A billion dollar secret

Chapter5

CHAPTER FIVE

Catherine couldn’t believe what she had just discovered however she still couldn’t find her documents, “I guess he doesn’t have them like he said” she said as she walked out of his room and shut the door back as she got back to the living room, she saw some papers in a blue file lying beneath the couch, she rushed to fetched them and it turned out to be the documents she’s been looking for, with no time left to waste she put them in her bag and rushed down to the agent’s office, after reviewing all the paperwork and terms of service, she was taken to the apartment. It was more than half a mile from Victor’s residence, the distance put her mind to rest a bit; it would take some time before he could potentially find her new apartment. After inspection, she headed back to the agent’s office to finalize the agreement, sign all necessary documents and to make payment, afterwards she returned to Victor’s place; luckily he wasn’t back from work. She returned the documents beneath the couch where she found them and put the house back in order leaving little traces of her thorough search behind before Victor would return from work.

Victor returned from work about two hours later, with another gift bag in hand, he walked into the living room and handed it to Catherine who refused to accept it first time as she had done in the past “Okay, what’s in it this time?” Catherine asked “why not take it and check it out yourself” Victor replied “if you’re not going to tell me what’s inside then I’m not taking it, sorry” Catherine said with a slight laugh to break up the tone “alright, I guess I’m going to hold on to it then” Victor replied and walked up to sit with the gift bag in his hand “So, did you find your papers?” Victor asked “No, No I couldn’t find them, I checked everywhere I could” Catherine replied hurriedly, she wasn’t expecting him to ask “did you check under the couch?” Victor asked “the couch?” Catherine responded, doing her best to act surprised, she got up and began looking under the couch, she delayed some seconds before pulling out the file “oh my God, they’ve been here the whole time, how did I not think of checking here?” Catherine exclaimed “Well? It’s always the least suspicious isn’t it?” Victor added “thank you so very much Victor, but how could you have been so precise about its location?” Catherine asked “lucky guess, try to be more careful with how you keep your stuffs next time” Victor replied with a smile before leaving for his bedroom

While he was gone Catherine got up to keep the documents in a safer place this time, then she sat patiently waiting for Victor to return which he did in short time “You said you knew Jeffery Hendricks, did you both have any kind of interpersonal relationship” Catherine asked “About Jeff huh? I’ve known Jeff since we were kids, we grew up in this neighbourhood although he’s a bit older, we were friends until he got sponsored to Business School in Chicago. When he returned two years ago from college, he lived down this street; first house, third turn to the right, that was his crib before he moved out close to a year ago now to that mansion he bought with obviously drug money, because there is no way he could afford a house like that, matter of fact, I helped him pay his rent here in the first month” Victor explained “doesn’t sound like the Jeffery I knew in high school but people change, a lot could happen in two years but did you know any of family members? He’s been arrested and I’m just thinking of ways to help him out you know” Catherine asked “I knew his parents, but they died shortly before he went to college, that’s all” Victor replied “doesn’t he have any siblings? Maybe a brother or anybody who could be of help to him right now” Catherine asked again with more intensity and directness “you don’t understand Catherine, Jeffery betrayed us all, every one of us who helped him, I don’t think anyone would be willing to help him out again. In fact I think you’re asking too many questions, if you’re so concerned then go help him out, he’s over there at police quarters on the other side of town, I’m off to bed I had a really stressful day” Victor added and left the living room immediately before Catherine could ask another question. Victor’s reaction sure drew up suspicion in Catherine’s mind, she wished she could look into the real history between Jeffery and his brother Victor but there was no way she could.

The following day, after Victor left for work Catherine got a cab and moved her things including the flowers she had been grooming to her new apartment, she resigned from the store she was working two days prior to the day she moved, although she didn’t tell Victor about it; she made her plans in silence, played her cards and when the time was right she executed it. She moved to a new location called the Coastal avenue within San Diego, she had the apartment set up already before her arrival, it was a small but colourful place in which she settled in nicely, a place where no one knew her and she knew no one, the exact life she sought after by moving to an entirely new city, she spent her first three days in her newly secured apartment, she barely stepped out or saw sunlight except to take care of her tender flowers who are getting acclimatized to their new location.

