Excerpt:
“Yeah. I went home and hit one of my bottles I have hidden around the trailer. I know that makes me weak and worthless. And I can’t even tell you all how weak and how worthless.” Earl pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. There was a sketch on the piece of paper that Earl had printed from his computer. “This is not the police drawing. This is the sketch I did from talking to people.”
Daniel took the paper from Earl. Daniel looked at it. “I don’t understand. What people? We have his body. Why would we need a drawing.”
Lilly took the paper from Daniel. She stared at it. She stared at Earl. “It was random mugging. That is what I was told.”
Johnny stared at his sister. “Random mugging?” He thought about what Earl had been saying. His mind clicked. “Oh fuck.”
Hearthville Serial 4
Book 4 (Title Undecided):
A Paranormal Suspense Gangster Horror
By Charles Peters
Copyright 2019
All Rights Reserved
Chapter 1
Lilly Bare arrived at the crime scene with her brother Johnny Bare. They walked over to their cousin Daniel Bare.
Johnny asked, “Have you been able to figure out who the dead criminal is?”
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Daniel said, “He is not showing up in our computer system. Steed said he was showing up in his father’s computer system as Keith Jr. but if Earl is right, it is not Keith Jr..”
Lilly asked, “Is the body still here?”
“Sorry. The body has been taken down to the coroner.”
“No problem.”
Earl walked up. “Hey Lilly.”
“Hey Earl.”
Lilly’s first husband, Donny Maxtone was Earl’s stepbrother. Lilly grabbed Earl and gave him a hug. “Deven did good. You are raising him right.”
Earl teared up. “He could have gotten killed. I don’t even know what came over me to suggest he come home with Steed to give his mom and me some privacy. You know. He is the only son I will ever have and I almost got him killed. I almost got him killed just like Donny.”
Johnny patted Earl on the back. “You were always there for Donny.”
“And he was always there for me. I am sorry I am bringing all of this up Lilly. It is just…”
Lilly nodded. “I know. I know. Even when I married David I never stopped loving Donny. I never stopped thinking about him. I think about him every day. So yeah, you talk about Donny all that you want. It is not going to hurt me.”
Earl said, “When I looked at that man dead on the floor I knew it was not Keith Jr.. Still, it was kind of like I was in a fog. My mind was not thinking. I was not being clear. I said I had never seen him before. How could I have even believed that when I was saying it?”
Daniel asked, “Do you know who it is?”
Earl said, “I am scared. You people are so good. But if I told you the truth, you would not even believe me.”
Daniel asked, “Have you been drinking?”
“Yeah. I went home and hit one of my bottles I have hidden around the trailer. I know that makes me weak and worthless. I can not even begin to tell you how weak and how worthless.” Earl pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. There was a sketch on the piece of paper that Earl had printed from his computer. “This is not the police drawing. This is the sketch I did from talking to people.”
Daniel took the paper from Earl. Daniel looked at it. “I don’t understand. What people? We have his body. Why would we need a drawing.”
Lilly took the paper from Daniel. She stared at it. She stared at Earl. “It was a random mugging. That is what I was told.”
Johnny stared at his sister. “Random mugging?” He thought about what Earl had been saying. His mind clicked. “Oh fuck.”
Earl said, “I know this raises questions but you needed to be told. Our Donny finally got justice. He finally got justice. The son of a bitch who killed him is now dead. And such poetic justice that it was Deven who killed him. He killed the man who killed his Uncle Donny. I didn’t know it. I didn’t realize it. But then when I was drinking I just started thinking and I pulled the picture up. The picture isn’t the best. It is a sketch. But I now feel it my bones. I feel it. I know it. The man that Deven killed is the man who killed Donny.”
Lilly said, “I want to see the man’s body. I want to see the resemblance.”
Daniel said, “I am not going to argue with you. But I can tell you, this is the drawing of the man that Deven killed. It is the same man. But who is he?”
Earl said, “I don’t know his name. But it was not a simple mugging.”
Daniel asked, “What was it? Do you think Arthur Ramsey was involved.”
“Oh fucking hell, no. I worship the ground Arthur Ramsey walks on.”
Daniel nodded. “And you also work for Mayor Racoon at times.”
“Yes, I do. That is no secret.”
Lilly asked, “So why was the man who killed Donny at Steed’s trailer tonight.”
Earl said, “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. But I started wondering, what if he wasn’t after Steed. What if he went to that trailer to kill Deven just like he killed Donny. What if Deven is in danger?”
Lilly asked, “If it was not a simple mugging, why was Donny killed?”
Earl said, “It is a gypsy thing. If I told you, you would not believe me.”
Daniel said, “Wait. You are saying we wouldn’t believe you. I have heard of old gypsy feuds before. But Donny isn’t a gypsy and neither is Deven.”
Earl said, “It is complicated.”
