by Rose Beecham
“I think Mrs. Epperson would like a bottle of water from the car,” Jude told Tulley.
The girl gave her a grateful look. Jude wasn’t sure if that was for the water or the respectful use of her married name. She held out the photo once again, and said, wanting to gauge the reaction, “Diantha is dead.”
The hand resumed its caress of her belly, this time in an agitated tempo. She looked completely terrified.
“You didn’t know?”
She shook her head emphatically. Tulley returned with the water and the girl took it and drank.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
She wiped the excess water from her lips and vacillated for a moment. “Summer.”
“Summer, that’s real pretty. My name’s Virgil but everyone calls me Tulley.”
A nervous smile.
“How about if I wheel that for you?” He indicated the barrow. “Where are you headed?”
She pointed at a fenced-off enclosure twenty yards from the barn, out of sight of the house. They started walking, Tulley pushing the manure.
He said, “I grew up on a pig farm. Eleven kids in my family.”
A quick little nod. A platoon of siblings was obviously something Summer could relate to. She opened the gate and they entered the enclosure. Large piles of horse and chicken manure festered in the heat. Tulley emptied the barrow on the mountain the girl pointed out.
“I used to shovel the pig shit, so I know all about this. Some days I’d skip my chores and go hide out behind the barns to read books.” He grinned and Summer seemed to fight off an answering smile. “My ma always caught me and beat on me with the pig paddle.”
Also something Summer could relate to. She cast another look toward the house, then returned her attention to Tulley, transparently eager to listen. Jude kept silent, intrigued by her colleague’s instincts. He was finding a way to reach out to this girl. She guessed something in his own life enabled him to put himself in her shoes. It was more than Jude could do.
“Oh, boy. She whipped me good,” he said. “Beats me how she knew what I was up to.”
“Sister Naoma always knows,” Summer disclosed in a mumble. “That’s the head wife.”
“Bet you’re in a load of trouble on account of your sister,” he said ruefully.
Her shoulders tensed. “Mmm-hmm.”
They left the foul-smelling enclosure and headed back to the barn.
“I sure hope they find her,” Tulley said. “You must be pretty darn worried.”
“My husband forgave me.”
Jude counted to ten so she wouldn’t say exactly what she thought about that magnanimous gesture.
“Sounds like he’s a real fine man,” Tulley said earnestly.
Apparently taking that at face value, Summer shared, “People say he is one of the most Christlike men they’ve ever met.”
Jude didn’t recall ever seeing it mentioned in the gospels that Jesus Christ married a bunch of schoolgirls and ordered his wives’ tongues to be cut out. But what did she know? She said, “I need something from the car,” and left them talking about what a prince Epperson was.
Back in the car, she located the plaster teeth and slid them into her pocket. She knew Summer would instantly clam up if they pushed their luck, and she wondered how to broach the subject of Darlene’s “silencing.” The girl had to have seen it happen. According to Zach, the whole family was forced to watch. No doubt the example was intended to terrorize anyone who might be tempted to disobey rules. Summer knew she shouldn’t be talking to them, that much was obvious. Yet, despite her well-grounded fears, she was responding to the interest of a handsome young man as any normal teenage straight girl would. Summer was not so completely lost to herself that she functioned as an automaton—not yet, anyway.
Thankful for this, Jude closed the car door and strolled back toward the pair, formulating a plan. “I was thinking about your sister,” she said in a sympathetic tone. “I know you’re worried about her, but maybe it would be easier for you if they didn’t find her.”
Summer clasped her hands together. “Adeline will always be a problem.”
“Are you worried she’ll come back and make things difficult for you?”
A reluctant nod.
“Well, you have to think about your baby.” Jude glanced at the pregnant belly. “When are you due?”
“Next week.”
“That’s wonderful.”
“I think it’s a boy,” Summer volunteered.
Jude detected an ambivalence in her tone and contemplated its source. Any first-time mother would be anxious about the birth, she supposed. And Summer was just a kid. She would also be giving birth without a doctor, not that she would know this nineteenth-century approach was anything unusual.
Carefully, Jude said, “You know, if Deputy Tulley and I found your sister, we would have to take her away from here.”
A flicker of interest registered in Summer’s face.
“Yep. That’s state law,” Tulley added with conviction.
“We live by God’s law, not the law of man,” Summer pointed out.
“Your sister ran away,” Jude said. “So she has to obey man’s law now. Of course, if the folks from your church find her, she’ll be brought back here no matter what.”
“Any idea where she went?” Tulley asked. “’Cos if we knew, maybe we could get to her first. That way, she’d be safe but you wouldn’t have to deal with her coming back here.”
Summer took her time thinking on this. The idea clearly appealed, but the risk of her role being discovered weighed.
“No one will know you told us,” Jude said.
Finally Summer pointed mutely east to a distinctive mesa-like red cliff stratified in black. “They talked about a hiding place up there.”
“Have you told anyone else?”
Summer shook her head.
“Okay, so we’ll do our best to find her. Now will you do something for us?” Jude took the teeth from her pocket and displayed them on the palm of her hand. “Have you ever seen anyone with teeth that look like these.”
