The White Lily

by Susanne Matthews

  “Look at Pierce. To the people who knew him here, he was a slovenly detective, a lot like the old Peter Falk character. You recognized the man in the sketch right away because you’d seen him like that.”

  “I see. Well, if my word carries any weight, believe me, the bastard in the picture with James is definitely my uncle, and the one in the sketch is the man who almost killed me.”

  Jacob turned to stare out the window, and Lilith concentrated on her driving, trying not to drool as she inhaled the delectable sandalwood aftershave her passenger wore.

  “You said you lost your sister when she was about the same age as Eloise. How did she die?”

  His question caught her by surprise, and she turned quickly to look at him. Normally, she’d tell him to mind his own business, but something in the look on his face and in his voice compelled her to answer him. The truth was, Ruby-Ann had been on her mind ever since yesterday. Maybe sharing the story would help him understand the way she felt about the cult, the kidnappings, everything that seemed to be part of this complex and convoluted case, and reaffirm why a relationship between them would be a mistake.

  Chapter Twelve

  Was Lilith going to answer him? He was about to apologize for his curiosity when she spoke softly.

  “Ruby-Ann was ten years older than me. She was a free spirit, an incredibly talented artist, but she was also bi-polar. When she was on her meds, she was perfect, but off them, she rose and sank like the tide. Against Mom and Dad’s advice, she insisted on going to school in San Francisco. She wanted to go to Berkley. She met Ansel Russell at college during her second year, and they fell in love. Ansel was different from the other boys she’d dated. He was an artist like she was, but he was also covertly manipulative and controlling. It wasn’t in anything he said, but rather the way he said it. My father saw it, and while he tried to warn Ruby-Ann about him, she was blinded by her feelings. Mom and Dad had always been overprotective of her, and she saw their concerns as another way to influence her. She stopped coming home, stopped calling. I was thirteen, so there wasn’t much I could do. I felt as if she was punishing me because she was mad at them.”

  Jacob understood how she felt. At that age, he’d idolized his older brothers, but they’d considered the twins to be pests. He’d tried to share his concerns about their uncle with them, but they’d brushed his comments aside.

  “That had to have been hard on you. I know how terrible it feels to watch things happen around you and be unable to stop them.”

  “It was. I felt as if I was failing her, too. I talked Mom and Dad into letting me go up to San Francisco and visit for a weekend. Ruby-Ann was thrilled to see me, but I knew Ansel wasn’t. There was an intensity about him, and he wouldn’t leave me alone with my sister for a second. He was an activist, interested in college politics, always protesting one thing or another. He’d gotten involved with Brother Luke, the charismatic leader of the Voice of God, a cult that believed in transcendental meditation and out-of-body experiences. He talked about blood moons and solar alignments, convinced the end of the world as we know it was coming and they’d been chosen for a higher purpose. I went with them to a meeting when I was there. Brother Luke was intense, spouting all kinds of stuff about kindred souls and paradise, and his followers were lapping it up like kittens at a bowl of cream. It was pathetic. When I got back home, I started looking up information on cults. I saw similarities between Brother Luke and Charles Manson, Jim Jones, David Berg, and so many others, and it scared me. I tried to warn my sister, but she told me I’d misunderstood his message. That I was too young, and because of that, I’d be spared. Brother Luke had apparently made a deal to protect those under eighteen. I wasn’t buying any of it.”

  “You were perceptive. You know, it’s interesting that those under eighteen were considered children. It was the same thing with my uncle. I saw a lot of the behaviors you’ve described in him after my dad died, but no one was willing to listen to me either. Life was good in the commune after he took power. We had more money, more food, and everyone was convinced it was because of my uncle and the Creator. So what happened next?”

  “Ruby-Ann got pregnant and stopped taking her meds, but honestly, I think she’d stopped taking them long before that. She called home in June to say she’d given birth to a little girl, and she’d named her Rose. My sister never called me Lilith, always Lily. I wouldn’t let anyone else use the name—it was our special bond.”

