Excerpt:
Leroy knocked on the door to the Duddley home. Victor answered the door. Victor said, “Hey Leroy. Come on in.”
Leroy said, “On bitchute, I saw the video of your saving Billy Bingo. Amazing.” Leroy walked in and walked over to the couch and sat down.
George took over from Victor.
Leroy said, “I need help.”
George asked, “What kind of help.”
“First. You do know that you are a witch. Right?”
Hearthville Serial
Book 5 (Title Undecided):
A Paranormal Suspense Gangster Horror
By Charles Peters
Copyright 2020
All Rights Reserved
Chapter 2
Steed Ramsey sat with his father Arthur Ramsey at the Purple Bird Billiard Club. Steed said, “So we still don’t know why Dioson attacked Deven and me. We don’t know why he kidnapped Paulster McCluskey.”
Arthur took a drink of his beer and ate a pretzel. “No.”
Leroy Bare walked into the pool hall. When he saw Arthur Ramsey he had the strong urge to turn around and walk out but he did not. He threw up his hand to Deven and said, “My usual.”
Deven called back, “Sexually harassing me is not on the menu.”
Leroy laughed as he invited himself to sit down at the table with Arthur and Steed. Leroy said, “A beer and a ham sandwich.”
Deven said, “Sure.”
Leroy looked at Arthur. “You know my mom is angry with Rachel.”
Arthur said, “Leroy, yeah, being angry with a mentally ill woman sounds about right for your mom.”
Leroy said, “I understand. But you know sometimes Rachel is almost normal and mom forgets. She wants to forget and imagine that Rachel is fully back herself.”
Steed said, “So Leroy, you visit my mom?”
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Arthur said, “Constance was friends with your mom when they were growing up. I gave Leroy and Constance permission to visit Rachel.”
Steed said, “Oh. Okay. So, what is your mom angry with my mom about?”
“Oh Constance got it into her head that she wants to go into business with your mom.” Leroy knew it was not that simple. He, himself, had told his mom some things and felt responsible for the misunderstanding and the argument. When he sat down at the table with Arthur and Steed he knew he was potentially playing with dynamite that could blow up in his face. He was trying figure someway to snip the fuse and not lite it. He had gotten himself and his mom into a world of mess and he knew it.
Steed asked, “Why? My mom has no money and very little business acumen.”
Leroy laughed. “You can’t be serious.”
Arthur said, “Just let that be. Steed is still angry with me because of my divorce settlement with his mom and my claiming she has money.”
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Leroy nodded. “Well. Rachel turned mom’s proposition down and that made mom angry.” Deven brought Leroy his beer and sandwich. Leroy said, “Sit down with me and your boyfriend.”
Deven said, “I told you that Steed is not my boyfriend. I thought you understood. I like women.”
Leroy said, “Well. I like women also but that doesn’t mean I can’t like men. Steed, isn’t that right?”
Steed said, “There is nothing wrong with being bisexual but I also prefer women.”
Leroy smiled and took a drink of his beer. “Steed, I know what your chaturbate handle is.” A hint of jealousy became apparent in Leroy’s voice. “And I know I saw you in Deven’s room.”
Steed shrugged. “Yeah. So.”
“So nothing. I am just being an ass. I apologize.” Leroy drank more of his beer and ate at his sandwich.
Arthur said, “No reason to apologize but why would you be spying on my son?”
“I wasn’t spying. Rachel had been talking about Steed and Victor skinny dipping together and such and I got curious about Steed.”
Steed said, “My mom was wrong about all of that. I am not gay and neither is Victor.”
Leroy nodded. He started to remind Steed that he had been in Deven’s chatroom more than once but he didn’t. Leroy said, “Well, Steed, it was nice to meet you in person. And Arthur…” Leroy quickly finished his sandwich and beer. “…it is always a pleasure to see your miserable face.”
Arthur laughed. “You are such an ass.”
Leroy smiled. He stood up and touched Deven’s nose with his finger. “You do know that I love you, don’t you?”
“I am still not gay.”
Leroy grinned. “Sure.” He winked at Steed. “Not yet.” Leroy high stepped and did a double spin as he exited the pool hall.
