The Summer of Me (19 page)

“Your kids?”

“That's right. They're more important to me than anything and I made a decision that could have separated us for a very long time. It's going to be a while before I forgive myself for that, and it's going to take a while for my mom to forgive me. I thank God that I won't have to explain anything to my kids.”

“Cut yourself some slack,” he said. “We all make mistakes.”

She gave a weak smile. “And I made a whopper of one. I knew something wasn't right with HR Solutions from the very beginning. I heard the still, small voice but I ignored it. That's all on me.”

Daniel's esteem for Destiny grew as he listened to her assessment of her actions. She'd needed to accept full responsibility for what she'd done, and now she needed to forgive
herself and move on. He was committed to helping her do just that. “I'm proud of you, Destiny,” he said. “And your mom will be, too, once she gets past her fear of what could have happened and begins to focus on what actually happened.”

“I hope so,” she said.

“I know so.” He tapped her on the nose with his finger. “Now how long do you think you'll be with your mother? Should I meet you downstairs in the lobby in about thirty minutes or so?” he asked.

She shook her head. “You've done so much already that I hate to ask this, but can you come up with me to talk to my mom? The details will be more credible coming from you.”

“Of course I'll go and explain things to her. Should we head out now?”

Destiny nodded. When he reached to open the door, she placed her hand on his. “Thank you,” she said, “for everything. Your support has been more than I could have imagined. I want you to know that I appreciate the kind of friend you've been to me. You're a special man, Daniel Thomas.”

Daniel could only smile down at her, hoping his guilt did not show on his face. She still didn't know of his full involvement in the investigation. He'd planned to tell her as soon as Malcolm left, but if he were honest with himself, he was glad her need to talk to her mother and visit her kids forced him to delay his confession. He'd tell her tomorrow, he told himself. She needed a good night's sleep tonight. He ignored the small voice that told him he was only delaying the inevitable.

D
ESTINY HAD BEEN RIGHT ABOUT HER MOTHER.
T
HE
older woman had brightened considerably after hearing Daniel's explanation of the day's events and what was going to happen as a result. She'd visibly relaxed when she heard that Destiny had been a victim of identity theft. That was a much better outcome than having her daughter arrested for fraud. Of course, she was still disappointed in Destiny for getting involved with HR Solutions in the first place, but she no longer worried about Kenae and KJ being taken away. Destiny watched her now in lively conversation with Mary Margaret's mother and Daniel, looking like her old self and not the haggard and aged woman she'd been earlier this evening.

Destiny smiled at Daniel. Patricia had quickly nixed the idea of him waiting for them in the car. Given what he had done for Destiny today, he was the man of the hour in her eyes. “It's been some day,” Patricia said. “Destiny finds out
she's a victim of identity theft and then Charlotte and Daniel reconnect.”

“This woman was a godsend when my wife was sick,” Daniel said, looking at Charlotte. “I can't thank you enough for what you did for Gloria.”

“I wish I could have done more,” Charlotte said softly. “Gloria was a special woman.”

Daniel nodded.

“More special than you know,” Destiny added. “I never met her and I've been touched by her.”

Daniel glanced over at her, his eyes thanking her for not going into detail about the programs they were starting at church. “You and Gloria would have been fast friends, Destiny,” he said. “You—”

Before he could finish, KJ bounded into the room and said, “It's time for our walk on the beach. Who's going?”

Under other circumstance Destiny would have chastised her son for interrupting adult conversation, but they'd needed his interruption tonight. The conversation had been about to turn somber.

“I think I'd like to go,” her mother said. “After all that's happened today, I want to get out and feel the night air.”

“Yay, Grandma's going!” KJ chimed in.

Patricia turned to Charlotte. “Come with us. It'll be nice.”

Charlotte smiled. “Well, I don't see why I shouldn't.”

“Kenae,” KJ called out. “We're heading for the beach.”

Destiny shook her head, wondering why KJ felt the need to yell for his sister. She shouldn't have been surprised though
since he did it often. She'd scold him tomorrow; tonight all she could do was take joy in being with them.

As Destiny was getting up to join the group, Kenneth said, “You guys go on. Mary Margaret and I need to talk to your mother. We'll catch up.”

The look on Mary Margaret's face told Destiny this need to talk was news to her. The questioning looks on the faces of Patricia and Charlotte suggested they had the same reaction. Destiny had a feeling she knew what Kenneth wanted, so she asked Daniel to wait with her.

After the oldest and the youngest among them had left, Kenneth said, “Now tell us what really happened. There's more to it than you're saying. What are you hiding?”

“Kenneth—” Mary Margaret warned.

