Darkness at the Edge of Town

by Jennifer Harlow

  “It’s okay. We figured she would. They’re sanitized for anything confidential,” he said, still texting.

  Helen picked up another file and her shoulders straightened. Then another file. Her back straightened as if she’d been struck by lightning. Something wasn’t right. Luke saw it too. “I think you need to get back in there,” Luke said.

  Lucerno glanced up from his cell and saw what we did. A declawed cat who just realized she had fangs. “Shit.”

  “I’ll go get your partner,” Luke said, rising. Both men left, but Lucerno reappeared in the interview room a few seconds later, all sympathetic smiles. “I brought you more tissues. We—”

  “Why do you have files on Meggie, Paul, Nessa, and Chantal?” she cut in.

  “Oh, fuck,” I muttered.

  “What?” Hancock asked.

  One mistake, one oversight, and a case could implode. All that hard work, hundreds of hours of your life you sacrificed, for nothing. Kaboom. At least Lucerno had the sense to recognize the error they’d made.

  “We have files on most members. It’s standard,” he said with a smile as he sat across from her.

  The door opened, and Carmichael stepped in. “Sorry. Nature called. Ms. Mitchell, do you need to use the restroom? We should have offered earlier, but—”

  “But why did you bring these files?” Helen asked, ignoring Carmichael. “D-Do you think they’re involved in the drug running?”

  Luke returned and moved beside me. “What’s happening?”

  “That’s what we’re—” Carmichael said.

  Helen shoved the files across the table at the men. “You’re wrong. If, if Mathias is who you say he is, and if he’s doing what you claim he is, they have nothing to do with it. Nothing. Chantal has a child. She would never do anything to risk being separated from her baby again. They are all good kids who have been through hell in life and are doing their best to overcome all of the universe’s trials. They have done nothing wrong.”

  “We’re not saying it’s their fault, Helen,” Carmichael said. “They’ve been manipulated. Maybe they don’t even know they’re trafficking. That’s why we need your help. To find the bad apples before they poison the whole barrel. Mathias is using you, Helen; he’s using you all. He’s using the girls like Megan and Nessa to keep the men around. He’s using the people at The Apex to fix up the house he stole from a woman with dementia. He’s bilking people like Billy Ballard out of their life savings to keep his cover going while he manufactures drugs like the kind that killed your son. You help us put him away, that all stops. Everyone’s free to move on with their lives.”

  Oh, fuck, I thought. He’d almost got her back too. Her mouth twitched with that last sentence. Free to move on. From the group. From her. At least those they weren’t going to arrest. Helen was no fool. She’d worked out that Megan was neck deep in the trafficking, probably Paul and Chantal too. Anything for the Movement, right? Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. Gone was the meek, terrified, crying, middle-aged ex-con from the hour before. The woman in with them now was a queen in front of the men attempting to rape and pillage her kingdom. To destroy her family. Goddamn, sometimes it really sucked being right all the damn time.

  “You know what I think?” Helen the Warrior Queen asked. “I think you have a personal vendetta against Mathias. You didn’t get what you wanted from him before, so you’ll say and do anything to ruin him now. I think if you had a shred of proof about any of this you would have come and arrested us already. I think you’ve manufactured and doctored all of these photos to manipulate me. And the fact that you even brought up my son is vile and despicable,” she hissed, “considering the DEA had a hand in his death. You people put me away for years over a few little pills. Rapists get less time than I did. So screw you, Agent Carmichael. I see right through you.” She stood like the queen she was. “Am I under arrest?”

  Carmichael frowned. “No.”

  “Then you cannot keep me here against my will. And if you wish to speak to me or anyone else from the Movement, you will do so with our lawyers present. Good day.” She snatched up her purse and moved toward the door.

  “We have to keep her here,” I said to Hancock.

  “How? We have nothing on her,” Hancock replied.

  “Shit. Shit!” I leapt up from my seat and strode out of the room into the bullpen. “Helen!”

  The woman stopped, then glared at me as I approached. “Of course you’re involved in this,” she spewed. “You probably got them to create all that false evidence.”

  “I didn’t. Truly, on my brother’s life, on my husband’s grave, I didn’t. They’ve been investigating for months, long before I’d ever heard about you all. Helen, everything they said in there is a hundred percent true. I’m sorry, but it is. And I think deep down you know it is.”

