Disclaimer: In first chapter.

Chapter 32

“Do you feel better now?” Josh asked, still holding his mother’s hand.

Miss Parker closed her eyes, taking a deep, fortifying breath.  For once in her life, she truly felt free from the life she led at the Centre.  It felt good.  Opening her eyes, she looked over at Josh who still had a concerned look on his face.  Flashing him a warm, reassuring smile she replied back honestly, “Yes, I do.”

Josh stared at her skeptically for a few more moments before his face broke into a huge grin.  “Mom, I’m glad to hear that.”  Looking over his shoulder, he stared at the house then looked back to her.  “So, are you ready to go inside, or do you need a moment?”

Giving his hand an encouraging a squeeze she answered back, “Yeah, I’m ready.”  Both stepped out of the car into the cool October air.  Digging her hands into her jacket pockets, Miss Parker walked around the vehicle to where Josh was waiting. 

Before they made their way up towards the house, Josh grabbed her arm, halting her.  “Mom, about what I said earlier…about calling you a freak, I’m…”

“Josh,” she interjected softly, “Stop beating yourself up over this.  They were just words, and, like I said before, I know you didn’t mean them.”  Reaching up, she cupped his face and said, “I could tell from the moment I first saw you that you were a good kid, without a mean bone in his body.  There’s no doubt in my mind that you would do anything to protect your family, even getting in trouble with the law like you did tonight.”  A wry chuckle escaped Josh’s lips, making Miss Parker smile in return. 

“Any…” her smile faltered slightly when Josh looked up at her with glistening eyes.  In that moment she felt something she hadn’t felt in a long time—unconditional love.  No matter what her faults, Josh, her son, would love her no matter what.  Taking a sharp intake of breath, she knew, she felt, that this boy, this young man standing before was her son.  And, she realized with a sense of clarity she would give her own life if it meant saving him, or his brother and sister.  Somewhere along the way, she fell in love with these three children, yet a part of her knew this happiness wouldn’t last long.  She knew this warped world she was stranded in was going to be taken away from her in a blink of an eye, and taking her back to her lonely, pathetic life where only the sweet release of death would truly make her free from the Centre.  She didn’t want to go back.

“Mom…”

Wiping a stray tear from her eye, Miss Parker said, “I’m fine.”  Resting her hands back on his cheeks, she held his face and said with an emotion filled voice, “Any mother would be lucky to have a son like you.  I’m very proud of you.  And I…” she paused for a moment trying to gather her composure, but her tears demanded release as they trickled down her face.  “I do…love you,” she whispered out quietly.

Smiling, Josh said, “I love you too.”

Grinning from ear to ear, Miss Parker joked back, “Okay, now you’re just sucking up.”

Chuckling to himself, Josh replied back, “Well, you can’t blame a guy for trying since Christmas will be here soon.”

Folding her arms across her chest she shot back, “Come on smart ass, let’s get inside before Jarod starts calling out a search party.”  Turning on her heels she began walking up the walkway, but stopped short when she realized Josh wasn’t with her.  Looking back, she found him staring across the street at Broots’ house.  Rubbing her arms to ward off the cold, she walked back over to Josh.

“You’re worried about her,” she said, part statement part question.

Josh looked down at her then back up to the house.  “I know Mr. Broots will make sure she’s okay, but I can’t help but worry.”  Glancing down at her, Josh said, “You didn’t see Debbie’s face when she knocked out Brad, I never seen her looked so lost and scared, and I’ll admit it frightened me too.”  Looking down at his feet, he kicked at a few stray pebbles lying on the ground.  “Do you think she’ll be okay?”

Miss Parker stared out across the street to Broots’ house.  “I really don’t know.  Only time will tell.”  Josh remained silent, nodding his head in agreement.  Placing a hand on his shoulder, she turned him around, pushing him towards the house.  “You can see Debbie tomorrow morning,” she offered.  Taking one last glance at Broots’ house, Josh followed his mother up to their house.

XXXXXX

“Will that be all, sir,” asked Mr. Parker’s maid.

“Yes Maria, that is all,” he answered back as he followed behind her.  Before closing the door he added, “This is a private meeting and no interruptions will be tolerated.  Understand?”

Maria lowered her eyes and nodded in agreement.  “Yes sir, I’ll make sure the rest of the household staff won’t disturb you.”

Mr. Parker smiled.  “Very good, Maria, now go,” he ordered, closing the door.

Letting out a deep sigh, Mr. Parker made his way back to the group of men who were sitting in the area by the fireplace.  Settling himself in his favorite chair, he grabbed his glass of bourbon from the table and took a drink, savoring the taste of the alcohol. 

Hearing someone clearing their throat, Mr. Parker turned his attention to the man.  “Jonathan, your son-in-law is getting close to the truth.  It’s only a matter of time before he finds out what really happened to Catherine.”

