The White Lily

by Susanne Matthews

  “Good morning,” he said. “What’s on the agenda for today?”

  “Hi. I know we’d talked about going straight to the jail, but Trevor left a message on my phone and he didn’t sound happy, so I hope it hasn’t got anything to do with your plans to resettle the brethren in Australia. He wants us to stop at headquarters,” she said, grateful he hadn’t mentioned last night.

  “So do I. If push comes to shove, I can pull strings with the government, but your State Department has to cooperate.”

  Lilith drove down the ramp to the parking level and handed her keys to the man on duty. Trevor had said they’d be playing “car of the day” from now on, and there were more than twenty vehicles parked in the restricted area now.

  They took the elevator to the fourth floor, making small talk about the presentation Jacob would make later. She was determined to get their working relationship back to what it had been before last night’s debacle, and sticking to business was the best way to accomplish that.

  When the doors opened to the bullpen, Rob and Tom were in conversation at one desk. Two men she didn’t recognize sat at others, examining what appeared to be satellite footage.

  “Good morning,” she said, approaching Tom’s desk. “Trevor wanted us to come in. What’s up?”

  Rob, sitting on the edge of the desk, stood. “Trevor’s waiting in his office. We heard back from Hershey.”

  The look on his face said it all. April Watters was dead and her niece, Charity, was missing. The Prophet was three for three, with Cassie Winchester thrown in as a bonus.

  “When?”

  “Let Trevor fill you in.”

  Lilith and Jacob followed Rob down the hall, while Tom stayed back to make a few calls.

  “Who are the guys in there?” she asked, indicating the room they’d left.

  “FBI agents sent to replace our uniformed officers. We need help, but Trevor isn’t willing to risk anyone else from BPD.”

  “What about Jessup?”

  “She and Connors have been moved to a secure medical facility. They kind of have a thing going, and Trevor agreed she could stay with Connors.”

  “I see,” Lilith said. Knowing Connors and Jessup were a couple certainly explained the woman’s emotional state yesterday. If Jacob had been injured ...

  Stop. You burned that bridge last night.

  Trevor looked up as the three entered. “I gather Rob told you the news.”

  “Not really, but I sense it’s bad,” she said.

  Trevor nodded. “Hershey police let themselves into the house after the subpoena came through. They found April Watters in the kitchen. She’d been dead quite some time. The body’s on its way to our morgue. Amos will get us more accurate information as soon as he can. There was no sign of the child or anything belonging to her, just like in the other cases.”

  “So, the bastard has all three of them,” Jacob said, bitterness and anger barely suppressed in his voice.

  “Yes,” Trevor said, “and we can’t pretend it’s anyone but the Prophet and his new Harvester any longer.”

  “How was she killed?” Lilith asked, praying it hadn’t been anything as gruesome as the garrote.

  “Her throat was slit from behind like those involved with the original Harvester case. Compared to the Winchester murders, it was quick and merciful.”

  “And the same as the killing methods he’s used in the past, but she was alone, and it would’ve been easy for him to subdue one woman,” Rob added.

  “Agreed. Thank God the parents died a few years ago. I can’t imagine them having to cope with losing both their daughters this way.” Trevor paused and reached for the notepad on his desk. “The police found remnants of a bouquet similar to the others on the kitchen counter. I’m sorry, Jacob. I thought we’d get to her in time, but based on the flowers and the decomposition, April was the first one to go.”

  “Why didn’t anyone know? What about her friends, her job?” Lilith asked.

  “The Hershey police are looking into that now, but it seems April came into some money recently and took an extended leave from work. Since her car was gone—”

  “Have they found it?” Lilith asked, cutting Trevor off.

  “No, but the Hershey police department has an APB out on it.”

  “Until they can track it, Pierce may have a second vehicle at his disposal. We’re just guessing he used that van,” she said.

  “The son of a bitch is cagey. I’ll bet that money was just a way to keep someone from looking for her,” Rob said. “If we’d found April’s body, we’d have known the Prophet was back collecting his children. Charity Watters was the only one where there’d have been no doubt.”

