Destiny's Wrath (Destiny Series - Book 3) by Straight, Nancy (read full novel .txt) 📗

have some idea what we might have to talk about.” I could hear in her voice that she was a nervous wreck. I could only imagine what she was going through.

“Maggie, have you noticed anything different about your son the last few months?”

Maggie jumped to the wrong conclusion when she spat out, “I don’t know who you think you are, but pretending to be a friend of Jimmy’s just to write an exposé is pretty low. I want to know who you work for. I’ll sue your editor for this.”

“Ms. Jacobs, I can assure you I’m not a reporter of any kind. I had a very bad experience with a group of people a few months ago. Jimmy is. . . running with the same crowd I used to. . . and I only wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You know who put him up to this? Have you talked to the police? They told me Jimmy did this on his own. If you know something that will save my boy, you have to come forward!”

“I really think it would be better to talk to you in person before I visit the police. I will see them if you want me to, but I really need to talk to you first.”

Her voice was a little more subdued, “Fair enough. Do you know where I live?”

“Yes, we drove by yesterday, but there were reporters everywhere.”

“When you are a block away from my house, call me back at this number. I’ll open the garage door so you can pull your car in. If you want to keep your privacy, you may want to rent a car or cover up your license plate so the reporters can’t track you down. Otherwise, I’m sure the sharks will be after you, too.”

“We’ll be there in the next two hours.”

*****

We took Maggie’s advice of renting a car before going to her house. Two hours later we were sitting in Maggie’s living room. A handsome man in his late thirties was sitting with her on the sofa. He wore jeans and a button-down shirt. Not a power-lifter by any means, but he was muscular, clean-shaven, and seemed friendly. I watched him for a few seconds and detected just a twinge of nervousness from him. I didn’t know why, but having Max and me there made him very uncomfortable. Maggie didn’t introduce him to us.

Maggie was distraught. I knew there was little chance anything I said to her would improve her disposition. She thought the child she had reared, whom she had loved unconditionally since birth, was a monster. She wanted to be able to point to something that would make this horrific tragedy somehow an enormous mistake.

I couldn’t tell which was less steady, Maggie’s hands or her voice, “You said on the phone that you knew something about some friends of Jimmy’s . . . some kids that made him do this?” Uncomfortable Guy was paying attention.

I started out slowly, doing my best to read her emotions, “Maggie, are you . . . do you believe that there is evil in the world?”

“There is evil all around us, Lauren. You don’t plan to give me a sermon, right? You said you knew something.”

“Jimmy is being influenced by . . . someone named, Samael.”

Uncomfortable Guy leaned in and asked, “Samael, who?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know his last name, but he is responsible for all this. I know it.”

Relief showed on Maggie’s face. Uncomfortable Guy asked, “How is he involved? Jimmy gave a full confession. He never once mentioned a Samael. Is Jimmy protecting him?”

I turned my attention to the man, “I’m sorry, we weren’t introduced. I’m Lauren Davis. This is Max Meyer. You are?”

“Dennis Thornton, a friend of Maggie’s.” She nodded eagerly. He gently placed his hand on Maggie’s knee, and I understood. Dennis was here to anchor her, grounding her, maybe to keep her from getting her hopes up.

“No, I do think Jimmy did everything he said he did, but I think he wouldn’t have done it if not for Samael. I’d really like to talk to Jimmy to see if I’m right. Maggie, do you know how I could get in to see him?”

Dennis responded before Maggie could get a word out, “Jimmy isn’t permitted visitors. I’m sorry there’s no way for you to talk to him.” He gave Maggie a gentle look and added, “But I could get a message to him or ask a couple questions for you.”

“Are you his lawyer?”

Dennis shook his head, “I’m a cop. I was there when Jimmy. . .when he. . .gave his statement. He didn’t say anything about a Samael. What’s he look like? Where does he live? How do I find him?”

I looked at Max. Neither of us expected Maggie to have invited a detective to our get-together. “I don’t know. I just know he’s bad news.” I turned to Maggie, “I really just wanted to offer you whatever support I could. I was hoping there would be a way we could speak with him. We should probably go.”

“That’s it? You said you would tell the police what you knew. Dennis is right here. What do you know about this Samael?”

“Nothing that I can prove. Nothing that the police would believe.”

Dennis didn’t stand up; instead he motioned for us to sit back down. “Listen, I don’t know Jimmy that well, but I know Maggie. She’s not the kind of woman who could raise a serial killer. It just isn’t possible. You’ve got to give me something to go on. Anything.”

“Dennis, I wish I could. I wish we could. Samael is sort of . . . trouble. When we saw the news a couple days ago, we knew Samael was involved, but unless we can talk to Jimmy, we don’t have anything to go on other than we don’t like the guy. I don’t have a picture of him, I don’t have his last