Page 62

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

GARRET

I hated being back there. Back in that underground dungeon where they have their meetings. It’s not really a dungeon. It’s just a room with tiered seating. But when they dim the lights and do that spotlight thing, it looks like a damn dungeon. Then they add the black robes with the hoods and you feel like you’re in a medieval torture chamber, preparing to be beheaded.

Their usual meetings aren’t like that, but this was a sentencing, so they have to make it dark and ominous. Jade was shaking the whole time. I knew she’d be scared, standing there all by herself. And I wouldn’t have left her side, but then I found out I’d be sitting right behind her so I went along with it. My dad was seated next to me. Across from us, in front of Jade, was the ruling council. They give out the punishments. I don’t know who’s on the council. I couldn’t see their faces.

I never wanted Jade to be anywhere near those people. Not just the ruling council, but any of the members. But she insisted we do this, thinking they’d leave us alone if we did. And although I think it was good the members saw her in person and were told that she can never be harmed, I still didn’t like having her so close to them.

When we’re back at the house, we go up to my room and Jade collapses on the bed.

“Jade, get up.”

“I just need to rest a minute after all that stress.”

“Take your clothes off.”

She sits up. “What? Garret, I don’t want to have sex right now.”

I start undressing. “We’re not having sex. We’re checking for microphones.”

“On our clothes?”

“Yes. They could’ve planted them on us while we were there. So take everything off.”

She takes off her dress and we change into different clothes. Then I bring her dress and my suit downstairs and leave them in the study. My dad will check the clothes later when he checks his suit. He has one of those wand things to check for hidden microphones but I don’t know where he keeps it.

“Okay, now we can talk,” I say when I get back upstairs. Jade is lying on my bed. I lie next to her.

“Are all the meetings like that?”

“No, but I can’t tell you what they’re like so let’s not talk about it.”

“Do you think Victoria’s going to try to do something to me now that she’s been punished?”

“No. If she did, she’d be punished again. The members see you as one of us now, and Victoria no longer is. She knows if she messes with you, she’ll get in trouble.”

“Maybe she doesn’t care. She’s already been punished so she has nothing to lose.”

“She has a lot more to lose. They went easy on her.”

“What about Sadie? Do you think she’ll do something to me?”

“If she does, I’ll go after her myself. You didn’t do anything wrong, Jade. This is all happening because of what Royce did. Did Sadie say something to you while you were standing there? I saw her turn her head and it looked like she said something.”

“She called me a bitch.” Jade says it softly.

I sigh. “What the fuck is Sadie’s problem? You’ve never said or done anything bad to her and she still acts like that.”

“Her sister called me a whore.” Jade’s eyes are tearing up. She really wanted sisters, but I think she’s finally getting that having the Sinclair girls as sisters is not a good thing. “Emily doesn’t even know me and she still called me that.”

God, I hate those girls so bad.

“Jade, come here.” I hug her into my chest. “Just forget about them. You don’t need them in your life.”

“I know. But I wanted them in my life. I wanted more family.”

“You have family. You have my dad and Lilly. Frank and Ryan. Grace and William and Meredith. You don’t need Sadie and her sisters.”

Jade’s phone rings. She gets up to check it. “It’s Harper. I’m surprised she’s taking a break from Sean long enough to call me.”

I leave, so the two of them can talk. As I’m going downstairs, I see Lilly walking toward me from the living room. She has her head down, her shoulders slumped.

“Hey.” I meet her at the bottom of the stairs and pick her up. “You want to play a video game?”

She shakes her head, then rests it on my shoulder. I think it’s finally hitting her that her parents are divorced and her mom isn’t going to live here anymore. Last week, she was distracted by all the holiday activities, but now Christmas is over and my dad will be at his meeting all week and Jade and I are leaving. This will be a hard week for her as reality sets in and she realizes that things aren’t going to be the same anymore.

I go in the living room and sit down, setting Lilly on my lap. “Do you want to talk about it?”

She shrugs.

“Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Why did Mom leave me?” She keeps her head down and picks up the drawstring on my hooded sweatshirt, wrapping it around her finger.

“She didn’t leave you. She just had some things to care of. She’ll be back.”

“No, she won’t. She’s never coming back. She doesn’t want me anymore.”

“Lilly, that’s not true. Why would you say that?”

“She gave me to Dad because she doesn’t want me.”

Unfortunately, it is kind of true. Katherine doesn’t seem to want Lilly. She didn’t even fight my dad for her. But that has nothing to do with Lilly. I think Katherine’s just done being a mom. She’s moved on, but I can’t tell Lilly that.