  “What about the other women and their children?” Jacob asked.

  “Mary and Ruth are in FBI custody in a safe house in Phoenix. I’ve taken the liberty of extending your offer to have them visit Australia until this is over, and they’ve agreed. They don’t even mind sharing the facility with the former members of the cult, although Rob mentioned they might be able to stay elsewhere.”

  “Yes, they can stay in Melbourne. I can charter a separate plane for them and have them leave from Phoenix as soon as they’re ready. My staff can get whatever they need in place before their arrival—it’s a twenty-six hour flight.”

  “Good. Make the calls. I’d like to get them out of his reach as soon as possible. I’ve had it with that bastard,” Trevor said. “As to the cult members, I was speaking to the warden, and our guests have complied to the last letter. They’ve showered and cleaned up, and having the young girls reunited with their parents has made everyone quite happy. I’ve spoken with the State Department, and the paperwork is being expedited, so they should be able to leave by Sunday. I wish they could go today, but I know we still need to interrogate them.”

  “Yes, we hope to be able to get more information from them today,” Lilith said, “but the location of the Promised Land seems to be a closely guarded secret. Wherever it is, there’s a strong possibility it isn’t ready to be occupied yet. The cult members are in transit there. What we did learn that concerns us is that New Horizon isn’t alone in this, which explains its growth. We thought it had 200 members, but with what we’ve learned, that could easily be 2,000. The Prophet has amalgamated with other groups. We think he has breeding farms in different locations, and we hope to narrow that down when we meet with some of the cult today. Not all of them were part of New Horizon eighteen years ago.” She licked her lips. “We’ve also got confirmation that he’s doing selective breeding, eliminating those with genetic disorders, like the Howard baby, and he may be using the potassium cyanide to do it.”

  “How do you know that?” Rob asked.

  “One of the women told us, but she’d thought her son had died naturally. It was the pink color of the dead women that brought it home to her. Sadly, it’s that little boy’s death that convinced them to trust us.”

  Trevor shook his head. “Is it just me or do things seem to be going from bad to worse? At first, we were looking for a serial killer, now we’re looking for a megalomaniac with delusions of godhood taking on more and more characteristics of Hitler, and look how many died before they finally brought him down.”

  Lilith nodded. “Let’s hope we can stop him before he racks up those numbers. Do you need Jacob and me for anything else?”

  “No. Just make sure you take a different car, and let your detail know the license plate number. Everybody on the task force has an escort. Tom’s wife and daughter left for Scotland last night. Faye has a detail inside and outside, so she should be safe.”

  “And she’s not a happy camper,” Rob added. “I’m still working on her to go to Australia. Maybe if she knows Mary and Ruth are going, she’ll be more amenable. My wife can be very stubborn when it suits her.”

  “What about Elisa Robertson?” Lilith asked.

  “She’s still in the wind,” Rob said. “We’ve tried contacting her parents, and they’ve gone to ground
, too. We’ll keep searching, and when we find her, we’ll offer her the same deal.”

  “Is there somewhere I can make some calls? It’s after ten in Melbourne, but I can get the ball rolling. I’ll arrange for the planes—one flight from Phoenix later today and another from Boston on Sunday.”

  “You can use the phone in the conference room.”

  Jacob nodded and left. Trevor turned to Lilith. “I want the truth. As an analyst, what’s your take on the cult members?”

  “They’re lost. I don’t think they fully understand what happened to them. These aren’t the New Horizon people Jacob knew. They’ve been indoctrinated to believe the Prophet was their savior, and they’ve discovered he lied to them. Jacob doesn’t want to be their new leader, but I have a feeling that role will be his whether he wants it or not. I saw the hero worship on the faces of those people when he offered them new lives. He’s their savior, their benefactor, and I don’t think he’ll be able to abandon that position. They need something to believe in. Everything they held sacred has been shattered. He’s planning to re-educate them as well as provide homes, jobs, and dignity.”

