by Lowe, Sheila
The conundrum she faced about the odd note and its writer had not miraculously solved itself overnight, nor did anything fall into place when she rethought it again this morning. The note was still locked safely in her briefcase.
She was itching to tell Kelly about it, but there had been no opportunity to speak privately.
A familiar face came out of the crowd. “Sister Rose, come and sit with us!”
“Esther!” Claudia was pleased to see their young guide.
A welcoming smile lit the girl’s face, but the woman walking with her gave her a sharp poke in the ribs and spoke into her ear. Esther’s smile faded. Wordlessly, she ducked her head and hurried off toward the kitchen.
What was that about?
“Welcome to the Ark, Sister Rose. I’m Martha Elkins, Esther’s mother.” The woman faced Claudia with a cool glance that was at odd with her words. She looked young to have a daughter Esther’s age—no more than thirty, Claudia guessed. Her skin was smooth, unflawed. Glossy brown hair, pulled back from her face.
“You have a lovely daughter, Mrs. Elkins. She was a great tour guide when we arrived.”
“Well, today she’s got work to do, so she won’t be available to take you around.”
Claudia blinked in surprise. The woman’s taciturn manner didn’t fit with the smiles that had greeted her up until now. She pulled out a chair, wondering what was behind Martha Elkins’s sour expression. “Do you mind if I sit here?” Claudia asked.
“Suit yourself, there’s a place if you want it.” Then Esther’s mother relented. “I’ll save your seat for you. Go on up and get what you want.” She indicated a buffet line where the members were dishing up plates of sausage, eggs, and pancakes. Claudia took her place in line, looking for lighter fare. Like Kelly, she was a night owl who found it hard to face a big breakfast so early in the morning.
She spotted Kelly, already seated across the room, chatting with a young man Claudia had seen around. Kelly always went for younger men, and they were usually happy to oblige.
Claudia carried her plate of fruit and yogurt back to the table where Martha Elkins had saved her seat as she’d promised. The elder in charge of the table turned out to be Esther’s father. He looked substantially older than his wife, but a good match with his unsmiling demeanor. Esther must have gotten her sunny nature elsewhere.
Brother Elkins acknowledged Claudia with a nod and welcomed her to the table. Asking everyone to bow their heads, he launched into a blessing so lengthy that Claudia was glad she had selected cold foods. When they had echoed his Amen, Elkins picked on a boy at the end of the table, assigning him to read a Bible verse and a TBL-authored article about the importance of abstaining from sins of the flesh.
Poor kid.
The boy cleared his throat several times through the reading, his face flaming with embarrassment. He stumbled through phrases like “anal sex” and “self-abuse,” which the article stated were ungodly practices strictly forbidden to TBL members, including married couples. Apparently the governing board of TBL had appointed themselves the Bedroom Police.
Claudia noticed that the others at the table ate fast, with their heads down, shoveling food into their mouths as if eating their last meal. She wasn’t sure whether it was more due to the subject matter or that Brother Elkins began encouraging them to finish their meal and get ready to go to their work assignments.
Seeing that there would not be much time for her to ask questions, Claudia jumped into the first lull in the conversation. “Esther was telling us yesterday about a little girl who’s been chosen for a special program. It sounded really interesting.”
The woman seated next to her perked up. “That would be Erin and Rod Powers’s child, little Kylie.” She had a round face that didn’t suit the Buster Brown haircut many of the women at the Ark seemed to favor. She’d introduced herself simply as Mary.
“Esther needs to keep her lip buttoned,” said Martha Elkins. “She’s turning into a little gossip.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Claudia said quickly, not wanting Esther to get in trouble. “My friend and I were asking her about young children at the Ark, that’s all. We hadn’t seen many here, and we were just curious.”
Mary said, “Kylie’s a beautiful child. Very special.”
A woman across the table nodded. “It’s a shame she and Sister Powers didn’t bond better.”
