Unexpected Guest--(Behind Closed Doors 3)

by H. H. Fowler

  An image of Montgomery physically abusing Della drove Dana to her feet. She hastened down the aisle in search of where father and daughter had wandered. She eventually ended up outside in the parking lot, where she caught Montgomery violently shoving his finger in Della’s face. Dana approached them with caution.

  “What is going on, Mr. Black?”

  The way Montgomery spun his neck suggested he was surprised to hear Dana’s voice. But he quickly recovered and then shifted into the role of Della’s father. “You told me to take a more serious interest in my daughter’s life and I am doing just that,” he said. “Apparently Della doesn’t care for the adjustment.”

  “I don’t care what Della has done, Mr. Black,” Dana responded. “You don’t embarrass a fifteen year old by yanking her by the arm and pulling her down the aisle for everyone to see. I wonder if I made a mistake in sending her back home with you.”

  At Dana’s words, Montgomery had to struggle to stay pokerfaced. What fortune to have descended upon him in such an unexpected moment. He had been trying to figure out a plan on how to get back into Dana’s good graces, but her obsession with Gregory’s disappearance had been a huge hurdle to overcome. Now the opportunity to toy with Dana’s emotions was within a hand’s reach and he thought he had better capitalize on it. With an exasperated expression, Montgomery stared at Della.

  “What else am I supposed to do if she doesn’t listen to me? She’s defied me this entire week, throwing tantrums and lashing out at the simplest command.”

  Incredulity took over Dana’s expression. “You’ve been giving her commands? This is a young girl who is transitioning into a beautiful adult. She doesn’t need a list of commands at this point in her life. She needs love and the caring support of a father who makes time to spend with his daughter.”

  Dana paused in her rant as she realized she had probably gone too far in sticking her nose into other people’s affairs. She seldom did that and it made her wonder if it was because she was suddenly drawn to Della. Despite Della trying to hold on to her rugged exterior, Dana could detect a measure of virtue – virtue that she often saw in her own daughters.

  “I am not trying to tell you what to do with your daughter, Mr. Black. Della is blessed to even have a father – someone to love her and to be there for her. Ever since my husband disappeared, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on the years I spent with Gregory. Some of them were good years and some of them were very tumultuous. But I have learned to appreciate both, because all of it has made me the woman I am today. I never knew the strength I possessed until my husband went missing. It is in these times of adversity that true character is tested.”

  Dana concluded, “I would hope that whatever it is you and your daughter are facing would bring you together and not drive you further apart. With God, the most difficult problem can be fixed. I say that to say this: I have fully forgiven my husband for whatever wrong he has done to me, or to his children. I am only waiting on the Lord to answer my prayer to bring Gregory back home to his family so that we can all confess our wrong and be healed. Sounds like quite a stretch – even for me, but I believe God specializes in the impossible.”

  Montgomery was speechless and even more in love with Dana, for displaying such care and finesse over a very difficult situation. If only she would reciprocate his love for her, he would dump Della into a bottomless pit and sail away with Dana to some unknown island, along with the other mil Ms. V had promised to wire to his account. But things were not that easy. He hadn’t expected Dana to be so strong-willed and focused about her purpose. Viola didn’t have a clue as to what she was talking about when she said that Dana was an easy target.

  Montgomery watched as she began to sway toward the entrance of the church, but she stopped to look back at them, a hint of a smile on her face.

  “Don’t be strangers,” she said. “You and Della are invited into my home at any time.”

  She continued on. Montgomery could have jumped up and clicked his heels, but the icy look that Della was giving him was enough to keep him in check.

  “Why are staring at me like that?” he asked her.

  “As if you didn’t know,” Della spat, folding her arms. “You are in love with that woman and I hate you for lying to me about it!”

  As quickly as her legs could carry her, Della rushed away to be alone. A lopsided grin was Montgomery’s only reaction to his wife’s concern; she was obviously jealous over a woman twice her age.

  Chapter Twenty One

  The doors of Bliss Haven Christian Academy were usually opened at seven thirty in the morning. As a computer technician, it wasn’t necessary for Anwar to come in before nine o’clock, but he took full advantage of arriving to work an hour early that Monday morning in hopes of spending some quiet time alone. But instead of going directly to his desk, he took a casual stroll across the manicured property toward a quadrangle, which was outfitted with culinary selections, fine dining and gift and specialty shops.

  The Quad, as it had been nicknamed by its loyal patrons, was a hot spot for the academy students, who used the quiet atmosphere to study and to prepare for examinations. Anwar wanted to use it to make some sense of the anonymous texts he’d been receiving over the last several months. He dare not say anything to Dallis until he investigated who it was trying to blackmail him with information he knew nothing about. Anwar sat on a wooden bench with his cell phone in hand. Furtively, he surveyed his surroundings before rereading the text messages he’d tried to avoid while in Orlando.

  I know what you did last summer…lol. I was there on the school campus…you are a naughty little boy, aren’t you? You are not as faithful as Dallis thinks.

  I hear you are a Christian now. How sweet, but it’s not gonna erase what I know about you…lol. Leave Dallis or else I will tell her what I know.

