Page 12 of Daniel Watson

Getting home, they took a nap. They hadn’t been doing all that much, it seemed but they would make love then fall into a deep sleep that wasn’t all that restful. She thought it was because they had so much on their minds that they couldn’t relax enough. Even for as much sex as they were having, it didn’t seem to matter when they went to bed. They were still exhausted throughout the day.

Applying for the DNA test, she was thrilled that Joey, one of Daniel’s brothers, was able to do it for her so that no one would know who it was from. As soon as the tests came back, they were going to do what should have been done sooner. Confront the president about having her brother killed and raping her mother. This shit was going to end his career if it didn’t put him in prison for the rest of his life.

Chapter 5

Wilhem was looking forward to sneaking off to see Caleb and his family in a couple of days. Keeping up appearances had been his specialty since he’d been a kid. He would laugh his ass off when he was able to pull the wool over someone’s eyes. And it was especially wonderful that he had fooled Abby for so long. Then she’d gotten smarter. Or stupider. It was her fault that she’d had to die so soon.

He had hated to kill her off. Not that she ever used her money to further his campaign, but he knew that when he ran again, Caleb would be there for him. Killing Abby, or having her killed, was the most brilliant move he’d ever made to date. Now not only did he have the ear of the richest man in the world, he had him fooled as well.

It was the only way that he could keep his secret, killing Abby. How she found out was beyond him, but having one of the people working for him slipping into the house and feeding her poison was his best idea to date. She’d had no idea that she wasn’t dying of cancer. Having doctors in his pocket and nurses, too, had made it easier than he’d thought. Then, convincing her son, a sap, if there ever was one to have her cremated and her ashes with him, he knew that he’d covered all his bases. Christ, he was brilliant, he told himself all the time.

Checking his calendar once again to make sure that he had it there and nothing else, Wilhem decided that he might have to leave a little earlier than they had planned for him. It was going to be wonderful to talk to them and show his sorrow for the loss of someone so special. However, he was going to hit up Caleb about helping him out when he was ready to put his name on the ticket again. Things were looking up.

Glancing at his cell phone when it rang, he smiled. Caleb again. The man thought that he had it all. Well, that was for now. He was going to take as much as he could from the idiot before he decided that he’d drained him dry enough. He’d been thinking about telling him that he’d been thinking about having him as his running mate when his next term came around.

His mother had always told him to keep your enemies close to you so that you could make sure that they were not going behind your back. He wasn’t sure that she had been saying that correctly but it had worked for him for so long that now he wanted to make it his next campaign slogan. However, he wasn’t sure that would go over all that well. But he could think it, he told himself with a chuckle.

“Hello, my dear boy. How are the plans for me coming around to see you and your family?” The silence at the other end of the phone had him looking at the phone to see if he’d lost connection. When he could see that it was indeed still connected, he nearly said something more when he felt something at the back of his head. “Caleb? What’s going on?”

“You’ve fucked with the wrong family.” He asked him what he was talking about. “The gun at the back of your head should be enough to let you know that I’m not as simple as you seem to think I am. Nor was my mother.”

Dread washed over his body. He felt his face pale, his body tense up for whatever was said next. As he tried to regain control of himself and not say anything that would get him into more trouble than he seemed to be in, he took in a deep breath and was careful with his next words.

“I’m afraid that I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’ll have to…why do you feel it necessary to have me held at gunpoint? Explain yourself before I have you arrested.” Caleb laughed. However Wilhem thought that had he been standing next to the other man, he might well have noticed that it wasn’t humor that was making him laugh but anger. “What’s this all about?”

“The man behind you has instructions to kill you if you so much as move in a way that he doesn’t like. In about ten seconds, less more than likely, there will be a news crew in your offices with the police and secret service.” He heard the door open behind him and didn’t have to look to see. They were surrounding him in a way that he could see them. “Now, the news crew is going to record what is going on. Also, you’ll be thrilled to know too that my mom’s death is being looked into as we speak. Your suggestion or demand that she wanted to be cremated was a lie, too. You’ve become so good at lying all the time that I’m sure that you can’t remember the truth any longer.”

“I still have no idea what has brought this on.” A sheets of paper were put in front of him. It took him a few minutes to figure out what it was he was looking at. “I don’t know where you got this from, but there is no way that I am the father of Bradley Benson.”

“Oh, but you are. Right in front of you is not only the truth of it all but that you were also the step-brother of Howard Berkley, the bastard that got away with the things that he did to so many women. And if you turn to the next page, you’ll see that you are also the father of Cassie Blake Watson.” He closed his eyes and thought about what this was going to do to his career. “You raped Mildred Benson several times over the years while she worked in your household, and it resulted in the two children that she raised on her own. The very least that you could have done was support her. But I guess that you’d not be able to run for the presidency if you had a murdering stepbrother as well as several illegitimate children running around. I don’t know how you pulled the wool over my mother’s eyes, but you’re going to pay now.”

“And how do you think that it going to be proven? Do you think that coming in here and threatening me with a gun to my head is going to be overlooked by the public? It’s not. And so you know, I’m not going to allow you do anything that will jeopardize my chances as the—to think that I was going to ask you to be my running mate.” The pop to the back of his head hurt, but he didn’t turn. Whoever was behind him had the advantage right now, so he was going to pay nicely. For now. “Why don’t you come here like a man and talk this over with me. Tell me what you think that you know.”

