“Why do we have to kill Marie? She’s innocent, and…I like her.”
His words had enflamed Angel’s wrath, igniting a feverish response.
Innocent? She’s no more innocent than Sister Candace or Sister Ruth. They’re all whores, betrayers, and liars, yet you still try to defend them. Have you forgotten they’re trying to destroy what Father Jed built?
Just the mention of Father Jed made him long for the past, back when he’d first arrived at the CSL compound. From that very first day, the old preacher had shown Eli the true meaning of family, quoting his favorite bible verse in a deep, gentle voice.
“Whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother."
The simply spoken words had been the foundation on which the congregation had been built. But then Father Jed had been taken from them all. His sudden death had left everyone in the congregation reeling. Ma Verity and Jacob had been hit the hardest, of course, but the congregation was a family, and that meant everyone behind the compound walls had suffered the loss of their spiritual father.
Why did Father Jed have to die?
The question he’d asked himself a million times still had no answer as Eli made his way through the icy black night toward the flickering lights of the diner.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Marie dropped lightly to the ground, moving away from the wall and into the frigid shadows of the woods. She felt strange dressed in the casual pants, t-shirt and tennis shoes she’d been wearing when she’d arrived at the commune almost two years before. They’d been tucked away in her bottom drawer since then, having been replaced by the simple homemade shift dresses the women at the commune preferred to wear.
But as she’d prepared to leave for the diner, she had pulled on her old clothes instinctively, sensing she would never see her little room, or anything in it, again.
Buttoning up the soft red sweater she’d knitted last winter, she took a last look at the compound that had come to feel like home.
But a true home is wherever your family is, and the congregation doesn’t feel like my family anymore. It’s time to find my way back to where I belong.
Marie froze at the sound of footsteps nearby, waiting for Tobias Putnam to pass. She wondered what would happen if he noticed the crates she’d stacked against the wall. Would he investigate and try to follow her trail? Would he sound the alarm?
Somehow she couldn’t image the kindly old man hunting anyone down. He was one of the few people remaining in the compound that she would truly miss. But even so, she couldn’t take any chances he might alert Jacob or Eli. Her intuition told her that they wouldn’t hesitate to stop her from leaving using any means necessary.
The moon sat high in the winter sky, but the dense trees allowed only a few drops of moonlight to reach the ground. The worn path to the Little Gator Diner was transformed by the darkness, the winding, scenic trail morphing into a shadowy maze of misshapen trees and grasping, gnarled branches that caught on Marie’s long hair as she hurried by.
A fist-sized spider scurried up a branch only inches from her face, but she held back her scream. Swallowing hard, she continued forward, knowing there was no going back now. If she walked back through the front gate, the entire congregation would know that she’d left the compound. And there was no way she’d get back over the wall without the crates to help.
Or is there?
She pictured the sprawling branches of the maple tree that hung over the fence near the potting shed.
I might be able to climb the tree and drop back inside the compound without anyone even knowing I was gone.
But before she could lose her nerve and turn back, she found herself standing in a patch of moonlight behind the old diner. A big black Dodge pickup truck was parked near the back door next to Chester’s baby blue El Camino.
Who’s there with Mr. Gosbey? Has he already called for help?
The Dodge looked vaguely familiar, but then again, lots of people in the area drove similar vehicles. Anyone that didn’t want to stick out as a stranger in the community could drive the truck and blend right in.
Approaching the back of the diner, she saw a sliver of light through the door; it had been left slightly ajar.
Maybe Mr. Gosbey left it open for me, so I wouldn’t have to wait out here in the dark.
But the hair on the back of Marie’s neck stood on end, and she tiptoed closer to the door, trying to listen to any sound from inside the kitchen. At first there was only silence, then she heard a man’s voice coming from somewhere further inside the building, perhaps in the front dining room. She couldn’t make out the words, only the deep, guttural tones.