“Jarod is my ex son-in-law,” Mr. Parker hissed out.

A squeaking sound permeated through the shadows of his office.  All the men looked towards the noise.  Stepping into the light, Mr. Raines walked over to the fireplace standing in front of the group.  “Are you sure about that Mr. Parker?  Because my associate, Mr. X has said otherwise.  He believes Jarod and your daughter are getting closer with each other, especially after her little tumbling episode from yesterday.”

Mr. Parker stood up, glaring at the bald headed man before him.  “I know my daughter, and she wouldn’t go back to that scum if he was the last man on earth,” he growled out. 

Mr. Raines stared thoughtfully at the older man before him, taking a drag from his cigarette.  Smirking at him, he wheezed back, “You underestimate your daughter, Mr. Parker, just like your wife, and we’re still trying to clean up that mess thanks to you.”

“You bastard!” Mr. Parker snarled, lunging for Mr. Raines.  However, he was stopped mid way by Willie and Mr. Cox.  “It was your men that screwed up their jobs, if you just poisoned Catherine like I suggested, then we wouldn’t be here discussing this, would we?”

Throwing his cigarette butt into the fireplace, Mr. Raines walked over to Mr. Parker, standing in front of him.  “I’ll admit the man I hired to kill Catherine did make a foolish mistake by misplacing his murder weapon, but he more than made up for it by taking care of Thomas Gates.  If it wasn’t for Mr. X, you could be sporting a nice orange, jumpsuit courtesy of the Delaware state penitentiary.”

Mr. Parker held Raines gaze a few more moments before sighing in defeat and sitting back down in his chair.  The rest of the men in the room took their seats, while Raines stood in front of the group, demanding their attention with his eyes.  “Good, now that we all understand one another, we need to talk about other things that have been brought to my attention.”

Standing up, Mr. Cox smoothed down his Armani suit.  Picking a piece of lint off his sleeve he said, “I know the main reason we’ve all been brought here tonight is because of my son, Brad.  I know he’s been a nuisance for the past several months, and I’ll whole-heartedly agree with whatever the board decides here tonight.”

“Where is your son?” asked a nameless, African man.

“My son is out waiting in the living room under the watchful eye of one of our skilled security guards,” Cox replied back.

“Mr. Cox, I think everyone in this room will agree with me that your son has quickly become a liability to this group.  We can’t risk the unwanted attention brought on by his shenanigans.”  Raines paused for a moment, taking a deep breath from his oxygen tank before continuing, “he needs to be dealt with…by any means necessary.”

Mr. Cox didn’t flinch at Mr. Raines underlying tone.  He knew what Raines was talking about when he said ‘by any means necessary’.  Brad’s new home in the future was going to be the Blue Cove Cemetery.  Smiling at the oxygen deprived man, Mr. Cox said, “And so it shall be.”

Mr. Raines held his hands in the air.  “Are we all in agreement?”  The small group of men nodded yes, turning their attention once again to Raines.  “Good, now back to the Jarod front.  Threatening his children is a good tactic, but it’s not doing the job, we need more ammunition it we are to thwart Jarod’s need for the truth.”

“And what do you suggest?” Mr. Parker asked from his chair, becoming intrigued with what Mr. Raines was about to say.

Smiling at the old man, Raines said, “Its simple, use the innocent against Jarod.”

Mr. Cox gave him a confused look.  “I don’t understand.”

“Well, as we all know, Police Chief Sam Walker has been helping Jarod with the case, unofficially of course, say our insiders that work inside the police department.  Maybe its time we teach Sam a little lesson about helping others.”

A broad grin lit up Mr. Cox’s face as understanding dawned on him, “You mean…”

“Yes, that’s what I mean,” Raines smirked back.  “Once we’re done with our little deed, Sam wouldn’t help Jarod if his life depended on it.”  All the men in the room talked excitedly to one another realizing the outcome of Mr. Raines’ plan, however there was one other item that Raines needed to bring up.  “But, there is still one problem on the horizon and that is the person who delivered Jarod the brown cardboard box filled with evidence from Catherine’s case.  Our men have been trying to find out who this person was, but they’ve been coming up empty, so we still need to be careful, and always cover our tracks.”  Once everyone nodded in agreement, Mr. Raines said, “Meeting adjourned.”  With that, most of the men exited the room except for Raines and Willie.

“Willie, go to Brad’s frat house and meet Mr. X, he’ll be expecting you,” Raines ordered.

“Yes sir.”  Turning on his heels, Willie left the room.

XXXXXX

Throwing his keys down on his desk, Brad stumbled over to his bed, and plopped down.  He was exhausted beyond belief.  The meeting at Mr. Parker’s place went surprisingly well, he thought.  Mr. Parker didn’t seem very angry with him, which was somewhat shocking.  He thought for sure they would use him as their own personal bull’s-eyes for some deranged darts game, but they didn’t.  What a bunch of idiots, he thought, sitting up on his bed.

