“Why did you come to the farm, Autumn?” He shut the door behind him and came toward me, holding out his hand for the phone. I met him around the desk.
“Because it seemed the right thing to do.”
“Do you still feel the same?”
I thought of Victoria and Marcie and Essence. Spring. “Yes.”
“So you didn’t come to tell me you want to leave?”
I shook my head. “I came because yesterday when I lost my way in the woods, I stumbled on a man. He was dead.” I paused as I considered how much to tell him. Should I say that I knew the man was his brother? Maybe not yet. I still didn’t know how far I could trust him. “He was a skinny man. Had something odd with one of his eyes. I was frightened so I ran away, but then I started worrying about it, so I went back and he wasn’t there. I was afraid to say anything because I didn’t want to be any trouble. Maybe I imagined it all.” I was particularly proud of the tremor in my voice on the last sentence. I told myself I was acting, not really scared, and that Tawnia would be proud since normally I couldn’t fake anything. I only wished my knees weren’t shaking so badly.
Dar’s eyes gleamed. “You’re sure he was dead?”
“I guess he could have been unconscious. It was dark and I didn’t have a light, but it was unnatural, the way he was lying there. I’m pretty sure he was dead. There was blood in the brush, and it looked like he’d been dragged away.”
“I was afraid of this.” He sat down heavily in one of the chairs in front of the desk.
“What do you mean?”
“The man you describe used to be a disciple, but he left. I helped him leave. But some people weren’t happy about it.” Dar’s voice was distant and unemotional, as though he either didn’t really care or was repressing great emotion.
“I thought anyone could leave when they wanted.”
“That’s the way it’s supposed to be. But some here do not feel the same way.”
“Gabe?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know who exactly, but I don’t see how anything could go on here without his knowing about it. I’m having a difficult time coming to terms with what I’ve discovered in the past few days. I’m not sure what to do.”
I sat in the chair across from him. “What do you mean?”
Dar didn’t respond but occupied himself in turning the cell phone around in his hand. “I got this satellite phone when we were in Portland last week in case I needed it. I guess I felt even then that something might be wrong.” He fell silent for a moment but then shook himself. “Maybe you can help me.”
“Me?” I didn’t like the sound of this.
Dar went around the desk, reaching inside his pocket for a key. From inside the top drawer, he pulled out a man’s thick silver bracelet and offered it to me. “You said you feel things sometimes. What do you feel on this?”
I took it, hesitantly, because Dar obviously thought it was important. The instant the metal touched my palm I felt the anger. White hot anger that consumed. “Why did you let him go?” Gabe said. “Don’t you know what you’ve done? The police could track the murder back here.” Dar’s face before Gabe, crumpling with fear before the fury. “He’s my brother, Gabe. I had no choice. Please, forgive me.”
There were other imprints associated with the bracelet, quiet, peaceful ones that had been all but obliterated by this confrontation. “What have you done?” Gabe’s voice sneered as the image faded.
I let the links slide between my fingers and fall onto the desk. “Your brother,” I said. “The man was your brother. Gabe was angry at you for letting him leave.”
“At the time I thought it was because my brother was unbalanced after his wife left him, and Gabe wanted to make sure he was okay before he left. But now I’m beginning to think that Gabe had no intention of ever letting him go, and that makes me wonder about the others who might want to leave here. Maybe they’re not really leaving. They don’t take anything with them when they go.”
Dar shut the drawer without relocking it and came around the desk. “Come with me. There’s something I want to show you. Maybe you can pick up something there, too. It’s the place where my brother was held before I let him out.”
What if that’s where someone’s hidden his body? And Marcie? Would we finally stumble on her?
Dar’s hand was on my shoulder, his fingers digging into my bruise with a little too much pressure.
“Uh, you’re hurting me,” I said.
“Oh, sorry.” He eased up on my shoulder. “I’m having a hard time thinking of my brother being dead. If it really is my brother.”
“What are you going to do?”
