Chapter Seven
Boomer had been sitting there listening to everything but he suddenly remembered something Maudie had said the only other time she mentioned the couple, “Maudie didn’t you tell us once that the real evil was the wife, didn’t you? You said the evil pulsed from her.”
Maudie stood up in such a hurry that her chair scraped back and she had a look on her face of pure terror.
“You be right. I did say that.” She turned her head and looked at King.
“It was Jude’s wife. The blackness from her aura was dark and it only leaked over to him because dey were standing together. She was the real evil.”
King just sat there and took in her words, then he turned and looked at Boomer.
Boomer nodded then reached for his phone.
“Baby girl, I need you to look into Jasmine Matteo. Her husband is Jude Matteo and he’s linked to his brother Leroy, who’s sitting in the clink at the moment.
He was busted by Shay for making bombs the Chosen was going to use to create chaos and kill a lot of people nationwide.
Can you do that?” Boomer listened for a moment and then he ended the call.
He looked at King and gave him a nod. “She said she would start digging right away.” Pausing he also said, “This might not be over yet.”
King nodded. Then he looked over at Mickey. “Your ghost must be watching everything closely. You might want to warn her to be careful, you don’t want her to get hurt.”
Mickey nodded. “If I ever get to meet her.”
King smiled at him. “She can’t remain hidden now, boy.”
Boomer agreed, “The Hogans and the Kings are on this so she will have to be seen eventually.”
King looked over at Tannin. “Can you go and get Bethy?”
Tannin gave him a nod and went to find his woman.
When he returned with Bethy, she took one look around the table and sat down hard. “What did Leroy do now?”
Tannin shook his head. “It’s not your dad we need to worry about.
It’s his brother and his wife. We had a visitor last night that told us we need to check out Leroy’s home but that we have to be careful when we do, she told us that there is danger there right now.
We need to know if your dad had any visitors while you lived there.
Anyone that seemed off or dangerous to you. ”
Bethy shivered as she thought about the time she lived with Leroy and her mother.
“There was a time when I was small that Leroy’s brother visited.
His wife turned her nose up at the sight of the house though.
She was real bossy too. She ordered my mom around like she was used to it and my mom obeyed her commands every time.
Then she gave my mom a fistful of money and told her that she loved her.
After they left, I asked my mom about it.
She looked sad and told me that’s just what sisters do.
I didn’t understand it at all. But it happened every time they visited. ”
Maudie looked puzzled then she asked, “Your mom and Jasmine are sisters?” Then without waiting for an answer, Maudie looked up at King and said, “But I never saw the black aura around Althea. She never told me she had a sister either.”
King just shook his head. “Maybe she didn’t want anyone to know she had a sister.”
“Or the sister never wanted to acknowledge her family,” Tiege grumbled. “I mean look at the facts. Jude is an upstanding political figure and Leroy built bombs for a living. Would you want that known to the public?”
King turned to Bethy. “Do you know if your dad had any other place where he stored his bombs?
Bethy started to shake her head then she stopped.
Her eyes widened and she said, “I told you about the old church, how he rebuilt the walls. Well, there was another place he used to go to years ago. We used to call it Shimmer Valley. It was always hidden by fog every day and you had to know where you were going to actually find it. The swamp hides places that nobody goes to and it always hides that area from most people’s view.
That’s where I would guess he would hide something if he had to? ”
King looked over at Boomer and suggested, “Better call Shay. If there’s bombs there he needs to know.”
Boomer made the call and put it on speaker.
Shay told him he’d be back this way tomorrow. Then he told the whole group, “We finally got the DNA test back and the body we found did belong to Althea Matteo.”
“Did you find out what he did to her too?”
“Yes ma’am we did. I won’t tell you because it would give a person nightmares but the true cause of death was a broken neck.” Shay's words came through the phone speaker and they were matter of fact yet softly spoken, “You tell Bethy that I’m sorry for her loss.”
“Thank you Mr. Shay,” Bethy called out. “My father was a real monster. I guess I’m lucky to be alive.”
“That’s true enough,” Shay replied. “But when the others heard the results one of them told Leroy he was a dead man walking because the fat lady was finally gonna sing.” They heard a pause then Shay told them, “I’m not sure what they meant but Leroy looked ashen when he heard it.”
“Shay,” King finally spoke. “We got a warning last night. Someone told Mickey that we needed to check out Leroy’s place, she told us there was real evil staying there right now and that we had to be careful when we went. Evil will be waiting for us.”
Shay was silent for a moment then he asked, “What do you suppose she’s referring to?”
“We think Jude and his wife might be looking for more of Leroy’s bombs,” Maudie told him.
“Bethy remembered something today. Dere is another place Leroy used to go to. He’s been living here her whole life and if he’d been making bombs the whole time he might have more than just da ones you took last time. ”
They all heard Shay sigh hard. “I’ll get a team together and be there by dawn. We have to find out if he had another stash and what it was to be used for. I’m beginning to believe this might be all connected.”
Boomer nodded as he added, “I asked Baby Girl to find out for us. Bethy also told us Jude and his wife visited her house more than once. So now we are wondering if this woman could be her mom’s sister?”
Shay was quiet for a long moment then said, “We can check that out for sure. It might also mean Jude is linked a little closer than we originally thought. Damn, this case is getting weirder all the time. But we might actually find all the puzzle pieces and be able to see the whole puzzle the more we learn about this family.”
“Just be careful when dealing with Jasmine,” Bethy spoke up. “She’s got a temper, she’s rude and she can get really mean when her plans are messed up.”
“Well if she is the Fat Lady,” Shay replied. “The one that will kill Leroy, then she is more than just mean.”