Black Widows

by Cate Quinn

  “They’re still deciding if she’s fit to stand trial,” Brewer told me. “I don’t know if they’ll get any sense out of her. They’ve got her in a psych ward out of state. She started out ranting and shouting about how she was doing God’s work, and anyone who stood in her way was goin’ to hell. But since Mr. Nelson refused to confirm her alibi for the night of the murder, she’s more or less shut down.” Brewer shook her head. “Most likely is they’ll consign Adelaide to a psychiatric prison for her own safety.”

  “Guess not all moms are nice,” I said.

  Brewer got a real sad look in her pretty eyes then.

  “Guess not,” she said. “How are things with Rachel nowadays?”

  That took me by surprise. “They’re good,” I told Brewer. “Things are real good.”

  Chapter One Hundred Nine

  Tina Keidis-Nelson

  I feel like we’ve all grown three feet taller. Especially Rachel. She even gives little talks nowadays, up at the university. How the abuse she suffered growing up drew her to a controlling kind of husband. I’m real proud of her, since I know how hard it is for Rachel to be open about these things. Seems to have done her good, too, ’cause now that she speaks about ’em all the time, she’s not carrying ’em on her shoulders any longer, hidin’ who she is.

  Rachel thinks maybe Blake had some mental problems. Bipolar disorder even. But that’s just Rachel. She always thinks of the nice reason why people do shitty things. Me, I’ve seen too much bad. You want my opinion, Blake just got carried away with his own power. All these women fighting over him. It went to his head. Got addictive. He wanted more. I don’t think he was all bad though. It’s like my mom used to say. You wanna know if someone’s a bad person? Don’t listen to what they say, don’t think about how they make you feel. Look at what they do.

  So I guess that makes my Blakey both good and bad. Like all of us. Only us wives are all going to try to be better, for one another. Rachel’s already on my case. She was the one who made sure we bought the nice Mormon boy a new car, since Mrs Nelson torched his old one, and gifted it with a box of Milk Duds as a thank-you.

  We’re makin’ a life for ourselves out here, and it’s workin’ out real well. Rachel’s got me hoeing fields and canning food, too, would ya believe? You’d never hear me admit it out loud, but I kinda like the simple life. Even though the copper mine earns us plenty of money.

  I’m carryin’ a big crate of corn toward the kitchen when I see Detective Carlson at the gate. Can’t help it. Right away, I’m smilin’.

  “Hey, you.” I start unbolting the padlock on the gate.

  “Hey yourself.” He kinda does a double take. “Holy hell,” he says, looking me up and down. “First time I seen you dressed like a farmer’s wife.”

  I look down at my shirt. “This? Ah well, when you’re out in the sun all day, you burn unless you cover up.” I put a hand to my hair, tied back. “And you get sweaty, you know, with your hair loose.”

  “Suits you,” says Carlson. “You look like the girl from that movie about horses.”

  He waits as I pull away the last padlock and open the big wire gate.

  “What’s with Fort Knox?” He helps me drag it back.

  “We’re waiting on a camera and key-code system to be installed. In the meantime, we want these women to feel safe, Detective Carlson.”

  He grins at me. “Ah, you can call me Tate. We’re friends now, right?”

  “Tate?” I turn the name around in my mind as I pull the gate back. “Okay.”

  He takes in the compound. The roadways have been cleared and the cabin homes repainted and smartened up. Still a lotta work to do, but we’re gettin’ there.

  “We call it Heaven,” I say. “’Sa little inside joke. Wanna come see the place?”

  His eyes track to the far west, where a police caution tape flutters in the breeze. Diggers came out last month and exhumed the cemetery.

  “Sure.” He hesitates. “I actually came to tell you what we dug up.” He looks devastated for a moment. “Lot of little bodies in there. Dating back to the seventies even.”

  A deep sadness washes through me.

  “There’s plenty of remains to get through,” he continues. “But it looks like most of ’em suffered from the same set of genetic disorders. A number have swollen skulls, indicating a condition called hydrocephalus. That’s water on the brain to you and me. Very rare, but I guess when you narrow the gene pool like they did here, rare things become common. They also found evidence of problems with heart valves. A couple of bodies had sorta been mummified in the copper sands, so they were able to identify that.”

  “Were they euthanized, do you think?”

  He lets out a deep sigh.

