Black and White Truth (The Syndicate-Born Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  Today had been her funeral. The two years left on his house arrest sentence meant he couldn’t attend—couldn’t give his final respects. The crew that had filmed the ceremony this afternoon emailed him the file into his Dropbox, but work had prevented him from looking at it until now. Now, though he had the time, he couldn’t muster the courage to open it.

  From his mansion on the hill, he could pretend she was still down there living a full and happy life. When her security team—the one he’d hired over seventeen years ago to watch over her— sent him their final invoice that morning, her death had finally become real.

  ***

  Coat ‘n’ Thai Restaurant

  Richmond, Virginia

  June 15, 2025

  11:00 PM

  ~~~

  Chris’s heart hammered in his chest as he thought about being with his ex-wife again after so many years apart. After losing his mother and reuniting with his ex-wife, all in the span of two days, he felt as if he were on an out-of-control rollercoaster. As disorienting as the week had been, he was certain about one thing: he wanted to kiss his former bride again and again and again.

  Her cheeks flushed and her eyes held a flirtatious twinkle. When his foot accidentally brushed against hers under the table, her hooded eyes rose to meet his, and she smiled.

  He melted when she bit her bottom lip and looked away. He knew that look! A rush of confidence shot through him as he signaled for the check and settled the bill in record time.

  “Take me home, Chris.” Ellie looked up at him through her downturned lashes.

  His stomach flip-flopped in anticipation. Emboldened by her request, he reached for her hand as they stepped out of the restaurant and into the cool, summer night air.

  He tugged her by the arm down an alleyway—a shortcut—toward the funeral home where his car was parked.

  His patience ran out about halfway to the car and he pivoted on his heel to face her. Sandwiching her between himself and the cool brick of the building, his breaths became shallow.

  She trembled. Her chin tipped up and she parted her lips for him.

  When he kissed her, she moaned into his open mouth—driving him crazy. He held both her wrists up above her as his body molded to hers, until at last, breathless, he broke the kiss. “Hey.”

  “Hey yourself.” Her saucy tone was nearly his undoing.

  “I remember this.” He rested his forehead against hers and nuzzled their noses together. Touching her was like coming home. “Ellie....” There was so much he wanted to tell her, to do to her.

  “Take me home,” she said.

  He took her by the hand and walked with purpose down the street to their cars. They laughed a little when discovering they were parked beside each other.

  Kismet.

  The universe seemed to be conspiring to bring them back together, and who were they to argue with the universe?

  ***

  Richmond Police Department, First Precinct

  Richmond, Virginia

  June 15, 2025

  11:00 PM

  ~~~

  Marianna rubbed her sore eyes. She had read and reread the notes from the officer on scene at least a dozen times. Each time she came away with more questions than answers, but a hunch formed in her mind.

  What happened to everyone else involved in The Syndicate trial? Was this murder related to Timothy Mitchel’s part in The Syndicate, or was it merely a coincidence that he was robbed and shot in the head the night before his daughter’s funeral?

  She opened up a fresh page to start taking notes on the whereabouts of the key figures in the seventeen-year-old trial, and settled in at her desk with a cup of coffee, prepared to work all night.

  ***

  Manny Richards’s Brownstone

  Alexandria, Virginia

  June 15, 2025

  11:30 PM

  ~~~

  Manny sat in his worn La-Z-Boy watching the evening news. As he prepared to shut it off, a report caught his eye—a murder in the Slip. Nothing out of the ordinary, but he watched it anyway.

  His former job as Section Chief of the FBI still haunted him when he watched the news. Six months out of the Bureau, and still he analyzed news stories on murders, kidnappings, and organized crimes. This time, the beautiful woman on the screen caught his attention. He knew her—a detective with the first precinct in Richmond—but couldn’t remember exactly how he knew her, or her name.

  As the camera panned the crime scene, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. The footage triggered something inside him.

  Why are the garbage cans lined up like that? No, no... I’m done with all that.

  He let out a loud sigh and shut off the screen.

  Maybe I’ll remember in the morning. Maybe I’m just tired.

  He climbed the stairs to his bedroom and crawled into bed next to his wife. Her warm body relaxed him and he forgot all about the report, falling fast asleep.

  Chapter 2

  MDNA Headquarters

  Unknown Location

  June 16, 2025

  12:00 AM

  ~~~

  “Ash, are you done yet with that algorithm?” Sally took a sip of her hot coffee even though it tasted like motor oil from her brother’s shop.

