“He’s just using you,” she sneered.
“Look lady, whatever he did to you, don’t concern me. But when a man hand’s you a million dollar check and a deed to a building you been trying to buy from the city for ten years, you don’t get between him and any ladies who feel he’s a son of a bitch. It don’t make me a bad person. I’ve been called a few names and accused of some things, but even if his shit floats, it ain’t about to make me change my mind about him. Like I said, be grateful.” He tipped his hat at her and winked again.
She stomped back to her car in a bigger huff hating Philippe even more.
Just to be stubborn, she refused to touch the radio on her drive to her office.
When she pulled in the parking lot, she sat for a moment, gripping the steering wheel getting herself mentally and emotionally prepared to go to work without thinking about her long weekend she had endeared.
Soon as she arrived at her desk, she was called straight to Kenneth Bianchi’s office.
From what she knew of Mr. Bianchi, he was Italian/Black raised by his great god-aunt Sophia Bellini. He befriended Sophia’s stepson, Romero Bellini who was a great artist and graphic designer. As they grew older, Kenneth’s marketing sense and Romero’s art complimented each other and a company grew.
Walking in his large spacious office, he sat on the edge of the desk as she approached. He was a very lean man, with a bushy light brown moustache. He was a light skinned tone man with the longest eyelashes of cinnamon brown eyes. The gray suit he wore, with a silk light green tie and shirt complimented his height of six feet.
“Good morning, Ms. Moore,” he greeted, nodding to a small table with pastries and coffee.
She shook her head and sat in the seat that was also offered. “Good morning, Mr. Bianchi. I couldn’t eat a thing.” This was very true. Her stomach would emotionally burst if she even dared tried to put food in there. “How are you?” Since she had worked with this company, she had met personally with Mr. Bianchi about three times.
He wasn’t a very personable man. Matter of fact, his get right down to business attitude always impressed Maxine, but annoyed Lisa.
“That was a great Arrow presentation Mr. Healey gave on your logo. Did you write it up word for word?”
Caught off guard because she didn’t know that Mr. Bianchi knew she often wrote her supervisor’s presentations, she nodded. “How’d you know?”
“Healey couldn’t be that artistic if it saved his life. I think I keep him around because he runs a tight ship while I’m in Chicago.” He looked a little tight lip about the subject matter. “Until Romero gets back from his honeymoon, I have to run both offices until we get everything over here in Detroit.”
She didn’t want to say anything, but she had noted the stiffness. Lisa had told her a little bit of what was going on in the company, but Maxine had chalked it all to be gossip, but why would Kenneth get like that if it wasn’t true that his best friend had married his ex-wife.
“Healey said Lisa wouldn’t be joining us? She usually takes these meetings,” Kenneth pointed out opening a folder and handing it to Maxine.
“Family emergency.”
He looked a little leery, but went around the desk and immediately started talking business. “Ericson Corporation is a very old company that needs a way to market to its clients without being there as little as possible. Their challenges are to utilize their website as a way to show potential customers exactly what they do while streamlining the customer service department from one thousand to less than five hundred, plus they want to do it with flair and new technology. Of course I convinced them to let us give it a try. In that folder is all your information about the company and the websites you can visit to find out more information. If you have any questions, my personal cell phone number will be uploaded to your phone.”
She raised a brow worriedly.
Kenneth explained, “I’m taking this account very seriously. It’s worth over six million dollars and I don’t want to take no for an answer. All resources that you need will be available and anything that you require will be at your disposal. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir.” She was glad that Mr. Bianchi was too the point because she didn’t like the way her mind was beginning to drift and how it felt like the chain around her neck was suddenly very heavy.
“I’ll be running back and forth to Chicago, but I will be available if you need me. Do you have any questions?”
Clearing her throat, she said, “Not right now.”
“Then I look forward to hearing your presentation by the end of the week with the heads of the company.”
“A week?” she cried, forgetting this was her boss.
“Yes, didn’t Healy tell you?” he asked as if this was obvious.
Shaking her head, Maxine said, “No. He just emphasized that it was important.”
“Well, I need something for them by Monday morning.”
She couldn’t believe the time line he was asking for. Usually she had a few weeks to work on something.
“You look as if you’re worried,” Mr. Bianchi said.
What was she suppose to say? ‘Mr. Bianchi, I don’t think I can do something like that.’ “No, sir. I’m not worried.”
“Good, I can’t wait to see what you will have to offer. I have a lot of expectations for you.” He looked as if she knew she could pull this off.
Maxine knew this meant she was dismissed, so she proceeded back to her office and looked through the file. Immediately checking her voicemail, she was surprised to hear a call from Lieutenant Heart.
“Hello, Ms. Moore, this is Lieutenant Heart from the Detroit Police Department. I would like to speak to you about some things in your report that actually is linked to another case. Could you please call me…” He started with his number and she quickly wrote it down and called him right back.
He picked up the phone. “Ah, yes Ms. Moore, I’m not a phone person. I would like you to come down to the precinct please.”
Maxine agreed and informed her supervisor that she was taking her lunch early.
