Chapter 15



𝕋𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕓𝕝𝕖 𝕚𝕟 ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕖

(𝕊𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕥)

Detective Rowan whipped out his phone as he settled into the back of the police car. As they pull out of Eve's estate, his mind began to dissect the riddle he just witnessed. He knew for a fact that what just happened had been no ordinary interrogation.

Eve Red was no typical woman. She had power and control over a lot of wealthy and powerful men. And she had it throughout Transville and damn near the whole country. But that hadn't stopped him from going after her. He knew she was dirty, like murder and mud style dirty. And extremely careful. So he couldn't explain his joy when this case came up, along with the first solid lead he'd seen in five years.

A lead which she just blew straight to hell.

He ignored the looks he was getting from his junior colleagues and began scrolling through his contacts. He knew they were itching to throw their options at him. Tell him he was a mad man chasing a ghost. But he was never one to give room for such talks.

His fingers paused when they found Dr Wang's number, the MD of Metro General Hospital. Bracing himself, he dialled the man's number and waited for the call to pull through. After the third ring, it clicked.

"Detective Rowan." An intense voice came crashing into his ears and it took Rowan every ounce of control he had not to hiss.

"What can I do for you this time?" Dr Wang sneered, his face probably set in a thin line.

It was no secret that they didn't get along, not after the loss of his niece. "I need to speak with doctor Jay," Rowan explained with as much politeness as he could mutter. Right now, he didn't want to anger the man.

There was silence at the other end and Rowan would have given an arm and a leg to know what the man was thinking. "Is there a problem?" Rowan asked, trying to sound as patient as possible.

"I'd like to ask; why do you want to speak with Jay?"

Rowan was no fool. He knew that anything he said right now could either jeopardise Jay's future or compromise his investigation. Especially if Jay was innocent. "Nothing much, just need to ask him about some medical inaccuracies."

"And why can't you ask me? I am obviously more qualified." He bragged. But we both knew that it was a cover to the true intent of his question.

"Because it's for an ongoing investigation." Rowan breathed, trying to control his anger - which was dangerously close to the surface. God knew it wasn't easy being sane around the man. All Rowan wanted to do was knock him through something solid.

To make matters worse, Dr Wang scoffed. "This is my hospital Rowan, I won't let you pin the blame of what happened today on one of us-"

Rowan shut his eyes tightly. He had to stay in control. He really did. Why was he even surprised? Somehow, he'd known that it would come to this. "This is for a different case, Wang. Would you be willing to sit in front of a judge and testify against a criminal if the need arose?"

"I am not stupid Rowan!" Wang barked. "We both know that that isn't what this is about. You are just angry that I won the case-"

"If you aren't going to fix the meeting, I'll just have to take the legal route and make it look like something it is not. All I wanted to do was talk to you like civilized adults do. But it seems you are hell-bent on making things difficult for everyone."

There was a pause at the other end and Rowan sighed heavily. Hopefully, his speech was enough to do the trick because in another minute- "One hour. Tops."

"Rowan smiled. He had made it. He seriously deserved a medal. "Got it."

"And Rowan? I'll be watching you." Wang sneered.

"I'll be watching you too," Rowan replied. With as much hatred.

**************************

Dr Jay sat at his office desk and watched the clip again. How had he missed this? To be honest, a part of his pride was bruised. He was very sure he had looped the cameras before they arrived. So seeing as this video existed meant that someone else had tampered with the cameras minutes after he worked on them.

If not for that firewall he had put in place, they would have gotten the full clip of what happened. Someone in here was working for the opposing side. A side they were still trying to figure out. It seemed like they were fighting against something much bigger now and unfortunately, Eve was too blinded by revenge to see it.

The door to his office cracked open and he immediately shut his laptop. Raising his eyes to the door, a look of surprise enveloped his face as he watched Detective Rowan barge into his office unannounced. He really needed to change his assistant.

"Doctor Jay." Detective Rowan drawled as he stood at the threshold, gaze fixed on him. "Can I come in?" He asked with a corked eyebrow as if he was expecting a presidential welcome.

"You are already in Detective" Jay pointed out sweetly, Making sure to put up a professional front.

Detective Roman strolled into the room and made himself comfortable on the visitor's chair across Jay's desk. "I don't recall you having a Doctors appointment, Detective?"

"Yeah, that's because this is an emergency."

Eyebrow raised, Jay asked, "An Emergency? I don't see anything remotely wrong with you."

"Well, that should mean my issues are internal. Don't you think so, Doctor?" There was a grin on Rowan's lips and it wasn't a friendly one.

