When the Wolf Prowls: A Cimarron/Melbourne Thriller - Book Three

by Vanessa Prelatte

“I’m not at liberty to say right now. But it might help if you answered a few questions from Detective Cimarron.”

  “What kind of questions?”

  “Questions about the Colony, Faith.”

  “The Colony? What does that have to do with anything? I thought you believed that Samantha’s boyfriend was responsible.”

  “The connection to the new case may give him an alibi, Faith. It’s beginning to look as if Samantha’s disappearance may lead back to the Colony instead.”

  “When she first disappeared, that was my first thought, I admit,” Faith confessed.

  “Why did you feel that way, Faith?” Dawn interjected.

  Faith took a deep breath. “There were some hard feelings toward Samantha. Some of the women supported her, but all of the men and even some of the children harbored ill feelings toward her. They blamed her for the break up of the Colony, you see. I never really felt she was safe until the ones who weren’t in jail took off for Mexico.”

  “Did you notice anything unusual in the days or weeks before Samantha disappeared?”

  “No. I’ve thought and thought, but there was nothing. Nothing at all out of the ordinary.”

  “Okay,” Dawn said. “Now, to backtrack a little, you said that some of the women supported her. Did Samantha keep in touch with any of the other women from the Colony?”

  Faith shot her an uneasy look. “Well, maybe just one person.”

  Rick said, “This is news to me. Why didn’t you ever tell me about this, Faith?”

  “I swore to Samantha that I never would. And I knew she had nothing to do with Samantha’s disappearance. You see, the woman – Alice Black – also testified for the prosecution at the trial. She’d tried to get away, but they caught her and brought her back. They threatened to kill her and her children if she tried to run again. She was a great support to Samantha all throughout the trial. But afterward, she took her children and left the area. Changed her name, disappeared. The only person she kept in touch with was Samantha.”

  “Do you have her contact information?”

  “Yes. But I can’t tell you. I promised.”

  “You have to tell us, Faith. It’s important. We need to find out all we can about the Colony.”

  “Well, I guess it would be okay, since you’re the police and all. But you have to swear not to divulge her new name or address.”

  “We can do that. Please – tell us.”

  “Okay. She lives in Stratmoor now, just south of Colorado Springs. She goes by the name of Leslie Norewood.”

  “Would she agree to see us?”

  “Maybe, if I asked her.”

  “Why don’t you give her a call, see if you can set up a meeting for us?”

  It took only a little more persuasion on the part of the two detectives to get Faith to agree to make the call. After a short interval, she gave the two detectives the good news that the woman once known as Alice Black had agreed to see them.

  Before Dawn and Rick left, Dawn showed Faith the sketch of the perp and the photograph of the medallion, but Faith could not identify either. Shortly after that, they said their goodbyes and headed for Stratmoor to interview Alice Black.

  The trip to Stratmoor took them just slightly over an hour. On the way there, Dawn and Rick explored the probability that the perp in both of their cases was one and the same.

  Dawn said, “Officer Jordan figured that the man who shot him is in his late twenties or early thirties. If he’s connected to the colony, he’s more likely to be one of the grown-up children. What about Jed Foxe’s son? Could he be our perp?”

  “We considered that when we first investigated three years ago. However, we decided it was unlikely that Foxe’s son had anything to do with Samantha’s disappearance.”

  “Why?”

  “Special Agent Thompson, who was the lead on the case, discovered that Damon, Jed Foxe’s son, had been adopted by some distant cousins in Albuquerque – a couple by the name of Weatherbee. According to Thompson, Damon never had any contact with the cult or with Samantha from that point on. He lived a perfectly normal life with his adoptive parents. Grew up, went to college, got a degree in Animal Husbandry, got married, had kids. Thompson ran a check on him and found out that he was living with his wife and kids in Oklahoma City, working as a Farm and Home Management Adviser.”

  “What about the other children who grew up in the cult?” Dawn inquired.

