by Ron Hudson
Now, in both of their minds, the murders were a horrible mistake that had gone wrong.
On the way to see Fuzz Strep said, “I’m thinking we may need to talk to Pastor Pink and tell him wat we done. If Mr. Fuzz can’t take back dat spell, we gonna have us a big problem not only with Loney but also the law.”
“Well, dey can’t prove it was us. And I don’t know how the sheriff could know we were part of it. If dey do find out, we’ll jes say it was Mr. Fuzz who did the dirty deed, and we didn’t know nutin bot it. Dat’s de honest to goodness truth anyway.”
As they pulled into the road leading to few houses that made up Shelltown, both Strep and Topop continued to discuss the situation and kept making excuses as to why Fuzz did such a thing as to have the moonshiners killed.
Fuzz was sitting on the same log where they left him earlier. Beside him, Cricket was sitting on the ground on her hunches using one leg to frantically scratch fleas from here stomach. A few Shelltown residents were out on the dirt streets of the small village. A man and woman were looking up at the goat-headed statue, with their hands together at their chins, as though they were praying or having some other religious conversation.
Setting down on each side of Fuzz, Strep was the first to speak. “Good morning Mr. Fuzz!”
Not waiting for a reply Strep continued, “Have you heard what happened to the two bikers we put a hex on?”
“Yes, I heard about it. We did a pretty good job didn’t we?”
“Oh, my god Mr. Fuzz, we didn’t want to kill anyone. We jes wanted to scare em a little. Like my wife said, dem people dey got families that gonna suffer.”
“It’s too late now son we done turned the spirit lose. Oba the head of the clan told me after he heard about what happened to them two men, he had let loose a mighty strong haint.”
Topop replied, “Well it’s done now, and I hope nothin else will happen.”
“I can’t promise that son. Remember when we started I told you putting a hex on someone was not a good thing, since it cannot always be controlled.”
“But you gotta do somein, Mr. Fuzz. The sheriff is investigatin the death of the men and they done already talked to us.”
“What did you tell them?” said Fuzz.
“We said we didn’t know nutin about no moonshiner killing, but I know day gonna be back,” said Topop.
“You know boys, I toed you putting a haint on people was serious business, and as I said sometime you can’t control it. You wanted the strongest I could delivery. You also said death wasn’t too good for them motorcycle people. Me and Cricket talked it over real good before we let it loose. We never done a hex as powerful as what you wanted. All we ever done was make people sick and stuff like that. In that case, maybe we slipped a little foxglove in their drinks to help the process along. But, we decided to make this spell as potent as we could.
Matter of fact we prayed and went into a “pass out,” what I heard some people calling a séance. Well, a séance was what it was alright, and we stayed in it for two whole days. In our “pass out”, we prayed to the Supreme Spirit about what we needed. The Supreme Spirit said what we needed was a “doomsday haint”—a “doomsday haint” that’s what he called it OK. I never heard that said before, but after Cricket and me talked about it during our “pass out,” we told the Supreme Spirit to go ahead and do it. Then the Supreme Spirit said our request was what he called “consummated.” When we heard bout the killings, we wuz really proud of our work.”
“Can’t you go back to the Supreme Spirit and ask him to take it off?”
“Oh, no! Dey’s no way. I never heard of dat happening. I don’t know how to do it. And there is no way we can bring back the dead people either.”
Strep and Topop kept talking with Fuzz trying to get him to reverse the hex or take it off. The three men discussed numerous options. Finally, Fuzz promised he would go review the situation with Oba, the head of the Shelltown clan.
Now more worried than ever, not only was Loney going to be upset but the two men were certain they would have to discuss the situation with Caley or Sweet who were investigating. They told Fuzz they would be back to talk some more later.
While Strep and Topop were concerned by the murders, they hadn’t the slightest idea of the catastrophe that was looming.
They were soon to find out what a real “doomsday haint” was!
Chapter 35
The funerals for Homer Aiken and Henry Padgett were held together as a joint ceremony. The procession from the funeral home to the cemetery, located in the back of the Red Bay Baptist Church, was a mile long. There were a string of bikers following the two hearses carrying remains of Homer and Henry. There were thirty bikers in all. Big Al and Tee were leading the two by two formations immediately behind the last hearse. At the cemetery, there were six pallbearers for each coffin. They placed the remains on stands over the graves. All the bikers were dressed in their road-ready dress, wearing helmets and other tacky adornments.
The families of the two men agreed to have the decedents buried side by side and in identical coffins. The ceremony was at the church cemetery just behind the church itself. At least 150 family and friends were at the funeral. Family members were seated on chairs beneath two adjoining bright green funeral tents. Close relatives sitting on the front row. Occasionally one of them would wipe away tears being shed for their love ones.
The six pallbearers were all people who knew the two deceased men. After placing the coffins on stands suspended over the graves, they moved to a line behind the families where all stood in two perfectly aligned rows. After the eulogy, the bikers made a hand salute and jointly said: “Praise God and protect their souls forevermore.” This little verse, the formation, and hand salute had been practiced the day before outside Flood’s Place. The addendum to the ceremony gave the funeral a very dignified touch, even though it wasn’t very pompous or precisely carried out in its delivery.