Tears glistened in his eyes. “I don’t know.”
“Shouldn’t you call the police?”
“We aren’t in a city. Gabe is the law here.”
That made me shiver. Marcie had trusted Gabe and look where it had gotten her.
As we passed the kitchen, I glanced in and saw Jake talking to Scarlet. He didn’t react, but his eyes met mine. I knew he’d be following me shortly.
The meeting was disbanding as we left the house and walked out onto the back porch. Gabe and Harmony were there, casually talking with others. Gabe spotted Dar and motioned him over with an imperious wave. “I’d better go,” Dar whispered. “I don’t want to make him suspicious. I’ll show you the place later.”
Jake came from the house, still talking with Scarlet. Without so much as looking my way, he went into the square and started playing basketball with a group of boys.
That’s when I saw Victoria staring at me from the square, her round face a mask of indifference. No, not quite indifference, because there was fear in every line of her body as her gaze slipped to where Dar was conversing with Gabe. I felt sick because all at once I realized that her chubbiness in the shapeless dress that she wore wasn’t due to overeating at her job. Victoria was going to have a baby. But who was the father? I had no way to determine if her pregnancy had driven her here five and a half months ago, or if it had begun later. I wanted to go to her and throw my arms around her, but I knew she wouldn’t welcome it.
When Dar returned to my side, both Gabe and Harmony were with him. Dar’s face was tense, his eyes darting back and forth, but when he spoke, he sounded normal. “Gabe would like to come along on our little walk,” he said to me.
“And me, too.” Harmony firmly took my arm, and we stepped off the porch together.
I didn’t like the way things were going. Turning my head, I caught Dar’s eye, but he shrugged. Apparently, he was as afraid of Gabe as I was. Gabe’s face was black as death, and he looked much older and more frightening. Couldn’t anyone see the change?
Harmony did. She released me and took Gabe’s arm. He didn’t appear to notice.
Dar drifted to my side. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “Just come along.”
“Where are we going?” Surely Dar wouldn’t take me to examine the hidden room now.
“To the body.”
To the body? “He knows where your brother is?”
“He claims Inclar was found earlier today. Once we’re there, touch things. See if there’s any proof of who did it.”
“But are we safe with him?”
“I think so. He’ll blame the murder on someone else. An outsider maybe. Perhaps whoever attacked our men last night. As long as we don’t openly accuse him of anything, we should be fine.”
We walked in silence, the world seeming darker once we’d entered the woods, though it wasn’t yet dark. I hoped Jake had seen me leave and was following. We were heading in what I thought was the direction of the new house. I didn’t want to go along, but I was curious despite myself.
I also wondered about Ethan. I was almost sure Gabe had him stashed somewhere. I opened my mouth to ask Dar if Ethan was the man he and Gabe had been talking about earlier, but caution stopped me. Something about this whole situation didn’t feel right. If Gabe was connected with Inclar’s death, why would he show us the
evidence instead of getting rid of it? Perhaps his rule here was so absolute that no one would question him.
In front of us, Gabe’s face could have been carved from granite. Harmony kept looking back at us every so often and then at her husband’s face, the motion almost calculated rather than worried.
We passed the new housing site and walked on in the direction of the main barn, but Gabe stopped at the edge of the clearing near a large boulder I’d passed a few times that day. He nodded to Dar, and together they grabbed the rock and rolled it to one side, revealing a metal door. “Are you sure this is the right place?” Gabe asked. “I don’t know who could put him in here. There was nothing here earlier when we checked. It’d take at least two men to do it.”
Gabe’s words told me two things. One, that this was where he, Dar, and the guards had disappeared today; and two, that he hadn’t seen Inclar’s body inside.
“How did you get into the root cellar?” Harmony asked me. “You would have had to have help to find it, much less get inside.” She sounded amused, but there was a careful note in her voice that belied her joviality. “Or did you just put your hand on the rock and feel that he was in there?”