Deven said, “I seriously need to stop doing chaturbate.” Deven walked back to the bar.
Arthur said, “Deven is a nice looking young man.”
Steed said, “Yeah, but I am not gay.”
With a grin and trying not to push the subject Arthur said, “Okay.” Arthur also preferred women and he guessed Steed was being honest. Steed didn’t know that he was a witch or that all witches had bisexual tendencies. Arthur stared into his beer. He guessed whatever inner sexual conflict Steed was having or was not having was his own business.
Steed said, “I know it should not bother me when people think I am gay but it does.”
Arthur nodded. “Sure.”
Steed asked, “Should we seriously allow Leroy and Constance to visit mom.”
“Leroy is rich but his grandfather’s will was such that he can’t share the money with Constance beyond normal living expenses and such.”
“Just because he is rich doesn’t mean we should trust him.”
“They are not going to hurt your mom. You said yourself that she needs interaction. And for the most part Constance is harmless.”
“Okay. I will leave it be for now. Does Terence know Constance?”
“Lawrence dated Constance in High School.”
“So Terence does not like her.”
“No. She seriously hates her. And when Lawrence broke up with Constance it was not a good breakup and so Lawrence does not like her either.”
“So what do you think about her.”
“Oh. I totally hate her but I like Leroy.”
“Why? I didn’t see much there to like.”
“There are things you don’t know but if you knew then you would understand.”
“So help me to understand.”
“Not now.”
“So I know what you like about Leroy. You are both asses.”
Arthur laughed. “That is probably part of it.”
“I guess maybe I am being too hard with my feelings toward Leroy. I honestly do not have anything against being gay or bisexual. But he was spying on me. That is weird and creepy.”
Arthur laughed. “His interest is in Deven. Not you.”
“So why was he spying on me?”
“I don’t know.”
***
Leroy knocked on the door to the Duddley home. Victor answered the door. Victor said, “Hey Leroy. Come on in.”
Leroy said, “On bitchute, I saw the video of your saving Billy Bingo. Amazing.” Leroy walked in and walked over to the couch and sat down.
George took over from Victor.
Leroy said, “I need help.”
George asked, “What kind of help.”
“First. You do know that you are a witch. Right?”
“I do not believe in such things.”
“Bullshit. You traveled back in time so you could undo Billy Bingo’s death.”
“That does not mean I am a witch. Mortals can use time portals if they know how they work.”
“Well. See. Here is the thing. I am a witch also. The Witches Council had my grandfather and Artorious Ramsey burned at the stake for going against their wishes. I am risking some shit by coming here to tell you some things. Respect me.”
George said, “Okay. Continue.”
Leroy said, “Jossette was the reincarnation of Artorious’s wife Nette. He can’t find her soul on the other side. Artorious thinks that if you die then Jossette will come to you.”
“She hasn’t. She won’t. I have reason to believe that she is in a cage. I have a friend who is trying to locate the cage.”
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“Good. I will tell Artorious that. Maybe he will back the fuck off but if he doesn’t, I can’t go against Artorious and my grandfather Adolph. That said, even if I have to hire someone to kill you, I don’t want them to succeed. Are we clear?”
“I guess. Maybe. I am kind of confused.” George said, “When Dioson attacked me, it wasn’t just because of the past, you’d hired him?”
“I was doing what Artorious and my grandfather Adolph wanted.”
“But I thought Artorious was trying to help me.”
“No. I don’t know the details of what you are talking about, but Artorious is a devious son of a bitch. Understand that. But he is good friends with my grandfather and that makes him my friend.”
“So if another hitman is hired, you will tip me off.”
“Right. But look. I want to come totally clean here. That said, understand, if you tell anyone I will totally deny it.”
“Understood.”
“Once Dioson and Hannibal were hired, I also used them because I was jealous of Deven and Steed. I thought Deven and Steed were having a thing and I got angry because I felt betrayed. It was delusional. It was totally stupid. But I am the reason that Dioson and Hannibal went after Deven and Steed. I confess.”
George asked, “Why did you want me to know that.”
