Suits & Aces (#3)

49 // Ashes to Ashes

Logan plunged out of the water like a whale attacking his prey, and he could not believe what awaited him above water. Everything he had worked for was up in smoke, his yacht and all the boats in line were roaring with flames.

Above all, he could not believe that he survived blowing up by a second, if he had not reached MJ on time, they would have been grilled to ashes.

MJ came above water, letting out a trembling breath.

“MJ, are you okay?” He asked, swimming towards her.

He tried to hold her, but she pushed him away and attacked him. “Let me go! You nearly killed me! I knew coming here was not a good idea!” She swam past him, towards the boardwalk.

“MJ!” Cameron’s voice was distant as he called for MJ.

Everything was a blur, Logan had no idea when Cameron and Kyle got there, but they probably followed him and MJ there. Logan was starstruck, he could not even bring himself to swim to the shore, Kyle had to get him out.

Everything was gone, it did not matter that he barely survived that blow, but it did not make it any less maddening or painful.

The explosion caught everyone’s attention, as much as he would have rather kept things under wraps, that did not stop the entire emergency department from invading his space, and soon, the place was swarming with journalists and some of his staff, he caught a glimpse of Lola and Natalia in the crowd, even Zunaid.

He did not feel anything, he was unmoving, not even when the paramedics were checking on him.

The journalists were yelling all sorts of questions even he did not have the answers to, until eventually, they gave up.

There was no reason for the firefighters to be there, it was no use, there was nothing left. The entire harbour was in shackles, the only thing that was left unscathed were the storage containers that were a safe distance away from the boardwalk.

The remnants of the fire hit Logan worse than when he watched everything burn.

The police wanted answers, Zoe was unwilling to let this go even though she saw that Logan was in a state. MJ could not provide her with the answers she desperately needed because she had no idea of what happened before the explosion, she left out the part where Logan tackled her into the water.

When Zoe questioned Logan, he made up a story about how there was a gas leak.

“Mr Parker, was there anyone else on the yacht besides you and Miss Billings?”

That was the only question that caught Logan’s attention, and he thought of all possible ways to answer that question without implicating himself. If he told the police that there was a man fixing the gas stove downstairs before the explosion, he would be shooting himself on the foot.

He had to make sure that they never found out about that man.

He shook his head, his eyes shifting to MJ for a millisecond. She was sitting at the back of her SUV, and Cameron and Kyle were doing a great job at protecting her from the journalists and photographers.

“No,” he said without missing a heartbeat. “There was no one else, it was just the two of us.”

“Are you sure about that?” Zoe asked.

“Positive.”

“Okay, I’ll accept that for now. It is late, and I doubt we will find anything at this time. I’ll come back with the forensic team first thing in the morning.”

Logan nodded wordlessly. He feared they would find something, that maybe they would have spotted a body floating above the water, but there was nothing. Maybe those heavy chains and the metal chair had pulled him to the bottom of the ocean, if anybody found him, it would be a long time before that happened.

It was a relief that there were no other people involved, but that was exactly what confused him more, why was this entire place vacant when he arrived? Why was Zunaid not in the yacht, and when exactly did that man get there?

“Detective,”Logan called when she was about to leave. Zoe turned around and looked at him expectantly. Logan nodded towards MJ. “Can you please try to keep her name out of this? I don’t want her to be associated with this, especially with everything going on with her brother.”

Zoe nodded in understanding. “I’ll do that. Goodnight, Logan.”

The police, the EMT, and the firefighters left, followed by the journalists and spectators.

As soon as Zoe was gone, Logan approached Zunaid and the rest of the staff.

“What the hell happened here? Why weren’t any of you on duty? Zunaid?” He demanded, and they all exchanged confused looks.

“Sir…” Zunaid stepped forward. “We all received your email, Sir,” he said.

Logan watched the mirrored expressions on everyone’s faces. “Oh, that email!” He said, feigning remembrance. “Of course. Uhm, you guys should go home and get some rest, we have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”

“Yes, Sir!” They all chorused and left without another word.

