4 MONTHS LATER
Khaye threw her apron away, said her goodbyes to her coworkers and walked out of the diner in faded jeans, boots and green sweater.
She walked two blocks in silence, her mind empty of thoughts, and stopped outside the door of the bookstore and stepped inside. The young man behind the counter snapped his head up and his besotted smile crept up his face when he saw her. "I almost thought you won't be dropping by," he said.
"You thought wrong because I am almost done with my current reading. Has something arrived today?"
"Sadly, no. But we'll have a new delivery tomorrow. How is the current read?"
She shrugged. "Haven't figured out whether I like it or not and I am nearly done with two chapters to go."
The young man winced. "That bad?"
"Not in the sense," she said, walking away to her favorite row of shelves. "I think I'll get another one full of action this time."
"I don't think we have some that would meet your high standards, but it's your risk to take!"
Moments later, she walked out the bookstore and strolled the remaining three blocks to her apartment building.
She was almost run over by the kids playing outside the complex and she sighed. She finally reached her floor and as she turned the key to her door, she looked over her shoulder to survey the area. It had been a habit and so far it had worked.
Shutting the door, she locked all three bolts she had personally installed. Throwing her boots to the side and the plastic of new books on her second-hand sofa, she went to fix herself a cup. She carried it to her bedroom where she tucked herself in and opened her current read. Before she continued chapter 84, Khaye looked around her and smiled.
Who would have expected her life would turn out like this?
But it was life nonetheless. And there was still hope.
*****
"What's that?" Desiree asked over his shoulder.
"It's a file I just found out yesterday."
She frowned. "What do you mean? I thought you and Richard had already gone through all the files?"
His scrolled his computer and his frown deepened as well.
"Is that Jamaica?" Desiree asked, leaning closer to the screen.
Theo's computer screen was suddenly filled with dozens of photos. And all of them were focused on one woman: Jamaica.
"Oh my God," she gasped, straightening her back. "Were they spying on her?"
There were photos of her friend with Richard and other men. And there were others with her as well. It seemed that every part of Jamaica's life had been monitored.
"Wait, what's that?" she asked, grabbing Theo's hand to stop him from scrolling.
"Stop it, Des," he said, closing his computer. "I'll print everything and then we'll look at it together. I can't concentrate with you breathing down on me."
She gave him a look and said, "Then print them now. What are you waiting for?"
Theo just shook his head and opened his computer again. Desiree was already standing in front of the printer. As the papers filed out, she grabbed them and studied them.
"I told you about what Vernier said regarding Jam, right? He said she was not the person we all thought she was. Could this be the answer to that?"
"Let's hope it is," Theo said dryly. "And I am hoping it will print the name of the killer because I can't have you running underground, questioning everyone you meet." He looked up to meet her stinging look. "What? It's a matter of time you'll get caught. People are starting to notice."
"Maybe I'm just too nosy," she said with a shrug. "Try to tell them that next time."
"It's not like someone mentioned it in a verbal manner," he murmured under his breath.
"I'm just doing what I think I should be doing while you and your brother do your own thing. You've been bent over the same files over and over again for months. It's time you two work on Jamaica's case seriously."
"We are, but we're doing it discreetly," he said with a look that meant she should do the same.
"I should have just packed my bags months ago and left," she said with a sigh a she waited for the rest of the papers.
Theo chuckled and she found it frustrating how genuine it sounded. "I've decided to stop counting how many times you said that line."
She fell silent.
"What's wrong?"
"It's nothing."
She heard him sigh and he reached out to take her hand and pull her toward him. "What the fuck is wrong now?"
She almost told him she was losing her will to go away. She wanted to tell him she looked forward to going back to her old life far lesser than she had six—four months ago. "I'm just thinking about Tatiana, that's all," she lied.
His eyebrow arched in question. "What about her?"
"You know what I am talking about, Theo." She rolled her eyes at him as she tried to brush off her innermost thoughts. "Her husband is nuts and she's miserable. I just know it."
"I don't hear her complaining."
"Men," Desiree muttered before turning away to face the printer again. She picked up the papers and flipped through them one by one. "I had my suspicions, but now I think I just confirmed it." She bit her lower lip in deep thought as she said it. Theo stood up from his chair and walked to stand beside her.
"What?"
"Jam was being spied on."
"Given, of course," he said with enough sarcasm.
She reached another page of photos and her eyes narrowed. "Do you know these men?"
He took the paper from her and studied the page. "I'll need a clearer view," he uttered and went back to his computer to find the same page. She watched as he looked at the photos closely.
"Fuck it, Jamaica," he cursed.
"Excuse me?"
Theo faced her, looking dumbfounded. "It's Jamaica."
She was getting impatient. "I know we're talking about her but about what?"
"She's...she'd been working with other clients behind our back."
"What?"
He turned his computer screen toward her. "Perhaps you remember our dear friend, Mr. Berkeley?"
*****
Marco stormed inside the chief's office without a warning. "What's the meaning of this?" He waived the paper in the air.
"It means that we are assigning you to a different case—" the old man started but Marco cut him off by saying, "With all due respect, sir, but I already have a case I am working on and—"
"And so far it is going nowhere," the chief said, his eyes and voice final.
"You're closing the case?"
"You know better than anyone it is bound to happen."
"But we have—"
"What do you have? Another sighting of De la Vega's friend in a coffee shop? That was when? Two months ago? You don't even have enough physical evidence to bring her in IF you find her. And where's your prime witness?"
Marco fell silent. All he could do was grit his teeth. "It's the Liaisons that is behind all this. I just know it."
