The Object of His Protection - Brenda Jackson [57]
Evelyn looked confused. She glanced from the judge to Drey, then over to Charlene. “Drey, I don’t understand, what’s going on? How can you accuse the judge of something like that?”
Drey took a deep breath and then said, “Easily, Evelyn, because that’s not the least of his deeds. He is also responsible for Harmon’s death.”
Evelyn let out a startled gasp and clutched her stomach. Then an angry look appeared on her face. “Drey, that is absurd. How dare you accuse Bruce of something like that? I’m going to have to ask you to leave right now.”
“No, let him stay,” Malcolm said, taking a step forward and keeping his eyes on the judge the entire time.
“Ty, Shondra and I hired Drey to uncover the truth about Dad’s death,” Malcolm told his mother. Then he turned to the judge. “I don’t like the fact that he’s accused you any more than you do. But I think we need to hear him out.”
Judge Hanlon stiffened and anger exploded in his face. “What! You would take the word of your father’s bastard over me?”
Startled gasps went through the room, and seeing that everyone was now staring at Drey, a smirk appeared on the judge’s face. “Yes, that’s right, Drey. You thought I didn’t know, didn’t you? Well, I found out the truth. When were you going to tell these good people that you are Harmon Braddock’s bastard child and that your mother is Daiyu Longwei, a woman he had an affair with thirty-three years ago?”
Evelyn held her hand over her heart as she continued to look at Drey. She then asked in a low and shocked voice, “It is true, Drey? Are you Daiyu’s son? Was Harmon your biological father?”
Drey looked around the room at all the shocked faces. He then glanced back at Evelyn, seeing the hurt in her eyes. “Yes, Daiyu Longwei is my mother and Harmon Braddock was my biological father.”
Charlene’s heart went out to Drey at the same time red-hot anger exploded inside her. She knew this was not the way he had wanted his siblings to find out about him, and now this murderer, of all people, was trying to make him look like the bad guy.
Charlene crossed the room and said to the judge, “You ass!” She was angry beyond reason. “It all makes sense now.”
The judge looked at her as if she were demented. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Well, let me enlighten you. I just figured out the reason Congressman Braddock was trying so hard to reach Drey’s mother before he was killed. It was to warn her about you. You were going to blackmail him, weren’t you? You were going to expose the truth about Drey if the congressman didn’t cooperate. You knew the congressman was going to turn you in and you wanted to blackmail him, the same way you blackmailed my boss into cooperating with you by falsifying documents. Joe Dennis did not die of a heart attack. He was murdered. I saw the original autopsy report myself.”
“Lady, you are crazy.”
“And, Judge, you are a murderer, two times over. If you’re so innocent, then let us see your key ring.”
“Yes, Judge, why don’t you let us see your key ring?” Connor Stewart said. He moved closer to Shondra’s side.
“Fine!” the judge said, fumbling into his pocket. “I’ll show everyone my key ring just to prove you’re crazy.”
He pulled out his key ring and held it up. Charlene recognized the key immediately and pointed to it. “That’s it! It’s that one.”
The judge rolled his eyes. “That’s the key to my locker at the gym.”
Something about the key caught Evelyn’s attention. “May I see it for a minute, Bruce?”
He blinked at her request, and trying to keep his cool, he said, “Certainly, Evelyn. But like I said it’s the key to my locker at the gym.” He removed the key from the ring and handed it to her.
She gazed down at it. Turned it over in her hand. Studied the numbers engraved on the back. When she lifted her head and gazed at Judge Hanlon, she wore a shocked look