“Sure, I’m just hungry, so I came down to look for some food.”
What followed was a sort of parody that Aviva could only liken to a bad silent movie. She was unsure if the men seriously thought she wouldn’t notice their facial twitches and head gestures. She had lived with them long enough to have a pretty good handle on them. They wanted her out of the way, and they were going to use MacKenzie as their tool. If her head weren't hurting so badly, she would have called them out. Instead, she linked arms with her friend and left them to their plotting. She had done her part for the night.
“What’s going on, Vee?”
“Let’s go to the kitchen. With luck, we’ll be alone, and I’ll explain everything. It’s been quite an eventful night.”
MacKenzie listened to what Aviva had to say without comment. When she was finished, the women sat quietly looking at each other.
MacKenzie was the first to voice her opinion. “If this mess with Carlos were not a part of the equation, I’d think that someone was working overtime to set this family up.”
Looking at her friend, Aviva admitted that the same thought had occurred to her. She wanted to discuss the situation further, but her head was pounding too much. Aviva knew if she didn’t lay down soon someone would have to pick her up off the floor.
MacKenzie must have noticed her tiredness, and suggested it was maybe time Aviva called it a night. In complete agreement, they left the kitchen and began to make their way back to the central hallway.
**********
As soon as the women left the room. Jason wanted to know what conversation had passed between Josh and Farrah.
“She just kept mumbling something or other about women who thought they could scare her into doing their bidding. There was also more than a few cuss words that I don’t think I need to repeat.” Josh replied with a look of distaste.
Sounds reverberated around the room that with a stretch of the imagination could be described as amusement. Laughter, however was the furthest thing from Jake’s mind. “So who or what ties all this together?” He threw his question into the mix.
“I suppose you all think this has something to do with me? Jason asked.
“Even if that were our thought, which it isn’t, it wouldn’t matter,” Jackson assured his son. “The only thing of any importance is that we resolve these situations in which we find ourselves.”
Jake’s phone rang before his father finished assuring Jason that they were not in the business of ascribing blame to each other. Excusing himself, he moved away from the group to answer it. The sound of Curtis’ voice on the other end of the line was the last person he expected.
“Can you talk?” Curtis enquired.
“Go ahead and I hope you have good news for me.”
“You obviously love your family, Mr. Kingdom, well so do I! This call is just a courtesy to say, I can’t help you. If there was something I could do, I would do it because of MacKenzie and Noelle. Tell MacKenzie that for me will you?”
“My family and I can help you Curtis, just tell me what’s going on, and we will help you,” Jake pressed.
“I’ve said all I intend to. I’ve looked into your family, and from what I can tell you guys are supposed to be at the top of your game. Well, it’s time you proved it instead of letting a woman run rings around all of you!”
The sound of the dial tone ringing in his ear left Jake stunned. That was the second time Curtis had implied that the Kingdom family was at the center of the Ernesto’s troubles. Spinning around, Jake faced his family who had all shamelessly been listening to his conversation.
“What?” Jackson enquired.
“I told you all what Curtis said when I spoke with him earlier about looking at my family and getting my house in order. Just now he said we were allowing a woman to run rings around us. Put the two together and what do you come up with?”
“Diana!” The four men spoke at the same time.
“Has anyone been keeping tabs on her?” Jackson asked.
Jason and Jake shook their heads in the negative, as usual, Josh was more vocal. “The last time I checked she was in Europe. The South of France to be exact.” With three identical looks of enquiry directed at him, Josh shrugged his large shoulders. “You all seemed to be occupied with one thing, or another, so it was left to me to ensure that I knew where she was.”
“Is she back in the country?” Jackson wanted to know.
“The last time I checked was a few days ago, and at that time she was still in France. That doesn’t mean she’s there now. It also doesn’t mean that she couldn’t have been pulling strings from thousands of miles away. Technology is a wonderful thing.” Josh finished with a sarcastic laden voice.
“We need to know, Josh,” Jake told his brother.
“Don’t worry, I’m on it.” Saying nothing more, Josh was on his way to the door.