Getting back in her car, she looked at the brand new radio and the cleaned car. Gripping the steering wheel, she resolved to hold her tongue about what had happened to her physically at the place.
For some reason she felt she owed her silence to the other women who had most likely gone through what she had gone through.
To get her mind off her nervousness and anxiety, on her way to the precinct, she had an idea about what she could foresee for the new account assigned to her, but she had to get more information most likely off the Internet.
Arriving at the precinct, she was surprised to see Lieutenant Heart at the desk as if waiting for her. “Can you follow me?” he asked in a deadly serious tone.
“Yes,” she said feeling very uneasy by his strange behavior. He had a scowl on his face as if she had done something really terrible, but couldn’t think of what she had done to put him in this mood.
As they walked out of the precinct, to find out what was going on, Maxine asked, “So what information did I give you is linked to another case?”
Those pitch black eyes shot down at her as he proceeded to a black Impala that was double parked. He opened the passenger side and tilted his head to the side to sharply indicate for her to get in the car. When he was in the driver’s side sitting next to her, Maxine started to ask her question again, but this time she was going to revise it.
He stopped her when he asked, “When was the last time you spoke with your friend, Lisa?”
She was about to say yesterday, but caught herself and lied. “It was last Wednesday. Like I said, she had this hot date that night and I never saw her again. What does my information have to do with another case?”
Lieutenant Heart shot her another glare as if she knew something she wasn’t telling. Maxine felt very uncomfortable under his shadowy glare. It was like he was a human shit detector and he was smelling her out very clearly.
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br /> His hand shot under the driver’s seat as he continued to drive and he placed a manila folder marked with a Homicide report number. She knew it was a homicide file, because it was marked, “Private Report from Detroit Police Homicide Division.”
Her hands began to shake as she read these words over and over again. “L-Lieutenant….” She couldn’t breathe.
He pulled in a parking lot and his looked warmed a little. His hand moved over hers to stop the shaking. “I’m not sure, but I couldn’t find any close family member to identify the body.”
Maxine covered her mouth in distressed as tears welled up in her eyes. Gasping and sobbing at the same time, she picked up the folder and opened it. The naked body of a woman was found lying over some train tracks.
“Oh Gawd, oh ….Lieutenant….” She could barely speak as she flipped the photo to see another one that had a closer shot of the face. It looked as if someone had beaten her with a bare fist.
“Call me Sheriff, Maxine,” he ordered as she sobbed even harder looking at the mutilated beaten body of Lisa’s. “Can you help me identify the body?”
Slowly nodding, Maxine knew it was Lisa. The tattoo on her neck and the pierced nose indicated that this was Lisa. She hadn’t noticed much about her when she saw her lying in Devon’s bed, except the face was much smaller, but the body was still the same.
Closing the folder, she sobbed in both her hands as she heard his voice.
“We found her yesterday about ten o’clock at night. It was a body dump,” he explained. “What was so strange was that was a block away from the address to that building you gave me.”
Maxine’s head shot up to look at the lieutenant. Sheriff Heart was staring at her hard now.
“T-the one I told you about?” she questioned.
“Yes, Maxine. Tell me what else you know about Devon Walken and this cult you spoke of,” Sheriff ordered.
Chapter 21
For some reason, her hand went up to her neck to finger the chain. “Cult?”
“Yes,” he said impatiently. “The one you spoke about.” He started to drive again now that she seemed a little bit calm.
She couldn’t talk. All she could hear was Philippe’s voice, ‘Obedience is a must! Obedience is a must!’
Her throat felt very dry all of a sudden and she was fingering the chain harder trying to figure a way out of this conversation. Every moral fiber screamed in her head to talk, yet internally, she didn’t want to disobey or reveal what she knew about The Masquerade.
“Umm…I told you everything already, Sheriff. I don’t know anything else.”
“I smell bullshit, Maxine.”
Looking away, she tried to remain calm. “I’ve told you all I know. You told me to keep my nose out of anymore stuff.”
He stopped the car and came around to her side, opening her door to indicate for her to get out. “And you did?”
“Yes,” she lied, following him into the city’s medical examiner office. “Shouldn’t I be saying I told you so?”
Sheriff cut those onyx eyes at her as if she should probably be taking two steps back and getting the hell away from him. While he signed them in, he said, “After surmising the proximity from the crime scene and getting permission, I checked it out this morning. It was just like you said, abandoned, except there was recent activity just from last night in the back. I contacted Devon Walken and he confirmed it was his property which is used often for private business entertainment.”
Pausing outside of the morgue, he continued to speak, “What you’re about to see, may upset you, Maxine. Since you’re the only person who can identify her then you must. But like I said, it’ll be worse than those pictures.”
“What about dental records?” Maxine asked because she had seen too many crime shows on television.
“With her body found with no identification and the majority of the front teeth knocked out her mouth, I have really nothing to go on.”
He handed her a white mouth and nose medical mask, which Maxine understood its usage as soon as they entered the room. The smell of human corpse was prevalent despite the usage of chemicals to clean up everywhere. A medical technician was in the room and standing over a covered body, which was where Sheriff led her.
