Gabriel: A thriller (Standalone within the Divinus Pueri series)

by Tracie Podger

  “You guys weren’t interested when my wife was killed, so don’t start that shit with me,” I said.

  “There was no connection between your wife and the cult we are investigating, initially,” he replied.

  “You sure got that wrong then, didn’t you?”

  “You guys can argue all you want, but that won’t get us anywhere. How about we settle down and talk?” Zachary said, he’d been mostly quiet the whole time we’d been there.

  All eyes were focused on me.

  “We took a drive, she was going stir crazy being cooped up indoors. She told me a little about her foster parents, she said they were part of a religion called Divinus something. I guess that’s not important because you know who they are anyway; she said they were close to the Catholic Church.

  “She got a little, familiar shall we say, I stopped that and we drove home. I was pissed. My head has been all over the place, I don’t know who to trust or believe right now. At first I thought she was lying to us, things didn’t stack up. But then she told me the truth. She told me how she’d made up an okay childhood because she’d been subjected to years of abuse. She claimed to be a Divine Child. Apparently those assholes believe she is a child of an angel, as was Sierra, and therefore they need to mate with them to reproduce, keep the bloodline going, or some shit like that.”

  “Did you have sexual intercourse with her?” Midley asked.

  I didn’t answer immediately, and I figured my hesitation was an affirmative answer in itself. I nodded my head.

  “Once, twice?” he asked, a little aggressively I thought.

  “Does that matter? Three, four times, I don’t know. I felt sorry for her, I felt sorry for myself. I haven’t fucking slept for more than two or three hours a night and for some reason, yesterday, last night, whenever it was, I escaped for a little while. I escaped from the madness and the pain, okay?” My voice had risen in anger.

  “Could you have impregnated her?” he asked.

  I looked at him; shock must have registered on my face. “What?”

  “It was just a question.”

  “A fucking stupid one.”

  Zachary placed his hand on my arm, I closed my eyes tight as he gently squeezed.

  Shit, could I have gotten her pregnant? It only takes one time, I thought.

  “The sheriff tells us that you’ve had an attempted break-in and since then, a possible intruder,” Midley said.

  “Yeah, each night she woke me after hearing a noise. The first night we found a footprint, the second she said she saw someone. I thought I heard the backdoor rattle, maybe a shadow cross the glass, I’m not sure now.”

  “She was manipulating you, Gabriel. Causing sleep deprivation so you’d be confused, I imagine,” he said.

  “Was anything she told me the truth? She’s terrified, on the run, frightened for her life. There were times she cried, visibly shook. Can someone act that well?”

  “Most of what she told you was a version of the truth. She was on the run, from us. The cult members, who believe her to be a Divine Child, want her back. We’re unsure of why she tried to leave the cult initially.”

  “Other than, sort of, confirming she’s telling the truth, you’re not actually telling me anything I don’t already know,” I said.

  “And I can’t, I’m sure you can appreciate that. You know what we’re dealing with here.”

  “Why can’t you go in and get those children out, at least.”

  “Because after a previous siege involving a cult, we have very different practices now. The children over age of consent, we can’t remove. They are so brainwashed, like Lily, it’s not as simple as removing them and placing them in care elsewhere.”

  “She scoffed at the thought she was a Divine Child, as in a child of an angel,” I said.

  “Maybe she did, maybe she doesn’t believe that, but she’s still doing their work for them. She’s the one chasing down those statements, she’s the one we’re looking for in relation to at least three murders.”

  “She said something that’s only just hit me. She wanted what Sierra had, a perfect life, perfect child, etc. Are you sure she’s just not searching for that?”

  Why I was defending her, I wasn’t sure.

  “Possibly, and it’s our belief that she feels if she completes this task for them, she’ll be released.”

  “What’s your role in all this?” I asked Zach.

  He looked to Midley before answering, and only did so once he received a nod.