Pushing the door open with one trembling hand, Marie slipped into the brightly lit kitchen. She eased the door shut behind her, and tread quietly across the room.
It had been a long time since she’d been in Chester’s kitchen, but it still had the same greasy smell she remembered. Trying not to make a sound, she inched her way to the doorway between the kitchen and the back of the counter.
A tall man with an orange cap stood facing the diner’s front windows. He had a phone held to his ear with one hand. The other hand was balled into a fist at his side. She could hear him clearly now, and she strained to make sense of his words.
“You gotta clear the whole fucking lot tonight. Take it to the warehouse in Tampa and dump it. This whole damn operation has gone belly up. We need to erase the evidence and lay low.”
The man disconnected the call and looked down, shaking his head. Marie’s eyes followed his to the floor. Chester Gosbey lay on his back in a thick pool of blood, his arms splayed out beside him, the front of his shirt torn and streaked with lurid red gashes.
Screaming in horror, Marie gaped at the dead man’s face, which had twisted and stiffened around bulging, lifeless eyes. The man in the orange cap spun around, eyes wide with fright. Or was that guilt?
Heading spinning, Marie realized she recognized the man. It was Buck Henry, a regular customer at the diner.
He was always a bit of a creep, but still, he was a good tipper.
The surreal gore of the scene made her stomach heave. She held a hand up to her mouth, trying not to retch.
“Come over here, girl, and give me some help.”
When she didn’t move, he looked up, frowning.
“Wait, this isn’t what it looks like.”
“It looks like Mr. Gosbey’s dead,” Marie cried out, backing away. “It looks like you killed him.”
Raising both hands in a show of surrender, Buck moved closer, his left boot slipping slightly on the bloody floor. He steadied himself against the counter.
“I came here to talk to Chester, that’s all.”
Buck took another tentative step forward, his hand moving to his belt. Marie’s eyes widened when she saw the gun holster.
“Listen, little girl. The old man was dead when I got here.”
“Are you the one that killed Candy and Ruth?” Marie demanded, her fear turning to anger. “Did Mr. Gosbey find out? Is that why you killed him?”
Cocking his head, Buck studied Marie with narrowed eyes.
“You’re the girl that Chester told me about. You’re the one from Jake’s little cult that stuck your nose into our business. You caused this whole mess.”
“It’s not a cult….and I don’t know anything about-”
But Buck wasn’t listening. He charged toward the counter that separated them, jumping toward her with animal quickness.
Marie braced herself for the impact, closing her eyes and lowering her head. A loud shot reverberated behind her, and for one terrifying moment she thought Buck’s gun must have gone off, and that she’d been shot. But she was still on her feet, and she felt no pain.
Opening her eyes, she saw Buck slumped over the counter facedown; blood seeped from a hole in his forehead, then dripped to the floor. The room was quiet except for the splat, splat, splat of the blood hitting the floor.
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“I couldn’t let him hurt you.”
Eli’s voice sounded far away to her aching ears.
Can a gunshot burst your eardrums?
Looking slowly over her shoulder, Marie saw Eli standing in the kitchen doorway, his rifle clutched in his hands, his eyes bloodshot and cloudy.
“Eli? What are you doing here?”
The words seemed so trite, given the situation, that Marie was tempted to laugh. But then she saw the crazed look in Eli’s eyes. Somehow that look told her he hadn’t come to save her, and he hadn’t shot Buck in self-defense.
“I’m here to save the congregation…to do her bidding.”
“Her bidding? Who’s bidding? Eli, who sent you here?”
Ignoring her questions, Eli raised the gun with stiff, clumsy arms, pointed the barrel toward Marie, and wrapped his finger around the trigger. Closing his eyes, he tightened his finger.
“Wait, Eli, please don’t do this.’
Something, perhaps the desperation in her voice, made him open his eyes and look at her. She could see that his pupils were constricted, and his skin was red and feverish, despite the chill of the unheated building.
