The Evil Inside (Krewe of Hunters)

by Heather Graham

  “But now I’ve got another question for you. I talked to Mr. Sedge at the grocery store, and he absolutely swears that Malachi was in the store on the day that Earnest Covington was killed. But you and Josh swear that you saw him running out of Mr. Covington’s house.”

  “We did!” Joshua said with conviction.

  “You saw him? Malachi Smith. For certain?” Jenna demanded.

  Joshua lowered his gaze and his eyes shot downward to the left—and toward David.

  “Yeah, yeah, I saw him.”

  He was lying. She needed to get to him. The boys needed to be interviewed separately, just as Sam had said.

  “I saw him. You’re damned right, I saw him!” David said angrily.

  “You bet, he was there. David saw him. I saw him,” Joshua said.

  “And what the fu—what the hell? The cops found him covered in his old man’s blood,” David exclaimed. “Say the bastard is crazy and get him locked up that way, but, lady, do us all a favor and make sure that monster is locked away for good.”

  “So Mr. Sedge is lying,” Angela said. “Why would he lie for Malachi Smith?”

  “Who the hell knows? I know my mom says the grocer is a crazy old bastard, too. He might think that Malachi was there, and he probably was—the day before.”

  “Did she say all that about Mr. Sedge before or after he swore he saw Malachi?” Jenna asked pleasantly.

  She saw a touch of color come to David’s handsome face. “He’s old and senile, that’s what he is. He doesn’t even remember where he puts stuff or what’s on sale,” the manchild said. “And my father is councilman here, you know. Best friends with the mayor, and he knows the head of the cops and all that. I can’t help it if Mr. Sedge is going into Alzheimer’s. I don’t know.”

  “So,” Jenna said, “in a court of law, facing charges of perjury and jail sentences if you were lying, you two would both swear that you saw Malachi Smith come running out of Earnest Covington’s house?”

  There was the briefest hesitation before David said, “We aren’t going to court, lady. It’s not going to happen. They aren’t charging Malachi with that murder—just the murder of his family. They figure that’s all cut-and-dried because Malachi was found in the road in all that blood.”

  “Naked,” Joshua added with a snicker.

  “Well, they just may charge him with Earnest Covington’s murder. I know that the cops are planning to do so. And with the two of you swearing that you saw him, well, they may take a chance and add that to the existing charges. Why not? That would help get him locked away for good, which, of course, is exactly what you both want, right?” Jenna asked.

  They looked at her in stony silence.

  “Let’s get out of here, David,” Joshua suggested.

  “Yeah. Ladies, it’s been great, but we gotta go,” David said.

  “Hey, no, you two smoke your…cigarettes,” Jenna said. “We’ll go. Oh, but you should think about this. If the police do charge Malachi with Covington’s murder, you will have to go to court. And you’ll have to swear an oath that you saw Malachi. And Mr. Sedge will be there, ready to swear that he saw Malachi, too. And that could leave the defense with a chance to prove that since someone else obviously killed Covington, someone else might well have killed the Smith family, and that Malachi is telling the truth. You’ve already admitted to being near Covington’s place…as a witness, or so you say.”

  She smiled. “Nice to meet you. And thank you so much for your help.”

  Angela smiled as well and walked past the two.

  Jenna followed.

  She knew that the two boys watched them all the way down the cliff. She also got the distinct impression that they would have liked to push them over it.

  11

  “You’re back. With reinforcements!” Andy Yates said, smiling as he shook Sam’s hand and then Jackson’s.

  “Jackson Crow,” Sam said, by way of introduction. He didn’t attempt to explain who he was. “We’re still beating the same path.”

  “You do know,” Yates told them, “if I had thought of anything, I would have called you. I think that Malachi Smith is guilty as all hell, but if I were to find out something to the contrary, I would consider it my civic and my moral duty to tell you so.”

  “Thank you, Councilman, I believe that,” Sam said easily.

  “We just had a few more questions about the property issue,” Jackson said.

