How was she supposed to pray and give thanks when the night crawled over her like this?
She spun and returned to her walk, her pace faster than before. The rec center was less than five minutes away. Behind her, a dog barked. From the sound of the high-pitched yip, it had to be Lois’s dog.
The tingling in her neck continued. The agitated barking echoed through the streets.
Ahead, where the street she was hurrying down met River Road, a figure stepped out from a dark corner and turned to her.
Her heart stalled and her steps faltered. Noah.
No, she wouldn’t be fooled again. The short hair and wary bearing belonged to Eli, not his brother.
She sagged. Quickening her steps, she hurried toward him. As soon as she reached him, the dog stopped its incessant barking.
“What are you doing out so late?” she asked. “I mean, I’m due to lock up the gym when the men finish their basketball game or else I’d be asleep by now.”
“Why didn’t you drive down?”
“I don’t want to waste the gas and wear and tear on my car. It’s old and rickety enough as it is and it’s been hard to start today for some reason.” She kept on walking. Eli, however, stood and stared up the street toward her cul-de-sac. She hesitated a few yards away. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He threw one last glance over his shoulder and strode toward her. “Let me help you lock up. Then I’ll walk you home.”
“Thank you.” She couldn’t deny her relief at his suggestion. Tonight the streets felt sinister.
They walked the rest of the short distance in silence, down into the dip on the River Road, then up past the narrow park that lay to their left. Inside the rec center, she waved to one man who’d taken a break outside the gym for a quick swig of water.
“Hi, Paul,” she said.
“Hey, Kaylee, come to lock up? Or are you here to watch my team win?” He chuckled, but then stopped abruptly when he saw Eli at the door.
She hastily introduced the men. Pastor Paul Riggs did a lot of outreach, his specialty was using sports. The two men sized each other up, then her pastor reached out to pump Eli’s hand. They spoke briefly before Pastor Paul threw his empty water bottle back into his bag.
“You look good, Kaylee,” he said, wiping his forehead with the short sleeve of his shirt. “I think Lois’s cooking is putting some meat on you.” He smiled at them and headed back into the gym.
“Are you?”
She blinked at Eli. “Putting on weight? A bit. I didn’t think it would be so hard.”
“It’s the stress. Give it time. Plus, you didn’t eat right for two years.”
She stooped to pick up a discarded candy wrapper. It was from the store beside the gym, a product made right on the premises. “No, we didn’t,” she said, tossing the wrapper into the garbage can nearby. “Some fresh vegetables when they ripened in the garden and then mostly rice and pasta in the winter. There just wasn’t very much to go around.”
Eli’s expression darkened. “You had no meat or milk? No bread?”
“No. The children got powdered milk, but meat only came when a chicken died. We had tea, but no sugar for it.” Her stomach ached, ripping away any appetite she may have had for an evening snack. No wonder she was still too skinny.
Eli folded his arms, his brows meeting and his mouth tight.
She watched the game through the protected window. “I remember one day this past spring, when Noah and the men took some of the women to get groceries and seeds, that we had nothing to eat, those of us who were left. I think the ones who went shopping also went to a restaurant.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing I suppose. It’s just that we had no food in the house. We’d been eating sparsely for weeks and it was taking its toll on us. Anyway, one of the women had reached the end of her rope. The children, there were three with us, were irritable and hungry. The woman went outside and collected lamb’s-quarter.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s that plant that has pointed leaves and some kind of silvery dust on its new sprouts. It grows the fastest in early spring. But it cooks up like young spinach, only not as strong tasting. Oh, it was good. Delicious. Even the kids ate and ate.”
He tilted his head. “Why are you sad about that? As far as I can tell, getting kids to eat any vegetables is a good thing.”
She smiled briefly and shrugged. “In that way, yes, it was good. But when the others came home, Phoebe found out about it from one of the kids. She told Noah.” Her gaze clouded and she flicked her head away from him. “The woman who picked and cooked the lamb’s-quarter for us was punished.”
She bustled into the office, knowing Eli would follow her. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. It’s just that…”
Eli straightened. “That what? That the woman did the right thing?”
She couldn’t look at him. “Noah didn’t want us to eat it because he said it represented the evil that lured us away from the truth. The lust for food was the same as the lust for the evils around us.” She lifted her hand. “It was just another way he controlled us, I know that now. But that day…we were starving. So we picked bowls and bowls of it. It felt so good to eat it.”
“What was wrong with that?”
She could still taste the fresh flavor, the little bit of salt and pepper they’d dared to sprinkle on it. The lure of fresh food had been powerful. “I remember wondering if Noah had been right.”
“About what?”
“About the lamb’s-quarter. With a craving that strong, it had almost felt sinful to eat it, to want it so much, you’d give anything for it. Noah quoted the story of how Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of stew.”
Eli bent his head down and lifted her chin with his finger. That little touch felt so comforting. “Don’t let Noah twist the Bible to suit himself. Yes, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob, because he cared only for his own immediate needs. He showed lack of faith. I don’t see you in that same way.”
She shut her eyes, confusion swirling around her at Eli’s intuition. She didn’t need to be a psychologist to see that he was as smooth a talker as his brother was. “Noah was determined that the woman be purged of evil.”