  “That’s gonna be hard to say. There’s no trauma to those corpses. No sharp injuries. Cause of death for some could be suffocation.” He pauses. “However, with water on the brain, convulsions and suffocation as a result of breathing defects are not uncommon.”

  His eyes meet mine. He has nice eyes, I think.

  “Comes down to we can’t say for sure,” he says. “Those remains are too old. Maybe someone put a pillow over their faces. Maybe they died of natural causes. Whoever is responsible is dead in any case or in jail for the rest of their life.” He lets out a big sigh. “Like I told you, there were no happy endings on the Homestead.”

  We’ve reached the main house now. The door is wide open, and women are coming in and out of the big door, smiling, talking. There’s a big kitchen out back, and cooking smells are wafting free. Nearly time for lunch.

  “You sure about that?” I smile at him. “These women look pretty happy to me. Especially the ones who were raised with Rachel. You know what a lot of those ex-Homestead people say? They say, ‘There is a hell, I’ve lived it, and now I’m in Heaven.’”

  Carlson smiles. “I take your point. I think you’re doing a real good thing here. Maybe if we’d approached things different, change woulda been faster. Gotten people to leave of their own accord rather than gone in guns blazing. But we did what we did to protect those kids.”

  “You did the right thing.” I put a hand on his arm. “Lot more girls woulda been hurt if you hadn’t acted fast.”

  Carlson gives a half smile. “Thanks. Hey,” he adds. “I heard Mr. Nelson came by.”

  “How d’ya hear that?”

  He just taps his nose. “So… How much money did he give you?”

  I blow out my cheeks, remembering the weird account from Rachel. How Mr. Nelson appeared at the gate, all awkward like a crab out of his shell, and pushed a check into her hands, mumbling something about God’s work. Rachel was so busy goggling at the amount it was written out for that she barely had time to yell “thank you” before Mr. Nelson’s truck was hightailing it out in a cloud of dust.

  “Mr. Nelson donated enough money to do a few important things,” I tell Carlson. “You should stay for lunch,” I add. “See what we’ve done with the place. It’s real different.”

  He shuffles his feet. Sorta peeks up at me. He looks so cute when he does that.

  “You know,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck, “I thought maybe I could take you out to dinner sometime.”

  I’ve been waiting forever for him to ask.

  “Like a date?” I grin at him.

  He looks at the sandy dirt. “It could be… I mean, whatever you’re comfortable with.”

  “Dinner sounds fun.” I smile at him, then pretend to frown. “You’re not secretly married, are you?”

  He grins at me. “No, ma’am.”

  “How would you feel about a plural situation? One man all to myself is a heavy order right now.”

  He holds his hands up in mock surrender. “Presently, I’m only comfortable disappointing one woman at a time.”

  I laugh. “Maybe we’ll learn ya.”

>   Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction

  Wondering how much of Black Widows is based on fact? Cate Quinn has written a research history to accompany the book. For a free copy, go to sourcebooks.com/catequinn.

  Reading Group Guide

  1. What did you think of Blake Nelson? Did your opinion change throughout the book?

  2. Do you think Rachel, Emily, and Tina are really so different from each other? What similarities do they have?

  3. What do you think keeps the three women together after Blake’s death? Why don’t they go their own separate ways?

  4. Because of their polygamy, Rachel, Emily, and Tina struggle to find acceptance. How would you feel in their place, rejected by people both within and without your religious community?

  5. What did you think of Emily’s outburst at the funeral? What was the final straw for her?

  6. On the Homestead, in her marriage, and in her questioning by her lawyer, Rachel gets used to men making decisions about how she should behave. How does this shape her character?

  7. How would you compare Officer Brewer and Detective Carlson? Who would you rather have on your case?

  8. What did you make of Rachel’s memories/visions?

  9. Blake passed his fear of cameras and surveillance along to his wives, even though he wasn’t actually being watched. Do you think surveillance is becoming more common? Would Blake’s fears be justified?

  10. Were you surprised by the identity of the killer? What did you think of her motivation?

  A Conversation with the Author

  What was your starting point for Black Widows? What did you draw on as you developed the story?

  The idea just came to me, and with it, all three characters appeared as if by magic. Once it was there, I just couldn’t stop writing. It was like a book that couldn’t wait to be written. I wrote a lot from Rachel’s perspective but always bookmarked by what the other wives might think or feel about the same given moment. There’s probably a whole other book edited out; I wrote so much.

