This couldn’t be happening. Janelle couldn’t believe she had been so stupid. And of all people, why did she choose a friend’s house, who conveniently stays up the street from her own house? The first place he looked was here. She hoped that she hadn’t put Anastasia in harm’s way. Ana was the sweetest person that Janelle knew. But Janelle had been a mess, and she was tired. And the thought of getting out of the wet and into the warmth of Ana’s home had been too appealing. Now, the next morning, freshly showerd and sitting in a semi-Indian style position on top of the covers in Ana’s spare bedroom, Janelle tried to make sense of all she knew.
One, her once engaging and loving Jordan had been a different man the last four months, maybe violently different.
Two, Jordan spent a lot of time away and was no longer his normal, loving self.
Three, Derek Gil is dead from Jordan’s gun.
Last night, Jordan had told them that Derek worked for dangerous people and was going to kidnap Janelle and take her to a secret location. Of course, Janelle didn’t believe this. She tried to stop herself from shaking when drinking the water, and she avoided Jordan’s eyes. She had volunteered with Derek for the last year at the shelter, and Derek was kind and always listened to her and the shelter guests. Visions of Derek’s head exploding before her entered her thoughts as Jordan tried to convince her that Derek was the bad guy, not him.
Now, after a night’s sleep, it was still hard to believe. Not her Derek. Her Derek always stood up for her, like when the men at the shelter tried to convince her to give them two sandwiches instead of one. And why would he walk her to her car after each shift if he didn’t care about her wellbeing? They had fast become friends. And Janelle didn’t want to believe that Derek had had an ulterior motive. This didn’t make any sense to her. She thought these things when there was a soft knock on the door, and Ana peaked her head in. “Hey girl, you okay?”
Janelle thought Ana’s smile was genuine as she asked this. “Yes, yes, I’m okay.”
Ana came in and sat beside Janelle. She said, “Are you sure you’re okay, girl? Because although I trust you, your husband works for the government. And he’s well respected. You don’t really think he’s some rogue operative, do you?”
Janelle looked into Anastasia’s eyes and for a split second, she thought maybe he could be.
“Look, I tell you everything’s been real funny the last four or five months, and it’s not good. All I know for sure is I don’t know anything.”
Anastasia gently hugged her friend. “It’s gonna be okay. Jordan is gonna fix everything. And there will be a perfect explanation for what’s going on.”
A vehicle pulled up to the house. They got up and looked out the bedroom window and saw Jordan exiting his Taho with his briefcase in hand. Janelle’s body stiffened when she saw her husband.
“Come on girl,” Ana said. “He’s not going to hurt you here. Let’s go see what he’s got to say.”
They went to the front door to let Jordan in. Janelle allowed Jordan to hug her. He said, “Let’s talk inside, okay?”
Janelle only nodded to this.
“There’s a circus at the house, so we can’t go there. But there are some things I want to show you.”
They sat in the living room. He placed his briefcase on the living room table and opened it. There were two thick manila folders inside. “Your guy’s a henchman for a powerful player in the city. This first folder is everything we have on Anderson Baker, aka Derek Gill. And the other is on his boss, Emmanuel Tatum.”
This didn’t make sense to Janelle. Derek Gill really was Anderson Baker? But what surprised her the most was that Derek-slash-Anderson worked for Emmanual Tatum. And Janelle knew Emmanuel Tatum well. Emmanuel Tatum was Janelle’s godfather.