My gaze whipped to Dar, and I saw him smiling. Not the easy, friendly smile he’d used before, but a predatory, triumphant grin. I started backing away, but I thumped into something immoveable behind me. The guard from last night.
“Run!” I shouted to Gabe. “It’s a trap!” I dived to the side, trying to get away, but the guard was ready for me. His fingers tightened around my arms, making me gasp with pain. Worse, two more men materialized from the trees to stand behind Gabe and Harmony.
“Would someone like to tell me what’s going on here?” Gabe’s fists clenched at his side. “Did or did not this young lady use her ability to determine there was a corpse in here? Dar? Can you please explain?”
Dar gave him an easy grin. “Oh, I can explain. When I learned about Autumn’s unique ability, I suspected she wasn’t your ordinary needy disciple. That’s why I convinced you to let her join even after that policeman showed up. Today when Misty told me Autumn had been sent from her parents, that only confirmed the matter.”
“So? We’ll take Misty back to the city, if that’s what she wants. Both of them back. We have nothing to hide.”
“Oh, but we do.” Dar shoved his hands into the pockets of his brown pants, as though talking about the weather. “You see, I realized that Autumn might use her nasty little talent to trace my sister-in-law’s death to me.”
Harmony gasped. “You killed Sarah? Why?”
“She was going to get a lawyer to get back her share of the money Inclar had given us from the sale of their house.”
“You told me you thought Inclar had killed her,” Gabe said. “He’d left by then.”
“No, he hadn’t. He was here.” Dar motioned toward the metal door. “He was in conditioning.”
“Conditioning?” There was a horror in Gabe’s expression that reminded me of Essence’s terror. Like me, Gabe must guess at the meaning.
“But you let him go,” I said.
Dar’s jaw worked. “He wasn’t going to tell anyone. Or so I thought.” He glared at me as if I was responsible, which I guess in a way I was. “I would have taken care of everything, but then Gabe here comes rushing back from the city because after we left, he learned from the detective that you were the woman Inclar attacked. He knew Inclar was here because he’d seen him and let him stay in my room Friday night. He was actually worried Inclar might try to hurt you again. He didn’t know that it was already too late for Inclar to do anything to anyone.” Dar crossed the space between us, grasped both my arms, and shook me. “What did Inclar tell you?”
“Nothing! I don’t know anything about a murder. I just wanted to make sure Victoria—Misty—was okay, that’s all.”
Dar’s calm returned. “She wanted to leave, but she won’t now. None of you will.”
“Come on, Dar, this is ridiculous.” Gabe took a step toward him. “Let’s sit down and talk this out.”
Dar snorted. “What’s ridiculous is watching you think you run this place when it’s Harmony and I who run everything.” He glanced at Harmony, but the shadows were growing darker, and I couldn’t see her expression.
“Enough.” Gabe reached for Harmony as though preparing to leave, but Dar put his hand in his pocket and drew out a tiny pistol.
“Actually, you’re not going anywhere except down there.” He nodded to one of the guards, who took out the metal bar holding the door shut and opened the heavy steel doors, revealing a steep set of stairs that disappeared into total darkness.
“Dar,” Gabe pleaded.
“Shut up. I’ve decided what I’m going to do about Autumn because she may be useful, but I haven’t decided what happens to you yet. That may depend on your dear wife.”
He turned to Harmony. We all did. She was the unknown factor in all of this. Dar extended a hand to her. “You know how I feel about you, Harmony. I think you feel the same about me. Come with me. We can have it all.”
She took a step forward, and now I could see her better, though her eyes were black and fathomless in the gathering darkness. My heart was pounding because I had no idea how I wanted this to go. If she loved Dar, then Gabe and I were doomed. But if she didn’t love Dar and could pretend to until she got help, that would be better. I wished my talent was stopping time so we could discuss the options.
Harmony’s chin came up. “You’ve been a good friend, Dar, but Gabe is my husband, and my heart belongs to him.” She stepped sideways toward Gabe, clasping his hand.
