Avenge Thy Brother

Chapter 9: External Flames

            During the week that went by following Evan Murphy's kidnapping, I did some undercover research of Detective Javon Saunders. From what I could find out, he was a decent officer of the law who didn't have even a single infraction on his record. It was the same with Sergeant Maliah Cox. I felt like shit for not trusting them but I still wasn't sure that I should have trusted them. There was a thin line between being suspicious and being paranoid and I was afraid of crossing that line. Cox and Saunders were pushing me further and further to that line, and I couldn't even begin to explain why that was.

After finding nothing suspicious in their records, I put my full focus back into the case. We'd been closely watching the five CEOs during that same weeklong period but they weren't leading us to anything. The key to finding out some important information about their organization was Samir Whitlock. I had to know if he was in on it or not. The only way I could get to the truth was to push him.

"Do you have any new leads?" he asked me the moment I entered his office and closed the door. "I heard about Randall Williams being found tortured in a white supremacist's house? What in the hell is going on?"

"Mr. Whitlock," I said while staring into his eyes. "I need to know information about Kings in the Making."

His demeanor changed a little as he asked, "You're the ones behind the audit, aren't you? Why are you auditing my non-profit organization?"

"I can't disclose that information but what I can tell you is that I need you to be honest with me. Do you have anything to do with your son's disappearance?"

"You're out of your mind."

"No, that's not the case, sir. Look, my partner isn't here. Whatever you say to me does not have to go on the record. But I need you to level with me, here. This is serious. Your son is in grave danger and I need to rule out every single possibility."

"Get out of my office!"

"Goddamn it! Your son is being injected with a highly corrosive chemical compound right now as we speak! Your only child! You look me in my damn eye and you tell me neither you nor anyone you're involved with is behind all of this!"

"Where is this coming from? What does Kings in the Making have to do with my son being kidnapped?"

"You tell me."

He slammed his hands down on his desk hard as tears filled his eyes. With his chest heaving up and down out of frustration and hurt, he told me with a voice that was barely there, "I don't know where my son is and I don't know what's going on. I swear I'd give away everything I own if it meant Kemari could come home where I can protect him. Can you arrange that? Can you get the word out that I'll offer everything in my bank accounts and investments to bring my son home?"

It was in that moment that I realized he truly wasn't in on it. I needed to know the truth and I'd received it. Sadly, it had to come at the expense of causing a grieving father more pain. I offered him an apology and after assuring him that I was doing everything I could to find his son, I left his office. While taking the elevator back down to the ground floor, I thought about something. Wesley Gilmore told me about the five CEOs but maybe he assumed the fifth person was actually a CEO like the others. The fifth person could have actually been the woman Dr. Nathan referred to as the mastermind. Either way, I knew in my gut that Samir Whitlock was only the founder and leader of Kings in the Making. His board of directors were serving at the pleasure of the mastermind; albeit, unbeknownst to Samir.

"I can't believe you pushed him," Karen said to me as we headed towards the church where Michael Travers's funeral service was being held. "What were you thinking?"