Dishonoring Jack

Chapter Forty One

Jack's voice rung through the house, and Jack saw Anita and Christina emerge at the top of the stairs, their eyes wide.

"Oliver Walker, I know you're here!" Jack yelled again, standing at the foot of the stairs so her voice would echo through the house to the second story and to his office. "If you don't show your face, I'll tell everyone what I just found."

"Aunt Jack, what's going on?" Christina called, but Anita hushed her with a hand to her arm.

The two women's green eyes were wide as they watched Jack and she knew she must look like a maniac with the wicked smile on her face, but she didn't care. She had it--her final piece of proof--and nothing would stop her.

Jack's taunt finally lured Oliver from his den. He materialized at the door of his office, his paunchy face pale and eyes bloodshot. He sagged on his cane when he saw her. "What do you want, Jacqueline? There's nothing more to be done. The decision has been made."

"Well, then you must un-make it!" Jack declared, approaching him. "I have the proof I need to prove Max Slate is bribing you."

Oliver's face instantly blushed a bright crimson, and he took a small step back. "You're bluffing," he cried, spit forming at the corner of his mouth. "That's preposterous. Impossible!"

Jack retrieved the postcard from her apron and brandished it before him. "It's not impossible because I hold my evidence right here, and I'm ready to reveal all of the sordid details of the bribery to the entire town if you don't do what I say."

"Jacqueline, is that really necessary?" Anita asked, gliding down the stairs.

Her face was as pale as her husband's, and the wrinkles around his eyes showed the weight of her years. Though Anita had shown more backbone in the past few weeks than Jack thought possible, she was still a worldly woman who was watching her family's empire on the verge of collapse.

"Donovan will die in--" Jack stopped to glance at the grandfather clock in the stairwell. "Thirteen minutes, and you're the only one who can change that, my dear mayor."

Oliver set his hands on his hips, lips pursed. "Well, then, let's get this over with. Show me your so-called proof." Jack held out the postcard for his examination, and Oliver guffawed. "Why, Jacqueline, this is a blank letter!"

She couldn't resist a grin. "A blank letter from the Attorney General. But let's see what it really says, shall we?" Jack pulled out the match and struck it against the Walkers' fine paneled walls, ignoring Anita's gasp. A flame appeared and Jack held it an inch below the postcard, smiling triumphantly as the words appeared.

"Care to read it?" Jack asked, showing it to her sister while keeping a firm grip on the card. She couldn't afford for Oliver to destroy her one and only piece of evidence.

Anita slowly read the postcard's hidden message aloud, her lips quivering, and Jack studied Oliver's face. At first, it turned a deathly shade of white as he realized the import of the note. When Anita stopped reading, Jack took the note again and hid it in the folds of her apron.

Oliver was silent as he stared at the floor. With that one postcard, Jack realized his dreams of prominence in the state government were dashed. After agreeing to bribery, they would never promote him to a better position. Jack had placed him in an untenable position. If he continued with Max's plan, Jack would expose him and he would risk the destruction of his entire mayoral campaign. But if he freed Donovan, Max would turn on him and his very life would be put at risk.

"Wh-what do I do?" he stuttered, looking with wide eyes from his wife to his sister-in-law.

"The right thing," Jack said, hope soaring in her chest. "You tell the crowd gathered outside that evidence has come to light that vindicates Donovan and clears him of all charges. Then you tell Max that you'll arrest him if he doesn't leave town immediately. And you return the deed to the land to its rightful owner, Donovan. "