Chapter 37 37

"The dead cannot cry out for justice. The living must do so for them."
? ? ?
? ? ? ? Lois McMaster Bujold
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When the fire finally pulled out of the building, Jeremy didn't wait for the smoke from the fire to go down as he entered into his law firms that were now in ruins. His office was unrecognizable. He searched through his office to see f any document was not affected by the fire but he didn't see anything. Everything was in ruins. The chairs, the files, the computers, and other valuable things were consumed by the fire.
The smoke from the fire choked him but Jeremy didn't plan on giving up. He wanted to know if there was something left untouched inside his office. The smoke continues to increase and Jeremy still didn't bother to leave the office.
Yomi who was outside with Kendra and the girls looked around for Jeremy and when he didn't see him, he went inside the building in search of him. There, he saw Jeremy laying on the ground and choking on his breathe. Yomi helped him up and lead him outside. Once they were outside, Jeremy wanted to go inside the building again but he was stopped by Yomi.
"Are you insane Jeremy?" Yomi yelled at him. "I know you ain't happy about your firm but you do not have to risk your life like this."
"I have to, " Jeremy coughed and held his chest. "I have to go into the building and see if I can save any document."
"Go inside and do what? Choke to death!" Yomi shouted and pulled Jeremy's hand towards the car. "We are leaving Jeremy. You must be insane to think that I would leave you and let you kill yourself." Yomi said and continued to pull Jeremy towards the car.
"What is going on here?" Kendra asked as she saw the tension between the two of them. "Jeremy are you okay?" She asked as she stared at his red face.
"He is not okay because this idiot went into the office in search of something. I'm taking him home now. Tell the girls to sort things out with the fire department." Yomi instructed and walked towards the car. When they reached the car, he opened the passenger door for Jeremy to enter and he entered without an argument. Yomi got into the driver's seat and drove out of malish street.
Jeremy rested his head on the passenger seat and closed his eyes. He thought of what to do next and how he was going to go about his plan. He knew the feathers wanted him to give up but his father had thought him a lesson about life and that is the lesson of not giving up. He wasn't going to give up because the feathers threatened him instead he was going to make sure they had a taste of his revenge.
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The next time Jeremy opened his eyes, he was on his bed and it was noontime. He stood up from his bed and stretched his arms and legs. After putting on a shirt and trousers, Jeremy walked down to the living room. There, he met the justice talking silently and when they sighted his presence, they stopped talking.
"You can go on with whatever you guys are saying. Don't stop on my account, " Jeremy said and took a seat on an empty two-arm leather couch in his living room.
"Jeremy," Mary called his name and he raised his head at her. "I am sorry about your law firm. I didn't expect the feathers going to such length."
"It's fine Mary, " Jeremy smiled and then looked at the faces of the justice who stared back at him. "I am seriously fine, " he said to them and then began laughing.
The justice all stared at each other's faces before turning to face Jeremy. They knew he wasn't fine and laughing was the only way to show them that he was fine.
When Jeremy stood up and walked to the window on the left side of the living room, the justice eyes followed him around.? With his back on them, Jeremy began to talk about how he felt.
"Those stupid feathers had the effrontery to set my firm on fire all because they wanted me to give up, " Jeremy laughed and punched the window frame.
"Is he going to be alright?" Kemisola whispered to the others.
"We should let him be," Lara suggested and faced Jeremy. She knew Jeremy was not happy and his firm was taking a great toll on him but she had no idea what to do so he could be happy. The only thing she could do was watch him.
"Burning down my firm is their mistake because they are going to regret ever messing with me. Now I'm going to watch them crumble in fear and I'm going to watch them beg for their lives, " Jeremy laughed and continued to stare at the window.