  “Let me think a minute. Foxe’s right-hand man, who is still in prison, had a couple of kids. Their mother was determined to be unfit to raise them, so custody was granted to their grandparents.”

  “Names?”

  “Ervil and Eldan Mattice. Both are living in New Jersey , married with children. One is a physical therapist, the other a chemical engineer. Both are seen as respectable members of their communities.”

  “What about the ones who moved to Mexico?”

  “There isn’t much data available on them. They live on a ranch there and keep pretty much to themselves. Thompson contacted the local authorities and made some inquiries, but apparently the police don’t pay much attention to the Colony. Their policy is pretty much that if the members of the Colony are not breaking the law and keep paying their taxes – which they do, by the way – they aren’t going to bother them.”

  Rick paused for a minute or two as he negotiated a couple of tricky turns. Once that had been accomplished, he said, “There are, however, three children from the original Colony who are unaccounted for. All three were placed in foster care. They were cousins and were permitted to see each other on occasion. One day, none of them came home from school. Police have always suspected that they joined the others in Mexico, but no proof of that has ever been found.”

  “Names?”

  “Shawn and Nerissa Weirsman, ages fourteen and thirteen respectively, and their cousin Maurice Orweill, age fifteen. Those were their ages at the time of their disappearance, ten years ago. All of them would be adults now, of course.”

  “And their parents?”

  “Their parents were convicted of robbery, tax evasion, and money-laundering. They are all still in prison.”

  Dawn’s cell phone pinged just then. Glancing at it, she said, “It’s Rafe. Give me a minute here.” She picked the call up, but ended it after only a short conversation.

  “How’s Melbourne?” Rick asked politely.

  If it had been one of her own people, Dawn would have answered, “As grouchy as a bear with a sore paw.” With Rick, however, she contented herself with saying, “He’s doing fine. He managed to eat a little bit this morning, and after the doctor sees him, he’s been cleared to get up and walk around a little this afternoon.”

  “So soon after surgery?” Rick said, surprised.

  “Yeah. I was a little concerned about that, but his brother is on his way over, so he won’t be alone.”

  Privately, Dawn wondered how things were going between Rafe and Gabe. Theirs had been a tricky relationship at one point. But she had no intention of discussing the details of her partner’s private life. Especially with Rick.

  *****

  Rafe pushed his water glass aside, annoyed. He hated being sick, hated being in the hospital. Most of all, he hated the fact that he was not with Dawn, working the case.

  He looked up as the door opened and Gabe entered the room and greeted him, then strolled over to the chair beside the bed and sat down.

  Rafe roused himself to be sociable. Gabe had stayed at his house the night before, so he asked his brother if he had slept well.

  “Fine,” Gabe answered. “I thought I might have some trouble sleeping in a strange bed, but I dropped off right away.”

  “How are you and Tara getting along?”

  “Great. No problems there. It was a pleasant surprise to discover that she’s nothing like her sister.”

  Something close to a smile split Rafe’s face. “No, she’s not,” he agreed. “Thank God. Tara’s a good kid. She’s nothing like Cynthia.”
And the mention of his ex-wife’s name wiped the smile from his face.

  “Do you think she’ll come and visit you?”

  “Who? Cynthia? Hardly. We’ve barely spoken with each other since the divorce. She probably doesn’t even know I’m in the hospital, and if she does, she won’t lose any sleep over it.”

  “Tara spoke with her parents last night. She mentioned the fact that you’d had to have surgery to them. They might pass on the news to Cynthia.”

  “Cynthia is too taken up with her own life to butt her nose into mine. She considers our marriage ancient history. Our past is dead to her, and that’s fine with me.” Rafe stirred about restlessly, trying to find a more comfortable position in the bed.

  Concerned, Gabe said, “Are you in pain? Do you need more pain medication?”

  “No. I hate that junk. I’d rather deal with the pain than with the side effects of the morphine derivative they were giving me.”