Catching a flashing red light from the corner of his eye, he walked over to his desk, pushing the play button.  While the messages played through, he sat down in his chair, eyeing the white envelope that lay on his desk.  The only thing scribbled on the front was his name.

Don’t fear the reaper…

Baby take my hand…

Don’t fear the reaper…

“What the hell?” he said, staring at the answering machine strangely.  Must be one of the guys playing a prank on me, he thought wryly.  Shaking his head, he opened the white envelope.

Then the door was opened and the wind appeared…

The candles blew then disappeared…

There was folded single sheet of paper inside the envelope.  Unfolding the paper, he realized it was from his father’s law firm, the paper had no words typed on it, just a picture of the grim reaper.  What was that all about?  He was broken from his thoughts when the light on his desk broke all of a sudden.  “Damn it,” he cursed under his breath.  Getting up from his chair, he went over to his closet.

The curtains flew then he appeared…

Saying don’t be afraid…

Just as he placed his hand on the handle, the door flew open, sending him crashing to the ground.  He gasped at who he saw.  It was his boss, Mr. X.  So fixated on his boss, he didn’t see the African American man come from behind, wrapping a telephone cord around his neck.  Gasping for breath, his feet flailed about.

Through the cloudy haze forming around his eyes, Brad watched helplessly as Mr. X kneeled before him, a smug smile plastered across his face.  “Bradley, I’ve heard you’ve been a naughty little boy.”  Mr. X paused for a moment, looking up at Willie.  “Ease up”

When Willie eased up slightly, Brad coughed profusely, breathing in as much air as he possibly could.  Rubbing his neck he choked out, “What?”

Straightening his stance, Mr. X began to pace back and forth in front of him.  “Bradley, you put me in quite a dilemma tonight.  When your father put me in charge of you, I knew you would be a pathetic waste of my time.  When I give you an order, you should follow it.”

Brad looked back and forth between the two men before looking back at Mr. X.  “I...I did follow your orders.  I befriended Sarah and began dating her.”

Mr. X tilted his head to the side, pretending to ponder Brad’s words.  “True, you did, but then you crossed the line Bradley.”

“I…I don’t understand,” he stammered out fearfully.

Mr. X moved quickly as he knelt down beside Brad, grabbing a fistful of hair.  Yanking his head, Mr. X replied back, “Bradley, don’t play dumb with me.  You know what I’m talking about.”

Brad tried to answer, but the pain was unbearable.  “Please, let me explain.”

Reaching into his pocket, Mr. X brought out his pocketknife.  Bringing it up to Brad’s exposed throat he said, “Brad, I’m tired of your sorry ass excuses, so let me refresh your memories.  Rule #1, never slip anything into the girl’s drink.  Rule #2, don’t tick off her parents, or you’ll be asking for trouble.  And, of course, Rule #3, never sleep with or rape the girl, whom I’m sorry to say, you did try to do tonight.”

Brad began to panic when he felt the knife prick his skin.  “Please, I’m sorry, I won’t do it again, I promise,” he pleaded through his tears.

Mr. X and Willie began to laugh at Brad’s pathetic begging at sparing his life.  “Well Willie, what do you think we should do, hmm?  Should we let him go free, unscathed, or should we kill him now?”

Locking eyes with Brad, Willie said evenly, “Kill him.”

“I like how you think, Willie my boy,” Mr. X commented cheerfully.  “Willie, since your having such a fun time there, why don’t you finish him off.”

“It will be my pleasure.”  Willie quickly wrapped the telephone cord once again around Brad’s neck, squeezing the life out of him.

Brad struggled, but he wasn’t strong enough as his body became more deprived of oxygen.  He didn’t want to die like this.  He had to fight them, but how?  As he continued to flail about he felt something metal graze his hand from under his bed.  Wrapping his fingers around the letter opener, he quickly brought it out, slamming the opener into Willie’s foot. 

Hearing Willie cry out in pain, Mr. X quickly turned around, only to come face to face with Brad.  He didn’t have a chance to use his pocketknife as Brad swiftly stabbed Mr. X in the left shoulder.

Dropping the letter opener to the ground, Brad grabbed his car keys and ran out of the room.  At full speed, he darted across the yard to his black Mustang.  Getting into the car, he fumbled with the keys, trying to get them in the ignition.  “Shit!” he cried out as the keys dropped to the ground.  Glass shattered around him as he reached down for the keys.  Grabbing them, he slid them into the ignition.  Another gunshot rang out, shattering his back window as he sped down the road and away from his frat house.

The only thought running through his head as he drove along the darkened streets, was that now, he was truly alone.  However, only one person could help him now, and that was Sarah. 

XXXXXX

To Be Continued…