Page 66 of Oh, Hell No

“Why are you stalking her if she is calling you when she’s upset? I’m so confused. Do you know what stalking is and why people do it?” Ransom asked, interrupting me again.

“She didn’t call him. He’s got cameras in her house. Stop asking shit and let him finish,” Bane grumbled. He turned to me, and I narrowed my gaze as I looked at him. He shrugged. “What? You do, don’t you? You can open your phone right now and check on her.”

“Yes,” I replied, growing increasingly annoyed that he seemed to know all my secrets.

“I am worried about both of you,” Ransom said.

“Anyway,” I continued, “no one gets to make her cry. And she loves that fucking job, and she’s good at it. She does more than any of the other cunts there. So, I fixed it. I just have a few things left to do, and tomorrow, she will be back teaching the germ-infested children and smiling.”

“There are all kinds of problems ahead, but I will leave that alone since you already know them,” Bane pointed out.

He was right. I did know, but for now, this was what shewanted, and she was going to fucking have it.

“I don’t want to wait on Wilder to do an in-depth search. I had an idea of who it might be, and if nothing else, I suspected she was involved. I got her number from Winslet’s phone, found her address, and went there. Broke into her house while they were sleeping, got her phone, and went through her texts,” I told them, trying to keep this as brief as possible.

“My instincts were right. The lying bitch who started it texts a lot. This morning, she texted the principal, Donald Clairton, if she could meet with him. That she had some very upsetting information on a faculty member he needed to be aware of. After she sent that text, she sent one to the female board member, Judy Warlow, telling her that she’d set it all up and they’d be able to fire Winslet by the afternoon. Seems Judy has a niece who is looking for a job in the area and is an elementary school teacher.

“After getting the numbers I needed to find their addresses, I did some snooping in the master bedroom closet, checked normal hiding places. Found there was a locked room in the house and picked the lock. It was the husband’s office. In there, I found a floorboard under his desk that moved, and he has a shadow family. They live in Jackson, and he has a six-year-old boy with the other woman. He keeps up the apartment they live in and covers all their needs. I unlocked the hidden phone, turned the password protection off, and swapped the bitch’s cell phone she keeps charging by her bed with that one. I also put the key to the apartment, along with the address, on her makeup table. She will be busy tomorrow as her world comes crumbling down around her.

“Judy Warlow will have the IRS at her door in the morning to do an audit, in which they will find she’s stolen over fifty grand from the church building fund and put it into her account. She’s also developed a bad gambling habit, which is against thechurch’s beliefs, and there will be photos of her at several of the tables and slot machines at Down the River Casino.

“The president of the board, Rec Voy’s, house is where we are headed now. The two of you are there for backup,” I finished and glanced back at Bane, who was shaking his head and grinning.

“How did you find all this shit out in one evening?” Ransom asked, sounding amazed.

When Bane didn’t blurt anything out, I was surprised since he seemed to know all my secrets.

“You not gonna answer that?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “Nope. I got a few questions myself. That’s a lot of fucking shit to dig up in a few hours. Well, I mean, unless you didn’t dig it up, and those are all setups to fuck them over.” He looked at me as it all began to dawn on him.

“No fucking way,” Ransom said, then let out a loud hoot of laughter. “Remind me not to piss you off. Fucking hell, man.”

“It wasn’t all a setup. I got lucky with the husband and his shadow family. That kinda shit would be hard to stage,” I told him. “But the bitch on the board, I had a little help cracking into online bank accounts and moving of money. As for the casino photos, I know a talented artist that is alive because we allow him to be, and he is producing those. If a man can fool the Feds with his hundred-dollar bills, he can handle putting an old bitch in a crummy-ass casino and make it believable.”

“I thought he was in prison.” Ransom sounded confused again.

“Gerard was the brains behind it. He’s in prison. Samson Zephyr wasn’t arrested because Gerard didn’t rat him out. We didn’t kill him, but only because Blaise paid him a visit, and he is indebted to the family for any service we may need from him,” I explained.

“So, what are we doing to this Voy guy?” Bane asked.

“Explaining the importance of the Baptist church not pissing off the Southern Mafia.”

“We’re threatening churches now. Awesome,” Ransom said.

I pulled up outside the gate to Gannon Rice’s house, the former leader of the Mississippi branch before his Parkinson’s got so far gone.

“Why are we at Gannon’s?” Bane asked.

The gates opened, and a figure came walking out.

When the headlights illuminated him, Bane sighed. “I should have seen that coming.”

The door behind Bane opened, and the man formerly known as Father by the local Catholic church climbed inside. He had given up his title and position when he went and fell in love with Gannon’s daughter this past spring.

“Father Jude,” Ransom drawled out on amusement. “Look at you, coming over to the dark side.”

Jude laughed. “Yeah, well, Rec Voy is a sick prick.”

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