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Chapter 587  Murder

"Yeah, it\'s Bryan. Are you busy? Can we talk?" Bryan asked, and Lucy raised a brow.

"Is everything alright?" She asked with a frown.

"I don\'t know. I saw the text you sent to Sonia, and she told me about the pregnancy. Can we talk?" Bryan asked hopefully.

"Over the phone? I\'m not coming to the house tonight," Lucy explained.

"I\'d prefer we meet instead. Tell me where to meet you, and I will come over," Bryan suggested, and hearing the worry in his voice, Lucy sighed inwardly.

All she wanted was to go into her apartment and have the night to herself, but she could hardly turn down Bryan\'s request. Not when she knew that Sonia\'s well-being was involved.

"Alright. You can meet me at my apartment," Lucy offered before hanging up.

"Is everything okay?" Harry asked, and she nodded.

"Yeah. Bryan wants us to talk," Lucy said with a shrug.

"Do you both get along really well?" Harry asked, and Lucy smiled wryly.

"I\'m not sure. I have a problem with getting close to people…."

"You didn\'t seem to have that problem with me," Harry said, and Lucy grinned.

"I wonder why I feel relaxed and comfortable around you," Lucy said, and Harry raised a cocky brow.

"C\'mon! How can you wonder that? It\'s me," Harry said, and Lucy giggled.

"You weren\'t so relaxed initially, though," he pointed out.

"How could I be relaxed when you kept picking on me?" Lucy asked, and Harry chuckled.

"You should hold Tom responsible for that. How was dinner with the old man last night?" Harry asked when he remembered he had failed to ask Tom about it.

Lucy shrugged, "It was sort of awkward."

Harry expected nothing less. A gathering of the Hanks was bound to make any normal person around them feel awkward or out of place.

"I know the Hank family can be a handful. Sometimes they just don\'t know when to stop. And what\'s worse is that whatever annoying things they do, they do it with the best intentions…."

"I wonder how you ended up falling for one if you know all this. I wish someone had warned me beforehand," Lucy muttered, and Harry chuckled.

"I don\'t think it would have made any difference. As controlling as they can be, they are amazing. You just have to know when and to draw the line so they don\'t cross it. They may be annoyingly controlling, but they do listen when you make your stance known. I\'m sure you\'ve noticed that in Tom. In the same way you were clearheaded in handling the issue between my dad and me without letting Tom and Jade do as they pleased, you should handle your relationship with Tom and the Hank family that way too. Speak out when you\'re not comfortable with something, and demand to be treated better if you think you\'re not being treated right. I know I\'m rambling. I don\'t know why. I guess what I\'m trying to say is that you shouldn\'t just let Tom make decisions or do whatever he likes. Be actively involved in your relationship if you want it to work," Harry said, and Lucy smiled.

"I get what you mean. Thanks," Lucy said as Harry pulled the car to a stop in front of her apartment.

"Be good, Lulu," Harry called after her as she unfastened her seatbelt and opened the door.

"You too. Give my love to Aaron," Lucy said as she got out of the car and waved at him.

As Harry pulled out of the driveway, he dialled Barry\'s line, wanting to get that phone call out of the way before he got to the house since he wanted to spend uninterrupted time with his family.

His family, Harry thought with a grin as he connected his phone to the car\'s Bluetooth device.

"Hey! It\'s good you called. I was trying to reach Tom, but his line isn\'t connecting," Barry said immediately after he received the call.

"He is on his way out of the country to handle some business. You can talk to me. That\'s why I called."

"Well, it has been a really busy day for my boys and me. That woman Rebekah Miller is cold! You won\'t believe she attempted to murder her lover and frame her son-in-law for it," Barry said, and immediately Harry pulled the car over by the roadside.

"She did what?"

"You heard me. She tried to frame her other son-in-law for the murder of the son-in-law she was screwing," Barry explained.

"Do you have any evidence?" Harry asked, and Barry grinned.

"Plenty. You have no idea the length I went to get this done, so you\'re going to have to really pay a lot. I\'m not talking about just me. I had to involve other people in this...."

"Can you tell me exactly what happened and what you did?" Harry asked, wanting to slow down Barry, who was speaking in an excited rush.

"Sure."

Harry listened patiently as Barry told him all that had transpired that day and what he had done, and by the time Barry was done, Harry was grinning.

There was no way Rebekah Miller wasn\'t going to pay for her crimes this time, and it was going to be thrilling.

"You did well. And just because I hate that woman\'s guts, I\'m going to double whatever Tom pays you," Harry promised before hanging up.

Away from there, at the hospital, Bernice and Tiffany had progressed from mild worry to full-blown worry when they still couldn\'t reach either Jack or Adam after a couple of hours.

Tiffany had called Benny\'s housekeeper, and she had informed her that Adam had not returned to the house since he left that morning. Tiffany had also called her housekeepers, and they told her Jack wasn\'t home yet.

"Something is wrong, Benny. I can feel it," Tiffany said as she started to pace across the room.

"Maybe you should call the police?" Bernice suggested.

"And tell them what? That I\'m worried because my husband went out to meet with my brother-in-law, and I\'m unable to reach either of them?" Tiffany asked, and Bernice sighed as she adjusted on the bed.

They both looked up when the door opened, and their mother walked in. Her worries forgotten, Tiffany faced Rebekah with a scowl, "What are you doing here?"

