The Blood We Spill: Suspense with a Dash of Humor (A Letty Whittaker 12 Step Mystery Book 4)

by Donna White Glaser

  “Enough!” Father stepped forward, staring in disbelief at his ragged posse. Turning to face the crowd, he seemed for the first time to be at a loss as to how to address them. Finally, he raised his hands as though in benediction, and abruptly dismissed them.

  Turning back, he ran his gaze over the lot of us, searing everyone in a death glare. Nobody died, though. A disapproving scowl seemed mild compared to the thumping Moses had just gotten. Reality—or at least, Father’s version of appropriate submissiveness—hadn’t had enough time to reset itself. Several of the men—Gabriel and Eli among them—met Father’s stare directly. There was a little too much testosterone in the air for Father to push the point, and he wisely switched his focus to Moses, still on one knee before him. He could at least pretend that Moses knelt in submission instead of as a result of a thorough ass-kicking.

  “Get up,” Father ordered him. “And somebody clean him off.”

  After waiting to see if there were any other takers, Casper stepped up and offered a hand to Moses.

  Lifting his fancy golden robe to keep it from dragging along the bloody ground, Father stalked up to his second-in-command until they stood nose-to-battered, mushy nose. Moses flinched as Father hissed, “Get your ass to my office as soon as you are presentable.” Jaw clenched, Father turned to Eli, started to speak, then snapped his mouth closed. He paused momentarily, but then spun on his heel and left.

  As soon as Father was gone, Cozbi reappeared at my side. I glanced around for Maliah, but a vivid recollection of her quite literal blood bath surfaced. She hadn’t hung around to finish her escort duties. Ignoring Cozbi, I headed for Beth a few feet away.

  She gave me a tight hug, then began leading me back to the campus. I looked over my shoulder. Eli, freed now, stood watching. I stopped and made as if to turn back, but he raised his hand and nodded. Taking a deep breath, I nodded back. Then, not caring who saw, I gently blew him a kiss.

  He looked startled, then laughed out loud. Next to him, Gabriel raised his eyebrows, then shook his head in mock admonishment and smacked Eli on the back.

  It wasn’t until we were walking up the path to the barn that I remembered to ask Beth about Maggie.

  “I’m pretty sure I saw her,” Beth said. “But then all hell broke loose and, you know…”

  “Damn it. And of course they’ll all be gone by now.”

  But they weren’t.

  When we rounded the barn, we discovered most of the church had gathered in gossipy knots all up and down the driveway clear to the parking lot. Ignoring the stares, I scanned the cliques and searched for Maggie.

  There she was.

  She stood outside the side kitchen door. Maybe waiting for supplies?

  I walked over to introduce myself. As I drew near, I caught a whiff of something unpleasant.

  Maggie must have gotten her looks from her father, because unlike Reggie, she was tall and skinny as a stick. Her hair—dark brown and thick—would have been gorgeous if she had washed it anytime in the last few days. A scabby cold sore edged her upper lip, and acne dotted her face.

  “Hi, I’m Letty. I mean, Leona,” I smiled and held out my hand. “With all the… excitement, I almost forgot my new name. I kind of wish I’d gotten to pick. I’ve always wanted to call myself ‘Reggie.’”

  I startled her, but she responded to the handshake gesture automatically, the way we’ve been trained to do in our society. Her hand almost burned, it felt so hot. I took a closer look. Her pale blue eyes were so dilated they looked black. And the breakouts weren’t from acne or a herpes virus.

  A short, barrel-chested guy moved to intercept us, pulling Maggie by the arm. “Hey, nice to meet you,” he said jovially. “Sorry, but our ride’s taking off. Congratulations.” He steered her to the parking lot.

  “Hey!” Beth called out.

  Maggie looked back, but Stocky still had her arm and they didn’t stop. The kitchen screen door slapped shut behind me, making me jump. Another member of their group, this one loaded down with several boxes of food, hurried past us.

  Maggie shot another glance over her shoulder, her expression piercing, but indecipherable.

  Beth and I turned to each other.

  “Did you see that?” I asked.

  Beth nodded grimly. “If it weren’t for that expression, I would say let’s get the hell outta here, but damn…”

  “She’s scared,” I said.

