Santa Clawed

shook.
    On cue, Brother Sheldon wailed, tears streaming down his cheeks. “I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know.”
    “Shut up!” Brother Ed seized Brother Sheldon’s arm, holding it in his vise grip. “None of us knew. Why the hell do you think we were left here?”
    “It appears he left you funds to continue your work and to live here,” Cooper interjected.
    “We can scrape by,” Brother Luther replied dourly.
    “I thought your order had received big contributions,” Rick said.
    “Yes, and that’s when I became suspicious,” Brother Luther said. “Those checks were given directly to Brother Morris or Brother George. I never saw them. Brother Morris always said he instantly put them into bonds. What a fool I was.”
    “You couldn’t have known,” Brother Ed consoled him.
    “I do the books. I should have asked to see those bonds. I didn’t.”
    “If you did, you might be dead.” Brother Sheldon’s voice lifted to the teary note.
    Brother Ed cast him a stern eye. “You’ve got a point there, Brother Sheldon.”
    Calmly and deliberately, Rick asked, “Do you know where the money is?”
    “Presumably with Brother Morris and Company.” Brother Luther dropped his head in his hands. “I think it’s a lot of money.”
    Rick glanced at Cooper, a hint of triumph in his face, which soon enough shifted to disbelief. “So people gave large sums in gratitude for your services in Brother Morris’s name.”
    “No, Brother Morris isn’t that dumb. He had to have an account with a bank or with a brokerage house similar to the one here.” Brother Luther was sharp as a tack in his own way.
    “What do you mean?” Rick unfolded his hands.
    “Since I never saw the account, I can’t give you a specific name, but an easy one would be to have the checks made out to BOL instead of Order of the Brothers of Love.” Brother Luther’s mind crept into underhanded accounting byways in an attempt to figure this out.
    “A fairly straightforward scam.” Rick’s eyes met each brother’s gaze.
    “No. It’s far more clever.” Brother Luther nodded to Brother Howard, who took over.
    “My task for the order involved meeting people. You might say I am our public relations expert. I scheduled Brother Morris, I called on people. Brother George did, too, and I began to notice over the last two years…well, let me say that it wasn’t obvious to me at first, since my mind doesn’t run on that track.”
    Rick almost uttered the words, “What track?” but he waited patiently.
    “I swear I didn’t know,” Brother Sheldon whimpered again.
    “I called on the more middle-class people. Brother Morris and Brother George called on the richer ones.”
    “I’m not sure what the significance is,” Rick replied honestly.
    “Bigger checks, obviously, but I also think that Brother Morris and Brother George identified people with Achilles’ heels.” He paused. “I expect they threatened to expose them.”
    Cooper half-smiled. “Lucrative.”
    Rick continued questioning. “What kind of Achilles’ heels?”
    Brother Luther answered. “Gambling. Affairs. Shady business deals. And some of the affairs were married men with other men.”
    “How do you know that?” Rick pressed.
    Brother Sheldon, misty-eyed again and looking guilty, confessed, “Brother Christopher told me.”
    “Brother Sheldon, you withheld evidence.” Rick sounded stern.
    “How could I have revealed that?”
    “What did Brother Christopher have to do with it?”
    “He owed money,” Brother Sheldon said.
    “To whom?”
    “Alex Corbett.” Brother Sheldon’s chin wavered again.
    “Don’t start blubbering, Brother Sheldon.” Brother Howard pointed a finger at him.
    “Oh, shut up.” Brother Sheldon surprised everyone, then turned to Rick. “Alex runs a little betting business: football, horses, any large sporting event. Brother Christopher couldn’t resist the idea of winning money.”
    “So?” Rick shrugged.
    “He didn’t win.” Brother Sheldon stated what he thought was obvious. “He had to pay it off somehow.”
    “How did he do that?” Rick kept his voice even.
    “Sex for money.” Brother Sheldon cast down his eyes. “It was wrong, but I wasn’t going to rat on a friend.”
    “With women?” Rick had to admire Brother Sheldon’s loyalty, even if somewhat misplaced.
    “One man.”
    “Let me be clear: Christopher Hewitt sold his body to a man?”
    “He didn’t like it but the money was good. The man was head