Hour of Reckoning (Donatella Book 2)

by Demetrius Jackson

  “Jasmyn – Marcellous. Take extra precautions and stay aware of everyone and everything around you.”

  A flushed look came over Jasmyn’s face and Marcellous looked as if he wanted to speak but he held his tongue.

  “I don’t think Buckley is after you, but it never hurts to show some extra vigilance. The couple looked at each other and then back at Agent Dabria. In unison they nodded and for now the matter was settled.

  “In other news,” Jasmyn said looking to lighten the mood, “I ran into Bethany Evans again at Dr. Prince’s office.”

  “Who?” Marcellous asked genuinely confused.

  “Bethany. She was in the waiting room the day we found out about Samantha. At the time it was her first visit with Dr. Prince.”

  “Yea, I remember her. Sorry, I was drawing a blank.”

  “Well she and her husband are still looking for a place to live. I told her that the Grant’s old house is still up for sale. I gave her the name of the realtor and she said they would follow up.”

  Donatella listened to this exchange, “Bethany Evans. Had you known her before meeting her at Dr. Prince’s office?”

  “No. I met her for the first time in the waiting room.”

  “I see. What did you think of her husband?”

  “Well, I haven’t met her husband, Troy. He couldn’t make the first appointment and he wasn’t there today.”

  Donatella didn’t like this development. With Terri running around, she felt increasingly uncomfortable with newcomers inserting themselves into Jasmyn’s life.

  “I’d love to meet her someday especially if we are going to be neighbors. We should have them over to dinner when they come to see the Grant’s old house.”

  “I’ll set something up,” Jasmyn said with the smile widening across her face.

  In response, Donatella thought, Bethany Evans is one more person BJ will need to do an extensive background check on. She didn’t know the woman and thus she didn’t trust the woman.

  Chapter 13

  February 5th – 9:00 p.m.

  V eronica King stood like a sentry outside of her daughter’s bedroom door. Gina, who had turned three years old late last year, had transitioned into her toddler bed on her third birthday. Veronica and Kyle never had a problem with Gina sleeping through the night and her transition to the toddler bed made sense. Shortly after her second birthday she was fully potty-trained and the toddler bed gave her another sense of freedom.

  As she stood in the archway, she prayed her daughter was having pleasant dreams, because the only dream Veronica had was the last vision of her colleagues as she walked away from the boardroom. Although she had come to terms with the decision she had to make, the only decision she could make to save her daughter, the look on their faces would be with her for some time to come.

  She had upheld her end of the bargain she made with that psychopath, Bree Buckley. She reached out to the board of the Cleveland Museum of Art offering the services of her company to perform a complete security overhaul. They were skeptical of the offer, as they should have been, but Veronica had always been a master negotiator. By the end of the call they had a verbal agreement for which Veronica had their legal team draw up the official contract terms. The installation had gone smoothly.

  Motion sensor cameras covered every square inch of the museum. 24/7 video surveillance live streamed to an offsite location to prevent tampering. Badged access controls were installed in any sensitive areas in the museum including entry into the building after hours. The badges themselves were tagged and could be tracked anywhere in the building. Pressure sensitive devices had been affixed to any display the museum wanted to add an extra layer of security to. This would deter anyone from handling the artwork.

  All gates in the museum had been replaced and several others were added as Veronica’s team pointed out multiple vulnerable spots. The gates were tied to the security system and if any alarm was set off, the gates would close automatically. There was also an override that would allow for each gate to be controlled individually.

  At this point, they were about 80 percent of the way through the installation and her project manager gave assurances that the installation would be completed by the deadline.

  Satisfied with the progress being made, Veronica turned her attention to filling the empty seats on the board. After her initial intrusion into Veronica’s home, the woman calling herself Bree had paid the host one more visit. During this second visit, her guest walked her through her next assignment. Veronica, unclear as to the goal of the request, set those wheels into motion as well.

  The first request was to update the firmware on all of the security systems still operating on version 4.245 of the Onyx system. This system was mainly used by high-end restaurants, hospitals, and convention centers. Nonetheless, she worked with her IT department to push out the latest update. This was completed in a matter of days, all systems showing the upgrade had downloaded and installed successfully.

  The second request had to do with the members of the board. Bree had already given Veronica three names for consideration. She also made it clear that the only consideration Veronica needed to make was when they would be taking their seats on the board. She followed up this request, if you could call it that, by informing Veronica she needed to keep two seats open. She started to fight this request and realized it would be futile. She would keep the seats open and that was the end of the story. She hadn’t received a timetable for when the seats would be filled or who would be filling the seats.

  She watched as her daughter turned from her left side onto her right side. From this angle it was clear how much she looked like her father, Kyle. She still could not believe the son of a bitch was preparing to leave the country and take their daughter with him. Gina hadn’t asked about her father in the last couple of days and she hoped over time she would forget he ever existed. She blew her daughter a kiss goodnight and took her leave.

  Veronica unfastened her ASOS DESIGN skinny full metal waist belt that hugged her midsection providing depth to her hips. She reached around her back with her right hand and unzipped the black fitted skirt letting it fall to the ground. As she began to undo the buttons to her blouse, her cell phone began to vibrate.