  “Or, I don’t know, wistful, maybe? Whatever it was… it just didn’t look right.” She heaved a sigh. “That’s not good.”

  “She’s got bigger problems,” I said.

  “Bigger than being kidnapped or held against her will?” Beth’s face crinkled in disagreement.

  “More like added on to all that. If she really is being held.” I looked around, belatedly cautious of being overheard. “Did you see her face? The lesions? And that smell?”

  Beth stared at the figures in the distance. “What are you saying? Meth?”

  The three had made it to the lot and were standing next to several dirt-crusted ATVs waiting for their buddy. As soon as he joined them, they loaded the boxes into a wire basket of the all-terrain vehicles. As soon as he bungeed the supplies down, all three set off with a roar down the driveway.

  I felt overtaken by a wave of exhaustion…

  And the smell of sausage. Despite everything—the humiliation of standing naked in front of eight men, the repulsive indignity of immersing my hands in blood and smearing it on their chests, the fight—despite all that, my stomach gurgled like a draining sink. It felt drained.

  Beth heard it, and we finally laughed. Deciding to not wait for the call to breakfast, I strode to the dining hall door. I had missed five meals, and I fully planned on making up for it.

  I went through the food line twice and then raided the kitchen for a couple of teaspoons of contraband white sugar to liven up a final bowl of generic cornflakes. Jala pretended not to see. I was just finishing up when Eli walked in.

  Nobody overlooked his entrance. I was at the far end of the hall, and he made straight for me, moving with an sinewy grace that contrasted sharply with the recent episode of violence. He sat across from me, resting his forearms on the table. Both hands had angry, half-moon gashes studding the knuckles. I wondered briefly about the state of Moses’s teeth. Not that I cared.

  We spent several moments just soaking each other up. Any doubts about our attraction to each other had already been blown, anyway. Eli reached across the table to hold my hand.

  “I’m out, Letty,” he said.

  It took me a minute to process. “You’re…?”

  “Father says I’ve got to go. He’s backing Moses.”

  “I don’t… He’s blaming you? That’s crazy. He was right there. He saw what happened.”

  “He says Moses was… is… trying to deal with his demons. I was never more than an enforcer for him anyway. He knows I’m not really buying his shit. That’s the bottom line, you know. And Moses is sucking it all down and asking for dessert.”

  It shouldn’t have surprised me. Moses wouldn’t be able to live here knowing Eli could—and obviously would—rain down his own kind of judgment if the freak didn’t deal with his “demons.”

  “He’s put Moses in what he calls a period of atonement.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “Gabriel says it means Moses is in for hours and hours of fasting and prayer. There’s an altar in Father’s house that he’s got to kneel in front of. Tile floor.” Eli shrugged. “He’ll be uncomfortable, but I don’t see it changing anything. He’ll still be twisted and unstable. He’ll still be dangerous.”

  His gold-flecked eyes held mine. My two breakfasts clumped like mud in my stomach. I knew what he was asking me. Before answering, I checked to make sure no one could overhear us. The hall had emptied, and the clatter of dishes from the kitchen would cover our voices.

  “I can’t leave yet,” I said quietly. “We just saw her. Maggie. And I think I know what’
s going on. She and her little group look and act like meth heads. I’m guessing that’s why Father’s keeping them separated from the rest.”

  Eli held a hand up. “Wait. You’re telling me Father’s running drugs?”

  “It makes sense. He’s got a lot of properties, and a meth lab out here in the boonies is perfect. We’re right between Chicago and the Cities. And Maggie—” I spread my hands “—was a chemistry major. It explains a lot, including why Father freaked out when Enoch took off. And I think I know where it is too.”

  Eli closed his eyes, shaking his head, then scrubbed his face with puffy, sore-looking hands. “Okay, we got a nutjob with rapist tendencies who’s fixated on you, a control freak with a secret meth lab and presumably the willingness to off anybody who risks exposing it, and a missing meth head chemist who may or may not agree to get the hell out of Dodge. Does that sum it up?”

  We stared at each other.

  “Pretty much,” I finally said.

