Trust Me

  Trust Me

  Book Five in the Holmes Brothers Series

  Farrah Rochon

  Contents

  Trust Me

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  Also by Farrah Rochon

  Chase Me

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2017 by Farrah Roybiskie

  Cover Design by Mae Phillips of CoverFreshDesigns.com

  Cover Image by Delvin Dickerson of Super Dads Photography

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  ISBN: 978-1-938125-38-6

  Trust Me

  As the maverick of the New Orleans City Council, Mackenna Arnold has spent the last four years dismantling the council’s “politics as usual” mentality. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Mack now has her sights set on an even bigger prize: the mayor’s office. But only when the time is right. And only if she can get the pesky freelance journalist hell-bent on investigating her for corruption—who just so happens to be one of the sexiest men alive and her best friend’s younger brother—off her back. But when Mack suspects that her longtime mentor and the city’s current mayor is up to no good, she must convince Ezra Holmes to help her investigate the mayor’s office.

  * * *

  Ezra can admit to having had a thing for Mackenna in his younger days, even though she barely knew his name back then. But his past feelings for Mack have nothing to do with why he’s so committed to exposing her. He suspects she’s used her influence as a public official to cut private deals, and breaking this corruption story would be just the thing to jumpstart his fading career. But what is Ezra supposed to do when he discovers Mack isn’t the one who’s a crooked politician? There’s only one thing he can do: join forces with the woman he’s been crazy about for far too long.

  Chapter 1

  Poison?

  Hit man?

  Staged car accident?

  Mackenna Arnold massaged the bridge of her nose as she contemplated the various methods she could use to commit murder. Convincing a jury to side with her shouldn’t be all that difficult. She simply had to present footage from tonight’s city council meeting. Who would possibly convict her once they witnessed the bullshit she’d been subjected to for the past two hours?

  Mack lifted the stack of papers that had been waiting at her designated seat on the raised, semi-circular dais and scrolled through the remaining agenda items. As she listened to Cecil Washington wax poetic about the need for a new gas turbine, she resisted the overwhelming urge to reach over and grab the gavel from her fellow New Orleans City Council member and bang him in the head with it. It had only been a month since Cecil was named council president, and the power had already swollen that melon size head of his. There was no way Mack would get through the remainder of his six-month term without telling him off.

  She motioned to the deputy clerk.

  “Councilmember Arnold wishes to be recognized,” the clerk stated.

  “Proceed, Councilmember Arnold,” Cecil said. Mack knew she didn’t mistake the frustration she heard in his voice.

  Tough shit.

  Cecil and his minions decided to ram this gas turbine down everyone’s throat on the assumption that they wouldn’t get any pushback. They should have known better.

  “While I appreciate the council’s commitment to improving the city’s infrastructure, I vehemently protest the proposed site of this new utility plant,” Mack started. “Furthermore, if we’re even going to discuss the idea of this new facility, it is incumbent upon us all to revisit the city charter, where it states—”

  “We all know what the charter states, Councilmember Arnold,” Cecil said, cutting her off. “The charter can be amended.”

  “Not without just cause.”

  “And a new gas turbine that will bring a much needed additional power source to thousands of residents is just cause,” he said.

  “It will bring an additional power source to thousands of residents in District B, yet the proposed site is in District D. My district. Where my constituents will be subjected to the environmental and noise pollution associated with this new facility. If the residents of District B need a new power plant to generate electricity for their million dollar mansions, they should build it in their neighborhood. I refuse—”

  Now Cecil chose to bang his gavel.

  “We still have a number of items on tonight’s agenda,” he said, cutting her off again. “I propose we table this discussion and move on.”

  Mack clenched the pen in her hand as she pleaded with herself to settle down. She could sense that she was on the verge of losing it. She drew in a deep, calming breath and started to count to ten. She knew by the time she reached eight that it wasn’t working.

  She raised her hand. “I’d like to take a vote on how many members would like to move on, as oppose to those who would like to continue because they, like I, feel this discussion is too important to put on the back burner. Because they understand that the people who live in District D deserve the same air quality as those in the Uptown area, and that the amount one pays in property taxes should not determine one’s quality of life in the city of New Orleans.”

  Cecil banged his gavel again. “You’re grandstanding, Ms. Arnold.”

  His condescending tone was like a ball of rusty steel wool abrading her very last nerve.

  “I’m stating the case for my constituents because the council-member-at-large will not allow me to do so any other way,” she said.

  “Forgive me for speaking out of order, but I happen to agree with Councilmember Arnold.”

  Mack peered over to the other end of the dais where her routine adversary, Russell Babin, sat with his hands folded and the usual air of superiority permeating the space around him. She was immediately suspicious.

  Since being elected four years ago, she had gone head-to-head with the councilmember from District C more than any other on the council. This was the first time Babin had ever so readily agreed with her.

