“You said you believe that Emma is Jezebel’s daughter. By process of elimination, that removes Kyle or Isaiah from contention.”
“Fuck, I swore I’d never say this.”
“What?” I asked.
“Things aren’t as they appear. Ms. North, she did what she needed to do. Give it some thought, Everett. You’ll know the answer and once you do, you’ll realize how maybe the younger Isaiah isn’t the enemy.”
I shook my head. “What the fuck, Richard. He’s after my city. He’s claiming something that isn’t his to claim. He’s working to undercut my men. I’m not fucking blind and they’re not stupid. He’s not as powerful as he thinks.”
“In a way you’re right. You’re also wrong. Watch Ingalls. He has one chance at a claim to this city.”
“He has no fucking chance.” I was ready to end this phone call. “Good night—”
“Your wife,” Michelson interrupted. “He’s the one who took her. And my gut says he wants everything that’s yours, Everett. Everything. Listen, I’m laying my family and my career on the line because Abraham did the impossible. The scum who was after my daughter...if I’d have been the one to...I’d still be rotting in prison and you know what? To protect her, I’d do that. You know what happens to prosecutors in prison? You should know that’s not something I want to think about. Abraham, he did my daughter even one better. I’m being as fucking honest as I can be.”
“Tell me about your questioning of Emma.”
I turned my attention out the windows as we headed west. The pink morning sunrise was in our rearview mirror as we got closer to Baton Rouge.
“It was taped. I’m walking a fucking thin line here.”
“When did you learn who was named as Underwood’s beneficiary?” I asked. I’d just learned last evening from Clark and Lynch.
“I couldn’t tell you. Mrs. Ramses’s reaction had to be genuine.”
I’d give Richard Michelson a genuine reaction as soon as I had my wife back.
“Tell me something,” I said. “Since we spoke, I’ve been looking into this electronic currency. The deposits to Underwood’s Kraken account seem to be attached to a number sequence that could point to Jezebel North as you suggested weeks ago.”
“That’s what our investigator here at NOPD figured.”
“Did she also explain the beneficiary process?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“The information you blindsided Emma with yesterday isn’t completely as it seems. You see, in the case of this particular transaction, the sender of the currency stipulates the recipient and the secondary recipient, or as you called her, the beneficiary. My people have determined that it wasn’t Underwood who put Emma’s name on those transactions. It was the sender.”
“Jezebel?” Richard asked.
“That is the untraceable part.”
“Fuck.” Richard took a deep breath. “I’ll be at your front office at eleven.”
I didn’t wait to say goodbye. Instead, I hit the red icon and tossed my phone onto the seat. Leon’s dark stare in the rearview mirror said what my inner voice was saying. I’d given Michelson more than I should have. I let him know I had people investigating.
The morning sky continued to lighten as we came closer to the eastern edge of Baton Rouge. There were three other cars of men on their way. I wasn’t walking into a trap by myself. I’d gone in alone last time, and my gut told me that if either Boudreau or Ingalls were responsible for Emma’s abduction, they were counting on me to enter alone again.
I checked my phone. A program that my men had set up allowed me to see all my cars as dots on a map. Some had come this way before I decided to join the party. Others were called and were a little bit behind us. Given the time of day or should I say night, we made what was usually an hour-and-twenty-minute drive in record time.
As I stared down at the other dots, I wished one of them was Noah Herbert and that Ian Knolls was back at the mansion watching over Emma.
This wasn’t the time for wishes. It was time to get my wife and if in the process, we settled this ridiculous attempt at a coup, so be it.
Rett
Sitting straighter in the back seat, I realized where we were, not simply east of Baton Rouge but the exact location. Time had made its mark. Nothing was exactly the same as it had been, but that didn’t change the fact we were here. I was here again. “This isn’t the fucking warehouse,” I said as the lightening sky brought the buildings into view.
“Yes, it is,” Leon answered. “I told you, it don’t feel right.”