Momma Lupe, Book 1 in the Ty Connell 'Novella Series. A Mystery/Suspense Thriller. Cooking or killing -- Momma Had Her Funny WAys by Michael C. Hughes Page A

into tears.
    “She’s gone.”
    Connell said nothing for several moments.
    “Gone where?” he asked, quietly.
    "De Reservoir."
    Connell wasn’t sure what she meant. “Which
reservoir?”
    “I dunno. Out of town somewhere.”
    “The Wachusett Lake Reservoir?”
    “Might be. I heard that name.”
    It was near Worcester. About forty miles from
Boston in hill country. More a huge lake than a reservoir.
    "Doze sons came for me too. They tol me dat
Martine was gone. Dat dey put 'er in a dog cage and filled the cage
with rocks so she wouldn't come back up. She was still alive when
they tipped her in. They had her hands tied and her mouth tied so
her screams wouldn’t get out. She screamed all the way to the
bottom. Bubbles coming up. Momma ordered it that way. He said Ma
was there. She’s de one gave the cage de push and watched as it
sank. Alain tol' me dat later to scare me back into line.”
    Connell and John exchanged glances of
disgust.
    “Were you trying to get away as well?”
Connell asked.
    “Not like Martine. I was going crazy. Bit I
needed de stuff. I still do. Dey gave me a few days off and some
stuff. But I know dey’ll come back for me. Alain said, if I din
be'ave dis time, I'd end up in the bottom of the lake wit Martine.
Dat I'd still be alive when I 'it bottom. They scared me so bad I
couldn't sleep. But now I just want it to be over."
    The Reservoir Lake was a big lake.
    "Miss Dumont, do you have any idea where at
the lake they did this?" Connell asked.
    She sniffled. "I heard dem talking one time.
About a spot they go to. An old log trail. Near a cemetery. A dump
grounds they called it and laughed about it."
    An aerial search should find it. Maybe even
satellite view of the lake.
    The girl broke into tears again, and Connell
shut his notebook. Suddenly tracking the death of a mob lowlife
like Vinnie Momesso seemed almost inconsequential.

     
    The next
morning Ty, John Henry, and a marine diving unit from the local
State Trooper detachment were gathered at a
small overgrown boat ramp down a little-used old logging road
leading to the Reservoir Lake. It ran beside a small pioneer
cemetery, an unused and forgotten heritage site. The State Police
boat went out about fifty feet from the east shore mid-way down the
Reservoir, and began to scan the area with sonar. There was a sharp
drop-off in depth at that spot, and there was something down there,
in the deep.
    Divers went down and they ended up winching
to the surface a wire-frame dog crate. Then another. And another.
And another. Until they had four such crates loaded onto the rear
of the police boat. Each was encrusted with muck and ooze from
being on the bottom, but two things were clear: inside each crate
were remains of a body, slim and female, and inside each were large
river stones which would have held them under for eternity.
    There wasn't much doubt that one body would
be that of Martine Dumont, or that the others would be girls who
had passed through Momma's hands.
    “There’s two more fresh ones down there we
can get now,” the dive leader said. “And there’s others as well.
Packed deeper in the weeds and growth. Might need a heavier winch
to bring them all up.”
    Connell felt sick.
     
     
    Back in Mattapan, the phone rang in
Momma Lupe's kitchen. The sons, seated at the table, looked up but made no move to answer.
    Ma was at the sink. She wiped her hands and
picked it up herself.
    "'allo."
    She listened intently for several moments
without speaking. The sons could tell that the call was somehow
important, and they watched and waited to see what it was about,
staring back and forth.
    Finally, Ma set down the phone. She stared
out the big window for several moments not speaking
    "That was Worcester,” she finally said.
Worcester is the second largest city in the state. Ma’s operation
supplied girls to clubs all around the area. It is five miles from
the Wachusett Reservoir. “The police ‘ave been out at the Lake