“Lilly, your mom wants you. It’s just that it’s easier if you live most of the time with one parent instead spending half the time with your mom and half with Dad, especially if they don’t live close to each other. Are you saying you don’t want to live with Dad? You’d rather live with your mom?”

“No. I’d rather live with Dad.”

“Are you sad because your mom didn’t say goodbye before she left?”

She nods.

“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t want you. And it doesn’t mean she isn’t coming back. She just has a lot going on right now. She’ll be back. You’ll see her again.”

“Can we call her?”

Katherine’s the last person I want to talk to, but Lilly wants to, so I get my phone out and call her. But if Katherine sees it’s me calling, she probably won’t answer.

Surprisingly, she picks up. “What do you want, Garret? Are you calling to congratulate me?”

“For what?”

“Haven’t you seen the news?”

Lilly takes the phone from me. “Hi, Mom!” Lilly perks up, a big smile on her face. “Are you coming home soon?” She listens, her smile slowly fading as she nods. “Yeah. Okay. Bye.” She gives me the phone back.

“Katherine?” I listen, but nobody’s there so I end the call. “What did she say?”

Lilly shrugs. “She’s busy, just like you said.”

“Where is she?”

“In New York. With her boyfriend.”

Boyfriend? The senator? I didn’t think Lilly knew about him. Katherine’s not even supposed to be dating that guy anymore.

“She said she’s with her boyfriend?”

“Yeah.” Lilly lays her head on my shoulder. “She said they’re busy and she can’t come back here for a while. They have stuff to do.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“Stuff for the baby.”

“Baby?” I sit up straighter. “What baby? Who’s having a baby?”

“Mom.”

“She just told you this? Like just now?”

Lilly nods. “I told you she doesn’t want me. She only wants the new baby.”

“Maybe you heard her wrong. Maybe someone else is having a baby.”

“She said she’s having a baby.”

Katherine’s having a baby? It sure as hell better not be my dad’s. It can’t be. Given how much he hates her, I can’t imagine him having sex with her. It’s gotta be the senator’s baby. So that’s why Katherine told me to congratulate her. And she acted like it was on the news.

I slide Lilly off my lap and stand up. “Why don’t you go in the kitchen and see what Charles is making?”

“He’s making cookies. Chocolate chip.”

“Let’s go have some. But first I have to go upstairs and get Jade. Wait for me in the kitchen.”

“Okay.” She walks off while I sprint up the stairs. I pass Jade in the hall on the way to my room.

She follows me in there. “What are you doing?”

“Katherine’s pregnant with the senator’s baby.” I turn the TV on and flip through to a news channel. I see her name scrolling at the bottom of the screen, with the words, ‘Katherine Kensington, recently divorced from Pearce Kensington, admits to having an affair with Senator Lyndon Tate of New York.’

I flip to a different channel and see the senator’s photo in the corner. The news guy is talking, “…major scandal for Senator Tate, who currently serves as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, a very prestigious and powerful role. News of this scandal will not likely harm his position as chairman, but it could affect him when it comes time for re-election, given his conservative base. Katherine Kensington, the woman he had the affair with, broke the news to the media just this morning, adding that she recently found out she’s pregnant with the senator’s baby. No word yet on whether the two of them plan to get married. This will be the senator’s first child. We’ll update you later as more details come in.”

“Holy crap!” Jade sits on the bed. “Katherine’s pregnant? She hates kids. Why would she want another one?”

“This isn’t about wanting a kid. This is about making the senator marry her.”

“Maybe he won’t do it.”

“His campaign was all about family values. If he wants his constituents to vote for him again, he needs to marry her. Katherine knows that. She also knows that making this public means she’s protected.”

“Protected from what?”

“The organization. If the pregnant wife or girlfriend of a well-known senator ends up dead, reporters will be all over that. The members don’t want to deal with that.”

“You think they were going to kill her? I thought they couldn’t hurt her now that they have that new rule.”

“She lost her protection under that rule when she killed my grandfather. She knew she wasn’t safe. Let’s go downstairs. I told Lilly we’d have cookies with her and Charles.”

My dad’s there when we get downstairs. He’s already changed into different clothes.

“They dismissed us early because of everything that’s going on,” he says.

“So you heard the news?” I ask him. “About Katherine?”

“Yes. It was discussed at the meeting.”

“She did it to save herself, didn’t she?”