"Seeing how you are still here, I take it you don\'t know your husband has been arrested for the murder of Adam," Rebekah said, throwing both her daughters off.

"What are you talking about?"

"Adam is dead?" Tiffany and Bernice asked in unison.

"I have no idea what transpired between them, but the news is everywhere. I rushed over the moment I saw the news," Rebekah said flatly as she looked at them both and took in their stunned expressions.

"It\'s not true. That doesn\'t make sense. Adam can\'t be dead. Jack wouldn\'t do something like that," Tiffany said as she quickly picked up her phone to check for the news on the internet and just as Rebekah had said, it was boldly written all over the place.

JACKSON BATEMAN, SOLE HEIR TO BATEMAN CORP, MURDERS ADAM WASHINGTON JUNIOR, THE ONLY SON OF THE CHIEF JUSTICE.

"What\'s wrong, Tiff? Is it true?" Bernice asked apprehensively as she watched Tiffany go pale.

Tiffany staggered in disbelief as she looked at the pictures of Jackson in cuffs as he was escorted into the police vehicle, and she collapsed on the couch because her knees were too weak to hold her.

Seeing Tiffany\'s reaction, Bernice could tell that it was true, so she raised a hand to her lips, "Oh, my God!"

The Washington family law firm was responsible for handling the legal matters of the Bateman family. Who was going to represent Jackson and prove his innocence if the person he was accused of murdering was Adam Washington, the only son of the chief judge? Tiffany mused.

"Jack is innocent," Tiffany whispered after a moment of stunned silence as she raised her head to meet Bernice\'s equally dazed gaze.

"Don\'t be so sure, darling. You weren\'t there," Rebekah pointed out.

"Neither were you. Or were you?" Bernice asked, and Rebekah looked at her with disapproval while Tiffany busied herself by looking at the news.

"What do you mean by that?" Rebekah asked, annoyed by Bernice\'s attitude.

"You tell me! As much as we know, Adam was with you before Jack went to him," Bernice said matter-of-factly, and Rebekah tried to hide her surprise at the fact that they knew Adam had been to her house.

Rebekah took a deep breath, "Don\'t be ridiculous. I\'m not here to fight with you girls, alright? I\'m here to render my support. Your husband is dead, and Tiffany\'s is going to jail. I know things have not been so good between us lately, but we should be able to put it behind us in these trying times. I believe we can all work things out, can\'t we? I mean, if Tiffany here can forgive you for having an affair with her husband, then you can as well be more understanding of my situation. It wasn\'t like I was having an affair with your husband. Out of the goodness of my heart as your mother, I let you marry my lover...."

"You disgust me!" Bernice spat out as she removed the cannula from her hand and began to rise from the bed.

"What are you doing?" Rebekah asked, watching her.

Tiffany\'s gaze moved to Bernice, "Benny...."

"We need to leave. I need to go home to my kids. I can\'t leave them alone, not with this news. And you need to go to Jack to find out what happened and how you can help. I know you will be too worried to leave me here," Bernice said as she picked up the bag of clothes Tiffany had brought earlier.

"Listen, before you go, we should get something straight. Jack and Adam did not get into a fight because you had an affair with Jack, okay? We can\'t let that get out. Else they\'re going to make you an accomplice, and you know how brutal Adam\'s family can be. The reason they fought was that Jack got to know that Adam beats you up, and they had a fight over it. That\'s the only way to make you the victim here, and Maybe Tiffany can convince Jackson to...."

"Can you stop?!" Tiffany yelled.

"This is my husband you are talking about! Why do you think it is okay to come here and say such things? We have no idea what happened between them, so why do you think it is fine to assume Jack is guilty?" Tiffany asked hotly.

"I\'m trying to look out for the both of you...."

"Don\'t! No one asked for your help. Shouldn\'t you be at home mourning your late lover? Why did you come here where you are not needed?" Tiffany asked angrily.

"Let\'s leave, Tiffany. We can stop by the doctor\'s office on our way out," Bernice said after she had changed into new clothes.

"You are both allowing your emotions to cloud your sense of judgement. Can you just think for a moment? Why are you worried about Jack, who doesn\'t care about you or respect you? Adam treated you poorly, and he deserved...."

"He deserved what? To die?" Bernice asked before Rebekah could finish.

"Think of it this way, with Adam dead, you don\'t have to worry about being divorced. You become his wealthy widow who inherits all he owns, and you\'re free to do whatever you want with whoever you choose. And you, Tiffany, with Jack in jail, you can divorce him and take half of all he owns. You both get the chance to start afresh," Rebekah said reasonably, hoping they would understand and appreciate what she was doing for them.

Tiffany and Bernice exchanged a look, and without another word, Tiffany picked up her bag, and they both walked out of the room, leaving a disappointed Rebekah.

After they signed the discharge paper and left the hospital, Tiffany took a cab and headed for the station while Bernice headed home.

As Bernice sat in the cab, all she could think about was Adam\'s weird detailed text to Jack and the fact that Rebekah had sent everyone out of the house during Adam\'s visit.

Why did she do that? What happened during Adam\'s visit? Adam couldn\'t have visited just to make out with her, and Rebekah wouldn\'t have been so careless to allow such a thing either.

None of it made sense—especially their mother\'s composure. She didn\'t seem upset by any of it, and that was disturbing. Her lover was dead and her son-in-law was going to be thrown into jail for it yet all she could think about was the monetary benefit. It was cold. Too cold, even for someone like Rebekah Miller.