Page 67 of Salvation

Alan and I left Ms. Smith about an hour ago. It’s dark and we’re both quiet, thinking about all we learned from her.

Renald Antoinette was an evil man.

He truly believed that he could buy his way out of anything, and he almost did.

He raped and victimized that woman. Yet, regardless of that fact, she had a sexual relationship with him for seven years after that. She completely despised him, nonetheless, she allowed him into her bed and into her body for years because he paid her and she was afraid if she didn’t, he’d kill her. He very well might have, too.

She gave us a lot of good information. In fact, I can’t wait to get back to the office. I plan on working on it tonight.

I’m close… so close. I can feel it.

Renald bragged about setting up a meeting with Gabrial by using an alias. Ms. Smith said that he told her he was going to meet him at a secret location, and that if Gabrial didn’t agree to a partnership with him, he was going to kill him and absorb Gabrial’s business into his own. He’s already killed, or completely destroyed, the infrastructure of every crime ring in Northern Louisiana.

His end game was to have control over the entire Louisiana region and eventually the Gulf South.

Ms. Smith said Renald told her he would come for her once he’d acquired the partnership or taken over the reins. He stated he was going to be the king and he wanted her for his queen.

She said the last communication she had with him was the night he went missing. He texted her saying he was going to be out of pocket for a bit, but when he called her later that night, it would all be done, and their kingdom would be coming together.

She says she didn’t text him back and that was the last she heard from him.

She figured he’d either gotten himself killed, or was hiding, because the meeting didn’t go as planned.

She painted us a vivid picture of a self-entitled, rich, man-child with an explosive temper, a mean streak, and depraved sexual desires. She said he had no conscience and literally thought he could do no wrong. He often called himself “The Chosen One” and “The Messiah” and claimed the reason he’d never been caught, or prosecuted, for any of his crimes was because God wanted him to be the king.

From talking to Ms. Smith, Renald did appear to be completely deranged.

Five men went with Renald to meet with Gabrial, yet none of them have been heard from since.

My gut tells me he tried to play Gabrial and Gabrial killed him… Killed them all.

Ms. Smith showed us her phone, and the texts from Renald the night he disappeared. I have her phone in an evidence bag in the backseat now.

My intuition tells me that the missing piece of the puzzle is right in front of me…

I just have to find it.

I will find it…

The rest of the drive is completely silent as we cross over the Atchafalaya Basin, and the Mississippi River Bridge. Alan is staring out the window, clicking his pen. Every now and then, he’ll mumble something intelligible, and jot something down in a notebook.

We both have ideas about what happened that night. I think we’re on the verge of a breakthrough in this case, but he says today was a wild goose chase, and that everything we learned says that Renald met with Gabrial, but we have no real way to prove that… unless we find Renald, or talk to Gabrial, and get a confession.

I know that will never happen. Gabrial will never confess to anything. He’s too smart and he doesn’t think he can be caught.

Part of me wants Alan to be right. After all, he’s Gabrial… I know he’s responsible. I feel it in my gut, but I desperately want to be wrong this time.

Thinking back to my childhood, I can’t bear to think that the boy that was as close to me as a brother is now the man I’m searching desperately for a way to put away. A part of me hopes he didn’t have anything to do with any of this… yet the rest of me knows he does, and he’s involved. That part of me wants him away from Hope…

With the life he leads… eventually Hope will be caught in the crossfire and I can’t stand the thought of losing her.

If putting Gabrial away keeps Hope safe, it’s what I’ll do… even if doing so makes Hope hate me.

My chest cramps as I think about what will happen to Hope if Gabrial is the man I’m searching for. That will destroy her. And I’ll be the one that broke her heart.

Sighing, I turn up the radio. I can’t worry about what Hope will think if I’m right. I can live with it as long as she’s safe. I’ll have to.

That’s what I have to tell myself to stop me from handing in my badge and just walking away from it all.

---