“I don’t know how far along her pregnancy is, so I can’t say for sure. She might’ve been pregnant before your grandfather’s death. But I do think the pregnancy was her way of making sure the senator would marry her. He has no choice in the matter. He wouldn’t be re-elected if he didn’t. But he’s out as VP. Katherine thought she was being clever. She thought getting pregnant would secure her both a husband and a place as the vice president’s wife. But the VP part isn’t going to happen. They’re going to find someone else. In fact, they’re not even going to support Tate when he’s up for re-election. Now that he’s forever tied to Katherine, the organization wants nothing to do with him.”

“Speaking of Katherine,” I say, “Lilly’s really upset that Katherine just left without saying goodbye. She thinks her mom doesn’t want her anymore. Lilly wanted to call her, so she did, and Katherine told her about the baby.”

He sighs. “What is wrong with her? That’s not something you tell a child over the phone.”

“Daddy.” Lilly runs down the hall and up to him. “You want a cookie?”

He picks her up. “I would love a cookie. How’s my favorite girl?”

“Good.” She smiles really wide. “Where’d you go? This morning I woke up and you weren’t here.”

“I had a meeting to go to.”

“I missed you.” She hugs him.

“I missed you, too.”

She looks surprised. “You did?”

“Yes, and I have the rest of the day off so I thought we could go do something. But let’s go have some cookies first.” He sets her down.

She smiles. “Okay!”

My dad’s so much better with her than he used to be. Thank God that he is, because it sounds like he’s going to be the only parent she has left.

As we’re walking to the kitchen, my phone rings. “Go ahead,” I tell Jade. “I’ll be right there.”

I go in the living room to answer it. I don’t recognize the number. “Hello?”

“Garret?”

“Yeah. Who is this?”

“It’s Justin. Let’s just go with Carson since that’s how you know me.”

“How did you get this number?”

“It’s not that hard to get a phone number. I have resources, remember? Hanniford. The FBI.”

“What do you want?”

“I followed you this morning.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m here in Connecticut and I saw you and Jade leaving this morning with Pearce. I tried following you, but I lost track of the car when I got stopped at a light.”

“You have nothing better to do than follow us around?”

“You were going to a meeting, weren’t you? A meeting for the secret society.”

“I’m done listening to your fucked-up conspiracy theories, Carson. I’m hanging up.”

“We’ve been following your father for months now. We know he’s part of this. And he’s going to lead us to the others.”

“There are no others. There’s no secret group. You need to stop obsessing over this.”

“My sister’s dead, Garret. They killed her. You really think I’m going to just give up?”

“Why are you calling me?”

“I want you to convince your father to talk to Hanniford. Just talk. He’s not asking for names or to make any kind of deal. He just wants to talk to him.”

“Then he can call him himself.”

“He knows your father won’t answer the call. Besides, it’s impossible to get through to Pearce. His assistant won’t let anyone talk to him.”

I smile. “You couldn’t find his cell number?”

“No. Even the FBI guy we’re working with couldn’t get it.”

“That should tell you he wants to be left alone. Tell Hanniford my dad’s not going to meet with him. That guy needs to get over the fact that he didn’t win the election and stop making up stories to explain why he lost. He’s just as crazy as you are.”

“Garret, please. Just listen to me. You have a sister. I know she’s a half sister, but I’m sure you still care about her. If she were murdered simply for knowing something she shouldn’t, wouldn’t you want to find the people who did that to her? Take them down before they did that to someone else?”

He’s right. I’d want to do exactly that, but I can’t help him. Besides, the man who murdered his sister is dead. Carson couldn’t get his revenge even if I told him who did it.

“What are you saying, Carson? You want to find her killer and then kill that person? Doesn’t that make you just as bad as her killer?”

“I didn’t say I was killing anyone. I’m just trying to expose them. Let their actions be known so they can’t keep doing these things.”

“You really think that’s how this works?”

“What do you mean?”

I can’t say this over the phone. He’s probably recording this conversation.

“Where are you right now?”

“I’m sitting outside your house.”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“I’m parked on the street.”

I sigh. “Get out of your car and go stand at the gate. I’m going out there, and after this, we’re done talking. I don’t want to hear from you ever again.”

I end the call and grab my coat from the closet, then go in the study and get the wand-like device that checks for listening devices. My dad left it in there after he checked our clothes.

I go outside and down to the gate. Carson’s standing there, wearing jeans, a black coat, and a baseball cap. He does look young for his age. He’s a big guy, but his face looks young, which is why he could pass for a college freshman.

“Where’s your phone?” I ask him.

He holds it up.

“Go put it in your car.”

“I’m not recording you, Garret.”

“Yeah, like I’m really going to trust you.”

He goes back to his car and tosses the phone on the front seat, then comes back.

“Now stand right next to the gate.”

He does, and I run the wand over him. It doesn’t go off.

“And you think I’m the one who’s paranoid?” he asks.