Claudia looked at her in surprise. “Didn’t bond? What do you mean?”
“I think Erin wanted a baby too badly; she needed too much from her. Sister Powers—Erin—didn’t have a good family of her own to raise her properly, you see.” The woman leaned forward as if she could hardly wait to spill what she knew. “That’s why having the baby was so important to her. The sad thing of it is, when Kylie was born, she wasn’t the kind of baby that wanted to be picked up and cuddled all the time. Not all babies do, you know. At least, Kylie didn’t want to be held by her mother. Different story with Rod, though. He was always—”
“Now who’s gossiping?” Martha Elkins interrupted sharply. “Erin’s a fine mother.”
“Of course she is, Sister Elkins,” the woman said in a mild tone. “I’m not saying she isn’t, but you do have to admit that the child is closer to her father.”
Brother Elkins rose and frowned down at them all. “Brothers and sisters, it’s time we got to work. If you have time to sit around, talking idly about our brethren who aren’t present, then perhaps you need some extra duties added to your load.”
Everyone stood up and began hurrying to disperse.
“Are you taken care of, sister?” Brother Elkins said to Claudia, who was scanning the room for James Miller. “Do you know where you’re meant to go?”
“Yes, thank you. Mr. Stedman has something for me to do.” She spotted James walking toward the door, chatting with another man. She excused herself and left Brother Elkins staring after her.
By the time she caught up with him, Miller was alone and moving fast along the path in the direction of the Victorian.
Claudia sped after him. “Mr. Miller, James. Could I speak with you, please?”
He turned back, the beginnings of a smile on his lips. She saw in his eyes, and the way he blanched, the instant he recognized her from the evening before in Kelly’s room. His shoulders tensed and he started to hurry away. “I don’t have time to talk. I have to get to the office. I have a project—”
“Wait, please, James, I promise not to take long. It’s really important.”
“I don’t know you. I have nothing to say to you that won’t get me into trouble.”
He wore a long-sleeve white dress shirt and tie, a crew-neck T-shirt peeking out from the neck. It must have been uncomfortably warm and gave him the look of a nerd. The navy blue serge trousers and brown dress shoes didn’t help, either. The only thing missing was a plastic pocket protector.
His panicked look made her feel sorry for him, but for Kylie’s sake, Claudia hardened her heart. She said matter-of-factly, “Maybe you’d rather say it to Brother Stedman.”
James stopped short at that and gave her deer-in-headlights fear. “What is it you want from me?”
“Do you think we could we find someplace private where we can talk for a moment? Please?”
His eyes darted left and right, seeking a way of escape. Not finding one, his shoulders sagged. His voice held defeat as he told her to follow him.
He left the dirt path, Claudia trailing, and headed through the trees about fifty feet to a small glade. They were only a hundred feet from the dining hall, but were well hidden here from curious eyes and ears.
James turned to her and held out his hands in entreaty. “If you report me, I’ll be excommunicated. Look, I know I’ve committed a grievous sin, but at least if you give me a chance to confess it myself, it won’t be—”
“James, stop! You don’t have to worry; I’m not going to say anything to Stedman or anyone else. I really don’t care who you have sex with.”
&nb
sp; “We didn’t—it wasn’t—we just—”
“Yes, I could see what you didn’t do. Anyway, I don’t care. It’s your business and Kelly’s, not mine. I’m not the sex police.”
A tall hedge stretched in both directions as far as Claudia could see, and appeared to run along the borders of the property. The branches had woven around and through the dull metal of a chain link fence. No one would be able to enter or leave the Ark that way.
James backed up against the hedge as if he needed the protection of something solid behind him. He gripped his arms across his chest and stared at her. “Well—what is it you want with me?”
“I’d like you to tell me what you know about Rodney Powers’s whereabouts.” She felt like a detective, asking him like that. He had no obligation to answer, of course, but if he refused to cooperate, there was still the threat of blowing the whistle on him for hooking up with a nonmember. For hooking up at all.
