Cleansing

by Roy A. Teel, Jr.

  His father took another drink of his gin and said, “Yes, son, that is true, but there are things of this world that must be completed before I join that one.” “The church?” His father nodded. “What do you want me to do, Father? I have been out of the church for nearly a year. I have my own sheep to tend. My flock is small, but they are just as important as yours.” “I agree, son, and I want you to bring them into the fold with the congregation here. I want you to lead the church. The people know you, they respect you, and they would welcome you back and accept you as their pastor and spiritual leader.”

  Erick sat for a long time, sipping his own drink after hearing his father’s words and asked, “When is the board going to meet?” “They are meeting now. Hess is running the meeting and explaining my situation. He will call me when he is ready for me to meet with them. I want to present you as my successor, Erick. I want you to join me on that stage and tell the board that you are ready, willing, and able to tend the flock.”

  Erick looked at his father and said, “The church board? The official church board?” His father nodded. He took a drink of his beverage and asked, “What about the ‘other’ board, Father? When are you meeting with them?” He could see him squirm in his seat a bit, and his father took another big drink of his gin and called to Alice for another. She brought the drink as the two men sat silent. “I’m waiting for an answer, Father.”

  “Arnest and Watson will meet with us after the main church board meeting to talk about the underchurch.” Jr. swigged the last of his drink and started to chew on the ice. “You promised me that you were ending that mythological society of yours. You promised that you were going to get rid of Watson and Arnest and the whole Richards cult! Jesus, Father, can’t you see that cult is worse than the cancer that is taking your life? How much further into depravity have you fallen?”

  “You can’t speak of the family like that. It’s a movement with momentous power. We are moving to bring forth the second coming of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, and we now have all the pieces to make it so. Son…I might not have to taste the sting of death…we are there. The Lord has told me that we have met His every commandment and sacrificed unto Him a pleasant offering.”

  Erick stood up but sat right back down. He was lightheaded from the fall earlier at the church. “Are you all right, son?” “Am I all right? Am I all right? Fuck, no, I’m not all right. Jesus Christ, Dad. It’s been you and those sickos who have been killing and sacrificing all those children. This is what you’re talking about when you say the Lord is pleased, isn’t it?”

  His father looked down into his drink and then at him, and there was a sudden look of horror in his face. “I’m going to hell, Erick …God has seen my deeds, and I’m going to hell. This is the punishment he has lashed me with. He is taking me fast to save lives.”

  Erick asked, “How many more children do those sick bastards have to sacrifice?” “Two…they kidnapped one this afternoon and one will be taken from the mother when she leaves the hospital. She has promised him to us.” “Who is the one in the hospital?” “Jesus Emmanuel Estonia.”

  Erick got a confused look on his face and asked, “Roberto and Maria Estonia’s newborn?” His father nodded, weeping into his glass. Erick stood up and said, “Let’s go!” “Where?” “To the church. I will take over the church, and I will end this Richards family business once and for all.” His father stood up and laid his head on Erick’s shoulder, weeping. “It’s too late, son. It’s far too late. There is no way to stop what is happening. They will kill you if they know I have told you about this.” Erick helped his father walk out of the restaurant, and as he did, he put his father into his car and left his new Mercedes behind. He pulled out his cell phone and called Jim’s number.

  John and Chris arrived at Arnest Funeral Home at quarter to ten, but there were no cars in the lot. John looked at Chris and said, “You have your vest on?” He nodded. John had the search warrant in hand and two other unmarked vehicles from the FBI were waiting a block away. John called the code as he and Chris walked up to the entrance of the funeral home, and three black FBI vans pulled into the parking lot as John rang the bell. There was no answer, and John looked around at the old building and could see a light on in a second floor window. “That must be the apartment,” John said. Chris looked on and asked, “Someone lives here?” John nodded and pounded on the door to no response. He called out to his men and said, “Break it down!”