“You’ve made it clear you have an agenda. I’m not letting you record me so you can twist my words to fit whatever story you plan to tell the media.”

“So why did you come out here? Why are you even talking to me?”

“Because I want this to end. My family doesn’t need this stress. My dad just got divorced and my sister, Lilly, isn’t handling it well. It’s a rough time for both of them and they don’t need you and Hanniford and whoever else you’re working with causing them even more stress.”

“I’m sorry about your dad’s divorce but this issue is larger than that. I can’t give up on this, Garret. I need justice for my sister.”

“You’re not getting justice. Harassing my family and following us around won’t bring your sister back.”

“No, but I’ll feel good knowing I took down the people who did that to her.”

“You don’t know who did it to her. You’re just guessing. Making up theories with no evidence to support them.”

“It’s not just a theory. She had proof the last election was rigged. And I know it’s some type of secret society that’s behind it.”

I pause, trying to figure out how to say this without giving too much away. “Let’s just say, hypothetically, that some secret group existed and that they were able to somehow control things.”

“Like elections.”

“Doesn’t matter what it is. Let’s just say they had enough power to make certain things happen. Do you really think exposing them would take them down?”

“Why wouldn’t it?”

I roll my eyes. “Seriously? You really think that would work? This is real life, Carson. This isn’t a movie where the bad guys get taken down at the end and the good guys walk off into the sunset. In real life, the bad guys get together with other bad guys and they usually win.”

“And you’re saying your dad and this group are the bad guys.”

I sigh. “No. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m not talking about my dad. I’m talking about how bad people don’t just go away. And if you go after them, you could be putting yourself in danger. It’s like when you’re a kid and some bully starts bothering you on the playground. What happens when you go tell the teacher?”

“She tells him to stop.”

“Yeah, and then he gets pissed that you told on him and he beats you up even more. Do you get what I’m saying?”

“This isn’t elementary school. And I’m not telling the teacher. I’m telling the FBI.”

“And what if the bully had friends in the FBI?”

He looks down, his eyes darting to the side. I don’t think he thought about that. Shit, he’s really naive. He has no idea what he’s getting himself into.

He looks back at me. “Do they?”

“This is hypothetical. There’s no secret group. What I’m saying is that bad guys almost always have people on the inside. That’s why they don’t get caught.”

“If this group had people on the inside, the agent we’re working with would know.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. The point I’m trying to make is that if this was really going on, you wouldn’t be able to stop it. And if you keep making allegations against people, especially rich, important people, you’re going to piss them off. They could destroy your reputation. Prevent you from ever getting a job. Are you really willing to risk that?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“And you think if you got rid of these so-called bad guys, new ones wouldn’t show up in their place?”

“Not if the government did their job and made sure groups like this couldn’t control the system.”

“The government is run by politicians. People who get into office by lying, cheating, and making promises they have no intention of ever keeping. People who will do most anything to make sure they win, even if those things are illegal. And you’re trusting these people to keep the bad guys away?” I laugh. “Sorry, I don’t mean to laugh, but I can’t believe you really think that way.”

“So what’s your solution? Just let the bad guys win? Do nothing?”

“I don’t have a solution. I just know that things aren’t always what they seem. Just because someone has a lot of money doesn’t mean they’re doing bad things or that they belong to some secret group. Sometimes the people you think are good are the ones you need to watch out for the most. Like this FBI guy you’re working with. Are you really sure you can trust him?”

“He’s doing this on the side, not as part of his regular job. There’s no open case.”

“And why would he do that? What’s he getting out of this?”

“He wants justice. He wants to bring these people down.”

“That’s it? He’s spending his free time helping Hanniford just because he wants justice? I don’t believe that.”

“Why else would he be doing it?”

“I’m not going to stand here all day and analyze his motives. You need to think this through yourself. I need to go inside. I want you to leave now and I want you to stop coming over and stop following my family around.”

The speaker attached to the gate comes on. “Garret, do you need assistance down there?”

It’s the security guy. I waved at him when I came out here so he’d know I didn’t need him. But he’s probably wondering why this is taking so long.

“No, I don’t need any assistance.” I look at Carson as I say it. “Carson was just leaving.”

The speaker clicks off.

“You need to leave now, Carson. I’m not joking around here. I don’t want to see you again.”

As he walks away, he says, “I’m not giving up on this, Garret.”

He needs to give up. He’s wasting his time. The organization can’t be brought down. And even if they could, another group just like them would take their place.

I tried to warn him but he wouldn’t listen. There isn’t anything else I can do. He’s determined to pursue this, and in doing so, he might get killed.