  The display read number unknown while the clock on the phone read 9:15 p.m.

  “Veronica King,” she spoke into the handset.

  “Mrs. King, or is it Ms. King now? I can never tell,” came the voice from the other end.

  Her spine went rigid hearing the voice of Buckley. “Yes, what can I do for you?” she responded in a semi-robotic voice.

  “No need to be so formal, come on down to the kitchen. We have some business to discuss.”

  She's in my house? Her throat went dry.

  “I don't have all night,” came the voice, prompting her into movement. She finished unbuttoning her blouse and quickly tossed the garment on the bed. She grabbed her robe, idly recalling it was the one Kyle bought her for Christmas the previous year. She wrapped the robe around her frame and tightened it with the belt before heading downstairs.

  When she turned the corner, Bree Buckley was sitting at the island drinking water from a bottle while watching Veronica cross the room. She both felt and saw the intruder give her the up and down once-over with a smirk curling at the corner of her mouth. Swallowing the water, she placed the bottle on the island. “You know, I've always liked that robe. It goes well with your eyes.”

  Veronica froze in place how long has this woman been watching me? She suddenly felt self-conscious pulling her robe tighter. In doing so the fabric hugged her breast and she felt her visitor's eyes shift. She quickly released her hold and sat on the opposite side of the island.

  Buckley caught the hint; however, she pressed forward. “In this envelope you'll find your next board member for consideration. I'll ask that you wait until she is announced for her new position.”

  “What position? Who is this woman?”

  Ignoring the quest
ions, Buckley continued, “I'll be in touch about your final board seat. In the meantime, be sure the security at the museum is completed per spec and on time. You don't want to disappoint your new employers.”

  She stood up and began walking toward the front door. How the hell did she get into the house in the first place? Looking over her shoulder Buckley said, “Your hair looks better down, wear it like that next time.” She then opened the door and walked out.

  Once again Veronica was left sitting in the kitchen, at the island, speechless and motionless. She stood, picked up the folder, and walked back upstairs to her bedroom.

  February 5th– 9:00 p.m.

  In the two-story chateau at 300 Calgary Way, Donatella sat in the study with both eyes closed. She took measured deep breaths in an effort to clear her mind – to focus her mind. Since the massacre at GIS Buckley had been relatively quiet. The question that continued to plague her mind, what is Buckley up to? To answer this question, she needed to understand Buckley’s endgame. She decided she would start with the details that she knew.

  The first murder victim, Samantha Young, worked as a receptionist at an OBs office. Not just any OB – Jasmyn’s OB. This woman, Bethany Evans, just happens to be at the doctor’s office the same day Jasmyn has an appointment and the day after Samantha had been killed. This Bethany is growing closer to Jasmyn and is prepared to move into the Driftwood Springs community. A community in which Jasmyn lives. When she spoke with BJ, she would have him run Bethany’s background and design a method to covertly watch over Jasmyn.

  The massacre at GIS had a number of open questions. Why was the board of a security company taken out? The obvious answer is to meddle in the affairs of some company utilizing their security services. She needed to check and see if a deal was postponed or all together cancelled because of the board being wiped out. Then there is Veronica King, the lone survivor of the GIS massacre.

  Dabria was 100 percent sure the new CEO was lying to her and she could not figure out why and what she was lying about. Not to mention, her husband had not returned from his business trip. A trip he took on the day that the massacre took place. One could say that Veronica benefited from the death of the GIS board; however, by all accounts she was next in line to be the CEO so she had no reason to commit a crime, especially this heinous crime, against the board – her peers. Buckley made a point of letting her know she was the responsible party, but why? Was it done in a manner to throw her off?

  And what is it with the calling card of The Thinker not to mention the note “Five Days”. If she was correct, Buckley had five separate events planned. So far there had been two events. The thought crossed her mind, there were two events that Buckley wanted her to know about. However, could there have been some other events she didn’t want to make obvious? When she connected with BJ, she would need him to look into any other crimes that seemed out of place.

  Donatella opened her eyes to the ringing of her phone, Detective Sampson.

  “Yes, Detective?” she said in her southern drawl.

  “Agent Dabria,” came the voice in a matter of fact tone. “I’m sending you an address that may be of interest to our case. I just received a call and I’m headed to the scene.”

  “Can you provide any details?”

  “Let’s discuss it at the scene.” The line went dead and Donatella stared at the phone. Did he just hang up on me?

  Twenty-five minutes later Agent Dabria pulled up to a brick two-story home with a walkout basement on Sickle Dr. in the subdivision of Bevel. Two police cruisers were situated in the front of the home parked head-to-head. The detective’s car, belonging to Carl Sampson, was double parked next to the police cruisers, engine still ticking. Donatella nosed her R8 toward the tail of Sampson’s vehicle and stepped out of the car. Two of the officers standing outside of the house eyed Donatella as she approached the house.