  “Were?”

  “Yeah. I told them last night I wanted them to wean me off it today. Over-the-counter pain killers are fine with me. I hate how narcotics cloud my mind.”

  “Looks like you need something to get your mind off the pain. How about a game of chess?”

  “You got a chess set with you?”

  “They might have a set about somewhere. If not, I’ll go down to the gift shop and buy us a set. Although I do feel bad, however. It doesn’t seem right, taking advantage of a sick man. I predict that I’ll checkmate you in under ten moves.”

  “Are you kidding me? I’ll wipe you off the board in no time flat. Get the chess set, and prepare to have your butt whipped, brother.”

  Gabe smiled inwardly as he arose from his chair. Nothing like a little brotherly competition to divert a person’s mind from his pain.

  Chapter 24

  Rick parked on the street in front of a neat little white cottage. “This is it,” he announced.

  Dawn cast an eye over the cottage. “It reminds me of the gingerbread houses I used to make with my mother,” she said.

  “You made gingerbread houses?”

  “Sure. I used to love to bake.”

  “Maybe you could make me one some day.”

  “Don’t hold your breath, Rikovsky. Don’t hold your breath.”

  He grinned as he exited the car. “Ah, still the same charming girl I remember D.C. Always ready with a put-down.”

  In the past, Dawn would have risen to the bait, but now she just shrugged her shoulders. “Charm may not be my strong point, but at least I’m not a cheater,” she said.

  There. Now the ball was back in his court. She waited for him to respond, but he just frowned and walked around the path up to the front door of the cottage. Dawn moved quickly to join him as he rang the doorbell.

  The woman who answered the door, a petite blonde with nervous blue eyes, asked to see their ID’s before letting them in. Once she was satisfied that they were indeed police officers, she swung the door wide and ushered them into the house. Leading the way into a small living room, she waved them into a couple of easy chairs.

  As she sat down, Dawn asked, “To begin with, should we call you Alice or Leslie?”

  The woman hesitated for a beat. After considering the question, she responded, “Leslie, please. I haven’t been Alice in a long, long time. I like Leslie better.”

  “Do you feel up to answering some questions for us, Leslie?”

  “Look, I agreed to meet with you only because Faith begged me to. I don’t understand how anything I can tell you will help you find out what happened to Samantha.”

  “Some recent events have convinced us that Samantha’s disappearance might have something to do with the Colony,” Rick answered.

  Leslie frowned. “You mean you think someone from the Colony got to Samantha and took revenge on her, after all these years?”

  “Yes. Does that surprise you?”

  Leslie put her hand to her cheek and rubbed it absently before responding. “Maybe not,” she conceded. “A lot of people in the Colony were furious at Samantha for bringing the law down upon their heads. As a matter of fact, if she had escaped and gone to the police just a few months earlier, I probably would have been angry at her myself.”

  Dawn pricked up her ears at that. “Something happened then that changed your mind about the Colony?” she inquired.

  There was a far-away expression in Leslie’s eyes as she answered. “Yes. I loved the Colony at first, and I thought that Jed Foxe was the greatest man in the entire world. When others in the group complained about the isolation and the way women were treated, I scolded them. It was like I was blind. I didn’t start to see things clearly again until…”

  “Until what?” Dawn prodded gently.

  Leslie looked away. “Until I caught Heather, my teenage daughter, crying one day. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me that Jed was doing things to her. And not just her. Heather said he was messing with a number of the girls in the Colony, including his own step-daughter, Samantha.”

  “How did you react to that?”

  “I was furious. I told my husband and demanded that he do something about it. But my husband wouldn’t do a thing. He just didn’t believe it, any of it. He said that Heather was lying about everything. So I gave him an ultimatum. Either he confronted Jed about what was going on, or I was taking the children and leaving him. And you know what he did?”

  “What?”

