After dinner and clean up, they watched a preseason game on television.Wylie had the biggest television, so it was like being on the field with the players.Rosie knew a great deal about the game, so it was fun to watch her as well.The rest of them sat around the room, cursing and yelling.
By ten, they were hungry again.Since the pizza shop had closed at nine-thirty, they were out of options with the food.Mae, the cook, had been able to make them all subs, and it would tie them over until they got home.He wanted his spicy and wasn’t really surprised when she was able to produce one hot enough for him.Rosie had her own special blend of the stuff, and he was going to have to get with her to get the recipe.It was too good to pass up.
As the game was winding down, he heard his brothers talking about the restaurant again.It was a big deal, and he understood the reason behind talking about it, but he was sick of it.And even if the girl had anything to do with it, she wasn’t standing around talking about it all the time.She seemed to be just as quiet as she normally was when he saw her around town.
After making his way home, he decided that he needed something sweet.Pulling out the container of ice cream that he had, he was happy to see that there was just enough for him.Gleason really didn’t like flavors either when it came to ice cream, but he would eat it if it was around.He liked his tea plain, too, and not flavored with things like pumpkin spice or oranges.If he wanted either, he’d cook something with it.
Going up to bed, he tried to remember if he’d had to work in the morning.He’d been hanging out at the feed store for the gossip and would be asked to help carry heavy loads of feed to the car.While he didn’t need the money, they would usually pay him under the table, and he’d use that money to buy himself dinner somewhere.He enjoyed eating out more than he did cooking for one.It just wasn’t any fun to cook, then clean up, too.
Getting ready for sleep, he picked up the book he’d been reading.It wasn’t a murder crime novel like Raphael had been reading, but it held his interest.It was a book on investing and calledInvesting for Dummies.He didn’t care what the title was; he was learning a great deal from it and would recommend it to anyone who was only just starting out in doing what the books suggested.
His cell phone was ringing when he was ready to turn out the light at eleven-thirty.It was hisbrother Raphael.He said that he’d had some news about theSheep.
“I just read something on the internet.It says that there were fourteen people killed, and they’re still looking for bodies.I guess the basement caught fire when there were shots fired, and the Feds are looking into a cartel that was pissed off about the restaurant making meth and selling it to their customer base.”He asked him where he’d read that.“I swear it came from a good source.”
“What source?Are you looking on the dark web again?I told you that it’s going to get you into trouble.Do you want to spend the rest of your life in prison like Dad did?Just give it up.There isnt anything wrong with the place out there other than a few nutballs making shit up.”He said that McGee was part of the cleanup.“Why would you believe that?We do have enough news going around now without making up things to go with our new chief of police.”
“I tell you, Gleason, it’s true.The web has witnesses out there who have seen the place.And you have to admit that it has some merit.”He said he didn’t have to admit anything of the sort.“You’re just jealous because I was right.You’ll see.It’s going to come out that there are bodies everywhere and that it had to do with meth being made on the premises.I’m going to see if I can get into the place to see what’s going on.”
“It’s your funeral, dumbass.”He wondered if Raphael would really do it and decided that he would.“Don’t go out there.If it is what you say, then they’re not going to take too lightly that someone is sneaking around the property and getting caught.I’m sure that there have been people who have been caught doing the same thing and are right now in a federal prison.You can’t be serious about trying to get there.”
“I’m not stupid.”He let go of the breath he’d been holding, thinking he wasn’t sure about his brother right now.“I’m not going to go out there other than to drive by.Just to see what’s going on.There has to be something.Why would they still have the road closed off if there was nothing going on?Answer me that.”
“I don’t know.”He really didn’t, but he didn’t think it had to do with meth.They were a small town, and that sort of thing never happened in small towns.Or did it?He didn’t know, but he was sure that Raphael was going to get his ass in trouble if he didn’t leave this alone.“What about talking to McGee?He might be able to tell you something.I don’t know that I like him all that much, but he might have answers if you were to catch him in his office.I’ll even go with you.”
“Great.Tomorrow morning, then.We’ll go to the police station and ask him point-blank what’s going on.We as citizens of this town have a right to know, don’t you think?”He didn’t know what to think, but he figured that if McGee knew anything, they’d be able to get it out of him.He wished that Rosie were still chief; she’d be able to tell them everything that they wanted to know.He had a feeling, however, that she was just as much in the dark as they were.“We’ll get to him before he leaves for the day.He’s not been in his office for the last few days.I’m betting that he knows something.I mean, it did happen on his watch.”
“I’m going to ban you from reading period if you don’t stop with the murder crime books.You’re becoming as bad as some of those people under the bridge in Zanesville.You know the ones, they push around shopping carts all over looking for bottles to cash in.”Raphael said that he wasn’t that bad and that he was right.“Right or not, you’re going to get your ass in trouble if you keep this up.We both know that you can take things a little overboard sometimes.”
