All The Pieces (Pieces of Lies 3) (29 page)

She stilled, her body trembling at his name as she turned back around. Did she think I would forget? Had she really forgotten? She made Josh one final promise. I had to make sure she saw it through. As her best friend, I needed her to complete his final wish. I would not let her have anymore regrets in this forsaken life.

“You promised Josh you wouldn’t go alone. You promised him Norah. No more regrets. Now pick one of us. It’s what he wanted for you.” I saw more tears fall from her eyes as I said his name again, but she stood, now thinking about that promise she made to him in the car. She would keep her word, I was sure of it. Norah’s head swung to where Clint was kneeling on the ground, his eyes fixated on her. No words again. Nothing spoken between them. She suddenly lifted her hand towards Clint, and simultaneously he lifted his. I was holding my breath as I watched this unfold. She was choosing Clint to come with her.  
She was choosing Clint!
  He lifted his knee up so he could step forward to take her hand when she seemed to shake again, and then she held up her palm to stop him from moving. The pain and guilt on her face was clear. She couldn’t do it. But there was no mistaking what she was about to do and who she would next turn to if given a choice.

Why was she stalling on her promise right now? Why was she not following through?

She shook her head saying no, but I couldn’t let her go back on her word. It would haunt her forever. “Norah!” I yelled at her. “You promised him! You’ll regret it forever if you don’t keep your promise to him!”

She choked out a laugh and then lifted her eyes once more to look at us all. “That’s where you are wrong Tess,” she began. “I am keeping my promise to Josh. I promised him I wouldn’t be going alone...and...” She paused and then lightly touched her belly, holding her hands there in a maternal way. “I won’t be.” All our eyes swelled at the realization of what she just told us without actually telling us. Then Norah climbed into the car, turned and looked at us all one more time, and as quickly as she had once breathed into all our lives, she was gone. The car speeding off.

My eyes immediately went to Clint. I thought Clint would look a lot more defeated or emotional, but he only stared off after the car. He was deep in thought, probably trying to understand and process what had just happened. Norah had almost taken him with her but at the last second chose not to. Perhaps she didn’t want anyone going with her because she was forced to make a decision like that so soon after Josh’s death. Perhaps she didn’t think anyone could replace Josh or be ready to take on the big life change she was about to embark on. She had her reasons. Reasons we would never know, and somehow I felt better about that, because that way I could always believe that when the moment came, she did the right thing for herself and no one else.

Samuel came up and stood next to me, putting his arm around my shoulder. “You okay?” he asked. I glanced at Samuel and then to Clint and the car that was now a speck in the distance. I leaned in closer to Samuel. “I think the better question is — will Norah be okay?”

Six months later.
 

I had loved three times in my life,

Which is more than some,

And less than others.

But I had to make a choice,

And I chose me.

It was not a time for love,

But a time to stand on my own.

Because I could never move forward,

If I didn’t allow myself to grieve the love I lost in my past.

And somewhere along the way,

A miracle grew inside me.

My regret turned into acceptance,

My sadness into joy,

Death turning into life.

When I welcomed my son James,

I finally started to let go of the grief,

And the loss of Josh that blackened my soul.

James became my light,

My peace,

My happiness,

My all.

But sometimes I wonder,

When I lay in bed at night, still finding comfort in my music,

My son sleeping peacefully in the room beside me.

I wonder what my life would be like right here, right now,

If I had taken
his
hand.

The New York City Police Department is now appealing to the public for any knowledge regarding the murders of the three prominent business men killed in Manhattan six months ago. The city was shocked at the series of Wall Street murders that saw some of the most well-known and highly regarded local and international CEO’s, gruesomely killed in what is now being called the ‘Tycoon Three Killing Spree’.

Prominent local US financiers, Arthur Wickburn and Kyser Harkin, who met with international business mogul Hamilton Brooks, were last seen eating together at Stable’s Gentlemen’s Club on the Upper East Side on February 2
^nd
2013. They were seen by restaurant staff leaving the establishment together in a limousine soon after midnight.

