The Marvelous Elijah's Return

There’s a serious problem

A gentle knock on the door made Mr. Bamford look up from the case file on his desk and stared ahead, c

alling out, “Come in.”

When the door opened, luis secretary Lucy entered his office with a soft smile, saying, “Sir, there‘s a visit

or for you.”

“‘Who?” Mr. Bamford replied without looking

up from the case file, still reading through the information about the crime he was currently investigating.

“Madam Jewel Haye,” “Hmm,”

The pen in his hand dropped on the sheet as he lifted his head slightly to glance at his secretary with an

eyebrow raised.

Then he rested back in his seat and sighed softly, “Send her in,”

“Yes, sir,” Lucy said with a nod.

Silently, Mr. Bamford watched her walk out

of his office and waited until she closed his door before turning his attention back to the papers on his de

sk.

A couple of minutes went by, then the door opened again, this time to reveal Mrs. Haye. She had her han

ds tucked into the front pockets of her black fluffy coat as she stepped inside before closing the door behi

nd her.

“Mrs. Hayes, ” Bamford greeted her politely as he placed a bookmark between the pages of his work fold

er before closing it. “Chief, good afternoon.” Madam Jewel smiled widely and stepped further into his

office.

Gracefully, she took a seat across from him in one of the plush leather chairs in front of his desk and cro

ssed her leg over the other.

“Frederick would be just fine, Mrs. Hayes.” Mr. Bamford said calmly, sitting up straight as he rested his el

bows on the table, clutching his fingers together.

“Well, Frederick, I am not someone that likes to beat around the bush or make idle chit–

chat, so I am going to go straight to the point.” Madam Jewel spoke slowly as she looked directly into Ba

mford‘s eyes, her dark brown orbs locked onto his. “Who made you interfere with the reporters at Paz mo

tel?”

The office fell silent for several long moments, neither of them breaking eye contact.

Eventually, Mr. Bamford chuckled and shook his head as he leaned against

his chair and said,” Now, why would Mrs. Hayes trouble herself with such trivial matters?”

“It‘s personal,” Madam Jewel insisted, her voice taking on a tone of warning, which Mr. Bamford found a

musing.

“And if I may ask,” Mr. Bamford continued with a smirk, “What makes you think I have anything to do with

these... ‘personal‘ matters?” “We both know that what you did, was cross

the line with us, Hayes, and also meddled in

something that was none of your business.”

Her cold stare never wavered as she niet Bamford‘s unblinking brown eyes, not even flickering

once.

Bamford simply let out another quiet laugh before raising an eyebrow at the woman seated opposite of hi

m as he said, “I assure you, Ms. Hayes, you‘re wrong... Also, isn‘t Peach your granddaughter? How com

e helping her

is defined as me crossing the line?” That question left Madam Jewel speechless for several seconds, sta

ring daggers at the man before her. When she finally collected enough composure to speak, her voice ha

d taken on an icy undertone, “Don‘t escape from the matter at hand.”

“I am not, Mrs. Hayes. It just amazed me that helping the granddaughter of late Mr. Hayes would earn m

e a visit from his wife and put me on the spot with the family.”

Mr. Bamford replied coolly while leaning back in his chair

as if there was nothing particularly important that needed to be discussed.

Of course, Mr. Bamford knew the situation between Peach and the rest of the Hayes family, but playing d

umb was the only way he knew how not to offend someone like Bryan Checks, and also, not have the Ha

yes up his ass.

Not wanting to waste any more time arguing with this man, Madam Hayes quickly changed tactics and a

sked the next question on her mind, “So who made you help my granddaughter, Peach?”

For the first time, Bamford broke his poker face, letting out a small chuckle, and said, “Madam Jewel, I w

as simply doing my job. That‘s all that was.” “You could have just sent your men. But you were at the

motel, doing fieldwork

yourself.” Madam Jewel narrowed her eyes, daring Bamford to disagree. “Well, as a ‘Hayes,‘ you should

know how important you guys‘ names are. So when I got the report that Grace and Peach Hayes were g

etting bullied by a bunch of reporters, I decided to step in and make sure they weren‘t harmed.”

“Is that so?”

“Hmm umm.”

The office remained silent for a few minutes, and Mr. Bamford refused to break the tense silence that no

w hung in the air.

Knowing that she wasn‘t going to get much more out of the chief, Madam Hayes stood up from her seat

and said, “Well, I should not take up most of your time then, Frederick.” When Mr. Bamford nodded, she

woke from her seat and walked towards the door, turning to face him once more before exiting the room.

A sense of rage ate at Madam Jewel as she marched down the hallway, and as she was about to walk p

ast Lucy‘s desk, she hastened to her feet and said, “It‘s a pleasure seeing you, Madam Jewel!!”

Immediately, Mrs. Hayes stopped and turned toward Lucy, glaring at her with a slight hint of irritation. The

n she suddenly lost the frown and replaced it with a faint smile as she asked, “What‘s your name, young l

ady?”

A sense of happiness flooded Lucy‘s body as she smiled wide and exclaimed, “It‘s Lucy

“Well, Lucy, can this old woman ask you something important?” Madam Jewel asked politely Lucy hesitat

ed for a moment, wondering what was so urgent that Madam Jewel was asking for help from her, and sh

e mumbled, “Uh, yeah! Of course, you can ask me anything.”

Once again, a warm smile spread across Madam Jewel‘s face as she asked, “Who asked your boss to cl

ear up the reporters from Paz motel?”

A nervous look swept across Lucy‘s face as she stammered, “Mmm... Well...”

“Well?” Madam Jewel pressed, clearly not impressed with her hesitance,

Suddenly, Lucy realized just how serious the situation was, and quickly blurted out two words, “Bryan Ch

ecks.” “Bryan Checks?!” Madam Jewel asked and her expression immediately darkened, causing her ey

ebrows to furrow. “Yes. I heard my boss speaking with him over the phone about it.”

“Are you sure?!”

“Positive.”

A sense of great worry began to fill Madam Jewel‘s heart, and she nervously darted her eyes about before

walking oil hurriedly, leaving Lucy staring after her in confusion When Madam Jewel stepped outside of th

After he got behind the steering wheel, he took a look at her dim eyes in the

rearview mirror before glancing at the road and starting

the car engine, driving away from the station With a shaking hand, Madam Jewel opened her purse and re

Then quickly scrolled through her contacts, stopping at her first son‘s number and dialing it.

It took a few rings before his voice sounded over the receiver, “Mom, what‘s up?” “Dean, son...“Madam Je

“Listen, Dean!!” Madam Jewel snapped harshly, cutting him off, “There‘s a problem... a serious problem...

that we are having a meeting at the mansion tonight over a family dinner, got it?!”

“What.”

“Got it, Dean?!”

Another deep sigh came from the other end before her son said, “... Yeah, mom”

“Good.” With that, Madam Jewel ended her call and placed her phone in her lap as she stared blankly ahe

Resting his phone on the table, Dean‘s eyes

darted to Tommy and then towards his three other brothers and two sisters.

“Was that mother?” Cora asked, looking up at her brother. It took a moment for Dean to get over his surpr

she sounded so frantic that it made me worried.” “Mother sounded troubled...?” The youngest brother, Eli

she said was that the whole family has gotten called in for some sort of meeting over dinner tonight becau

“That‘s weird,” Elmer said, frowning slightly. The board room fell silent as everyone nervously looked at ea

Finally, Dean cleared his throat and said, “Well, you all should contact your children. Mother made it clear