“I know quite a bit. I know that you killed my mother. That you—” He told him that she had died of cancer. “No, that’s what you wished for us to believe. But the nurses that you hired to kill her have confessed to you blackmailing them. Shut up while I tell you what I know for a fact. I know that you’re the one that killed Bradley Benson. That you had a hand, a large part in the near-death of Cassie. That…there is so much that I’m going to have you tried for that it’s going to take the courts a very long time to get through. You’re finished. As of right now, you’ll never see the light of day again.”

“What are you going to do, Caleb? Kill me? I won’t believe that. You don’t have the balls for that. You Mandy-pandy asshole. You and your mother were saps. And you want to know what else? Nothing is going to harm me. I’m a well-loved president. I’ve done this country good by being here in the White House. Who do you think the public is going to believe? You or me?”

“Are you saying that I’m not smart enough to cover all my bases? I’ve done my homework. So did my mother. I believe, in some way, she even knew that you had her killed off. Why? What did she ever do to you that had you killing her off?” He told him. In great detail, how much he’d wanted her dead, so did it. “She was the kindest person that ever lived, and you murdered her.”

“Yes, I did. And I’m going to kill you, too, as soon as I can get there. You’d better have all your ducks in a row, Caleb, I’m coming for you.” The gun to the back of his head dug deeper into his skull. Wilhelm had forgotten about the people in the room. His anger was so out of control. Laughing a little, he asked Caleb if he thought that he’d done anything to bring him down. He had to do something to cover his own tracks here. Then, a thought popped into his head. “You’re insane. I’ve always heard that it’s best to agree with an insane person. That’s what I was doing. Agreeing with you until I can have you locked up.”

“Sure you were.” His temper was getting the better of him and he had to pause for a few minutes to make his head stop pounding. “The man behind you has instructions to make sure that you don’t do anything stupid. I know that is likely something that you strive to do, but try not to piss him off. He’s a very good friend of the family, and I’d hate to see him get blood on his hands because of you.” Wilhem glanced behind him and turned back. “I see by the look on your face that you know who he is. Good. That way, I don’t have to introduce you to him.”

“You’re in with the mob, are you, Caleb? My good Christ. Is there nothing that you won’t do to get a few bucks?” He asked him why he thought that he needed money. “Why else would you be here? But to blackmail the president of the United States. Surely, you can’t believe a word that has been coming out of your mouth. You moron, this isn’t going to get you anywhere but dead.”

“No, I don’t think so.” When he didn’t say anything else, he asked him what that was supposed to mean. “I’m not going to be dead over what I’ve done to you today. I think the American public will be thrilled to know that you’ve been caught. I know that I’ll sleep better at night by knowing that you’re gone.”

“What do you mean, gone? I’m not going anywhere. And if you think that you’re going to be able to get out of here with me, then you’re in for a rude awakening, Caleb. As it is now, you’re stretching my patience. I’m this close to having someone go to your home and have you arrested.” There was a shuffle behind him then a chair was put beside his. Before he could guess what was going on, Caleb was sitting in the chair next to him. Like they might well have been at his home enjoying a nice conversation. “What is this supposed to prove?”

“Tell them to arrest me. Go ahead. See how far your demands work on the very men that were supposed to protect you.” He was almost afraid to tell the men around the room to arrest Caleb. He had a feeling that they wouldn’t do shit for him now. Not even take a bullet for him. “Too afraid, are you? Well, because you won’t do it, I’ll tell you flat out. They won’t lift a finger to help you.”

Pissed off, he turned around in his seat and looked at the people that had come into the room. It was not just the secret service men, at least a dozen of them, but also three news crews recording him on their cell phones, Caleb’s wife as well as the rest of the family. Then he noticed that his Vice president was there as well as the speaker of the house. Christ, he was in deep shit here if he didn’t figure out a way to turn things around.

“I can see your mind working right now. What can I do? What can I do to make this go away? Nothing. You’re well and truly caught with your drawers down around your ankles, as my mom was so fond of saying. You remember her, don’t you? The woman that was my mother and the woman that you murdered?” Wilhem told him he was a liar. “Am I? Well, I do have this that was taken just yesterday when I had her body exhumed.”

“She was cremated. There is no…you were to cremate her. I told you that’s what she wanted.” Caleb asked him why he’d believe his word over his own mother, telling him that she wanted to be buried. “Christ, Caleb, have you any idea how all this is going to affect me? Why are you doing this to me?”

“A better question would be to ask yourself, why did you do all of this? Why kill these people? My mom. Your child. There are others, too, that we’re looking into. The two men who shot and killed Bradley. Their bodies have been located. It’s funny that. It’s almost as if they didn’t trust you when you told them you’d pay them well. They both, separately, left a long confession and who had hired them to kill the two Bensons. Also, one of them had a recording, with your voice verifying what you wanted done and how you wanted no witnesses. I guess they didn’t realize—or perhaps they did that by no witnesses meant them as well.” Wilhem didn’t know what to do. He needed time to think. He was usually good at thinking in a jam, being able to get himself out of anything so long as he had time to plan. But right now, with all this going on around him, he couldn’t think past the fact that he was in deep shit. “Something else you need to be aware of, you’re not going to go to prison. But you will be dealt with.”