  “Ask away. My life is public record,” Yates said. He indicated chairs in front of his desk for the two to take while he walked around to sit behind the desk himself. “I told you, I made a generous offer for the property, and I was refused.”

  “You aren’t a Wiccan, are you, sir?” Jackson asked.

  Yates smiled. “Me? No. I’m Anglican. Well, I try to be. Can’t say I make church every Sunday, though we try. My wife, Cindy, she thinks it’s good for the kids.”

  Jackson laughed easily. “Yes, my parents wanted me in church, too. And she’s right—growing up with a belief system is good for kids. At least, I think it is. When you hit eighteen to twenty-one, you can decide where you’re going in life, but it’s good to have a start learning that life does come with a moral code.”

  “Exactly,” Yates said. He frowned. “What would my being a Wiccan or not being a Wiccan have to do with the property?”

  “You were going to open a bed-and-breakfast, right?” Sam asked.

  “Sure. I thought it would be great. A bed-and-breakfast in a haunted house. You know, when the season is right, people love spooky old places like that with history. Well, old history. I don’t know what it would be like now. I mean, before, the murders were all in the distant past.” He looked at Sam and shrugged. “Actually, I’m undecided on that thought. It could be worth even more now—people can love the gruesome, you know.”

  “Do you know the other interested party?” Jackson asked.

  “Pardon?” Yates said.

  “Samantha Yeager—she wanted to buy the property, too,” Sam said.

  “Oh, yeah, well, sure. When she moved in, she came to some town hall meetings.” He shrugged. “Impressive woman. Have you met her?”

  “Not yet,” Sam said. “But I plan to.”

  Andy Yates laughed. “Well, then, I imagine you’re going for a tarot card reading. She’s awfully busy these days.”

  “I guess that’s what we’ll be doing,” Sam said, smiling.

  “You think that she killed the Smiths? And Earnest Covington and Peter Andres?” Yates said, his smile still animated.

  “We don’t think anything, really,” Sam said. “It’s starting to look like I don’t really have anywhere to go.”

  “Why is that? Oh, yeah, I think Malachi Smith did it, but we are a somewhat transient community. Some maniac could have come in and hung around and moved on,” Yates said.

  “There you go—room for doubt,” Jackson said, looking at Sam.

  “I don’t know if that’s really room for doubt—Malachi Smith was caught red-handed. Or red-bodied, the way I hear it. I’m just surprised that you seem to be giving up so easily, Sam Hall. I mean, you are his defense attorney,” Yates pointed out.

  “I’m not giving up,” Sam said, smiling.

  “But we are investigating with research into the method and manner of the killings. These were crimes of passion, the way I see it,” Jackson said. “Overkill. Yes, those who are psychotic can practice overkill, but that usually comes with some form of torture. I think these crimes were perpetuated by someone with a real grudge.”

  Yates groaned. “I see, I see, I see. And I’m supposed to have a grudge because of my son. Well, I don’t. David is doing extremely well. His grades are high, and he’s being scouted for a football scholarship by a number of major colleges. I don’t bear a grudge. Why should I? Malachi was taken out of school. That was that. I knew Peter Andres, of course. He was a substitute. All that poor guy did was try to help Malachi. I knew Earnest Covington. He came to meetings, too. He supported
me. I’d have no reason in the world to hurt either of them—much less want to hurt either of them in a ‘crime of passion,’ as you say. And I suggest that you do meet Samantha Yeager. You’ll feel pretty ridiculous if you are thinking that she might have swept into town, killed Peter Andres, and waited around to kill Earnest Covington and then the Smith family. I’m afraid if you’re looking for someone with a grudge, you do have nowhere to go. And, sadly—and I mean that—that just leaves Malachi Smith hitting a breaking point and going crazy and on a murder streak. Not sure I blame the kid, but it’s a tragedy that Andres and Covington had to die along with the Smith family.”

  “You feel nothing for them?” Jackson asked quietly.

  Yates sighed and leaned across his desk very slowly. “Yes, I feel for them. But they created the monster, didn’t they?”

  “Bratty little liars!” Angela exclaimed as Jenna revved the motor.