“Something’s wrong with you, Eli. You’re sick. You need help.”
Shaking his head, Eli struggled to catch a breath. He coughed violently, his face turning red.
“Nothing’s wrong with me, Sister Marie.”
His voice faltered, and he coughed again before continuing in a raspy croak.
“You’re the liar. You’re the one that plotted against the congregation. If you hadn’t given them the paper, they wouldn’t have left, and they wouldn’t be dead.”
“Who’s dead, Eli?”
But Marie already knew who Eli must be talking about. Ruth and Candy were dead, and Eli had killed them.
“The whore and the betrayer,’ Eli mumbled, rubbing at his red-rimmed eyes. “Jezebel and Judas.”
The rifle slumped in Eli’s hand, and his head sagged to the side.
Waiting to see if Eli had fallen asleep, or perhaps passed out, Marie stayed still, quieting her breath, not daring to breathe too loudly for fear of waking him.
After several minutes of silence, Marie slowly took a step to the side, knowing she’d have to circle around Eli to get to the kitchen and out the back door. Two more steps and she was in the kitchen doorway. Before she could step through, a pair of bright lights flooded in through the front window, lighting up the diner.
Eli jerked awake with a start, staring at the headlights in bewildered awe, as if an alien spaceship had just landed in the parking lot.
The headlights belonged to a white Expedition that Marie had never seen before. Not knowing if the SUV belonged to friend or foe, she raced through the kitchen to the back door. Tripping over the doorstep, she fell to the ground next to Buck’s black pickup, before jumping back to her feet.
As she looked over her shoulder, Eli burst through the door, rifle in hand.
“Come back here, Sister Marie. I want to…to help you.”
Eli’s plea faded into a raspy sob behind her. He coughed again, then called out into the night, his voice thick with regret.
“I can’t let you go back to Jacob. That would ruin everything.”
As Eli began to stumble toward her, Marie turned and ran for the cover of the trees.
Chapter Forty
Leo leaned forward in the passenger seat of Nessa’s Charger, finding it impossible to sit back and relax as they sped along Highway 42 toward the CSL compound. They’d spent the last excruciating hour trying to track down a judge and get a search warrant. Only after Leo had called Judge Eldredge personally and made an impassioned argument, along with several ominous statements about the pending judicial elections, had Nessa been able to obtain the needed document.
She was still fuming as they neared the address on the warrant.
“After everything Kramer and Reinhardt did, this town still runs on the good old boy network. It’s outrageous.”
Keeping his eyes on the road ahead, Leo didn’t bother to deny it. The same group of old men had been running Willow Bay as long as he could remember, and Judge Eldredge was definitely a card-carrying member of the club.
“Judge Eldredge is bound to retire soon,” Leo offered in a distracted voice, his mind already moving to the confrontation that lay ahead. “So, maybe we’ll finally get a woman on the bench in Willow Bay.”
Nessa raised a doubtful eyebrow but let the matter drop.
“Let’s just be glad we got the search warrant so we can find out if Taylor’s at the compound,” Leo said. “Barker deserves to know.”
“Yeah, I can’t imagine what he’s been doing through,” Nessa murmured, slowing down as she looked for the turnoff. “I don’t know what I’d do if one of my boys ran off and never came back. I mean, how do you live with something like that?”
Shrugging his broad shoulders, Leo looked over at Nessa. Her face was grim in the glow of the dashboard lights.
“It’s amazing what people can endure if they have to. I didn’t think I’d make it after my mother’s murder, and my father’s conviction. Then when my father died, I thought I’d never be happy again. But somehow, in spite of everything, you just…go on.”
“I guess there’s usually not much choice,” Nessa admitted. “But for Barker’s sake I hope Taylor’s here, and I hope she’s okay.”
The Charger pulled up to the big gate and Nessa turned to Leo.
“I should really wait for Jankowski to back me up when I serve this.” She studied the walls of the compound. “Or maybe call on one of the uniforms to come out here?”
