CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“I can’t believe we missed this,” said Nine. “How could we have missed this?”

“He’s a minister. He heads a church,” said Ian. “He’s supposed to be a man of God. Read it again, Victoria. Please.”

“Morris Sizemore is an alias. His real name is Morley Standard. At the age of seventeen, he was convicted of assault with intent to kill. He was given time in juvie and released, at which point his parents told him he couldn’t come home. He proceeded to beat his parents to death. He was tried as an adult and convicted to life.”

“Life? How did he get out?” asked Ghost.

“Well, it was in California,” she said with a shrug. The entire room groaned. California was notoriously easy on criminals. “He served ten years of his sentence, turned to God, became an ordained minister, and was released for the good works he’d done in prison. He started a church in Oklahoma, non-denominational, and was there seven years. During that time, there were nine unexplained murders.”

“Let me guess. All of the victims went to his church,” said Wilson.

“Yes, sir. All of them. He told his flock that he needed to take time away. He did and took the money that was left in the church with him. It wasn’t an outrageous amount, a little over thirty thousand dollars, but that was enough to start over. As we know, he ended up here in New Orleans and has been here ever since.”

“We need to know how many other murders are connected to this church,” said Gaspar.

“I have that,” said Code. “In the last fifteen years, seventeen members of the church have disappeared or died. No one questioned it until now because it always seemed like they either left without telling anyone or died of natural causes or accidents. Also, the good reverend never raised any red flags or suspicions, and his flock isn’t the average churchgoer. We all know that they’re from the Quarter area, bartenders, strippers, hookers. No one thinks twice when those people disappear.”

“Mr. Gaspar?” said Barry, knocking on the door frame.

“Oh, Barry. Perfect timing. What can we do for you?”

“I saw the news and what happened to those poor kids,” he said, swallowing. “I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I’m feeling a bit strange about something.”

“Would it have anything to do with Reverend Sizemore?” asked Ian.

“Yes, sir. Everything. Grandma came by a few days ago to see me, and the reverend and I were talking about how amazing she is.”

“She is that,” smiled Nine.

“Yes, sir. But he didn’t know her full background. When I started telling him about how hard her life was as a single mother and what she had to do to support herself, he got very judgmental. I’ve never seen him like that before. It made me really uncomfortable.

“Then, two days ago, Gillian and Alicia, the two cheerleaders that belonged to our church, came by and were asking the reverend if he could give a donation to support their cheer competition.”

“How did that go?” frowned Nine.

“Not well at all. I was cleaning some things out of the supply closet, and he didn’t know I was in there. He was criticizing the girls for their cheer outfits, telling them they should be doing something else with their lives or they’d end up as exotic dancers or prostitutes. I’d never heard him say anything like that before!”

“What did the girls do?” asked Nine.

“At first, they were just sitting quietly, listening to him. Then Gillian got upset with him and told him he was being very old-fashioned. She said this was how all the cheer teams dressed, and she wasn’t ashamed of herself. The girls left, and he was furious. I could hear him muttering to himself.”

“We think he’s the one that’s been killing these people, Barry. He’s killed before,” said Gaspar.

“I can’t believe it. I mean, I can but I can’t. He’s done so much for me, but ever since that encounter with Grandma, he’s been acting weird around me.”

“You can’t go back there, Barry. No matter what. Don’t go back there. In fact, why don’t you stay out here with your grandmother for a few days until we finish this.”

“Yes, sir. I can do that,” he nodded. “There’s something else, though. With Imelda no longer with us and Shirley still out, I’ve been helping with some of the basic office work, opening mail, that sort of thing. I just stack it in piles for him and leave it.

“This morning, I opened a donation for ten thousand dollars in a cashier’s check. I didn’t know they still did those. It was from an anonymous donor made out to the reverend, not the church.”

“Did you give it to him?” asked Gaspar.

“I had it in my hand when he came into the office. He knew what it was and snatched it from me. He actually yelled at me for opening the mail and told me to leave.”

“We need to find him,” said Ian. “Was he at the church when you left?”

“Yes, sir.” With another knock on the doorframe, they turned to see Sven.

“Barry, what are you doing here?” he asked with a smile.

“Business, Grandpa Sven,” he frowned.

“Well, your grandmother went into town again and was going to stop and see you at the church.”

“What?” he gasped. “No. No, Grandpa Sven. No!”

Trak, Zeke, Miller, Angel, and Wilson were out the door before anyone else could move.

“What’s wrong?” asked Sven. Nine stood and gripped Sven’s shoulder.

“Call her, Sven. Call her and tell her not to go to that church under any circumstances. Do not. Code? Activate her trackers and find her.”