Beneath The Surface (36 page)

After her segment ran at 11 o’clock, Carmen returned to the studio with Max to review the footage that he shot at the event. “What do you think you’re gonna find?” Max asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe the real killer will just jump out at me and scream, ‘Hey, I killed her
.
’ Because I’ll be honest with you, Max, I don’t know what else to do.”

“Well, pretty lady, I’m gonna call it a night.”

“What’s your hurry?”

“The wife promised me that she would be nice to me when I got home tonight; if you know what I mean,” Max said and winked at Carmen.

“By all means, don’t let me stop you.”

“Good night, Carmen. I will see you in the morning,” Max said and started to walk out of the studio, then he stopped. “You did
good
on this one. Real good. I’m proud of you, investigative reporter.”

“
Thanks,
Max.” Carmen got up and kissed him on the cheek. Max started to leave again. “Hey, Max,” she said and smiled. “When it gets real good, holler my name.”

Max laughed. “No.”

Carmen watched Max walk down the hall and thought about the fact that it had been a minute since she had gotten any. She thought about Black and wished things were different. Then she thought about Marcus. It had been awhile since he’d called her. She wondered if he had heard about her and Black? Or maybe he just moved on. And if that was the case, she was fine with it.

Now that Max was gone, Carmen returned to the console and continued reviewing the footage of the event. She was just about to give up and go home, when she thought that she saw a familiar face. Carmen immediately ran the tape back and
paused
it. This time she saw Josh Fillmore, Congressman Redding’s aide, at the function. “What are you doing here, Mr. Fillmore?”

She resumed the footage and hoped she would see him moving toward the area of the gallery that led to the offices, but he didn’t. In fact, he was moving away from the area and appeared to be moving toward the exit. Carmen looked at the time stamp. “If he’s leaving, it was too early to have committed the murder.”

Still, it was the best and only lead that she had. She called Anesiha Perry and hoped that she would still be at the gallery. “Anesiha Perry,” she answered on the second ring.

“Miss Perry, this is Carmen Taylor.”

“What do you want,” Anesiha said with an attitude.

“I’m sorry to bother you, but I need your help,” Carmen said.

“I can’t help you.”

“Even if it helped me prove that your friend, Mrs. Winters and her husband, didn’t kill Tangela House?”

There was silence on the line for a second. Carmen wondered if she had hung up the phone. “What do you want, Ms. Taylor?”

“I need you to check the guest list from that night and tell me if either Josh Fillmore or Terrance Redding, are on the list?”

“Terrence Redding? The Congressman? What does he have to do with this?”

“Maybe nothing—maybe everything.”

“I can tell you that the congressman and Mr. Fillmore have been to the gallery on several occasions in the past,” Aneisha said as she reviewed the guest list. “But neither was on the list for that night.”

“Thanks,” Carmen said quickly.

“I hope that helps.”

“I know it will.” Carmen hung up and called Detective Mitchell, and told her that Josh Fillmore was at the gallery the night Tangela House was murdered.

“Slow down, Carmen. Who is Josh Fillmore?”

Carmen told Mitchell the tale of sex and blackmail she had discussed with Geoffrey Canfield, the night before he committed suicide. But when she confronted Terrence Redding about it, he denied everything, just before he was arrested on bribery charges. “If what Canfield said about the blackmail is true, then Fillmore could have been there to pay her off, but he killed her.”

“Okay, Carmen. I’m not that far from you. Wait there for me and we’ll take a look at what you got,” Mitchell told her.

Carmen made a copy of that section of the footage, and then she left the studio and went back to her office to wait for the detective. When she opened the door and turned on the lights, Carmen was surprised to see Josh Fillmore sitting behind her desk. “Josh, what are you doing here?” Carmen put her bag down then turned on her recorder.

“Hello, Carmen.” Josh picked up a gun and pointed it at Carmen. “You know exactly what I’m doing here: Your little chat with Canfield. I’m just here to cleanup loose ends.”

“So, it’s true. She was blackmailing Redding and Canfield. You killed her. Didn’t you? That’s what Redding meant when he told Canfield that he would handle it.”

“It’s what I do, Carmen. I take care of loose ends,” Josh said and got up.

“Tangela House thought she was there to get paid off.”

“Who knew the greedy bitch would bring her freak clients with her. I gotta say it was some really disgusting shit to watch. After the old freaks left, I strangled her.”

Carmen started to inch toward the door. “Redding is in jail, Josh; you don’t have to do this.”

“Entrapment. He’ll beat that, no sweat,” Josh said and stepped close to Carmen. “Now we’re going to walk out of here.” He turned Carmen around and shoved the gun in her back. “You try to run, scream for help, if you even look at somebody funny, I’ll kill you on the spot. Understand?”

“I understand.”

“Good, now let’s go,” Josh said and pushed Carmen out of the office. Josh stayed close to Carmen and made sure that his face wouldn’t be seen by any of the many surveillance cameras.

