Chapter 42: Busted
Isla stopped backpedaling, confusion over the words she had just heard overshadowing her earlier fear of Julie’s menacing approach. “Wait. What?” she asked, lost as to what Julie was harping on about. She had no idea the woman was still in Dallas. Not that she had cared to know.
“I have been such a fool,” she snarled. “I always thought of you as sweet, naive and innocent. Isla; the girl who would not hurt a fly." She barked out a laugh devoid of humor. “But here you have been, playing the board like a chess master.”
“Julie,” Isla said, trying to calm her down. “I promise you I do not know what it is you are talking about. Why don’t you…”
Julie brushed past her mid-sentence, striding into her condo and glancing around wildly, as though she was searching for something. She spun, facing Isla again. “Hats off to you, girl,” she spat. “You have done such a good job of convincing everybody, including me, that you have no interest in your father’s company, but you have been picking off all possible barriers in your way, one after the other. I underestimated you, Isla. It won’t happen again.”
Isla was starting to lose her patience. She had had a first succession of good days after several shitty ones, and didn’t need the drama only Julie could supply. “You have two options, Julie,” she stated coldly, impatience dripping from every word. “You can tell me what the hell this is all about right now, or you can get the hell out of my condo, and back to whatever five-star hotel you crawled out from.” Julie was furious, her face red and her eyes bulging. “Speak or get out,” Isla warned again. “Do not make me call the cops on you.”
Eyes widening almost maniacally, Julie laughed loudly. “That is your thing, isn’t it?” she asked, venom in her tone. “Conniving with the police to make my life a living hell? You are the reason my Richard is going to jail for drugs, you bitch!” she screamed.
“Now hold on a damn minute…” Isla started to speak, but Julie cut her off.
“Where is that agent boyfriend of yours? Where the hell is he?” Julie’s voice was shrill and she whirled around again like a mad woman, searching for a glimpse of the man she had just found out was responsible for her son facing decades in prison.
Isla’s mind raced, one word forcing itself to the front. Agent? No, no. George was a Detective in Atlanta PD, not an agent. There must have been a miscommunication somewhere. She tried to calmly reason with her stepmother. “Julie, I swear to you I had nothing to do with Richard’s arrest. You have to believe me,” she implored. “I didn’t even know he was into drugs. And how could I? I haven’t been a part of your lives in years. I heard the news of his arrest as a suspect over the bloody television like everyone else, for Christ’s sake!”
“Oh yeah?” Julie responded sarcastically, her face twisted into the ugliest sneer. “Explain to me then how you so happen to be bed buddies with the same man who busted Richard’s operations, and put him there. Explain away, your highness!”
Isla could smell the cookies burning, but her mind was on a trip and she was immobilized. Had George lied to her AGAIN? He was the one who busted Richard? Worse still, was he with her just so he could gain access to her family? As Isla’s mind raced, she felt hands grip her shoulders, shaking violently and jolting her back to the present.
“Listen to me, little girl,” Julie snarled, face mere inches from hers. “You better pray my efforts to get Richard out of prison pay off. If they don’t, I will come after you and your boyfriend. I will use every resource at my disposal to make your lives so miserable, you will wish you were dead.” Her whispered threat sent shivers down Isla’s spine. She looked into her eyes, and saw a woman who meant every word she said. A dangerous woman.
Julie spun on her heel and stormed out of the apartment, the staccato of her stilettos on the tiled floor aggravating the mild panic attack Isla was having. As she walked shakily to shut the door, she saw Officer Ferdinand casually walking down the hallway, glancing in her direction just as she was about to shut the door.
"You alright, Miss?" He inquired, throwing a suspicious glance towards Julie's figure that had just receded into the elevator.
"I am fine," she lied, hardly in the right frame of mind to have him hovering over her in concern. She shut the door a second later, and slid down the surface to sit on the floor, Julie's words echoing in her head. She waited for George to get home.
***
George drove the rental, dissatisfied with the meeting he had just had. Getting information about the suited attackers was proving to be more difficult than he had hoped. The Cedar Hill City PD Chief had practically forced him to go home. “You are still popping pain meds, and your face is still in multi-color,” he had admonished authoritatively. “Go rest. We will call you when we have got something.”
He desperately wanted to get his own guys involved in this, but the Chief had begged him to let him handle it. “These bastards carried out this attack in my jurisdiction. It is my responsibility.”
The officers outside Isla’s windows waved back at him when he drove past them, and into the building’s parking lot. He parked the car and relaxed against the seat, trying to get his emotions under check and compose himself. Going in there his grumpy self would do neither of them any good. He pulled a smile, anticipating the show-stopping one that awaited him.
He unlocked the door, stepping into the condo and shutting the door behind him, locking it. “Hey, Isla,” he called cheerfully. “Come kiss me welcome.”
He strode into the kitchen and froze when he saw her. She sat on one of the high stools, arms folded over her chest and back straight. She was staring blankly at a spot on the counter, and George felt sweaty with nerves. This kind of expression from Isla... something was up. Something that had to do with him. Was he busted?
“Babe, what’s wrong?”
She slowly lifted bloodshot eyes to his. “We are going to have a conversation, George,” she said measuredly. “And this time, you are going to say the truth. The whole truth.”
And at that moment, looking into her eyes, George knew that he was busted.