Summer lifted a hand to her mouth, muffling a telltale gasp. Agitated, she said, “You must leave now.”
“Summer, wait,” Tulley began, but she was already walking away, signaling for them not to follow.
He called her again and she turned around. Rooted to the spot, she took her full measure of him, then it was as if a terrible realization dawned. Her face crumpled, and frantically wiping tears, she blurted, “Thank you for being nice to me,” and fled toward the house.
Jude placed a detaining hand on Tulley’s arm. “Leave her be.”
“She knows more than she’s saying,” he protested. “She recognized the teeth.”
“Yes. But, if we push her any harder, she’ll fall apart. I don’t want her telling Epperson where her sister is.”
“Do you think he’s really asleep in there?”
“Let’s find out.”
They headed back to the car and waited a few minutes to give her some time to get indoors.
“Did you hear her talking about him like he’s some kind of saint?” Tulley marveled.
“What’s she going to say—that he’s an asshole? No. She has to believe in him or the whole house of cards comes down.” On an impulse, Jude removed her belt and switched her Glock for the Model 19.
Watching her, Tulley said, “I think she likes me.”
“Let’s hope this Sister Naoma individual is equally undone by your charms.” She tucked the Glock into the back of her belt when she was done, then checked the tactical holster on her right leg.
“You expecting trouble?” Tulley released the safety catch on his own sidearm.
Jude shrugged. “Stranger things have happened.”
*
A hand-painted sign hanging above the Epperson’s front door declared: And No Unclean Thing Can Enter Into His Kingdom.
“You sure about me doing the talking?” Tulley asked.
> “You’re the man, and these people are programmed to see males as authority figures.” Jude had nothing to prove. Everything was about outcome, and she’d learned a long time ago that ego had no useful role to play in strategic thinking.
Tulley gave an awkward nod and Jude was suddenly conscious of her hands sweating. I am the law, she reminded herself. Sliding her identification into her palm, she signaled Tulley to ring the doorbell, which was quite literally a bell with a string attached. Jude could hear voices inside the house and figured that she and her companion had been inspected, identified as outsiders, and the women of the house were now trying to decide whether the gentiles would leave if ignored.
Eventually the door swung open and to Jude’s dismay a tall, white-haired man in a somber black suit stepped onto the threshold. He was carrying a pump-action Remington and was the spitting image of the patriarch from the montage at the front gate.
“Drop your weapon, sir.” Tulley showed his badge and identified them.
Grandad Moses looked him up and down. “Speak your business, then leave.”
“I said drop it, or I’m going to arrest you for obstruction of justice.”
Jude was impressed with the gritty resolve in Tulley’s voice. Who knew he could channel John Wayne?
“I don’t answer to the laws of the beast.” All the same, the older guy handed the Remington back to someone behind the door.
“Nathaniel Epperson?” Tulley asked.
“What’s it to you?”
“So, you are Nathaniel Epperson?”
“Yes, and I’m ordering you off my land.”
“We’ll be happy to oblige just as soon as you look at this.” Tulley held up Darlene’s photograph. “We’re investigating the murder of this young woman. Do you know her, sir?”
Epperson ignored the picture, instead staring at Jude, eyes glued to her pants. Saliva collected in one corner of his mouth and, muttering something, he spat on her shoes.
“I’d be obliged if you’d look at the photo, Mr. Epperson,” Tulley said. “Have you ever seen this girl?”
Epperson lifted his eyes to the heavens. “Verily, I say unto you, the names of the wicked shall not be mingled with the names of my people.”
Tulley consulted his notepad. “Last count your people would be sixty or so women and children collecting welfare and food stamps, right?”
“I don’t know her,” Epperson snapped. He still hadn’t looked at the photograph.
“Darlene Huntsberger. Colorado girl. Last seen getting into a white minivan just like that one.” Tulley pointed toward the cluster of vehicles parked around the yard.
“I do not know of any woman who goes by that name,” Epperson grated.
“Do you know her by another name?”
“No.”
“We have a witness that says she was your wife, sir.”
“What witness? Name the son of perdition.”
“I’m not obliged to do so at this time.”
“You got any young males here?” Jude interrupted.
As she’d expected, Epperson reacted to her temerity with a nonplussed stare.
She cast a pointed look toward a couple of barns. “Maybe working on the ranch?”
“No.”
“I find that hard to believe. Are you telling me you manage this spread by yourself, a man of your age?”
“I guess he has his womenfolk doing men’s work,” Tulley suggested with amused contempt.
Jude smiled inwardly. They had rehearsed their approach during the flight from Durango to Las Vegas, and the subsequent two-hour drive to Colorado City. Tulley had worried that he would not be able to say the right things when the time came, and he’d been so quiet in the meeting with Sergeant Gossett, she’d more or less expected to find herself alone in the hot seat. But she could sense his growing confidence and guessed he had probably surprised himself.
Epperson’s face took on the same tomato-tinted hue as the landscape. “Be silent! On this ranch we are governed by the laws of God, not the laws of men.”
“Well, that’s good news. We’ll go ahead and take a look around, then.” Jude gave Tulley a nod and he set off toward the outbuildings.