Kendra clapped and all eyes turned on her. " As entertaining as your words were, you are beginning to sound like a mental patient Jeremy." She said but still, Jeremy didn't turn away from the window. " look, that firm is of importance to everyone as it was to you. The feathers did something bad and yes we know. But sulking around and talking to the window is not the case man." Kendra told him and then Jeremy finally turned to face them with a stoic look on his face. Everyone waited for his reaction and then when he pointed to Mary, they waited for his next action.
"Mary, " he called and went back to the arm leather couch he was sitting on. "I need you to post all pictures, videos, and articles against Hamilton's boys ASAP!"
"What are you doing Jeremy?" Yomi asked.
"Post the videos including Linda's videos, " Jeremy said to Mary while ignoring Yomi's question.
"This isn't going to solve anything. You are making this a battle for yourself, " Yomi argued.
"If you think this is a battle yomi then I'll suggest you back off," Jeremy said with no emotions in his tone. "Over to you Kendra, I need you to..." The doorbell rang signaling someone at the door.
"I'll go check, " Lisa offered and walked to the door. He looked through the camera and when he saw who they were, he beckoned for you to come to her.
"It's the police, " Yomi informed.
"Let's them in, " Jeremy commanded.
Lisa opened the door for the police to come in and when they entered, they showed their badge, and Lisa leads them to the living room.
"Good day everyone, we are from the investigation bureau." One of the officers showed his badge. "We are here to meet Mr. Jeremy Akinsola concerning his law firm that burnt down this early morning."
"That's would be me, " Jeremy responded. "Have a seated officer, " he offered.
"No, we are fine. We just want to ask you a few questions concerning your firm if you don't mind. " the other officer said.
"No problem."
"Are you aware that your firm got destroyed by fire?" The officer asked and Jeremy nodded. "There is a rumor going around about electricity been the cause of the fire. Are you aware sir?"
"Yes I'm aware and it's the truth. The fire started because of electricity failure, " Jeremy lied.
One of the officers stared suspiciously at Jeremy before he said anything else. "Alright, sir. In case there is a mistake somewhere, please inform us. " he said and handed over to Jeremy a business card. " call us in case of anything. "
"Thank you, officer, " Jeremy said to the officers. After speaking with them for a while, they left the mansion.
Few minutes after the officers left, Kendra broke the silence by
Snatching the business card from Jeremy's grip.
"What's the hell was that Jeremy? Why didn't you tell them the truth?" Kendra questioned as she stared at the business card.
Jeremy stood up from his seat and walked towards the window.
"Telling them the truth isn't going to help Kendra. Remember when you said something about catching the bait through the hook." Jeremy told her and she nodded, " that's exactly what I'm doing now. If the feathers think they could get to me through my firm, then I'm ready to catch them through the hook." Jeremy turned to face justice with a smile.
"Does he always look so scary?" Kemisola asked may who sat beside her.
"You never know when he looks scary or not, " Mary said and shook her head at Jeremy.
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Two days later,
Daniel rushed into the feathers meeting room with five bodyguards. When he got to the room, he met the remaining feathers already seated in their respective chairs. Daniel sat on his chair at the center of the table and looked at the faces of the feathers.
"What is this nonsense going around?" He questioned the feathers but no of them replied. "Why is my name trending online? Why I'm I among the top trends in the country?" Daniel slammed his hand on the table. " why I'm I trending?" he roared.
Leonard cleared his throat and touched Daniel's trembling fingers. "Calm down Daniel. We understand how you feel and we are here for you."
"How do I feel?" Daniel removed his fingers from Leonard's grip. "The project I've been planning for years is about to go down and you think you know how I feel!" He yelled.
"Shouting isn't going to solve the case, Daniel. Let's think of what to do to stop the trending news, " Simone suggested the solution she could think of.
"I think Simone is right, " park added. "I can barely leave my house without been followed around too. This is even worst than when Kenneth Kennedy died."
"What do you suggest we do?" Alissa who had been silent finally spoke up. "We can't possibly fold our hands and let all we've worked for go down the line."
"I have a suggestion," munachi offered and they all turned to face him.
