Justice Black: The Game Never Ends Read online

  “What do you mean you have pictures?”

  “Wait a minute.” She stepped a safe distance away from Justice.

  “Grandmom, what do you mean you have pictures of him?”

  “You remember your mother’s friend Queenester?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “Well, for a while Clermont was with her. He’d given Queenester these pictures, and she sent them to me. Queenester wanted you to have them.”

  “Clermont was there? Why didn’t you tell me?” Visibly shaken, Kaitlyn couldn’t accept that her grandmom would keep something that important from her.

  Tears were in Laila’s eyes when she faced her granddaughter.

  “Honey, I couldn’t. I promised him. He was in such bad shape when Queenester found him in that shelter. Once he had started healing, he talked about his life and showed pictures of him with this David Ransom, who wasn’t aware he was being photographed.”

  “Laila, get the pictures.” It was a high moment for Justice.

  Laila rushed out and returned with several photos. She handed them to Justice and stood next to Kaitlyn.

  “He’s the one standing next to the woman on the right.”

  There were good, clear images of Cutter at different ages and sizes, always next to the same woman. The photos showed Cutter with facial, body, and hair changes.

  “I was going to surprise Gianna with a scrapbook for her birthday next month, Thanksgiving Day,” Laila added sorrowfully.

  Kaitlyn recognized her brother, tall, dark, and lean like their father, but with too much sadness in his eyes. It was overwhelming. She swayed, but Justice caught her.

  Justice still held her when she finally opened her eyes to see Laila and Barrett crying.

  “Oh, honey,” Laila cried, “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  Kaitlyn squeezed her hand. “You didn’t, Grandmom. You didn’t. Please don’t cry.” It broke her heart to see Laila cry. She hated that Ed had never seen Laila but had broken her heart. “I was so worried about Clermont.”

  “He threatened to leave if Queenester told you. Queenester said she and Ed fought when he showed up to take Clermont. She threw bleach in his eyes; he lost sight in the left eye. After that she never heard from Ed again. After Queenester helped Clermont through school, she got him into college. I haven’t heard from her in years. Her letters came back, and I didn’t know how else to get in contact with her.”

  “Do you think those things came from Ed?” Worried, Barrett looked directly at Justice and then Kaitlyn.

  “I don’t know. Maybe,” Kaitlyn answered.

  “Are you good?” Justice asked Kaitlyn.

  “Yes.” She cupped his face and smoothed the wrinkles from his forehead to ease his mind. His hair showed more faint signs of gray around the temples. Tiredness and strain had made a home in his eyes. He needed sleep. But Justice would work himself thin seeing this through. Kaitlyn took his hand as she walked him to the door and kissed him on the cheek. “Justice, please take care of yourself. Understand?”

  “I do,” he replied. “I’m keeping the photos.” Then he walked out.

  Based on Laila’s information, an updated photo of Ed, wearing a patch over his left eye, and Cutter’s photos were sent directly to Pen. Cutter’s and Ed’s likenesses would circulate as people of interest relating to the fire and bombing. Justice knew the public would be critical in bringing both in.

  chapter

  FIFTY-THREE

  There were nonstop phone calls with tips on Ed and Cutter. Only one panned out. Kaitlyn told Justice that her young client, Jakeith Dodd, after seeing the photos of Ed, remembered he once came into the store looking for snails. After meeting Jakeith, Justice immediately liked him.

  “Jakeith do you remember how long ago it was that you saw this man?”

  “It was last Thursday because that was the day I worked extra hours at the store. I saw him again the next day behind Frank’s Market with another man.”

  Justice showed him a photo of Slick and Tate. “Was it any of these men?”

  “Nah, I know those guys. This guy was a little shorter, limped in his right leg, and he was bald—with a beard. I wasn’t supposed to be in that part of town. Dr. Black, don’t tell my folks. My dad will skin me alive. I was there because the Pay ’n’ Play game store is next to Frank’s Market. The games are cheaper there.”