Harkin’s maid, Geraldine Bates, reported that Mr. Harkin never returned to his Manhattan apartment that night or the days following. Similar reports also surfaced for Mr. Wickburn and Mr. Hamilton, whose families and colleagues also made statements that they had not been contacted after the February 2
^nd
restaurant sighting.

In the weeks following their disappearance, remains of all three men were discovered in various undisclosed locations on the side of the Hudson River. They were identified through DNA results which confirmed that the dismembered body parts, were in fact the bodies of the three missing business tycoons.

The coroner’s reports, which were leaked to the media, also describe that the flesh of the men had been substantially burned and stabbed prior to the dismemberment, which depicts some of the gruesome horror the three men must have endured prior to their deaths.

Rumors that New York City crime bosses and their involvement have been circulating, however no one has been brought in for questioning and no charges have been laid.

Friends and family of the three men are now asking for anyone with information that can assist the police further with their investigation to please come forward.

The FBI has confirmed in a press conference today, they did in fact receive evidence from an anonymous source, which resulted in a mass number of domestic and international indictments. Various US politicians and high-profile Wall Street business men have been linked to an underground secret society named in the documents and files submitted to the FBI. They depict members involvement in an extensive number of crimes and criminal activity.

Charges that have been laid include insider trading, fraud, bribery, extortion and even sexual assault. Politicians named in the arrests include senator Gerald Humphrey of Washington, who has been accused of using legislative power for illicit private gain.

Wall Street CEO, Jeremy Holt of Wholewealth Insurance, and newly appointed CEO Marcus Minkins of Errol Investments, are just a couple of high-profile businessmen connected with this secret society showing to be linked to the growing number of criminal charges. They have been removed from their current positions and have been brought in for questioning.

These arrests come hot on the heels of the police’s public plea for information relating to the February 2
^nd
murders of business tycoons Arthur Wickburn, Kyser Harkin and Hamilton Brooks, which the media dubbed as the ‘Tycoon Three Killing Spree’. Documents have also surfaced stating the three men were key players in the society currently under investigation. The police now believe that their deaths are linked with their ties and the affiliates of this organization.

The FBI are now looking very closely at this underground society and are concentrating all their efforts into investigating their dealings and membership. The first of many court appearances for the men involved are set to commence next Thursday at Hiltonworth Courthouse, New York.

Another six months later.

It was his touch I felt first. The way his hand smoothed over my face, already knowing that I was awake and was keeping my eyes closed. He could sense it because he was a part of me. He poked at my face again, but this time there was playfulness in his movements. I opened my eyes to sparkly green ones resting on my pillow. An elated grin broke across his chubby little face. The warm tropical air blew in from a nearby window, moving the wisps of his chestnut colored hair across his forehead, which only made him giggle at me as my sleepy eyes adjusted to the sunlight.

“Well good morning James,” I said, leaning across and pecking his cheek. James, being six months old, rolled onto his back as I moved to sit up. Staring down at him, I held out my hand so he could reach up and grab it. His little arm extended out and gripped on tight. “Hmmm, up early I see.” He continued to play with my hand and my fingers, pulling at me like I was a toy. I gazed at him, lost in the innocent and curious look on his face. It was so easy to do. Getting swept up in the moment and staring at my son for hours on end.  
My son
. Saying it and thinking it still didn’t feel real sometimes. On some days, the word felt foreign and unbelievable, but then on others, it felt natural, like it was my purpose and where I was supposed to be.

The first few months after James was born were the hardest and most emotional for me. I was still grieving Josh’s death and had become a new mother. It was hard not to think about Josh every day when I had a little copy of him right in front of me. I often thought about the day I realized I was pregnant. That day in Prague when I felt that my body was changing. How I didn’t realize my condition straight away because I switched my birth control a few months before we left Europe to the ‘shot’ that obviously did not work. The notion that I was pregnant occurred to me the night before our elopement, when I was making love to Josh. I wanted to tell him what I was sure was happening to me and my body, but I stopped myself because I hesitated that I may not have been right. I realized for certain the next day when I was sick on my supposed wedding day. My hormones had spiraled out of control because I switched from being weepy one minute, to horny the next. I didn’t need a test to confirm what I knew from instinct, and as it turned out, my instinct was right.