Girls In White Dresses: A Detective London McKenna Novel

by Alex Gates

  “And Mariam likes what we can offer her.” Anna refilled her teacup, offering me a second mug as well. I reluctantly finished the overwhelmingly perfumed tea just to be polite. “Believe me. This life is a demanding one. The farm nourishes us, but working the fields is hard and exhausting. Our husbands love us, but their attention is sometimes overwhelming. And the children…oh, God love them, but sometimes…if I think I’ll see one more diaper…” Her laugh quieted too quickly. “But they’re the reason we do this. We are to be fruitful and multiply.”

  “Even the young girls?”

  It didn’t seem to matter to her. “As soon as the body is mature, we begin. God created us for a purpose. If he deems her ready to partake in this miracle, who are we to judge what is too young or too old?”

  “How can she even have a healthy pregnancy?”

  “It’s more dangerous the older you get, Detective. Tick-tock.”

  “I’ll take my chances.”

  “Teenage pregnancy scares those with more modern sensibilities, but it’s normal for us. In your world, the girls have no help. They need to work outside the home to pay the bills, they must finish school, and they’re pressured into societal values that diminish a woman’s role in the home. And what does it give them? Just headaches and stress.”

  “That’s life.”

  “Not here. You worry, but Mariam will be closer to twelve when she gives birth—”

  “Anna!”

  “But she’ll have support. That’s what a family is—a structure of comfort and support. The women watch the kids. The men teach the kids. The family protects the kids. We start early because we can, not to punish the mothers or inflict some sort of pain on them, but because in this community, we are able to focus on what’s important. We stay on the farm, grow our own food, raise our children. It’s the way life is supposed to be. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25.”

  She believed it.

  Anna believed everything her husband preached.

  How could I save this woman when she so eagerly abandoned truth and reason to sympathize with a monster?

  The tea swirled in my mug. The smell turned my stomach. But Anna drank hers. I did the same so she wouldn’t stop talking.

  I’d need to drink a gallon of black coffee to get the taste out of my mouth.

  “You still think we’re wicked,” she said.

  I didn’t want to say it. “The children…are they ever hurt here?”

  “They’re disciplined, but they aren’t beaten.”

  “And in bed?”

  Anna raised her eyebrows, shocked, but not shy. She chose her words carefully. “They are never harmed. We all have our wifely duties, but even the youngest wife understands that moment with our husbands is a sacred event. Our husbands do not hurt us, and we understand what is to happen if we are to grow with child.”

  “You don’t consider that abuse?”

  “How can creating a child ever be considered abuse?” She turned away. “I feel so sorry for you, London.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t think you’ll ever see how blessed we are. Every day, we live the way the Lord intended. The fortunate few here swell a little more each day with a life inside of them. The rest count the days until they may be wedded to their soulmate, so they may experience the joy that is creating a child with their husband.” Her voice weakened. “I can’t have that for myself.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I wondered if I was being punished,” she whispered. “Jacob insisted it was meant to be this way. It took years before I realized he was right. I have no children, but this farm is like my child. I tend the land. I counsel the marriages if there are problems. I teach the girls how to raise their children. I help Jacob with the finances. I would die for this farm, for my family.”

  My heart hurt for her. “If you don’t escape from Jacob, you just might. If you really want to be a mother to these women and children…” I blinked. The room swirled. “Anna, you have to do the right thing.”

  “And betray my husband?”

  My vision blurred. What the hell was wrong with me?

  Anna leaned in, her brows furrowing. “Are you all right, London?”

  I forced a sharp breath and nodded. Better than she’d be. Better than Mariam.

  I pulled the flower headdress from my pocket, resting it on the table.

  Did my words slur?

  “So Mariam is getting married?”

  “Yes.”

  “To who?”

  Anna paced again. I didn’t expect that. She nervously tangled her palms in her dress, murmuring a prayer.

  “Please understand, London. I have no children of my own.”

  “I know.”

  “And everything I do is for the benefit of the farm. My every decision is made out of love for my husband. And I love Mariam so very much. I care for her.”

  “Who is she marrying, Anna?”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “I thought the farm was all about simple?”

  Anna apologized with a hand over her heart. “She’s not a virgin.”

  My eyebrow rose. “And?”

  “And no matter how heinous her past, even if it wasn’t her fault…she can’t marry one of our boys as she is.”

  “What?”

  “It isn’t fair to her husband. A man expects his wife to know only his touch.”

  “What are you saying? She was raped.”

  The words tumbled from her mouth—a declaration and excuse blended into a horrifying reality.

  “She can never be pure, but she can have children.”

  “What does that have to do with it?”

  “This farm is meant to be fruitful. Jacob is meant to have more sons.”

  I turned, but Anna was quicker.

  The tea kettle crashed against my temple.

  I fell to the floor. The hit was hard, but I couldn’t feel it.

  Couldn’t feel anything.

  The room swirled, floated, and crashed in on me. I tasted floral. Perfume.

  Poison.

  “Mariam was brought to us by God, just like Hagar was given to Abraham by Sarah. Mariam will bear Jacob’s children.”