  You are avoiding me – I can tell. But trust me, Mr. Life-of-the-Party, if only you knew the goods that I have on you, you would respond to my texts!

  Click on this link and enjoy…lol.

  Even though there had been no new messages, Anwar couldn’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet. The final text was instructing him to click on a link, which Anwar assumed to be something he did not want to see. But he could not live his life in fear. If there was something damaging about his character, he would simply deal with it. Though his fingers were trembling, he connected his thumb against the link and after a few seconds, he was taken to a plain web page. In the center of it was a small black screen.

  Anwar took a deep breath as he pressed the play button at the bottom. The black screen gradually dissolved into a noisy banter of recent graduates, reminiscing about the times they’d spent while enrolled at Bliss Haven Christian Academy. There were both young men and women at this gathering – all seemed to be enjoying a good fellowship. Anwar saw himself sitting on a stool, laughing and sipping an alcohol-laced drink from a plastic cup. Anwar remembered the scene quite clearly, but he didn’t see what the big fuss was all about.

  He chuckled at the lame footage being used to blackmail him. Is this the damaging accusation? Showing me drinking alcohol after having graduated from a Christian school? I wasn’t even a Christian as yet. Big deal. Dallis won’t even waste a minute of her attention on this nonsense. It’s clear this moron has nothing better to do with his time…Anwar’s thoughts slammed on the brakes when the scene suddenly switched to four of the male graduates, engaging in lewd acts with a girl. The same girl who claimed to be a virgin and had been saving herself for her husband. Her name was Nancy Covington.

  But that wasn’t what had Anwar’s hazel eyes glued to the scene. The fourth guy, who had slipped in between the girl’s legs, turned his face to the camera and smiled. Anwar’s thoughts had slammed on the brakes, but his heart almost slammed out of his chest. The fourth guy looked very much like him. The scene went black and left Anwar scrambling to make sense of what he’d just seen. He didn’t want to replay the video feed, but he had to – to get another strong l
ook at the fourth guy. It could not be him. He’d left the party early to meet up with Dallis. It was obvious that he was being set up to make it look as if he’d cheated on Dallis – with Nancy Covington of all people. It could only be one person who’d organized this setup. Gregory.

  Anwar hadn’t planned on sharing this with anyone, but this was too much for him to deal with alone. He was sure if he didn’t make a move now, this thing could blow up in his face and destroy his marriage with Dallis. I know it is you, Gregory! I don’t care what the news is reporting about your disappearance. I know you’re out there somewhere controlling me and your family. You didn’t want my friend, Jorge to marry Asia and now you don’t want me to be with Dallis. As absurd as his thoughts were, Anwar believed them. Who else could it be but Gregory behind those anonymous texts?

  He punched Detective Shelby’s number into his cell phone. He could feel the collar of his white shirt soaking in the sweat from his neck. He would be lying if he said that he was not terrified. Certainly, this wasn’t the way he’d anticipated spending his time after such a memorable honeymoon.

  ****

  Since the detectives were already on the road when Anwar called, they arrived at the Quad in less than fifteen minutes. They met Anwar pacing the lawn, a distressed look on his face.

  “It can’t be that bad,” Karissa said, as she and Richard walked toward him.

  “Please sit and watch this,” Anwar instructed. “You can judge afterwards.”

  The detectives grew silent as the clip began to play. Anwar put his hands on the sides of head and tried not to freak out. But it was useless. Any way this was spun, his relationship with Dallis was going to be affected. When Richard finally looked up at him, he began breathing again.

  “You got yourself tied up in a little mess,” Richard said.

  Anwar countered, “I am being set up and I need you to help me do something about it. That’s the reason I called you guys down here.”

  Karissa wore a dubious expression. “You’re claiming the man in the video is not you?”

  “Exactly…I mean, it looks like me, but I know for sure that I did not have sex with anyone at all that night, especially with that girl.”

  “How can you be so sure?” Karissa questioned. “It looks to me like several of you were drunk. Alcohol has a way of impairing the senses, you know.”

  “You don’t believe me,” Anwar said, more as a statement than a question. “What will Dallis think if you guys don’t believe me? I’m screwed!”

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Richard cut in. “We did not say we didn’t believe you. We’re just trying to establish a bit of a background. But you do admit to being at the party that night?”

  “Yes, I was there. Some of my friends and I had just graduated, and we wanted to celebrate. But I left early to meet up with Dallis at a restaurant, right here in the Quad.”

  Richard took mental notes before he asked his next question. “Can you identify anyone in the video?”

  “Three of the guys had their faces turned away from the camera, so I don’t have a clue as to who they are. But I recognize the girl. Her name is Nancy Covington. She’d just started attending the academy last year when I graduated. She came to the party with one of the guys.”

  “Does she still attend the academy?”

  “No. After one semester she went back home to the United States.”

  “What happened?” Karissa prodded.

  “I don’t know. I heard things didn’t work out for her.”

  “And you’ve never seen her since?”

  “Correct.”

  Karissa jumped in. “But she was at the party that night?”

