Lucifer's Apostles

Lucifer's Apostles Episode 19

When the paramedics arrived, they worked on Farahani before carrying him out. Marty started going through the rooms. He was looking through Farahani’s bedroom tallboy when Tank entered the room. Marty turned and saw a bewildered look on Tank’s face. “I got hold of Deng, Beckett’s in the wind. Who tipped them off? Nobody knew except the task force. I told Hawkins and Clements”, Tank said. “Pete’s got a wife and two kids”.

“One officer rammed through the door. Pete was the first one through, and Farahani stood, waiting for us. He hit Pete twice. Then he hit Jordan Thompson, who was following Pete. His final shot as he was falling missed me. I fired two shots, and it was over”.

Tank tapped him on his shoulder. “It was a good shoot. I need to tell you to stand down until the shooting has been investigated. You will have to see a counsellor. I’ll get both fast-tracked by Bill, and you’ll be right by Monday”.

Tank looked at Katie as she walked into the room and told her, “We have a mole”.

***

Louise drove into the station’s car park around fifteen minutes before Ned and waited in her car until he arrived. She had received a call from Joe Hawkins telling her that raids on members of the church were imminent. She told him to ring Ruby. There was nothing she could do. Ned parked his car, and Louise stepped out of hers. Following her into the building, Ned talked at a rapid pace. Louise did not listen to a word he said.

The only one in the briefing room, when she walked in ahead of Ned was Owen. He looked up from a desk before ignoring them. Ned was the first to speak, “Hi, Owen”. He mumbled something back that may have been hello. If it were, it was indecipherable.

Louise spoke directly to him. “Have you heard what’s been happening? Mary said another victim was found this morning, and they were going to bring in two suspects from the case”. Owen just shrugged, “Did you have a big night last night, Pet? Can’t you talk this morning?” she asked.

“I don’t know anything”, he finally said. “I got a phone call from Mary as well. She didn’t say who they were bringing in, just that it was happening now. She told me to get my butt in here on Tank’s orders”.

The ringtone on Louise’s phone started before she picked it up off the chair on which she had laid it. “Hey Louise, it’s Tank”.

Louise said, “I’ll put you on speaker. Ned and Owen are here”. Tank told them everything that had transpired. After he was finished, he said, “Louise, I need you and Ned to find out what you can about Shahab Farahani and Samuel Beckett. Please look up all of the other women’s partners from your list. Owen, go through all your reports on Destinee Brady, especially anything surrounding her ex-husband. Katie and I will be in shortly. Mary and Deng should get back before we do. Lisa’s pretty cut up, so I’ve told her to go home for the day. She and Jordan Thompson were partners for a while. Marty has been stood down until at least tomorrow. I’ll see you soon”.

Tank hung up before Louise put the phone back down. The room was silent. Excusing herself from the room, Louise left before ringing Ruby. “Hello”, Ruby said when she answered.

Louise told her what she had just learnt about Owen looking into anyone else’s partners on Ned’s list. Ruby informed her that Joe had rung her, and the two men had been warned to leave their premises. She asked Louise, “How did they find Shahab and Sam anyway”? Louise told her about the van. “Jacko! Of all the vans to take, why would he pinch that one? That man will be my death!”. Ruby was unhappy, “I have to go out to the house. I am going to ring his neck while I am there”.

Ruby thanked Louise for letting her know before ending the call. Louise walked back into the task force room. “Come on, Ned, let’s get back to my den. See you around Sourpuss”, she said to Owen as she left. “Tell Tank where we are”. As they walked down the corridor together, Louise turned back towards Ned, “That algorithm you created was excellent work, Pet. Next time you do one, let me do it with you”?

Ned, watching his feet as he walked, replied, “I’d enjoy that. You know I love it when you and I collaborate on ideas. I thought you were too busy to help me”.

“Next time, ask before you think, alright, Pet”. He would have looked like her puppy if she had a lead around his neck.

After Ned did as Tank had asked, he found that Shahab Farahani had enlisted into the Australian Armed Forces as a mechanic at nineteen. He served eight years before opening a garage in partnership with his uncle. Shahab met Janelle Sommerville the year he left the military. He was twenty-seven, Janelle was nineteen, and Janelle’s parents were unhappy about them being together. Age was the issue with her mother, while age, race, and religion were the same with Janelle’s father. Neither parent spoke to Shahab, nor would they visit Janelle.

After Ned had finished scouring police reports and all the social media sites, he turned his attention to Samuel Beckett, who was thirty years old. He completed high school and worked for his father at his hardware store. His father was killed in a motor vehicle accident three years prior, and Sam took over the business. Samuel’s parents divorced when he was three. They had both remarried.

Samuel had no criminal record nor traffic offences against his name. He met Debbie Roberts when they both attended the same birthday party of a mutual friend. They had an uneventful relationship initially, posting happy posts about their lives. Over the last eight months, things have changed. The posts from Debbie on social media were not so happy of late. Sam had been going out often, and Debbie had no idea where he was going.

Ned returned to Janelle’s social media posts to discover the same thing. He looked on Janelle’s friend’s list, but Debbie was not. He did the same with Shahab and found Samuel was on his list, as was another name he recognised: Lucas Brady, the ex-husband of today’s victim Destinee Brady.

***

Ruby thought to herself, this is all Jacko’s fault. The volunteers who were partners with the first victims would have to go. One of the captive’s partners was already in hospital, fighting for her life. Maria’s ex was with his new partner, Helena, at the ceremony last night. She would put her into hiding. She liked Helena. Christopher was a different story. Juliette Tarver had been nominated by her brother-in-law. There would be no blowback on him.

The last one was Sally Bradford, whom Snake volunteered. He had been telling her about some woman with a dog he was thinking of. Snake would know enough women that he had seen over the last couple of years to fill a page. Getting the rest of the targets would be easy for him. k********g them may be a problem.

Snake was an incredible private investigator. He saved Paul a fortune in his divorce case. He had been a close friend for quite some time. He had rung her yesterday and asked if she would mind if he kidn*pped a dog for one of the prisoners. She laughed at first, and when she realised he was serious, she said no.

What could she say? He was doing beyond what she expected, so she rang him back this morning and said yes. She needed to keep him happy. If he said, “That’s it”, and stopped what he was doing, the ritual would have no hope. At the very least, it had less chance than it had now. It seemed like a long road to the light at the end of the tunnel.