Chapter twenty-one – A whirlwind of troubles

Stacey arrived back in her office, after the symposium, looking visibly worried. It was purportedly being rumored at the event that her assailant's family had been annihilated in their home, and very painfully. Someone or some people had set Victor's family on fire! She immediately tried to verify the news and found out it was true. Apparently unknown to her, it had been a trending headline for gossip peddlers and the paparazzi in the last couple of hours.

They embellished the facts surrounding the case and though no one dared to pin their assassination on Stacey openly, for obvious reasons, many were already making snide comments and daring her to refute it.

The attempt on her life didn't leave a dent on her morale -She had gone through worse ordeals, but this new development had her really worked up, and her countenance mirrored just that. She knew she wanted Victor Thomas and his hunch men to pay for trying to assassinate her, but she didn't want anyone to be killed. Why would anyone target his family?

"Ms. Brown, your dad called. He said it was urgent." Amelia announced, as soon as she laid eyes on Stacey. She had stayed back to help organize a meeting with someone bigwigs.

"Oh," Stacey responded dispiritedly, sauntering into her office, "thank you."

Her mind was plagued with how her life had been metamorphosing from one chaos to the other. She shrugged it off and picked her phone to return her dad's call.

"Hi, dad." 

"Come home right away." James bellowed sternly, as soon as he took the call. 

"What is going on dad?" 

"Do not question me, young lady. I need to see you immediately." He disconnected the line without waiting for her response.

"Okay… this is serious." Stacey soliloquized, looking at her phone screen. She doesn't have any memories of being spoken to in such manner by her father, ever. So, something had to really have pissed him off. She grabbed her purse in readiness to leave.

"Heading out again, ma'am?" Amelia enquired. "The clients will be here any second."

"Yes, about that; clear out my schedule for today. There seems to be an emergency at home that needs my attention. I'll most likely not make it back today."

"An emergency? I hope no one is hurt?" Amelia asked, a worried look on her face.

Stacey thought about it for a second. "I don't know… but I hope so too." She feared to think what the problem that waited at home might be.

"Very well, ma'am."

"Don't forget to send me the casefile on the Simsons. I'll work on it at home." Stacey added, walking away.

***

Stacey strutted to the pool side with a stoic expression, completely ignoring the greetings from staff, which was so out of character. She was having a rough day. 

James was reclining one of the chaise lounge chairs, enjoying the warmth from the sun, which was already setting. He had seen the news and it got him in a pensive mood, as to what was going on.

"Afternoon dad." 

She helped herself into the chair adjacent to his'. She dropped her purse on the floor, and took off her navy-blue blazer. 

"Fix your mien, young woman." James instructed, taking off his sunshades, and gently placing them on the table.

Stacey softened her features a bit. She didn't realize she had been frowning, though the worry lines refused to disappear.

"Apologies, dad… I was just…"

"Why did you do it?" James cut in; his voice low, almost guttural. 

"Do what?" Stacey was beyond baffled. She had an inkling as to what he was possibly asking about, but she wanted him to come clean about what he was insinuating.

"Don't test my patience, young lady." He bellowed. "I told you I was going to get to the root of the matter, so why take laws into your hands."

"I still do not understand what you are talking about, dad…" Stacey insisted, anger flashing in her eyes.

"Why did you get rid of Victor Thomas and his family?"

Stacey's eyes widened in shock and threatened to pop out of their sockets. Her mouth fell open for some seconds before she found the words to speak. "What?! Victor is dead too? I thought he was under police custody?"

"Do not play dumb with me, Stacey Chrysanthema Brown! Why did you do it?"

"Are you being serious, dad?"

"Do I look like I'm joking right now?" 

Stacey took a deep, calming breath, before responding to James. "I did not do anything to Victor's family."

"Then, who did?" 

"How am I supposed to know the answer to that question?" Stacey was getting really pissed. "Why would you even think, that I would involve myself in something so… foolish! I am a lawyer for pete's sake, dad. I just received an award some weeks ago. Why would I want to destroy my career by going after Victor's family?" She retorted in one breath.

James pinned her with discerning eyes, his jaw tightly clenched. "You really had nothing to do with it?"

"No dad! I did not!"

"Hmm."

"If I may, sir…" Adrian began to speak, but waited for James' permission to proceed. 

"Go ahead."

James and Stacey turned their attention to Adrian.

"I do not think that Victor's death and that of his family should come as a surprise. The timing might be off, but I'm certain that Victor had several enemies. So, it is very possible that one of them might have been waiting for the opportunity to strike, and saw the attack on Miss Brown as one."

"The perfect crime. Because, everyone will have their eyes on me." Stacey added, an accusatory note in her voice. 

James shifted in his chair, sitting more upright. "I'm sorry, Stacey."

She ignored the apology. She was not as mad at him as she was hurt and disappointed. She would have thought that even if everyone else thought she had a hand in the death of those people, her family would know better. 

"So, what do we do? How do we clear my name?" Stacey directed the question to Adrian.

"Well, I believe you have to begin with finding who actually committed the crime."

"That won't be very easy though. For anyone to have broken into a heavily guarded police station, murdered a man, and gotten away unnoticed, he has to be invincible or something."

"Don't worry about that. If this was done by a human, I'll find him... or them." James offered.

She gave a weak nod and got to her feet. She had other things to attend to, and top of the list was Adelaide. Earlier, Stacey had received a text from her best friend saying she had disturbing news. Stacey trudged to her room, mind racing with different thoughts… she was already having a terrible day, and she didn't want more bad news. 

She placed her bag and blazer on the bed, kicked off her shoes, and slumped into the bed. As she dialed Adelaide's line, she braced herself for the worst.

"Hey." Stacey greeted tiredly.

"Hey girl, I saw the news… and the gossips. Are you okay?"

Stacey let out a deep sigh. "I've been better. What's the thing you said you had to tell me?"

Adelaide was quiet for some seconds. "I think I'll leave it for some other time, Brown. You already have a lot to deal with, and I do not want to add to that long list."

"Trust me girl, I doubt there's anything you could say to make me feel worse than I already do. Plus, I'm already having a terrible day, so, why stop now? Just tell me, and let's get it out of the way."

"Hmm… if you insist."

"I do. Now, what is it?"

"You remember my history professor? The one I said was helping me research on the mark?"

"Yes… what about him?"

"He's dead."

"What? Dead? How? When?"

"I don't know… he called me last week saying he found some more information about the origin of the mark, and some organization that's linked to it. We were still speaking when the call suddenly got disconnected…" Adelaide went quiet.

"Okay… then what?"

"Then, I tried to call back but couldn't reach him. So, after waiting for a week and still couldn't contact him, I reached out to his family."

"And…?" Stacey was getting impatient with the stalling.

"And his daughter said that he was found dead by the fireplace. He wasn't sick, there was no sign of struggle, the autopsy report didn't show anything abnormal… He just dropped dead."

"But that doesn't even make sense."

"I know, and I'm scared now. Hmm, have you had any more encounters with Azrael?"

"No. He hasn't come to me ever since I told him that I didn't want to be his bride. Why? Do you think he has anything to do with your professor's death?"

"I don't know, Stacey. But there's one thing I am sure of; you should fear his silence much more than his nagging."