Chapter 20: Master Mind

Rachel sat thinking in her room. She had overheard her father, Samuel, tell Hailey about Beth and her failed plan. Though she had never met her, like Noah she too knew about her. She realized how vicious the woman was, yet she felt something was amiss. She tried racking her brain, remembering all she had heard about Beth from her brother and her Dad. Though Beth was cunning and greedy, she was not smart enough to come up with a full proof plan to get Noah killed. She was also not clever to realize what could happen if her plan failed and was revealed in front of the Carters. All these led to only one thing, she was not the mastermind. There was somebody else plotting against the Carters.

Rachel could name quite a few people who would try to seek revenge against the Carters. But she did not have any proof. She thought to inform Noah about it, he would definitely do something about it. She sighed, her head hurt with all the thinking. She had been working on a project for a month when Noah was shot and now her grandfather was hospitalized. The stress was taking a toll on her body. She opened the sketch she had prepared for her project. She was contacted by Daniel Adler for the construction of his law firm, Adler Law Firm. Though he already had one, he wanted his office building in the city center. So, he had contacted Rachel to be the architect.

Rachel looked at her sketches. They were quite good in her eyes and she felt that they easily blended with the other buildings in the area. But Daniel did not feel so. He kept rejecting her ideas, asking for something innovative. He was giving her a hard time. She did not know what he wanted in his building as he was not sure himself. He couldn't pinpoint what he felt was wrong in her previous fifteen sketches as all sketches were perfect.

"Your sketches and ideas are very good. But I am not sure why I feel there is something important missing." Daniel had told her in their last meeting.

Rachel started to look at all her sketches trying to find out what she could have missed. As far as she could see, she had included all that was necessary in a law firm.

"What could I have missed?" Rachel tried recollecting her brother's office. His office had an entire floor for the legal department. Maybe she could find out what she had missed.

"Aha. That is what I missed." She exclaimed after some time. "How could I have forgotten the record section?" She remembered that Noah's lawyers maintained a record section where all the cases they had taken were maintained based on the type of trial in a chronological order for future reference. She immediately started her new sketch.

After two hours, Rachel had finished her work.

"I hope now Mr. Adler will like it." She muttered, looking at it satisfied. She took out her phone and sent him a text. "I have another plan. Can we meet tomorrow?"

She got off her bed and walked towards the bathroom. She needed a hot bath to relax her muscles. She filled the tub with moderately hot water and added chamomile essential oil. She slowly undressed herself and stepped inside the bathtub.

Meanwhile, Danny was still in his office. He had a trial the next day, so he was going through his documents once again. He had memorized all the important details and had collected all the necessary proof sufficient for his victory, yet he did not want to miss out on relevant details. At that time, his phone vibrated. He opened it to find a message from Rachel Carter.

"I have another plan. Can we meet tomorrow?"

"Sorry. Miss Carter. I have a case tomorrow. How about the day after tomorrow?" He texted back.

Daniel felt sorry for her. He knew he was giving her a hard time and he felt guilty every time he rejected her ideas. However, he knew it was her job and he was paying her the money. He wanted the best for his firm, so he kept quiet. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He closed his file, put it in his bag, and walked out of his office. It was empty, all the staff and the employees had left long back. He walked to the elevator and pressed the button. Even though he waited for around ten minutes, the elevator did not arrive. He looked around and found a signboard indicating that the elevator was out of order. He had failed to notice the board before. He gave a dejected look. He was tired and he had to climb down six floors now. He pulled out his phone and looked at the time. It read 10.40 p.m. He had not had his dinner and his stomach had been rumbling since nine.

Daniel opened the staircase door and started to climb down. After twenty minutes of climbing five floors, he reached the first floor. As soon as he approached the first floor, someone plunged at him. His right hand hurt like hell and a warm liquid flowed down, staining his shirt and coat. Daniel immediately swung his bag at his attacker and blocked his right hand. He punched his face with his left hand and kicked him in his right knee. The man howled in pain. He couldn't see who his attacker was as he had worn a mask. He pulled the man's hands behind his back and held them in his left hand.

The attacker was could not defend himself as Daniel had him in a headlock. He did not know that Daniel knew how to fight. He was pulled forcefully by him towards the ground floor. As soon as they walked out of the building, the guard came running seeing his boss holding a man.

"Call the police," Daniel said to the guard and pushed the attacker to the ground. He kicked him hard again, this time on the left leg. The man could not move, it was too painful. Daniel then forcefully pulled off the man's mask, only to go into shock on seeing the person's face.

"You....."