  “Well, bratty, yes. Little, no,” Jenna said.

  “They wouldn’t have dared try anything!” Angela said, her eyes flashing. “Or, if they had tried it, they would have been surprised. We’ve had some pretty good training.”

  “Yeah, so have they—on the football field!” Jenna said with a laugh.

  “You’re not armed. And neither am I…but still, we’re Federal agents,” Angela reminded her.

  “I know. I was thinking that last night when the kid came at me in the cemetery. I’m glad I realized he was a little punk. Still, maybe it was a good thing I’m not armed—what if I had panicked and shot the kid?”

  “You wouldn’t have….” Angela assured her. “So, where now?”

  “I thought I’d park the car and we’d see what was going on in the center of it all.”

  Angela groaned. “The men are going for tarot card readings. You’re not going to make me get one, too, are you?”

  “No. I thought we’d see how Will is doing with his street entertainment.”

  When they drove back to her uncle’s house and she parked the car, Jenna noted that Jamie wasn’t back yet.

  “I wonder where he went. School has been out for a while, and he went in early,” Jenna said to Angela. “Call him.”

  She was relieved when Jamie answered the phone right away. “You’ll not believe this, lass, but I’ve got myself a new patient!”

  “Really?” Jenna asked.

  “Um. And his name is Martin Keller.”

  “The kid from the graveyard last night!”

  “The same. Apparently, his mother was deeply concerned about the fact that he came home in his underwear last night.”

  Jenna laughed. “Well, have you learned anything?”

  “Ah! Patient confidentiality, I’m afraid. Suffice it that I tell you that a kid in his situation would be truly sorry about a little fiasco like you experienced last night. I think the fact that he’d have to see me would definitely make one such child repentant! I’ll see you all later then. I’ve just slipped out between meetings with…a patient…and the talk I must now have with that patient’s mother.”

  “Go, uncle!” Jenna said, and hung up. She repeated the conversation to Angela, who smiled. “Well, it is interesting to listen to the mouths of babes!”

  “That’s what Rebecca Nurse told me this morning. It’s the kids we have to get to—and I’m not going to feel guilty trying to question children, because it’s the adults who have gotten to them!” Jenna said.

  They walked down to the pedestrian way. Once again, Haunted Happenings was in full swing. Stilt walkers in various costumes were posing for pictures and teasing the young and old alike. A troupe of performers was putting on a pirate skit.

  Down toward the center they saw Will, resplendent in a sweeping velvet cape and top hat, and with a group of children sitting before him as he made multicolored light leap from a crystal ball and then dart about over their heads.

  “He is a master of light and illusion!” Angela said.

  “And knowing the difference between the real and the illusion,” Jenna added.

  When Will saw the two of them watching him, he didn’t miss a beat in his trick as he motioned for them to stay. Jenna nodded, and they waited. He completed his act with a final sizzle of light in vibrant colors above the crystal ball, and then he bowed to the applause and promised he’d be back in a minute, when he’d present them with a little bit of the old “Trinidadian” fantasy, magic and illusion.

  The crowd before them dispersed. Will swept off his hat and cape and hurried toward the two of them. “Wine bar right there—let’s slip in. I could do with a nice Cabernet!”

  The establishment was as crowded as the rest of the area, but Will had apparently formed a bond with the young woman at the hostess stand and they were quickly brought to a small, intimate booth in the back. They were served quickly.

  “You have news? Or you just wanted a glass of wine?” Jenna teased.

  “Two things,” Will said. “Not fifteen minutes ago, I saw the head of that church old Abraham Smith attended. Goodman Wilson.”

  “What? How did you know it was him?” Jenna asked.

  “Oh, ye of little faith!” Will said in mock horror. “Jake. You’d asked Jake to delve into things. He pulled up everything you asked for, and then some, gave us all a nice thick dossier.”

  “So, the churchman was here, in the middle of all this?” Jenna asked, surprised. “No liquor, no dancing, no singing…wouldn’t that include no bobbing for apples?”