Four days later she decided to visit the San Diego Police Quarters to check on Jeffery, she arrived there at midday, after observing the necessary protocol, she approached the counter to ask after him “welcome to San Diego Police Quarters, I am Officer James, who you are and how may we help you ma’am?” Officer James asked “Hi, good day officer, I am Catherine, Catherine Rhodes, I’m here to visit someone, he goes by the name Jeffery” Catherine replied “Jeffery, last name please?” the officer asked “Hendricks, Jeffery Hendricks” Catherine replied “Alright, hold on a second…………………………Jeffery Hendricks, arrested 25th May, 2017, five weeks ago for possession and transport of illegal substances, currently awaiting trial” the officer replied “Yes officer, that’s him” Catherine affirmed “May I know your relationship with him ma’am? Not a single person has shown up for him in over a month” the officer added “Jeff’s my friend from college; he recently helped me move to San Diego from Chicago” Catherine replied “must have taken a lot of courage out of you to come here, I commend your bravery” the officer added, he printed out two slips and handed them to Catherine “take this path, walk straight down, turn to your left, that’s the visiting section, walk into that section and hand over one to the officer and keep one for your personal reference purpose, please note that you have a maximum of twenty minutes and you would be with him at your own risk within that period as no police officer would be within ten yards where you two would be” the officer explained “thank you officer” Catherine added and walked straight down. When she got there, she did exactly as the officer instructed and Jeffery was brought to her, his hands were cuffed but he didn’t look to have suffered any scratch.

“Why? Why didn’t you tell me about it?” Catherine asked “tell you about what? Jeffery asked in return “about the kind of job you do?” Catherine responded “Catherine, no way you believe the rumours” Jeffery replied in disbelief “I don’t know what to believe, so many things you never told me about yourself including you having a brother” Catherine responded “wait a minute, you met Victor?” Jeffery uttered in surprise “Oh you’re surprised to hear that? Well I did meet him, he’s the one who saved me from getting burnt to crisp the night your house was set ablaze” Catherine replied “did you say Victor saved you? He’s the one behind all of this, how did you even meet him? And how did you know we’re related? And for the records he’s not my real brother, he’s my step-brother, our father got married twice and somehow didn’t live with any of our mother, we both grew up with him here in San Diego and taking care of kids wasn’t his strong suit, my little step-brother and I never really got along all our live, and when Dad died, I learnt about my Mum’s death too from her family who decided to send me to business school in Chicago where we met and I guess you know how that went, when I returned Mum’s family said they could no longer take that responsibility, that was when I returned to the neighbourhood where I grew up with my father and step-brother and luckily I was able to get an apartment thanks to my Dad’s life assurance scheme, but a roof over my head was just one thing, I had to put food on my table, I spoke to my little step-brother about it since he’s been in the neighbourhood, then he linked me up with his drug dealing associates, the job was almost risk-free because they have a really strong network within the state and I ran quite a few operations for them and we never really earned much, we were only pawns in the picture. one year later I decided to leave, I found some papers about certain shares my Dad owned in prominent company, when I told my step-brother about it, he said he wasn’t interested in such battle. When I told him I wanted to stop working with his people he turned against me and so did all of them who worked together, with the little knowledge I gained from business school and the help of Dad’s lawyer,, I was able to lay claims on the accrued dividends of the shares since Dad died and I got full payment of $6.5m, that was how when I bought the house you came into” Jeffery explained “Why didn’t you ever tell me any of this? And where were you always going to? Staying out late and sometimes not returning till morning” Catherine asked “I did tell you I worked with an agency that deals with receipt and delivery of good but I didn’t say anything further, that is because it’s a shipping company, the company that was in-charge of your father’s goods being shipped from China, after I claimed the accrued dividends, I wanted to sell off the shares but they insisted I gave them two years of service before I auction the shares which I agreed to, they were going to pay me for my services, while I received the quarterly dividend on the shares and still be able to sell it at an appreciated value two years later, but ever since then Victor and his cohorts have been after me, that night I returned with a cut, it wasn’t any accident, they attacked me on my way back, they’ve been doing everything, then they set my house on fire and planted those hard substances in my car, I can’t explain how they managed to pull that one off now I’m stuck here helpless, defenceless” Jeffery exclaimed