  Ash shrugged, not taking his eyes off the computer screen. “The packet’s almost finished.”

  “How much longer is it gonna take? We need to act sooner rather than later.” She nibbled on her thumbnail—tired of waiting.

  Ash spun in his chair to face her. “It’ll be done when it’s done.” He pushed off his knees and stalked out of the room—mumbling on his way out, “I’m going out for some air.”

  “What’s his problem?” Sally turned to Jude, her friend of nearly twenty-five years.

  His eyes widened as he kicked his feet up onto the console and drank scotch straight from the bottle. “That’s wonderful, doll. Piss off the new kid. He was like... what... two, when all this Syndicate shit went down?”

  Sally slumped in her chair and started to chew the nail on her index finger. “I’ve been working on this—”

  “You... honey, you are not an island.” Her old friend teetered on his chair and tossed his empty into the recycle bin. “Everything here is group effort and don’t you forget it.”

  Sally hated when he got up on his high horse, often because he tended to have a point. “All right, I’ll be nicer to the kid.”

  Jude dropped his feet to the floor and scooted his chair over to her. “I know how important this is to you, but we all got skin in this game. You and me, we been fighting this fight a long time, but these kids have every right to be here and get credit for their part. It’s all our war now. And it’s gonna get a whole lot more dangerous once you get this little Ruberg plan of yours going.”

  Sally’s heart fluttered in anticipation, or fear—she wasn’t quite sure. Either way, the changing wind meant there was reason to hope, something she never had the luxury to do before.

  “Don’t worry, spy girl, all your hard work will pay off and we’ll finally be free. Maybe do something other than ratting out the world to the cops and the FBI.”

  The FBI....

  Sally’s chest tightened. “Alex....”

  Jude’s smug smile fell.

  She glanced away from him. “It’s been seventeen years since he died.”

  Jude rested his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close. “It’s a good plan, Sal. It is. He’d be proud of you... for not giving up. And Billy ain’t gonna be around long, not since the leak. So you’ll be freer than you’ve ever been. We should be celebrating.”

  “If anything goes wrong.... What if my luck runs out? What will happen to—”

  “I got you covered, doll.” Jude kissed the top of her head. “Don’t you worry. I’ll be there like I always been.”

  Sally rested into his embrace and let his comforting words act as a balm to her frayed nerves. Everything seemed to be falling into place way too easily. Surel
y something would go wrong. Her plan needed just one more thing to work, and it would be the hardest to come by. Soon, the ball would drop down the shoot, triggering all the pieces of the game she had carefully put in place.

  That was if everything went as planned.