“Wait up, boy.” Epperson descended the verandah steps, eyes wrathfully ablaze. “You have no right. Where’s your search warrant?”
Tulley halted. “But you just said the laws of men don’t apply here.”
Epperson looked like he was ready to explode. “Beware. The Lord is not mocked.”
“We’ll leave when Deputy Tulley has spoken to every male thirteen or older on this ranch,” Jude said. “If you fail to cooperate, I guess I’ll just have to file that welfare fraud report we’re working on, and you can explain your situation to the state and federal government.” Cheerfully, she informed Tulley, “While Mr. Epperson shows you around, I’ll wait here in the shade.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Epperson treated her to a poisonous stare, but could not resist hurrying after Tulley. As soon as the two men vanished beyond one of the outbuildings, Jude knocked loudly on the front door. She heard footsteps and mumbling from inside the house, but no one answered.
“Mrs. Epperson?” she called. “May I trouble you for a glass of water? It’s mighty hot out here.”
The door opened a crack and Summer peeped out, her face tight with apprehension. “You should not have come here,” she whispered.
“I have no choice, ma’am,” Jude said formally. “This is an investigation. The sooner our questions are answered, the sooner we’ll leave your family in peace.”
The door opened a little wider and an older woman wearing a super-sized version of Summer’s pastel frock said, “We’re entitled to everything we receive.”
Had she not overheard her husband being asked about Darlene, or was she so preoccupied with keeping those welfare checks coming, it was all she could think about?
Jude fanned herself for effect. “We can discuss your entitlements once I’ve had something to drink.”
Suspicious blue eyes glinted from a sagging face. There was not a sign of generosity or happiness in the bitter line of the woman’s mouth. She shoved the pregnant teenager next to her. “Get some water, Summer.”
Jude moved slightly closer. “According to our information, a number of single women and their children live at this address. Are you one of them?”
“I’m legally married.” With malicious satisfaction, the woman added, “The rest of them are not.”
“So, you’re Naoma Epperson?”
“If you say so.”
“Do you deny it?”
Naoma shrugged. “I do not answer to you. Only to my husband and the Lord.”
“Neither of whom appear to be providing adequate financial support to the members of this household,” Jude said, briskly bureaucratic. “However, if that’s your position, I can report back to my superiors that you have declined to cooperate with representatives of the taxpayers who put food on your table. I’m sure this ranch will fetch a decent price in the asset sale.”
“What are you talking about?”
Jude smiled. “Defrauding the government and the IRS…Trust me, Mrs. Epperson, they’ll want their money back.” As Summer appeared with the water, she waved it away and backed up like she was about to leave. “Thanks, but I’ll be going. I have a mess of paperwork to complete and since I can’t speak to Mrs. Naoma Epperson to verify her status, I—”
“You are speaking to her and don’t pretend you don’t know it!” Naoma stuck her hands on her hips and declared, “I am the legal wife of Nathaniel Epperson.”
“Tell me something,” Jude said softly enough that Naoma instinctively stepped closer to hear her. “Do you obey your husband in all matters?”
Naoma’s eyes registered confusion. “I submit as God commands.”
“That would be a yes, then?”
Before the big woman had time to respond, Jude caught her off guard, seizing one arm and twisting it behind her ba
ck. Pinning her against the wall of the house in an arm lock, she found her cuffs and said, “Naoma Epperson. You are under arrest for assaulting Darlene Huntsberger.”
As she read Naoma her rights, glass smashed in the doorway. Summer stood with her mouth open, the hand that had held the tumbler still outstretched. Several other women appeared next to her, their expressions equally stunned.
One of them, a plump bottle blonde wearing a blue dirndl dress, complete with frilly white apron and petticoats, stepped out onto the stoop and demanded, “What’s going on?”
“What’s your name?” Jude asked.
“Fawn Dew Rockwell Epperson.” She tilted her head. “I am a daughter of the true prophet.”
“You don’t say.”
Jude had several more sets of restraints in the car. It could be interesting to arrest this self-satisfied Swiss Miss as an accomplice. Would Rockwell intervene on behalf of one of his offspring, assuming he could remember who they all were? Probably not. Ignoring Fawn Dew for the moment, she hustled a vociferously protesting Naoma down the steps toward the car and honked the horn, her prearranged signal for Tulley.
As she locked the door on her captive, she heard a distinctive metallic click and dropped automatically to a crouch, scrambling around the car.
“Let go of her!” Fawn Dew wielded the Remington.
Jude grabbed for her weapon, and yelled, “Drop it, or I’ll shoot.”
To her horror, the younger wife fired several rounds into the air and with that, shouted, “Take your posts. They’ve come to destroy us!”
She backed into the house and ten seconds later a manual siren sounded.
Aghast, Jude pictured twenty crazed elders abandoning the search for the runaways to respond to the alarm. Where in hell was Tulley? She climbed into the front seat of the car and trained her gun on Naoma.
“Call them off,” she said.
“Shoot me,” Naoma invited.
“Do you really want to give your life to protect a man who brought his girlfriends into your home?”