As they approached the security station at the front entrance, the guard stood up to unlock the door. “Be a good girl and save his life,” Josh said and pushed the gun a little deeper into Carmen’s back.

“Good night, Ms. Taylor,” the guard said.

“Good night, Pete. See you tomorrow,” Carmen said as she passed the guard, and her and Josh left out of the building. Josh led Carmen at gunpoint, away from the building and right past Black. When he realized what was going on, he pulled out his gun and pointed it at Josh. “Let her go!” Black shouted.

Josh put the gun to Carmen’s head. “I’ll kill her!”

Black took a step closer. “You all right, Carmen?”

She nodded her head. Black kept coming closer.

“Don’t come any closer or I’ll kill her!” Josh yelled.

“And then what? Huh? Then what? You shoot her and then I’ll shoot you.” Black took another step closer. “Let her go now and I won’t kill you. ’Cause if there’s even a scratch on her, I will hunt you down and kill you slowly. I’ll get so medieval on you that you’ll beg me to kill you,” he said and kept moving closer to Josh.

Just then, Detective Mitchell drove up. She slammed on her brakes and jumped out of the car. Mitchell pulled her weapon and drew down on the hood of a car. “Police! Freeze!”

Josh pushed Carmen into Black’s arms and tried to run. As he held on to Carmen, Black raised his weapon and started to shoot Josh, but thought better of it.

Josh fired two shots at Mitchell as he ran. She took aim and fired her weapon. She hit him with three shots in the back. With her weapon pointed and her eye on Black, Mitchell approached the body and checked for a pulse. Josh Fillmore was dead. Mitchell returned to her car to call it in.

“You okay?” Black asked.

“I’m okay,” Carmen said as tears drifted down her cheek. “Thank you,” she said and hugged Black. He held on to Carmen, but his eyes were on Detective Mitchell as she walked toward him.

“Do you have a permit for that firearm?” Mitchell asked.

“Yes, detective, I do,” Black replied.

Mitchell glanced at Josh’s body and then to the small crowd of curious citizens that was forming. “I think you should leave.”

Black put his gun away and kissed Carmen on the cheek. Then he separated himself from her. “Where can I find you?” she asked as Black walked away.

“You know where to find me.”

It was three hours later and Black and Victor were the only ones at Cuisine. “You still think she’s comin’?” Victor asked.

“She’ll come. But you don’t have to wait around. Go on, get outta here,” Black told Victor as Carmen came through the door. Both men stood up.

“Thanks for waiting.”

“You don’t have to thank me.”

“Yes, I do. You saved my life,” Carmen said and hugged him. She kissed him on the cheek.

“You okay?” Black asked.

“Just tired.”

“Come on. Let me take you home,” Black said and looked at Victor. “Then you can tell me who that man was.”

“I’ll get the car,” Victor said and walked out ahead of them.

On the way to Carmen’s apartment, she told Black that Josh Fillmore killed Tangela House to cover up a sex scandal. Carmen played the recording she’d made of Josh admitting to killing her, for Detective Mitchell. She said that it wasn’t enough to arrest Redding for murder, but it was enough to drop the murder charges against the
Winters
.

When they got to her apartment, Black and Carmen got out and walked slowly and quietly toward the building.

Carmen stopped at the door. “So what now?”
 

“I’m leavin’ in the morning for Nassau.”

“When will I see you again?” Carmen asked.

“Soon.”

Meka arrived in Nassau that next morning and checked in the suite that Black had arranged for her. She didn’t bring anything with her, so she had nothing to unpack. Meka spent the next hour sitting on the balcony overlooking the Caribbean Sea. The view was spectacular. It gave her a chance to think about what she had done. She had killed a man. Meka tried to rationalize it by thinking that if she hadn’t killed Cerrone, he would have surely killed her.

After that, Meka took Black’s advice and did some shopping. Since she was charging it to the room, she didn’t get ridiculous, but she thought about it. When she returned to the room, in addition to the essentials, Meka had bought enough outfits to last a few days, and some beachwear, of course.

Now that she had something to change into, Meka took a long hot bath. She put on the outfit that she had just bought and was about to make herself a drink and go out on the balcony, when she heard a knock at the door. Meka went to the door. “Who is it?”

“Mike Black.”

Meka opened the door and was surprised to see that Black wasn’t alone. She smiled. “And who is this pretty little lady?” Meka asked and leaned toward Michelle.

“This is my daughter Michelle. This is Meka Brazil, Michelle. She’s one of daddy’s business partners.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Michelle,” Meka said and smiled.

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Michelle said and hugged her daddy’s leg.

“Let’s take a walk on the beach,” Black suggested.

“Let me get my key,” Meka said and dashed off to get it.

Once she had the key, Meka followed Black and Michelle to the elevator. “How was your flight?” Black asked as they waited.

“It was fine.” The elevator arrived and they got on. “I had a small layover in Miami.” Meka smiled. “That was a little nerve wrecking.”