“Good morning, Lieutenant Heart,” the Hispanic, young looking technician said lightly. “I’m seeing you too much these days.”
“Not much longer, Nick. I’m getting ready to go private.”
“Really?” the technician asked. “Still not over that fiancée’ fiasco?” The guy sucked his teeth. “Yeah, even I couldn’t believe she brought the big bad Sheriff down-“ He abruptly stopped talking and looked sick to his stomach.
Sheriff had cut his dark eyes at the Hispanic and growled, “My cousin’s given me an offer I can’t refuse.” He looked over at Maxine. “Are you ready?”
Nodding, she knew Sheriff was only chewing the fat to give her a moment to brace herself. As inconsiderate as he acted, subconsciously he was rather thoughtful.
Nick drew back the white sheet and looked up at Maxine. She forced her eyes down and stared at the bloated face of her friend, Lisa.
Gasping in horror, she could not believe the severity of the injuries to Lisa’s face.
Sheriff moved around her to remind her of her reason for being there. “Are you okay, Maxine?”
“Yes,” she said gathering her equilibrium, but she wanted to throw up so bad. “T-that’s Lisa.”
Nick brought her some water and she stepped away slightly so she could drink it, but listened to Nick speak to the lieutenant.
“This was not just a beating, this was a passionate rage, Lieutenant. The person who did this to her, knew her, cared about her and they wanted to make sure that she would never care about anyone else again or anyone else to do so.” Nick sighed sadly. “Unfortunately, she was still alive during the entire beating. She didn’t die until her neck was broken.”
“Would you know if her attacker was black or white?” Maxine suddenly blurted out.
Sheriff gave her a strange glare.
Nick handed Sheriff a file ignoring Maxine’s question, but giving her an odd glance. “There’s also old bruising from past abuse. Ten years old, I estimated without a bone test. I haven’t done the internal autopsy yet, but I saw outside punctures and even burns. She’s had past broken bones.”
“So she should have been I.D.’d easily,” Sheriff said flipping through the file.
“I thought so too, but I checked past hospital records for just about anyone with her injuries, but no one came close, which I thought was strange, even with the name you suspected that she was.”
“What does that mean?” Maxine questioned.
Nick answered, “It means that either her injuries were never reported or she isn’t who she says she is.”
Maxine figured it was the latter because of the society “fixing” their women. Of course Lisa wouldn’t report being beaten or burned when the society frowned upon “telling” and could fix things themselves off record.
But they couldn’t fix murder! Her thoughts screamed. SAY SOMETHING
Closing her eyes to her crazy thoughts, Maxine gathered herself and bit her lip. Slowly gaining her composure, she opened her eyes trying to appear calm. She wouldn’t tell, but she didn’t want to think too hard right then, because she saw Sheriff’s eyes were still on her watching her like white on rice.
Sheriff said some more things to Nick, but by then Maxine had wandered to the door. They didn’t speak until they were back at the car again.
“Why do you care so much?” Sheriff asked after they were sitting in the car again. “She’s just a co-worker.”
Not meeting his eyes, she said, “Because if I disappeared, Lieutenant Heart, I would hope that a co-worker who I thought I was close to would check up on me.”
“I don’t think that Lisa knew how many friends she had. And I don’t think the person who killed her knew it either. I think they weren’t counting on you, Ma
xine Moore.” Sheriff leaned in real close to her and she was amazed at how really black his eyes were. They narrowed and it felt as if he was looking directly through her. As if he knew the truth, he wasn’t going to physically force her, but he was going to wait for her to say something.
“We all go through living in this world, being in this world, and hope that when we die we go to heaven. But when you’ve lived in this world alone and you don’t have anyone, you get scared, Lieutenant. Scared that if something happens to you, no one will care. And someone could hurt me or kill me and no one will ever know until my body starts to...” She held back a sob, trying not to remember the desecration of Lisa’s face and what somebody did to her and how she probably sobbed and listened to her own bones break in her face. Maxine remembered that sound so well when it had happened to her. She remembered getting beat so severe in foster care that she wished she had died. She wished her own body had not been so strong and… “I don’t…well, I didn’t have anyone in my life, except for Lisa. I mean she was about the only person in this whole world who knew I existed.” Looking honestly at Sheriff, she said, “I’m scared that if I die, no one will ever know or care.”
Covering her eyes, trying to stifle the hard sob that rocked her chest, Maxine knew she could end up the same way if she stayed in this organization, but she just couldn’t tell. Carla’s life could depend upon Maxine’s silence. Maybe Lisa had died because Maxine had tried to help her?
Guilt overwhelmed her as Philippe’s voice screamed in her head. “Obedience is a must!”
Sheriff took some tissue out of his glove compartment and handed it to her. Leaning to him, she took the tissue and somehow fell into his open arms and buried her face in his chest and cried. His thick arms circled her and she relished in the comfort of human contact.
‘Get it together, Maxine,’ she ordered herself.
She dried her face and composed herself to slowly look up at him.
Sheriff looked down at her and then leaned down and pressed his lips against hers.
Dark Facade (Book Three) (Dark Facade Series) Page 2