“So what did she do that was evil?”
“Where do you think some of those kids came from?”
“What church was it?”
“New Life Christian. It’s on the west side of Florence on the edge of town.”
“Do you know who else was involved in making the movies?”
“At first, he just filmed me. I know later, when Jack Morgan started working for him, he would come film. Jack and Bobby were the only ones around when I was there. But he let others have me when there weren’t cameras. I was, somehow, part of whatever business deal he made.”
She hissed the “he” every time she referred to Kerry.
“What about her sister?” she asked.
“Whose sister?”
“Becca’s. I think her name was Lauren.”
“I didn’t know she had one.”
“She’s younger than Becca. Probably eight or nine years younger. She was a baby when they lost their parents.”
“I don’t know. I’ll find her. What was Becca’s last name?”
“Thompson, like her aunt.”
“Angela, did Becca ever try to call you?”
“No,” she said. “She messaged me once or twice on Facebook. I just ran away. I should have stayed and protected her.”
“Don’t blame yourself. Your father is a monster.”
“Why did he kill her?” she asked.
“She ran away, I guess. Stole ten million dollars from him. Your father sent Morgan and a guy named Lonnie after her. I don’t think she told them where she hid all the money. They killed her anyway. I tried to save her, and I couldn’t.”
“How much?”
“Money? He said ten million. I found two million she had in her hotel room in Memphis after she was killed.”
“Last week?”
“Yes.”
She cleared her throat. “Christ Directive just got a six million dollar donation anonymously last week. It was specifically noted to go to the work here. It said it was for my work.”
I chuckled. “She keeps surprising me,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“I met, Lauren. Well, it was Becca, she told me her name was Lauren. I met her last week in Memphis. Spent about an hour with her. I would have never known her secrets. She was so alive and happy. Maybe because she thought she got away.”
“She was always feisty,” Angela said. Tears continued to roll down her face.
“I think that was her ‘thank you’ to you. I imagine you inspired her to get out.”
“Is that why you are going up against my father? Because you knew her for an hour?”
“I couldn’t save her that night. I would have. She wanted to run away and try all the rib joints in the world. That was one of the last things she said to me. I think I am pissed and sad that I never got a chance to get to know her.”
“He’s a bastard,” she stated. “My father. This is just one part of him. I should have tried to stop him.”
“Did you?” I asked. “Did anyone ever know?”
“I tried to tell. No one would listen. I went to my youth minister at church. But my father is the biggest donor to the church. When Keith, my youth minister, tried to talk to him, my father had him fired and disgraced. He had two boys come out and claim Keith molested them at the church.
“I told a teacher once. Even went to the counselor. Before my meeting with the counselor was over, the principal came in and talked to her. Suddenly, I was making it all up.
“My father owns everybody in that state. I couldn’t stay anywhere near him. I couldn’t let him own me. As soon as I was eighteen, I left for college. Then I joined the Christ Directive and came here. Every thing I believe in revolves around forgiveness. I can’t forgive him. Not after Becca.”
“What about your mother?”
“My mother is dead. Virginia isn’t my mother. Everyone thought she was. I never knew my mother. Virginia was just as bad. She never got involved, but she knew. She groomed me for him.”
I sighed. “Your father is wrong though.”
“About what?”
“Right now, I’m in this state. He doesn’t own me. There is retribution, and I plan to hand deliver it to him.”
24
Leo met me a catfish place north of the city limits of Florence. Lindsay had been safely deposited in the Lamplight Inn in Waynesboro. Leo kept talking about all the Amish people he passed in their horse and buggies going home from church. He seemed like a tourist.
“Okay,” I said. “When we finish here, we can go see the Amish.”
“There was a bakery. It was closed because it’s Sunday, but I bet they make amazing fried pies and bread.”
“How do you stay thin and carb up like you do?”
“I run twenty miles a day.”
“Ugh,” I groaned. Then I asked, “Did you get your source to find anything on Bobby Davids?”
“She’ll email it to me as soon as she gets it.”
“Does she have any qualms about what we might do with this information?”
“She might. She knows what I do, so she knows he’s a bad guy. What do we plan to do with this information?”
“Right now, my priority is finding Becca’s sister.”
“Lauren?”
“If Bobby knows where she is, then we will get that information out of him. Somehow.”
“These guys are sick,” Leo said. “I’ve seen sick, and this surpasses it. Even the mom was involved.”
“Well,she was at least aware.”
“I hate people,” Leo said.
The waitress delivered two plates of fried catfish with coleslaw and jo-jo’s, which is just what I would call potato wedges. Leo grabbed the hot sauce off the table and doused his catfish until the breading was red with sauce. I watched him tear a piece with his fingers and eat it.
He glanced up at me. “What?”
“Nothing,” I said shaking my head.
“We had a guy named Carl in my company in Afghanistan. He would fry up the best catfish. He was from somewhere in Mississippi. This is how he said the proper way to eat catfish was. Soaked in hot sauce, although he swore by Louisiana Hot Sauce, and then with your fingers. He said if you ate catfish with a fork, then you weren’t Southern. He said, ‘Suthrin.’”
