Careless Rapture (36 page)

“The likelihood is it will be a boy.”

“You are---” she couldn’t finish.

Eric continued undeterred. He turned to Clay.
“Do you have what I requested?”

Clay tossed him a pregnancy test box. Jackie
looked at him, amazed. He held up his hands. “I don’t ask
questions.”

Eric handed it to Adrian. “We might as well
find out.”

“You delight in public humiliations. I know
we’re not to keep secrets, but this...”

“I’ll be the one humiliated if I’m wrong.”
Eric was oblivious to daggers coming from the women, and the men
remained silent.

Adrianna grabbed the box and stood. “An
excellent incentive.” She left. Cassie and Jackie followed.

“What is it with women and toilets?” Clay
asked. “And what’s with you keeping track of your wife’s cycle and
announcing it like that?”

Eric shrugged unconcerned then glanced at
Nina, who looked both excited and anxious. He crooked his finger.
“Come here.”

She did, her eyes wide.

“You know that no one can replace you,
right?”

She nodded, though her eyes filled with
tears. “You’re my family and anyone would be lucky to have you as a
big sister.”

Marcus piped up. “I’m a big brother.”

Clay grinned at him “Yes, we know.”

Eric took Nina’s hand and patted his leg.
“I’m nervous. Let’s wait together.”

She smiled and climbed onto his lap.

Drake rested his arms on the table. “How long
does a pregnancy test take?”

“You’re the father of two.”

“Cassie always knew first.”

After more than a few minutes, the women
returned to the table and sat.

Drake frowned when no one spoke. “Well?”

“You were wrong,” Adrianna said.

Eric looked crushed. “Oh.”

She held up the stick and smiled. “It’s going
to be a girl,” she predicted.

***

Jackie went to work thrilled with the
news.

“I’m going to be an aunt four times over,”
she told Patty. “Adriana is expecting.”

“Shame they can’t stay babies long.”

Jackie walked past, not wanting to deal with
Patty’s changing moods.

She went into Faye’s office and raised her
hand to knock, pausing when she heard a man’s voice in the
room.

The same chilling voice she’d heard on the
phone. She opened the door.

Only Faye
sat inside.

Jackie stared, speechless.

Faye set the receiver down and stared at her
concerned. “Is there something wrong?”

She pointed to the phone. “It was you?”

“On the phone?” She nodded. “Yes.”

Listening to her deep, husky voice, Jackie
could easily understand how Faye could lower it to sound like a
man’s. “But why?”

She shrugged. “Don’t look at me like that.
It’s not what you think.”

“Then what is it?”

“Sit down, you look as though you’re about to
faint. Let me get you something to drink.”

Jackie sat. “I’m not thirsty. I just want to
understand.”

“Wait here.” Faye left and came back with a
glass of orange juice. She handed it to Jackie.

Jackie took the glass. “What is going
on?”

Faye closed the door and went behind her
desk. “I wanted to help you. I knew what my husband was up to and I
wanted you to stop him.”

She stopped with the glass, to her lips.
“Your husband? Who’s your husband?”

“Emmerick, of course?’

Jackie set the glass down. “You know about
Emmerick? How can that be? You don’t wear a ring.”

“Our faith doesn’t require such tawdry
symbols.”

“So you do know about Careless Rapture. Why
didn’t you tell me?”

Faye stiffened. “I have a certain image to
maintain. I couldn’t afford you looking down on me because I was
involved with such a revolutionary man.”

“Why didn’t you stop him?”

“Because I couldn’t. I’m not like you,
Jackie, I don’t have that passion that fuels you to do what you do.
Betraying him was the hardest thing to do.”

“But the phone calls, why?”

“I wanted to make it personal. I wanted you
to specifically focus on what a threat he was.”

Jackie shook her head, trying to make sense
of it all and failing. She lifted the glass.

The door burst open, startling them both.
Clay, Mack, and Nicolas stood in the doorway.

“What is this?” Faye demanded.

Clay took Jackie’s glass. “Did you drink
this?”

“No.”

“Good.” He turned to Faye. “Why don’t you
drink it for her?”

