Page 39 of Saving Salem
Things were about to change, and if he played his cards right, Rashid thought, he might manage to come out on top and never have to answer to anyone in his family again. All he had to do was make one phone call and the dominos would tumble. There might be collateral damage, but in love and war, it was an acceptable cost.
He waited for his mother to fall asleep before walking to the back of the plane and making a call. Removing the sim card from the phone, he dropped it in a glass of water before crushing the phone under his heel.
This was turning out to be a good day after all.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Chance and IvyMcNamara-Barnes arrived in New Orleans Sunday afternoon, and Salem and Jack met them at the airport. Salem still had a hard time wrapping her head around all the information they’d gotten both from Jennifer Baptiste and closed-circuit TV footage from the street in front of her former apartment.
It was clear that the fire was arson. The fire department’s investigator determined it was set deliberately, as well as camera footage showing two men carrying cans filled with gasoline sneaking into her old apartment building. Both men were arrested and when questioned admitted they’d been hired by a local gang leader to set the fires.
They also admitted they’d been hired to grab Salem and Chloe as soon as they exited the building, but had lost the opportunity when they’d gone with Stephanie instead. It scared her how close she’d come to being kidnapped. Just thinking about it brought back nightmares of being held against her will by Tarik. Having no freedom, answerable only to him. A shudder ran through her at the memory.
Now they were back at the apartment, going over details and fine-tuning their testimony for tomorrow’s start of the custody hearing. Chloe sat on a blanket on the floor at her feet, a pile of toys scattered around her. Seemed like every time she turned around, one of the C.S.S. people showed up with some new stuffed animal or doll for her. Pretty soon, they’d need to get a giant toy box, or they’d disappear under an avalanche of gifts, but watching her daughter’s delight with each new “baby,” as Chloe called them made, her heart swell. Somehow, she’d amassed not one but two families who loved her and her daughter, and she knew that she was both lucky and blessed.
“Let’s go over the facts that we’re going to present to the judge tomorrow. First, your marriage. The Amirs can no longer claim that you are a single mother raising a child and working multiple jobs. Mr. Sutton—”
“Jack,” he interrupted.
Ivy smiled and turned to Salem. “Jack’s spoken with Chance and I, indicating he would like to petition the court to adopt Chloe. I think that will go a long way to proving that you have a real marriage, and that it isn’t some kind of sham that you’re perpetrating on the court to circumvent their judgment.”
“Jack, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Things have been moving so fast, and with all the drama going on around us, there hasn’t been time. You know I love Chloe, and we are going to be a family, so it seemed the next logical step.”
Salem heard his words, felt the sincerity in his voice. Chloe was already falling in love with “Yack,” her name for him. He was a wonderful man, and she was already head over heels in love with him. Making their marriage a whole, true one, with Chloe as his daughter? She loved the idea.
“As I was saying, Jack being part of the big picture is a giant step in the right direction for custody. Also, Ms. Baptiste has agreed to remain in New Orleans and testify as to the veracity of her statements regarding the Amirs and Sayifa’s involvement in both the camera installation as well as the fire being set. Bubba Hebert has been subpoenaed to corroborate Ms. Baptiste’s information about the cameras, as well as admit that he was hired to put them in your apartment, along with printing and delivering the photos from said cameras.”
Ivy took a sip of her coffee after finishing her statement. Chance seemed content to let Ivy handle dispersing the information, since she would be lead council.
“Not sure Bubba will show up. He might ghost on you. Dude’s got a long record, hasn’t been out of Angola all that long, and he’s scared. I wouldn’t count on him being there.” Jack perched on the arm of Salem’s chair, and his presence eased a little of her anxiety, but she doubted anything would help until the case was over and Chloe was safe.
“Well, there’s also Rashid Amir and Jennifer Baptiste’s phone conversation that was recorded. If this was a criminal case, it would never make it into evidence, but since this is a custody hearing, and a contentious one at that, I think it will be admissible.”
“Be honest with me, please. Do you think there’s any chance the judge will award custody of Chloe to Sayifa? Don’t sugarcoat things. I need to know the truth. Can I lose my daughter?”
Ivy leaned forward and looked Salem in the eyes. “I only deal in honesty. I’ve found there’s less chance of repercussions later. Enough people already hate my guts because of who I am, and who my mother is. Lying just makes things worse. I would estimate your chances of retaining custody of Chloe at about ninety percent. I wish I could say one hundred percent, but like I said, I’m not going to lie. I don’t know what kind of evidence the Amirs might bring. We know things are going to get ugly. That’s why you hired me. I don’t mind getting my hands dirty.”
“Salem, I haven’t told you everything.” Chance held up his hand to stop her from interrupting, and her stomach knotted at his expression. She reached over and grabbed Jack’s forearm, needing to anchor herself from what was coming.
“What?”
“When the Amirs sent the paperwork telling you they were suing for custody, something tickled at the back of my mind and bothered me for days before I figured out what it was. But because I’m a suspicious guy, I wanted to check my information before saying anything. You said that after Tarik died, Abdullah, as the second son, took over the family’s business dealings, right?”
She nodded. “Tarik mentioned the line of succession once, when he talked about the future. If anything happened to him, he promised Abdullah would take care of me. Why?”
“I have everything you brought with you to Shiloh Springs. Here.” He pulled out a sheaf of paperwork and handed it to Salem. “Take a close look at the signature of the person filing the case. Take a look at the petition, specifically at the signature of the petitioner.” Chance handed her the stack of paperwork with a paperclip to mark the spot.
“I don’t understand, what am I looking for…” She brought the page closer, to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. That wasn’t Abdullah’s name at the bottom of the page. The scrawling signature wasn’t one she expected, and befuddled her.
“Rashid? It’s Rashid Amir’s signature. I thought Abdullah was the one who was suing for custody.”
“That’s what we all thought. Everything else states Abdullah’s name, including the filing status. However, though the printed name shows Abdullah Amir, the signature is clearly Rashid.”
“Does this affect the custody case, if there’s this kind of error?” Jack got the question out before Salem could ask it.
“Probably not a lot, unless there’s a suggestion of fraud.”