“It's all right, Mary Margaret.” She turned to Kenneth. “I don't know what you want me to say. You should be happy it was only identity theft. That's bad, but not anything that can't be resolved.”

“My concern is my children. Seeing you carted off to jail could have damaged their psyches.”

The thought of it made her shiver. “But that didn't happen. My attorney has cleared up everything with the police and he's working on the identity theft. It's taken care of, Kenneth. Let it go.”

“I don't like having my kids put in bad situations.”

Destiny heard the indictment of her mothering skills in his words. “I'm a good mother, Kenneth, and you know it.”

He met her eyes. “I'm a better father.”

Destiny's head jerked as if he had struck her. “What do you mean by that?” she asked, fire building in her chest.

Mary Margaret cut a hard glance at her husband. “He didn't mean anything by it,” she said. “It's been a tough afternoon for us. We didn't know what was going on with you at the police station and we were worried. As you can imagine, all sorts of negative thoughts went through our minds.”

Destiny heard the “our” in Mary Margaret's words but she knew it was Kenneth who'd had the negative thoughts. How had she even put herself in a situation for him to question her mothering skills? She'd gotten off easy with the authorities but she wasn't sure Kenneth would be as accommodating. “If you have something to say, Kenneth, just say it.”

When Kenneth only glared at Destiny, Daniel spoke up. “Why don't we all take a few minutes and calm down.” He turned to Destiny. “Now is a good time for that walk on the beach. Are you ready?”

She shot a hot glance at Kenneth. “Let's go,” she said to Daniel. “Apparently, Kenneth didn't have anything to talk about after all.” With those words, she turned and followed Daniel out of the house and down to the beach.

D
ID YOU HEAR WHAT
K
ENNETH SAID TO ME?”
D
ESTINY
asked. “I can't believe his nerve.”

“I heard it,” Daniel said, “but I wouldn't read anything into it. Like his wife said, this was a difficult day for all of us. I'm sure it crossed Kenneth's mind that if anything happened to you, he and Mary Margaret would be left to take care of the kids.”

“That's exactly what he wants. Well, he'd better get rid of those thoughts. I'm the custodial parent and that's not going to change.”

Daniel stopped and tugged on her arm, forcing her to stop as well. “Give him a break, Destiny. He's had a rough day, too. I can only imagine the thoughts that went through his mind when he got the call from your mother to come get his kids.”

Destiny exhaled slowly. “I came too close to losing everything important to me. I can't believe I was so reckless. And when I think of the lives that could have been harmed—”

“Be grateful none of that happened.”

She turned and looked at him. “I need to call Bertice and let her know what happened to me. She needs to take precautions so it doesn't happen to her. I need my cell.”

When she turned to head back to the car where she'd left it, he stopped her. “You don't have to worry about Bertice. She'll be fine.” He pointed to some beach chairs nearby. “We have to talk. Let's sit over there.”

As Destiny followed him to the beach chairs, her anxiety rose. Whatever Daniel was going to tell her, she wasn't going to like. She was sure of it. After they sat, Daniel folded both of his hands around both of hers. “I want you to know that I had your best interests in mind the entire time.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, her apprehension rising. What had Daniel done?

Daniel sighed deeply. “Let me start at the beginning. I told you before that I started a cybersecurity firm with a couple of friends from college.”

She nodded. “I remember.”

He rubbed her fingers. “That firm, GDW Investigations, has been investigating HR Solutions since before I moved to Atlanta.”

She heard his words but they didn't make sense to her. “What? How?”

“Phil contacted them and reported the fraud that was going on. He felt people were being hurt and he wanted to get out. He felt particularly responsible for one person.”

“Bertice?”

He nodded. “He'd come to care for her, and knowing
what he'd gotten her into began to weigh on him. He was looking for a way out for him and her. The parameters of a deal have been in place for them for a while now. You don't have to worry about either of them.”

She met his eyes. “And you know all this because?”

“Because when my friends at GDW learned that I was moving to Atlanta, they asked me to help them out.”

She pulled her hands away from his. “Help them out how?”

“Phil was getting nervous. They'd warned him it would take time to gather the information they needed to shut down the crime ring, but he was feeling more and more guilty each day. He didn't like lying to Bertice. He didn't like that he'd gotten her involved and then moved on to getting her friends involved. My job was to see that he stuck to the plan.”

“To make sure he didn't tell Bertice what was going on?”

“That's right.”

“So you've known HR Solutions wasn't on the up-and-up since before you came to Atlanta?”

“I only learned the day before I was to come here. I am no longer involved in the day-to-day activities of the company. This was to be the last case I worked on for them. I only agreed to do it because my friends convinced me I was the best person for the job.”