The opportunity to show concern about a major crime was an opportunity for the politicians to get some publicity for the Election Day less than two weeks away. Of course, they described it as purely a concern for the welfare of the people of the county. Sheriff Wilson, Caley Givens, and several other deputies, plus a few local officials from Warrenton were at the high-profile funeral. Even Skip Hanford was in the crowd.
Henry and Homer’s biker friends had also obtained permission from the family to have Big Al speak at the funeral. He gave an excellent speech about how both men had long been pillars of the community. There were a few smiles in the crowd when Al added that no matter what some may think moonshiners were pillars of the community. Big Al’s beard made him look very distinguished, as much as his motorcycle jacket seemed out of place in the summer heat.
Chapter 36
Monday morning saw Caley and Sweet at her office in Warrenton going over the case, and especially Caley’ s notes on her interview with Owen Lemacks. With no new ideas, Caley said to Sweet, “Lemacks thought the sheriff might be able to give us some more background on Homer Aiken. According to him, the sheriff and Homer were in high school together.”
“I thought you were going to stay home this weekend? “
“Sorry, I just couldn’t get this thing off my mind.”
Well I don’t suppose it would hurt to ask the sheriff to give us an update,” said Sweet.
“Yeah, I suppose so. When the sheriff saw Homer’s dead body, he said he knew him. He didn’t give me any more information, and I didn’t ask at the time. I think it would be a good idea to see what else he can tell us about Homer.”
With that, Caley called the sheriff’s office and asked him if he could meet her for a brief on where they were with the case. She also said she wanted to get any information he may have on Homer Aiken’s background.”
“I will stop your office in about an hour, but I haven’t spoken to Homer Aiken in years,” said the sheriff.
The sheriff’s last remark puzzled Caley. In her background check on Homer,
she had determined that he was arrested only a year earlier for a DUI, and put in jail overnight. It is possible but highly unlikely the sheriff would not have known about it. Sometimes there is only one arrest in the county for a week at a time, and often none at all. When there is, the sheriff generally knows about it. Maybe he just forgot.
When Caley met with the sheriff, she could tell he was very anxious for some good news regarding progress on the case. Caley updated him on her weekend activities and conversations with Biggis and Owen Lemacks. When Owen’s name came up, the sheriff laughed and made a comment about their former high school relationship. He had no comments about her conversation with Biggis. Caley felt that his non-verbal behavior was confirmation that he had given Biggis the confidential information published in the paper.
“So you haven’t been in touch with Homer Aiken since you left high school,’ said Caley.
“Not really. I heard he was still in the county, but I haven’t talked to him in a long, long time.”
“You know he was arrested for a DUI a few months ago and put in jail. Guess you must have overlooked it.”
Quickly reversing his stand, the sheriff said, “You know, I clean forgot about that. He spent a few nights in jail as I recall. I did see his name on the login sheet, but didn’t pay much attention to it.”
“You mean you didn’t even talk to an old high school friend, whose name you recognized?”
“Well, he really wasn’t much of a friend. In fact, he and I had a number of fights in high school. And no I didn’t speak with him.”
“What did you fight about, sheriff?”
“You know the regular kid stuff. He called me a few names, and it came to blows; nothing serious.”
Caley not wanting to offend the sheriff didn’t pursue the conversation, but she felt the sheriff was holding something back. Maybe he was just glad to see his old high school nemesis on the receiving end of some bad luck. Was the sheriff lying, or was he just unsettled about the upcoming election?
At this point, Sheriff Wilson was fighting for his career, and he was running scared. The election was a short time away, and everybody in the county felt that Skip Handford was certain to become the next sheriff. As the election drew nearer, Sheriff Wilson was becoming more and more paranoid. He deeply resented his opposition. He recognized Skip as a gifted speaker. His six feet muscular physique didn’t hurt his image. He was still in the National Guard, and combined with his recent active duty in Afghanistan, had what seemed to be perfect qualifications for sheriff of this very conservative county. And it didn’t hurt that he had the endorsement of the NRA, which had pumped enough money into his campaign for several continuing advertisements in the local paper.
Why would the sheriff lie about talking to Homer Aiken though? Surely, he wanted to find the murder, as his apprehension would have a positive reflection on his office. She couldn’t get it off her mind. It doesn’t make sense Caley thought!
As an experienced investigator, Caley was beginning to wonder why this case seemed to have so many connections to the group of old high school friends. Now the sheriff insisted she follow up on the questioning of another of his high school classmates, Jim Avant. Coincidence! The county had a small population, and normally such a coincidence would not have raised her suspensions, but now that the sheriff was avoiding giving more information on one of the victims, really made her wonder what was going on.
It didn’t take long for her to arrive at Jim Avant’s house. As she pulled up and looked around to see if she saw or heard his dogs. She remembered Avant saying he had dogs when she was here before but she never saw any. Sure enough, no dogs barked. Avant came out the front door of the house immediately upon hearing a honk of the horn. He limped over to the vehicle as he did before. As Caley got out of the car, Avant said, “What you want this time?”