  “I think we need to have a lot more discussion before allowing this to fall to the bottom of the agenda,” Babin continued. “There are a number of new homes on the market in the Uptown area, and the promise of this new power source can only attract buyers. I, for one, believe that we need to do whatever we can to make sure the zoning is approved as soon as possible. The sooner the plant is built, the better.”

  If her eyes could shoot bullets both Russell and Cecil’s families would be preparing for funerals tomorrow. Mack didn’t know what she had been thinking earlier. Poison was much too kind for these two. She wanted to bring back medieval torture devices. A mace upside the head was the only way to go.

  “I agree with you, Councilmember Babin, however—” Cecil started, but this time she cut him off.

  “Before you attempt to table this discussion yet again, I’d like to point out that Mayor Warner has already stated his adamant disapproval of the proposed power plant,” Mack said. “The council will have a hard time convincing the public to go along with this plan if the mayor isn’t backing it.”

  The smug grin that curled up the side of Cecil’s mouth made the hairs on Mack’s arm stand on end. The council president held up a sheet of paper.

  “Actually, in t
his memo, Mayor Warner expresses his wholehearted approval for both the power plant and the proposed site,” he said. “Now, I must insist we move on.”

  A knot of shock and dismay clawed its way up Mack’s throat. Disappointment pounded within her chest, rendering her speechless.

  She tried her hardest to listen as the deputy clerk called the next agenda item to the floor, but she was so stunned at the thought of Lucien Warner doing a complete one-eighty on the new utility plant that Mack barely heard what was being said in the chamber. This was the second time this month Mayor Warner had changed course on pledges he’d made to constituents. He’d backtracked at least a half dozen times this year, reversing his stance on issues he’d held firm on for as long as Mack could remember.

  “Councilmember Arnold? Councilmember Arnold!”

  “What? I…I’m sorry,” Mack said. “What was that?”

  Cecil’s irritation was evident in his tightened jaw and clipped words. “I asked if you mind if we take a vote by general consent on your proposal for the new playground equipment in Pontchartrain Park?”

  “No, no. Of course not,” she said.

  The proposal went through and Cecil adjourned the meeting with his usual flare for the dramatic. Mack couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She tried to keep her distaste for some of her fellow councilmembers from showing on her face, but it wasn’t easy. It especially wasn’t easy after a night like tonight, when she’d been blindsided by her mentor.

  As Mack packed up her materials, Juliette Cannon, the only other woman on the council, came up to her.

  “I’m sorry about what they did to you tonight, Mackenna. I distinctly remember the mayor stating that he would not support the gas turbine being built in your district. I don’t know what Cecil did to convince him to go against his initial wishes, but he must have been very persuasive.”

  “I don’t know what he said to the mayor either,” Mack said. “But I’m not giving up without a fight.”

  “You never do,” Juliette said. “That’s why you won your last race by a sixty point margin.”

  “I’m still convinced those other people only voted for Tom Shepard because he looks good in a suit. I nearly voted for him for that same reason,” she said with a playful wink.

  Juliette burst out laughing and patted Mack on the arm. “I’ll see you tomorrow. You promised you’d help with the French Quarter noise ordinance, remember?”

  “I’ll be there.”

  She pasted on a smile for Juliette’s sake, but inside Mack was still reeling from the mayor’s reversal. His reasons for first opposing the power plant’s construction aligned with hers, and they were damn good reasons. There was zero upside to building the plant in her district. The utility company had already stated that the facility would be manned by current employees, so the prospect of new jobs—something that would have been welcomed in some of the more depressed areas—wasn’t even on the table.

  The mayor had been raised in the Gentilly Woods neighborhood. He understood the longstanding obstacles those residents continued to face. How could he turn his back on his own people?

  The only thing Mack could think of that would make him go back on his word was that he’d been given some kind of incentive.

  A possible financial incentive?

  She shook her head. She would not—could not—go there. She’d been Lucien Warner’s staunchest supporter since the day she’d walked into his Theories of Argumentation class back in her first year of law at Tulane University. He was one of the most upstanding men she’d ever known. Mack refused to believe that man would ever turn his back on the people of this city just to pad his own pockets.

  Yet, as she rushed through the rain to her car, the nagging voice in the back of her head that insisted something was off with Mayor Warner refused to be silenced. She’d begun to question his motives months ago, when it appeared that he would relent on his opposition to holding internet-based vehicle-for-hire companies to the same standard as taxi companies in the city. He was the one who had first convinced her that the rights of the taxi drivers needed to be protected.

  He’d made the same assertions regarding the residents in her district when it came to this new gas turbine. What could have changed? Why did he feel they no longer needed to be protected?

  “This is why you need to run,” Mack whispered as she turned onto St. Charles Avenue.