“Because I want us to become friends and I want us to be able to trust one another. I need a friend. I need someone to watch my back. And I will watch your back.”
George laughed. “You mean that you will watch my back when you aren’t hiring someone to kill me.”
“Even then, I will watch your back.” Leroy laughed. “I know. I am a mess. This all sounds crazy. Are you going to report me?”
George said, “Does Dioson take orders from you?”
“I’ve told him to release Paulstir McCluskey but my mom countered the orders that I gave and told him not to free Paulstir. Now this brings me to another point, where I need your help. Here is a big favor. I am forbidden from helping my mom. My grandfather put a spell in place that if she is given any of his money or gold, then I will be turned into a snake and she will be turned into a rabbit. So, I am asking if there there is any way that you could set her up in business? I mean, I will finance one of your projects in return. But I can’t directly help her. Now understand, your helping her will piss my grandfather off.”
George asked, “What kind of business?”
“A nightclub with some backrooms for illegal activity.”
“I don’t like the idea of illegal activity but I will think about it.”
“Please just agree. I feel sure that if I can tell her that you will back her, then she will have Dioson release Paulstir McCluskey and then this shit can be brought to a close.”
“I need to talk to someone and then I will give you an answer in a couple of hours.”
Leroy shook Victor’s hand. “Good enough. Here is my phone number.”
***
George called Arthur. “Hey Arthur, this George.”
“Not Victor?”
“No. I am George.”
Arthur said, “The man who saved the day.”
“No. Victor saved the day. I was just along for the ride.”
“I don’t really understand how you and Victor fit together. I know it is something like a split personality but I don’t really, fully, understand it.”
George said, “Yeah. It is complicated. And reminder, most people do not know about me and I want to keep it that away.”
“Yes. I know. So what can I do for you?”
“You know Leroy Bare.”
“I do know Leroy. I bumped into him yesterday.”
“Well, he was here today and he explained some things because he wants my help. So here is the thing, Leroy takes orders from Artorious and his grandfather Adolph. He is also squeezed by his mom Constance.”
“Okay. That is not shocking news to me.”
“Apparently Jossette was Nette, the reincarnation of the wife of Artorious. Artorious wanted me dead because he thought my being dead would bring Jossette’s ghost to me and he is trying to locate her.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“So Leroy was dealing with Hannibal and Dioson on behalf of your grandfather and his grandfather. In addition Leroy got it into his head, because of jealousy, that he wanted Deven dead.”
Arthur repeated, “Son a bitch.”
“Now I don’t know exactly how Leroy’s mom is connected with Dioson and the kidnapping of Paulstir McCluskey. But apparently she is preventing Dioson from freeing Paulstir. Leroy thinks he can convince his mom to give orders to free Paulstir if I will set her up in business. Leroy says he can’t directly help his mom himself because of his grandfather so he wants me to do it.”
Arthur asked, “Are you considering it?”
George said, “I have some resources that Victor does not know about but I don’t think I can fully swing it in such a way that Victor would not notice a peculiarity in his accounting. So, what do you think? Do you want to go into business with Constance and me?”
Arthur laughed. “I hate Constance. I seriously hate that woman.”
“So that is a no.”
“You would have to be the one to deal with Constance.”
“I don’t know if I can. I don’t want Victor finding out about this and I don’t want Constance finding out about the situation with Victor. Also I don’t want Adolph turning me into a rabbit because I am helping Constance.”
“So Leroy talked to you about witch stuff?”
“Yeah, he wouldn’t accept that I don’t believe in witches and he just kept talking. I honestly think he wants to bring this situation to an end. I don’t think we can fully trust Leroy, but I think he is being honest that if we could set his mom up in business then Paulstir McCluskey will be freed.”
“Leroy had told me that Constance had wanted to go into business with Rachel and Rachel had told her no. Rachel is in a mental hospital and even she knows not to go into business with Constance. Why don’t we just call Daniel and tell him that Constance is giving orders to Dioson?”
“Are you serious?”
“Probably not but calling Daniel was a thought. It might be a good thought. It might be a bad thought.”
“I don’t think I can totally trust Leroy but still I think I would be better off to have him as a friend and not an enemy. Leroy has promised to tip me off if Artorious hires another hitman to try to kill me.”
