Authors: KM Rockwood
“How much do you know about their beliefs?”
“Not a whole lot. Seemed like a jumble of religions. The immaculate conception idea is Catholic, of course. And worshipping cats is Egyptian—Isaac told me that. From what he said, it takes in young men who haven’t had much of a father figure in their lives. Isaac said he doesn’t know who his father is. That’s why I didn’t realize the ‘inaccurate conception’ was supposed to be ‘immaculate conception’ at first.”
Montgomery chuckled. “So you think most of them were looking for a father? And Father Peter stepped in to fill the void?”
“Probably. Except for Xavier, of course. Isaac said they were all searching for roots. He said Father Peter was born somewhere around here and had come back to find
his
roots.”
“Do you know who Father Peter’s parents are?”
“No idea.”
“What happened to Xavier’s mother?”
“No idea.”
“Do you know what Xavier’s street name is?”
“No. I didn’t know cult members had street names.”
“This one does. He’s known as Zee. Probably from Xavier.”
That got my attention. “Aaron says that Zee was at the Colemans’ house when she died.”
Montgomery sighed. “And you didn’t tell me that?”
“I wasn’t even sure Zee actually existed. I thought he might be a figment of Aaron’s overactive imagination.”
“And what supposedly happened that ended up with Mrs. Coleman dead?”
“The housekeeper—Rosa, her name was, or something—gave her a shove, and she fell down the stairs.”
“You weren’t going to tell me that, either?”
“Well, I figured you’d have found her and talked to her.”
“She hasn’t been seen since the day Mrs. Coleman died. She seems to have been an illegal alien. We thought she was afraid she’d get in trouble and be deported. But after what happened today, we’ll be looking harder for her.”
I shivered. “Xavier was screwing her, wasn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“She thought he might marry her.”
“Sounds likely.”
I leaned back against the headrest. Montgomery drove a comfortable car. No surprise there. “What I don’t understand was how come Mrs. Coleman would let Xavier hang around. I mean, yeah, Rosa could have let him in the house and all, but why would Mrs. Coleman give him the time of day?”
“What’s your theory?”
He was asking me? “Mrs. Coleman had a baby she gave up for adoption. At first I thought Xavier might be that baby. But he’s much too young. Maybe she was getting senile or something?”
“Whatever it was, she was writing checks to him. And giving him cash. She said it was pay for doing yard work and painting the garage, but it was much too much for that.”
I thought about that for a minute. “They were cheating an old lady.”
“Yes. Convinced her that she
owed
them something.”
My head felt too heavy, like it would break off and fall into my lap. I forced my eyes open as far as I could.
We were sitting still, parked at the curb in front of Kelly’s house. I stirred myself.
“I wonder if she’ll want to see me,” I said.
“She should. If it wasn’t for you, her kids might have been shot.”
“If it wasn’t for me, her kids wouldn’t have been in school at all this morning. And they wouldn’t have been where they could’ve gotten hurt.”
“Can’t speak to that.” Montgomery leaned back in his seat. “You want me to wait while you go see about your jacket? If she doesn’t want you to stay, I can give you a ride home.”
I looked at him. “You’re being awfully helpful.”
“And you’re being awfully talkative. Not like you. That’s helpful to me.”
I had been, hadn’t I? Babbling on like I didn’t know any better. “Probably an effect of the drugs they gave me.”
“Maybe we ought to use those drugs whenever we want to interrogate somebody. Especially you.”
I smiled. “If it was some kind of truth serum and you could use the results in court, it might not be so bad. Then you’d know for sure I didn’t kill Mrs. Coleman.”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure by now you didn’t kill Mrs. Coleman.”
“Really?”
“I think so. But there’s still a lot I don’t know yet. That’s why I needed to find out what you know about the Tabernacle and Xavier and Father Peter.”
“What’s the Tabernacle got to do with Mrs. Coleman’s murder?”
“Not entirely sure yet.”
“How about the shooting at the school?”
“What about the shooting at the school?”
“Did that have anything to do with the Tabernacle?”
“Well, the shooter
was
Xavier.”
“What did he think he was trying to do?”
“Seems to have just flipped. He was supposed to be in family court for a hearing on the visitation. But he went to the school instead. That’s where his kid goes. He claimed that the public school was corrupting the kid and that he had the right to take his son whether the court agreed with him or not.”
“Couldn’t Father Peter stop him? Where was he?”
“Sitting out in the van, ready to take off with the kid if Xavier got him.”
I tried to digest that. “Did he really think they were going to get away with that?”
“Apparently. He’s been listening to his own preaching too much. Decided that, like in biblical times, children belong to the father.”
“Yet most of his followers have no fathers to speak of.”
“Even Father Peter had no idea who his father was. He was adopted. But he did find out who his birth mother was.”
“Yeah? Who?”
“Mildred Coleman. She had him before she was married and put him up for adoption. He couldn’t forgive her for that. Or for not telling him who his father was.”
“He went to see her?” Of course, I’d been tempted to do the same thing. And she wasn’t even my biological mother. In the end, I’d waited until she was dead.
“Yes. And Xavier extorted money from her. Told her she owed them.”
“So Xavier was Mrs. Coleman’s grandson.”
Montgomery shifted in his seat. “Yep. And he was demanding more and more from her. Maybe he got too rough with her. Probably didn’t mean to
kill
her.”
“How about Rosa?”
“We think she panicked when she realized Mrs. Coleman was badly hurt and called 9-1-1. Then she fled. Immigration problems and all.”
My sleepy brain was reeling. My head pounded. “So what’s going to happen to the Tabernacle?”
“Unless someone else steps up to run it, my guess is that it’ll be disbanded.”
“What’s going to happen to the cat?”
“You want to keep it?”
“Yeah. I guess. If I’m not gonna be locked up.”
“I don’t see why you would be locked up at this point. I’ll see what I can do.”
I climbed out of the car and stood shivering on Kelly’s porch, Montgomery’s hoodie pulled around me. I glanced back at Montgomery, still sitting in his car by the curb. No point putting off seeing Kelly. I pressed the doorbell.
“Who’s there?” Kelly called from inside.
“Jesse.”
She didn’t say anything. I heard the key click in the lock.
“I came to see if I could get my jacket. Is it still in the car? I could just go pick it up.”
The door opened. Kelly threw her arms around me. “Jesse!” She collapsed against my chest, crying.
I tried not to flinch away at the pressure on my bandaged arm. I put my unwounded arm around her shoulders and very carefully leaned my face into her hair, kissing the top of her head.
“Come in,” she said, straightening up and wiping her eyes. “You look terrible.”
“I just came to get my jacket.”
“Nonsense. You’ll stay here for a few days, until you’re better.”
“But back at my apartment I got to…”
She tugged my arm. “We can go get whatever you need from your apartment. Later.”
“Do you like cats?” I asked.
“Yep. And I’ve been promising the kids we could get a kitten when this custody mess gets cleared up.”
I turned and waved at Montgomery. He started the car.
I followed Kelly into the house. She shut the door behind us.
About the Author
KM Rockwood has a diverse background including working as a laborer in a steel fabrication plant, operating glass melters and related equipment in a fiberglass manufacturing facility, and supervising an inmate work crew in a large medium security state prison. These jobs, as well as work as a special education teacher in an alternative high school and a GED teacher in county detention facilities, provide most of the basis for novels and short stories.
Look for upcoming books in the Jesse Damon series, including:
The Buried Biker
,
Sendoff for a Snitch
, and
Brothers in Crime
.
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