"What is your suggestion munachi?" Simone questioned.
Munachi sighed briefly before speaking up. "This is the work of that lawyer Akinsola or whatever his name was. This is a payback for us destroying his firm but I have a perfect plan for him."
"And what is that?" Alissa asked.
"Well, I think this is the time to bring in that detective I suspended a long time ago," munachi informed them.
"How is bringing a detective going to sort this out? Are you even listening to yourself?" Daniel shouted but munachi used his finger to stop him from talking.
"This is the only way. I know both of them are connected somehow. I've seen them together and using her as bait is the only way to get rid of the lawyer." When munachi finished talking, Alissa burst into laugher. She laughed so hard that she pointed to munachi as if he was a clown. When she was finally done, she frowned and looked at the faces of all the feathers.
"You might probably think I'm crazy for laughing but I can not believe that munachi would think of that kind of suggestion, " she said.
"What is wrong with my suggestion?" Munachi retorted.
"Everything is wrong munachi. This plan could backfire and result in more damages. The best we can do is getting rid of the lawyer and it will all end there, " Alissa suggested but Daniel shook his head in objection.
" your suggestion is wrong Alissa, " Daniel said to her but she just shrugged it off. " killing the lawyer is not the best idea because it will only raise more questions against us." He paused for a while before he continued. "We will go with munachi's idea for now and everything didn't go as planned, I'm killing the lawyer," Daniel announced and they all nodded.
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That night, Jeremy and Lara stood on the balcony of the mansion watching the stars when Lara got a call about her suspension been lifted. When the call ended, she looked at Jeremy with a smile on his face and Jeremy figured out that it had something to do with the call.
"Spill it out Lara, I know something is up. Your body language says it all." Jeremy said while starting at a happy Lara.
"Well, you are right about that Jeremy. I just got a call that my suspension has been lifted, " Lara announced happily but Jeremy didn't seem to be happy about it. He sensed something was wrong but how was he going to tell her when she seems happy. "Anything wrong?" Lara asked while trying to read Jeremy's expression.
"Nothing is wrong, I just felt this is all too soon," Jeremy replied.
"Soon? You don't want me to go back to my job?"
Jeremy scratched his head and grabbed Lara's hand. Placing her hand into his, Jeremy looked at her and smiled.
"I'm happy for you Lara. I just want you to be careful."
Lara smiled at him and caress his Hand. "Thanks for looking out for me Jeremy. I appreciate that but do not worry about my safety because everything is going to be alright." Lara assured him with a smile.
Jeremy released her hand and they both turn to face the sky. Lara pointed to the most shining star in the sky and told Jeremy about her childhood.
"When I was younger, I do watch the stars almost everything with my father. We would seat on the grasses outside our home and watch the stars. My father was once said that the stars are like our guardian angel and they watch over us all the time."
"You must adore your father, " Jeremy commented and Lara nodded. Jeremy could sense that she was sad about losing all her family. That's was how he felt when he lost his family at a tender age.
"My father was a good police officer and I grew up admiring him. He was the reason why I became a detective."
"How did he die?" Jeremy asked and quickly apologized for asking about such things from her. "I'm sorry, " he apologized.
"No, it's fine. My father Detective Johnson died in a shootout, " Lara informed him on how her father died in a shootout and Jeremy found himself thinking on how the name Johnson sounds familiar.
"I'm sorry about his death. Your father was Detective Johnson?" He asked to make sure if he heard the correct word.
"Yes, have you heard of him somewhere?" She asked.
"Yeah, that doctor who testified in court for Kemisola told him about your father. "
"Your point is?"
"My point is that your father could have been killed by the feathers twenty years ago. Your father, Felicia Watson, and my father are related to this case somehow. I'm not sure yet but this is a big mystery? we have to reveal." Jeremy told her and all Lara could do was think about how her father died twenty years ago. Like Jeremy had said, whatever happened twenty years ago was related to them.
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Melody