  “That’s why you didn’t like it when Rob called you that.”

  She nodded and held out her right hand. “Before I left San Francisco, Ruby-Ann gave me this ring, the one Grandma had given her on her sixteenth birthday, and told me to hold it close to my heart when I was lonely, and she’d feel me—that we’d be connected through it—our own circle of life. It may not make sense to you, but this ring got me through some of the darkest moments in my life.”

  She swallowed and licked her lips as if the recollections were particularly difficult.

  “Ruby-Ann sent home a picture of herself and the baby, and she looked happy, really happy, happier than I’d ever seen her, and I thought maybe I was wrong. Maybe Mom and Dad were mistaken, and Ansel and Rose were what she needed. Six months later, on the stroke of midnight, she and seventy followers of Brother Luke committed suicide, believing his bullshit about ascending to a higher plain of existence. The children weren’t there. No one knows what happened to them. The police searched the compound for them, for bodies, for any clue as to where they might be. My parents hired detectives, made appeals to the public. My grandmother spent a fortune on spiritualists trying to contact Ruby-Ann to ask where the children were. No one ever found a trace of them.”

  “I’m so sorry,” he said, and Lilith swiped at the tears running down her cheeks, her eyes focused on the road ahead. He reached out and touched her shoulder, feeling the sparks of awareness he’d felt before coursing through him. She shivered.

  Obviously his touch was unwelcomed, and he pulled his hand away, missing the warmth.

  “My parents and grandmother are gone now, and that girl—she’d be fifteen now—is the only family I have left. Each year, I have the techs age her picture, and I send it out along with the lists of other missing children. She isn’t dead. My sister may have been weak-minded, but she loved her daughter. She’d have left her someplace safe.”

  She swallowed, tried to compose herself. He doubted she’d shared this story with anyone on the task force.

  “You know, it’s possible your sister didn’t commit suicide. She could’ve been duped into drinking the champagne, not knowing it had been poisoned.”

  “I thought about that yesterday when we were talking about the drugs. Ruby-Ann was a follower, and she adored Ansel. If he told her to drink, she would. I’ve had firsthand experience with people under the influence of a charismatic leader, and at the time, I didn’t think drugs were involved, but there are so many different kinds available now, and slipping them into someone’s drink is far easier that most people think. Getting justice for people like my sister is why I’ve dedicated my life to putting fanatics like your brother and uncle out of business. They’re a cancer on society, preying on its most vulnerable members. I don’t have room in my life for anything but my search for what happened to my niece and my job.”

  “Everyone needs a purpose in life, and I admire yours, but don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. You have a Holy Grail, finding your niece alive and bringing her home, but it doesn’t mean you have to do it on your own. You don’t have to be the sole member of your family. You can get married, have children, and they can join you in your search.” He’d gladly join her in her campaign for the missing child if she’d let him. He had money and resources.

  She laughed, but there was pain in her laughter instead of glee. “I almost tried that, but in the end, it wasn’t meant to be. I’ve avoided relationships since then. What about you? Is there a Mrs. Andrews waiting for you back home?”

  “I gue
ss we’re more alike that you thought. I’ve chosen to go it alone, dedicating my life to making things better for others. Now that I know what my gene pool is like, I don’t think passing that along is a good idea.”

  Jacob turned and stared out the side window. As a police officer, he protected others and his homeland. As a landowner, he provided jobs, homes, and a sense of purpose for hundreds of workers. He funded scholarships for Aboriginals and other underprivileged children. He donated to the arts, but what had he done to make life better for his own flesh and blood? Nothing. He’d abandoned them. Even if he hadn’t done it purposely, he’d shut them out of his life. Maybe, if he could help the people of New Horizon, it might ease his conscience, because at the moment, despite his wealth and all the things he’d done, he felt like a colossal failure.

  • • •

  Before Lilith could argue the point, stunned to realize how relieved she was there wasn’t a little woman waiting for him, the GPS spoke again.

  “In five hundred feet, turn right. You have arrived at 237 Concord Drive.”