  “That’s what I said, but I did not have sex with her.”

  “Do you mind giving us the name of the restaurant?”

  “Why? So you can confirm what I’m telling you is the truth?” Anwar spat. “That was three years ago and I doubt anyone remembers us.”

  “You would be surprised to know what people remember,” Karissa said.

  Anwar stared at Karissa with disgust. He really wasn’t liking her at the moment. She enjoyed playing the role of the bad cop. So, he turned his attention to Detective Shelby and asked, “How is that going to help me stop this person from ruining my life?”

  “You never know with these things,” Richard replied. “If you can prove beyond a reasonable doubt where you were that night and are able to properly account for your time, it may help significantly, but it may not. The footage looks very real –”

  “But a good detective knows that doesn’t mean it wasn’t manipulated,” Anwar interrupted. He grabbed his phone from Karissa and began to locate the anonymous texts. “I’m telling you I am being blackmailed, but it appears you guys are having a hard time getting past the pornography. It looks real, but it’s not me! Read these stupid texts and tell me if I’m being delusional or not.”

  A minute of silence passed before Karissa raised her head up from the texts. She stared at Anwar with a little more warmth in her eyes. “Okay, I’ll admit it does seem as if someone is out to get you. You are being threatened that if you don’t leave Dallis, they will use the video against you. Classic blackmail. But you should have shown us those texts from the beginning so we could have had some point of reference.”

  “I intended to, but you guys got too caught up in the video.”

  Richard ignored Anwar’s reply with two questions of his own. “I noticed those four texts were sent to you during your honeymoon in Orlando. Have you received any prior to then and if so, why are you just now coming to us about it?”

  Anwar took a deep breath, as he felt his heart rate returning to normal. It was only then that he decided to join the detectives on the wooden bench. “I received the first one several months before Dallis and I were married. I didn’t want to frighten Dallis with what I felt I could have deal with on my own. So I simply ignored the texts.”

  “By that, you mean you never responded?”

  “If I had responded, it would have only confirmed to that fool that I was actually receiving the texts, which meant I had no other choice than to submit to the manipulation.” Anwar stared at the detectives with a hard expression. “I simply went ahead with my wedding plans as though I hadn’t a thing to worry about. I love Dallis and nothing was going to stop me from making her my wife.”

  From an average man’s perspective, Richard could understand Anwar’s logic, but from a detective’s perspective, he knew this thing could escalate and boomerang back to Anwar’s doorstep. Richard was amazed that whoever was behind those anonymous texts had been patient for so long. “Do you have any idea who would want to do this?” he asked.

  “Of course I do,” Anwar answered confidently. “And I’m even surer now of who the person is than I was several months ago.”

  The detectives shared a look of confusion. “By all means, do share,” Karissa probed.

  “Who else could it be other than Dallis’ father?”

  “As in Gregory Beaufort?” Karissa muttered, her tone failing to mask her disbelief. “I was thinking you were gonna say Nancy Covington.”

  “What would Nancy want from me? It doesn’t make sense. She probably doesn’t even know that she was being recorded.”

  “I’m glad you said that,” Karissa said. “Because I was thinking she probably did know what was going on. I don’t think you should rule her out as a suspect.”

  “But I barely knew the girl,” Anwar said, “other than the fact that she heavily advertised her virginity to anyone who would listen to her. Those texts have the handwriting of that secret organization all over them. Somehow, Gregory got a hold of that video and used technology to manipulate it. I don’t believe Gregory was kidnapped, but that he left willingly. I believe he is actively employed by the House of gods. And it is from that platform that he’s working to come between me and Dallis.”

  Anwar continued, “When Dallis saw him two weeks ago, he was being chauffeured in a very expens
ive car. He wasn’t handcuffed and he sure wasn’t screaming out for help. Gregory’s got everyone fooled. You guys may have made the long-awaited arrest of Ms. V and her men. But I believe they may have only been used as a decoy.”

  “Very unusual,” Richard said, “the way you’ve put that together.”

  “It’s not unusual, detective. It’s the truth.” Anwar glanced at his watch and noticed it was ten minutes past the time he should be sitting at his desk. He jumped to his feet. “I’m late for work. I would have left my phone with you guys, but I need to keep it – just in case Dallis tries to reach me.”

  “I will make sure your cell is returned before your wife misses it,” Richard said. “That is, if you want us to work on this right away. We will get an expert to analyze the video. As for the texts, it might be a challenge trying to connect them to a specific location. There is only one telephone provider here on the island, but I doubt it’s the one being used by the perpetrator. But it’s worth giving it a shot. We will also check out this Nancy character and see what comes up.”

  Anwar looked unsure, but he figured Detective Shelby had proved his trustworthiness with the family, enough to trust him with such a sensitive issue. “Okay, but please, don’t breathe a word of this to Dallis. Hearing her father might be behind this could send her into a permanent state of depression.”

  With their theories of Gregory’s disappearance now thrown completely out of whack, the detectives watched Anwar hurry away across the open quadrangle. Karissa was always the one to play the devil’s advocate.