“So uncomplicate it. Tell us the truth.”
“Donny and I were in New York looking for something that someone did not want us to find. It was a gypsy artifact that can be used to open a time portal that exist in a cave beneath New York that can only be reached through the sewage system.”
Lilly said, “You are saying that Donny was killed over some mindless gypsy bullshit.”
Daniel asked, “Did you and Donny find the artifact? Does Deven have the artifact?”
“No and no. It was not found by us and I do not have the artifact.”
Johnny said, “But you crossed a rival gypsy clan.”
“We crossed someone.”
Daniel asked, “Did Arthur Ramsey also cross them?”
Earl covered his eyes. “I am drunk and I am saying too much. I don’t know for sure what Donny’s death was about. I don’t know why that man broke in on Steed and Deven and tried to kill Deven. I don’t know. I just know that the man who killed Donny is now dead and that makes me fucking happy. It makes me happy that justice has been served. But I am also scared for Deven.”
***
Steed woke up. It felt strange to wake in his old bedroom in the mansion. Steed smelled bacon and eggs cooking down in the kitchen. He smiled. He guessed Officer Don Robinson was enjoying the kitchen.
Deven knocked on the door to Steed’s bedroom. Deven spoke through the door. “Detective Daniel Bare is down stairs. He wants to talk to us together.”
Steed quickly crawled from the bed and got dressed. He opened the door to his bedroom to see Deven pacing the hallway.
Deven said, “I don’t want to end up on death row.”
Steed shook his head. “No one is going to end up on death row.”
Deven said, “Earl woke me up this morning, calling early. The man I killed is the same man who killed my Uncle Donny. Well, he wasn’t really my Uncle but I thought of him that way.”
“Donny is dead. I did not know that.”
Daniel smiled as Steed and Deven entered the kitchen. “So this questioning is going to sound kind of weird.”
Steed nodded. “Okay.”
Steed and Deven sat down at the kitchen table while Officer Doug began setting the table. “I love these plates. Your mom has such good taste.”
Detective Daniel sat down at the table. “I also want to eat.”
“Sure boss.”
Daniel said, “So, we still don’t know who the dead man is but we know from a sketch that Earl did that the odds are probable that the dead man is the same man who killed Donny Maxtone.”
“Earl told me and I told Steed.”
“Sure. But before Earl told you, you had no idea.”
Deven said, “No.”
Steed said, “I didn’t even know Donny had been murdered. I liked Donny. I hated to hear that.”
“Yeah. Everyone had thought that the murder had been a mugging gone bad but now the murderer breaking in on the two of you raises questions.”
Steed said, “Sure but what are the answers. I don’t understand.”
“Earl said something about a gypsy artifact and some wild story about a time portal but didn’t really connect it all together.”
Deven said, “I don’t know anything about that but I was raised to believe in the farfetched.”
Daniel said, “But had you ever been told anything about a gypsy artifact or a time portal?”
“No. I’ve always been told that Donny had been killed by a mugger.”
“Well. I don’t know what to say. I needed the questions asked but I didn’t want one of the other officers to do the questioning. Steed, we do need you to send us a picture of the person pretending to be Jess.”
Officer Doug said, “I’ve already gotten it and I’ve already sent it into the system. There have been no match ups. We have no idea who he is. It is weird.”
Daniel said, “And a bulletin has already been put out?”
Officer Ellie May walked into the kitchen. “Absolutely but as of yet there have been no sightings.”
Daniel said, “Well, you two, good jobs. Sit down and let us eat. I am starved.”
Officer Doug asked, “So how are you going to write up the report? Gypsy artifacts and time portals?”
“I plan to bury the report and release a barebone summary.”
Officer Ellie May looked at Deven. “I am going to ask you something point blank. Be honest. Trust that you can tell us the truth. Do you have the gypsy artifact that can open a time portal?”
There was some nervousness in Deven’s voice and his answer sounded like a question. “No?”
Daniel cocked his head at Deven. “Do you have any artifacts? Gyspy or otherwise?”
Deven answered. “In Georgia, it is only legal to search for artifacts if you have permission from the land owner and you notify the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in writing five (5) business days before you begin.”
Officer Ellie May laughed. “So you aren’t going to tell us.”
Daniel smiled. “I am pretty sure he did tell us but I am not going to put any of this in the official or unofficial report. Is there any chance that someone might think you have the artifact that got Donny killed?”
“It is unlikely.”
Steed said, “I am pretty sure I was the target and not Deven. Their cover story dealt with my father’s accountant. And if they wanted information out of Deven they wouldn’t have tried to kill him.”
Officer Ellie said, “They did not kill him. So was the intent to kill him or to scare him to the point he might give them information? But yeah, their cover story does connect back to you and not Deven.”
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Edited 12/3/2019. General, sentence improvement, but no content change.