The Aftermath Read online

  “I need you to come to this address.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I need you here,” his father said and then disconnected the call. The display of emotions from his father was odd. His father did not plead, beg, or even ask anything of anyone.

  He was wrong. It was only last year that his father first ordered, then begged him to keep the fact that he had a mistress and a daughter, from his mother. Another family he was housing within a rock’s throw from his childhood home. Since Nate had happened upon that bit of information, he not only kept his distance from his father, but he had also moved from the family estate. At one point, Nate attempted to tell his mother what he had discovered but was not able to cause her the pain. He even contemplated leaving the distinguished law firm of Reigns Attorneys of Law where he was a managing partner along with his sister, Audrey. The guilt from keeping the secret, added to the remorse from today’s verdict, was building into a sense of regret.

  Nate frowned as he drove through the darkness to the address his father had given him. Red and blue lights filled the dark night as Nate turned the corner into what appeared to be a nice neighborhood on the North side of Richmond. The emergency vehicles with lights blaring seemed out of place. Reality kicked in as he slowly drove down the street towards the crowd of people. This was a police crime scene. He had been to far too many of them not to recognize the Crime Scene Investigation vans, the Police Mobile Unit and of course, the Medical Examiner’s van parked in the area, indicating there was a homicide.

  Glancing through his windshield, Nate searched around until he saw his father standing next to a patrol car. He appeared to be talking to one of the officers about the person seated in the back. Instincts told him not to get out of his car.

  “Just back the hell up, Nate. Turn around and haul ass out of the area,” he said to himself.

  Instead, Nate exhaled, parked, then stepped out of his car. He had removed his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves when he’d left the office earlier. As he reached to the back to pull out his suit coat, he knew he was not ready for another murder case. The mental exhaustion from the case he had just won was still too fresh. That was exactly what he planned to tell his father as he walked around emergency vehicles.

  “He’s with me,” Nathanial said to the officer securing the perimeter as he waved Nate over.

  Nate thanked the officer then walked over to the sidewalk where his father stood.

  “We have an issue,” he said while taking Nate by the arm. “Bret Dolt has been detained,” he said as they stepped to the side. “I think police harassment and excessive force, among other technicalities could get us a dismissal.”

  “Hold up.” Nate raised his hand as he looked around. “This is a homicide scene…” He said disconcertedly. “Who is the victim?”

  “Our client is at the moment,” his father hissed.

  “Bret Dolt is no longer our client, Dad. We are done with Dolt. We got him off. If he is involved in this, I want nothing to do with him or this case.”

  “He is our client, until I say he is not.”

  “Are you crazy? It has not been a full day since that jury found him not guilty. And what does he do to celebrate his freedom…kill somebody else? No, hell no Dad, count me out.”

  “Listen to me, son, you just added seven digits to the firm’s account and that is only the beginning. You realize how many cases will stem from this one client?”

  “Dad, he killed a father while his child watched. He killed him right in front of her. That may not bother you, but it damn sure is cutting me deep.” Nate threw up his hands then turned away.

  A woman charged at him with fists swinging.

  “You did this—you got that monster off! Now, she’s dead!” The woman smacked him across his face then proceeded to punch him in the chest.

  Nate held the woman away from him, though not certain who she was. “Calm down,” he said as he tried to restrain her.

  “She’s dead—he killed my husband, now he’s killed my child!” The woman broke down in his arms. “You got him off; you let him do this to my child.”

  Officers came over to pull the woman away. Nate stood frozen as the words spoken by Bret Dolt ran through his mind. During the trial, the deceased man’s daughter testified that she saw Dolt gun down her father. When she pointed to Dolt, he’d said, “I’m going to kill that bitch as soon as I get out.”

  Nate turned to look at the body on the front lawn of a single-story house, then at the woman the police officers were walking inside. It was Mrs. Young, the wife of the man whose murderer he had just defended. Nate turned sharply to his father with a look of disbelief.

  “Nathan,” his father’s stern voice called out.

  “Is that Young’s daughter, under that sheet?” His father quickly walked towards him “Is it, Dad?”

  “Nathan lower your voice. There are officers around. Anything you say could implicate our client.”

  “Oh, hell no!” Nate jerked away. “He is not my client.”

  “Bret Dolt is a client of the Reigns Law Firm. The last time I looked you were still a partner…a managing partner, I may add, in this firm. You represent him and me,” Nathaniel retorted.

  Nate walked away from his father. His destination, the body on the grassy area in front of a home. A nice home, in a quiet neighborhood, where all these damn lights should never be. His palms became sweaty, his heart racing, his mind whirling with the accusations the woman had hurled his way. If that body was Katrina Young, he deserved everything that woman had said. If that body was Kentrell Young’s daughter…

  “What is the victim’s name?” Nate asked the Detective who was positioned near the body.

  “A definitive identification has not been made.” The detective glanced up. Recognition was clear on his face as he glared at Nate.

  “May I see the body?”

  “Why would I let you? So you can use it against us during trial?” The detective raised an eyebrow.

