Chapter 292: Hunting Lois

I just woke up the next morning knowing that they were going to fix me. There was no announcement and no admission that they had screwed up initially. Nothing like that with a government agency of course. It was just you should show up on Friday and plan to spend the weekend.

Yes, I was counting down the five days, but I also had to find Lois in those same five days. Dead or alive she was out there somewhere. First things first, I thought. I needed to interview the people at the Reverend's rehab facility. Ordinarily they don't cooperate, even with me. This time I thought they might, so I just went there cold after my morning coffee,

I had given the cops the rest of the first day to do their thing. I did it since anything that could be done with lots of manpower, should have been accomplished the first day. Since it wasn't, I decided that I needed to look into it.

It was too early in the day for my normal contact, so I just knocked on the locked front door. "Hello," I said to the first person who came. "I'm Maxine Stone and I'm going to be looking for Lois Gentry," I informed the woman at the door.

"I am going to have to call someone," she informed me.

"Then you need to get to calling," I replied. I stood by the door so as to give her time to cover her ass.

"Reverend Archer is going to come down to see you," the frightened black lady said.

"Why are you so nervous? Surely the Reverend doesn't blame you for what happened?" I asked.

"Of course not, I wasn't even here yesterday," she said.

"So what do they say happened?" I asked. "Come on you know it's going to be all over town."

"They say two guys came in with a visitor and pulled guns. They held the staff at gunpoint and grabbed Lois." the lady said.

"Did they point the guns are her or was it a rescue?" I asked.

"I don't think she wanted to go," the voice belonged to Reverend Archer. "Hello Maxine. Jewel honey you can go back to work. I'll take care of Maxine."

"Well Reverend Archer, how are you today?" I asked.

"I would be a lot better if Lois hadn't been snatched from me. I hate like hell when I lose one of the flock."

"I bet. Especially when some punk takes them away from you?" I suggested.

"Let's say the 'Few' have their eyes open for her, or the car the punks were driving." he said.

"So what did these punks look like?" I asked.

"Young, black and with big guns, or course." Archer was not a happy man.

"Of course, I don't suppose they were able to pick anyone out of the police photos?" I asked.

"No but Maxine, can I trust you?" he asked.

"You always have Reverend," I suggested.

"One of the clients is an artist. He got a good look at one of them." With that he handed me a copy machine picture of a man. It was a good enough drawing to identify him, if I found a matching real life face. "Also this is the second one from a witness description."

"So do you have any idea where I should look first?" I asked.

"I got a peace with the Westies. Half my congregation has some kind of ties to them," he said.

"Reverend Archer this is a small town. There isn't that much gang activity here?" I suggested.

"I know Maxine but a white girl grabbed by two black guys and she doesn't resist. It smacks of gangs or drugs of some kind."

"Oh I don't have a problem believing it is drugs. My guess is that she did business with those two. They are probably afraid of what she will say, if she gets clean." I suggested.

"That sounds like a reasonable first theory," the reverend said.

"So, now I just have to find them, to be sure she is free to leave, if she wishes." I said.

"You do plan to leave the two kidnappers alive when you go, I assume?" the reverend asked quietly.

"That's the plan, but it is flexible," I admitted.

When I left the rehab, I drove to the apartment Lois had listed on her rehab registration. I found it to be just a needle pad. Nothing personal at all, unless you counted the two teenagers with the thousand mile stare as personal belongings.

"Hey kid, you know either of these two men?" I asked after I got one's attention.

"Sure that's Jerome," he informed me. "Jerome's got some good shit."

Seemed there was no mystery after all. Just a couple of drug dealers and their drug whore. I called Sandy at the station. I took the call out to the porch, since I didn't much want the Bobsy twins involved in the conversation.

"Sandy this is Maxine, it looks like your doer in the disappearance of my friend Lois is a dealer named Jerome. All I know about him so far is he has some good shit man." I left her the message before I asked the Bobsy twins where I could find Jerome.

"I don't know where he lives, but Jerome sells in the downtown park," one of the twins said. He strolls through a few times a day. I don't know where else he sells."

"You mean in that one block grassed lot on the square?" I asked disbelieving my ears. It was six blocks from the police station, certainly no more. It was also two blocks from my house. One thing for sure, he was going to be moving his operation.

"Yeah, he's been selling there a long time," he replied.

"Okay man thanks, you guys get back to it. Whatever it is," I suggested as I left the room.

Since I neither got cold, nor tired I could ride by the park all day until he showed, but he might not be going to show at all, if he had an uncooperative Lois to deal with. I needed to run Jerome and his partner to ground. I needed more information to do that.

I went to the park to grab any drug dealer and then sweat him, but to my surprised Jerome was there. Evidently he didn't think what he had done was a big deal. He was on the move, but he was there.