  “Jakeith,” Justice said, “If something had happened to you, how do you think your parents would have felt? Always be straight with them. Tell them.”

  “Yeah, you’re right Dr. Black. I didn’t think about that. I’ll tell them, but my dad sure is not going to like it.”

  From Jakeith’s description, Ed was the same homeless man who hung around Justice’s office, but the other man was unknown. Ed’s picture was enhanced with the details Jakeith provided. The sketch of the unknown man would be circulated as a person of interest. In Justice’s search for Ed, all specialty stores were checked for special orders of the wine and escargot.

  The photos of Cutter had turned their search into a matter of transportation, and that’s where Dillon McKnight came in. When the phone rang, it was Dillon.

  “Dillon, you got something for me?”

  “Boss, you’ll be pleased.” Dillon laughed. “I got your night crawler. Whoa, was that worm hard to dig out, but I got it.”

  “Where?” He didn’t bother asking how. He knew Dillon’s methods.

  “Some hellhole en route to Idaho. I had to chase the bastard from state to state, but hey, that’s what we do.”

  “Did you have any other problems?”

  “Nothing I couldn’t handle. I almost felt sorry for the worm. You know I’m kidding here. The asshole. Cutter’s a real piece of slug. Boss, he had a couple of African American four- and five-year-olds with him. I’ve been dealing with an agent, Simeon, who’d tracked them internationally. These kids are a possible match to the Hope kidnap.”

  Justice’s heart sank. The children had been taken from their school playground.

  “Bring everyone home, and have Simeon call me. I need to interview Cutter myself. I think you’re right about the kids. We’ll test the parents.”

  “Got it. We’ll gear up, and we’re out. By the way, I asked Cutter about Anderson Edwin Drayton. He hates Ed. Ed likes Moroccan wine and escargot caviar. The worm said Ed probably has relatives in BrightTown.”

  “Yes, a sister, Vicky Dansworth.”

  Kaitlyn called Justice later that evening with new information. He was surprised to hear her voice but welcomed it.

  “Justice, one of my clients mentioned today that the woman on the news is Eunice Russell, the nurse who’d often shown up at work with bruises and is a close friend of the mayor’s wife.”

  “The mayor’s wife. Are you sure?” Justice asked.

  “Yes, with everything happening, it completely slipped my mind. I thought this would help you.”

  Justice held his breath. Mavis and Eunice Russell. “I’ll be damned,” he said.

  “What do you mean by that?” Kaitlyn asked.

  “Nothing.” He’d need to tread lightly with this and didn’t want to get anyone in a panic. “Kaitlyn, thanks. It’s a big help.”

  He waited for her to hang up first before he disconnected. His next call was to Caldwell. They had work to do.

  chapter

  FIFTY-FOUR

  Cutter was now Harvey Kansas, and here he sat, arrogant, across the table from Justice, isolated from the world.

  Cutter’s red curly locks were now long, wavy, and black. He wore brown contacts, and he was lean and taut. His obsessions were working out and drinking prescribed metabolic drinks. He was a younger, thinner version of his father, Double Man.

  “What’s your problem, bitch? You’ve been sitting there long enough. Can’t think of something to say?”

&n
bsp; Justice thought of the Shepherd children, sold for $250,000 each, and how Cutter was on his way to deliver the children to the buyer, of the pain this man had created in the lives of the parents and their children. Then he recalled the look in the parents’ eyes to finally have their children back alive, which made this worth many sleepless nights.

  “You look like your father. Anyone ever tell you that?”

  “Screw you.” Cutter stood but immediately sat down. He hated his father; he was always a knife in his guts.

  “So, Cutter, tell me about the fire at Rodney’s Place. Don’t give me that ‘I don’t know’ line. I have it firsthand from Ed that you wield a lot of power in saying what goes on—for instance, your plans for a township in Idaho.”

  Cutter laughed. “Try that head bullshit on someone else; you’re not talking to a damn fool here. Like I said, screw you.”

