Initiations (Carpenter/Harding Book 5)

by Barbara Winkes

  As she got closer to her destination, the traffic flow continued to improve, and the quiet drive made her once more aware of the unresolved situation. She wasn’t yet ready to give up this space. There was no denying though that she spent the better part of the week at Ellie’s, had taken up a corner of her closet, and enjoyed the shorter commute to work. Shortly after the Darby case, everything had felt too close, too personal, too claustrophobic. Now, she was motivated to do her job, but the separation was clearer, easier. This wasn’t her story. She wasn’t trapped any longer, the realization starting to sink in. Maybe that would help her make a more permanent decision, though she had no idea what plans Kate and Derek might have for their future.

  Jordan parked the car in her usual spot. She was about to get out when something made her stop in her tracks. When she eventually got out, she cautiously looked around, but everything was quiet. Upon closer examination, doors and windows were intact, no locks broken. Taking in her front door, she made no effort to keep in the expletive. She turned around to see if the neighbor’s car was in their driveway. It wasn’t. The couple might still be at work, though Jordan didn’t know what their jobs were. One of the reason she liked it here was that there wasn’t any forced socializing.

  It was highly unlikely that she could even find the person in question, but she’d file a report anyway. Jordan took a picture with her cell phone and unlocked the door carefully. No footprints or tire tracks anywhere near. Said person had walked up to the door, did what they wanted to do and quietly driven away. It was minor in the grand scheme of things, and Jordan had seen some pretty scary things in that grand scheme.

  Still, it was annoying and a bit unsettling, the graffiti scrawling over the door in giant letters: BITCH.

  * * * *

  “Do you see why we should be living together?” Jordan gave her a tired smile, and Ellie filed it away as a success. She wasn’t going to press the issue right now, but it was hard to deny, a change of plans good and bad always led to a lot of extra driving. Like now. Jordan had assured her that she didn’t need to come. Ellie had multiple reasons to be here, one of them being the strange coincidence of some people scrawling gendered slurs on available surfaces. Was this connected to the break-in at Sherry Irwin’s store, or did misogynist minds think alike?

  “Yeah. If we did, maybe I could make you paint the door.”

  “A.D.A. Esposito told me I should let a detective handle this, and she was right. So I did, but I have no idea what happened.”

  “It’s worth checking,” Jordan agreed, not commenting on the fact that Ellie had been talking to Esposito. She was still critically taking in the front of the house. “Come to think of it, it could use a fresh coat of paint all around. The deck, too.”

  “Whoa, one thing at a time. First, we want to find the ‘artist,’ right?”

  Jordan shrugged. “I will file a report, for all the good that will do. I’ve been called worse.”

  Ellie studied her for a moment. “You know, just because other things might have priority now, it doesn’t mean this doesn’t matter. You’re still worried about Lilah?”

  “A lot depends on her—and Bethany making the right decisions.”

  “Yeah…Look, why don’t you get your mail and some fresh clothes and I’ll drive you to the station. Then we go home, make it an early night? I don’t want you to be all alone in the haunted house.”

  A split second later, she wished she could have taken back those words, but Jordan didn’t seem much fazed by them.

  “Sure,” she said. “I might have to use your washer too.”

  “No problem,” Ellie said quickly, relieved she apparently hadn’t crossed a line. Baby steps. For now, they had other mysteries to figure out.

  * * * *

  The connection between the robbers and the person vandalizing her front door still remained unclear after Ellie had talked to the detective on the case.

  At least, the case against the Prophets, from the department’s side, was coming together. Fiona Grayson expressed that she was willing to testify when Jordan saw her in the hospital. She did so when Ellie was on her lunch break, so they could compare notes afterwards. Jordan thought that it probably did Ellie some good to see Fiona was doing better…and it might distract her from other things. The term “haunted house” hadn’t gone unnoticed. Jordan didn’t want to get into that conversation until she knew exactly the right words to say. There was no “if” anymore when it came to Ellie in her life. The “how” was still something they had to figure out, and with Ellie studying for the upcoming detective’s exam, it might not be a good time to tackle those questions.

  “There have been a lot of stories about that bar, and members of a group who call themselves the Prophets of Better Days. The man who shot you was one of the sons.”

  “Yes, the married one.” She shook her head, winced. “Well, I guess most of them are. They come to that place because the audience is discreet. Not any longer, as it seems, so some of them got cold feet. For sure, I’m never going back. First they slip something in my drink, then they try to kill me. How much stupid bad luck can one person have?”

  Jordan caught Ellie’s thoughtful gaze. There wasn’t really a limit, but that wouldn’t be any help to the woman.

  “Oh, and I hear you saved me twice, Officer. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Are you at least going to arrest some of them?”

  Hopefully soon. Hopefully all of them.

  “It’s an ongoing investigation,” Jordan told her. “Be assured, your statement helps us a lot.”

  “Well, I have to do something right at some point in my life, don’t I?”

  She wasn’t going to argue with that. If only the “haunted house” problem was solved this easily. Then again, maybe she was overthinking this.