  More face scrubbing. “Yeah. That’s what I thought. Okay, then. What’s the plan?”

  “It’s, uh, still in the firming-up stages.” Eli grimaced and mashed his fists into his eyes. Looked painful.

  “Do you have a headache?” I asked.

  “Yes. Yes, I do.”

  I reached over and pulled his hands down. “Look, hon, I know this is bad. I really do. I’m not… Look, all we’re going to do is check out the place where I think the lab might be. If I’m wrong, we’re out of here. If I’m right, we’re going to take one shot at Maggie. She either comes with us or not. Either way, we’re leaving. I’m talking two days, three tops.”

  He studied me closely. “What about Enoch?”

  “What about him?”

  “You’re telling me you’re not sticking your nose… you’re not getting involved in whatever happened to him?”

  “He’s not my business. The police can take care of that. Once we’re all out, we’ll contact them and tell them everything we know.”

  Gabriel entered the hall. He stopped when he saw us and waited til Eli looked over. Gabriel nodded and tilted his head at the exit.

  Eli turned back and took my hand again. “Two days. Not three. If you’re not out in forty-eight hours, I’m coming to get you.”

  I nodded.

  “One more thing—Rachel.”

  “What about her?” I said.

  “They’re telling me she’s still under house arrest or whatever, but my gut tells me there’s something else going on. I don’t know what. Maybe they kicked her out too. Or maybe she took off on her own like Enoch, and they don’t want everyone knowing there’s another deserter. Just… be careful, Letty. I want you to come home in one piece.”

  I nodded, tears welling up in my eyes.

  He stood and walked to my side. “C’mere.”

  I rose and he wrapped me up in his arms, burying his face in my hair. We stood, hearts echoing inside our chests, and held each other. He pulled back first and kissed my forehead and cheeks, over and over again. Then, he kissed me for real.

  I almost stumbled when he let me go, but I gripped the table’s edge and watched him walk out the door. Gabriel let Eli pass through the door first, then caught my eye and paused.

  I braced for a reprimand, but his face softened. He turned and followed Eli.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  After breakfast, I set off to find Beth again. She was sitting cross-legged on her bed, toweling her thatch of fading, color-assisted auburn hair. My friend had jettisoned her fake, emerald-green contacts before coming here, and the natural, khaki-green irises softened her face. Worry lines had deepened around them, however. She looked tired.

  We needed to talk about Maggie, but I filled her in on Eli’s dismissal first.

  “Damn,” she said, biting her lower lip. “This is not the time to lose one of the gang. Did he try talking Father out of it?”

  “Unless you made him think it was his idea first, I can’t imagine talking Father out of anything. And he’s not going to risk Moses taking off to avoid another beatdown.”

  “Good point,” Beth said with a sigh. “I almost wish Eli hadn’t snapped. Not that I blame him. Still, as far as beatdowns go, this was hands-down the most enjoyable thrashing I’ve ever seen.”

  “Wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” I agreed.

  “You know you’ll have to be doubly alert with Mo-the-Molester. After his bones knit, anyway.”

  I nodded. A pause hung between us. Then I met her eyes.

  “I want out of here too,” I told her.

  “I miss Jimmy,” she said. “I miss twelve-hundred-count, Egyptian cotton sheets and lavender-scented lotion and vanilla lattes.” She reached over and gripped my hand hard. “I miss cookies. Dear God, how I miss them.”

  We started laughing.

  “So are you ready to go? Or… ” I almost couldn’t say it. “Do we track down that stupid girl, once and for all, and see if she’ll come with us?”

  Beth hesitated, opened her mouth, then stopped. “Are we any nearer to finding her? I mean, do you really want to stick around for another community gathering?”

  I sighed. “I don’t think we’ll have to. I might know where they might be.”

  “Crap.”

  “I know.”

  “Okay.” She flopped back on the bed. “Where?”

  “There are probably more cabins ringing the lake. As thick as the woods are, it wouldn’t be hard to keep them hidden.”

  “Why would they want to?” Beth sat back up.

  “Meth.” I repeated what I’d told Eli. “We’ve always wondered how the Elect could support itself.”