  Nate took that, for he knew just about every officer on the RPD force detested him for his cross examination of them on the stand. “What’s your name, man?”

  “Burnett,” the detective replied.

  “Have you ever had a case that stabbed you right in the heart? One that you just couldn’t get over?”

  Detective Burnett inhaled, then nodded. “I have.”

  “If this is who I think it is, I will not be defending whoever you arrest,” Nate declared. “It is important. I need to see who is under that sheet.”

  Detective Burnett stared at him for a long moment before bending to pull the edge of the sheet back.

  The sight of the face caused Nate to fall to his knees. It felt as if a knife was stabbing him from every angle of his body. He wanted to scream. The child was barely sixteen years old. The guilt felt like bile trying to come up from his throat. It took him several breaths to gather the strength to stand back up.

  “You alright?” Detective Burnett asked.

  “No.” Nate stood as he inhaled.

  The detective placed his hand on Nate’s shoulder. “Take a breath. Just take a breath.”

  Nate did as he was instructed as tears filled his eyes. He took a few deep inhales then ran a hand down his face wiping the tears that had surprisingly escaped.

  “Thank you,” he said to the detective then walked purposely back to his father. “You take him as a client, and I am out.”

  “You are a partner!” Nathaniel Reigns yelled, then discreetly looked around. He lowered his voice to almost a whisper. “Your job is to bring in clients, not turn them away.”

  “Partner—Partner?” Nate yelled back then spoke softly. “How about being a human being with a heart first?”

  “I am your father, and you are going to take this case.”

  “Or what? Hmm…are you going to disown me? You take this case, and you don’t ever have to be concerned with me again.”

  Nate turned, fuming at the thought of defending Dolt a
gain.

  POW—POW!

  He heard the gun firing seconds before the fire shot through his right shoulder knocking him backwards. He felt a body jumping in front of him as another shot rang out. The eyes of the wife of Kentrell Young bore into his as the yelling continued,

  “Get down!” Burnett yelled as his body weight knocked Nate to the ground.

  The thump caused him to bolt straight up in his bed, with sweat running down his face. The pain from his shoulder shot through him as if he was reliving that night five years ago all over again.

  Buzz——-Buzz.

  Nate turned to the sound of his cell phone. A call was coming through. Closing his eyes trying to clear the sight of Katrina Young’s face from his mind, Nate cursed himself for allowing his father’s antics to drag him back into the nightmare.

  Buzz———Buzz.

  The sound filled the air again. Nate fell back against the pillows then reached for his phone.

  “Reigns,” he groggily answered.

  “We got a murder.”

  3

  The final segment of the news ended. None of the reporting stood out.

  Turning off the television, a man dressed in a white T-shirt, and tan khaki pants with black leather shoes walked to the bookshelf against the back wall of his home. He placed his hand on the spine of the fifth book on the shelf, then pulled it down. The end of the shelf moved forward revealing the entrance into a room. Stepping inside, the man turned to watch as the door closed behind him.

  The room was a 10 by 10 feet area, consisting of a single desk with a pull cord lamp and a black push button phone on top. On the wall was a 6 by 4 feet cork board with a variety of pictures held up with push pins. Against the opposite wall were three four-drawer file cabinets, each with a key inserted in the lock at the top.

  He took a seat behind the desk, picked up the receiver to the black phone then pushed three numbers, 743, on the keypad.

  The call was answered on the first ring.

  “Level Two,” the person on the receiving end answered. Names were never used on this phone line, only information passed from one level to another.

  “Level Twelve,” the man replied. “Code blue complete.”

  “Proceed to code green mobilization.”

  “Affirmative.”

  Hanging up the phone, Christian Vaughan reached up to the cork board, then removed the pictures of Judge Thomas Price, Judge Elijah Kennedy, and Commonwealth Attorney Alex Burnett. After he fed them through the shredder, he replaced them on the board with pictures of Judge Paula Reid, Chief Frank Williams, and School Board President Riley Fontaine.

  Opening the desk drawer, he pulled out a binder. On the front it read: “Purity through Infiltration and Extermination.” Opening the book, he went to the green tab then turned to the front page of the section and settled back to read the instructions for code green.

  As was his habit at the end of a task, Christian reviewed the doctrine that had brought him to Virginia. He understood the complexity of the mission. Virginia wasn’t just another in the line of liberal loving states they had to infiltrate. No, the Commonwealth of Virginia, in all its glory was once the Capital of the Confederacy. Now, it had fallen into the hands of those who believe all men are created equal. Foolishness, in his opinion and those of his fathers before him. The others would never be equal to his superior race. Never. A successful mission in a city where the White population was below 50%, after being the stronghold of the Confederacy, would determine the blueprint to move forward into larger metropolitan areas. The task at hand was monumental, that he understood. But it was attainable. He had no doubt their mission would succeed. They would take back the country using the laws of the land to eventually place Browns and Blacks back into servitude where they belonged; thereby uplifting the superior White race to their rightful place of authority.

