Part 36 (1/2)
”You don't-”
”Don't care for Chuck Reese?” Dudley asked, antic.i.p.ating her question. ”No. In fact, I'm probably the only person in Richmond who hates Chuck Reese as much as you do.”
Angela turned toward Jake, her eyes wide. ”Oh, my G.o.d, I think I-” But her cell phone rang, cutting her off. It was Liv, she figured, pulling the phone from her pocket. ”h.e.l.lo.”
”Angela.”
The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it right away. ”Yes?”
”Do you know who this is?”
She struggled, trying desperately to identify the caller. Then she realized who it was. ”This is-”
”Carter Hill.”
”What do you-”
”I want my files back, Angela. The ones you took from me tonight. If you give me those files, I will give you back your son.”
Angela was silent, the breath sucked from her lungs.
”That's right. Hunter is here with me, and he's fine.” Hill's voice turned vicious. ”For now.”
Carter Hill stood before Angela, his thin smile barely visible in the moonlight. It was just after three o'clock in the morning and dawn was still two hours away. She had come to the swing set of this small park in the West End immediately after getting off the phone with Hill, as he had demanded. But he had made her wait. On the ground beside her was a cardboard box.
”I a.s.sume those are my files,” Hill said, nodding down at the box. ”The ones you stole from the South Side location.”
”Yes,” she said, s.h.i.+vering. She'd been standing here for an hour, waiting for Hill to appear.
”You've made a wise decision, Angela. Without all of that evidence, no one will believe your accusations. The South Side operation has already been shut down. Nothing there now but empty desks.” His smile grew wider.
”I don't care about anyone believing me. I just want my son back.”
Hill motioned over his shoulder and a man appeared out of the darkness. ”Take that,” Hill ordered, pointing at the box.
”Yes, sir.” The man picked it up, then melted back into the shadows.
”Now give me my son,” Angela said, her voice rising.
”Not so fast. My people will need time to review the files to make certain everything is there.”
”What! You promised me-”
”Shut up!” Hill hissed. ”Or your little boy will end up like Liv Jefferson.”
Angela caught her breath. ”What do you mean?”
Hill chuckled. ”Let's just put it this way. Your little n.i.g.g.e.r friend won't be writing any more columns about discriminatory banking practices.”
Her hands began to tremble. ”You killed her?”
”You said it, not me.”
”You-” But Angela couldn't get the words out. She could feel the tears coming to her eyes and a terrible pain tearing at her heart. One she'd felt before.
”That will be all for now,” Hill said calmly. ”I'll be in touch.”
As he turned, Angela saw the three flashes over Hill's left shoulder. The signal that the area had been completely secured. ”Stop right where you are,” she ordered, smoothly drawing the pistol Jake had given her and pointing it directly at Hill's chest as he turned back around. ”Don't move.”
Hill spotted the glint of the gun in the moonlight. ”What the h.e.l.l do you think you're doing? You'll never see your son again.”
He took a step toward her and she c.o.c.ked the weapon, the metallic click stopping him dead in his tracks. She wouldn't hesitate to follow her father's advice this time. ”Take one more step, Hill, and I'll kill you,” she said coldly.
”You're making a grave-”
But Hill didn't finish. Two of Jake's men appeared like ghosts from the shadows, hitting Hill at exactly the same moment. One high, one low. And a second later his wrists were cuffed securely behind his back. Then they had him on his feet, a rag stuffed in his mouth, and they were hustling him away toward the waiting van.
Angela let out a long, heavy sigh, unc.o.c.ked the pistol, and brought her hands down.
Jake moved behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. ”I hope you know what you're doing, sweetheart.”
CHAPTER TWENTY.
The sun's first rays were just beginning to break through a thick cloud cover as theBoston Whaler motored along the north sh.o.r.e of the James River. When they reached land, Angela jumped to the bank, then darted into the forest along with five of Jake's men. They'd come from downstream, hugging the wooded sh.o.r.eline, and they were headed for Rosemary-the pool house specifically. They planned to enter the estate there, then scour the entire complex until they found Hunter. Angela was certain her son was with Chuck Reese.
These were the last pieces of the puzzle for Angela: Bob Dudley and Chuck Reese's mutual hatred; Dennis Wolfe's defection from Dudley's Sumter Bank to Reese's Albemarle Capital six years ago; the fact that Sage Capital was the lessor of the s.p.a.ce in the South Side business park; and Dudley's observation that Carter Hill would have needed a financial backer to support that South Side operation. These were the last few pieces and Angela was certain she knew exactly how they fit together. She was sure that Chuck Reese was the money behind everything. Certain that once the forensic accountants had a chance to scrutinize the Albemarle and Sage records, they would find that Sage Capital was ultimately controlled by Albemarle. And she was certain that Dennis Wolfe had set up Sage for Reese after spending time at Albemarle.
Sage Capital had originally controlled ESP Technologies, had paid Strategy Partners' Alabama State Corporation Commission dues, and were the lessors of the South Side facility housing Sumter's mortgage screening operation. It was obvious now why Dennis Wolfe had defied Walter Fogel at the Proxmire board meeting last Sunday evening. Wolfe would have figured out what was happening and reported it all back to Reese. But she and Jake had gotten to Ted Harmon and pierced the corporate veil anyway.
The Carter HillChuck Reese partners.h.i.+p made perfect sense to Angela. Hill and Reese both hated Dudley, and they both knew that what he treasured most in the world was Sumter Bank. To wrest control of it away from him would hurt him more than anything else could. So they'd agreed on a plan to frame Dudley for fraud in order to have him removed as chairman, while at the same time pus.h.i.+ng a mutual agenda of housing discrimination against minorities by setting up the South Side operation. Hill needed financial support, and Reese needed someone inside to arrange the Dudley frame. A man who was ideally motivated. A man who would ascend to the Sumter throne-albeit ultimately reporting to Reese-should Dudley be deposed. It was a perfect match.
Fifty yards from the pool house Angela knelt down behind a tall oak tree. She was joined by the leader of Jake's team. ”That's it,” she confirmed, gesturing at the outline of the huge structure barely visible through the trees and the murky light.
”You should stay here until it's over, Ms. Day,” the team leader advised. ”Mr. Lawrence ordered me to make certain that you were not involved in a dangerous situation.”
She shook her head. ”I believe my son is in there. I'll be going in with you.”
”Mr. Lawrence was very clear.”
Angela placed her fingers on the young man's shoulder. ”You can't keep me away. It's my son. Besides, I'm safer with you than out here.”
The young man grimaced. ”You must stay very close to me. Do you understand?”
”Yes.” She would, too. She saw no sense in being a dead hero.
The leader signaled silently to the team and they stole the last few yards across the forest floor through the gloom to the pool house. When they had checked the interior through one of the floor-to-ceiling windows and had seen no one, one of the men produced a gla.s.s cutter and quickly sliced out a piece of the window while two other men kept the piece from falling by holding it up with suction cups. When the gla.s.s had been removed and laid carefully on the ground, the leader nodded to the others. They had to be ready for alarms to go off as they entered the building. But, as the leader stepped onto the pool deck, everything remained quiet.