  “The founding father, for want of a better word, was a priest. He is the one in that photograph you saw. He was under investigation for child abuse. What Sierra experienced in that convent, although I’ll use the word convent loosely, is true. Most of those children suffered some form of abuse, whether that was physical or sexual. They were also passed on.”

  “Passed on to be further abused?”

  Zachary nodded his head.

  “And the Catholic Church has been open about this? I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen it in the press. Who was investigating this?”

  “Most investigations are done internally, initially,” he answered.

  “That’s fucking handy. You mean covered up, don’t you?”

  “Gabe, I’m not defending this or any level of abuse. There are some serious problems and flawed individuals within all religions. And yes, I’m sure, in the past, this kind of thing had been covered up. But not now. If you bothered to read the papers or watch the news, you’d see, sadly, it’s quite topical.”

  “What happened to Sister Anna?”

  “A body was found a few days ago that Zachary has been able to identify as Sister Anna. I’m not at liberty to tell you how she died, but she was discovered not too far away,” Romney said.

  “It was your messages on her phone, well, I say her phone, we know it wasn’t, that alerted me to your involvement,” Zachary said.

  “Lily said Sister Anna tracked all the children from the photograph, it’s how she managed to get in touch with Sierra,” I said.

  “We believe so, yes. She was instrumental in the fostering and adoption program at the convent, although I’d like to believe she knew nothing about the abuse.”

  “So, this convent was a Catholic one then?”

  “Yes.”

  “And the kids don’t go through the state adoption services, I take it. It’s all ‘in-house’ so to speak?” I asked.

  “There are rules, Gabriel. We don’t force single mothers to hand over their children and then farm them out anymore.” Zachary’s voice had taken on a defensive tone.

  I raised my eyebrows. “Really? Anyway, I left my cigarettes at home, anyone have a smoke?”

  I was shocked to see Zachary reach inside his jacket pocket and pull out a pack. He slid them, with a lighter, across the small table separating us.

  “How are you feeling?” Thomas asked.

  “Better, still a little nauseous, but I’ll live. I guess it’s all the stress and anxiety that’s caught up with me.”

  I took some time to light the cigarette and inhaled deeply, letting the smoke gently waft from my nostrils.

  “So, what did Lily, or whatever her name is, want from me?” I asked.

  “The statements, I guess. It’s what everyone seems to be after. They may contain some damning evidence,” Zachary said.

  Thomas’ eye twitched.

  “And no one knows where they are,” I said.

  “We may need to check your house, Gabriel. Organize a thorough search,” Midley said.

  “Feel free. I’ve checked, Thomas and his deputies have checked, there’s nothing there.”

  I stood and stretched. “I need to walk around a bit,” I said.

  “I think we're done here, for the moment, anyway. Gabriel, I take it you’ll be staying here for a few days? We’d like to talk again, obviously. And I guess I don’t need to say this, but if Lily, sorry, Rachiel, get’s in contact, we need to know as soon as possible,” Midley said, placing
a card with just his name and cell number on the table.

  Agents Midley and Romney stood, in perfect sync, and bade farewell to my dad and Thomas. Zachary accompanied them to their car.

  I watched Thomas pick up his phone and text something.

  “Well, that sure was interesting,” Dad said, he hadn’t contributed at all during the conversation.

  “In what way?”

  “Those guys are not feds,” he said.

  “Why do you say that?” I asked.

  “Because that wasn’t a Glock holstered at his waist.”

  I stared at my dad. “Feds are issued with Glocks, Gabe. Everyone knows that.”

  Obviously I didn’t. It wasn’t that I doubted my father’s knowledge, but I still picked up my phone to Google, cursing at the lack of signal.

  “And, I never mentioned the statements in any report I’ve sent over to state police,” Thomas added. “I kept that out until we knew it was a fact.”

  “We need to get you all out of here,” I said.

  “And Zachary?” Thomas asked.