  Lilith pulled up in front of a two-story colonial home. The lawn was green, the flowerbeds neatly trimmed, and baskets of geraniums hung from the porch, reminding her of the Winchester house. She prayed no one here would ever witness similar carnage. They had to find this monster before he decided to come after Faye or any of the other women and children.

  “Lilith.” Jacob put his hand on her arm again. “Thank you for telling me about your sister. I know it wasn’t easy, but it helped me understand what motivates you. We both want to see my uncle put out of business. I think we’ll make a good team. Friends?”

  She smiled. Yes. They’d shared sorrow and bonded. Much as she might wish it could be more, she couldn’t deny what they had. “Friends. No one here knows about this or why I won’t use the name Lily, so if you don’t mind, can we keep this our little secret?”

  “You’ve got it.”

  She pulled down the visor and reapplied her lipstick, pleased to see her eyes hadn’t acquired their familiar haunted look. It had been a hell of a day.

  “You look fine,” he said, and she smiled.

  “Liar. It’s okay. I know I look like hell, but discovering there’s a madman after you kind of takes the joy out of your day. It makes it hard to be Suzy Sunshine. Shall we?”

  He laughed the way he had earlier in the bullpen with Tom.

  “Why is it women always see themselves in such a negative light? You’re an attractive woman, and as I said, you look fine.”

  She felt the heat rise in her cheeks and cursed her capacity to blush at the most inconvenient moments. “I wasn’t fishing for a compliment ...”

  “I know you weren’t,” he said seriously, “but you deserve one anyway. True beauty isn’t on the outside, and you are a truly beautiful woman.”

  She thought he was going to add something, but he nodded and opened the car door.

  They exited and walked up the sidewalk, commenting on the neatness of the neighborhood and its manicured lawns.

  “It’s hard to get lawns like these in the north, but I manage nicely at my place near Melbourne.”

  “I suppose you have all sorts of wildly exotic flowers instead of geraniums and pansies.”

  “We have some in the south that Andrew loved. Waratah is a bush about three feet high and seven feet wide. When it flowers, it has these gorgeous red blooms the size of a bread and butter plate. He had a green thumb when it came to flowering plants. We had not only the traditional red ones, but pink and rare white ones as well, not to mention Asian lilies in every color you can imagine. He said those flowers were proof that anyone could overcome obstacles and thrive, no matter how frail they were.”

  “I’m not a fan of lilies. I find the scent overpowering. You miss him a lot, don’t you?”

  “I do. I’d hoped Eloise might fill the void ...”

  The door opened before she had time to press the bell.

  “Glad you didn’t get lost, Munroe,” Rob teased.

  “You’re never going to let me forget that, are you? I got lost once,” she said, shaking her head at Jacob’s questioning look. “I ended up in an unsavory neighborhood instead of the mall. The places had similar addresses, and I keyed the wrong one into the GPS.”

  “Wouldn’t happen down home. There aren’t that many streets, and there’s just one highway from Darwin to Alice Springs,” Jacob said. “When you come to Australia, I might even let you drive, but you’d have to watch out for road hazards, and we do drive on the left side of the road, not the right.”

  This was the second time he’d mentioned her coming to Australia, and Lilith let the possibility of visiting Jacob warm her for a moment before reality set in. He was only joking. She needed to remember that once this case was solved, there was no future for the two of them.

  Future? Hell, who am I kidding? There isn’t even a present.

  “That might take some getting used to, especially with a manual transmission.”

  “You have to watch out for spiders in the cars, too.”

  She swallowed a giggle. “Jacob tells me their spiders are big enough to shoot.”

  “Maybe sending the New Horizon people there won’t be all fun and games,” Rob said. “I hate spiders. Come on in. We’re in the sunroom.”

  He led the way through the house to an enclosed porch overlooking a pristine backyard. He’d changed into jeans and a t-shirt, looking relaxed and at ease, even though deep down this had to be hard on him.

