Page 30 of Fighting for Mallory

“Plenty of cop killers and haters in here, plenty with reason, too. But lotta us knew Captain Valentin and respected him. He didn’t just forget about us, you know? Tried to help us out with putting money in our accounts, education, books, that sort of thing.”

“So, you’re saying that their deaths weren’t related to this snake cult I’m investigating but good old-fashioned revenge for killing Captain Valentin? Can you identify who shanked them?”

“Doing something like that gives you credibility in here, you know? No one claimed it. Look to the guards. And that’s all I’m sayin’. Don’t have any names to give you.”

“Understood. You’ve answered one of the major questions we had. One more question. Did Mercado or Tino say anything to anyone in the short time before their murders?”

“No. Sorry, Ms. Stoker.”

The interview over, they rose to their feet.

“I’ll be at your parole hearing in six weeks, Beast. Keep working to get your PI license, and I’ll make sure you have a job when you get out. In the meantime, keep your nose clean.”

Beast nodded as a guard led him out of the visitors’ lounge.

The most perplexing question they debated on the return trip to LA was how the deaths of nine men in Neheb’s cult hadn’t raised a single outcry from family members or friends. Judd and Faith agreed that people didn’t appear or disappear without making a single connection. These men had parents, possibly siblings, someone they met in passing. Teachers. Someone. Even the person who perhaps introduced them to ancient Egyptian mythology.

“Hold that thought, Faith,” Judd said as he pulled into Valentin’s widow’s driveway. Memorials to the fallen officer still graced the yard.

Mrs. Valentin welcomed them warmly into her modest, comfortable living room. Pictures of her husband and their family adorned the walls and sat on end tables scattered around the inviting space. An unexpected ache of sympathy for the widow’s loss hit Judd’s stomach.

They followed Mrs. Valentin into the cheerful yellow and white kitchen where she poured them glasses of iced tea and cut slices of her homemade butter pound cake. She set a bowl of fresh strawberries on the table. “I like to bake,” she chattered. “It keeps me busy. There’s always one occasion or another that calls for a cake, cookies, or pies.”

“It’s delicious, Mrs. Valentin,” Faith commented after she’d swallowed her first bite of pound cake.

Judd agreed.

“I appreciate your taking time to visit me, Mr. Morgan, Ms. Stoker, but I sense something is on your mind. What is it?”

“You have probably heard about the brutal murder of D.A. Hayes’ husband, Bentley Hayes?”

She nodded. “Terrible tragedy.”

“We believe the same organization who killed your husband also killed him.”

Her eyes grew round in surprise.

“So, I’m starting at the beginning, Mrs. Valentin, with Mercado and Tino, to find out if there’s something we missed along the way. The truth is, I’m surprised they were apprehended, even with the entire LAPD investigating. Now that some time has passed, do you recall your husband ever encountering anyone with a fanged copperhead tattoo or mentioning anything about a cult that might be practicing Egyptian mythology?”

Mrs. Valentin closed her eyes. She must have been uttering a prayer because her lips moved in silence, and she crossed herself. “Not that he ever said to me. Yeniel kept his job away from me and our children. But one time when we were alone in the house, he said he felt unsafe, as if…as if spirits were lurking in the darkness. He always kept his gun locked up, but that night he slept with it on his nightstand.”

“Was your husband superstitious?”

She offered a sad, knowing smile. “We’re Catholic. Our faith is mysterious, is it not?”

Judd wasn’t the least bit religious. He didn’t entirely reject the idea of God; he just didn’t think about the nature of faith too deeply. “Yes, I suppose so.”

They finished their iced tea and pound cake and carried their dishes to the sink. Mrs. Valentin escorted them to the door. “If I remember anything else or find something in Yeniel’s papers, I’ll call you, Mr. Morgan. I haven’t been able to bring myself to sort through his things yet.”

“Please do, Mrs. Valentin.” He handed her a business card with his personal cell phone number on it.

As Judd slid behind the wheel of his car, Faith asked, “What’s next?”

“The execution of Andre Lapeno and his family.”

CHAPTER TEN

Luca and Mallory’s search on the internet yielded little information about Nehebkau. Most of the articles repeated details. Concluding they needed to speak to an expert in Egyptology, they headed to the University of Memphis the next morning to meet with Patricia Samir, the head of the Ancient Egyptian Studies Department.

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