  Will shrugged. “Maybe it doesn’t relate to young children. He came and he looked around for a long while. Finally, he approached a group of children who had apparently come down as a school group.”

  “And?” Angela asked.

  “He bent down to talk to one of the little girls.”

  “What did he say?” Jenna demanded.

  “I don’t know, I couldn’t hear.”

  “Oh,” Jenna said, sitting back in disappointment.

  “Ah, but it brings us to the second thing I have to tell you,” Will said.

  “So tell us!” Angela said.

  “Well, one of the mothers recognized Goodman Wilson, too. She came over like a bat out of hell, and grabbed the little girl.”

  “I guess no one likes an unusual church,” Angela said.

  “I did hear what the woman said to him,” Will said. He lifted a hand before either of them could prod him. “She told him to get away from the children, that he had created Malachi Smith and caused everyone to die, and that his church was pure evil.”

  “What did he do?” Angela asked.

  “He just stood very straight and spoke to her calmly. He said that God loved everyone, and that Jesus taught us all to seek peace and to turn the other cheek. Then he walked away.”

  “And that was it?” Jenna asked.

  “Well, it was it as far as Goodman Wilson was concerned.” He smiled, waiting this time for one of them to ask him what else had happened.

  “Will, damn it,” Jenna said.

  “Okay, okay—another mother came running up to the pretty blonde woman. She set a hand on her shoulder and said, ‘Cindy! Cindy, please, please, don’t let all this upset you so much.’ And then the blonde—Cindy Yates, I figure, started crying, and she said, ‘It’s that man. It’s that awful man. He was trying to get near the children, and he creates killers. I wouldn’t be surprised if the wretched old bastard had helped Malachi Smith do all those killings.’”

  “We are booked. Well, Madam Sam is booked. She’s the best, I’m afraid,” the ring-nosed girl at the counter told Sam and Jackson without much conviction.

  “Oh, please, see if there isn’t something,” Sam begged, leaning on the counter and flashing her his best smile.

  She smiled uncertainly in return. “Well…I don’t think I can get you both in.”

  “You go. I can try again tomorrow,” Jackson said, letting out a feigned sigh of complete disappointment.

  “No, I mean, really. I should have her on a break when her current client comes out, b
ut you ask so nicely…I can slip you in,” the girl said.

  “That is really good of you. Thank you, thank you,” Sam said.

  She smiled and walked toward the back. Sam followed her.

  “Just wait here. When the curtain opens, you can go on in.”

  Sam waited as told. In a few minutes, a twentysomething-year-old heavy-metal rocker type man with jelled black hair, head-to-toe tattoos, earrings, lip ring and giant lobe rings came out looking as if he had just reached nirvana.

  Sam walked on in.

  “Madam Sam” was something.

  She was sexy.

  She reeked overt sexuality; in fact, he assumed that a good portion of her “clientele” had to be pubescent males. Her breasts nearly heaved out of her peasant blouse. Her eyes were ringed darker than a raccoon’s, and her boa constrictor seemed pleasantly entrenched with its head centered in her cleavage.

  Sam sat down in front of her. She studied him for a moment and smiled. It was the kind of smile that made him imagine she might have a forked tongue of her own.

  “I’m Sam, too,” he told her.

  “Give me your palm,” she said.

  He did so. She let out a soft sigh.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Well, I see here that your life is…about to change drastically. You’ve enjoyed the adoration and admiration of friends and strangers alike…but, ah! There’s just a twist and jiggle in the lifeline. You’re about to do something that will make you the laughingstock of millions!”

  She looked into his eyes. He smiled. “I’m flattered. You know who I am.”

  “And you know who I am. Now just ask your questions. I saw your girlfriend yesterday. You’re going to ask the same questions, and I’m going to give you the same answers.”

  He smiled. He wondered if he would have corrected her about Jenna if he’d been the one to come in the day before. He doubted it. He’d known then what he wanted; he just hadn’t known if he’d get it or not. He wasn’t at all sure that one night constituted a relationship, but he knew that he was sure praying like hell for a second night like the one before.