by Roy Glenn
“Nobody as far as I know. She said she needed to talk to you about Mondrya Foster.”
“Mondrya Foster!”
“Who is Mondrya Foster?” Janise asked.
“She used to work for Hudson Financial. The last message she left me said that she had some information, but she got killed in a robbery at Starbucks before she could tell me. Did she leave a number?”
Marcus wrote down the number Janise gave him and then dialed the number. After being left on hold for fifteen minutes, Gloria came to the phone. “Good morning, Marcus, I'm sorry to keep you holding so long.”
“That's alright, Gloria. How have you been?”
“The doctor said I might have some dizziness for a while, but other than a headache, I'm fine.”
“What happened to you? Did you have an accident?”
“No. I thought you knew. I got shot in the head. Well the bullet just grazed my head. I was at Starbucks with Mondrya the night she was killed. That's what I wanted to talk to you about. But I'd rather not discuss it over the phone. You could come to my office today, or could we meet somewhere?”
“Are you still in downtown Decatur?”
“Yes.”
Marcus glanced at the clock. “I could be there in about an hour.”
“Good. I'll see you then,” Gloria said and hung up the phone.
Marcus quickly dialed Carmen's cell phone and she answered on the first ring. “That didn't take long. What did she say?”
“Just that she was sorry that she did what she did on a humbug,” Marcus said like it didn’t matter, but it did. “and that she was signing the divorce papers,” he continued like it was no big deal, but it really was.
“Good,” Carmen said to him, seemingly more excited about the information. “I was having a little problem with openly dating a married man.”
“Yeah, well, I'll tell you about that when I see you. But I need you to come and pick me up.”
“Where are we going?”
“Hopefully to hear from the dead.”
When Carmen returned to pick up Marcus, she was once again driving her sister’s Mercedes. They arrived at the law office of Gloria Giannelli. They sat in the reception area for the better part of an hour before Gloria stepped out of her office.
“Marcus,” she said with her hand extended. “It's good to see you again.” Marcus and Carmen rose to their feet.
“How have you been, Gloria. It's been a long time,” Marcus said as he shook her hand. “This is Carmen Taylor.”
“Gloria Giannelli.”
“Nice to meet you,” Carmen said.
“Please come in.” Gloria stepped aside and ushered them in. Once they were seated, Gloria went into her file cabinet to retrieve the priority mail envelope that Mondrya Foster had sent to her office. “Like I told you over the phone, I was with Mondrya the night she was killed. She and I were friends and she called me and wanted to get together to explore the possibility of filing a sexual harassment suit.”
“Who was the suit against?” Marcus asked.
“She didn't say, but she did say that she was looking into something for you, and that she was planning on using it as an insurance policy to get what she wanted.”
“Mondrya left me a message that she had something for me, but was killed that same day. But I don't know anything about an insurance policy.”
“That's why I wanted to see you today. And I thought that we would talk alone.”
“Ms. Taylor is,” Marcus glanced at Carmen. “Intimately involved in this investigation. You can speak freely in front of her.”
“You see, Desireé Ferguson is my sister,” Carmen said looking Gloria in the eye.
“Oh, I see. I didn't know that was your sister. I'm terribly sorry.” Gloria picked up the envelope and handed it to Marcus. “As I mentioned over the phone, this is my first day back in the office since that night. This arrived here two days after, as you can see it was addressed to Mondrya, in care of this office. Judging from the post mark, Mondrya must have sent it right before she met me at Starbucks.”
Marcus started to open the envelope to examine its contents. “Marcus,” Gloria said, and Marcus stopped. “I would prefer that you do not open that in my presence.”
“Okay, Gloria,” Marcus said.
“Do you mind if I ask why not?” Carmen asked.
“I am convinced that whatever is in that envelope is the reason I was shot and Mondrya was murdered.”
“I thought that it was a random shooting during a robbery. What makes you believe that she was killed because of this envelope?” Marcus asked.