  “She’s with me,” Sampson said stepping through the entrance. She noticed the haggard expression he wore on his face. “Let’s take a drive.” The two made their way to Sampson’s car where he sat behind the wheel.

  He fired up the car and pulled away from the curb. “Last night Mrs. Hampton arrived at home around 8:30pm; however, she never made it inside the house.”

  Donatella raised an eyebrow.

  “I know how it sounds. Mr. Hampton heard the garage door open expecting his wife to walk through the door at any moment. However, shortly after hearing the garage door close, the subdivision, and several other locations around the area, lost electricity. At the time, he was upstairs in their room that sits above the garage. It took him a few moments to locate a flashlight before heading downstairs. When he did, he noticed his wife had not come in from the garage. He pulled the door open, noticed her Ford Escape sitting in its normal spot, but couldn’t locate his wife.”

  Sampson slowed at the stop sign before making the right-hand turn continuing through the subdivision.

  “Worried about his wife, he headed to the service entrance and that’s where he began to notice something wasn’t right. Although the bottom lock on the door was locked, the deadbolt was not locked. This struck him as odd as Penny made a big deal about their house being locked up tight and this included the service entrance. Therefore, he always made sure the locks, all of the locks were engaged – his wife did the same.”

  Donatella nodded her head signifying she was following.

  “He unlocked the bottom lock, opened the door and stepped out onto the side of the house. Immediately he noticed the wheel barrel missing. Penny, meticulous about her flowers, worked in the flowerbed multiple times per week. Neil figured it was easier to keep the wheel barrel on the side of the house instead of in the shed. He used the flashlight to illuminate his surroundings. Heading toward the front of the house, the beam hit an object at the curb. As he closed in on the object, it became immediately clear that it was the wheel barrel, left haphazardly near the street.

  While he stood in the street next to the wheel barrel, he heard a door swing open behind him. He snapped his head around expecting to see his wife; however, the sound came from his neighbor, Beatrice, opening her door.”

  Donatella, looking at the road ahead, saw a series of flashing lights further off in the distance.

  “Beatrice went on to tell Mr. Hampton that Penny planned to stop by to retrieve a package before going into the house. However, she had not seen Penny all night. It was at this point Mr. Hampton gave our department a call.

  At the time we didn’t consider Mrs. Hampton as a missing person, primarily because it hadn’t been 24 hours and there were no signs of foul play.”

  “However,” he said turning on to the street with the flashing lights, “When a realtor called 911 screaming of a dead body, Mrs. Hampton immediately turned from a potential missing person to a murder victim.”

  Donatella took a moment to interject, “So I’m assuming her body has turned up?”

  Sampson nodded his head toward the commotion, “Her body was found just inside that home. The buyers were set to close on the house later in the week. I’m guessing that will not be the case now.”

  “And what makes you think this has anything to do with Terri Buckley? Sure, the method in which Mrs. Hampton was abducted was intricate. But that doesn’t mean Buckley had anything to do with it.”

  Stepping out of the car and talking over the hood, “We began looking into the other element of the case, the power outage. Last night, the weather was clear and there is no reason the outage should have taken place. We checked with the power company. They cannot seem to explain the outage themselves but they do show a surge that caused the power to spike and blow. Repair crews didn’t find any traces of tampering and the power company is baffled.

  From everything you have told me about this woman, she is tier one when it comes to planning. A simple crook could not have tripped the power to the point that it was undetectable. Furthermore, Mrs. Hampton didn’t have any enemies. Gangs are not prevalent in this area, so I hi
ghly doubt it was a gang initiation stunt.”

  Agent Dabria knew Sampson was correct. In fact, as he told the story she pretty much knew it had to be Buckley. She wanted to see what clues the detective had used to come to his conclusion. The pair entered the house after ducking under the crime scene tape.

  “The body is upstairs in the owner’s suite,” he said headed toward the steps. They traversed the flight in silence until they reached the bedroom where the CSI team was still taking photos.

  Mrs. Penny Hampton hung from the ceiling by her shoulders, feet affixed to the ground. A pulley system had been used to hoist her toward the ceiling. Her body looked to be stretched taut. The shear expression of anguish carried across her face.

  Sampson called over the coroner, “Have you been able to determine the cause of death?”

  “Not yet,” came the timid voice of the coroner. First guess is she died from a heart attack. It looks as if she may have been tortured but it’s way too soon to tell.”

  Donatella spoke, eyes fixated on the coroner, “Please make sure a full toxicology screen is run on this victim. Once you have done so, compare that report against that of any victim from the GIS case.”

  The intensity in her glare caused the coroner to shutter slightly, “Yes ma’am,” he said quickly walking away.

  “A toxicology report?” Sampson inquired.

  “If you look at Mrs. Hampton’s face, you’ll recall the men and women left to their demise in the conference room had similar looks. Their looks were much more severe which tells me a similar substance was used on this poor woman. It seems the formula was altered compared to the one used at GIS. I’m willing to bet the stretching of the body is a ploy to make us think it was a heart attack brought on by torture. Terri is a lot of things, but prolonged torture is not on her list. In fact, she probably wanted to dispose of this victim as soon as possible.”