{"id":12608,"date":"2025-06-23T11:36:36","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T16:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/?page_id=12608"},"modified":"2026-03-21T13:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T18:13:15","slug":"a-bloody-deed","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/extras\/vignettes-outtakes\/dirty-little-secrets\/a-bloody-deed\/","title":{"rendered":"A Bloody Deed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

DECEMBER 2006<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
gc 6p today<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

SEBASTIAN LOOKED AT the text and wondered what had happened that required a conference, but whatever it was was serious.<\/p>\n

He shrugged and got off at the next exit, texted at the light\u2014 10 mins<\/span> \u2014then turned around and headed back north.<\/p>\n

He walked into the Golden Corral on Barry Road, paid, grabbed a plate and a glass, and collected food and pop before he went in search of Knox, who was in a back corner chowing down on imitation crab salad.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Sup?\u201d Sebastian muttered, sliding into a seat across from him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou got here quick,\u201d Knox replied low after he\u2019d swallowed his bite.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn my way home from HRP. Saw your text at Briarcliff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh. Well. Webster has been sent upon his life\u2019s journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sebastian\u2019s eyebrows rose. \u201cThat\u2019s good news. When\u2019d this happen?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday. Eilis hasn\u2019t been notified yet. I told them I\u2019d do it, but I wanted to tell you first.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFast work. How\u2019d you manage that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWorked a little extra-judicial magic through about four questionable souls until it got to the person who did the deed, who was not in on it and doesn\u2019t know it was wrong and wouldn\u2019t think to ask questions because there was nothing suspicious about it. Standard medical care.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cExcellent.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Knox was no more forthcoming, Sebastian impatiently gestured for him to continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNeed? No. Want? Yes. Pony up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knox heaved a longsuffering sigh. \u201cI asked a certain medical malpractice attorney to give me the name of the shadiest doctor he knew of. He gave me the side-eye but didn\u2019t ask questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, that doc\u2019s up here in the Northland in a swank building, so I\u2019m out riding and I happen to rock up to the place\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou aren\u2019t that threatening in padded-ass bike shorts and helmet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPrecisely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I ask for him. Receptionist is cock-blocking appropriately, so I slip her a Benjamin. Now<\/em> she knows I know the score. She disappears. Comes back. Takes me to the guy\u2019s office. I\u2019m sitting there looking around while I wait. All signs point to a clientele of upper-middle-class soccer moms who need Mommy\u2019s Little Helper and-or their husbands who are strung out on oxy. He comes in all pissy, asks who I am and what I want. I tell him my name, flash my badge, and he damn near passes out. Barely makes it to his chair. He\u2019s trying to hide that he\u2019s scared shitless. I start pointing out things I find interesting\u2014all things that I could arrest him for immediately, but I don\u2019t say that\u2014and then I tell him I need him to contact such-and-such a person at such-and-such a practice, and tell them that he was Webster\u2019s primary care physician. He is to search through his records and find the solid, longstanding history that indicates insulin-dependent diabetes and send those records to them, including recommended dosing for a consistent morning blood sugar of, oh, approximately three hundred and a regular A1c of maybe eleven.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means nothing to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey OD\u2019d him on insulin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh, well. At least some good came of your dad\u2019s murder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knox nodded. \u201cI know way more about poisons than I want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes this pill pusher know the end game?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUh \u2026 I don\u2019t think so, but he\u2019s smart enough to have kept off my radar, although not Bryce\u2019s\u2014he specializes in junkies\u2014so he probably got the concept if not the particulars, and he would not want to know the particulars in any case. When you decide to tell Eilis, tell her they forgot to give Webster his heart meds. They aren\u2019t going to do an autopsy, the orders went through too many channels, and Webster had no next of kin who could dispute it. He\u2019s on his way to the crematorium as we speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI certainly appreciate it,\u201d Sebastian said fervently. \u201cAlthough I kinda feel bad for asking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knox shrugged. \u201cI\u2019m too jaded not to want to go all star chamber on people who definitely pose a threat to society. There are degrees, but that one hit hard for some reason\u2014Eilis reeks of pathos\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstatement,\u201d Sebastian muttered.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2014and so when you asked me to take care of it, I figured you knew something I didn\u2019t and that it was bad because this is not your style.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, no. All she said was that gardening was the only way she made it through her time with him. There was something in her body language and voice\u2014I can\u2019t explain it. You know, that way stoic people tell you bad shit that happened to them like they\u2019re telling you it\u2019s sunny outside, but you know it had to be really<\/em> bad for them to even mention it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knox nodded. \u201cYou want the transcripts?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t need \u2019em. I just didn\u2019t want to have to deal with him seven years from now or whenever he was scheduled to be released. That should make Eilis feel safer.\u201d He paused. \u201cYou ever been to her place?\u201d<\/p>\n

Knox shook his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cFive acres, twelve-foot-high by three-feet-thick concrete walls around the whole thing, with ten-foot-high three-feet-deep thorny hedges on either side of the wall, solid cast iron gate, reinforced concrete and steel-framed house with double-thick walls, and a bank-vault-level security system.\u201d Knox\u2019s eyes widened and he whistled. \u201cHer only exterior vulnerability is her windows, but she was willing to compromise on that. Her only fire vulnerability is drywall, doors, and drapes. Can\u2019t see a fucking thing from the road. She said she feels safest when she\u2019s alone, on her property and she never allows anyone on her property when she\u2019s not there. That\u2019s some next-level terror.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPathological, more like. Her office building like that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, but she\u2019s got a security team that is not<\/em> your run-of-the-mill pot-bellied low-IQ high-school drop-out rent-a-cop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knox barked a laugh. \u201cThe A-Team<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMossad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doc gonna come back on you and rat you out?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI clarified that if he ended up on my docket by some happenstance unrelated to me or this particular conversation, I would do a full investigation as per my job description and take it from there, but that my dealings with him would not be part of it and I wouldn\u2019t exploit what I\u2019ve already observed. Further, that if he did<\/em> claim that I had asked him to do this, people would<\/em> believe it, but they wouldn\u2019t be able to prove anything. It would be pointless because I mapped it out so it couldn\u2019t be tracked back to either of us, and I\u2019d just throw that accusation in my trophy case and go about my business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDamn. You get more like Nocek every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knox scowled. \u201cI don\u2019t use my powers for evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, you do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd again I remind you that I\u2019m the one doing your dirty work. I might be the gun, but you\u2019re the one pulling the trigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEh, you\u2019re right. Thank you again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome. Grandpa would be proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sebastian chuckled. \u201cYeah, he would.\u201d<\/p>\n

★<\/p>\n

20260321<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DECEMBER 2006 gc 6p today SEBASTIAN LOOKED AT the text and wondered what had happened that required a conference, but whatever it was was serious. He shrugged and got off at the next exit, texted at the light\u2014 10 mins \u2014then turned around and headed back north. He walked into the Golden Corral on Barry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":39,"menu_order":4125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12608","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12608"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12608"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24601,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12608\/revisions\/24601"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/39"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}