  Those women felt so real that it felt very natural to draw them out. I also did a lot of research on the LDS faith and in particular more fundamental branches.

  How does Black Widows compare to your other books? Did you have to change your writing process at all?

  It’s a very different book. The structure is entirely new. Other books I’ve written have been thrillers with a very linear plot, so this one, which bounced around characters, represented a completely new process for me.

  Rachel, Emily, and Tina are all very distinct. Did you have a favorite while you were writing? Which was the most challenging?

  I love them all, and I think they’re probably subconsciously all parts of my character. I’d probably like to identify with Tina the most, but in real life, I’m more like Rachel. They always felt like archetypes to me though. The homey wife, the adolescent, and the good-time girl. Emily was probably the most challenging in terms of dialect, in that she would fall a little less rural Utah than Rachel but still have her own unique turns of phrase that are quite provincial.

  The story surrounding Blake’s death gets more and more complicated as it unravels. How did you keep all the details, motivations, and secrets straight?

  Is it complicated? It doesn’t feel that way to me! I actually took a couple of strands out to make it clearer. There’s so much in that world that’s fascinating, it’s hard not to use all of it.

  The areas around Salt Lake City are well characterized—the differences between the ranch and Waynard’s Creek come to mind. What kind of work did you do to familiarize yourself with Utah?

  I read a lot of books and watched a lot of YouTube. In particular, I love watching the kind of online clips people make that no one else ever sees. Trips to the grocery store, things like that. It gives you real insight into what people are doing in their daily lives.

  How did you research radical religious movements to get Homestead right? Was there any interesting information that didn’t make it into the final book?

  Luckily for me, those kinds of radical religious movements are quite tirelessly reported, so there’s plenty of news material and ex-member accounts to draw from. I come from a background of writing historical thrillers, so it felt like a real breeze to be able to access real-life statements and videos at the click of a mouse.

  For all its darkness, Black Widows ends on a hopeful note. Do you believe in happy endings in real life?

  I absolutely do. I think you do your best, be a good person, treat people well, and though the path might be winding and unpredictable, good things will come.

  What advice do you have for prospective thriller writers?

  I’m excited to see what you’re going to write!

  Acknowledgments

  And so, to the thank-yous… Where can I start? Books are absolutely a team effort, and I’ve been so lucky to have the best team the whole way. My agent and friend, Piers Blofeld, who has championed me, defended me, offered great feedback, and generally been the agent every writer wants on their side. The whole team at Sheil Land also gets my heartfelt thanks.

  In the UK, King of Editors Emad Ahktar, who has astounded me with his capacity for hard work; for very, very good edits; and for being such a cheery and likable individual. Lucy Frederick deserves the same compliment, and I am so very grateful to have incorporated her many excellent ideas into the book.

  I’ve been completely spoiled to have benefitted from not just one set of great editors but two. In the U.S., Shana Drehs blew me away with her enthusiasm, reading and offering on the book in twenty-four hours. Such a ringing endorsement is what every writer dreams of, so thanks for making that particular wish come true. And of course, the extra spot-on edits that made the book shine.

  On both sides of the pond, eagle-eyed copy editors Francine Brody in the UK and Diane Dannenfeldt in the U.S. deserve thanks for bringing order to chaos.

  Thanks to the lovely, lovely people at Inflatable Islanders Bookgroup, who have completely upped my reading game. I didn’t really understand hardcover books before I met you all. And don’t get me started on chip and dip platters. Particular thanks to Alys Brooker, who was the first reader of this book.

  Finally, to my friends and family. My sister (bestselling author) Susannah Quinn, who is one of those great (and underappreciated) people who always tells the truth and makes all my books a million times better in ways I don’t foresee. My partner, Simon Avery, for being generally awesome and one of my favorite people on the planet, in addition, of course, to my incredible children, Natalie and Ben, who will actually run the planet someday.

  About the Author

  © Richard Bolls

  Cate Quinn is a travel and lifestyle journalist for the Times (London), the Guardian, and the Mirror, alongside many magazines. Prior to this, Quinn’s background in historical research won prestigious postgraduate funding from the British Art Council. Quinn pooled these resources, combining historical research with firsthand experiences in far-flung places to create critically acclaimed and bestselling historical fiction. Moving into contemporary fiction, Quinn now uses her research skills to delve into modern-day lives and cultures.

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