If she meant for me to get out of the temple, I couldn’t agree more wholeheartedly. Their treatment of Beth didn’t bode well for whether they planned to alert the police about Rachel’s death. My guess was that Maliah had refused to let her use the phone and when Beth insisted, Maliah had called in the two men. Somebody must have called through to Father, though. I couldn’t see Casper or Justin acting like that just based on Maliah’s authority.
If she meant for me to get out of Megiddo completely, that wasn’t happening. I wasn’t leaving her.
I snuck out of the temple using Father’s side door and waited around the corner until Justus and Casper returned down the path just minutes later. They hadn’t had time to go all the way to the meth camp, so I knew they had stuffed Beth somewhere much closer. I figured their first stop would be the temple to investigate and I was right. As soon as I heard the front door close, I scooted up the path to the isolation cabin.
The padlock was locked. I felt just as helpless on this side of the door as I had on the other. I tapped on it and heard rustling inside.
“Beth?” I called.
“Yeah.”
“We’re going to figure this out, Beth.”
“I know. You need to get out of here. I told them I was alone when I found Rachel, but while those two bozos might have believed me, I doubt Father will. Whatever he decides to do about Rachel, he won’t take the chance that I told someone and that someone would be you.”
“I can’t leave without getting you out of here. You’re too vulnerable.”
“If they stuck me here, they aren’t going to hurt me. I think they just want to shut me up and keep the situation under control until they decide what to do.”
Maybe. But maybe not.
I hurried back to the temple and hid around the side of the building. I couldn’t be certain I hadn’t missed Casper and Justus, but I was betting on the shock value to have kept them occupied during the time I had talked to Beth. After a long time, I had about decided I had missed them when the temple’s front door opened. The two stood in the entryway and talked in hushed tones. Luckily, the breeze was coming in off the lake and I could hear them clearly. Casper seemed to be trying on an alpha-male role. He even dropped his voice to manly-man range.
“You stay here while I go report to Father. He’ll let me know what he wants us to do next.”
“Why don’t I come w—”
“No,” Casper overrode Justus’s offer. “It’ll be better this way. Gabriel won’t be back from Duluth until eleven or so. It’s up to us to keep this under control. You stay here and make sure nobody stumbles in on… that.”
“How am I supposed to—”
“Just keep everyone away. It’s not rocket science.”
By Justus’s half-muttered “whatever” I knew he was far from pleased with the arrangement. I was, though.
As soon as Casper had crossed the driveway to Father’s house, I took the chance and darted into the temple.
Justus startled at my entrance. Even in the gloomy light, I could see his skin glistening with sweat, either from his exertions controlling Beth or just plain fear. My bet was on fear. A curl of dark hair fell over his left eye, obscuring my ability to read him.
“What are you doing here?” He spread his arms and used his body to block my way, although I had no intention of pushing my way back inside. Been there, done that. Unlike Casper, fear or the sudden, weighty responsibility thrust on him had reduced his voice to an adolescent stridency. His eyes were wide and his nostrils flared. Tension thrummed off his body like a downed wire. He cleared his throat and tried again. “You can’t go in there, Letty.”
I needed to speak to the emotional current—fear or the need to control; for my purposes it didn’t matter which—that held him in its grip.
“It’s okay, Justus,” I said in a mama’s-here-and-it’s-gonna-be-all-right voice.
“You, um, have to leave,” he said. “Right now.” He shot a look over his shoulder and when he turned back to me, his face had paled two queasy shades lighter. Despite his words, his shocked, staring eyes pleaded with me. To stay? To help him deal with this crisis he had been thrust into? If I played this right, and if I had the time, I could probably mold the situation for my own purposes. He was scared to death and desperate for guidance.
But did I have the time? Casper or any of Father’s other henchmen could show up any second. I would lose any hope of influencing either Justus or the situation, and I didn’t harbor any illusions that Justus would stand by me against the other church leaders. I sighed. I still had an alcoholic’s innate distrust of direct truthfulness. It just seemed so… flimsy.