With an abrupt shiver, she stepped away from him. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I remember feeling so guilty that we’d eaten those greens. I even prayed about it. Noah could be so persuasive and dangerous, and when I realized that I was actually starting to believe him about some things, it scared me. I was thinking about that incident just before I decided to escape.” She folded her arms to hug herself.
Eli took her arms and set them down at her sides. “Don’t feel guilty. And don’t fight the need to talk this out.”
“Who wants to rehash everything?” she whispered, not meeting his gaze, but rather turning to watch out the caged window at the basketball game as it came to a close.
He didn’t answer her question. Rather, he leaned back against the wall. She could hear the men in the gym cheering and yelling and shaking hands. They’d soon pour out the door beside her, grab their packs and bags and leave. Eli would take her home and she’d be alone again for another night.
Did that bother her?
“It helps to tackle issues head on,” Eli answered with a soft voice. “It robs them of their power over you. Don’t think it was your fault that he was starting to sway you. He’s manipulative and starvation is a form of control. But you saw what was happening and got out. That’s what counts.”
“I guess so.” She wanted to walk into Eli’s arms again. She wanted to feel the comfort and protection she knew she’d find there.
But she didn’t know him very well, though she did know he was driven, like his brother.
What if he turned out to be as dangerous as Noah? What if she was replacing one persuasive man with another?
The door to the gym flew open and the men spilled out. Kaylee peeked out of the office to watch them all gath
er up their jackets and gym bags and filter into the night.
Only Pastor Paul remained. Still out of breath, he grinned at her. “Do you need a drive home, Kaylee? I’m taking some of the guys that way.”
“I’ll take her home.”
Paul looked at Eli’s determined expression then nodded. He turned to Kaylee. “Are you working tomorrow night? We could use a hand with the youth group’s floor-hockey game. My usual assistants are university students, but they’re all studying. Exams are coming up.”
He’d been trying to get her involved in the church. She’d resisted so far, begging off due to fatigue. She hesitated.
Paul leaned forward to smile encouragingly. “It’s for the kids. To keep them off the streets.” He looked at his watch. “Gotta go. I’ll see you at six tomorrow night?”
“Okay.” Kaylee found herself smiling. “As long as they don’t wear me out.”
“Sorry. No guarantees on that,” Paul answered cheerfully, slinging his gym bag over his shoulder. “They wear out everyone who’s more than twenty-one. That’s why we need help. Tag-team monitoring.”
He threw a speculative look at Eli. “If you’re sticking around, you’re welcome to come, too. We’re having sundaes after.”
“If Kaylee’s going, I’ll be there.”
Paul lifted his eyebrows as they all turned to leave. Like a good minister, Paul had a gregarious personality and tact. But he wasn’t naive. He was a man, too. Did that mean he trusted Eli or not?
The building now locked up, she and Eli fell into step along the sidewalk. The clouds had moved in and Kaylee felt a warm, southerly breeze rise. Lois’s prediction on that tropical storm was coming true.
As they reached the street where they’d met, the dog in the distance began to bark again. The same frenzied barking as before.
“Is that Pepe?” Eli asked as they walked.
“I don’t know.” She started to laugh softly. “If it is him, maybe I should start to feed him like the previous tenants did. Maybe that’s all he wants.”
“He sounds more agitated than hungry.”
As they stepped off the sidewalk to meet Kaylee’s cul-de-sac, the dog let out a short yelp.
Followed by a skin-prickling silence.
EIGHT
“Kaylee’s neighbor, Lois Smith, found him this morning. Poor thing probably died in the night. Before she went to bed, she noticed the broken chain. She figured he’d decided to take off for a run. He’s done that before.”
Eli could barely hear Paul Riggs’ voice over the din of teenagers playing floor hockey. “Lois was pretty upset. She called the police immediately because she knew her nephew was working. He answered the call.”
They stood in one corner. A whistle dangled around Paul’s neck, while Eli held the stopwatch. The two men had decided on two five-minute scrimmages, junior youth against the senior youth. It looked as if the juniors were going to win but, frankly, Eli wasn’t watching the timer in his hand. He scanned the gym for Kaylee and found her across the floor, ducking the small white ball as it whipped past her. She barely escaped being sandwiched between two boys as they fought for possession.
“Big dog?” he asked Paul.
“Not really. I remember when I first visited Lois. He was just an average-sized brown mutt with an annoying high-pitched bark. He was okay once he got to sniff you, but overall, I’d say he was just a chicken in a dog’s body.”
“Does this sort of thing happen a lot here?”
Paul shook his head. “I’ve never heard of it, and I’ve lived here for almost a decade.”
“That dog was upset last night. Kaylee said Lois doesn’t always hear it.”
“I’m not surprised. She cranks her TV up because she’s half-deaf. Won’t admit it, though. Jim Reading phoned me, thinking Lois might appreciate a visit after what happened. When I called her this afternoon, she said she thought a bear might have wandered into the village.”
Eli shook his head. “Black bears are apt to leave a potent smell wherever they go. I don’t remember smelling that last night.”
