Page 8 of Dead Evil
Ten knew Ronan didn’t believe in coincidences and after being married to his husband for nearly eight years, neither did he. “What do we do now?”
“Cisco asked us to look into the backgrounds of the King of Deliverance people,” Fitz said. “Jude mentioned that he’d been researching the talent coming to the convention. I want you to do the deepest dives possible into these people. Ten, can you and Cope work on these demon hunters in particular? I need to know what happens when they roll into town. Are there arrests? Higher incidences of domestic violence, hate crimes? Do these people think they have actually been healed?”
“You got it.” The last thing Ten wanted to do was a deep dive on the Dallas Demonologists. His gut was telling him these were not the kind of people to mess with. He had to imagine that at this point, twenty years on, that their bottom line was flush with cash and that anything aiming to change that would be perceived as a threat of the highest level.
“We’ll reconvene in two days, which will leave us with three days to go before the convention comes to town.”
Tennyson had initially been excited for the convention to come to Salem, now he couldn’t wait for it to be over. Salem didn’t need people like Duke Barrymore and Levi Shackleton shaking the very foundation his city was built on. Ten knew Ronan, Jude, and Fitz would do everything in their power to stop these evilmen from causing chaos, but he couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if King of Deliverance was stronger than the good people who called Salem home?
4
Ronan
Ronan hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. He’d spent hours tossing and turning thinking about what Ten had experienced at the hands of King of Deliverance and this Duke Barrymore asshole. He’d been able to sense the absolute fear Ten felt at the hands of these people and got the impression that he didn’t want to do the convention appearance at all. Ten had been mum on the matter, but Ronan knew the two of them needed to sit down and discuss the situation.
He was on his second cup of coffee when Jude walked into his office. He looked as if he hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep either.
“Got a minute?” Jude asked.
“Always. What’s up?”
“When Wolf and I were watching the Dallas Demonologists’ videos, we had a hell of a time. The performances were dramatic and packed with all the feels. They are absolute showmen. If they had a residency in Vegas, they would sell out two shows a night. I guarantee it. These men excel in giving you the idea that you’re experiencing an honest to God miracle. I can see now why Kaye fell under their spell.”
“Shit,” Ronan muttered. “Ten and I haven’t told her about KOD and Duke Barrymore yet. I’m not sure I want to. According to Ten, Kaye was the one who wanted to see Shackleton preach. She was the reason Ten was at those tent revival meetings. I’m scared that she might take their side over Ten’s, like she did when he was a kid.”
“No.” Jude shook his head emphatically. “There’s no way Kaye would do that. She’s spent the last six years living here with us, falling in love with our kids and taking care of them. She wouldn’t give all of that up because some charismatic preacher and his demon hunting lackey came to town.”
Ronan wasn’t so sure. “Cults have this way of sucking people in and getting them to question their entire lives and belief system. When they find them lacking, that’s when the cult swoops in and gobbles them up.”
“I completely agree. Maybe you and I should sit and talk to Kaye. If there’s any chance she’s going to turn to the dark side, I’d rather it be with the two of us than with Ten or Everly.”
“Good idea, Jude,” Ronan said. He hadn’t been looking forward to the conversation to come, but it would be more bearable with Jude by his side. “What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Cap asked me to look into King of Deliverance. I spent the morning going through their social media pages. I also applied to be a member of their private group chat, which is called Demolition Witch City.”
“Jesus,” Ronan muttered. “That’s terrifying. Were you accepted to the group?”
“Not yet. I’ll let you know when I do. If I don’t get in with our usual profile, we’ll make another with content more in line with their ideology. I was able to use their social media accounts and the internet to find a list of people who are high up members of KOD. Several of them have criminal records.”
“I don’t doubt it. Are we talking misdemeanors or something more serious?” The last thing Salem needed was an influx of criminals, but knowing what kind of people were coming would help Cisco strengthen the plan to keep the city safe.
“Well, interestingly enough, Levi Shackleton isn’t his real name,” Jude began “it’s David Porter. David was born and raised in Arizona. His mother, Lisa Marie Porter, was a healer and the leader of a commune in Sedona. She and her followers believed the energy vortexes and ley lines, which exist in Sedona, could heal any ill. Lisa made a fortune selling charged crystals and potions to gullible and desperate people. Her business was booming until the late 1990s, when there was a mishap with an herbal concoction. It was supposed to have wild garlic petals in it, but someone used oleander instead.”
“That’s one hell of a mistake to make. Did anyone die?” Ronan asked.
“Yeah, three people. A mother and her two kids. Four year old twin girls. Lisa Marie was arrested on three charges of manslaughter, each carrying a seven to twenty year sentence. She was held on half a million dollars bail, which was peanuts. David paid the ten percent bond in cash the next morning. Two days later, she jumped bail. Disappeared as if she never existed, along with all the money in her bank accounts, which totaled to over a million dollars. David turned up in Iowa in 1999 with a new name, Levi Shackleton, and a new cause. King of Deliverance quickly grew, thanks to the impending doom of Y2K.”
Ronan snorted. “Can you believe we all thought the world would end when the clock struck midnight to ring in the new century?” He remembered the panic incited when it was revealed computers weren’t programmed to handle the change from the 1900s to the year 2000. Programmers thought networks would collapse and with it, western civilization. Y2K had thankfully been a lot of ado about nothing.
“I never thought that, but there were a lot of other people who did. KOD made a fortune in donations. They were able to quickly expand into Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, and Arkansas. Now they have chapters in twenty-five states. Thankfully, none of those chapters are in the northeast. Closest one is just outside of Cleveland.”
“Nothing out of the ordinary there. Please tell me you’ve got something more juicy than a megachurch raking in big bucks.”
“Have I ever let you down before?” Jude waggled his eyebrows. “Levi Shackleton has been sued for fraud twelve times over the last twenty-five years. All of the cases were settled out of court and wrapped up in tidy bows with non-disclosure agreements. There’s no way to find out how these lawsuits were settled and what the plaintiffs got to shut them up.”
“That’s good to know,” Fitz said, walking into Ronan’s office. “Cisco wants me to draft a press release about KOD. These fraud cases are going at the top of the page. All we need to do is list a few bullet points, and let the media run with the story. Cisco is rethinking us having a press conference. I think he’s going to schedule one as soon as he sees what we’ve dug up. Also, I found Greg Thompson. He’s married with three kids. Husband’s name is Marcus. So much for the exorcism being a ringing success.”
“Ten’s gonna love hearing that.” Ronan shook his head. “Are there any other prominent members of the church who have criminal backgrounds?”