“I don’t guess I can report my grandfather, who is a ghost, to the police. That would be rather weird.” Arthur asked, “So you are sure that you want to go into business with Constance? I will tell you right now that she is going to be hard for you to handle.”
George laughed. “Hard for me to handle? I told you. I don’t think I need to risk Constance finding out about Victor having an alter personality. Also, I would not have a clue on how to handle Adolph.”
For a moment there was silence.
“So you are saying I am the one who will have to deal with Constance even though I have told you that I hate her.” Arthur joked, “Why don’t you just take a gun and shoot me and put me out of my misery?”
“Hey. Here is an idea. What if we set Tabitha up to be in business with Constance and then Tabitha could report to us. Tabitha knows about me.”
“No. I love Tabitha as my maid and also she is not tough enough to deal with Constance. But I will tell you who is. And I know we could trust her with your secret. That would be Tabitha’s mom, Rosanne. That would get her back to Hearthville and close to Rachel. So that would be good. With your permission, I am going to call her.” Suddenly Arthur banged the phone to the table. “Wait. What kind of business are we talking about. I haven’t even asked.”
“A nightclub with backrooms for illegal stuff.”
“You wanted to turn Tabitha into a criminal?”
“No. I wasn’t thinking. I had forgotten about the illegal part and actually I want to take the illegal stuff out of the equation.”
“Yes. I understand that. But with Constance, we will not be able to keep illegal stuff away from the club. And the truth is that most night clubs have trouble surviving without tolerating some illegal activity.” Arthur paused a moment to listen to George’s silence. “And remember my fortune is partially based on shading the law.”
“I understand. I guess. I don’t know.”
“So are you backing out?”
“No. We want Paulstir freed and we really don’t want to call the law in, do we?”
Arthur said, “Well. Want. Yes. Should we? Probably not. I don’t want to accidentally get Paulstir killed. And I guess the truth is I don’t really want Leroy going to jail. I hate Constance but I actually do like Leroy. And also I do not want to cause Adolph to declare a vendetta against me for harming his grandson. But it sure would be nice if we could let Daniel handle the situation.”
“So we are gong to set Constance up in a night club?”
“Yes. It is a go. I am going to call Rosanne. You go on and tell Leroy that I am going to be one of the partners. Tell him that I want Paulstir McCluskey released immediately or I will hire a hitman to kill and cage his mom. And make sure he knows that I am serious. Adolph protects and loves Leroy but he could care less if I were to hurt Constance.”
“Okay.”
“And I will tell my grandfather that I will personally cage him if he hires anyone else to try to kill you.”
“Thank you. I don’t know whether he will listen to you, but thank you.”
“Oh, he will totally not listen to me unless I get backing from Alice Malokey and so I will have to apprise her of the situation. I feel certain she will work with us.”
George said, “Okay, so I will call Leroy and let him know. Before I let you go, I am curious, do you have any idea why Constance wanted Paulstir McCluskey kidnapped?”
“Not really. I would guess she is trying to get some information to get into my accounts to rob me. If that is not it, I do not have a clue. Do you think Leroy would tell you?”
“I don’t know. I can ask. Do you think we should demand to know what her plan was?”
“I am tempted to say yes but I am going to say no. We don’t need to muddy the water. We need to get Paulstir McCluskey safely released.”
“Okay. He probably will not tell me but I will politely ask and then not try to force an answer.”
“I think that is best.”
***
Constance and Arthur set up a meeting. She walked into his office in Atlanta. It was a small office and somewhat off the grid. It was near the airport and an adult bookstore was next door to it. It was not located in one of the better neighborhoods.
Arthur was seated behind a small desk in a cubicle in the back of the office. Slightly outside the cubicle but in sight of the desk where Arthur sat, was a desk like you might find in a high school classroom. In front of a yellow wall off from the cubicle was a large green couch and coffee table. Karl Borloft sat on the couch. He was playing a game on his phone when Constance walked into the back of the office.
Constance cleared her throat to make sure her presence was known. Karl looked up at her. She introduced herself to Karl. “I am Constance Bare.”