  “Will they tell us what we need to know? Do you think we can trust them?”

  “Trust them? Yes. Jacob proved he can hold up his end of the deal by reuniting the young girls with the others. Will they tell us what we need to know? Probably not, simply because they don’t have those answers, but they’ll tell us what they do know, and we’ll have to take it from there.”

  “I’ve got to call Faye,” Rob said. “If you need me, you know where to find me.”

  Trevor nodded. “See if you can convince her to go with Mary. I’m sure Jacob could get that plane to make a stop in Boston to collect her.”

  “How are you holding up?” Trevor asked after Rob left the office.

  “Me? I’m fine.”

  “Lilith, you’re not. You look exhausted. Any problems after last night’s press conference?” He sat on the edge of his desk.

  Lilith dropped into the chair, knowing the blush she’d applied was standing out apple red against the pallor of her skin.

  “Not like the other day,” she answered. “I’ll be fine, Trevor. I’ve thought about what you said. You’re right, my personal demon could easily have died protecting his god, but the man in charge got away. Now, I’m wondering if the FFOW was involved somehow with New Horizon. I didn’t think the cult practiced polygamy, but Kelly Kirk wasn’t the only pregnant woman in that compound. The FFOW had pretty outlandish ideas, and I won’t know if they could’ve been one of the sister cults until we catch this son of a bitch. That group may have been disbanded, but the ones who got away went somewhere. I’ve got to go. Jacob will be waiting.”

  She hurried down the hall in time to see Jacob exiting the conference room. Getting the Prophet and his henchman, Pierce, might go a long way toward easing the hatred she harbored. If she did get rid of it, then there might be room in her heart for love, but it wouldn’t change anything. Rose and Kelly were still out there.

  “All done?” he asked.

  “Yes. What about you?”

  “Everything will be ready by the time they arrive. You look upset. Is something wrong?”

  “No,” she lied, annoyed that the poker face she normally wore had slipped so completely. “My feet hurt. Do you think we can stop someplace so I can pick up a new pair of shoes? There’s a mall on the way to the jail.”

  “Sure. I need new shoes, too. Maybe I can do some of the other shopping I need done while we’re there.”

  She relaxed. “It’s nine. The stores are just opening, so there shouldn’t be much of a crowd. That’ll make it easier on our shadows.”

  • • •

  Jacob could see the tension rolling off Lilith as she tried on various pairs of shoes. He’d heard retail therapy could be good for you, but he’d never seen it in action—at least not the way he did now. It was almost as if everything that had upset her was being discarded with the shoes she rejected. Seriously doubting there was anything wrong with the sandals she’d worn this morning, he was smart enough not to voice that opinion. Shoe-shopping served the same purpose for her that prospecting or going walkabout did for him.

  “I like those,” he said commenting on a pair of black, patent leather, open-toed pumps with sassy bows on the back that she tried on for the third time. “How do they feel?”

  “Wonderful,” she said, “but they’re out of my price range.”

  “Let me pay for them as a thank you for your help picking out shirts in the other store. You’ve got much better taste in clothing than I have.”

  He watched her wage an internal battle—she clearly wanted ... no, needed those shoes—and knew when she’d decided to accept his solution.

  “How about we split the cost?” she parried.

  “That works, too,” he said, “but I’ll cover it now and you can reimburse me later. I have to use a card.”

  “Okay, but I will pay you back. You mentioned you need to go to the bank, so I’ll get the cash then.”

  Jacob would’ve liked to argue the point, but this was important to her and her sense of independence. After last night, he didn’t want to do anything to upset the fragile friendship they’d reinstated this morning.

  “You could just pay for lunch and dinner,” he said, “then we’d be even.”

  She laughed. “Street vendor hot dogs and pizza probably won’t cover it.” Reaching for the bag containing her new shoes, she led the way back to the car parked next to their police escort. One of the men had stayed with the vehicles while the other had followed them inside.

