If he could destroy his marriage so carelessly, would Thomas destroy his career too?
Thomas had been caught by his father using his computer just the other night. How many times had he used the device? Darnell used it to access his work emails from home but it required a password to access. But Thomas was quite the whizz-kid when it came to electronics. Despite the American government having tight controls on their information systems, his family could have easily broken into it, especially when Darnell used his wife’s name and year of birth for nearly all of his passwords both at work and personally. What had he been thinking? Had his son managed to bypass their security to ruin him?
But how did he know about the case? It was top secret until the newspaper broke the story. Darnell hadn’t even told Jasmine about the case which he was chasing the tail of. His files were there for sure in the family home, but the specific details of Oak Ridge had been locked away in his briefcase and only he had the key code for that. It had been with him at all times too. It had never been left alone with his family.
Unless…
Whoever had stolen Lincoln’s body had taken him on this whole wild goose chase and knew all about Detective Jackson. Almost too well. It had all been aimed directly at him. Who else would know more about the cop than his own son? Could it be that Thomas Jackson had been involved in the body-snatch?
It all made sense now. His hatred towards the black community gave him a motive to destroy the reputation of the president who had saved them. And he had a vendetta against the man who this was personally being directed towards.
Darnell sped across town towards his house. Flying into the drive, he nearly crashed into his own garage which held his wife’s matching car. The detective rushed out of his vehicle and barged through the door. Jasmine ran into the kitchen to see what had caused the disturbance and was surprised to see her husband standing flustered in the doorway, sweat pouring down his forehead. Before she could protest, Darnell ran past her and up the stairs towards the bedroom of his eldest son.
Swinging the door open, he looked around to search for his suspect. On the walls were posters of his favourite movies; American History X, Valkyrie and Triumph of the Will. His bedspread had The Cubs logo on it and a games console was hooked up to a large flat screen television on a white side-table.
The sound of typing and heavy metal music echoed from his office. Darnell turned around and paced up the landing towards the once quiet place where he used to find sanctuary from his complex family life. He opened the door and found Thomas on his computer, typing into a forum set up by fans of the Boston Tea Party. The forum discussed voting tactics which they should take to ensure immigration was reduced in America in the next election. Thomas sat in his black hoodie and grey sweatpants, swivelling on his chair.
Darnell lifted his son out of the seat by the hood and threw him into the bookcase behind. Thomas’s eyes screamed with fear and confusion as his father squared up to him. A punch to the eye knocked the teenager to the ground but before he could ease the wound with his hand, he was lifted up again and thrown back against the case, knocking several books and an ornament over, which smashed upon impact with the floor. Darnell placed his hands around his son’s throat and squeezed tightly, cutting off his air supply.
‘It’s you, isn’t it, you little punk?’ Darnell screamed. ‘You’re responsible for all this mess.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Thomas’s voice croaked as the air to his lungs weakened.
‘You stole Abraham Lincoln’s body and it’s you who’s trying to destroy my goddamn life!’
The colour from Thomas’s face drained and Darnell removed his hands from his son’s throat, before throwing him into a pile of boxes which fell apart under the weight of the eighteen-year-old.
‘You know what? You’re going down! Your life is over! I’ve let a lot of shit go in this house, especially when it comes to you. But no more. Hell no! The police will hear all about this! You can rot in jail for all I care.’
‘Get the hell out of my house!’ In the doorway, Jasmine stood with her hands on her waist. She wore a dress which was as colourful as her words. ‘Darnell, get out of my house this minute! You know what? Our children have been so well behaved since you left the environment. You’re toxic! You are the problem, not our children! Maybe if you’d bothered to spend a little time in his life you’d know that Thomas isn’t capable of what you’re accusing him of! And if you dare have the police snooping round him I swear to God, we’ll never speak to you again.’
Catching his breath, Darnell collected his thoughts. He looked at his son’s bruised eye and knew he’d gone too far. Like his own father, he spoke with his fists before his brain kicked in. He gave a resigned look to Jasmine before turning to his prime suspect.
‘You better watch yourself. If I find out that you’re in any way involved in this shit, I will make you pay, so help me God!’
Darnell turned to Jasmine who had folded her arms and wore a scowl which could have made the