Dar cringed at the words, which obviously came as a complete surprise. Gabe met Harmony’s glance for a brief, telling moment, and I realized that the whole of their world began and ended with each other. They might have children and goals and friendships, but they lived for one another. Living with them so long, Dar had been blind and stupid to think anything else.
“Then you share his fate,” Dar sneered, his words twisted and ugly. He reached out to shove Harmony down the stairs, but Gabe pulled her out of the way, taking the blow himself. He fell into the hole and disappeared, soundlessly except for the soft thumps of his body hitting the stairs.
Harmony hurtled herself carelessly after him, calling his name. “Gabe, Gabe, are you okay? Oh, Gabe!”
For a moment, Dar’s expression was that of an abandoned little boy, but the next instant it hardened. “You next,” he ordered, waving the gun at me.
The guard released me, and I stumbled toward the cellar, calculating my chances of escape. I figured they were near zero. I didn’t want to discard my life so carelessly, but once I was in the hole, my chances would slip to the negative side. Besides, sometimes I don’t have a whole lot of sense. I faked a left and then darted right, charging behind one of the men. At any second, I expected a bullet to slam into my back. Or perhaps my head.
“Get her!” screamed Dar.
I ran.
I reached the nearest tree before I went down, the guard’s weight heavy upon me. A cracking sensation in my chest was followed by a terrible, shooting pain through my left side. My head hit the ground next, bouncing up and slamming back down again. I lay there too stunned to do more than gasp for each painful breath.
After a moment, the guard’s weight lifted, and I was rolled forcefully over. Dar towered above me with the pistol pointed directly in my face. “You’re lucky,” he said, calm again, “that Shannon is not a common name for any male, even a cat. It is, however, the name of that detective in Portland. Small world? I don’t think so. That’s where your luck comes in. The only reason I don’t kill you now is to assess what damage that phone call did. I don’t even care any more about exploiting your ability. I’m not a patient man, and there are three hundred acres here, plenty of space to make a skinny little thing like you disappear.”
Chapter 22
I’d like to say that I miraculously overcame my four attackers despite my ach
ing ribs and many bruises, but, no, I went docilely and gingerly into the hole in the ground that I knew Dar meant for my imprisonment, if not for my burial. To the darkness Essence so feared.
Dar seemed impatient for me to descend and was already motioning to one of his men to start closing the door, though my head wasn’t yet clear. “Wait!” I said. “What about Marcie? Is she down here? Her brother’s been looking for her, and he won’t stop. He’s a PI now. He’s already talked to you. He knows I’m here. A lot of people do. The best thing for you is to leave before he brings the police.”
“Don’t worry about Marcie. I told her brother she left us a long time ago. It’s not my fault she doesn’t contact him. I don’t think she likes him much.” Dar laughed. “And now the best thing for you is to get down there before this door knocks you down.”
I hurried, hunching to protect my head, half afraid I would stumble over Gabe’s broken body. The dirt wall to my left was covered with chicken wire, and I used that to help me keep my balance as I hurried down the stairs.
At least Dar hadn’t mentioned having Ethan in custody. I clung to the thought—and to the hope that he wouldn’t harm Jake.
The door above clanged shut, and the pin slid in. Then the scrape of the rock. I hoped there was enough air to survive. Did a root cellar need air, or was that the point?
The stale, musty smell of dampness assaulted me as I went down the last few stairs, which were surprisingly solid, though I couldn’t see their construction. The blackness felt heavy all around me, and claustrophobia kicked in, making my stomach churn and my heart race.
“Harmony?” I called.
“Down here. Be careful.” Her voice came from farther down and to the right.
“Is Gabe okay?”
“I think so.”
“I’m all right,” came his faint assertion.
A light went on, and I could see Harmony kneeling beside Gabe, but the light didn’t travel much beyond that. When the stairs ended, I almost ran into the wall in front of me, lined completely with what looked like two-by-fours. I turned and moved slowly toward the others, trying not to jar my tortured ribs.
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