  “Thank you, Ms. Grayson. If you need anything else, or remember something, please let the officer in front of your room know. You can always call me, too.” She left a card on the woman’s table.

  Grayson made a tired salute.

  Jordan and Ellie went on their way, stopping at a diner for a quick bite.

  “Did you hear from Bethany?” Ellie asked when they sat in a booth.

  “No. I assume it would be any day if they need department ressources.”

  “Okay. I guess they told Raphael that we found the book. It’s so strange and scary to think that Rhonda was dating him. They are beyond the pale…hating the women who follow their rules so much that they cheat on them, and hating the women on the outside for not following their stupid rules.”

  “Real class acts,” Jordan agreed. “The good news is that there’ll be many arrests coming soon. Between Strickland, Raphael’s case, and Seth Deane shooting at police officers, their cult will get a good shake-up. If we’re all lucky, they won’t recover from that.”

  “Are they aware of that, or are they just this ignorant not to notice? It scares me to think that they might have some apocalyptic plan B.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that too.” There was no reason to deny Ellie’s worries, when they were this obviously justified. “Bethany and her people know what they are getting themselves into. The weapons sales are disconcerting—it’s a question of how paranoid they truly are.”

  “They don’t have to be this paranoid—the existence of their cult is threatened for real.”

  “Yeah.” Jordan sighed. “I don’t mean to distract with something utterly profane, but there isn’t much we can do as long as the FBI is taking the lead on all counts. And I really need to buy some paint. Might as well do a big job with the front.”

  “You really want to invest a lot of money in that house?” Ellie was trying to sound neutral, or so Jordan assumed, but a hint of dissapointment came through.

  “It is fine for me now, but I’ll have to spend some money if I want to get a good price for it someday. What? I never said I wanted to grow old there. I know you’re not particularly attached, and I…�
�� That was the harder part. “I just bought it,” she finished, aware that she wasn’t explaining anything. “It’s not haunted, just like the Code 7 wasn’t. We’d go if it still existed.”

  “That’s kind of the point, isn’t it? It doesn’t. It’s okay. I’m fine where I am now, and as long as you are…I’ll be waiting.”

  “Sometimes, I think you are so much better than I deserve,” Jordan said ruefully, meaning every word of it. It wasn’t like the past few months had been easy for Ellie, yet she was still here, patient.

  “No.” Ellie smiled. “I am exactly what you deserve. I’m afraid I have to get back to work now, but if you want, we can go to the hardware store after your shift. I’ll help you paint the whole house if that means you’re going to sell it some day.”

  * * * *

  That was more than a baby step, Ellie thought, absent-mindedly filling out reports. Jordan was just so very cautious to the point it could be irritating, or at least it had felt that way at one point or another. After everything they’d been through, individually, together, Ellie understood their respective approach. She understood Jordan had her reasons to be cautious. Even if she refused to vilify Bethany, Ellie knew Jordan’s ex had played a part in this, and so had Kathryn, her birthmother who was trying to make amends extremely late.

  So selling the house eventually was an option. Ellie had promised Kate that she wouldn’t move in with her just to leave again after a few weeks—that wasn’t likely to happen. There were new possibilities though.

  Thank God. She could be patient, give Jordan the space she needed, but she would be happy when they could lay that particular subject to rest. For sure, Ellie had her own unresolved issues, even though she did a fairly good job distracting herself from them. She wanted to be a good partner. She knew her history with Kathryn was still a touchy subject, probably always would be.

  Distantly, Ellie realized she hadn’t gone to her parents’ graves since before being attacked one night on her way home from the Code 7.

  “Harding, do you have a moment?”

  Detective Doss’s voice jolted her out of her disconcerting thoughts.

  “Sure. What is it?”

  “Irwin’s ex finally caved and told us about the guys he paid to vandalize the store. He confessed to paying your HotStud69 to arrange the robbery with a couple of his buddies. He wanted to embarrass his wife, didn’t plan on them selling the merchandise on the internet. They’re here now.”

  “Oh, good news, thank you.”

  “You want to watch?”

  “That sounds dirty,” Detective Waters, Doss’s partner, remarked as he walked by. Doss rolled her eyes. “Harding?”

  “Yes, thank you. Any familiar names, or any reason why one of them would go to Jordan’s house?”

  Doss shrugged.

  “Nothing came up in the cross check yet, but I’ll ask them. I’d be surprised though if the two are related. There are too many jerks with big mouths and a too small vocabulary.”

  “Yeah.” Ellie wondered if Doss included her partner in that category. Now that the exam was looming closer, she had to pay more attention to the dynamics between her future colleagues—at least she still hoped she could go straight into that unit.

  The three men Doss and Waters had arrested earlier didn’t hold back much—Sherry Irwin’s ex-husband was the instigator. Each of them had been paid $2,000 upfront in return for doing some damage to the store, to get back at the “bitch” for leaving him. As she listened, Ellie couldn’t help rolling her eyes too. Big mouth, small vocabulary.

  “The bitch sign was a creative detail you added, or did he tell you to do that too?”

  “Hey, she deserved it,” Randy Evans, who had listed the articles under the name of Jack Smith. “Ripped him off in the divorce.”