  As a former Army General, his Congressional and Pentagon connections gave him the credentials needed to move up in the organization whose sole purpose was to restore this country to its rightful heritage. The organization understood that the doctrine known as the Constitution was a misguided tool created by the weak. All men were not created equal. There were the pure, patriotic men and women in this country, then there were those whose very creation was to serve others. Attempts before had been futile. However, the sentiments of the country were now ripe, if not eager, for the change.

  He and his counterparts began this mission five years ago placing patriots of the country in strategic positions throughout local, state, and federal governments. Their progress had been commendable, and thus far, their actions had gone undetected. It was imperative that every step be advanced with caution. Every recruit be ready to put their life on the line. Every child of the race be educated on their worth and superiority over others.

  His personal cell phone buzzed. He checked the number. It was a call he was expecting. Instead of answering the call using his cell phone, he picked up the phone on his desk. He dialed the number then sat back as he waited for the call to be picked up on the other end.

  “Level Sixteen.”

  “Level Twelve. Are you prepared?”

  “Affirmative.”

  The man hung up the call. He closed the binder then placed it back in the top drawer. He stood, scanning around the rest of the area to ensure everything was in its proper place. Before leaving the room, he removed the bag of paper scraps from the shredder and replaced the liner. Picking up the bag, he stepped out, checking to ensure the entrance was secure. He proceeded to the kitchen and walked out the back door to his patio. There he placed the bag of shreds into the fire pit. Placed a few logs on top and started a fire. He watched until every shredded strip of paper was turned to ashes. Once he was satisfied there was no evidence to be found, he said, “We will not be replaced or made to be insignificant. We will rise.”

  “Did you say something, Father?”

  Christian turned to see his son standing in the doorway dressed for work. “No, just an old man’s musing.”

  “There is nothing old about you,” his son chuckled. “You’re as tough as nails. Look, I just got a call in. There’s been a murder.”

  Christian raised an eyebrow. “Another Black-on-Black crime?”

  “Probably. I’ll know more when I get there.”

  “Cory, watch your back.”

  “Always, sir, always.”

  4

  With the death of Alex Burnett, Chief of Police Frank Williams was concerned that it was connected to the investigation into the death of two local judges. The investigation had led them to possible corruption within the police department, as well as other judicial branches within local government. The allegations of corruption in his department were circulating through the media, causing tension between his officers and the community.

  The larger problem was that Chief Williams believed every allegation that had been made was true. The detective on the case, Nathan Reigns, had closed the murder case since the man responsible for the judges’ deaths was dead.

  However, there were too many unanswered questions. With suspicions that the judicial system had been compromised on several levels, Frank shared his concerns with the Mayor. Mayor L.T. Palmer, who had appointed Frank as the Chief only a few months earlier, had the elimination of corruption in city government as his number one priority, and agreed to authorize a limited investigation into the matter. Because of the sensitivity of the investigation only four people were privy to its existence: Mayor Palmer, Chief Judge Fontaine, Alex Burnett and himself.

  Frank checked his watch. It was late, but the Mayor had to be advised of Burnett’s death. The rain was light as he pulled in front of Mayor Palmer’s home on the Southside of the river. The neighborhood was one that had been revitalized largely by generous donations from the Mayor. He was a man who put his money where he lay his head. Dressed in uniform, Frank walked up the steps to the Mayor’s home. The door opened before he rang the doorbell.

  “Ente
r, Chief Williams.” The voice from the smart device filled the air.

  “Chief.” Mayor L.T. Palmer extended his hand as he walked towards him. “I’m testing a new program with an identification ability. Noting the time, I thought it was giving an incorrect reading. Looking at your face, I can tell not only that it was correct, but that this is not a friendly visit.”

  “No, Mr. Mayor, I’m afraid it is not. Alex Burnett was found dead in his home tonight.”

  The Mayor was visibly shaken. “Alex? What happened?”

  “I do not have the details at this time. Only a confirmation that it is Alex.”

  “Foul play?”

  “It looks like he was hanged.”

  “Hello, Chief Williams.”

  Frank turned to the feminine voice coming up behind him. “Hello, Sapphire. Please forgive me for interrupting your evening.”

  “Nothing to forgive,” the Mayor’s fiancée replied. “May I get you a drink?”

  “No, thank you. I’m afraid I’m on duty.”

  “The Chief just informed me Alex Burnett was found dead tonight,” L.T. took her hand in his.

  “The Commonwealth Attorney?” She questioned.

  “Yes.”

  “My condolences,” she stated, then kissed L.T.’s cheek. “I’m sure you two have things to talk about. I’ll make myself scarce.”

  “Thank you,” L.T. replied as she walked away. “Chief, let’s step into my office. We’re going to have to make some quick decisions.” He turned to walk towards his office. “Who are you going to put on the case?”

  “The only person I trust to get to the truth,” Frank said as he followed, then closed the door behind them.

  “Reigns?” The Mayor said as he nodded. “He’s going to need some serious help. Who is he partnered with?”

  Frank exhaled, “Detective Cory Vaughan.”

  “I don’t think I know him.”

  “He is a transfer from Hanover County. Deputy Chief Bynum brought him in.”