The Last Straw (The Jigsaw Files #4) - Sharon Sala Page 0,25
with no idea of what they were driving into.
* * *
Jeremiah was at his brother Samuel’s house in the bayou, and the cell service was spotty. He was anxious about what was happening, but he couldn’t get a call in or out. He needed to know what was going on to protect himself, so he got in the car and started driving until he got a strong cell signal, then pulled over on the old dirt road and started checking messages.
That was when he found all the missed calls from his church members. After listening to the panic and the anger in their voices, he realized the depth of trouble he was in. He had severely underestimated Jade Wyrick. If she had found out all this, then there was a chance she knew about his other activities, too. The men he did business with weren’t fond of publicity, and if they wanted the link between them destroyed, erasing their names in his contacts wouldn’t do it. They’d want him dead.
He needed to go home long enough to get to his computer and take down the website and delete the files in his email. He drove back to Samuel’s to let his sister-in-law, Maisie, know where he was going, and found his brother sitting on the porch.
And from the look on Samuel’s face, he wasn’t happy. The more Jeremiah thought about it, the more he came to believe Samuel was there waiting for him. But he had more important things to deal with than whatever was up his brother’s butt.
“Hey, Samuel... I’m gonna be gone for a while. There’s some stuff I need to do at home.”
Samuel already knew his brother had come here to hide. He didn’t hold with any of Jeremiah’s preaching or his shady dealings.
“Do what you gotta do,” Samuel said. “But watch your back. Your business partners ain’t the kind to take kindly to publicity.”
Jeremiah stared. “What are you talking about? You don’t know my business. And what do you mean about publicity?”
“We might live in the bayou, but we ain’t stupid, brother. I know what you been doin’. Ain’t no one here got the money to donate what you take in at church.”
“How do you know what—”
“Maisie works at the bank in Paulette, remember? And while you were out, we saw the video that Wyrick woman you been preaching against aired on TV, so we also know you sent men to kill her. It says in the Bible, Thou shall not kill, and you’re a preacher who sent hit men to kill someone! That don’t set right with us. I think you need to just go on and take your stuff back with you when you leave. We don’t want you bringing your bad juju here.”
Jeremiah frowned. All of a sudden, the frantic messages from his church members were starting to make sense.
“Video? What video?” Jeremiah asked.
“It seems that Wyrick woman caught the first man you sent. He’s in jail. But he told her there were two more coming after her. I guess she didn’t take kindly to that, because she has offered a quarter of a million dollar bounty on each one. She don’t want them. Just their identities. And she said can’t nobody hurt ’em, or they don’t get the dough. She’s gonna plaster their pictures all over that social media you’re so fond of, so everyone will know you’re the one behind it.”
Jeremiah groaned. Barrett Taylor had blabbed about the other men.
“But, Samuel, I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
Samuel shrugged. “I am not my brother’s keeper. You lit the fuse to this. We’ll say a prayer for your mortal soul, and that’s the best I can offer. Just don’t tell me where you’re goin’, because I won’t lie to the law if they come looking for you. But if I don’t know where you are, then my conscience will be clear.”
“Some brother you are,” Jeremiah muttered.
“That’s kinda what I was thinking about you,” Samuel said and stood up, looming a good five inches above his brother’s head. “Y’all go on now. Get your stuff and go about your business, preacher man.”
Jeremiah ducked his head and went inside. To his surprise, Maisie had already packed his bag. It was sitting in the middle of the bed, and she was nowhere to be seen. He grabbed it and headed out the door, threw it in the backseat of the car and as he drove away, knew he’d never see them again.