seymoure

36.
“Truth Comes Hard”

“Have you found out something about Wiley Earl? Was there something in the autopsy? Are you back at the FBI?” Pappy found the questions coming fast, almost without his ability to contain them.

“Yes, I am back in the FBI, but that’s something I want to talk to you about a little later,” Archie admitted.

“Well, what about Wiley?” Han pushed.

“They did do an autopsy, and they found a lot of drugs in his system. It is amazing he wasn’t dead years ago.” Archie showed a bit of true amazement as to this. “He had a body full of amphetamines in devastating levels. He was soaked in them.”

“Amphetamines? What would they do,” Pappy queried.

“They would have wound him up like a revving engine. He probably hadn’t slept for days at a time and the damage to his system seems to say that he had been doing them, heavily, for some time.

“The stuff that was in him is something the kids call ‘speed.’ They take it to stay up all night to study. But continued use can destroy your ability to control your emotions and lay to waste any reasoning facilities you might have had.”

Pappy thought about that, and thought about the ritualistic patterns of the murders.

“Would he have been able to plot and carry out those killings, in that way?” He asked.

“It would hinge on the percentage of time he was ‘straight.’ On the drugs he could have carried out ritualist things, but it’s doubtful he could have plotted and carried out the capture and killing of the victims.”

“So, do you think he did it?” Pappy asked haltingly.

“I don’t think he did it alone,” Archie said, and then stopped as the food arrived.

The steaming plates were laid down before them, followed by the drinks.

Archie pulled his wallet out of his jacket pocket and took out a $5 bill. He handed it to Shelley and said, “Keep the change.”

The girl hesitated, as if waiting for the “but’ that never came. She gave him a “come hither grin” as she put the bill in her apron pocket and walked away.

The two ate the huge meal without saying another word.

Pappy thought his appetite might be larger since he was right about the case not being closed.

As they finished the last of the food, Pappy sat back in his booth seat.

“You said there was more,” The newly sated old man advanced.

“There is, but you may not ever speak to me again once I tell you,” The FBI agent said, and Pappy saw real pain in his eyes.

This truth was going to be big.