“I’m not thirsty,” she said.

Jackie stood. “What are you doing here?
What’s going on?”

“This is Emmerick’s wife,” Mack said.

Jackie nodded. “I know. She just told me. She
was also the voice on the phone. She wanted us to catch Emmerick.
We were having a calm chat about it all before you three burst in
here like vigilantes.”

“You wanted us to catch Emmerick?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“So he could cover your crime.”

Faye adjusted her blouse. “I don’t know what
you’re talking about.”

“I’m talking about your revenge.”

“Don’t be absurd. Who would I want to avenge?
I have no enemies. Ask anyone. I wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“I think you made a mistake,” Jackie said.
“If you’d just let her explain, I’m sure everything will be
clear.”

Nicolas jerked his head in Jackie’s
direction. “Nice to have such a loyal colleague. Very helpful, too.
You knew Jackie would never suspect you. Plus you have one big
thing in common—She lost her parents, too.”

Faye shrugged. “It is no secret that my
parents died.”

“Yes, I knew,” Jackie said.

“Did she tell you how they died?” Nicolas
shook his head. “I doubt it. She likes to share how they were kind
and generous people who helped the poor and she was right. You told
me that same story on our date.”

“If you can call being bored to death a
date,” Faye said.

Nicolas ignored her, his blue eyes on Jackie.
“Did she tell you about Tyrone Davis?”

“Who?” Jackie asked.

“The crazed drug addict who shot her parents
while he was high. Isn’t that correct?”

Faye stared, but said nothing.

“Her parents had been helping his wife and
two daughters when he entered the apartment demanding money,” Clay
explained. “When they tried to talk to him, he shot them point
blank, then took the thirty dollars they had between them. He went
to prison to serve a life sentence, but that couldn’t compensate
for the loss of your parents. It’s something you never truly heal
from.” He nodded. “I understand that kind of loss.”

Faye met his eyes. “I know you do,” she said
quietly.

“But you went on with your life. You had to.
With the loving guidance of your grandparents you were determined
to continue your parents’ work. You honestly take pleasure in
helping others. I’m not sure how you met Lamont, but you did—as a
college student, perhaps? You fell for his charms and his message.
He had reinvented his ministry so you became his only wife under
your particular religious order.”

She raised her chin. “We’ve been married
longer than most traditional couples.”

“You are to be congratulated,” Mack said
dryly.

“But life wasn’t easy because of the constant
travel, and you were running out of money,” Clay said. “You’re the
one who suggested your hometown of D.C. With your degree you were
lucky enough to get established positions in nonprofit
organizations, while he continued his work. Unfortunately, the
marriage began to hit a rough patch when you discovered Emmerick
had other uses for his new recruits.”

“It was disgusting, the hours he would spend
online with young men and women. Bringing them home. But he is a
genius and sees the world through different eyes.”

“You didn’t worry about him too much because
you’d received a lucky break. HOPE Services needed a new president
and you were hastily hired through a friend of Latisha. The same
friend who made sure Winstead got rid of her. The same friend who
was involved in your ministry. She made a very good administrative
assistant.”

Jackie’s eyes widened. “Patty?”

“Yes, Patty,” Clay said. “Together you knew a
program like HOPE Services could suit you, since it had been
established for a while and the grant funder didn’t look too
closely at how things were run. So you were able to create two
financial books and siphon money from some of the phony clients you
created. Ah, but there was one problem. You needed a vice
president.

“Enter Jackie Henson, a deceptively harmless
young woman who had a passion to help the disadvantaged. You
underestimated the depths of her passion, so you hired her. And
immediately knew your mistake. Yes, she was ambitious like
yourself, but she was also very involved with the clients.
Fortunately, at the time she couldn’t meet with them all since you
kept her busy with proposals, various fund-raisers, and handling
day-to-day operations.”

Faye leaned back and smiled coldly. “You’re a
very good storyteller.”

“Since you’re enjoying this so much, let me
finish.”

She nodded. “Go ahead.”

“Everything was fine until you met Althea
Williams and Claudia Meeks. You couldn’t believe it when they came
to your office. They looked so similar. You discovered they were
sisters. And you had a niggling feeling that you had met them
before. That you knew them.”