Karl tossed his phone. He stood up and took her hand. He sensually massaged her hand for a moment and then he pulled her hand to his mouth. He kissed and then released her hand. “My name is Karl Borloft. I am pleased to meet you.”
Constance said, “Likewise. That hand kiss almost gave me an orgasm.”
Karl said, “Arthur is in the cubicle there.”
Constance looked at Arthur as he looked up at her. She grinned. “So is Karl your fuck buddy or can I have a crack at him.”
“I am happily married and doing my best to stay faithful. If you and Karl would like to do whatever, he is grown man.”
Karl said, “We will talk but I am going to watch the front office right now and make sure the privacy of you and Arthur is maintained.”
Constance smiled. “Okay.”
Constance sat down in the “student desk” and studied Arthur for a moment. “So honey,” she said. “Dioson has freed Paulstir McCluskey but his memory has been wiped.”
Arthur asked, “What was the kidnapping about?”
“Let us just say I was trying to get money from you and leave it at that. It was a scheme. I don’t want to tell you the details. And I think Leroy made clear that part of our deal was my not having to tell you.”
“Okay.”
“So I know that you are good in making business decisions. I want you to decide the location for our business in Hearthville. I would kind of like for it to be on the lake but Leroy said I should let you make those kind of decisions.”
“I will do that. Rosanne is going to be my point person. You know that if you and I start trying to work together we will just end up fighting.”
“I know. I understand. And with Rosanne I will try to behave. So what about Victor Duddley? Leroy told me that he is the primary investor.”
“That is right but Rosanne will be the point person for him as well.”
“Okay. I am fine with that. The main thing is that I want the club to be a success. I need the money.”
“We will make it a success.”
“Changing the subject. How is Rachel doing?”
“She has her good days and her bad.”
“I am sorry I had that argument with her and I went crazy. I guess I went more crazy than she is on her worst days. You know that I love her like a sister. I want her well. I want her out of that place.” Constance paused. “Our deal is about money and part of what I wanted with her was money. I will not lie about that. But I really did want to help her. She can’t trust all of the people she has at the top of her organization.”
“And she could trust you?”
“Touche. Maybe not. But you need to get involved in her business.”
“She would never allow that. But tell me the names of the people who you think she can not trust.”
“I only know about one person and I don’t know his real name. I don’t know what he looks like. But his code name is Flying Wolf 003 and his ID on some records is SJ0039847. Before Rachel and I had our argument about her not hiring me he sent me an anonymous, and an attempted untraceable text message that threatened me. He told me to stay away from her. He sent the threatening message to me after earlier Leroy had told me about the sell of one of Rachel’s companies. I had asked Rachel about it and told her some things.”
Arthur asked, “Which company?”
“Bargain Basement Bouncing Travels registered in the Cayman Islands. On the front end it is a travel business and it also sells luggage. The real business is smuggling cars and auto parts from Mexico into South Africa. Leroy was setting up a business in South Africa to help deliver some of the products to the buyers duty free. Then suddenly BBBT was sold and they totally fucked him over. He lost $250,000 on the operation. So I visited Rachel on a good day when she seemed to be at herself and I told her about it. She said she would check into it.”
“And did she?”
“After she said she would check into, I got the message threatening that if I did not stay away from Rachel that I would be killed and caged. The threat was anonymous but Leroy was able to trace the message to some degree even though the person thought it was totally anonymous. By hacking into the phone company records, Leroy was able to discover the code name Flying Wolf 003. Leroy was able to find that name when he followed the other activity the user had conducted on the phone connection. Then from that name Leroy was able to identify other phone connections. From that he was able to connect Flying Wolf 003 to some records that identify as SJ0039847 and that connected Flying Wolf 003 to the sell of BBBT. Leroy discovered that Flying Wolf 003 had sold two other companies that belonged to Rachel. Leroy told me that as far as he could tell none of the money was deposited into any of the accounts belonging to Rachel.”
“Leroy knows about all of Rachel’s accounts?”
“You know Misty Betrust?”
“No.”
“She is one of Rachel’s accountants. Leroy has been having three-ways with her and Paulster McCluskey. Leroy was able to get into her computer and retrieve a list of Rachel’s Accounts.”
