I hopped out the bed before the brokenness in her eyes kept me planted. Originally, I planned to stay away and let what I planned to fall into place but it tore me up inside to know that her last memory of us would be her crying on the ground with her mother as her father passed away. That shit tore me up.
So, for my own selfish greed, I came here to have one last moment of peace and dance in the sheets of bliss with my Gazelle.
“Here.” She stepped into my walk-in closet where I was getting dressed. “Your jeweler couldn’t get a hold of you and he called Cassian. The pieces have been here since you left.” Her eyes bore down at the six black velvet boxes. I intended to make use of all six of them but now all I needed was five.
“Thank you.” I stuffed the boxes in my bookbag. “I’ll see you later.” One gentle kiss is all I could handle.
“Please be safe.” She called after me.
“I will.” Today I would be safe but tomorrow, I couldn’t guarantee the same.
Like I creeped in on my own land, I went back out the same way through the back trees behind my house that led to an iron gate leading to the main road. Two of my guards spotted me and froze. Both blinked twice like they were unsure of what to do until they moved their feet and continued patrolling the compound like they didn’t see me. It was the same as the night I snuck on my property. They saw me but said nothing.
“Is she okay?” Pacino inquired before I had the door to his truck closed. “No and I don’t expect her to ever be.”
“Are you sure this is what you want to do? There are a hundred different ways we can handle the situation.” I understood his concern but now wasn’t the time to guilt me into changing my mind.
“Would you have handled the situation differently if we knew about what was going on with Odom beforehand?”
He looked off scratching his head. “You right. Back to business. Did you know that Junior and most of the Martinez family came down here to meet with Cassian and try to demand the same thing from him as his father tried with Mitch?”
I knew all about Junior coming back to Florida after he killed Mitch. While he was here trying to rectify a situation, he knew he was going to die for, I was in New York slaughtering the first generation of his family. I showed him a lot more mercy than the others. Gave him time to spend with his wife as she cooked and talked about all the fun she had in Miami.
It fucked with me that I knew more about his most recent moves before his death than I did the day he executed Mitch. Fucking snakes on my payroll.
“Have you talked to Noelani? She’s supposed to meet us once I’m done.” I changed the subject not wanting to get angry over a correction that I fixed.
“Yeah. You know she’s still pissed but she’s on board with everything.”
The day we got back to Florida Pacino and I met up with Noelani out by Lake Okeechobee. I know I put her in a compromising position by making her promise me that she won’t tell Cassian that she saw me, but I needed her to get me some important information.
“You ready?” Pacino asked as he placed his truck in park.
Looking up at the twenty-four-story building, I waited for a moment of regret. Waited for my conscience to send me in the other direction. “Yeah. Let’s get this over and done with.” Each of us took an office box and headed inside the building. By the time we checked in with security at the front desk and got cleared to go up my damn throat burned from trying not to puke.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen. Welcome to Lancaster, Brooks, and King Law Office. How may I help you?” The bubble receptionist eyes bounced between Pacino and me.
“Good afternoon. We’re here to see Ms. Lancaster please.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
I glanced over at Pacino who snickered and shook his head. “No ma’am. Can you tell her that Mr. Luciano is here to see her please? Wait till Krishna finds out who will represent you. Fucking classic.” He muttered under his breath low only for me to hear.
“No problem. Let me just call her and make sure she’s not busy before I send you down the hall.” While she picked up the phone, I looked around the office to keep my mind off my mission. “Gentlemen, please head down the hall and her office is on the right.”
“Thank you very much, ma’am.”
My steps were heavy walking the short distance. The way my feet felt you’d think I’d ran a whole marathon. “Guess we’re late.” Seeing Noelani and Chief Chatterjee already seated inside her office made me realize there was no turning back.
I watched her. From the slow nibble on her bottom lip and constant twirl of the cross on her necklace, she was in deep thought. She stood by the window overlooking downtown Biscayne Bay ignoring the two people seated in front of her oakwood desk. Pictures and plaques of all her accolades hung on the light-yellow walls. Pictures of her family that she wanted me to meet sat on her desk.
Clearing my throat, I sat the box I carried on her desk. “Mahogany.”
Her breathing became quick sputters. “Amell.” Turning and seeing the beautiful woman that had become the best defense criminal lawyer in Florida, I smiled. “I’m afraid to ask why you summoned everyone to my office.” Those slanted brown eyes swept over my face as if she was seeing me for the first time.
“Judge Stanley Maylor, are you familiar with him?”
Mentioning the notorious racist judge got me an eye roll and grunt. “I’ve served in his court a few times. We’ve never saw eye to eye for many reason.” Hands smoothed out the front of her plum skirt before she took a seat behind her desk.
“What about Attorney General Beauregard?”
Her head tilted as her eyes squinted. “Amell, what is the reason for this meeting? I have the Indian Chief in my office who has barely said two words and Mrs. Kalmin who states she can’t go into detail about this odd visit. To answer your question, yes I know Beau well.”
I nodded for Pacino to place the other box on top of the one I had. “In these boxes are files of murdered victims from 2000 to 2007 here in Florida. What I’m about to ask may seem a little bizarre and probably impossible…in your eyes, but if you follow my directions, this will work out for the both of us.”
Wide eyes stared back at me. Several times her mouth gaped opened and closed before she stood and opened one of the boxes and took out a file. “Oh my God. This is the Jefferson murder. Do you know how many people have been trying to solve this case? He’s a prominent, well was, a prominent doctor out of Miami Gardens.”
“Yes, I am aware, and he was also a pedophile who liked picking up prostitutes on the back alley of 165 avenue.” Most of my hit jobs weren’t for shits and giggles because I had nothing to do. When someone hired me to job there had to be a strong reason behind it. Granted I killed for no reason at all but these murders were different.
“I just,” she blew out a surprised breath and picked up another folder.
“Amell, these are all cases that are archived as unsolved. Why are you doing this? Who is confessing to all of these?”
“Me.” Sighs from everyone but her went around the room.
Once it sunk in what I was asking her to do Mahogany’s eyes glistened with tears. “Amell, why would you do this? Do you know what they’re going to do to you? The charges? Are you aware that Florida is still a state has the death penalty?” A few dropped before I had the chance to catch them with my thumb.