  “Maybe he believes they are genuine,” Dad said. “Besides, I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Dad…”

  He held up his hand, cutting off my sentence. “Son, I’ve lived in this house for over forty years. I’ve survived three tours of Vietnam and horrors you couldn’t imagine. No cult or fake feds are going to run me from my own home.”

  Our conversation was halted by the return of Zachary.

  “So, how did you get involved with the feds then?” I asked, as I lifted the lid from dad’s cooler and pulled out some beers.

  “They contacted me, actually. Well, I say me, my office. We knew about the priest, I can’t divulge his name, and the abuse.”

  “How recent was this?” Dad asked.

  “Just over a year ago. I wasn’t aware, Gabriel, that Sierra had anything to do with this.” He sighed and closed his eyes. His mouth moved in a silent prayer.

  “How could you not be aware Sierra was involved, if she was at the convent?”

  “There is no child registered by the name of Sierra, on record at that home, Gabe.”

  I stared at him. “I don’t understand.”

  “We’re not sure Sierra was ever at the home, or that’s not her real name.”

  “We got married, Zach, she would have had a birth certificate.” My mind was instantly transported back to the original list I’d made. I tried to recall what else was on it.

  “I can only say what we found. There was no child of her age by that name.”

  Until then, it hadn’t crossed my mind that Sierra might not be her real name. “But her mother died? She was a child; someone would have taken care of her. Sister Anna said she knew my wife, she was the one who handed me the diary entries.”

  “She said she knew your wife, but that doesn’t mean Sierra was a child of that convent.”

  I sat back down; my earlier need to stretch my legs completely forgotten.

  “How do you know she was at the convent?” Zach added.

  “Lily said…” I sighed. “No, Sister Anna said, ‘religion killed my wife’ when I met her.”

  “The cult, perhaps?”

  “What the fuck is going on? What part of all this fucked up shit is real? Is there a convent that Sister Anna worked at, or whatever you call it?”

  “Yes, it exists.”

  “They fostered out kids to this cult thing, yes?”

  “Yes, although she wasn’t aware of that.”

  “The priest liked fucking children, yes?”

  Zachary winced at my choice of words before answering. “Yes.”

  “So, we have a cult on one hand that, according to your friends, is involved in incest, abuse, and whatever. And a convent that supplied them with the kids because one man ran both the cult and the convent. A fucking Catholic priest!”

  “That about sums it up from where I’m sitting,” Dad said.

  “Where does this Divine Child come in, and where was Sierra’s mother, the convent or the cult?” I asked.

  Zachary stared at me; I could see his jaw work from side to side. “Tell me, Zach, because I think you know,” I said.

  “There was a child, thirty years ago, her name was Lily. She either came into the convent at fourteen as pregnant, or became pregnant shortly after. Obviously the records are a little sketchy.”

  “She can’t be Sierra’s mother. Sierra wasn’t thirty years old,” I said.

  “As far as you know, of course. I know that this woman produced a daughter, blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin, perfect in every way, an exact replica of her mother. We have made the assumption the child is the daughter of the priest, and for some reason he believed he had created an angel or something divine.”

  “Do you believe in angels? Do you believe in all that…stuff?” I asked.

  “I believe in the Lord, Gabriel. I believe his son was sent to earth to teach us, and he died for our sins. I believe in the Bible, I believe in hope and faith, if I don't have that, I have nothing. I don’t believe anything divine can be created from human flesh, bone, and blood. We are too flawed for that. So no, I don’t believe that the child of a priest and woman can be anything more than just a child.”

  I believe in hope and faith, Gabriel. If I don’t have that, I have nothing. Lily’s words flooded back to me.

  “I need to get back inside with my daughter,” I said, standing once again.

  Taylor didn’t appear to be overly fazed by her expedition, and I put that down to only being five-years-old, with the attention span of a goldfish. She was busy making pies with Mom.

  “Hey, baby girl, what are you doing?” I asked.

  I’d wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her up. She was covered in flour. She placed those floury hands either side of my cheeks.