“I’ll show you.I was right about that girl from high school, too.She was pregnant.”She had been, and it had been all over school that her father had been the father.Turned out that Raphael had been right in that it had been her uncle and that the uncle had gone to prison for a long time when he’d killed her because she told someone that she was going to have his baby.That had been at least fifteen years ago now.“I’ll see you in the morning.You’ll see.I’m right about this.I’ve put a lot of effort into figuring it out.”
He really had, and that was the scary part.Gleason always thought that Raphael should write books he had read so many.And murder crime had been the one that he usually read.
Chapter 10
Wylie watched his brothers walk into the jail.He did wonder what was going on, but didn’t bother them.He was on a stakeout with Rosie, and she was watching the jail too.She turned to look at him when he said her name.
“I wonder what they’re doing in there?”He said they were no doubt causing trouble.Not the serious kind, but enough to have tongues wagging.“McGee hasn’t left yet.He’s been consistent in leaving every day at eight on the dot.Do you suppose he had an appointment with your brothers?”
“I doubt he’d wait around on them if he knew they were coming in.Gleason doesn’t look happy about something, and Raphael looks like he knows something.Do you suppose he’s going in there to ask about theSheep?That’s all he could talk about last night when he was over to the house.”
“He’s guessing really well.My source tells me that there were fourteen bodies from the lower levels of the place and five from the kitchen.The other drug dealers came in, firing up the place and killing whoever got in their way.”He couldn’t believe that it had happened nearly at their front door.“I guess they were in on their territory, and that pissed them off.It was a good plan to have them make meth in a restaurant.No one would be suspicious about a high gas bill when they were cooking food.However, they got caught, and that’s not a good thing for around here.They’ll be speculating on it for years to come if it doesn’t get leaked out of the jail sooner rather than later.”
“I’m thinking that they’re just lucky that so few had been killed.If the place had been full of dining customers, there is no telling what the body count would have been.”She agreed with him.Then she noticed that Gleason and Raphael were being escorted out.“That can’t be good.I wonder what they did to have that happen.I’ve never had to escort anyone out of the jail before.I’ve wanted to, but it seemed to be too much effort to do that instead of letting them leave on their own.”
“I’m betting it has to do with Raphael.He’s got a burr up his ass about the restaurant, and he won’t leave it alone, no matter how many times he’s been told not to bother.It will just make him dig his heels in deeper until he gets himself hurt.Or someone else.”He pointed to the station house.“Look, there goes McGee.What makes you so sure that he’s working with the Feds on this?”
“He is.They said that while he’s not in charge, he’s making enough of a nuisance about himself that they’re letting him hang around.”Rosie started the car.“We can only follow him so far, then he’ll turn into the drive that leads to the parking lot.If they wanted to make it so no one cared about what was going on, they shouldn’t have done that.I would have just kept the house out of sight.They could do that with a couple of well-placed tents.”
He didn’t care if he got any information about what had happened.He was just enjoying himself getting to do this with Rosie.She’d gotten a call in the middle of the night about what had really happened at the place and how meth had been being made on the premises.It wasn’t until an hour later that she was called again to say that Mr.Shadows had been killed along with his wife and daughter.They’d been the ones who were running the operations and had been killed terribly.There had been a dishwasher who had been killed along with one of the waitstaff.It was a bloody mess out there, and he wondered if they’d ever find the ones that had done the killing.
McGee had been the first one on sight, and he’d been in charge of the operations long enough for some of the other staff to have been let go.The feds were looking for any information about the people, and he knew from Rosie that it had been two men and two women.They’d all been in the kitchen staff when things went off, and now they didn’t know where to find them.
“Wouldn’t they have been able to find them with the information that was on their driver’s license?”Wylie thought that was what he’d seen done in the movies.They took down their information so they’d have it for later.“I mean, that’s what I would have done before I let them go.”
“Apparently, it was done, but now they can’t find it.I don’t know why, but I think that McGee has it on his person and is keeping it hidden away so that he can be the big hero and get things going.I wouldn’t put it past him.”He’d not met the guy for very long, but he really didn’t care for him.He was slick, like someone would think a car salesman would be.He didn’t know any slick car salesmen, but he knew the reference.“I’m betting right now it’s in the safe in the office, with not just the names of the people that he let go but some of the evidence too.He’s a cocky son of a bitch.”
They followed McGee all the way out to theSheep.Once they were at a point where they could see the place, they were stopped and told to turn around.She did so without complaint to the man, but cursed him all the way home.It was funny to him that his little wife had such a vocabulary of words that weren’t fit for company.He asked her if he could drive home, and she stomped around the car to the passenger side.He had to bite his tongue or laugh out loud when she got in and slammed the door.