Leo never talked much about his service. He and I were close, but that was a part of his life he just didn’t talk about. Anytime, he made a comment or told a story like that, I listened intently. It was a rare peek into his life.
“I don’t mind hot sauce, but that’s a lot. However, my mother would disagree. She was from Georgia, and considered herself quite Southern. She pronounced it, ‘Suthun.’ With no ‘r.’ Mama would roll over in her grave if she thought anyone eating without a fork was ever the proper way.”
“How did she eat fried chicken?” he asked.
I smiled. “Daintily.”
Leo laughed.
“Okay,” he said. “We visit Bobby. What if he doesn’t know where the sister is?”
“We find the aunt.”
With a mouthful of catfish and a pink outline of sauce on his lips, Leo asked, “We aren’t bringing in the authorities, are we?”
I hadn’t let the thought do much in my head. After hearing of Angela’s experiences, I wasn’t confident in the authorities helping. Besides, any evidence we had was gone. Even the dark web site had come down. Likely moved to a new address, but we didn’t know where it was.
“I don’t know. We find the girl first. We decide after that.”
“What did she do with the other two million?” Leo asked.
I shrugged. “Maybe she gave it to her sister.”
“Wouldn’t Kerry go there first?”
A realization hit me. Finding Lauren, I mean, Becca in Memphis so quickly had to be because Kerry could track her. The one phone number Becca called. She gave her sister a burner phone. Somehow, Kerry tracked her with the number.
Picking up his phone, he said, �
��Got an email. Bobby Davids lives in Tuscumbia. 5968 Wilder Lane. He has a longer list of arrests than Morgan did. He was picked up in Gadsden, Alabama nine years ago for statutory rape. The girl was fourteen. She claimed it was consensual. He spent one year in the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility.”
“Anything after that?”
“After that, it looks like he moved here. There are the same types of arrests as Morgan. They look like enforcers. Do you think Kerry was doing more than child pornography here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Just seems like these guys were more the fist of the operation.”
“I guess we can add that to the ‘things we want to ask Bobby’ list.”
“He has two sexual assault charges here. Both were dropped before he went to trial,” Leo continued to read.
I ate a jo-jo thinking about what chaos Keller and his band must have caused.
“He was arrested for the murder of a prostitute, but released due to of lack of evidence.”
“Why is Keller involved in all this?” I wondered aloud. “I get he’s a pervert and into kids. But if he is successful, why get involved with these type of guys.”
“He’s a psychopath.”
“Maybe.”
“He could have gotten into this and enjoyed the thrill. It’s possible, that once Bobby and Morgan got their hooks in him, they used him to get out of binds.”
Remembering last night on the bridge, I disagreed. Bobby was in complete deference to Keller. Keller was absolutely in control. Enough so that killing me and Lindsay was no big deal. He was worth billions, and he was willing to kill for ten million dollars. I didn’t think it had anything to do with the money. Keller liked to be the one in control.
“No,” I said. “I don’t think so. There is something else with him.”
“Personally, I don’t care,” Leo said. “I don’t need to know what sick things caused him to become a psycho. I see the job at hand.”
“Agreed. Let’s get this afternoon started. I have a funny feeling we are going to be busy.”
Leo stuck the last of his catfish in his mouth leaving his fingertips red with sauce.
25
Bobby Davids lived in a nicer neighborhood than Morgan did. The homes were occupied by middle class households. Most were brick having been built in the seventies. My guess was the neighborhood was developed at one time. The houses were built from the same plan. Lots of large, fake window shutters and low sloping roofs.
A black Chevrolet Silverado truck sat in the driveway. We sat in Leo’s truck about three houses away and watched the house.
“Thoughts?” I asked.
“I would bet that he is in there.”
“Is he alone though?”
“Probably. At best, one other person in there.”
“What’s the best approach?” I asked.
Leo glanced at me. “The front door.”
“The front door? That’s your plan?”
“Sure, we go to the front door. I knock. You stand to the side. When he opens you put the barrel of this forty five into his face. Then he will let us in like we belong.” He handed me an automatic.
“You are a strategic genius,” I said.
“Mock me when it doesn’t work.”
“Okay, let’s do it.”
Leo marched up to the door carrying a small bag he pulled from the back seat. I stepped to the left so that I wasn’t visible from the peephole or the front window. Leo knocked loudly. A loud thud sounded, followed by footsteps.
“Who is it?” a voice yelled.
“Man, it’s your neighbor down the street,” Leo said. “My dog just ran into your backyard.”
A clunk and jangle of metal sounded as the deadbolt was unlocked. Leo smiled at the door as it swung open.
Bobby asked, “Your dog did what?”
I lifted the barrel to Bobby’s temple. “Hiya, Bobby. Why don’t you invite us inside?”
He cursed loudly.
“Now, now,” Leo soothed. “That’s no way to treat company.” He pressed his hand against Bobby’s chest and pushed him gently back.
I scanned the neighborhood. No one was out, and I hoped no one saw us.
Bobby’s house was much better decorated on the inside than Morgan’s. In fact, it had a distinct feminine touch.
“Hey,” I said pointing around the room.
“I noticed,” Leo responded.