James’s face drained of color. “Rodney’s—wait a minute—you know about Rod? How do you know—?”
She answered his question with another. “Do you know where he is?”
“I don’t, uh . . . I, uh . . .”
Claudia spoke gently, as if he were a frightened animal who might startle away if she moved too fast. “I know you don’t want to lie, James. What would Brother Stedman have to say about that?”
He licked his lips nervously, unfolded his arms and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Why do you want to know about Rod? Who are you two really? And what are you doing here?”
“We’re looking for Rod. That’s what we’re doing here. You’re the person he’s closest to, so you’re the most likely person to know where he is.”
“Did Sister Ryder put you up to this?”
“Lynn Ryder? Why would you think that?”
“She knows everything that’s going on around here.”
“Electronic monitoring,” Claudia said, half to herself. “They’re watching and listening to everything?”
“Anything she knows, they know.”
“Who do you mean, ‘they’?”
James caught himself. “I don’t mean anything. I don’t know what I’m saying. I haven’t had enough sleep, I . . .”
“I know you’re under a lot of stress. You’re helping Rod and I expect the elders wouldn’t approve if they knew you were taking sides between a husband and wife. That must be difficult for you. I know you want to do the right thing, James. Look, little Kylie needs her mother. Please tell me where he’s taken her.”
James drew a sharp breath, and in that moment Claudia caught a glimpse of the inner turmoil that was tearing him apart. She willed him to take the relief valve she was offering him in sharing his secret.
But he shook his head slowly. “They’re in a safe place. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“It’s not right to take a child away from her mother, James. Think how it is for Kylie right now, in a strange place with nothing familiar to her; not having her mother to care for her. Do you really believe it’s the right thing to send a child of her age into Jephthah’s Daughters? She’s about to turn three. Only three years old!” As she spoke, Claudia was reminded once again of the words in the note she’d received: It’s not the way it seems.
James looked down at his shoes. He began picking at a scab on his arm, concentrating on it as if it offered him a way out of the conversation. Finally, he mumbled, “I have to go back. I have to go to work.” But he made no move to leave.
“James, do those children ever come back from the program? What happens to them there?”
His head jerked up. “What are you up to? Are you from the governmnet?”
“No, we have personal reasons for needing to know.”
“What personal reasons? What’s going on? I asked you before, I’ll ask you again: Did Sister Ryder put you up to this?”
“No, of course not. I’m sorry I can’t tell you more right now, but if you help me, you’ll understand later.”
“Kelly.” He choked on her name. “She was using me, wasn’t she? She was just using me to find out . . .”
“I’m sorry, James. I know she didn’t intend to hurt you.”
His eyes narrowed. “I should have guessed that someone like her wouldn’t be interested in someone like me.”
Exasperation made Claudia snap at him. “Good God, James—interested in you? What did you expect from a woman you’ve known for little bits of a couple of days?”
Color flooded his face. “Maybe you’ve guessed, I don’t have a whole lot of experience with women.”
“That’s your choice, isn’t it? Yet, you stay here and follow the TBL rules.”
“The rules are important; they keep us clean. What I did with Kelly was filthy, evil. I have to go to the governing board and confess. I deserve whatever they decide to do to me.”
“James, how old are you? Thirty-eight? Forty? Have you ever had sex? How long are you going to let these men tell you what to do?”
“They’re teaching us the Lord’s will.”
From where Claudia stood, she could see that his entire body was trembling so hard he was almost vibrating. He darted a look at her, but glanced away quickly again. “You shouldn’t meddle here, sister. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“That sounds almost like a threat. Is that what you meant it to be?”
“No. I don’t know. You should leave right away. It’s not wise to engage in independent thinking.”
“Maybe a little independent thinking is exactly what’s needed right now, James.”
“The elders know what’s best for us.”
