Chapter 10
Ten
Kiss her often. Fuck her well. Kill the spiders.
—Weaver’s rules to live by
Weaver
“Yeah?” I asked, half hanging off the bucket as I tried to repair a wire that’d snapped due to the pressure on the line from a fallen branch.
“Good news and bad news,” Apollo said.
“What’s the bad?” Sheriff Black asked just as I was about to ask the same thing.
“How many people are on this call?” I asked.
“You, me, and Black,” Apollo said. “The good news is, I was able to find some information. Every Wednesday, the church does a Mother’s Day Out type program for the young kids in the church. It’s from one to six years old. You’ll never guess who the only two ever there are.”
“The pastor and his wife,” I guessed.
“Bingo,” Apollo said. “And it’s all very hush-hush. I only learned about it through a tex—”
“Don’t tell me how you learned about it,” Black interrupted. “Tell me the rest. Keep the breaking the law part out of it.”
“I acquired the information and was able to find out that it’s all word of mouth.
Once the kids turn six, they’re no longer welcome in the program.
Parents drop their kids off in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon.
The source was talking with her sister who also had a child in the program.
Apparently the source came to pick up her kid early because she had an out-of-town emergency.
When she got there the doors were locked.
But she could see camera equipment inside.
The kids were just running wild, but she saw that her niece was the only one missing.
The mom pounded on the door, and the two adults came out of the back room with their niece dressed in some incredibly over-the-top dress with makeup on. ”
Black cursed under his breath.
“When the source asked what was going on, the pastor and his wife said that it was a Christmas gift for the parents. And, seeing as it’s nowhere near Christmas, the woman got suspicious and brought it up with her sister.”
“What did the sister say?” I asked as I tightened my grip on the tool in my hand.
“She wrote it off as weird but harmless,” Apollo informed them. “Bad news now?”
“Hit me.” I pulled myself back into the bucket.
“Bad news is, the sheriff’s department has a leak. The parents now know of the charges and allegations against them.”
Black cursed up a storm.
I crossed my arms over my chest, anger simmering in my veins.
“Why am I here?” I asked.
Not that I didn’t appreciate an update, because who wouldn’t be invested after seeing what I saw? However, I figured this was a police matter, not a club matter.
Though, if they weren’t careful, this would become a club matter.
Black knew that as well as I did.
There wasn’t much that went on in this town that we didn’t have a pulse on. Now that we were made aware of the situation at hand, we’d expect it fixed.
Because there was one thing that the club valued above their women. And that was their children.
I wasn’t sure which club members currently went to that church, but I was sure it was at least a few of them, if not their family members.
“You were implicated.” Apollo paused. “You apparently spent the night with her. A girl named Audrey Stanley caught y’all together, then went to her father and shared what she saw.
According to text messages between Audrey’s father, Deacon Andrews, and the pastor and his wife, they believe that you were trying to get in there to do something illicit. ”
Illicit. What a crock of shit.
I just shook my head. “What a mess.”
“Deacon Andrews has a head on his shoulders,” Black said into the quiet silence between us.
“There’s no way that he’s not questioning things right now.
Never once, outside of not doing what they wanted her to, has Edith Wheeler not been an exemplary member of society.
Hell, I remember listening to him rip into his girl one day at the ice cream shop when he watched her knock Eddy’s ice cream to her feet.
He bought Eddy new ice cream and made Audrey go without.
He’s not immune to her shit. Or theirs.”
“Then maybe you should bring him in,” I suggested. “If the pastor and his wife trust Andrews, then maybe having his help would expedite this shit show.”
“Deacon Andrews doesn’t seem to be in on it, at least,” Apollo agreed. “He just seems like he spoils his kid and gives her everything she could ever want. The pastor and his wife, though, seem shady as fuck.”
I couldn’t agree more.
I’d seen them several times around town, and I’d always gotten this smarmy vibe off the pastor.
His wife seemed meek and troubled, as if Barton beat the shit out of her if she got out of line.
“What now, Sheriff?”
Black was silent for a second. “You’re not in it. At all.”
I held up my hands as if he could see it over the phone line. “I never planned to be.”
“Though, I would highly suggest watching the girl,” Black muttered darkly. “Fuck my life.”
My lips twitched.
“I’ll keep working on my end. If they’re aware that they were caught, maybe they’ll fuck up and…” Apollo trailed off. “Black, how close are you to the Wheelers’ place?”
“Five minutes, why?”
“Because I just hac…I’m borrowing the neighbor’s surveillance feed. Pastor Wheeler’s in the back yard with a lighter and a burn barrel.”
“The moment it starts up I can bust him.” Black sounded like he was moving. “But who knows how long it’ll take for whatever he’s burning to go up in flame. It might be all out by the time that I arrive.”
“Bring your cruiser’s fire extinguisher,” Apollo suggested. “And hurry.” Apollo paused. “One of your club brother’s backyard butts up against their backyard. Maybe you could be out there on Dutton’s deck. His old lady is in the kitchen right now.”
“Thanks, Apollo.” Black hung up, leaving Apollo and me on the line alone.
“What do you want to bet it’s all gone by the time he gets there?” I grumbled.
“I contacted Dutton’s wife, Sarah. She is going to go out there and turn the water hose on.”
“Good luck,” I said. “Keep me updated, yeah?”
“Sure.” Apollo already sounded distracted.
Taking that as my cue, I got back to work restoring power to several of the homes along this stretch of road.
I was all the way finished, and letting my buddy know that I was coming down, when my phone started to ring again.
“Hello?”
“Fuck, man,” Creed said. “Where are you?”
I frowned. “I’m working on Old Smith Landing. Why?”
“Call just came in,” he said. “There’s a bear that’s attacking a woman.”
My stomach sank. “Okay?”
“It’s Eddy,” Creed said. “And it’s not looking good.”