“Bobby, Bobby, Bobby,” I said. “I don’t think I like you very much.”
“Man, what do you want?” he said.
“I want your head on a spit. But right now, I want to know where Lauren Thompson is.”
“Lauren? Ain’t happening.”
“You don’t look like you live alone,” Leo said.
Bobby didn’t answer. Leo frisked him quickly, and when he found him unarmed, he pushed him into a wooden chair.
“Don’t move,” Leo told him. He didn’t seem inclined to even flinch with me holding a gun on him.
Leo removed some gloves from his bag. After putting them on, he pulled a roll of duct tape and wrapped Bobby to the chair. When he was secure, Leo tossed me a pair of gloves.
“Bobby, we are going to have a talk,” I said.
“I’m not scared of you two,” he blustered.
“You should be,” I said. “This man killed three. No, four of your friends.”
“Don’t forget the other guy with Morgan,” Leo said.
I turned to Leo. “Sorry, man, I don’t think he’s dead. They were talking about him last night.
“What was his name, Bobby? Lonnie?”
“Actually,” Bobby said, “Lonnie died last night. The doc couldn’t get the bleeding in his liver to stop.”
Looking back at Leo, I said, “I shouldn’t have doubted you. You got five of his friends.”
Leo smiled with satisfaction. “I knew that I got his liver. Didn’t figure he’d last that long though.”
“Doc kept giving him blood. He drove all the way back from Memphis bleeding all over the car,” Bobby rambled.
Leo shrugged. “Must have just nicked it. My bad. He might have lived if he’d gone to a hospital.”
“Maybe,” Bobby agreed.
Leo looked at me, “I don’t think I should count him. We’ll say, four.”
I looked at both of them. “Are we through? I think both of you missed the point.”
“Oh, sorry,” Leo said.
The whole weird exchange put Bobby at ease, which wasn’t really what I wanted.
“Where is Lauren Thompson?”
Bobby just stared at me.
Leo bounced on his knees. “Is this a concrete foundation?”
I glared at him. “What are you talking about?”
He winked at Bobby. “It is. Do you know the difference between a concrete foundation and a traditional one with a crawlspace or basement?”
Bobby’s expression was confused. Pretty sure mine was too.
“What?” I asked.
“Physics,” Leo said bending down and pulling a small sledge hammer from his bag.
He turned to Bobby and looked at his socked feet. “You know,” Leo remarked, “we’ll leave the socks. Max, tape his mouth.”
I obeyed, and Bobby began to show some nervousness in his eyes. When I stepped back, Leo’s hand pulled back and the head of the sledge hammer crashed down onto Bobby’s left foot. His eyes bulged in pain. His agony muffled by the duct tape. The bone-crunching sound sent chills down my spine.
“With a traditional foundation, the blow of the hammer would be absorbed by the rafters. With concrete, the toe took the full weight of it.”
Tears rolled down Bobby’s face. I didn’t really feel too sorry for him. He was screaming something. I reached for the tape, but Leo caught my wrist.
“What? He is trying to say something.”
“Let him calm first. He’s going to be loud,” he looked at Bobby. “I don’t want you to be loud, okay?”
Bob
by nodded in understanding.
Leo let go of my hand, and I ripped the tape off. Bobby breathed out of his mouth in quick, short bursts.
“Where is Lauren Thompson?” I asked again.
Bobby hyperventilated trying to keep from moaning.
“Does Keller have her?”
He shook his head. “She’s dead.”
“What?” I demanded.
“The doc sent Jack and Lonnie to talk to her after Becca ran off.”
“Why kill her?” Leo asked.
“Jack did it. He beat her because she wouldn’t say where Becca put the money. He didn’t stop.”
“Keller’s worth billions,” I said. “Why is he killing people over ten million?”
“He doesn’t like to lose his things.”
“You mean Becca?” I yelled. “She’s not a toy!”
Bobby didn’t say anything.
“How many more are there like her?”
“Lots. Becca was just his favorite.”
Leo was watching me closely. Rage was coursing through me. Grabbing my shoulder, Leo pulled me a step away.
“Max, stay focused. This is a job, right now.”
“I’m fine,” I spewed through gritted teeth. I turned back to Bobby. “Where are the other kids?”
“Maggie’s.”
“Who is Maggie?” I asked.
“Becca’s aunt. She has a home for children.”
“How many are there?”
“She only has six or seven at a time.”
“Where is the home?”
“It’s over in Ford City.”
“What’s the address?” I asked.
“I don’t know. It’s on Magnolia.”
Leo walked around the room. “Hey, these are family pictures,” he said looking at the wall.
“What do you mean?”
“They are old. This is his parents’ house.”
“You live with your Mommy?” I asked.
“No, they passed away.”
“I’m going to look around,” I told Leo. “Why don’t you see where Keller is holed up?”
Leo, still holding the hammer, responded, “With pleasure.”
“No,” Bobby pleaded, “I can tell you.”
The house had a long hall that lead to three bedrooms. Two were very neat and organized. They were pristine, in fact. The third was definitely Bobby’s. His was still tidy, but it was, at least, lived in. Bobby was neat and organized, but he wasn’t bright.
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