Name of the Devil by Andrew Mayne

Author:Andrew Mayne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015-05-18T04:00:00+00:00

34

WHILE MAX WORKS his data wizardry to find the unknown man, I concentrate on what happened to Reverend Groom and whether or not it involved the man who put the bodies in the trees in Hawkton. Something tells me the sixth man isn’t our unknown voice on the audiotape. But I do think he had something to do with Groom’s suicide.

The trouble is that there are few clues with Groom. We don’t have any mud or other physical evidence like corpses and broken branches. By itself, Groom’s suicide would be an open-and-shut case. It’s plain as day he shot himself. We’re only concerned about why because of who his friends were.

All I have to go on is his behavior right before he killed himself. On camera he acts like he is following a script he doesn’t understand.

On a lark, I give my grandfather a call. I haven’t spoken to him since we met at the airport. I never even followed up on his hospital visit either.

Ugh, I suck at people.

“Jessica, is everything okay?” he asks after I say hello.

It’s not a sign of strong family relations when that’s the first thing the other person says. “I’m fine. Um, how are you?”

“Good. Good. The medical thing is under control.”

“Oh . . . um, good.” I don’t know if I’m supposed to press further. What’s the right thing to do? I just ignore the situation. “So, I have a professional question I wanted you to think about.”

“Hold on. Let me write this down.”

“What?”

“The time and date you asked me to help you.” It’s a gentle tease, but I can tell the old man is pleased.

I laugh with relief. I got him on a good day. “I could just call Dad, or Uncle Darius.”

“Amateurs,” he scoffs.

“They learned from the worst. I’m working on a case and I need your thoughts. There’s something familiar about what’s going on.”

“Of course. Of course.”

“Have you seen the video of the reverend who killed himself?”

“Good riddance.” Grandfather’s opinion on faith healers is as strong as my own. I have to resist telling him why he may be justified in his response.

“Yeah, um, but have you actually watched the part before he kills himself?”

“I haven’t seen any of it. I only read about it.”

“Could you do me a favor and take a look? I could send the video to you.”

“Why don’t I just pull it up on my iPad?”

Grandfather has an iPad? “Yeah, I guess so. You know how to find it?”

“Found it. Give me a minute.” I hear the audio playing over the phone. It cuts off before Groom pulls the trigger. “Interesting. I see what you’re saying. There’s something off about him, isn’t there?”

“Yes. I’m trying to figure out what.”

“Let me think for a moment. Hmm. You may have been too young to remember this. In fact, you may not have even been born yet. For a while we had a bit in the show called ‘The Antics.’ It was a hypnosis pickpocket act. Your uncle actually came up with the idea.

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