“Justus, I know what happened. To Rachel, I mean.”
His eyes widened so much I was afraid they were going to pop out of his head and roll down the aisle.
“No. I mean, I know she’s dead. I don’t know how or who. But I know…” I pointed to the temple’s interior. “Justus, I need you to listen to me.”
Justus started shaking his head. This twist didn’t fall under the orders he had been given, and he was light years from being a natural-born leader. His face scrunched with effort at having to process my awareness of Rachel’s murder as well as the need for him to make an independent decision about what to do with me. Obviously, I wasn’t going to just forget what I’d seen.
I saw the moment when he stopped trying and reverted to the script he had been given.
“You need to leave.” Justus pushed at my shoulder, but I held my ground, trying to peer up into his suddenly flat eyes.
“You have to let Beth go. It’ll be okay. And then we’ll leave. I promise. You can come with if you want.”
He looked incredulous. “Why would I want to leave the Elect? I’m finally moving up. And after everything I’ve done for that old man? No way. Uh-uh. Besides, it’s too late now.”
“Why is it too late? What did you do?”
His eyes squinted and a cold determination seeped into them, finally pushing fear and doubt aside. He had just identified the threat. And it was me.
“Justus—”
“Shut up. You don’t know what’s going on. You can’t know. You’re just a woman.”
My patience snapped. “Do you think you know what’s going on? It’s all falling apart, Justus. Eli’s gone and Moses is—”
“Exactly,” he said. “Exactly. Eli and Moses are gone. Even Gabriel is gone. So Father needs to depend on somebody. That somebody is going to be me.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. When I opened them, his features had set with implacable firmness. I tried anyway.
“Is this how you’re going to get ahead? By covering this up and following orders like a good, little Nazi? Think, Justus. This is murder. Someone killed Rachel. That isn’t something that’s going to be kept quiet, and neither is holding a woman against her will. You need to make this right. You need to—”
He backhanded me across the face. My cheek stung, but I was more shocked than hurt. He seemed just as surprised. Even more so when I hauled off and belted him in the nose so hard I felt something crunch under my fist. This was becoming a habit.
Then I ran away.
I couldn’t be sure if they would come after me, so I waited before going back to the isolation cabin for Beth.
But when I got there, the door stood open, the cabin empty. I crept in and checked the bathroom, but it was just as deserted. As I crossed back to the door, I spied a dark stain. I bent down, put my finger to it. Wet. I held my finger up to the light. Red.
Blood.
Chapter Thirty-One
Casper had said Gabriel wouldn’t be back until just before lunch. I ducked and darted my way to the main parking lot and looked to see if the church van had returned. It hadn’t, so I tucked myself in between the hedge of bushes and the wall of the lodge.
The incident with Justus made my stomach churn. I couldn’t believe he had actually struck me. I hadn’t been hit by a man since I w
as nine. And what had he been talking about? What had he done for Father?
I had to pee. If Gabriel didn’t get here soon, there was going to be an in-the-bushes kind of incident. I worked hard to ignore the urge. A few minutes later, I was rewarded with the sight of the van pulling in. Gabriel parked in the middle of the lot, which meant I’d be awfully exposed, but least he was alone.
A surge of doubt rose in me. I really didn’t have a feel for this man. I didn’t know if, or how far, I could trust him. I had just failed miserably at swaying Justus. On the other hand, now that I had screwed that up, what did I have to lose?
And what choice did I have?
Taking a deep breath, I stood, the bushes cracking and rustling all around.
Scared the crap out of Gabriel, that’s for sure. He dropped into a defensive crouch, feet spread for balance, arms up and ready. He relaxed when he saw it was me.
I scooted across the lot, grabbed his hand, and pulled him around the side of the van.
“Letty, what—”
“Shh!” I peeked around the van to see if anyone had seen us. All was still.
When I turned back, a wariness had seeped into his eyes.
“What the hell is going on?”
