word also.”
The fact of the matter was, Lamar was sleeping with Darnell and was sure to let him know what was about to take place to save his ass.
As soon as they left the office, Desiree took a moment to gather her thoughts before contacting her friend the private investigator. Twenty minutes later he returned her call.
“Hello Desiree... what’s up? It’s me Gary. I know it must be something if you asked me to call you back ASAP.”
“Hey Gary.. I need your help again. Can we meet for dinner? I’d like to tell you what’s going on and how you can help me.”
“No problem, what’s a good time?”
“How about 7p.m.?”
“Sure, I’ll meet you at Nicks on 14 th Street downtown. I’ll already be down that way meeting another client earlier so give me a call when you’re close by.”
”Okay. Sounds good. I’ll be there..."
_________________________
As soon as they met, Desiree began to tell Gary her concerns about Darnell, telling him everything she'd heard from the girls.
“So Gary, now that I’ve revealed to you what I know, how do I handle this? Darnell is one my employees and T-Bird is my cousin. I don’t want anything happening to her or I'll flip the hell out.”
“I understand perfectly,” Gary continued. “I worked on a case just like this last year, when a wife got a notion that her husband was cheating on her from a friend. Sad thing is, when we found out who it was and showed her pictures including the dates, she had a nervous breakdown. It was bad but we had to tell her the truth. After all, she paid us to do a job and we had to give her what she paid for. As it turned out, her husband was having an affair with a man...can you believe that?" It was obvious Gary was having a hard time believing that .
"He was gay. I must say, he really did a good job hiding it for a very long time. That is, until he stopped having sex with her and started coming home late from work. She thought he was seeing another woman. So are you sure you can handle finding out that kind of information?” Gary had seen what could happen to a person's mental as well as physical health when confronted with this kind of truth.
“I absolutely can!” Desiree answered. “It would be better for me to find out first rather than my cousin. She’s been through enough already. Now I must admit, this is a sticky situation because I rate Darnell very high on my list. However, because of the integrity of my staff and them coming back telling me something like this, it’s worth me finding out the truth and I would do anything to put a stop to my cousin being hurt before it’s too late.”
“Okay I understand.” Gary said. “I’ll get on it right away. Can you call me in few days so we can put together a profile on Darnell?”
“Sure, how about Friday? I’ll have a short workday and that will give everyone a chance to leave the office early and be out of the way.”
“Great... that will give me enough time to get everything I need and get started Monday.”
At the end of the meeting, Desiree got in her car, turning the radio up as loud as she could to relieve the stress of having to try to find out the truth about one her most valued staff members. Her thought went to Q. There was nothing she wanted more than to feel his arms wrapped around her while she told him all she was feeling.. But, that was impossible. It would only confirm JJ’s suspicions and fears about Darnell. Now she realized she had to work the situation out alone whether she wanted to or not.
Meanwhile, back in Chicago, T-Bird tried to get some rest after returning to the hotel. Thoughts of Darnell dominated her mind.
____________________________
In New Jersey, back at the Tea Pot, it was talent night once again and the crowd was getting bigger each week. JJ was already planning to have the group 10-After perform during the dinner hours, before opening the dance floors upstairs.
Trey and Carlotta were having a great
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