  ***

  Church Hill Neighborhood

  Richmond, Virginia

  June 16, 2025

  3:00 AM

  ~~~

  Ellie tiptoed through the back door with her shoes in hand. She didn’t want to wake Jason or explain to him why she was strolling into the house at 3 AM... in her clothes from the day before.

  She nearly jumped out of her skin when a voice called out in the darkened kitchen.

  “Jane, you ignorant slut.”

  Jason!

  He had perfected his Dan Aykroyd impression years ago after watching old SNL skits with Ellie and Katherine, leaving them more times than not in stitches. Tonight, however, he was not funny.

  Ellie pitched her shoes one at a time in the direction of his voice, and was rewarded by a yelp when one of them connected.

  The pungent smell in the room overcame her as she closed the back door. “Oh my God! What’s that smell?”

  “Puke.”

  The belch that followed his matter-of-fact pronouncement made her gag.

  “Oh God!” She flipped on the light switch, making them both squint.

  “Ah, jeez, why didja have to do that?” Jason sat splayed out on one of the oversized kitchen chairs with a mostly empty bottle of scotch on the table.

  She sighed as she walked over to him, and started tugging off his soiled clothes.

  A total and utter mess, he grumbled, mildly protesting her efforts to clean him up.

  The smell was so pungent she held her breath to suppress the urge to throw up. She tossed the wadded up the shirt, jacket, and pants into the washer and turned it on. The smell lingered but lost its intensity.

  “How long have you been sitting here like this?” She tossed in a little extra soap and started the cycle. The comforting whirring sound of the machine filled the room even after she slid the glass door closed.

  He shrugged and reached for the bottle to drink more.

  “Oh no, you don’t.” She snatched it and dumped its remaining contents in the sink.

  “Hey!” His body went slack and his sunken eyes drooped. He didn’t even try to get up and stop her.

  The bottle made a satisfying clink when she tossed it in the recycle bin, but the sound startled her—she hadn’t noticed before how many empties were in there. She hopped up onto a clean spot on the kitchen counter and leaned back against the cabinets. This house would always be home to her, even though she hadn’t lived in it for almost fifteen years.

  “You weren’t at the funeral,” she said.

  He looked up from the table and met her eyes. “And you just rolled in at 3 AM wearing the same dress you wore to the funeral.” He shrugged off her glare and hiccupped. “Sss-orry, I thought we we-ere playing state the obvious game.”

  She jumped down from the counter and poured them both steaming hot mugs of his favorite tea, from his instapot tea maker, and brought them over to the kitchen table. The house was quiet except for the soft whirring of the washing machine.

  He flipped on the Atlantis digital computer he kept on the kitchen table beside him. It projected an illuminated keyboard on the table and a twenty-inch screen above it at his eye level.

  Ellie sat down beside him in front of the screen.

  He sipped his tea and finger-flicked through a bunch of vid files. He clicked on a file labeled security072408.vid and pressed pause. “Katherine sent me a bunch of files and videos a week ago to help me write the true crime book about The Syndicate,” Jason said.

  He pressed play. The screen lit up with security footage of Katherine and Alex, with a timestamp of seventeen years ago—almost to the day.

  “The safe house they stayed at when she was in hiding had 24-hour security footage that was saved on the user’s cloud. After Alex died, the woman who owned the condo gave her some of the files to keep, to remember him or whatever.”

  Ellie’s eyes welled up with tears. She never saw what they were like together. Seeing them now, in such an intimate way, tugged at a spot in her heart, a spot she thought long dead. Yesterday had been a difficult and emotional day—heck, it technically hadn’t ended yet since she was still awake—and the video threatened to send her over the edge.

  Jason skipped through the files he had obviously watched multiple times, and took a sip of the hot tea before continuing. “Here he proposes to her.”

  Ellie’s gaze stayed glued to the screen. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks, but she didn’t bother to wipe them away.

  Suddenly the video changed and Jason turned on the volume for the built-in speakers above them. Katherine’s image appeared and the young, healthy, vibrant woman who moments before had graced the screen, was now replaced by a sick, older woman—the woman Katherine had become in the months leading up to her death.

  Ellie gasped.

  Katherine’s voice said, “Jason, please don’t turn this off. I know you didn’t want to say goodbye, to have any last words, but there were things that needed to be said. I knew if I wrote you a letter that you would throw it away. So I’m making this video.” Katherine looked away from the screen and to the right, obviously holding back tears that threatened to spill.

  Ellie sat glued to the screen, hugging herself as memories of her friend came flooding back, overwhelming her. The ache of Katherine’s passing joined with the other losses in her battered heart.

  “I’m worried about you. I hope when you see these videos, and read the notes, that you might see what you’re missing out on by keeping everyone around you at arm’s length.” The old woman on the screen grimaced in pain.

  Ellie’s chest tightened and her skin prickled. When she reached for Jason’s hand, she was surprised when he let her hold it.

  “It’s very hard for me to leave in peace knowing that you are alone and hurting. I’m sorrier than you can ever know for all the pain I’ve caused you. I was selfish in wanting you all to myself. I didn’t think about how it might hurt you in the end. I know this may seem trite given what I just said, but I do want you to be happy.” Katherine wiped away a single tear from her pale cheek. “Please look out for Ellie. With the divorce... I worry about her being alone.” A coughing jag caused Katherine to double over. When she caught her breath, she continued. “I’m hoping that you can be there for each other.”

  Jason squeezed Ellie’s hand. With her free hand, she wiped away tears from her cheeks.

  “If you’re still watching this, there’s one more thing. I know I gave you the rights to the book and that we’ve talked about this a million times, but I really wish you would reconsider writing it. These people are so dangerous. I know you know this, but I also know you aren’t going to stop. Please just think about it. Take care, J.”

  The video went black.

  “I saw this right before I left for the funeral,” Jason said. “I got mad and thought drinking would be a better idea. What about you?” He eyed her up and down.

  She took back her hand and buried her face in her open palms. Her phone pinged, alerting her to a new message, and she glanced down at the screen.

  “Did you make it home okay? I’m hoping that I get to see you again tonight.”

  She bit her lip as she read the message and shot off a quick reply.

  “Yes and Yes.”

  Jason’s dissecting gaze made her feel uncomfortable. She cleared her throat and rose to put their empty tea cups in the sink. She wracked her mind for a diversion—anything to get Jason to stop looking at her like that. Then she remembered Katherine’s husband’s request. “Oh, uh, before I forget, Ben wants us to come over for dinner tonight. He has some of Katherine’s things he wants to give us.”

  “You fucked Ben! Sheesh, his wife isn’t dead and gone but a couple of days and you’re alre
ady moving in on the poor bastard!” The fine lines that bracketed Jason’s eyes deepened along with his teasing smile.

  She punched him hard in the shoulder, making him wince and laugh at the same time.

  He glanced up at her and smiled. “Isn’t there something in the Renter’s Bill of Rights about not abusing your tenants?”

  “You start paying your rent on time and we’ll talk.” Ellie patted his shoulder and sighed. “Why don’t you get cleaned up and go to sleep, and be ready to go to Ben’s house tonight around seven.”

  He nodded his assent.

  On her way out of the room, she glanced back at him from over her shoulder. “Shower and shave.”

  Jason laughed. “You sure do demand a lot from a man.”

  Ellie gave him a weary half smile. “You have no idea.”

  ***

  Church Hill Neighborhood

  Richmond, Virginia

  June 16, 2025

  9:30 AM