Leo raised both of his eyebrows and crossed his arms over his broad chest.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to back out on me now, not after everything I’ve done to get here.”
He watched the indecision play across Nessa’s face.
“Come on, Jankowski’s off in the woods hunting down a killer, and the boys you’ve got in uniform are greener than I am.”
When she still didn’t speak, he sighed.
“Okay, how about you swear me in as a deputy?”
This statement got Nessa’s attention. She drew in a deep breath, then let out a reluctant laugh.
“You are entertaining if nothing else, Deputy Steele.”
Leo grinned at her and put his hand on the door handle.
“Okay, forget the ceremony. But let’s do this before I lose my nerve, and before they realize why we’re here.”
Zipping up her windbreaker, Nessa opened the door and stepped out into the frigid night, exhaling delicate puffs of silvery air. She put one hand on her holster, as if assuring herself that the big Glock was still there, then pulled out a thin flashlight and switched it on. Raising her other hand, she gave a thumbs up and signaled for Leo to follow her up to the gate.
Leo reached the driveway just as Nessa pushed the little buzzer on the security panel.
“I don’t hear anything,” Nessa said, pushing the buzzer again. “You think it works?”
Footsteps sounded from inside the gate before Leo could respond. He instinctively stepped in front of Nessa as the gate swung open, ready to confront whoever might appear, prepared to defend himself and Nessa if needed.
I talked Nessa into coming here. It’s only fair I go in first.
But Nessa slipped around him, one hand shining the flashlight straight ahead as the other reached into her pocket and pulled out the warrant.
Holding the warrant out in front of her like a sword, she greeted the big man that answered with a curt nod.
“I’m Detective Ainsley with the Willow Bay Police Department. I have a search warrant for this property.”
Nessa tried to shine the flashlight past the man’s massive frame, but he blocked the view, his face a wide mask of confusion. Leo saw that he cradled an old rifle in his left arm.
“Are you the property owner, Jacob Albright?”
“No, ma’am, I’m not.” The man�
��s voice was warm, almost friendly. “I’m an elder of the congregation, Tobias Putnam.”
Nessa looked down at the man’s leather shoes.
“Putnam?”
Nodding, the man stepped back and waved them into the courtyard, lowering the gun to his side.
“I need you to put your weapon down, Mr. Putnam.”
When the man hesitated, Nessa took a stepped forward, but she didn’t reach to pull her own gun.
“Now, Mr. Putnam. Lay it over by the wall there out of the way.”
Tobias nodded and bent to lean the rifle against the wall.
“It’s not loaded,” he said, a flush creeping over his plump cheeks. “Jacob insisted we all carry them when we’re on guard duty, but I didn’t want anyone accidentally getting shot.”
Leo eyed the man’s work pants, lumberjack shirt, and well-worn coat. They were the clothes of a simple man who was used to a long day’s work; they reminded Leo of his father.
“Where is Jacob Albright?” Nessa asked, her voice tense now.
“He’s in the main house,” Tobias answered, pointing back toward the two-story building behind him. “But he’s not gonna be very happy to see you. Maybe I should let him know you’re here first.”
Leo thought he saw movement in the shadows of the big barn that sat across from the main house. Had someone slipped inside?
A commotion on the front porch drew his attention. An old woman shuffled out, her dress hanging loosely on her thin frame, her hair a disheveled tangle around her shoulders.
“Mrs. Albright?” Nessa called. “Are you Verity Albright?”
The woman frowned and squinted toward Nessa. She seemed to think about the question, then nodded.
“Yes, ma’am, I’m Verity Albright. Who are you?”
“I’m a detective with the Willow Bay Police Department, and I have a warrant to search your property.”
The woman lowered herself into a rocking chair without responding. Tobias Putnam hurried up the stairs.
“Ma, these folks are asking to see Jacob. They want to look around the compound.”
Catch the Girl Page 23