  “Well, I’d say he ripped you off, because those 2K are not going to cover your legal costs, and the damage to the store. Tell me about the sign. Is that some sort of signature thing?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, sounding irritated.

  “I’ll help you with your memory then. The graffiti on a cop’s front door.”

  He regarded the photograph she handed to him, and started laughing. “What? Just because it’s the same word, you want to pin that on me, too? News flash, lady, we can’t do all the work. You can ask the boys, but I don’t think they go all over the city with a can of spray paint.”

  “I will ask them, don’t worry.”

  Outside in the observation area, Ellie frowned. She wasn’t sure if that was good news after all. If these clowns had nothing to do with the slur on Jordan’s front door, who had? Her first thoughts were always going in the same direction, and she was sure Jordan had thought about it for a moment, too. The truth was, there were people who resented them for doing their job, then again, it could be completely random, some juvenile prank.

  She waited until Maria Doss had finished the interview and joined her outside the interrogation room.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you guys more. Like Jordan said, we’ll probably never know unless someone catches the kid with paint on their fingers. We’ll see if there are more cases of vandalism in the area, but I doubt we’ll find a connection. Jordan didn’t even work on this case.”

  “That’s true. Okay. Thanks.” Ellie returned to her desk with an uneasy feeling. She couldn’t always expect the worst, could she? They were in a good place. She needed to trust that it could last.

  Minutes later, Sergeant Bristol left his office, and to her surprise, he walked right towards her.

  “Harding, I need you to come with me.”

  So much for trusting in the good times…

  “Was there a problem with ballistics? Seth Deane?” she asked anxiously.

  “No, you’re fine. There have been some new developments with the overall case, though. The agents are in the house. They have requested additional personnel.”

  “Is anything going to happen tonight?”

  He shook his head. “This is just for briefing. There is enough to go forward now.”

  Ellie followed him along the hallway and into the elevator where they joined A.D.A. Esposito who greeted them with a cordial smile.

  The conference room was already filled, Bethany and her colleagues, detectives from the precinct, officers who would assist in the search. She saw Jordan standing in a corner talking to Agent Russo, and thought that it was unlikely they’d make it to the hardware store tonight.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, may I ask for your attention.” Bethany looked triumphant. “Thanks to Agent Strickland, we not only have a complete first hand account of the crimes committed by the Deane family, every bit to back up Beaumont’s book, but we have plans of the compound and detailed information on their weapons arsenal. We will deliver the warrant in twenty-four hours when they’ll be expecting their dealers, which will mean more than two birds with one stone. With the high profile members securing the deal, and the children in another part of the compound, we have the best chances to surprise them and nail them all for everything that’s going on, from the illegal gun purchases to the domestic abuse and child abuse. They won’t see it coming, but we need all of you on high alert. We’re dealing with extremely narcississtic individuals who consider this a righteous lifestyle, and they are willing to defend it.”

  “Are they willing to die for it?” Detective Waters asked, and for the second time today, Ellie resented him—this time, he had a point, though.

  “The fact that they are amassing weapons is diconcerting,” Bethany admitted. “We have no reason to believe that they are preparing for the apocalypse now, but we want to shut them down before they have a chance to do so. We believe that the measures they are taking now are mostly related to the shake-up due to Beaumont and the recent incidents. Some might think they’re entitled to women and booze anytime, but the patriarch doesn’t think so. Of course, in his mind, he owns everything and everyone under his roof.”

  Dan
iel Deane and his brothers wouldn’t be the first to believe in this idea…not everyone started their own cult, but some became domestic abusers, Ellie reflected. Some became…worse. She shuddered. This situation was bad enough. It was about time they faced consequences.

  “One more thing about the children. Agent Strickland’s information is as accurate as she could possibly make it, but we have to be very careful.”

  “They might use them as shields?” This time it was Jordan who asked the question.

  “They have indoctrinated them against outsiders,” Bethany said.

  “Make sure the little ones are safe, and that none of them gets their hands on a loaded weapon. We have talked to Child Protective Services. They are ready to assist you later with anything you need.”

  This case had become so much bigger than one murder that turned out to be not so cut and dry after all. Ellie felt no sympathy for Raphael Deane who had killed to cover up the crimes of his family, maybe get back into their good graces—but she could understand the dynamics that had led him there. Growing up to believe that the brothers were always right, that women were inferior and needed to be guided. The thought of the many boys and girls living with them, conditioned with the same lies, was chilling. Not that society at large did such a great job teaching children about equality.

  All of a sudden, the idea of parenthood became extremely daunting—they could try their hardest, but they were up against so many obstacles. And maybe Kathryn Larson had tried her hardest too.

  After the briefing, she found Jordan, and they made it to the hardware store after all. Jordan, not so much in the mood for a big renovation, bought a pint of paint to cover the slur, and they headed home.

  For once, the haunted house was closer to where they needed to be the next morning.

  Chapter Twelve

  A few young men had been assigned to secure the compound, giving up surprisingly easily when they realized they were outnumbered. Perhaps Seth’s demise was part of the reason. One of them tried to run, another reached for his weapon.