  “He laughed at me. He pointed out that I had no car, no money, nothing. You see, when we joined the Colony, we gave up most of the trappings of civilized life. Jed forbade the ordinary members of the Colony to have things like televisions, computers, automobiles, and cell phones.”

  “What about the leaders? Did the same rules apply to them?”

  “No. That’s the thing that most griped those who complained the loudest. They said there was a double standard, and they were right. For example, there were only a few cars on the property, and they all belonged to the male leaders. The women, meanwhile, were not allowed to leave the Colony’s property without the permission of their husbands and the male leadership. So my husband was right. There was no easy way for me to take the children and leave.

  He warned me that if I tried to walk away, he’d inform Jed or one of the other men who had cars and they would catch us before we got very far.”

  The far-away look in her eyes disappeared, and she met Dawn’s gaze directly.

  “For the first time in my life, I was afraid of my own husband,” Leslie admitted. “He’d changed so much…”

  “What happened next?” Dawn asked.

  “My husband went to Jed and told him what our daughter had said. Jed responded that Heather had slandered him and needed to be punished.” Leslie’s eyes welled up. “I can’t talk about that,” she said. “When it was all over, my husband told me that if I ever talked about leaving him again, I’d be punished too.”

  “It must have been devastating for you,” Dawn said gently.

  “Devastating. Yes, that’s the right word for it. I was devastated, and paralyzed as well. My own daughter was being abused, and I couldn’t do anything about it. In the end, the only one who had the guts to make a break for it was Samantha. She managed to steal Jed’s car one night and drive to her aunt’s house. As soon as she told Faith what was really going on at the Colony, Faith got the police involved.”

  “Can you tell us what happened after the police came and raided the compound?” Dawn asked next.

  “Most of the members of the Colony were frightened. Frightened, but angry as well. My son, Lincoln, was absolutely furious, for example. But I was relieved. All I could think about was getting Heather out of there, away to some place safe. I agreed to testify against the leaders – and then even against my own husband, when I found out that he was involved in the auto theft and money laundering activities.”

  Flames lit up behind Leslie’s eyes as she added, “I found out that he had recruited Lincoln to be one of the members
of the car-theft ring. Lincoln was only fifteen at the time. Fifteen! I filed for divorce and told Lincoln’s father that I would never forgive him, never.”

  “I’d be interested to know how the other members of the Colony reacted when they found out you were testifying for the prosecution,” Rick said.

  “Most of the others were horrified,” Leslie admitted “There was a lot of harassment, and even a few threats. But I didn’t care. One thing I got in exchange for my testimony was leniency for my son. Because of his youth and the pressure put upon him by his father, the charges that had been brought against him originally were dropped. Lincoln was returned to my custody, the divorce was granted, and my ex-husband’s parental rights were severed. I moved down here with my children as soon as the trials were over. I changed my name and basically went into hiding after that. Even after I found out that the group members who had avoided prosecution had relocated to Mexico, I still didn’t feel safe.”

  “You never kept in touch with any of them except Samantha afterward?”

  “No. But, as I discovered later, to my regret, my son did. He kept it all a secret from me, of course. I only found out about it when he left home shortly after he turned eighteen. Heather and I came home from a shopping trip one day to find that he had packed up all his things and moved out. He left us a note saying he needed to be on his own for a while, but he would be in touch.

  “We didn’t hear from him for a long time. Then he sent me a letter, care of my attorney, letting me know that he was okay. Well, that was a relief, but I was horrified to discover that he had moved to Mexico to rejoin the Colony.”

  “Is he still there?” Rick inquired.

  “No. He became disenchanted after a couple of years there. The group apparently tried to interfere with him and the girl he wanted to marry, so he left and moved back to the United States. Later, a few other families from the group moved back here and joined him.”

  “Where is he living now?” Rick pressed Leslie.

  “On a ranch not far from here,” she said.

  “We’d like to talk to him, if possible. Do you think you could arrange that?”