“I had a lot of time to think about what happened. I'm still having nightmares about it. Sometimes what happened plays like a movie. Over and over again in my mind. And then I came in to the office and this was waiting for me. Now I'm sure.”
“Do you mind telling us how it happened?” Carmen asked.
“Yes, Ms. Taylor, I do. But I know that this is important to you. It seemed to me that when they came in to Starbucks that evening; that they picked us out and shot us. There were three of them, one went to the register, and one stood by the door and the other one, the one who shot us. I couldn't help feeling that he walked around until he spotted us.”
“Did he say anything to you before he shot you?” Carmen asked.
“I don't think I'll ever forget what he said to me. He said, 'what the fuck you looking at, bitch.' Then he walked up to us and said, 'Oh, so I ain't nothin'! You pretty bitches, think y'all better than me. See if you better than this.' Then he shot me.”
“Did you tell the police any of this?” Marcus asked.
“No I didn't, and if you go to them and tell them that I think Mondrya was murdered over whatever is in that envelope, I'll deny this conversation ever took place.”
“I thought you said Mondrya was a friend of yours?” Carmen asked.
“She was. But she's dead now.”
“And it doesn't matter that whoever is responsible for this will get away with it?”
“Like I said, Ms. Taylor, Mondrya is dead, but I'm alive and I plan to stay that way.”
Carmen stood up quickly. “Let's go, Marcus.” Then she turned to Gloria. “Thank you for calling and turning this over to us, I appreciate it. You didn't have to do it, you could have destroyed it as soon as you found out what was in it.”
“Carmen,” Marcus said, knowing that Carmen was about to get off the chain.
“No, Marcus, it’s her kind of attitude, not willing to tell what she knows, is the reason whoever murdered Dez is walking around free.” Carmen opened the door to the office, “I'm glad I don't have friends like you,” and slammed the door behind her. Carmen stormed out of the office and headed for the car.
“Sorry about that, Gloria.”
Gloria stood up and walked Marcus out. “That's all right, Marcus. To be honest with you, I'm a little ashamed of myself, too. But I'm alive and if I have to leave the city, I plan to stay that way. Good luck with your investigation.”
Marcus put the envelope in his brief case and joined Carmen in the car. She was still on fire when he got there. Other than asking where he wanted to go, Carmen said nothing until she parked the car in front of Marcus's office. “Sorry I lost it back there, Marcus.”
“Don't sweat it, Carmen. I like a woman with a little fire,” Marcus replied, getting out of the car and going inside.
When Janise saw Marcus, she immediately started smiling. “Marcus. I wasn't expecting you in the office today.”
“I needed to look over some things. I probably won't be here long.”
“And how are you, Ms. Taylor?”
“Doing fine, Janise; what about you?”
“Great. In fact I have some great news for you, Marcus.”
“What's that, Janise?”
“Your lawyer called and said Randa sauntered into his office this morning, without her lawyer, and signed the divorce papers. He said she didn't even bother to look at them. Just signed he
r name and left.”
“Did she really?” Marcus winked at Carmen. “That is great news, Janise.” After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Janise, Marcus and Carmen went into his office and closed the door. Marcus took the envelope out and opened it.
“What's in it?”
“Three sheets of paper and a CD. Two of them have a heading which reads Frank Collins client list.” Marcus handed the client lists to Carmen, and he continued reading the other sheet. “And this one says notes to Marcus. It says observation, FC and CT appear to be friends, then next to it, she wrote, confirmed,” he continued reading. “According to this, before Frank Collins came to work at Hudson Financial, he used to work as salesman for Atlanta life, then a brief stint at Dean Witter in New York. He was fired for, in capital letters, GROSS financial mismanagement of his accounts. When he came to Hudson Financial as an account manager, he was put immediately on the merger audit team, even though he had no audit experience. She remembered a meeting between Frank and CT, who I assume is Connie Talbert, and after that the deal fell through. Then down here at the bottom it says, FC, ML HF. FC we know is Frank Collins and HF is most likely Hudson Financial. But what does ML stand for?”