“Why?”

“Why was I the best person for the job?”

She nodded.

He shrugged. “There were several reasons. Phil and I had history from another case in the past so they felt he'd be comfortable with me. It helped that I am a pastor, so if any
body was watching Phil, they wouldn't think anything about my presence in his life.”

“So you were undercover?”

“You could say that.”

“Did Gavin and Natalie know?”

He shook his head. “No. I've worked cases like this before. The best way to run them is to keep everything on a need-to-know basis. Even though a part of me wanted to, I couldn't tell Gavin, Natalie, or you about my involvement. I couldn't tell you for the same reason Phil couldn't tell Bertice. The only way we could track the electronic footprint of the illegal transactions was to make sure the pipeline continued.”

“You found out I was involved, didn't you?”

He nodded. “I learned about Bertice first. It's such an odd name that I suspected she was the same Bertice who had captured Phil's heart.”

“And a woman who was also involved in his illegal activities.”

“Yes, I knew that, too.”

She was glad it was dark. She looked out at the ocean. “When did you find out I was involved?”

“The day after the cancer walk. I confirmed with Phil that your Bertice was his Bertice and then I asked about you.”

“And yet you never said anything to me. Never tried to warn me.”

“It was too late. By the time I found out, you were already involved. You'd already submitted your application. Once you were in their system, you had to stay in. We didn't want the ringleaders to suspect anything was wrong. You have
to catch these criminals in the act. If they had suspected we were on to them, they could have shut the whole thing down.”

“What would have been so bad about that? Isn't it what you wanted anyway?”

He shook his head. “No, they would have shut it down with Phil and HR Solutions and just started up with some other person in some other company. We wanted to shut it down for good, not just give them a reason to move on to the next target. The only way to do that was to keep the pipeline flowing.”

Destiny wasn't sure she agreed with him, but she knew he believed what he was saying. “When did you learn that identity theft was a part of the fraud?”

“I knew from the beginning, but I couldn't be sure who would be a target. Bertice has been involved much longer than you and there is no evidence of identity theft related to her. You fit the profile, but I honestly didn't think you'd been in long enough to be a target.”

“Profile? You had a profile and you still didn't tell me?”

“I didn't tell you, but we were keeping track of you. I really didn't think you would be a target.”

“But you were wrong.”

“Yes, I was wrong. It never should have come to this. The L.A. police overreached. That situation at the restaurant should have ended with the declined credit cards. It was a case of one authority not knowing what the other was doing. I do apologize.”

She looked at him, his face, clear in the moonlight. “So all
of this that happened today could have been avoided if you'd told me what was going on.”

He reached for hands again. “Maybe or maybe not,” he said again. “Once you submitted that application and did the first job for HR Solutions, they had you. Telling you after the fact would have only made you aware and may have resulted in you being subject to criminal charges. You have to believe me. From the day I learned of your and Bertice's involvement, I've worked to make sure you were protected.”

“Well, you didn't do a very good job, did you?”

“I know you don't see it now, but things could be a lot worse. By wiring that money from your account to the designated HR account, you broke several federal laws. This was a very serious situation, Destiny.”

Destiny looked down at her hands. “I really messed up, didn't I?”

“Yeah, you did, but it's nothing that can't be fixed.”

She looked up at him. “You must think I'm an awful person.”

He shook his head. “I don't think that at all. This isn't the first case like this that I've worked. I've learned that you really can't judge the people who get involved. In your case, you felt you didn't have many options, so it was fairly easy for Phil to convince you the job he offered was on the up-and-up.”

“I think they call that willful ignorance or something like that.”

“It doesn't matter what they call it. It's over now and you can move forward.”

“But it's not over,” she said. “You heard Kenneth. Because
of what happened today, he's threatening to take custody of my kids.”

“I wouldn't read too much into what Kenneth said tonight. Give him a day or so to cool off and then talk to him again. He's running on fear right now.”

“I don't know,” she said. “He wants custody of the kids. He's been angling for it since they started going to school in his district.” She chuckled, but it wasn't from joy. “It's ironic, isn't it? I took the job with HR Solutions so I could move to Gwinnett and put a stop to Kenneth's efforts to take custody of the kids, and now the job with HR Solutions may give him the very ammunition he needs to gain custody.”

“You can't think like that, Destiny.”

“I'm scared, Daniel. I can't lose my kids.”

“You won't.”

“You can't be sure.”

He tilted her chin up. “We'll get through this, Destiny. I promise you.”

When he pulled her into his arms, Destiny didn't resist. She needed the comfort right now. Everything else would have to wait until tomorrow.