  I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move.

  Couldn’t save Mariam.

  Anna whispered in pure honesty.

  “I won’t let you stop their blessed union.”

  32

  No more fighting. No more begging.

  Sleep now, and it will soon be over.

  -Him

  My body fell limp.

  Anna approached, reaching for my hand. I swung a weak fist instead. She easily dodged it.

  “Stop…” The words couldn’t form. “What…”

  Anna had very little physical strength, but even she could haul me around like I was a child. She looped her arms around my waist and pulled.

  I kicked. It did nothing.

  “Drugged?” Even my breath slurred.

  “It’s harmless,” she said. “We give it to the girls if they’re nervous on the wedding nights. It goes…easier for them if they aren’t scared.”

  Sick.

  All of them.

  I fought, but every motion slowed, like fighting through the slurry that jumbled my mind. Anna pulled away from the table and dragged me to the cellar door. I twisted, but the door opened.

  She wouldn’t.

  She couldn’t.

  “I’m sorry, London.” Her foot pressed hard into my thigh. The cement cellar stairs prevented my escape. “I have to protect my family.”

  “Anna…no…”

  “Please. Call me Eve.”

  She kicked.

  I slammed into the top step, the cement edge cracking my head.

  I didn’t have the breath to groan. My momentum surged, and I sp
iraled down three, four, five stairs, slamming my shoulders and hips, knee.

  Every scrape and bump shattered through me. I couldn’t feel the pain, but I knew it’d be serious. My fingers didn’t bend the right way, and I crashed to the cement basement floor end-over-end, landing on an ankle that bent, popped, and settled under my weight.

  It didn’t ache. Just went numb.

  Oh no.

  The drugs seized me. My mouth dried, and the weight of my own body crushed me against the dusty basement floor, lying in a heap between the shelves of jarred jams and canned vegetables.

  This wasn’t how it was supposed to end.

  Not now. Not after I’d survived so much.

  I struggled to breathe against my own weight. The floor was no help, and neither were the useless limbs weighing me down. I rolled only a few inches, kicking myself over to stare into the light streaming from the kitchen upstairs.

  How much of the drug did she give me?

  My heart beat a little slower.

  I couldn’t move.

  And that was safer. We weren’t alone anymore.

  The front door crashed against the wall.

  Jacob Goodman’s booming voice surged through the house.

  “Eve!” He shouted, the word spat more as a curse rather a call of affection. “What did you do?”

  Anna’s voice was too muffled to hear, but she quieted Jacob as best she could. Their steps creaked overhead, and his boots stomped against the kitchen’s hardwood.

  “Hush. You’ll wake the baby.” Anna’s words warmed, a touch of sun in the middle of a raging storm. “Oh, Jacob…I missed you—”

  He didn’t let her finish. “What are you doing here?”

  “I know I shouldn’t have come back.”

  Her words choked off, almost as if he grabbed her. Their shadows darkened the kitchen, blocking the light for a brief moment.

  “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Not a question—a demand. This wasn’t a man who ever gentled his speech, even for a wife demented by her own love for him. “You were supposed to stay away. We weren’t ready to meet again. What have you done?”

  A pout. “I had to see you.”

  “And now this might be the last time you see me alive.”

  “Don’t say such things…”

  “What the hell happened at that woman’s house?”

  The air struck through my lungs, unmovable and aching.

  I tensed, trying to listen, trying to survive. Shock helped.

  Why didn’t Jacob know what had happened tonight?

  Unless…

  Unless he hadn’t been there.

  “Louisa?” Anna’s confidence sickened me. “Don’t worry. She won’t try to separate us anymore.”

  “What did you do?”

  “What had to be done.”

  “Eve.”

  “She was trying to keep us apart!”

  A crash.

  Jacob’s fist went through the china cabinet. Anna yelped, but she stayed resolute. Her shadow chased him around the kitchen.

  “Jacob, you’re bleeding.”

  “Let it go. I’m fine.”

  “Don’t be silly. This is an important night. You need to be whole and healthy.”

  “Leave it! Tell me what you did! No lies. No smiles, Eve, so help me…” His breath rattled, and he hesitated in speaking the words, as if he himself didn’t believe them. “Did you murder your sister?”

  “She’s not my family anymore.”

  I had to get out of here.

  Had to get to my feet. Had to radio for help.

  Had to tell someone what insanity had drenched us all in blood tonight.

  Anna had murdered Louisa.

  She killed her own sister—a woman who would have done anything, even given her life, for the one person she loved most in the world.

  What a worthless sacrifice.

  Louisa’s sister had died a long time ago. And neither Louisa, Jacob, or I could recognize the villain who had taken her place.

  A scrape. Chair against wood. The cabinets opened, and a plastic box popped. I stared through swirling vision and caught a glimpse of Anna passing the cellar door with a first-aid kit.

  “Why did you do this?” Jacob asked again, less patient than before. “Tell me now, before your husband and God—”

  “I killed her.”

  He grunted pure pain. Heartbroken. “Why? Why? We were coming for you. I told you. Again and again. If this happened, I would always come for you. But trying to get passage into Canada, especially with all the kids would take time.”