"I would like to hear what you think of it once you can present something that would be admissible in court. Otherwise, get back and work to something you can at least solve." When he didn't budge, the chief barked, "That's an order, Morrison."
Marco stormed out of the room and when he reached his desk, he saw Gian look up. "I was told the same thing," his partner said and when he Marco's furious gaze, he looked away.
He just fixed Gian a hard look and balled the paper in his hand.
*****
"There is no more news about Jam's murder."
Theo turned to look at her. "And?"
"And I'm afraid they have left the case run cold," she said, looking out the window of the car. "Someone has to pay for her death. Someone has to—"
"Des, we are doing what the cops are not capable of. They can't go further because the murderer is underground—or so we think. They can't go further because we made it sure that we left nothing behind when we left that hotel."
"It's been four months since we started to really look into her death, Theo."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning..." she sighed in frustration. "I don't know. I am not even sure if I should be looking for her killer. She's been living different lives when she was alive. Those photos of her taken with Berkeley were just two months before the actual exchange. Did she know about the twins then? I don't want to believe that she would even consent to sell those kids to someone like Berkeley. Yet it was there...in those photos."
"You're upset."
She let out a sarcastic laugh. "You're very intuitive. I like it."
He sighed. "I don't think it matters to you what Jamaica had been doing outside the underground. For you she was your friend and you value your friendship. That's the reason why you want to find her killer. And you want to clear your name. Don't forget that."
She wiped her face with her hands and groaned. "It has to be someone from underground. Someone must have tipped off your father and Vernier. Else they would not have suspected and started spying on her. Someone must have tipped them off. I bet you all that I have that it's Kane. The woman still even hates the thought of Jam. Whatever Jam did to her must have been bad."
Theo shook his head. "Unlike you and Richard, I don't believe the lady did it. Yes, she could be mean when the opportunity rises, but I don't see her killing Jamaica with her bare hands."
"Then she must have ordered someone to do it. If she was the one who tipped your father and Vernier..."
"I say it's Petroff."
"I won't disagree on that. It's either him or Kane."
"Or Richard."
"Okay, I don't like your brother at all, but I believe he loved Jam more than she must have loved him."
"Maybe he found out she didn't return the feeling and killed her."
"You're a disgusting brother, you know that?"
"And for someone who had been nearly killed by Richard twice, you are going a long way defending him."
"It's because I trust my instincts and my instincts say that Richard's telling the truth. And admit it. You know it too. I've been around the two of you long enough to know when you are lying or not."
"I never lied to you."
Desiree scoffed. "Yeah, like you were telling the truth when you said you turned on the heater the other day."
He closed his eyes, trying to remain calm. "I said I believe I turned it on."
"Yeah, sure. And like last Saturday afternoon when you said you were with Richard the entire afternoon when in fact I was with Richard the entire afternoon. With Tatiana as witness," and she quickly added.
He opened his mouth to say something and thought better of it.
"Who were you with, Theo?"
Shit.
"Who were you with? Just tell me if you were with someone else—"
"I was not with a woman if that's what you're trying to say."
"I was not trying to ask that. Why? Were you?" She snapped at him.
"What? No, I wasn't!"He did not bother to steal her a glance as he drove because that might just be the cause of his first vehicular accident.
"Then who were you with?"
"No one."
She didn't answer for some time. "Now I'm sure you were with someone."
"Jesus, Des, I was with no one worth mentioning. I was out to do some errands."
"Fine."
"I wasn't with another woman."
"I believe you. Shut up."
"God, I miss you handcuffed and gagged inside that fucking box."
She turned to face him and the smile on her face told him she was not even that serious for the past few minutes. "Regretting not letting me go?"
All he could do was shake his head, glad that he didn't have to tell her about what he did last Saturday afternoon.
*****
Desiree knew Theo was doing something he wasn't telling her. Of course, he would always be doing something without telling her, things that did not concern her at all, things that had to do with his work with the Liaisons.
But she knew when he was lying and he was lying right now. Whatever he did last Saturday afternoon, it had at least something to do with her or his plans against his father and she intended to find out.
They had reached the underground on time for his meeting and her for her coffee with Tatiana. "Theo, wait," she said, stopping him when a thought popped in her head. He looked down at her with raised brows. "I just want to ask. Do they still have their eyes on Khaye?"
"Who?"
"The prime witness. Do they still have their eyes on her?"
"I don't know. You better ask Richard." And when he saw the look on her face, he took her arm and said, "Don't do it, Des."
"Do what?"
He narrowed his eyes at her. "I know what you are thinking. Don't do it."
"I'm just thinking—"
"I'm running late. We'll talk about this later," he said, his voice filled with warning. "Don't do anything." He kissed her on the mouth and left. "Don't do it, Des! Don't even think about it until we have the talk!" he said over his shoulder as he walked away.
"Then don't be gone too long. I tend to get bored!" she called out as she turned to the right to find the café, her mind set on how she could find Khaye.
*****
Marco stared outside the window of his car. It had started to get dark. Waiting was a tedious task for him no matter how much he tried to practice to be patient, but he did it anyway.
He almost jumped in his seat when he saw her walking out the building. She looked left and right as she pulled her coat closer, shielding her body from the cold. She was wearing a bonnet, a large scarf that almost covered half of her face. He would not have recognized her if not for the way she walked.
As turned to the left, walking away from where he was parked on the side of the road, he considered his options. A big part of him said he should leave her alone. She was starting a life.
He straightened in his seat and despite himself said, "I'm sorry, Khaye. It has to be done."