  A battering ram struck the door three times until it blew open, sending wood and glass in every direction. John and Chris entered, guns drawn, into the dark lower level of the home. “Lights!” John yelled, and lights started coming on all through the lower level. His men moved from room to room yelling clear. They made their way to the morgue where there was nothing out of the ordinary. There were a few caskets that looked like they were being prepared for a viewing. John ordered the cold storage lockers to be searched as he called Chris to follow him up the stairs to what he could only assume was the keeper’s home.

  He knocked on the door and announced, “FBI. We have a search warrant. Come out with your hands in the air.” There was no response, and John and Chris used their combined size and strength to send the door to the apartment to the floor.

  When they looked around, the lights were on as was a television and a window air conditioner. They moved through the small apartment until they came to a closed door with a streak of light underneath. They could hear water running, and John smashed into the door and heard the scream of a woman as he entered. The bathroom was steamed over, and the shower doors were as well. John called out again, “FBI. Step out of the shower with your hands up.” The fogged over doors opened slowly, and a slender Hispanic woman stood nude with her hands in the air. John ordered her out, but she didn’t understand English. He ordered her out in Spanish, and she complied. He looked into the shower but no one was there.

  John’s team leader called out that they had cleared the house, and there was no sign of Arnest. He called for one of his agents who spoke Spanish to come up to the apartment. John placed a towel over the woman’s shoulders and walked out into the master bedroom. The apartment was too small for everyone, so John and Chris went back down to the funeral home and started searching for Arnest’s office. One of his men called out from the morgue and said, “Sir, we have something.”

  John and Chris ran into the room and saw the agent holding up a dirty diaper and some soiled embalming rags. John said, “Son of a bitch. It’s Arnest. He’s got the Rosenberg kid. I’ll call Jade Morgan and get her out here. I need DNA on that ASAP.”

  When Jade answered, she was groggy. “Hello?” “Jade, it’s John. I need you and your team at the Arnest Funeral Home in Arleta, pronto. I need a DNA test done.” Jade was sitting up in her bed and said, “No problem, John. I will send out my team.” “No, Jade, I need you out here, too. Please hurry.” He hung up the phone and walked back into the main lobby and then through a few small viewing rooms until he came into an office area where some of his men were working.

  John walked over to a cluttered desk in the middle of the office and looked closely at the documents on top of the desk. He was scanning the desk when Chris lifted a piece of paper with his gloved hand and showed it to him. John took it and read it over. “It’s a receipt from three hours ago from Montgomery Drug Store. He read the contents of the list out loud, and Chris said, “This guy deals with the dead. Not to be cruel, but dead babies don’t wear diapers or drink formula.” John laughed and said, “You’re getting it, kid, now you’re starting to get it. Please, please just don’t become a smartass like Jim.” Chris laughed and said, “I don’t know, John. Jim is kind of rubbing off on me.”

  John talked as he walked and barked orders to his team to secure the scene and execute the search warrant. “Yeah, Jim kind of grows on you…like a fungus.” That got a laugh out of Chris as they emerged from the home. They were just getting ready t
o walk across the lawn and back to John’s truck when Jade pulled up with her team. “So, do we have a homicide in there?” John shook his head. “Then why am I here?” “Baby shit!” Jade looked at John and said, “Excuse me?” “Baby shit, Jade. I need you to do a DNA match on baby shit. It’s in a diaper in the morgue. I need to know if it is the Rosenberg kid’s shit.” Chris was trying not to laugh while John kept a completely straight and serious face.

  “You called me out in the middle of the fuckin’ night over a diaper full of shit?” “Yep…I need it done ASAP. The police have the parents’ DNA on the missing kid from this afternoon. I need you to tell me if that shit is from that kid.” Jade started to walk into the house when John yelled out, “Thank you, Jade!” “Go fuck yourself, John…you, too, Chris!” Chris was laughing as they got into John’s truck headed for the drug store. “Man is she pissed at you,” Chris said as John drove to the twenty-four hour drug store. “She’ll get over it. She always does.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “This night is starting to

  get very, very, strange.”

