PREPARING FOR THE ARRIVAL OF THE PRODIGAL FATHER Part IV (c) 2024 wdlewisSR.
?
“When did you guys get back into the office?” Lonnie was surprised that the trio had sneaked past him. “I was right here at the desk the whole time!”
“We don’t need you right now, Lonnie,” Millie thanked him and waved him back out of the double doors, which he quietly closed.
?“I’m waiting!” Millie had somewhat calmed down, but not by much. “Where are these bottle coming from?”
?“What is the big deal about the bottles, Miss Millie?” Cole asked.
?Sarah started to speak up but thought secondly about doing so.
“What do you know about the bottles, Miss Millie?” Cole ventured again to ask a question.
?“I’m asking the questions here!” Millie snapped. “I need answers and maybe, I’ll let you know what I need you to know.”
?“If I’m the head of your security team, and this poses any kind of threat to you, shouldn’t you let me know something?” Cole asked encouragingly as he walked back and forth across the magnificent office.?
Sarah sat quietly as the office over-towered the three of them and the sun basked them collectively in its warm glow and reflection from the Mississippi River.
?“You don’t have to remind me who you are, Cole,” Millie was still in a biting mood. “I pay you! I know who you are, and I know what I need you to know! Now, talk!”
?“The couple on Shaddy Pebbles!” Sarah quickly jumped in. Whether she was defending Cole or hurting him, it wan’t clear.
?“What about them?” Millie turned to her from the large oak desk, playing with some monogrammed pens on her desk.
“Her husband said that the man-in-charge gave them this when he came by and told them that they could leave without paying the two months’ rent.”
“That makes no sense!” Millie cried. “Why would he do that?”
“It made him look good because their daughter needed to be treated in Texas for some type of childhood illness,” Cole stepped in to keep it from looking like Sarah was defending him.
“Didn’t you tell them that they still owed back rent?” Millie insisted.
“They said that the man, Mr. Randall gave them the bottle as a souvenier.”
“He came by their house?” Millie became upset at how close Randall had been reported to be on the Westbank of New Orleans Parish. To Millie, Randall couldn’t have been more than within a 10-mile radius to the office, or to her own Westbank Condo unit.
“Why am I the only one that seemed surprised that Randall Diamond is running around, alive?” Cole looked into the eyes and faces of both women. “You both knew??
Cole moved across the room quickly with his long legs, taking less than 2 to 2.5 steps to cross the 20 X 25 foot main office. “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME, MILLIE?”
?“YOU DON’T HOLLER AT ME!” Millie shouted back. “I HOLLER AT YOU!”
?“WELL, WHY DIDN’T YOU HOLLER AT ME THAT RANDALL DIAMOND IS STILL ALIVE? OR, THAT AT LEAST HE HAS RISEN FROM THE DEAD?”
?Sarah stood up and walked to the opposite end of the room. “I couldn’t tell you, ?because she swore me to secrecy. I wouldn’t have known where to tell you that our boss’ third husband is lurking around in the shadows without you running back to her to confirm it, and then getting me or you both fired because I didn’t maintain confidentiality. How would I look for keeping secrets?”
?“Maybe, because she was asking you to break the law!” Cole spoke emphatically. “The law does not protect you, nor me, nor her when we tried to hide the fact that a man long thought to be dead, is alive and well, and by the way, we are also harboring his main contact: his son!”
The room suddenly went quiet. There was no sound. None.
“Lonnie?” No answer. “LONNIE?
?The three inside of Millie's office looked toward the double doors.?
“Did he go to lunch?” Cole whispered as he moved closer to the front doors.
“If he did, he has taken two too many lunches by this time,” Sarah said quietly.
?“You guys go over there by the partition,” Cole instructed the women as he put his hand behind his back and palmed his weapon.
Slowly, Cole grabbed and turned the doorknob as he continued to inch closer to the door., “Lonnie?”
?As Cole slowly crouched down to peep into the outer office, slowly too was Lonnie crouching down on the other side of the door to peer eyeball-to-eyeball with Cole.
?
“What?” Lonnie answered mirroring Cole’s whisper. “What are we doing? Sneaking upon each other now?”
?“Man! Quit screwing around!” Cole fussed at Lonnie around the opening of the door.
?“Go back to work, Lonnie,” Millie laughed. “We were just checking on you.”
?I’m cool, thanks, Miss Millie. Cole, I guess.”
?“Now that we have had lunchtime amusement, Sarah attempted to get the conversation back on track. “What are we going to do about Mr. Randall? And where is his son, Sterling staying?”
?“I want to know,” Cole jumped in. “What else have you not told me, Miss Millie?? And why am I the last to know?”
“I decided not to tell you on purpose, Cole,” Millie said. “You’re a very honorable man. You have served several tours of duty in the service. Had I told you what we suspected without sufficient evidence, you would have called the police.”
“That’s right, I would have, and still should…..” Cole slowed down before finishing the sentence. “….not call the police?”
?“Not just yet, Cole,” Millie warned him. “There is a lot more you need to know. One of those things is that Mr. Randall believes that I had something to do with an attempt on his life.”
?“I have to ask, Miss Millie,” Cole sat in a blue straight back velour chair across from Millie. “Did you know?”
?“Right now,” Millie warned. “I will plead the 5th to protect myself, and my company. That means all of you as my employees, as well.”