  Lilith recognized Faye from the picture she’d seen on Rob’s desk. She was seated on the rattan sofa, her right ankle in a black, acrylic temporary cast, propped up on the footstool in front of her. She’d broken it two weeks earlier, climbing a rock embankment.

  Faye had kept her chestnut-colored hair short, the way she’d cut it after she’d seen the similarity between herself and the Harvester’s victims. Her loose, green silk pajamas camouflaged the slight bulge of her stomach and accentuated the green of her eyes. The woman sitting beside her resembled her. Rob had mentioned his mother-in-law had come from Maine to help out. Walking over to the sofa, Rob stood behind it and placed his hand on his wife’s shoulder. She reached up to take it, her eyes fixed on Jacob.

  “Faye, Harriet,” Rob said, including his mother-in-law in the introduction, “let me introduce the newest members of the Harvester Task Force. This is Lilith Munroe. She’s the BAU’s expert on cults, and this is Jacob Andrews, who’s agreed to come on board as a civilian consultant.”

  Faye’s teeth bit her lower lip as she stared at Jacob. She tilted her head quizzically and frowned.

  Jacob shifted from one foot to the other. “I can offer to let you look at my teeth if you like,” he said, causing Tom to choke on his mouthful of beer. “It’s what they did at the station when they saw me.”

  Faye shook her head. “That won’t be necessary, but thank you for speaking. Your voice is definitely not like his. You know, I only saw Jimmy without his long hair and beard a couple of times. You do look a lot like him, but there’s something different about you. Welcome back to America, Mr. Andrews.”

  He bobbed his head. “Jacob, please, and thanks. It’s certainly becoming a memorable trip—not what I hoped for, but telling me I’m not James’s doppelganger is without a doubt the nicest thing anyone has said to me since I’ve arrived in Boston.”

  Faye chuckled. “You carry yourself differently. Even after he’d discarded his mountain man disguise, Jimmy slouched and always seemed uncomfortable around people. The only time he was at ease was when he had a camera in his hands. You know, I actually thought of him as a friend. I felt sorry for him.” Lilith heard the hurt beneath her words.

  “It’s very nice to meet you, Lilith,” Faye added. “It can’t be easy working with Rob. I know what a supercilious ass my husband can be.”

  Lilith chuckled. “So far it hasn’t been much of a problem, but he can be bossy.”

  “I’m hurt, Munroe, really hurt.”


  “Have you seen some of your brother’s photographs?” Faye asked Jacob.

  “I have. That’s the only real memory I have of James that makes any sense in all this. I saw some online. I remember when he got his first camera. It was an extravagant gift from my uncle for his sixteenth birthday.”

  “What did you get?” The words were out of Lilith’s mouth before she could stop them.

  “A new wrench,” Jacob answered. Her family had always treated her and Ruby-Ann equally. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be considered second rate.

  Rob moved away from his wife. “What can I get you to drink? I’ve got beer or soda.”

  “I’ll have a beer,” Jacob said.

  “Lilith?”

  “Soda, please ... diet if you’ve got it. Do we talk first or eat?”

  “Can’t we do both?” Faye asked. “I’m starving, but I know you need to hear about life in the stables.”

  “You’re always starving,” Rob said.

  “I’m eating for two here, and the bun has a voracious appetite.”

  Jacob chuckled. “I understand it’s quite fond of melon.”

  “What am I missing?” Faye frowned.

  “Jacob owns one of Australia’s most prosperous melon farms,” Lilith said. “He mentioned it to Rob the other day before all hell broke loose.”

  “And I said you like melons.”

  “And I do, but right now, baby and I are craving Chinese.”

  Rob scooped his wife up off the couch to carry her into the dining room.

  “I’ll get the plates and cutlery,” Harriet said.

  “The food’s warming in the oven,” Faye said as Rob carried her by. “Maybe one of you can give Mom a hand.”

  “I will,” Lilith volunteered and followed Harriet into the kitchen.

  “They have a lovely home, don’t they?” she said, knowing the words were trite, but small talk wasn’t her forte.