Children of God

Epilogue

I never thought I’d see the day where I’d be stuck behind an interrogation table again. Well, I say interrogation table. It was more of a desk. It seemed like the kind of desk someone would drag in from some sad, cold, wet storage room in case someone important came along.

 A tall man, who loomed over me like how a bull would loom over a matador, strolled towards the desk. He smiled. The dead smile of a man who has no intention of sticking around for long. He grabbed a chair from a nearby table (we were sitting in the local station, not some shut off room) and sat, across from me. He sighed. Heavy sigh.

“Al, how’s it going?” he asked. No one had called me Al in a while. It felt like a phoenix rising from piss-soaked ashes.

“What am I here for? What could you possibly want?”

The man chuckled.

“You didn’t tell us something last time.” he said, with a cocky smile. He wagged a finger too.

Last time. Who did this guy think he was? Last time?! He’d been there five years ago. That wasn’t a last time. That was a memory.

“I told you everything. Ask Draumar if you don’t bel-”

“Mr Draumar is dead. Died shortly after we met. I’m Special Agent Melius. Believe me, I don’t want to be here, and I can see you don’t either.”

He leaned back, putting his hands on his head.

“What happened to Draumar?” I asked. I had to know.

“Shot himself. He’d been chasing down this murderer, found out someone else had taken him down. Couldn’t take it. We had our differences...God knows we did, but he was one of the greats. Believe me, Al, he’d be talking to you if he could. But, back to business. How’s the wife?”

I sighed.

“She left me.”

“Tough break. I won’t ask you why. No, I’ve got to get back to your first question. Why did I bring you here. Well, it’s simple. You withheld information.”

“What information?”

Melius scoffed.

“You know. Stop playing. We know what you know. We know Robert Lena had a son.”

“Yes, Leo Lena. He died. I killed him.”

“Another son. A son he had before all that.”

I sighed. Robert had promised me, back then, not to mention it to anyone. The bastard son.

Melius caught my sigh, and rolled his eyes.

“I was told-”

“Told what?! Not to mention it?! Robert Lena made you promise, huh?”

I nodded.

“Yes.”

“Well, now the Prodigal Son has returned. You do know, and knowing you, you probably do, that there was one body missing? From the beach house?”

I groaned.

“Joe and Marie wer-”

Melius shook his head.

“No. Robert Lena’s body was never discovered.”

I shook my head back at him.

“Not possible.”

“Totally possible. No sign of him. And what with Jacob Lena coming home, it could mean papa survived. You were there. Did he look dead?”

“Everyone did.”

“Well then. We’re gonna let you go. Just like that. Just know that Jacob Lena is back, my bosses are busting my ass to get him, and we’ve got a corpse walking the face of the earth. Go home. We’ll contact you if we need anything.”

 I stood up, with no intention of going home. Well, sort of.

I had some business to attend to. Old business, because a child of God never rests.

 The story concludes in Children of God 2