After talking with Avant only once, Caley was alert to his demeanor and made a conscious decision not to let him aggravate her.
“Good morning Jim. I need to ask you some more questions about the murders up the road.”
“Well, I told you before I don’t know nutin.”
“Yes I know, but some other things have come up indicating that you have been involved with Homer Aiken for a long time. I wanted to ask you about that.”
“Yea, I been knowing Homer for a long time alright. I told you that before didn’t I? I keep in touch with him, or did until he up and got himself killed. I do the same with many other people around here. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing Jim, but if you have kept in touch with him, then you must have known that he was making whiskey.”
Avant took the comment as offensive and seemed to have let it aggravate him.
“Well, so what if I did. It’s none of your business, and it’s certainly no big thing. Making whiskey is big business around here,” said Avant in his slow manner of speaking.
“I tell you what Jim, I still want to look around your house. You feel more like letting me do that today than you did the other day?”
“No, you got no business going in my house.”
“How ‘bout if I look around outside?”
“Go ahead. You won’t find nutin.”
Unfortunately, Caley felt the same way, but she decided to take a walk around the property anyway. The house was set in the middle of about an acre of ground with a four-foot wire fence surrounding it. A thick forest of pine and oak trees were on all sides with the entrance road cutting through in front of the house. Caley opened the wire gate and entered the yard, stepping around several shallow mud puddles. Several pigs were wallowing in the mud in the back part of the lot. No dogs!
“Where’s your dog’s Jim,” Caley said.
“Don’t have none,” replied Jim, confirming the earlier lie about having to go feed his dogs.
As Caley walked by the house, for no good reason at all, she stooped down and looked under the house which was set on old heart pine blocks about two feet off the ground. The blocks were rotted in several places, and the house had settled down so that one side of it leaned over several degrees.
Then she saw it. In spite of being very little light under the house, she saw something that looked like a pistol lying on the ground beside one of the blocks. It was within reach. She noticed that it was lying on top of a piece of newspaper. She reached into her pocket and got a nitrile glove to retrieve the pistol. Then she retrieved the double section of the two sheets of newspaper on which it was lying. She made a note of the fact that the date on the newspaper was several months earlier than the present date, indicating that if it had been placed there with the gun, it would have been put under the house since the murders.
Holding the pistol in front of her, she said, “this yours Jim?”
“Never seen it before!”
“How do you think it got under your house?”
“Got me!”
Holding the pistol and newspaper remnant carefully, Caley took them back to the vehicle and placed them in one of the protective evidence bags she always carried.
She got into the vehicle she said, “OK Jim I’ll be in touch. Be thinking about how that gun got under your house. We need to talk about it soon.”
As she drove off, she saw Jim lift his hat with his right hand and scratch his head as though he couldn’t believe what had just happened.
Back at the office, Caley recorded the weapon’s serial number and made note that it was an unloaded .45 Model 1911 automatic. This was very interesting. She wanted to have the ballistics checked as soon as possible to see if there was any correlation to the bullets that had been retrieved from the two victims. She packaged up the weapon and newspaper sheets and sent them to SLED Headquarters for forensic analysis. She immediately sent an email to the office requesting that the pistol and newspaper be checked for fingerprints as well as to be tested and compared to the bullets retrieved from the moonshiners. Next, she got on the telephone to Bubba Vandi and told him what had been found and requested him to e
nsure the evidence be processed without delay.
She called Sheriff Wilson and reported what she had found. She knew he would view this as good news. In fact, he would probably overreact and not want to wait until the evidence report had been received from SLED before he made the discovery public. On the other hand, with election day only a week away and with his opponent making great strides at becoming the next sheriff, she could understand his anxiety.
Sheriff Wilson answered his cellphone on the second ring. “Hello, this is Wilson.”
“Sheriff, you got a minute to talk, I want to bring you up to date on the murder case?”
“I’m about to make a speech at the local Rotary Club. Make it quick.”
Caley reported that she had found a .45 caliber handgun under Jim Avant’s house and it was on its way to SLED for forensic analysis.
Unable to restrain his excitement, he said, “I knew that son-of-a-bitch had something to do with these deaths. Did you arrest the bastard?”
“Not yet, I think it would be prudent to wait until we get the report back from SLED. There are a number of rational explanations for finding a gun under Avant’s house. I do plan to bring him in for questioning, but the line of questioning would probably be more productive once we get the report on the gun.”
“To hell with prudence, bring him in now. I’ll be back to the office as soon as you arrest him. Get him in there! I’ll help with the questioning.”
The sheriff hung up without giving Caley a chance to rebut his comments. Within ten minutes, he was in front of the local Rotary Club promoting his campaign. He started off, by reminding all present he had been the best sheriff of the county since it could be remembered, and his challenger had very little law enforcement knowledge. He went on to claim his competence by discussing the issues of the current pending investigations into the murders as well as the recent discovery of the bodies of the murdered moonshiners. He had already announced a press conference for tomorrow to report progress on the case, but he wasn’t going to wait for this opportunity to tout some good news.