“You did,” Mack said. “You knew them and you
also knew their father. Would you like to take a wild guess who
that might be?”

Faye blinked.

“Tyrone Davis. The sight of them angered you.
They had done nothing with their lives, making your parents’
sacrifice a complete waste. You couldn’t bear it. And that’s when
you snapped.”

She shook her head. “No, I didn’t.”

“Perhaps you didn’t snap,” Clay said. “You
put your mind to better use. You started a plan. It all began with
Melanie. Poor, lost Melanie. She was the key.” He rubbed the back
of his neck. “It always bothered me that Melanie was the only link
to Careless Rapture. That she was the only one who mentioned an
adviser. Why hadn’t anyone else? Of course, now it makes sense. It
was because she was the only one connected to it. She was to be
your explanation for the deaths of the others.

“Manipulating Melanie wasn’t hard. She was an
eager follower and suffered from a paralyzing depression and lupus.
Your deep, husky voice easily fooled Melanie to thinking you were a
man. You didn’t have to meet her, you used the phone as your tool.
It was easy to get her to do as you pleased. She hungered for a
message that told her, her suffering would end, that the universe
would be kind. So, in addition to Patty, you had another
follower.

“You sent Patty the bag of cards, knowing she
would harmlessly set them on her desk. That was to shift the blame
once Jackie began to look into things. Now with Melanie involved in
Careless Rapture, you had to focus on your true victims—Althea and
Claudia. You tell them of a get-rich-quick scheme you want them to
be a part of. They listen, ready to do as you say. Now here comes
the next puzzle piece: the clients canceling service. You convince
Melanie to cancel service to prove her loyalty to the ministry
while you convince Althea and Claudia to do so because you can’t
tell them about the scheme as president of HOPE Services—it would
be a conflict of interest. You’d give them all the information once
they canceled their services. They did.”

“Enter stage two,” Nicolas said. “Chaos.
Clients are suddenly canceling service for no reason. Five in three
weeks? Why? You knew why, but you wouldn’t tell anyone. Jackie
wasn’t to know that only three of the five were real clients
anyway. But she had fallen for your initial ploy anyway. She was
worried about Melanie and her involvement with an adviser. With
Jackie focused on Melanie you could focus on the others. Then you
had a stroke of luck—Mr. Hamlick died.

“Your source of funding was in jeopardy. So
you had Jackie look for funding to divert her attention. Althea was
already dead, but since she’d already canceled services, she’d
fallen off the radar and no one would notice.”

“But how?” Jackie asked.

“Poison. They trusted Faye so she slipped
something in their food or drink. All three women were found with a
bottle of pills to make it look like a suicide. However, Melanie
was the only true suicide. You knew exactly when she was going to
do it, which was why you called Jackie to complete the story. To
believe in the danger of the Careless Rapture Ministry.

“You were fine with Althea. But you made a
mistake with Claudia. You didn’t know she had family. You didn’t
know she had an aunt she spoke to, which would refute the Careless
Rapture theory. But still you didn’t have to worry. No one would
suspect you. And yet you were nervous about Patty’s big mouth and
Jackie wasn’t as convinced about Claudia’s suicide as you’d hoped.
You saw that at the restaurant.”

“This is all so ridiculous,” Faye
interrupted.

“But you knew another way to distract her,”
Mack said. “Bertha. You didn’t know she wasn’t a relative of
Jackie’s, but you had spoken to her about the ministry one time and
she was another perfect foil. You scheduled a meeting with her and
Emmerick. And they hit it off. But you were used to his
extramarital activities and didn’t take much notice. So when Jackie
began to doubt, you made that last taunting phone call about having
a family member to send her in a panic.”

“It worked,” Clay said. “And we were all set
to bring Emmerick down.”

“If I’m not mistaken, you did.” She clapped
her hands. “Good job.”

“But something bothered me. And it began with
the phone calls. It wasn’t Emmerick’s style. Then Jackie and Mum
talked about how different he sounded on the phone. Which made me
think that the man on the phone and the man in life were not one
and the same.