Page 37 of Jason's Justice
“I didn’t mean any offense to either you Erin, or Ryan for not coming to you with my concerns and questions. I know you guys are extremely busy, hell we all are, but I didn’t want to add to your work schedule. Again, don’t think I’m being mean, but do you really have the time to investigate like Jake and his Brotherhood Protectors do?”
“No,” both Erin and Ryan answered.
“Prudora,” Ryan asked quietly. “What questions did you have?”
“Oh, where did Royal come from? Where did he get his money from? Why did he think someone owning one prize mare, and one hundred acres, that’s been farming for around a year,has the right to take what Erin and her past generations had built up to where they are today.” She looked at Clark with a grin. “Sorry, I forgot you’re half owner now.”
“Don’t be, Rin did all this by herself. But I can see why you would have these questions.”
“Me too,” Erin said. “Did you go to Jake to get them answered?”
“Yes, because according to this non-murder board, Royal is somehow connected to Grayson.”
Everyone sucked in their breath and looked at the board, and started to quietly swear when they made the connection. She turned to Jake and Stone.
“I take it you’re here because you found something?”
“We did,” Jake said with a shake of his head. “Well, Stone did. He based his investigation off what Carter Manning found out about Miller Sr., Biggins, and Royal being in the same foster family growing up.”
“After I found something,” Stone said as he lifted the file in his hand. “I contacted Carter Manning from the Yellowstone office, Hank Patterson, the founder of Brotherhood, and he in turn contacted Remy Montagne, he’s the operator of Brotherhood down in the Bayou, and has Larry Mason hidden there.”
“Why?” Katherine asked in shock as she looked at her mother. “Why is Larry being protected?”
“Because he went to Lyle Anderson a few months ago with some evidence against Grayson. He knows his hands are dirty, and is willing to take whatever punishment will be dealt to him by a court of law, however, he didn’t want his punishment to be dealt with by Grayson.”
“You’re saying he didn’t want to get killed?”
“Basically, yes. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“No, I had no reason to know this. I’m glad he’s safe and is cooperating with the proper people. However, I wouldn’t be lying if I told you that I hope he gets the book thrown at him.”
“Yeah, I know.”
No one said anything after that, and they all turned to Jake and Stone.
“What did you find?” Pru asked as she went back to stand beside her husband. Everyone heard her giant exhale when Ryan put his arm around her.
“Okay, please bear with us,” Stone said. “As we all know, Miller Sr., Biggins, and Royal grew up in the foster care system. At one point, around the age of ten to twelve, they were in the same place and stayed together until they aged out at eighteen. From there, they went their separate ways, only to meet every two to three years to catch up.” Stone looked up and when no one asked anything, he looked at Jake.
“Yeah,” Jake said. “This next part was overlooked, and it’s all our fault.”
“What?” Erin asked into the silence when no one would say anything after he paused.
“The home Miller, Sr., Biggins, and Royal resided in, had a natural child living there. He was around the same age as those three.”
“Who?” Pru asked.
“George Michael Babcock,” Jake said and looked at the faces as they registered this information. “Babcock went by his legal last name until after he graduated from college. That’s around the age of twenty-three, when he became George Michael Grayson. Grayson is his maternal grandmother’s maiden name. Once out of college and joining the law enforcement community, the FBI, he went by Grayson. Don’t quote us, but that’s how we believe he went up through the ranks. When he did illegal activities, like rough up the gang bangers for a cut of theirproducts and profits, he went by Babcock. His ex-wife and child, Michael, were Babcocks.”
“Where’s the ex-wife?” Pru asked.
“No clue.”
“Maybe he killed her.”
“It’s something we’re looking into,” Jake said sadly. “Yes, that’s what it’s looking like, but we don’t know for sure. Now to get to Pru’s questions. We were able to dig into Royal’s finances since they’ve been frozen. Well, Hank was able to. It turns out that all of Royal’s money he flaunted when he lived here came indirectly from Grayson.”
“Was it from the shakedowns?” Duane asked through clenched teeth.