  Jim’s phone started ringing in the darkness of the upper level of the church balcony. All heads down below turned, trying to see who the unwelcome visitor was. Hess was standing at the podium where he had been speaking when he saw Jim O’Brian step out of the darkness with an unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth and his cell phone in his hand.

  “O’Brian,” he said as he walked toward the front of the balcony. He stood in silence with the phone to his ear listening to the caller then asked, “And where are you now, sir?” A few more movements of silence passed, and he said, “I’m on my way.” He hung up the phone and looked down at the faces looking up at him. “Sorry about that, folks. Police business. Go on about your church business. Sorry about Erick. He’s a good man and a great businessman. Shit, if I knew how profitable this religion game was I would never have gotten into police work. It’s so much easier to fuck with people’s minds with a book and some pagan symbols. Jesus Christ…well… good night.”

  John’s phone rang as he and Chris were leaving the drug store. “You’re never going to believe this. I got a beat on the kid killers.” Jim’s voice echoed on the phone. “Yeah…so do we.” “We?” Jim asked. “Yeah. I have Chris with me. We know who has the Rosenberg kid. We just don’t know where they are.” “They? They?” Jim called into the phone.

  Jim said, “I am standing out in front of Alice’s Place on Van Nuys Boulevard. Do you know the place?” “You bet. A greasy spoon, and I bet you’re there for some pie!” “Nope. I have been invited here by Erick Walton Jr. to talk about the killings. It seems Erick senior is part of the Richards Family, and he has been killing kids to please God, only now he feels bad and has had a change of heart since he learned about six or seven hours ago he’s dying. He’s pretty fucked up. He’s afraid he’s going to hell for his part in this.”

  John was silent then said, “He is. You know where to take him. What about the kid? Is he involved?” “Nope…he called me after his father confessed it to him. He’s willing to help us in any way he can.” Chris was listening intently as well as watching John’s body language. “Okay…I have someone that Erick knows very well who I think can help in this situation. We are on our way to meet with you. Make sure that the other takes a nap. I just want the kid.” John hung up, and Chris looked at John and said, “This night is starting to get very, very, strange.” John pulled onto the street and said, “You haven’t seen anything yet, kid.”

  Jade Morgan had taken the contents of the diaper back to her lab, and she and her staff were running DNA testing on the feces left in the unwelcome package. She got a page that Ezra’s parents were in the lobby and that she needed to speak to them. Jade was waiting for a printout of the DNA from a specimen that she was analyzing while her staff was pleading with her to talk to the parents. She sat silent, waiting until a slip of paper the size of a grocery receipt popped out of a small printer. She looked down, hung her head, and walked out to meet the parents.

  Ken and Iris were sitting on two hard plastic chairs in the lobby when Jade emerged. Ken recognized her right away and said, “Oh God, please. Please don’t tell me that our son is here.” Jade shook her head and said, “No…your son is not here; however, at the request of the FBI and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department I ran some tests on elements that are believed to have come from your son.” “Elements? What kind of elements?” Iris asked. “Fecal samples from a diaper, and I am telling you before I tell the authorities. The sample is a positive match for your son’s DNA.” Iris collapsed into Ken’s arms in tears, and Jade tried to keep as stiff an upper lip as she could. “Does this mean that our son is dead?” Ken asked. “No, Mr. Rosenberg. It simply means that agents and officers have found evidence that supports that your son has been in a location.”

  “Location? Where?” “I’m not at liberty to discuss it, sir. I promise you that the men and women working on your child’s case are the best agents in the country, possibly the world. If there is anyone who can find your son and return him safely to you, it’s them.” Ken and Iris just stared at Jade, whose eyes were getting misty. “You don’t know what it’s like, Ms. Morgan. You have no idea what it’s like. Our son is out there in the hands of some stranger.” Jade let a tear run down her right cheek, and she said fighting back the rest of them, “I do know, Mr. Rosenberg. I truly do know from my own personal experience. You two should go home. There is nothing you can do here. I don’t want to ever have to see you in my office again.” She turned and walked away and out of sight of the couple who were walking out of the building’s main entrance.