It was the first time I had ever heard him swear. For some reason, I took it as a good sign, but talking to him was still a risk. I peered into his eyes—a light, no-bullshit brown. His met mine easily, and other than concern for my unusual approach, appeared guileless.
I swallowed, then said, “They took Beth.”
His eyebrows shot up, but the rest of his body stilled. After a few moments, he said, “What are you talking about?”
“Justus and Casper. At first they locked her up in the isolation cabin, but she’s gone now. And, um, Rachel is dead.”
He looked like I had punched the air out of his guts. His mouth opened and shut a few times as he tried to process the glut of information.
“Rachel?”
I nodded.
“How did…?”
“She was murdered. In the temple, or at least, that’s where Beth and I found her body. Beth went to phone the cops, but they stopped her. That’s when Justus and Casper dragged her to the isolation cabin and locked her in it. I went to Justus to ask him…” My throat closed in anger at my naiveté in thinking I could just ask Justus to let my friend go and he would… for me.
Gabriel reached a hand up to my cheek, but held back from touching me at the last minute. “Did Justus do that?”
I nodded. I had been ignoring it, but my cheek still felt hot and it stung. I felt strangely embarrassed at Gabriel’s mention of it. Almost ashamed, which I knew was stupid. I reminded myself of the spurt of blood from Justus’s nose and felt a little better.
Gabriel’s lips thinned when I admitted that Justus had smacked me. He shook his head in disgust.
“Look, that’s not the big thing here,” I said, getting us back on track.
“I just can’t… Rachel’s dead?”
“She was murdered. Stabbed, I think, but I guess it could have been from a gunshot.”
Gabriel thought a moment, then pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. He checked the screen, and shook his head, again.
“Nobody called you about it?” I asked.
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he started pacing. At first, I worried he would be seen by anyone heading in this direction, but he kept behind the van. His eyes flicked back and forth in time with the thoughts racing around in his head. Justus had been easier to read, but I watched the emotions transition across Gabriel’s face. Shock and confusion, to start. Then a rising anger that set his face in stone. He came to an abrupt halt.
“Father wouldn’t…” Gabriel stopped. Without warning, he punched the side of the van, denting it. The metallic thud pierced the air.
Heart racing, I stumbled backward.
Gabriel put his hands up, palms out. The sign for safety. We both froze, though my heart still thumped against my ribs.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m not going to hurt you. Look, I’ve got to talk to Father right now. I’ll see what I can find out about what’s going on. I’m certain they’ll have already called the police in; if Rachel is really dead, nobody is going to try to hide that. It would be stupid. As for Beth, I’m sure Casper just overreacted to the situation. It’s possible Father’s just reprimanding her for insubordination, but that shouldn’t mean confinement. They’ve probably already released her, especially with all this other stuff to deal with. ”
“If they were going to call in the police, they should already be here.” I waved my hand at the deserted parking lot. “Are you going to call them?”
His face looked strained, and he dropped his eyes to the ground. “I’m going to find out what’s going on. I can’t… Let’s just take one step at a time. Will you be in your room?”
“No. I’m not sure where I’ll be, but I’m definitely not going back there.”
“Letty, I don’t think anybody is after you. I’m going to need to know where to find you if I’m going to fill you in. And considering everything that’s going on, I’m not going to have time to wander around looking for you.”
“Yeah, well, we’ll have to agree to disagree on that, buddy. Because I don’t trust any of them. And don’t forget that I slugged Justus back.”
His eyebrows shot up again. “You did?”
“I might have forgotten to mention that.”
He smiled and said, “Good for you. He deserved it. Okay, look— If you’re afraid there might be fallout from that, why don’t I meet you in the barn?”
I shuddered, not wanting anything to do with the barn, but before I could come up with Plan B, assuming there was one, Gabriel had set off across the drive, heading to Father’s house.
Crap.
He hadn’t told me how long he would be, either. One thing Gabriel had said made sense. Maybe they really had let Beth go. After all, trying to call the cops in because of a murder wasn’t all that out of line. Going all vampire on Casper’s neck might be a different story, but it’s not like she didn’t have provocation. I decided it made sense to at least check out her room before officially freaking out.