“I have no clue.”
“Then it says W O N N I E M T E L =CD. Any bets on what that means?”
Carmen shrugged her shoulders and shook her head no, and continued looking at the client lists. “Marcus, these are two different lists. But on this one, she wrote official,” Carmen said handing the papers back to Marcus. “And this one, the names are obviously fake names.”
“Some of the names are in Spanish, but these others, Abe Lincoln, James Madison.”
“Dead Presidents.”
“Not just dead Presidents,” Marcus said. “Each of them are on some denomination of currency. George Washington is on the $1 note, Thomas Jefferson is on the $2, Abraham Lincoln is on the $5, Alexander Hamilton is on the $10, Andrew Jackson is on the $20, Ulysses S. Grant is on the $50, Benjamin Franklin is on the $100, William McKinley is on the $500, Grover Cleveland is on the $1000, James Madison is on the $5000, and Salmon B. Chase is on the $10,000. When one series of the $100,000 note was issued, 1934 Gold Certificates, if I'm not mistaken, Woodrow Wilson was put on them. Even though they're called “dead presidents,” three of them, Hamilton, Franklin, and Chase, weren't Presidents.” Marcus looked and saw how Carmen was looking at him. “Anyway, money, that's the pattern here.”
“I've heard of all the rest of them, but who is Chase?”
“Salmon B. Chase was an old Abolitionist lawyer and politician from the pre-Republican Liberty Party. As it happened, he was appointed by Abraham Lincoln to be Secretary of the Treasury and was responsible for the motto In God We Trust, which was introduced on the coinage at that time but it didn't appear on currency until 1957.
“How do you know all this?”
“I read a lot,” Marcus smiled.
“Okay,” Carmen said thinking how far she'd come from Denny Boo. Carmen smiled at Marcus and he smiled back. “What's on the CD?”
“Let's see.” Marcus put the CD in the drive and it opened up a Windows program which informed them that there is no application associated with it, and asked which program they wished to use. “This is useless to us. It's a safe bet that Mondrya copied it from Hudson Financials computer system.”
“So we need to be at Hudson Financial to find out what's on it?”
“Maybe not,” Marcus said and picked up the phone. “Janise, get Garrett on the phone for me, please.”
“Hold on, Marcus,” Janise said, and before too long she came back to the phone. “Marcus, I have Garrett on line three.”
“Thanks, Janise.” Marcus switched to line three and put it on speaker. “Garrett.”
“Congratulations big dog! I hear Randa signed the divorce papers. How does it feel being a free man?”
“I guess it will hit me after a while, but right now,” he smiled at Carmen, “it really hasn't fazed me. What's going on with you?”
“You know me, Marcus, work, that's what's going on with me. What's up with you? You need me to go question Porsche Temple's freaky crew again? Please say yes.”
“Not this time, Garrett. I'm here with Carmen Taylor.”
“Hi, Garrett!” Carmen yelled.
“Hey, Carmen. I didn't know y'all had me on speaker. I'm glad I didn't say anything too off the wall. What can I do for you two?”
“I got a CD here that was most likely copied from Hudson Financials computer system and I can't do anything with it. So I was wondering if this was something that Jamara could help us with?”
“If it has anything to do with a computer, I imagine that she can.”
“When can we get with her?” Marcus asked.
Garrett gave Marcus directions to Jamara's house and told them to meet him there. When they arrived at Jamara's house, Garrett opened the door. He introduced Marcus and Carmen to Jamara.
“Jamara, it is nice to finally meet you. You are as pretty as your name.” Marcus said.
Carmen rolled her eyes. “Nice to meet you,” she said nonchalantly.
“It is so good to finally meet both of you,” Jamara said. “I've heard so much about you, I feel like we're all old friends or whatever.”
Marcus and Carmen both looked at Garrett. “Don't look at me. You know I ain't giving up much of nuthin',” Garrett pleaded in his own defense.