  ~~~

  Marianna used her key to let herself in through the back door. She was surprised to see Jason at the stove, dressed in clean clothes and freshly shaved. The aroma of fresh brewed coffee and bacon smelled like heaven. She smiled wide and walked over to him. “You’re clean, dressed, shaved and sober!”

  He snaked his arms around her waist, pinning her against the kitchen sink, and she eagerly wrapped her arms around his neck. Their lips met each other halfway.

  He broke away from the kiss slowly. “Hmmm... maybe I should have cleaned up sooner.”

  God, I missed this—him!

  His humor, good nature and intelligence made him a worthwhile endeavor. At least, it’s what she had been telling herself over the past six months as he began to drink more and more.

  He quickly shut off the burner to the stove and kissed her again in earnest. His fingers dug into the back of her head under the tight bun at the base of her neck. He kissed and nipped at her skin.

  She gasped. Even though she needed to get to work, she let him boost her up on top of the counter. She wrapped her legs around him the best she could in the skirt she was wearing.

  Despite her growing affection for him, she kept her feelings to herself because he’d admitted to her once that, even though he was monogamous with her, he wasn’t looking for anything serious. Over the last two monogamous years, she’d kept the openness in their relationship in place because it was what he wanted. The system worked, and she didn’t want to rock the boat, so she kept silent.