Death & Tequila [mxm]

26. Club Soda

She shrugged. "A bit of everything, I guess."

Jaiden sighed. "So no one knows about him or his family?  Did he mention any places he would go?"  He asked.

She was quiet for a moment.  "I heard him talking to himself once.  He mentioned going to St. Joseph's, but that is the only thing I can recall.  Sorry, handsome."

"St. Joseph's?"  His mind flashed to a cemetery tucked away in Las Cruces.  But a name like St. Joseph could be anything; cemetery, hospital, church... Who knows where he was heading.  He decided to push it to the back of his mind despite the gnawing feeling in his gut.

"We may have a sketch artist come by and have you describe him.  Your boss conveniently does not have any pictures of him, and the security camera quality is shit." Jaiden complained.

Sierra laughed a little.  "The boss is a good guy, but organization and technology are not his forte."

He pulled out the pictures of the victims. "I know you see many faces, but I just want to be sure."

Sierra smiled a little and pointed toward Cynthia. "I've told you all I know about her, but believe me; we get plenty of lonely housewives here."

"She apparently had a good relationship with her husband."

She rolled her eyes. "If it were a good relationship, she would never be here on a Saturday night."

She looked at the one for Jason.  "Who is here?" Her eyes sparked some recognition.

"A professor."

She pursed her lips. "Well, we get many college people here; students and faculty. And let me tell you, the professors can easily be dirtier than the students. No filter on those bastards when they start drinking... I'm not going to lie... the man in this picture seems familiar, and not in a good way...If he is the man I'm thinking of, he was a horrendous asshole. I'm amazed his dick was still attached because he would stick it in anywhere."

Jaiden nodded, trying not to show his frustration, but everything was veiled with 'maybe' and 'probably'; there was nothing definite that he could work off of. He wanted unambiguous confirmation. 

He tapped the last picture. "Do you know Pastor Gibson?"

His eyes caught how she tensed a little, and his eyes darted away, never looking at his picture. She may have thought that she was quick, but Jaiden noticed fury hidden in her eyes. "Sierra?"

She pursed her lips. "You hear a lot when you're working behind a bar... Let's just say he's not the saint everyone thinks he is."

"What have you heard?"

She placed a glass down and poured some gin into it before drinking it in one breath. "He's a shepherd who lost his sheep."

Jaiden tilted his head but didn't push her.

She sighed. "Some kids have been here before... after a few beers in, they started to talk about escaping the Gibson church. 'Escaped', Jaiden. That's the word they used. Apparently, there are stories about him hurting those who do not conform. Kids ended up running away, never to be seen again."

Jaiden's jaw clenched. Did they run away, or were they killed?

Sierra drank another shot. "I know you're not asking me this because you decided to find God... Something happened to him, and I hate saying this to you, Detective, but some men deserve to die."

Jaiden played with the glass of club soda for a moment in silence. "I suppose you're right." She gave him a surprised look, not expecting that answer from him. "But no matter how much blood is on a villain's hand, if you kill him, your hands are stained too. We should always look for another path because that blood is too heavy to bear."