  When she’d first considered challenging Lucien in the next mayoral race, Mack was honest enough with herself to admit that her reasons were not the most altruistic. That relentless compulsion to prove herself remained the driving force behind every step she’d ever taken regarding her career, but this felt different.

  Over these last four years, she’d come to care about the people of her district so much more than she ever thought possible. Their stories touched her. Their resilience inspired her. They deserved a champion. Every single person in this city deserved a champion.

  You can be their champion.

  Mack tensed as nervous flutters took flight in her belly, but she quickly quelled the sensation. She’d never been one to fall victim to fear. Whenever it reared its head, that’s when she surged forward, daring anything to stop her. She sure as hell wasn’t going to let fear overcome her now.

  She had a class to teach tomorrow—the student who had now become the professor—and the meeting with Juliette, but Mack was determined to carve out some time to meet with Mayor Warner. She wanted to hear from his mouth just why he’d changed course on the gas turbine.

  Mack pulled up to the curb in front of Griffin Sims’s galleried cottage-style house. The handsome engineer and her best friend, Indina Holmes, had been carrying on a co-workers-with-benefits relationship for nearly a year, yet Mack had only learned about it a couple of months ago. She still hadn’t forgiven Indina for keeping such a juicy secret from her.

  Griffin had persuaded Indina to turn their purely physical arrangement into the real thing, a fact that continued to astonish Mack whenever she thought about it. She’d been convinced her best friend was done with relationships.

  Mack knew for certain she sure as hell was done with them. After the implosion of her fifteen-year marriage, she’d rather light her own hair on fire than reenter the dating scene. The occasional bouts of loneliness she’d encountered since her divorce were preferable to the utter misery she’d faced during those last few years with Carter. Her eye twitched just at the thought of her ex-husband. That bastard could stand right next to Cecil and Russell if she ever got that firing squad primed and ready.

  Just as she reached for the door handle, a loud crack of thunder resonated from above and a torrent of water poured from the sky.

  “Shit,” Mack cursed as she searched for her umbrella. She thumped her head on the headrest, recalling last Thursday’s downpour, when she’d last used the umbrella. The damn thing was still in her office at City Hall. Shit.

  She pulled her ringing phone from her purse, spotting Indina’s number on the screen. “Hey,” Mack answered. “I’m right outside.”

  “I know you are,” her friend said. “I’m watching you through the front window.”

  Mack looked to the house and saw Indina peeking out from behind sheer curtains. She waved.

  “I was about to call the police,” Indina continued. “I forgot you were driving that rental car.”

  “Mine is still sitting at the mechanic’s shop waiting for a part,” Mack said. “I’ll come in as soon as the rain slacks. I forgot my umbrella.”

  “I’ll send someone out to get you,” she said.

  “No, that’s okay—” Mack started, but Indina had already disconnected the call. A minute later, the front door opened and her worst nightmare walked out.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Mack muttered.

  Of all the people…

  If there was one person who worked on her nerves more than her two adversaries on the city council, it was Ezra Holmes. She didn’t hate him enough to shove him in front of t
he firing squad, but it was pretty damn close.

  Indina’s younger brother had worked for years as an investigative reporter for the city’s now defunct major newspaper. For reasons Mack had yet to figure out, Ezra had gotten it in his head that she was engaged in some kind of nefarious activity. He’d spent the past four months sniffing around her office at City Hall, pestering her assistants and the deputy clerks with all kinds of questions. Basically being a giant pain in her ass.

  Everything had come to a head a couple of months ago, when Mack had breakfast with her former brother-in-law—a man she was convinced had been adopted. She’d told Charles, a longtime officer with the NOPD, about Ezra’s annoying harassment and, without her knowledge, Charles took it upon himself to arrest Ezra for stalking.

  Charles had hoped to scare Ezra into leaving Mack alone, but his plan backfired. The arrest only fueled Ezra’s insane idea that she had something to hide. He’d become even more dogged in his pursuit to “uncover Mack’s web of corruption.”

  As he rounded the rental’s front bumper, she was tempted to start the car and drive away. But it was Griffin’s birthday, and Mack had promised Indina she’d come over to help them celebrate. She owed it to her friend after cancelling on her the last few times they’d made plans. But if she had to spend any significant amount of time in the same space as Ezra, Mack considered her debt to Indina paid in full.

  The thunderous boom that shattered the sky symbolized her sudden mood shift. She’d stay, but she couldn’t promise she’d be here for long.

  Ezra tapped on the driver’s side window. Mack fixed the glower she knew her face held and opened the car door. She would at least try to be nice.

  “You?” Ezra balked, seeming to recoil just at the sight of her.

  Okay, forget being nice. This jerk didn’t deserve it.

  “Yes, me,” Mack bit out. “Care to get out of the rain?”