“Have you and Leroy been embezzling from Rachel?”
“No. He can only view the accounts. He can’t actually get into the accounts and make changes. We weren’t trying to hurt Rachel, we were trying to figure out what the fuck was going on. I had been threatened.”
“Okay. Understood.”
“But when I talked to Rachel about it, she jumped to the wrong conclusions also. She started screaming how we should not have been in her accounts. And okay. Let me back up. Leroy had been using some of the information he got from Misty to work out deals like he was trying to do with BBBT when it blew up in his face.”
“I have had my people do similar stuff with both business friends and enemies. So I understand what Leroy was doing. Are you still not going to tell me why Leroy had Paulstir kidnapped; his lover kidnapped.”
“I got angry. I got crazy. You know Leroy can’t give me money from Adolph. He has to be careful that spell does not kick in. That $250,000 was money where he was trying to build wealth up for me and then it was gone. That may not sound like much money to you, but it hurt. Then Paulstir and Misty found out what Leroy had been doing and they both blew a lid. And so we came up with a scheme but I am not going to tell you what it was.”
“Not knowing bugs the hell out of me, but okay.”
“Are we good?”
“Honey, we are never going to be good but I have gained more respect for you and Leroy. I am going to ask you and I want you to give your word as a witch on this.”
“I am not going to tell…”
“No. I understand that. I want you to give me your word that none of what you were doing was to hurt Rachel.”
“I was angry at Rachel. She and I fought. But you were the target. I was not trying to hurt Rachel. I can not give you my word as a witch because I am a liar and maybe I am even lying to myself. But I miss the Rachel who I could always talk to about stuff. I am not an easy person. I do not have friends. I depend on Leroy way too much. I know that. And I miss Rachel. I miss her more than I could ever explain to you.”
Arthur stood up. Constance stood up. They walked to the front of the office. Arthur hugged Constance for a second. “I want you to know that I still love Rachel. I did not mean to hurt her. I do not know the degree I did or did not play in causing Rachel to end up in the mental hospital. I will not try to defend myself. I understand how much you miss the old Rachel. I miss her also.”
Constance sniffled and her voice broke. “I am sorry I went crazy.” She took a deep breath. “Please check into what I have told you. Find out who Flying Wolf 003 is?”
Leroy walked into office. He asked, “Is everything okay? Is the business going to be a go?”
Arthur smiled. “I am not going to back out. And I may involve myself more than I had planned. You know Leroy, I am sorry that you have all of your granddad’s wealth because I sure as fuck would like to hire you.”
Leroy grinned. “We will work together. You know that I was kind of shocked that Victor called you. But I am glad that he did.”
Arthur said, “Victor is a good man.”
Constance said, “He is. He certainly is. When I saw that video of him saving Billy Bingo, I thank God he was there.”
“Indeed.”
“And I think by calling you, Victor may have saved me as well.”
“Things are going to be okay. I will make sure the business is a success.”
Leroy hugged his mom. He shook Arthur’s hand. “I am truly sorry for what mom and I did.”
“I know. So do you love Paulstir?”
Leroy looked at his mom. “You told him?”
“Not everything, but I wanted him to understand. I mainly wanted to tell him about Flying Wolf 003.”
“Yes. Good. I am glad. But why would you think I might love Paulstir?”
“I told him about you, Paulstir, and Misty.”
“Oh. Okay. So. Do I love Paulstir? I don’t want to love him. The memories of Paulstir and Misty have been cleaned, erased. They no longer even know who I am. So as to whether I ever loved them or not, it doesn’t matter.”
“Deven?”
“Yes. I totally love him but he will never love me. I am just not the kind of person people love. The question isn’t really whether I loved Paulstir and Misty but whether they ever had feelings for me. I am pretty sure the answer is no.”
Constance whispered, “Leroy cried for three days when Misty and Paulstir turned against him.”
Arthur nodded. “So Leroy, are you okay now?”
“I think I am. I think life as a hermit will be a fine thing.”
Karl laughed. “Yeah, I’ve tried that. It doesn’t work.”
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