  She was nodding by the time I finished. “Son of a female dog, that makes sense. But what are we supposed to do? Go rambling around the wilderness looking for Meth Head Beauty and her Druggie Dwarves?”

  I explained seeing Gabriel and Justus and the path that led to the clearing. “Unfortunately, I don’t think we would be able to find the way at night. Not even with a full moon.”

  “I fail to see the unfortunate-ness in that.”

  “Well, I don’t think it would be a good idea to stumble onto their secret meth-lab lair in broad daylight. What are we going to do? Tell ‘em we stopped in for lunch? Not to mention, our only flashlight died.”

  “You might have a point.”

  We sat in silence for several moments, contemplating the obstacles, not to mention the dangers.

  “You know what?” Beth said. “Let’s just go.”

  I cocked my head in a what-did-you-smoke-for-breakfast expression.

  “No, seriously,” she went on. “I’m sick of all this sneaking around and hiding and… and… skulduggery.”

  My mouth dropped. “Did you just say—”

  “It’s a word,” she said, eyes narrowing to slits. “And I’m sick of it.”

  “You know what? I am too.”

  This time I dressed for the woods. Under a calf-length skirt, I wore the one pair of jeans I had. I would have preferred boots, but tennis shoes would have to do. Beth looked similarly bulky, and when we got past the isolation cabin and ditched the skirts she uncovered gray sweats. Not the best protection against thorn bushes and prickers, but better than exposed legs. We rolled the skirts up and hid them on the side of the cabin. Beth hadn’t had her Naming Ceremony yet, and she peeked in to see what she had missed. She turned a horrified face to me.

  “How did you stay sane?”

  “Well,” I said. “I might have had some company.”

  “Hot damn!” Delight flooded her features. “Eli? Of course, it was Eli. Tell me—”

  I shushed her. “Not now.”

  “Okay, but later, right? You’ll tell me later?”

  The giggles were a relief but short-lived. Although we had put together a cover story for our presence on the path—just going for a healthy walk, Father—it felt flimsy. If we really were on a trail leading to a secret meth lab, we probably shouldn’t expect gullibility from a
nyone who might discover us. Plus, not knowing from which direction someone might pop up made us jumpy as hell.

  The clearing was even scarier. The smattering of scrub trees didn’t provide any kind of cover, and the memory of the grisly discovery I had made in this spot kicked my heart up in a staccato burst. I stopped and closed my eyes. I hadn’t had a panic attack since the waves that had overtaken me the second night in isolation. Instead of fighting, I let go, letting my muscles do what they might need to do, letting the fear come if it had to.

  It didn’t. Crows fussed with each other, raucous and discordant, but the sound didn’t trigger an attack either. Twigs snapped as Beth came to my side.

  I opened my eyes. Still good.

  Beth patted me on the shoulder and began to move away, but I grabbed her. “Don’t go that way,” I whispered.

  “Why not?”

  “‘Cause that’s where I barfed up my juice after finding Enoch’s hand.”

  She skittered in the other direction and we circled the clearing, keeping to the edges. I made several false attempts at forcing my way through the thicket, but it was impenetrable. It took two circles before I found it—a blind alley that, after a tight S-curve through the dense foliage, opened onto another path.

  Our jitters grew worse on the other side. We had no credible reason to be on this side unless we had been specifically searching our way to it.

  The path broadened and the trees thinned slightly. Enough so that we were able to spy the site before stumbling upon it. At the first glance of human habitation, Beth and I scooted off the path, picking our way up to the edge of the site where we hid behind a thick patch of bushes.

  “How far do you think we’ve come?” I asked.

  “My thighs are telling me at least two miles.”

  I nodded and we crawled deeper into the bushes to spy on the site.

  Movies make spying from bushes look easy. What it truly involved was crawling into the middle of the dry, brittle thatch, getting stuck and scratched all along the way, and sitting on broken stems and exposed roots. I also discovered there is no earthly way to part branches to peek through without a cacophony of cracking, rustling, and snapping. If the noise drew attention from anyone, I could only hope they would assume a bunch of squirrels were having enthusiastic sex. On the positive side, the racket covered the sound of Beth’s grunts and muttered curses.