“You certainly had my sister fooled. You had her convinced she was going to jail as a pedophile.”
“I know I put her through hell, but I’m
gonna
make it up to her. I promise.”
“Hey, you don’t have to convince me. That’s between you and her.”
There was a momentary pause in which neither one of them knew exactly what to say. Finally, Donna Lee said, “So do you have any wives, girlfriends, or children we need to know about?”
“No, I’m completely unattached. Because of my work, I’ve never really had a relationship longer than a month.” He sighed. “I’ve always wanted to find someone to share my life with. Now that my career is on tract I’m hoping that person can be Delia.”
“Well, just to let you know, if you hurt her, I might just have to kill you.” Chase smiled although he
kinda
felt she was serious.
Delia must have sensed that she was being talked about because she stirred in the chair. Chase rushed to her side and helped her up.
“What are you doing here?” She asked as she ran her fingers through her hair.
“I came to find you. I have good news. The case is solved.”
Both Delia and Donna Lee looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue.
“You see, all this time, I’ve been looking for a man to be the mastermind behind Promise Stone. I never even considered that it could be a woman, but that is exactly what it was. Ian
Landgren’s
older sister Amanda. She’s like the high school Heidi Fleiss.” Delia giggled at Chase’s joke while Donna Lee stared at them like the nerds they were.
When their laughter subsided, he cleared his throat and said, “Thomas Bennett was the client with Lena the night she was killed. Unfortunately, he was found dead in a hotel room this morning. Apparently, he accidently overdosed on a mixture of sexual enhancement drugs. We would have liked to bring him to justice and get some information out of him, but we at least have Locke under lock and key and he is singing like a canary.” Again, Donna Lee felt excluded as Chase and Delia laughed at his corny joke. “We have enough to convict Amanda, and a whole slew of her cohorts,” he added moments later.
“So, it’s over,” Delia asked.
“Yeah, it’s over.”
“Well, if it’s over, do you know who attacked me in a stairwell?
Twice?”
Chase nodded. “It was Locke. The attack was probably ordered by AL, or Amanda
Landgren
, once they saw you were getting close.” He took a step closer and reached for hand. He entwined his fingers with hers while they stared into each other’s eyes.
Donna Lee suddenly felt like she was intruding on a personal moment, but it was her hospital room.
“Donna Lee!” someone called from the door.
“Marcus!”
“Baby, what happened? Why didn’t you call me sooner?” He reached the bed in two steps, placed a huge bouquet of flowers on the nightstand then swept her up into his arms.
“I was unconscious. I couldn’t call.”
“Who did this to you?”
“It is a long story.” Donna Lee started explaining some of the details of the ordeal to Marcus as Chase and Delia excused themselves from the room.
“I want to take you out tonight. To celebrate,” he said once they reached the hallway.
Chase noticed that Delia seemed distracted as if she barely heard his invitation to dinner.
“Is there something wrong?” He asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Something doesn’t feel right. I think we’re missing something.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. But something just doesn’t fit. I can’t put my finger on why, but for some reason I feel like this isn’t over.”
***
Jason hated Edwin James. Literally, he hated him. In fact, he couldn’t remember a time when he ever liked his father. Even as a child, Jason recognized the fact that his father was completely insane. The James family was rich, but he never really got a chance to enjoy the money. Edwin was such a miser that they still flew coach everywhere they went, shopped in thrift stores and ate food out of cans.
The only thing he didn’t skimp and save on was Jason’s education. He had gone to the best private schools all his life. But academics were something Jason never excelled at. Even when he tried to do well in school, which wasn’t very often, he only succeeded at making C’s. On top of that, Jason had to deal with the humiliation of living like a pauper even though he was a millionaire.
Maybe he could have been successful academically if he hadn’t spent his entire life being motivated by keeping up appearances. At an early age, Jason became obsessed with his self-image. He had to make sure people liked him and that they knew he was really rich. He found ways to steal money from his father to make sure he dressed like his peers. He compulsively groomed himself by going to stylists, trainers and even masseuses. He read books about how to influence people and develop the skill of charm. He learned quickly how to manipulate everyone around him.
Except his father, of course.
By eighth grade, all of his efforts had paid off. He was, by far, the most attractive and sought after boy in all of
Dulaney
Hills, Pennsylvania. Girls literally threw themselves at him left and right. About that time, he discovered the joys of sex.
Jason was predisposed to obsessive compulsive behavior. His mother had such severe depression and other mental problems that she had committed suicide when he was just two years old. And his father was obsessed with saving money. Edwin James only spent money on things that amused him, thus taking his mind off of his wife’s tragic death. Right after the suicide, he actually had a carousel installed in the backyard. He wouldn’t ride it for fear that the spinning action would shake out the loose change in his pockets, but he did hire people to ride the carousel and laugh hysterically so that he could see other people enjoying life.