  “We’re on our way to the Nashua Street Jail,” Jacob said to the driver. “We’ll be there a couple of hours, and since the parking lot is guarded, you might as well take a break. I’ve got your cell phone number. I’ll call when we’re ready to leave.”

  “That’s fine, Mr. Andrews. Once you’re inside, we’ll go back to the station until we hear from you.”

  Lilith was behind the wheel waiting for him. Jacob placed the bags he carried on the backseat. The vehicle was hot and stuffy after sitting in the sun, but she’d turned on the air conditioner, and it was already cooling. She looked more at ease than she had a couple of hours ago; Jacob vowed to gladly buy her a hundred pairs of shoes to keep that sparkle in her eyes.

  “I’ve called ahead,” she said as he fastened his seat belt. “They’ll be in the common room when we arrive. Maybe we can learn a bit more about the sister cults and see if they know of some place nearby where those young men may be. It could save Tom time and effort if we could narrow the list. As well, we should ask them about Pierce, too. They might know where he’d take the children. He can’t very well be keeping four babies in that van. He has to have a house somewhere, a place with someone to look after them, and I doubt a young man in training to be an assassin would fit that bill.”

  “The place has to be centrally located. The cult was based in the area, and chances are, like the Williamsons, those not living on the farm had houses. Where was Pierce living?”

  “He had an apartment near Fenway Park, but he couldn’t get near it now without us knowing. Not only is there surveillance, the place is wired.”

  “That makes sense. You wouldn’t want the bastard slipping in and out unnoticed.”

  “But he did,” she said starting the car. “He came into the city, killed the Winchesters, and took those two children.”

  “But you didn’t know what he looked like then,” he said. “You do now.”

  “Unless he heard me on television and changed his appearance again. Like your uncle, the man’s a chameleon.”

  They drove the rest of the way in silence, and Jacob used the time to prepare himself for the meeting with the cult members.

  Lilith drove up to the gate, showed her credentials, and entered the parking area. Once she stopped the car, he retrieved the file and the computer and followed her back to the jail’s communal area where the prisoners awa
ited their arrival.

  “Lilith, I was wondering about the choice of this particular jail. According to the case file, the raid took place at a farm outside Nashua, New Hampshire, and the prisoners are housed in the Nashua Street Jail.”

  Lilith laughed. “Believe it or not, that’s a coincidence. Nashua, New Hampshire, is the closest city to the Massachusetts border. The farm was located quite a ways out of town. The Nashua Street Jail opened in 1990 to house pretrial detainees, including our friends. I asked the same thing when I arrived. I actually thought it was a typo.”

  He chuckled. “The cult members simply exchanged one prison for another—one with the same name, as it turns out. I wonder if they’ve given any thought to a group appellation. I really want to be able to refer to them some other way.”

  As he’d requested, the LCD projector and screen had been set up. The difference in the prisoners and their demeanor from the previous day was astonishing. He barely recognized Reuben and Tom in their clean clothes, freshly shaven faces, and trimmed hair. He didn’t recall the other two men, but like the leaders, they were cleaned and shaven.

  “Jacob.” Reuben came forward as soon as the door closed. “This is my granddaughter, Annie. On behalf of everyone, I want to thank you for reuniting us with our children and providing new clothes. I’d almost forgotten what it was like to feel clean. It won’t happen again. Can I introduce you to the others?”

  “Of course. Maybe they can tell me how long they’ve been part of the group and where they came from. I don’t seem to recognize too many faces.”

  “Ellie knows the women better, so she can introduce them. Men and women didn’t share accommodations under the new order, as your uncle called it. This is Micah; he’s a mechanic. He looked after the breeding equipment as well as the vehicles. There isn’t anything he can’t fix.”

  Jacob held out his hand, and the man slowly reached for it as if such a gesture were foreign to him. “Hello, Micah. I have lots of machinery on my farm, and a good mechanic is always welcome. I’ll make sure you’re brought up to spec on the latest equipment. Where are you from?”