And once they were gone, Logan turned to Natalia and Lola in question. “What email are they talking about?” He asked, and the ladies shared a confused look.

“Logan, the email you sent earlier, dismissing all the guys for the rest of the night,” Natalia said, uncertain of herself.

“When was this?”

“At around 19:30.”

Logan started doing the maths in his head. All the workers must have been gone by 8p.m., which gave the perpetrators about 30 minutes to get everything done. There must have been more than one person because all the ships were riddled with explosives, which were activated by the bomb in the yacht.

Who could have done this? Who had the power to do this? He wondered, his eyes landing on MJ. Could she… she was here before him and was halfway towards the boardwalk. What’s to say she did not arrive an hour earlier to put everything in motion? Was she going to the yacht or was she on her way from there? Why did she ask him to meet her here?

“No,” he breathed, shaking his head.

“Logan, did you say something?” Lola asked, looking at him worriedly.

He shook his head, regaining his composure. “No, uhm… forget we even had this conversation. We will talk about everything at the office when I drop by tomorrow.”

“Are you sure?” Natalia insisted.

“Yes, Natalia. Don’t worry about me, just go home.” He did not give them a chance to riddle him with any more questions, he strode back to his car and retrieved his phone from the driver’s seat, and reread the SMS from MJ.

Just then, Kyle and Cameron came over. Ah, so now they were done with the damsel in distress and they now cared about the poor guy who lost everything in that explosion.

“Hey, bro. How are you feeling?” Cameron asked.

“As you can see, I’m alive,” He said curtly.

Kyle looked around, taking in the entire scene. “Man, I can’t believe it’s all gone. We were just here a few hours ago,” he said.

Logan was not interested in their pity party. “How did you two get here? What were you doing here in the first place?” Kyle and Cameron looked at each other, and Logan narrowed his eyes at them. “Well?” He demanded.

“We decided to follow MJ when she told us she was going to meet you,” Cameron blurted.

“You two came together?” He zeroed his eyes on Kyle. “Why does it seem like you are everywhere?”

Kyle shrugged. “It is not my fault you have all suddenly decided to get involved in my life,” he bit off.

That shut Logan up for a second before he thought of the next question. “At what time did MJ leave the house?”

“At about 19:40,” Kyle said, watching Logan carefully.

“And did you guys arrive at the same time?”

“Logan, what’s with all these questions?” Cameron gritted, catching on to his grail. “We left five minutes after her, and we stopped at a restaurant on the way because Kyle was hungry. We got here just as the explosion went off.”

He did not want to believe that she was responsible for this, but everything was pointing to her. Why would she do this? Did she perhaps find out about Jorge’s shooting?

What if she planned on leaving him to burn to death on the yacht, but then again, why didn’t she leave when she had the chance? Was this some sort of a trick to remove herself from the suspect list.

She finally got out from the back of her car and threw off the shawl she had covering her body. “I’m leaving,” she said with finality, not even bothering to look their way.

Logan was not about to let her go. “MJ!” He roared, lunging for her, and Cameron and Kyle were on his trail. “You did this! You got here early so that you could riddle my ships with explosives!” He pushed her against the car, but the guys pulled him off her.

“What the hell are you talking about, Logan?” She bellowed.

“Why the hell did you call me here, huh? Did you want to be the last face I saw before you killed me?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about! You are one to talk, if I had stayed at home, none of this would have happened! I wouldn’t have been on that stupid yacht when it blew up. What the hell were you hoping to achieve when you asked me to meet you here, huh?” She demanded, her eyes hot with fury.

Logan frowned, shaking his head in confusion. “What?” He asked. “I didn’t ask you to meet me here, you did.”

MJ snickered. “Are you crazy? And why the hell would I possibly want to see you?”

Her words were as sharp as a heart attack. “But…” He did not understand what was going on anymore, and when he thought things could not get any worse, they did.

“Guys,” Kyle spoke, apprehension in his voice. “I think you were set up. Someone wanted you guys here, together, at the same time.”