  “I couldn’t do it. I can’t be without you, Jacob.”

  He paced again, his steps heavy. “You didn’t listen.”

  “Neither did you. It was time.”

  “I decide when it is time.”

  “If we waited any longer…if something had happened to you and your sons…”

  “We were safe.”

  “How did I know? You couldn’t call. You couldn’t find me. I had to make sure you had another child before you were all taken away.”

  “Nothing was going to happen to us! Stop thinking the worst, Eve, and have trust in your husband—”

  He stopped talking and interrupted Anna with a harsh shush. A still moment passed.

  The basement door creaked open a little wider.

  If I wasn’t dead yet, I’d be soon.

  “Eve.” Jacob’s whisper was as frightening as his roar. “Is that McKenna?”

  Her voice went baby-soft. “She tripped.”

  “Is she dead?”

  “Maybe.”

  I laid still. Easy to do. The drugs had stolen every ounce of my strength.

  Jacob swung the door wide, flashing the light on. He didn’t swear when angry.

  He prayed.

  “Our Father in heaven…did she follow you?”

  “They think you killed Louisa,” Anna said. “We have to do this now, Jacob. Before they take you away.”

  “Take me…” He turned. His shadow darkened the basement. “No one is taking me away. Not from my family. Not from you.” He steadied himself with a deciding breath. “And that includes the girl. I won’t do it.”

  “You won’t do what?”

  “I won’t have her bear my child. And that’s the last I’ll speak of it.”

  Anna didn’t have to drug me. That revelation would have knocked me out.

  I lifted my head as best I could, but specs of dust and cobweb bound me to the cold floor.

  The drugs were getting worse.

  So was their fight.

  Anna didn’t yell, but the submissive whimper in her voice was far shrewder and more calculating than I first recognized.

  “We decided this long ago, Jacob,” she said. “You deserve children. More sons. Mariam can give you that.”

  “No! No. You decided that. You were the one desperate for children. You were the one who wanted Mariam so badly!”

  “For you! She was always for you!”

  “I don’t want her!” His shadow moved quick, and I feared he’d hurt Anna. Instead he pulled her close, his forehead on hers. “I want my wife.”

  “I can’t be a wife to you. Not fully.”

  “Neither can that girl. She doesn’t complete me. You do.” The shadows parted. “You did. Once.”

  “What does that mean?” Anna didn’t yell, but she grew exasperated. “Jacob, we’ve talked about Jonah. You said you understood. You said it needed to be done.”

  “He was still my son!”

  “He was going to destroy us!” Anna began to sob, her words broken in ugly sorrow. “I did what I had to. What no one else had the courage to do!”

  “You killed them.”

  Pure shock kept me awake. I clawed toward the stairs. My fingers failed me first. Their voices faded and shifted, loud then soft, nonsensical then clear and frightening.

  “I didn’t touch him,” Anna said. “The others…Rachel would have gone to the police. Jona
h’s dirty little mistress? She threatened us all. I did what I had to do.”

  “But my son...”

  “He left you, Jacob. He left all of us. He wasn’t your son anymore.” Her voice regained a bit of confidence, soothing her husband. “But I didn’t pull that trigger. Jonah did. Jonah couldn’t live with the guilt of disobeying his father, of jeopardizing the safety of everyone here. He took his own life. He did it to ensure you would forgive him.”

  “At your insistence.”

  “Jonah lost his faith.”

  “And you lost your mind.”

  “I’ve done what was necessary to protect us. I made a promise to you, Jacob Goodman. I promised that I would protect this family. That I would do everything I could to ensure our survival and serve you like the wife you deserve.” Her voice evened. “I’ve sacrificed so much for you, my husband. Everything. My life. My body. And now my marriage bed.”

  “Don’t.”

  “This isn’t about me, Jacob. This is about you. Your bloodline. The good you’re doing in this world. I’ve found women for your sons and nephews. I trained those girls to become the perfect wives and mothers for men worthy of that gift. Don’t turn away now. God is testing our family. We will overcome.”

  “And what would you have me do?” he asked.

  “Take Mariam to your bed. Lie with her. She is ready to bear a child, Jacob. She will swell for you. I promise.”

  “It’s too soon. She’s not yet broken.”

  “As soon as she is impregnated, she’ll submit. She’ll understand the gift of your seed. The instant she feels your son growing inside of her—”

  “I’m a man of God, Eve. I won’t betray my vows.”

  “This isn’t a betrayal.” She soothed him, whispering her words between gentle kisses. “This must be done. I cannot give you the children you deserve. And Sarai said to Abram, ‘See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing. Please go in to my servant. It may be that I will obtain children by her.’ Sarah gave her handmaid to her husband. She gave him a second wife. A second chance.”

  “And this is what you want?”

  “It doesn’t mean I love you less, Jacob. It means I will do anything for you, even wish another woman into your bed so that, by her, you bear more sons. And she’s is young. So young. She can be bred for years, Jacob. Decades. It is a boon to find one so…prime. A blessing. God has willed this.”