?“Miss Millie,” Cole warned. “You have to come clean with me! I am still a sworn law enforcement officer.”
?“I understand that Cole, but I also have an obligation to protect the tenants of all of my properties. I have to protect the Hudsons even though they are leaving me with two months of back rent.” Even as she mentioned this recent discovery, Millie could see the dollars draining out of her bank account.
?“Okay,” Cole went over to Millie’s desk to write down some notes. “Do you mind if I sit at your desk?”
?“Go ahead!” Millie approved. “But there is one more thing that we have not confirmed yet, absolutely that is.”
?“That Randall Diamond is dead?” Sarah interjected.
?“Off of the top of my head, we are going to have to check all of our cameras to see if we can identify what Randall looks like today, or if Sterling has been playing double spy for us and his father.” “No! Any footage that may have occurred within the last 30 days has to be destroyed, however possible,” Millie directed.
?“Miss Millie!” Cole said in shock. “You are asking me to destroy evidence, potentially, lawful evidence!”
领英推荐
?
“Call Max at his law office,” Millie advised Cole. “Let him know that you are conducting an investigation for me. I will let him know what we could be facing and how he might work his magic to avoid any problems for any of us. Instead of cameras, I need you to get a fresh set of security folks in each of the properties. At least 10 officers per unit, 24 hours until further notice. No guns!”
?“No Guns?” Sarah said out loud. “Why ‘no guns’?” ?
“I would much rather someone fall off of a balcony, or fall down an elevator shoot,” Millie said with a little sign of sarcasm in her response. “Besides, it’s quieter. Also, it’s less likely that they’ll get up and run around crying that someone pushed them down, or threw them over a little balcony. A bunch of ninnies and weenies!”
?“What about the corporate office here?” Cole asked. “We have to view a history of the cameras here!, for sure”
?“I agree,” Millie said. “Let’s review our cameras here in the building. Let me see before you destroy anything. I am more likely to recognize some type of idiosyncrasy of Randall than you two might.”
?“Okay,” Cole acknowledged. “I will send you notices on your burner phone. Make sure it is fully charged and keep it close to you.”
?“Is this close enough?” Millie asked as she shoved the phone into a specially made inside pocket on her wheelchair.
?“I don’t feel comfortable not having a gun,” Sarah shared.
?“What?” Millie called her out. “What? Your 3-time black belt doesn’t quite serve you well enough?”
?“You knew, Miss Millie?”
?“Girl, don’t play me!”
?“What’s going on?” Lonnie peeped inside. “Shouldn’t I be taking notes or something?”
?“Lonnie?” Millie called to him as he sucked on a straw from a styrofoam cup. “Yes, Miss Millie?”
?“Code:? 7-11!”
“How long?” Lonnie asked.
“Until further notice. All properties!”
?“How come he gets a code?” Sarah whined. “What is my ‘code’?”
“’SarahLamb-Baaaa1,’” Millie said. “That’s yours! Happy?”
?“You just made that up!” Sarah complained.
“How old are you? 2?” Millie was frustrated with Sarah. “You asked for a damned code! I can’t go around remembering every code for everyone. Remember your own code!”
?Cole laughed at the two women. “Are we through here, Miss Millie?”
?“Unless you two have any questions, no? Keep me updated, though.” Millie gave them some final advice. “Don’t do anything unless it is in absolute self-defense. I need to speak with Randall, or Sterling before the police get a hold of them, or us, for that matter.”
?“And whatever you do,” Sarah reminded all. “’Don’t call the police!’”
Sarah and Cole started walking towards Lonnie’s office, Lonnie staggers into Millie’s office with 3 long guns. “Which one do you want under your desk, Miss Millie?”
?“Whaaaaaaat?” Cole responded in absolute surprise, and acted equally in total amazement. “Why is he even licensed?”
?“Mind your own business, ‘Wyatt Earp’! You and Doc Holliday over there!" Lonnie teased the two staff members as he laid the weapons carefully on the floor and began checking them for cleanliness and ammunition. “Cole, before you go, would you mind closing the blinds on the East Side over there? Thanks, my man!”
?Cole and Sarah both watched Lonnie for a few moments as he appeared quite confident in the handling of the weapons on the floor. They then looked at Millie as she rolled her wheelchair in position to receive the weapon that Lonnie had prepared for her.
?“One more question, Miss Millie before we go,” Cole stopped at the double doors to the office. “What about the properties such as our occupied 4 plexes, duplexes and single property homes? How do we protect those tenants from the Diamonds?”
?
Millie barely looked up from Lonnie’s movement with the guns on the floor. “Cole, the nature of our business, as if I need to remind you, is that there are going to be a few homes that we may not be able to press back into commerce. That’s a fact!”
Cole looked at her quizzically. “So you’re saying….,”
“I’m saying, Cole, that there are going to be some casualties. I regret that, but that is the reality of what we do, and who we are, as Sarah is about to experience. Now, you two get out of my office, and find those rare Diamonds before they rob me blind!”
?######### #############################
?
#millieroseevictions
#youcantstayhere
#evictions
#shhhhhh
#deadlysecret
?
Disclaimer: This story is fictional. Any similarity to any person or persons, or events past or present, is strictly coincidental. If you are facing eviction, consult with an attorney.
?