Royally Broken by Elle Boon Page 0,72
the pigs blood spilled all over her on stage?” he bit out.
They’d moved the car seat to the back, so Duke was sitting beside him, his snort was accompanied by a leg slap. “You gotta admit that was some epic fucking shit, man.”
“You two ain’t right,” Traeger pointed out.
“When we went to check on Palmer’s grandmother, the old woman was, shall we say, a little stunned to see such strapping young men. Her husband was out with the boys, she’d sneered that part. Her hand was shaking like she had palsy, man. It was clear she was scared to speak about Granddaddy Old Fuck. We sat her down and explained we were there on behalf of her granddaughter and her great grandson. She had heard through one of her bridge friends that someone tried to kill Palmer. When she’d questioned her husband, he hit her. From the black and blue mark on her cheek, it was hard enough to leave a mark and he didn’t give a shit. She said she tried to get ahold of Palmer but couldn’t reach her. I informed her she was safe as was Jaxson. After that, she spilled a lot of dirty secrets. Secrets she had been forced to keep because they had shit over her head. They are all nasty fuckers,” King turned around, his dark eyes stormy.
“The entire town or like a handful?” Keys tried to remember if any of the men he’d encountered back in the day, had given him the feeling that he was in danger of being taken or hurt. Sure, the Langley’s enjoyed beating him to the point he’d thought he might die. The things they’d done hadn’t seemed sexual, but again, he was young and inexperienced. Now with a man’s knowledge, they clearly got off on hurting him. It wasn’t a stretch to think they’d done the same to others. His mind scrolled through others in Lionsville who would fit the profile.
“There’s a lot of folks that were assholes, but fuck, I can’t say who would be sick like that. Of course, I’d never have guessed her granddaddy for a fucking perverted rapist either. It’s gonna break her damn heart when I tell her he’d raped and groomed her own bastard of a husband until he got too old. After that he groomed him until Palmer was old enough to take him as a husband. That was why he was so complacent with what that fucker did to her, even when she’d told him how he’d raped and beat her on their honeymoon.” Keys couldn’t look at the others as he told him what Palmer had gone through, knowing they’d need the information moving forward. He also gave them the details of Thomas stalking him through the woods.
“Traeger was actually only about twenty feet from the both of you. He heard most of what was said. That’s some fucked up shit, though. It doesn’t excuse what he did, but my question is, how the hell did Palmer’s granddaddy get Thomas? Like, where are his parents?” King asked.
“Palmer said his mother passed away somewhat recently. There was no mention of his father.” Keys would have to do some digging, but once you started shaking trees lots of leaves fell that could cause a lot of questions.
“Well, I guess we can ask old granddaddy ourselves I reckon. Oh, and we got us a few other, shall we say, guests to question as well.” Duke rubbed his hands together as if he was excited.
Keys sat up straighter as they began driving down the road, he’d walked every single day of his youth. “Why are we going here?”
“Easiest way to get where we’re going. There’s another way in, but that’s the route the members use. This one is hidden. Not that the good ole boys aren’t aware their jig is up, but we thought we’d stop in and pick up an old friend on our way.” King took a deep breath and waited.
“You saying Claire was aware or part of this shit?” Fuck, he prayed they didn’t drop a bomb on him and say she was his mother or some shit. He didn’t have any blank memories, so he knew he hadn’t been molested as a kid.
“She was, but not like you’re thinking. You see, good ole Claire...let’s wait until we get to the big house. I can’t believe you never explored back behind the hill and found it that place. I mean, I guess it’s hard to find, what with