When Jason was ten years old, his father discovered that he had been pilfering objects from around the house and selling them in order to support his personal grooming habits. Edwin didn’t get angry with his son. Instead, he formulated elaborate obstacles and games for Jason to perform in order to receive money.
Once, Jason had to sleep in a car for two days before his father would give him $2000 for a day spa. Edwin claimed it was so that Jason would learn empathy for the homeless, but Jason felt his father just wanted to humiliate him further. Another time, Jason had to work in a soup kitchen. Another time, Edwin forced Jason to hold a sign for hours by the side of the road. The sign was blank.
Jason’s obsession with sex became widely known and accepted at the schools he attended. Under the assumption that practice makes perfect, Jason was arguably the most adept person in bed. Girls dreamed of being his next conquest, but soon it wasn’t enough. He found himself wanting it all the time and everywhere. He often would have to leave class in order to watch a pornographic film on his portable DVD player in the bathroom while masturbating.
Edwin noticed his son’s sickness, for truly it was sick in his eyes. He tried to get him help through counselors and even medication. Jason thought his father’s attempts were just ways to further embarrass him and humiliate him. Jason saw nothing wrong with his physical needs. For that was what they were, needs. He needed sex like he needed food, water, and air.
When Jason turned 18, he inherited his mother’s estate.
Three point four million dollars.
He took the money and moved to Washington D.C. where, somehow, he was accepted to George Washington University. His acceptance stemmed primarily from the pleasure he gave the admissions officer, Amanda
Landgren
, right there in her office during his interview.
Between expensive prostitutes, his million dollar condominium, and his compulsive beauty rituals, Jason found that 3.4 million dollars wasn’t quite enough money to live on. He called his father for help, but he refused to give Jason a dime unless he agreed to a few stipulations. He had to seek counseling with a male therapist (there had been issues in the past with female ones ), graduate college, and get married.
Jason would have blown off father’s requests, but he was dangerously close to bankruptcy and had spent his last six hundred thousand on a red garnet ring with some special privileges that he just couldn’t live without.
Then Delia walked into his life. Well, actually, he walked into hers. He had stumbled into the wrong classroom one morning and ended up sitting next to her. He stayed for the class and noticed how she answered the professors correctly and how the other students often looked to her for answers. She wasn’t especially attractive, not to his standards, but she was good enough. She would be even better with a few enhancements from plastic surgery. In all other respects, she was perfect.
She was shy, easily manipulated, and a genius. She could undoubtedly help him pass his classes and if they were married, she would be too weak to stop him from sleeping with other women. And she would be so grateful for his attention that he doubted she would ever leave him. But she did.
And for a teenager at that.
It was humiliating.
Jason stared at the gun in his hand as he sat behind the wheel of his car drinking scotch straight from the bottle. It was expensive scotch. The best there was. It had to be. He was Jason James. He deserved the best.
He finished the bottle then threw it out the window. He looked at the gun again. He hated that it had come to this, but he had no other choice. He was Jason James. He deserved the best.
Chase came from a long line of police officers. It was in their genes.
As was the ability to look
far
younger than their actually age.
His uncle, Samuel Donovan, was actually the first to take advantage of this natural ability and use it for the force. He became an undercover narcotics officer working in high schools around the country during the late eighties. When he finally started to age somewhat, he moved into being an undercover teacher or administrator. Even then, he would have to die his hair gray or grow a mustache to give the appearance of age.
Both his mother and his grandmother were detectives that focused on cases involving children and teenagers. His grandmother had retired two years ago and though she worked part time as a social worker, her main employment was searching for a new husband. Chase’s mother was still working herself into an early grave out in Colorado somewhere. Chase had just spoken with her a couple of weeks ago about a case she just solved in which a teenage girl shot and killed her father after years of abuse.
Chase’s parents were divorced and his father worked as a police chief in Oklahoma. So, due to his long lineage in law enforcement and the connections it afforded him, he was able to find out about Delia’s heritage relatively quickly.
Chase looked at the caller ID on his cell phone. It was the station. What could they possibly want now? The case was solved, he had done his job and now he deserved his two week vacation. He had earned it.
“Donovan, we need you to come into the station for a meeting with the FBI.”
FBI?
Chase thought. What could the FBI possible want with him? Unless this had to do with the promotion he had been seeking. But now that he had Delia, he wasn’t sure if he still wanted the job. What kind of life could he offer her if he was constantly working undercover? But then again, this was an opportunity he had been working toward for six years. He could almost see the looks of admiration and pride on the faces of his parents. His grandmother would probably throw an elaborate bash. If they offered him a job, he didn’t know if he would be strong enough to turn it down. He also didn’t know if he would be strong enough to live a life without his Delia.