Jay pushed his laptop aside and folded his hands on the desk. "What do you want, Detective?" He asked, cutting straight to the chase.

Rowan faces metamorphosed into a serious mask. "Do you know Damien Hay?" As he said this, he pulled out a pen from his pocket along with a short jotter. Jay immediately knew that the action was meant to rile him up.

He ignored it. "Yes, He was rushed in yesterday from an Electromagnetic explosion."

Rowan nodded, penning down the information into his notebook. "And where is he now?"

Jay froze. That was a trick question. They both knew that Damien disappeared yesterday after the attack. "And why would you want to know that?"

Rowan's eyes flashed. "It's for an ongoing investigation."

"Does the management know you are here?" Jay asked. He had to tread carefully if he was going to survive this interrogation.

"Wang approved it."

"Doctor Wang, you mean?"

"Yes, doctor Wang. Can you answer the question now? Where is he now?"

"Well, he isn't in the hospital anymore."

"And why is that?" Jay's phone pinged and he picked it up immediately, relieved to be saved from that question. If only for a second because he needed to think. He opened the phone and discovered it was a pop-up message from Eve and as he glanced through the message, his eyes lit up.

Fuck! This lady would kill him one day. Or worse.

Detective Rowan groaned. Clearing his throat to get Jay's attention. Jay lifted his eyes to him and answered, "He was discharged yesterday."

Rowan glanced at his phone suspiciously before asking. "Who was that?"

"Jay grimaced at him. "Is this line of questioning a part of the investigation?"

"That depends."

"On?'

"What you are keeping from me."

Jay scoffed. "I know my rights Detective Rowan. If I'm not under investigation or If you do not have valid questions to ask me concerning the case, then we are done here. I have patients to attend to."

Rowan rose to his feet, giving Jay a pensive look."Thank you for your time, Doctor Jay. You will be hearing from me."

Jay rose too. "Hopefully, It would be to help you medically."

Rowan grimaced. "Anyway, I'm going to need footage of the hospital for the whole of yesterday."

"Take it up with the security department."

Rowan nodded, then walked out of the room and a relieved Jay sank into his chair. a heavy sigh escaping his lips. Picking up his phone, he dialled Eve's number.

The rules had changed and Eve was smack in the middle of it.

*********************

Laura flung her glass of champagne at the men in front of her. Men, that as of this minute became useless to her. The cup made an impact with the adjacent wall as one of the men moved to the side just in time to avoid the collision.

"Ahhh!" She groaned, balling her hands into tight fists, her fingers digging into her tender skin. "How did they get away again?" she moaned lowly. The men that were standing in front of her looked like they were going to melt. Out of experience, they knew that their boss was about to explode.

"I asked you a question!" They all took a step back, sensing immediate danger. Laura picked up the gun on the table before her. "It seems I would have to persuade you to talk." They all shook their heads vigorously, looking at each other with uncertainty.

One of them finally had the balls to speak up. "It is as we explained earlier Mrs Laura, we underestimated-" There was a loud bang and the sound of his body hitting the tiled floor was all that filled the adjoining silence.

Everyone stood frozen in fear. "I knew I employed a bunch of fools." Turning to the one standing next to the body, she pointed the gun at him. "Were you at least able to send the picture to the detective?"

The guy, too frightened at being at the other end of the barrel, quickly muttered, "Yes!" with a high pitched voice. "Last we heard, the detective was on his way to her house."

At hearing this, Laura's countenance brightened. "And?" She urged, tilling the gun to the side.

"A-And, they were see-seen living half an hour ago." The guy stammered as if a lump was lodged at his throat. "They were seen with-without Eve, or Damien, or Luca-" The sound of the gun filled the air again and the guy grabbed his chest, blood spurting from his mouth. He hit the floor seconds later, joining his fallen friend in eternal darkness.

Laura couldn't believe what was happening. It was almost as if Eve and Lucas had nine lives or something. She was beyond pissed. She was livid. And even the damned detective couldn't be of any use to her. She had to do something about him though, because the way he was digging, he'd end up uncovering something better off dead. Something sure to bring them all down.

Picking up her cell phone, she glanced at the bodies on her Ritalin tiles. "What are y'all waiting for?"

Immediately, the two men that were still standing scrambled to obey her order, bumping into each other as they went. She rolled her eyes. If they were scared of her then what would they do when they met Momma?

At the thought of Momma, Laura quickly dialled the number. Her heart beating a frantic rhythm beneath her breast. As she waited for the call to connect, she couldn't help shivering at the thought of how she was going to tell Momma she had been a complete failure, considering what happened to the last man that had fucked up.