There were only three places Beth would have gone if she had been released: her bedroom, the dining hall, or the kitchen. I couldn’t imagine her going back into the office.
Unless… she was planning to kick Maliah’s ass for whatever her part was in the brouhaha.
That could be fun.
The biggest problem wasn’t deciding where I should check, but how I should act as I did. The anxious, skittery side of me favored a mouselike, furtive skulking in the shadows. Unfortunately, it was almost noon and there were precious little shadows. Not only that, but that kind of behavior was more likely to draw notice than if I just brazened it out. After all, if the reason they had snatched Beth was to keep a lid on Rachel’s death, it was highly doubtful that anyone besides Justus and Casper knew all that was going on. And Maliah, of course. And now Gabriel, but he was on our side. Or, at least, not against us. Maybe.
At any rate, Father would try to keep the number of people involved down, and those few were probably busy with poor Rachel.
Rachel.
A wave of sadness crashed into my heart, and I sank against the van. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about her, but my brain was on overload just dealing with Beth’s capture and her subsequent disappearance. I decided Rachel would understand—priority goes to the living.
Thinking about Rachel—her crumpled, pale body left like garbage on the tile floor—allowed anger to push the ever-present anxiety to the side. Not gone, but not in control, either.
Bravado it would be.
I straightened, squared my shoulders, and marched around the side of the van to the lodge. As soon as I came even with the building, I took a little break behind the bushes to hyperventilate for a few minutes. But that was good, too. I now had a range of how far bravado could take me. Apparently
, less than fifty yards, but knowledge is power and yada, yada, yada.
Out of the bushes and over to the lodge entrance. Back to the bushes. More breathing into cupped hands.
Youcandothisyoucandothisyoucandothis.
If bravery couldn’t do it, maybe perseverance would. Back to the door, and this time I made it inside. The hall, with the office and the den on either side, was a dark tunnel. Light from the big lakeside windows shone at the end like I was having a near death experience. I didn’t know if I was more afraid of Jesus appearing or of Maliah popping out from the office. Either way, I would have a heart attack and die. Although, from what I understood, that might not cancel out the Jesus issue.
I reminded myself I had chosen nonchalant innocence over furtive skulking and courageously set forth. Four feet later, I hugged the wall and peeked around the office door. Empty. I resumed my unaffected stroll until I reached the great room. Myrtle and two women I barely knew sat knitting on the sofas before the unlit fireplace. They glanced up as I came in, and I tossed a spastic little wave. They smiled and went back to their conversation, their muted, pleasant voices like a balm.
I made it up the stairs and, after a much-needed sidetrack to the bathroom, got to Beth’s room without running into anyone. The door was closed and I stuck my ear to it. At first I heard nothing, but just as I began to turn the knob, a drawer slammed inside. Without knowing why, I froze. Beth?
Voices. Two men, and my bet was on Casper and Justus. What were they looking for? I tiptoed as fast as my toes could tip back to the stairs, then down them, and out the door. Like the wind, I flew, except the wind probably didn’t have an erratic heartbeat and sweat-soggy pits.
The temptation to dive back into the bushes was more alluring than the thought of a rum and coke but just as stupid.
I made it to the barn and slipped inside.
I chose to hide in a small windowless room filled with saddles and bridles. The smell of leather was soothing, and I needed a little soothing. Unfortunately, the room was also well insulated, making it difficult to hear what was going on in the main section. I knew my choice of hiding places wasn’t the best, but the stalls were filled with horses and, considering my past, the hay loft was never, ever going to be an option. I sat on a wooden chest piled high with saddle blankets. They were surprisingly scratchy. Despite that, I almost nodded off. I had been operating on adrenaline bursts, and the aftermath coupled with the silence worked as a sedative.
The Blood We Spill: Suspense with a Dash of Humor (A Letty Whittaker 12 Step Mystery Book 4) Page 26