Chapter 87: Blood Runs Thicker

Mid Day, Outskirts, Unknown Town...

 The orange flame from a freshly lit cigarette had been like a beacon in the dead of night as a lone man took a long slow drag from the end of the slim white cancer stick as he turned his attention to a rusted brown pickup truck that seemed to pull up on the side of the road beside his own dark brown four-door sedan. The waiting man had been quite young with long flowing brown hair and blue eyes much like that of the driver of the pickup truck. They had been similar in appearance with only the build of their bodies being the difference aside from obvious age and style of dress. The older man in the pickup had looked as if he had not slept in days while the younger man simply attempted not to urinate in his jeans as he looked upon his elder brother for the first time in months. 

"Well if it isn't my big brother, Jarrett Quinton Beaulieu." said the younger man as he puffed on another cigarette. "Still among the living I see."

"Looks that way," replied Jarrett in a gruff tone. 

"You look like shit." remarked the younger of the Beaulieu brothers. 

"Ain't got no argument there," Jarrett replied. 

"Might I ask why you called me out here in the middle of nowhere at night?" asked the younger Beaulieu.

"You could but, I ain't gonna give you an answer that will satisfy your curiosity," replied Jarrett. 

He had something of a raging look filed across his aged face. The younger of the Beaulieu brothers seemed to have been caught off guard as he tried to defend himself when his brother suddenly advanced on him. 

"You think I forgot 'bout you fuckin' my woman?" asked the angry older man as he suddenly pulled a sawn-off shotgun from his side and pulled the trigger shooting his younger brother and watching with malice and contempt as his body fell to the ground on the side of the road. 

The crimson of his blood began to mingle with the dust and dirt on the ground below as Jarrett turned and hopped back into his truck with the shotgun on his lap, as he rode away without a word leaving his younger sibling to bleed out on the cold hard ground suffocating on his blood. 

As he lay dying Chauncy Beaulieu had noted how his young life had flashed before his eyes and the beautiful blonde that had stolen his heart came into view. She'd been Jarrett's wife before but that didn't stop their affair nor the two of them running off together. 

Chauncy had always suspected that Jarrett had something to do with her death and disappearance the last time he saw her but never knew how to prove it, he'd been on his best behavior since his little girl had gotten older and been able to know right from wrong. He had begun to let it go until Jarrett called him up out of the blue and desperate for answers, he elected to meet with him and his demise came shortly thereafter. 

The younger Beaulieu sibling had known his brother would try something but he'd been prepared as he rolled onto his side and pulled off the bulletproof vest that had been his saving grace the moment his brother attempted to end his life. 

"I got you now you son of a bitch." said Chaucy determined to bring down his elder brother once and for all. 

Jarrett had not cared one way or the other about leaving his sibling to die alone on an empty highway, he had been headed back home content to sleep like a baby once he'd looked in on his little girl back in Temperance. 

Chauncy had slowly gotten to his feet and made his way back to his sedan. He took a few moments to catch his breath as he turned his attention to his carphone and dialed the number to a few acquaintances. 

"It happened exactly as I knew it would," he said with a stern expression filed across his dirt-splattered face. "That bastard's still alive and kicking and tried his best to kill me tonight....that was his second mistake....the first was killing my girl in the first place."

Chauncy Beaulieu had every intention of putting an end to his elder brother's reign of terror and as a result, he had kept in touch with his new acquaintances just to get the job done. 

Goldie and the crew had been all too eager to hear that Chauncy, her lead once she'd been asking around town about the blonde in the photograph, came forward with information about his elder brother being the reason for the woman's disappearance and subsequent death due to an affair he had with her. 

She set up the little game of cat and mouse between Chauncy and Jarrett on a hunch and relayed the information back to Brick who had been suspicious of Layla's father for quite some time. 

Chauncy elected to meet up with Brick who had come riding up with his half of the crew and stood on the side of the road noting where Jarrett's truck had been parked. 

"Bout time you lot showed up," said Chauncy impatient after waiting an hour and a half for them to show up. "That onery son of a bitch nearly killed me."

"Quit your whining," growled Brick in annoyance. "Everything go according to plan?"

Chauncy nodded as he took a deep breath. 

"You were right to be suspicious of that no-good son of a bitch." he added. "Can't believe it...and after everything I did for him and his little girl."

"Keep your cool, we need this all to play out just right," replied Brick as he pondered what their next move was going to be.

In truth he had hoped his suspicions had been wrong about old Jarrett but the attack on the last person who could have had a hand in identifying the kidnapper had been concerning.