Showdown in the Big Easy by Charles Tillman & Martha Carr & Michael Anderle

Author:Charles Tillman & Martha Carr & Michael Anderle [Tillman, Charles & Carr, Martha & Anderle, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2024-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Xavier’s Mystical, Magical Emporium, French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana

“Thank you for taking the time to see me, Xavier. I know you have other things you would rather do now, but I assure you this is important.”

“I don’t know what you expect from this, Aloysius, but Marie said I needed to talk to you tonight. What do you need?”

“I’m interested in everything you can tell me about the night you saw Winston on Oriceran.”

“Not much. He was meeting a Nytch in a pub at the edge of the Dark Forest. I got out of there before he saw me.”

Aloysius frowned. “I was led to believe the Nytch was involved with the drug that caused so much havoc recently. Is that true?”

“According to the goblin I was there to meet, the Nytch raided a goblin village and stole the plant the drug came from. He told me later that it was goblins, not Winston, who destroyed the farm and killed the Nytch.”

“So all that hype on the Sunday news shows where Winston showed that footage and claimed responsibility is more of his lies?”

“If what the goblin says is true. I have no reason to doubt him. He’s always dealt straight with me.”

Aloysius was silent for a moment. “What business do you have with goblins? I always found them to be rather disagreeable creatures.”

“I buy supplies for my charms and potions from them. Some things I need are not readily available or cost a fortune in the Dark Market. The goblins collect them. I can buy them cheaper, and I don’t have to spend weeks collecting them myself.”

Aloysius studied Xavier through hooded eyes. “Is there anything else?”

“No, that’s all I can tell you. Winston wasn’t high on my list of concerns then.”

“Is there any way you can get proof that Blackwell’s lying about his role in the drugs?”

“You mean other than his son William was killed in the company of a Kilomea who was a known distributor?”

Aloysius frowned. “We can’t use that without corroboration from an outside source. Parents are seldom held responsible for the actions of their children these days, and with William getting killed as he did, the media would try to portray him as a victim of addiction to stir public sympathy. Many of us in DC know Winston was behind the whole thing, but we need proof to bring him down. That idiot child the House elected Speaker is supporting him, and we can’t make our move until we have something to counter that.”

“What kind of proof?”

“Something believable. We need to give the media enough to get them to ask questions. Right now, the media bosses are pushing Winston as a savior. If we can introduce a shred of doubt into that narrative, they will do the rest. They’re sharks, and a little blood in the water will start a frenzy with each network trying to top the other in outrageous claims.”

Xavier leaned back in his chair, his mind racing as he considered Aloysius’s request. Implicating Winston Blackwell as the mastermind behind the drug trade was a monumental task, but he saw the logic behind it.

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