  When she made the turn toward her office, she dropped to her knees and let out a low cry, and tears ran down her face as she got back to her feet and called John and Jim to let them know the news.

  F. E. was driving down Van Nuys Boulevard to Trinity Blood Church for a midnight meeting called by Hess Stevens and Erick Walton. He had left Charlotte with Ezra in a home that he owned in Reseda that he used as an investment property. He had the good fortune of having the house vacant and furnished. He drove toward the church all the while humming a hymn that he loved.

  John and Chris arrived at Alice’s Place a little before midnight and found Jim and Erick Sr. and son sitting in a booth in a private room. Jim slid out of the booth, and John pulled him aside and said, “I thought you were going to give senior a nap?” “No can do, Mr. Eagle. If he’s not at the second church meeting for the Richards Family Trinity Blood meeting, it’s going to spook Arnest and Watson and that kid is as good as dead.” John looked on at the haggard face of Erick senior and his tear streaks and said, “Don’t tell me that you’re feeling sorry for that guy?”

  “Not a fuckin’ chance, fly boy…he deserves what he gets, but I’m not the Eagle, and I’m not his errand boy. I will not be an accessory to murder.” John shook his head slowly and asked, “You already are…so what do you propose we do?” Jim took a cigarette out of his top left pocket and slid it behind his ear. “Recon. Chris and I follow the Ericks back to the church, then the Iron Eagle stakes out the place, and when he sees Arnest and Watson, he grabs them. If one or the other is there, the Eagle can’t grab the one because the other has the kid, so the Eagle will have to work his magic.” John nodded, and the two men walked over to the table. John looked at senior and asked, “Is there a plan for a sacrifice tonight?” He shook his head.

  “Arnest and Watson are the ring leaders of this deadly cult, aren’t they?” Senior nodded. John looked over at junior and asked, “And what do you know of this plot?” Erick sat up and said, “Only what I know from my father. I had no idea they were engaging in human sacrifice. When I found out, I called Sheriff O’Brian. I had his card from the memorial service for Emily Swan at our church a few days ago.” John sat down next to the two men and said, “You can understand if I don’t actually believe you, Mr. Walton. I find it very, very har
d to believe that you had no idea that your father and this cult were engaging in human sacrifice.” “You can believe what you like, Agent Swenson, but that is the truth. And while I know my father’s word means nothing to you, he can attest to the fact that I knew nothing of these goings on.”

  “Do you read the papers? Watch the news? I mean these killings have been going on for nearly a year.” “Yes, sir, I do, but I had no idea that my father or his church could have played any role in the deaths of those children.” John sat back and asked, “So what did you think was happening?” John was staring at and through him. “I thought that it was some sick small group.” “Satan worshippers?” John asked. “Oh no, sir. Even they don’t engage in such monstrous acts. I figured it was a serial killer who was randomly choosing children or some sick twisted cult, but I would have never seen my father involved in that.” John looked at his watch and said, “It’s a quarter to twelve. Don’t you gentlemen have a meeting?”

  They nodded, and Jim said, “Chris and I will take it from here, John. Don’t you have some work to do on the Ezra matter?” “Yes…Jade left me a message. I’m sure you both have one, too. The feces we found at Arnest’s is in fact from Ezra Rosenberg. I’m going to talk to the family. They were down at Jade’s office the last I knew. Take these two to the church, and whatever you do, do not let either of these guys disappear.”

  Sara and Karen were getting settled for the night when Sara excused herself to take care of something in the house. Karen stopped swimming and called out, “Where are you going, Sara?” She turned around while pulling her robe on and said, “I have to take care of some business. Nothing lengthy. Relax and enjoy the water. I will be right back.” She walked off into the house, and Karen swam over to the side of the pool and pulled her nude body out of the water. She grabbed a robe and walked into the living room, but Sara was nowhere to be found. She heard female voices in the distance and walked slowly and quietly in the direction of the sound until she recognized both voices. It was Sara and Barbara.