  “I like this fluff but it scratches my face,” she said, rubbing her hands over my stubble.

  “I’ll shave it all off, just for you.”

  “Well, I think we have enough pies to last until Thanksgiving,” Mom said.

  I looked at the counter top, there must have been at least ten pies waiting to be baked.

  “Which one did you make, baby?”

  Taylor twisted in my arms, she thought for a moment then pointed to a random one in the middle. I leaned over.

  “This one?” I said, pointing. She nodded.

  I poked my finger in the middle making a hole. “So we know which one is yours,” I said.

  “I think it’s time to get cleaned up,” Mom said.

  “How about I stay here, with you, tonight?” I said to Taylor.

  Her smile was all the answer I needed. “Go wash up, and then we’ll go check on the foal. I’m sure Grandpa has some jobs for us.”

  Taylor rushed to the bathroom. “Mom, we need to talk. I need to find my marriage license, I’m hoping Sierra’s birth certificate is with it.”

  “Oh?”

  “I need to find out her real name and her date of birth.”

  “I don’t understand,” Mom said.

  “I just need to. Can you remember what happened to them? I don't have them at home, I just wondered if they were here somewhere.”

  “I’ll make sure to look. I have some things from your wedding; I stored them all in a keepsake box. I’ll check for you,” she said.

  She dried her hands on a dishtowel before gesturing with her hand to sit at the table.

  “What can you tell me?”

  “Lily was here this morning.” I then told her an abbreviated version of what we already knew.

  I omitted any fears I had about the feds; I didn’t want to scare her. I was at a loss as to what to do. I couldn’t return home. I believed in safety in numbers, so perhaps us all staying at the ranch was the best thing to do. We could call in some reinforcements.

  Dad and Thomas walked into the kitchen. “Where’s Zachary?” I asked.

  “He had to pop into town. He said he’ll be back for dinner t
hough,” Dad replied.

  “That’s great, we haven’t sat and eaten as a family since…” Mom trailed off.

  “It’s okay, since Sierra.” I said.

  “So, I guess you called Zach this morning, Mom?” I asked, as I poured some iced tea. That thirst hadn’t been completely quenched.

  “No, he arrived with his friends, just after I called Thomas and tried to call you. I left a message on your voicemail,” she said.

  I made a point to look for Thomas’ twitch.

  “I’m sorry, Mom, I had my phone silenced. I’d had a rough night.”

  She placed her hand on my cheek, “No harm done though, so it’s all good. And tonight, my boys will be here, my granddaughter, too.”

  Mom seemed pleased to have the whole family together, I wasn’t so sure it was a good idea.

  Taylor returned from washing her hands and face, not that she’d done a great job of it. I should have helped her really. I took hold of her still wet hand and we headed out. She skipped alongside me and chatted the whole way to the paddock.

  “When you saw Lily, where did she come from?” I asked.

  “The house, no, the barn, I think,” she said.

  “Okay, so, tell me what you know about looking after a pony?”

  She rattled off what she’d already been taught. She knew how to groom the hair the way it lay, how to pick up a hoof, although she had to wait until she was nine-years-old to be able to do that alone. Where the nine came from, I had no idea. She knew to make sure there was fresh water every day, and hay in the winter. While she talked, I sent a text to Thomas.

  Lily came from the barn this morning, might be worth checking it. I vaguely remember a conversation about whether Sierra hid statements there.

  There wasn’t a reply, but I did see him leave the house and walk toward the barn.

  All the while we leaned on the paddock fence; I scanned the area. I watched for any movement in the woodland beyond. She was here somewhere, I was sure of that. Taylor chatted and I should have listened. I should have paid more attention to my daughter, but my mind kept wandering. I didn’t know who to believe, Lily, the fake feds and Zachary, or my instinct. I chuckled; I couldn’t trust my instinct as far as I could throw it right then. I’d made so many bad calls over the past few days.