It’s not the way it seems.
“Is that why you’re helping Rodney hide Kylie until the time comes for her to be symbolically sacrificed? Even though her mother has changed her mind, and doesn’t want her to go?”
Abruptly, James turned and stumbled a few feet away to a clump of bushes, where he fell to his knees and vomited. He stayed there, hunched over, retching until he had emptied his stomach. Then he retched some more until there was nothing to bring up.
Claudia found some crumpled Kleenex in her pocket. She went over and passed it to him over his shoulder. Bile rose in her own throat as the strong odor of regurgitated sausage forced her to back away. “Think about it, James,” she pleaded. “Think about little Kylie. If you don’t help, you’ll become a part of whatever’s going to happen to her. We’re talking about a baby, here.” Her voice was unsteady with emotion.
James wiped his mouth with the back of a trembling hand. “I can’t—I can’t . . .” Tears began streaming down his face. “Don’t ask me . . .” He faltered, sobbing. “I’m being torn into a thousand pieces.”
With a low moan, he bolted off, running in a ragged zigzag back the way they had come.
Chapter 14
Claudia was back at Rodney Powers’s desk by eight. She still hadn’t talked to Kelly, and she badly wanted to tell her about the note in her briefcase and her encounter with James Miller. Later, she would have to find an excuse to leave the Ark and call Jovanic. But for now, while it was still blessedly cool in the little office, she would finish up her work for Harold Stedman.
Maybe James’s conscience would get the better of him and he would decide to tell her whatever it was that he knew before she and Kelly left the Ark in a few hours.
What if he confessed to the governing board? That would not help them in their quest to find Kylie before the ceremony. Claudia felt deeply frustrated, as if the information had been within her grasp when James broke down.
Lynn Ryder stopped by to bring her the new envelope from Stedman. Keeping in mind what James had said about the security chief knowing everything, Claudia kept her conversation bland. She would have preferred to ask what the hell Ryder had been doing in her room, going through her things. But there was no point in tipping her hand.
“Will you be working in here all day, Sister Rose?” Ryder asked.
“I don’t know right n
ow. It depends on how much work Mr. Stedman has for me. Why? Do I need to account for my whereabouts?”
Ryder gave her a strange look. “No, of course not. Brother Stedman suggested that if you finished early, you might want to attend a class.”
“I don’t think so. I’ll have plenty to keep me busy for a while, and after that, I’ll probably make a trip into town. And by the way, we’ll be leaving for home tomorrow morning.”
“Well, okay then. If you change your mind about the class, just let Rita know.”
Claudia forced a smile. “I won’t. Thanks anyway.”
When Lynn Ryder left, Claudia found a letter opener in the desk drawer and used it to open the envelope. She tipped the new set of handwriting samples out onto the desk and shuffled through them, getting an overview of each sample before beginning the actual task of analysis.
The third one made her jaw drop. Block-printed writing that matched the note Erin had showed them at Kelly’s condo, she was certain of it. Her memory of the block-printed writing with the scrawled signature, “Rod,” was quite clear.
So, if this was Rodney’s handwriting, then who had left the note in her briefcase, which was not the same writer?
It’s not the way it seems.
Claudia shoved the samples into the envelope and pushed her chair back from the desk. She strode out of the purchasing agent’s office in search of Rita the office assistant and found her at one of the desks in the main office, underlining text in a TBL magazine.
Rita looked up with a smile. “Good morning, sister. I missed you at breakfast. Did you enjoy it?”
“Yes, thank you, breakfast was fine. Rita, I need you to tell me where I can find Kelly. Now, please.”
Rita’s face closed up. She returned her gaze to the computer monitor. “Sister Kelly is in class this morning; I’m afraid she can’t be disturbed.”
“She never said anything about going to a class.”
“It was arranged after breakfast. She said she wanted to learn more about how the Temple of Brighter Light got started, so it was arranged for her to have a private session.”