around and held up the message so Jamia could read it.
She gasped, her eyes widening. “Oh my God…Tyler…Tyler, we have to call the police.”
“Screw the police, they won’t be quick enough. I have to go.”
“I’m coming with you.” And with that, she dashed round the other side of the counter.
“But you’ve got another hour left of your shift,” Tyler protested.
“Come on,” she grabbed him by the arm and tugged him towards the door. “We haven’t got much time. My dad doesn’t mess around. He’s ruthless.”
And with that, the two of them ran out, the text message that had prompted it all still open in Tyler’s pocket.
We caught your friend Michael snooping around where he wasn’t wanted. If you want to see him alive again, get your ass to the Morgan residence immediately. We have a business arrangement to discuss. Regards, your ‘friendly rival’, Frank Morgan. P.S. Tick tock, tick tock.
***
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Sal asked, pacing up and down the living room.
“All my ideas are good ideas,” Frank snapped. “I’m sick of playing the nice guy. That little shit is gonna come here, and sign his whole goddamn business over to me. Otherwise I’m gonna put a bullet in this old man’s head.”
And with that, he shoved the gun up to Michael’s temple.
The ‘old man’ had been caught by one of Frank’s security staff, with his nose to the glass, snooping on Sal giving Frank a blowjob. He’d been swiftly knocked over the head, and brought in to the boss, who had ordered him to be tied to a chair, and had composed the text to send over to Tyler, using Michael’s phone.
Sal had assured Frank that Tyler was so fond of the old man, that he was sure to come and rescue him, and Frank was convinced he could be pressured into a deal in order to save Michael’s life.
Now all they had to do was wait.
***
“Why didn’t you tell me your father was a goddamn gangster?” Tyler huffed as they frantically drove in the direction of the Morgan residence, Jamia muttering out instructions to Tyler every so often.
“Well it never really cropped up in conversation!” she snapped back, the pair of them having their first real argument since they started…whatever it was they had together.
“This entire week and a half or however long it’s been, since Michael told you he was a suspect, you’ve just been…keeping this to yourself?” he ranted. “You didn’t think to like…mention it?”
“I was worried, okay!”
“And rightly so, it appears!”
“I didn’t want you to think that I was like him! Turn left here!”
Tyler sighed as he leaned into the left. “I know you’re not like him, babes,” he softened his voice. “I barely even know the guy but I don’t need to. You’re not like him and I would never think that.” He reached over and clasped his hand over hers, the anger dissipating.
She linked their fingers together and gave his hand a squeeze. “Like I said, I left when I was eighteen,” she explained quietly. “That’s why I have a decent car, but nothing else. The car he bought me for my eighteenth birthday was all I left with, and sometimes I still feel guilty about owning that. I didn’t want anything that was bought by his dirty money. That’s why I’ve worked so hard since to get jobs and fend for myself. And…and seeing what he was like, what his life was like, and the type of people he surrounded himself with…it was instrumental in making me want to be a cop.”
“You’ll make a great cop, sweetie,” Tyler reassured her.
“Here! On the right!”
He screeched to a halt and they both leapt out the car, racing down the gravel driveway to the front door of Frank Morgan’s mansion.
The place was open and waiting for them; no security, the electronic gates open. Even the front door itself had been left slightly ajar.
“Ah,” came a voice from inside. “I was wondering when you’d – “
The sneering, smarmy voice cut off midway when it caught sight of who had just walked into his house, not just Tyler Preston, as he had expected, but also –
“Jamia?” Frank Morgan stared in amazement, looking between the two of them, clearly confused. “What the – “
“ – hell are you doing, Dad?” Jamia finished Frank’s sentence for him, then pointed at Michael. “Let this man go, immediately.”
Frank sighed and shook his head. “I really wish you hadn’t come, Jamia…I never wished for you to see this side of my life.”
“I saw enough of it when I was growing up,” she snapped, unafraid to stand up to him. “I saw enough to know it wasn’t what I wanted.” And with that, she took out her phone.
“What are you doing?” He narrowed his eyes at her as she raised the phone up and began to take pictures.
“You don’t scare me, father. I know you won’t hurt me, even if you’ll hurt others. I’m still your soft spot…and I won’t let you get away with this.”
Tyler stood there open mouthed, watching her in amazement. He had never formed any kind of plan as to what they were going to do when they got there, only that they had to rescue Michael somehow, even if that meant negotiating with Frank, but clearly, Jamia was not interested in negotiation. He hadn’t been expecting any of this, but he was incredibly impressed.
“I’m sending these pictures to the press,” she continued, then she turned on her heels and began to walk out, pressing the phone to her ear. “And now I’m calling the police, the real police that help people out. The police that one day I’m going to be a part of. And for once, I’m going to make sure you don’t get away with this.”
Tyler was flabbergasted. And so was Frank. And so was Sal.
Jamia turned and walked out, pressing the phone to her ear as she called 911.
None of them were expecting what happened next.
One of Frank’s employees, worried about his boss becoming incarcerated and the rest of them getting into massive amounts of trouble for the death of Trent Preston, decided to take action into his own hands.
He raised his gun and fired at Jamia.
After that, everything was a blur.