  “Good old Cutter, always the tough guy. So Ed lied? I guess he shouldn’t believe everything his sister says. You’re smart. So does that mean she hadn’t really planned to join you in Idaho?” Wild card.

  The surprise was again on Cutter. He’d wanted to marry Vicky, but he didn’t fit the plan. He was new in the organization, with small ideas and petty stealing and girls on the side. Then he got into human-cargo sale, and the money came in faster than he had expected. He made millions.

  “You’re a real dickhead, and to show you how I deal with dickheads, keep talking, and I’ll get that lawyer in here right now.”

  “That would be your choice, Cutter”—Justice hesitated—“if that right to have an attorney still existed. However, bribed senators orchestrated the change and convinced voters that very right protected terrorists and known criminals such as you who are on the terrorist watch list. You’re out of luck. You should have kept yourself off that list. Some things should never be tampered with.”

  He’d forgotten. His life suddenly flashed before him, and he thought of Vicky. No one else knew about the farm. Quietly, Cutter asked himself, Did Vicky betray me?

  “Vicky’s not coming,” Justice repeated.

  “That’s bullshit!”

  “Did you know Vicky is going away with your father?”

  “What are you talking about? There is no way Vicky would do that. She hates him as much as I do. You’re trying to mess with my head. It won’t work.” Deep inside Cutter thought if only it wasn’t so close to the truth. His father always took their women.

  There it was, the small, weak opening in Cutter: his love for Vicky.

  “I’m not talking about your grandfather. I’m talking about your father, James James, Double Man, the family secret. That puts you in a precarious situation with Legion and their purity standards. Doesn’t it, Cutter?”

  That stung deep. Although as a kid he’d heard the rumors, he’d never believed them. Sure, he looked enough like his brother, Double Man. Brothers usually did.

  “You are a damn liar,” Cutter yelled.

  “DNA could solve everything. It’s that simple.”

  Betrayal from his family was always something Cutter had believed he was spared. Purity meant a lot to him.

  “Who’s my mother?”

  “Naomi, the cousin raised as your sister.”

  “You can go to hell.”

  “You probably will unless you find some redemption. The bombing of that mall already had you against the wall. Now death is on your back from that terrorist organization you call family. You know the rules. You’re above the radar. I guess that ruins things with the chairman’s plan to make you her replacement.”

  Justice didn’t miss it. Referring to the chairman as “her” brought a small twitch to Cutter’s face.

  It was true; he was trained to take over when the chairman retired, but now that was no longer a possibility. The influence from those on the outside was too great; he wasn’t safe anywhere, especially in prison.

  “What do you really want?”

  “Are you ready to cut the bullshit?”

  “I’m not ready to die. Is there a deal on the table?”

  Justice wasn’t ready to sleep with the devil—yet. “Are you completely mad?”

  Actions such as the chairman and Cutter had made together were done out of their thirst for power. The closer he came to identifying the chairman, the riskier it became for him. He accepted that. Today a note was left on the windshield of his car. The note read: “Too bad the deputy didn’t do his job. But I will, and I won’t miss.”

  “Cutter, you think the parents of the children you take, or the people in the restaurant, or the people in that church had death and heartache on their minds when they got up that morning?” He leaned closer. “Think about it. You’ll tell me what I want now, or Vicky gets her ass hauled in here without mercy. Until you tell me something of value, don’t ask me about a deal.”

  Cutter’s eyes dimmed as he stared at Justice with uncertainity. Could it be him? He’d always believed Ghost was only in the chairman’s mind. “Please don’t hurt Vicky.”

  chapter

  FIFTY-FIVE

  Eunice was now able to talk. For that even Caldwell grinned.

  The ex-husband provided Eunice’s medical history and the name of the physician treating her for heart disease, and afterward the ex made it clear he wanted nothing further to do with Eunice. Justice flipped through Eunice’s medical report as he and Lane made their way to the nurses’ station. The lab results showed digoxin toxicity. St. John’s wort had been mixed with her heart medication.