Paul lifted his whistle, then stopped. “How do you know about bears?”
“I’m from rural New York state. Where we lived, we had black bears. Last night, there was no garbage out and most bears would have headed toward downtown to search through the restaurant’s garbage there. Were there any reports of a bear?”
Shaking his head, Paul blew his whistle at some in-fraction. After a moment, the play resumed and he returned to stand beside Eli. “Actually, you’re right to be suspicious. The police think it’s foul play. Someone, not something, killed that dog.”
“To shut it up?”
“My thoughts exactly.” Paul blew the whistle again and shouted out that the time had expired. Eli hadn’t even thought to look down at the stopwatch in his palm.
To shut the dog up? Cold rippled down his back. He leaned slightly toward the pastor. “Did you tell Kaylee?”
“No. We were so busy picking up the kids and getting ready for youth group.” Paul’s expression turned intense. “And I told Lois not to, either. At least not right away. She doesn’t need the worry. But this is a small town. She’s bound to find out.”
Not if he had something to do with it, Eli vowed. He should check out Kaylee’s backyard, anyway. Noah was good at hiding in difficult places, but Eli hadn’t spent all that time working with the police without picking up a few tricks himself. If Noah had been in her backyard, he would find evidence of it. Noah was a good outdoorsman, knowing how to hide his presence, but Eli was good, too.
“Do you know something about this?”
He looked up at Paul’s frown. “No. After Kaylee locked up and we started walking, we heard a dog cry out and then there was nothing. We didn’t know whose dog it was.”
Paul shook his head. “As soon as my wife found out, she decided to keep our dog in. She thinks it was a burglar.”
Eli said nothing.
The rest of the evening was wild, chaotic and typically teen-oriented. Finally, near nine o’clock, the teens had all headed home. By nine-thirty, with Kaylee and Eli to help, the gym, kitchen and lounge were all tidied up.
Paul killed the lights to the gym as they all left. “Thanks, you two. I don’t know what I would have done if I had to look after these kids alone. Will I see you both at church on Sunday?”
“Yes,” Eli answered automatically. Then, catching a glimpse of Kaylee’s tired, doelike expression as she walked past him, contrition swept over him.
He needed to hear from his investigator. And soon.
Sunday morning the church parking lot was full. Eli found a spot at the far corner and as he walked around to open the door for Kaylee, he nodded to an older couple parking near them. Above, the sky seemed as dark as a winter dusk. That tropical storm was due today.
Kaylee climbed out of his car and followed his glance up at the darkening sky. “I’m glad I didn’t bring my car. With the wet weather due, it may not start.”
“What exactly is the car doing?”
“Not starting. It was fine a week ago, but now, it barely cranks. Sometimes all I get is a clicking noise.”
“Your battery is dying. It sounds like you don’t have enough juice to turn over the engine.”
“Great. I can’t afford a new battery. Good thing I live walking distance to work.”
“Maybe it only needs to be charged. I’ll have a look at it, if you’d like?”
She smiled a thank-you at him as they made their way into the sanctuary. The early service attracted quite a few. The people here all had nice, ordered lives. They worked during the week and fellowshipped on Sunday. He swallowed. His life was too itinerant and it wouldn’t change until he freed Phoebe.
And what about Kaylee? There she was, trying her best to lead a normal life after all Noah had done. Her disgust for him and his cult members was more than obvious and included Phoebe. To her, Phoebe was as responsible for Trisha’s death as Noah was. She wanted to c
ut them all loose from her memories and start her life again. He was a living, breathing reminder to her.
Kaylee spotted Lois with another elderly woman. Both scooted over to let her and Eli into the pew.
Kaylee chuckled. “All the little old ladies take up these seats in the back. I think they like to watch the congregation come in.”
“No, it’s not that,” Lois beside her stated in a tart tone. “Most of them need hearing aids and use the earphones from the sound system. You have to sit in the back for them. I don’t need one, mind you, but these ladies are my friends.”
Kaylee winked at him before leaning close enough for her low whisper to be heard only by him. “I was expecting Lois to be a bit more pleased I was here, but she seems a bit cranky. I think she’s starting to realize she needs a hearing aid.” With a light shrug, she settled back in the pew.
He smiled briefly, grateful for her relaxed mood. Obviously, Lois hadn’t told her about Pepe. But from the woman’s behavior, his death bothered her very much.
The service was short, full of prayer, which allowed Eli’s thoughts to wander to Kaylee. She was a mix of contradictions. Trying to start her life over, oddly serene here in church and yet still wracked with guilt for the things she’d said and done.
She believed God was punishing her for being swayed by Noah and beginning to believe his warped philosophies.
How could she really believe that because she’d been forced to say blasphemous words for Noah, the Lord would never forgive her?
Or was it in part humiliation she felt? To believe a man, only to have him kill her beloved sister?
Eli didn’t know her well enough to guess.
But, he realized with growing concern, he wanted to know her that well.
The service ended and after attending the adult Sunday school, Eli and Kaylee returned to the sanctuary for the regular service.
“I told you so,” she whispered with a snicker as they walked up the center aisle, past the back pews now filled with elderly ladies. “All the old ladies take the back seats.”
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