“It wasn't Garrett. If anything, Garrett cleared up a lot of the stuff I've heard about y'all.”
“Just exactly what have you been hearing?” Carmen said, copping an attitude. “And who have you been hearin' it from?”
“From the radio,” Jamara asked.
“The radio!” Carmen said louder than she needed to.
“That's what I was going to tell you, Carmen. Randa says we're the topic of discussion on the morning show on V103.” Marcus told her.
“Not just on V103. White folks talking about y'all, too.”
“What about us?”
“Mostly that y'all eat out a lot and y'all go dancing every night,” Garrett said.
“And Randa told me that she was listening when somebody called in and said that you killed Desireé and I made Roland step off for it, because I knew that I could get him off for it.”
“I heard that one, too,” Jamara said excitedly, until she looked at the angry look on Carmen's face. “I'm sorry, Carmen. I don't believe any of that stuff anyway. People with no business, got nothing but time to get off into other people’s business. They need to get a life.” Carmen went and sat down, without saying another word. “So, ahh, Garrett said you had something you wanted me to look at,” Jamara said, knowing it was time to change the subject.
“Yes,” Marcus said pulling out the CD and handing it to Jamara. “I think that it's from Hudson Financials computer system. I couldn't open it.”
“You're probably right. It is most likely data copied from there system. Unless you are running the application, it's useless.”
“So there's nothing you can do?” Marcus said sounded dejected.
“Maybe,” Jamara said. “Maybe not. Do they have a website?”
“I'm sure they do.”
“Well, let's see what we can do,” Jamara said and invited them to follow her. Marcus and Garrett followed behind her, but Carmen kept her seat.
“You coming?” Marcus asked looking back at Carmen.
“You all go ahead. I'll be alright.”
Jamara led Marcus and Garrett into the den which she had converted into a computer room. She logged into the Internet and went to Hudson Financials website. She created a fake account log in for herself and proceeded to cruise the site, looking for ways to get into the system. After about an hour of watching Jamara type and mumble, “Hmm.” Marcus went back out to the living room where Carmen was sitting. He sat down next to her and held her hand. The two sat there for the next half hour or so, with neither one saying a word. Then Carmen squeezed his hand.
&n
bsp; “What's bothering you, Carmen?”
“I really don't like people all up in my business, but I can take that. I know you are very high profile since you won the case and I understand that. I know that people are going to talk. And I understand that, too. But what's really bothering me, is that someone could think that I could kill my own sister that way. They don't know me, and they didn't know Dez. It just hurts, that's all.”
Marcus was about to say something, when Garrett came out of the den. “She's in,” he said and quickly disappeared back in the room. When the system was accessed it automatically sent the following email:
To: advisory board member advisory [email protected]
From: System Administrator [email protected]
Subject: Unauthorized System Access
This message was automatically generated and sent to the advisory board member distribution list. Please be advised somebody has gained unauthorized access to the system. Recommend corrective action be taken immediately to protect the integrity of the system:
Access Password: SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR
Access From Terminal Position: Unknown
Position Owner: Unknown
Marcus stood up and held out his hand to Carmen. “What was it that Dominique used to tell you, you're a Taylor. You must be stronger than the forces around you.”
Carmen accepted his hand and stood up. “It was hard then. And it's no easier now.”
Marcus and Carmen went into the den. Jamara was seated at the computer and Garrett was standing over her. “I'm in,” Jamara said staring at the screen. “But now it's prompting me to enter a password. I don't want to get locked out now.”
“I'll be right back,” Marcus said and quickly left the room. When he returned he had the paper that Mondrya had written her notes on, along with the two client lists.
“What you got there?” Garrett asked.
“These are the notes Mondrya made for me before she was murdered,” he said handing the paper to Garrett. “Take a look at this.”
“FC, ML HF. W O N N I E M T E L =CD. What does it mean?”
“I don't know. But whatever that word is, it equals CD,” Marcus answered, pointing at the word.