  “Whoever did that had it in for Eunice,” Lane remarked. “Hey, I think my wife’s sister uses that St. John’s. I should tell her about this.”

  “Your sister-in-law has a heart problem?”

  “No such luck. She has a personality problem.”

  “Sorry about that.” Justice laughed.

  “Yeah, me too. I almost dated her. Her kid sister wouldn’t let me and my brother in the door and pelted a bunch of rocks at us from the upstairs window.”

  “What happened?”

  “That didn’t stop me.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I married the kid sister with the dead aim.”

  Lane shifted the telephone from ear to ear trying to write on the pad he often carried. He finally leaned his portly body against the nurses’ desk and snatched a pad to write more comfortably.

  “I remember Ms. Russell. Several months ago some damn man beat the hell out of her. She never would admit it. I know a man’s mark when I see it.” Lane pointed to the stone-faced people standing outside Eunice’s door. “Those are your people, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Now I ain’t sitting on my ass with this, and don’t let that boss of yours think any different. Tell Pen, Lane said so.”

  “The two of you connected, I see.”

  “I met the guy and that Dillon McKnight. Now he’s not my idea of a sweet kind of guy, pardon me for saying; none of you are. How you guys do what you do is beyond me. No offense, son, but especially you. I don’t suppose you watch the news? Don’t. You’ll regret it.”

  Lane admired Justice’s strength to get up every morning to do this sometimes-thankless job. There were people out there who hated him with a vengeance and wouldn’t mind if Justice were dead. He’d heard unflattering talk from some of his own people and had to set them straight a few times. He wouldn’t tolerate that. No sir, not at all.

  “Lane, it’s no different than what you have to do. Let’s walk.”

  The room floated before Eunice. She was sure she was underwater. Her hands were tied down. Was Ed holding her down again? The image of Ed suddenly appeared, and her breathing became heavy and painful.

  “Get away from me!” Eunice screamed. A gentle prick on her arm calmed her within seconds.

  The nurse’s soothing voice finally reached her. Eunice’s breathing
became smoother and even.

  “I think she will be all right. Just don’t push her too much.”

  “Mrs. Russell, I’m Justice Black with Southern Region Defense.” He allowed everyone to introduce themselves. Caldwell explained the warrant and handed it to her.

  She accepted the warrant without question. It was better for her to be in their custody.

  The way everyone stared made Eunice uncomfortable. “I know who you are, Dr. Black.” She then nodded to Lane. “I remember you. I need to talk.” Her voice cracked. “Could I have some water?” The nurse gave her a few sips, and then Eunice continued. “I want to tell you everything I know about Anderson Edwin Drayton. I’m so sorry for what happened. I want to make it right.”

  Everyone quieted. No one in the room thought she could ever make this right.

  “When I met Ed, he called himself Jacobson Cooper. I was to plant the bombs in one of the plant containers on the street, and a trash Dumpster. I couldn’t do it. I lied to Ed. We drove to the spot the night before for a test, and he watched me put the black trash bag in the Dumpster. I’d switched the contents earlier that morning. I don’t know why I told Ed. Ed jumped from the car a block before I reached the area, my heart started pounding, and then I woke up here.”

  Eunice provided names of those who had come to the house for meetings and told how she had gone with the group to do recruitment. She then gave details of Ed’s plan.

  She turned to Justice as she continued. “Ed was hired to kill you.”

  Lane braced from the wall; Caldwell showed no emotions. “Why?” he asked.

  “Dr. Black is seen as a threat to Legion. I started out as a genesis; the deeper I became involved, I realized their ideology was dangerous. When children were recruited, I wanted to get out. There’s a nurse who is a member of Legion that works here and constantly watches me.”

  Justice watched Eunice as she talked. Eunice was the exact type of woman someone like Ed preyed upon. She was in some ways weak, lonely, and isolated. Except for the isolation part, Kaitlyn fit none of that.

  Eunice shifted her position in the bed and grimaced from the pain in her stomach. “Did I hurt many people?”