  “You lied to us. You manipulated us. You used poor Paul, then broke his heart. You threatened us. I’d spit in your face, but you’re so vindictive you’d probably have me arrested for assault. Billy was right about you. You are a cold, cruel woman.”

  She began walking away again, but I blocked her. “Goddamn, listen to me! I’m sorry for lying to you. I am. It killed me to lie, especially to you because I know you’re a good person. I know. You have nothing to do with Mathias’s drug business. You just wanted to help people, and he gave you that opportunity. And you did. You have. Everything good the Movement’s done, all the happiness of the members, that’s because of you. You managed to build a garden, Helen, but you did it in a nuclear wasteland, and that waste is slowly killing the people you built it to protect. You know Megan wouldn’t sleep with all those men if Mathias didn’t suggest she do it. You know Paul wouldn’t have thought he was in love with a woman he didn’t know if Mathias hadn’t told him he was. My brother wouldn’t put drugs in his car for anything. Mathias is using you all, and you know it. And you heard what he’s done in the past when people were no longer of use to him. He snitched on them. He left them. He had them murdered, Helen. What do you think will happen if you tell him the DEA’s closing in? He’s dangerous. We are not the ones you need to be protecting them from. If you love them, you will go back into that room and tell us what little you know. You go back and tell them what he’s up to. Because if you go into that room with eyes wide open, you’ll see I’m right. It’s over, Helen. I’m sorry, but it is. One way or another. And I am fucking petrified that if you leave this station and tell Mathias what happened today, you, Megan, Paul, the children, and my brother will all be in mortal danger. Mathias Morning does not deserve your loyalty. So I’m asking—no, I’m fucking begging—at the very least keep your mouth shut about what you know. This never happened. Please. Please.”

  Her sneer never wavered through my whole speech, so I wasn’t surprised when she said, “Unlike you, I don’t turn on my family. I protect them. You people aren’t touching my family, and I’m sure as hell not going to let you destroy them.”

  Helen turned her back on me and stalked out of the station. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop her.

  “Lucerno, follow her,” Carmichael said. “See where she goes. Who picks her up. If she goes to the house or farm, come back.” Lucerno nodded and obeyed. I had to sit down when my legs grew wobbly. “Sheriff, I need you to get on the horn to your most sympathetic judge and DA. I’ll type up the affidavits on what we have already and pray your judge signs off on the search warrants.”

  “There are children. At both places,” I said shakily.

  “Then get CPS on the horn too.”

  “Even if you get the warrants with the nothing evidence you have, he’s probably already sanitized both sites,” Luke said.

  “Yeah, because of your fucking girlfriend,” Carmichael snapped. “You know what? I don’t care whose godson or whatever you are. Get the fuck out of here. Both of you. And if I so much as get a whiff of either of you still sniffing around my case, I’ll arrest you both for obstruction of justice. I’m serious. Fuck o
ff.”

  There wasn’t anything we could do anyway. My mind spun 150 miles per hour attempting to figure out how to proceed. What I could do to salvage the situation. How to rescue my brother.

  Somehow I rose from my chair. “Don’t you dare let those people out of your sight,” I said to Carmichael breathlessly. “Not for a goddamn second.” I could barely breathe, as the panic made me light-headed. I was shocked I could walk.

  “What happened? What’s going on?” Joyce asked as we passed.

  “Just do your best to keep us informed, okay?” Luke said.

  “Yeah.”

  Luke placed his hand on the small of my back to guide muddled me out of the station to his car. I climbed in and just sat staring at the station for a few seconds. “Iris?” Luke asked.

  “Fuck!” I shouted before beating his dashboard. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I fell back in my seat and covered my face with my hands. “Shit. Shit.”

  “What do you want to do?” Luke asked a second later.

  “I don’t know. I don’t know!” I said, literally throwing my hands up in the air. No, I knew. A Hail Mary pass that could leave me paralyzed if I didn’t reach the end zone. “Take me home.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I need to get my car.” And my grandfather’s gun.

  “To go where?” he asked, his voice hard. “That is a bad idea, Iris.”

  “You have a better one? I have to try. I have to try to get him out of there.”

  “They’re on high alert,” Luke said. “The police are watching the farm. Mathias threatened you. They more than likely have guns. Wh—”

  “I’ll find a secluded spot to jump the fence and sneak across the property. I’ll be careful.”

  “There is no way I am letting you put yourself in danger like that. No damn way.”

  “Let me?”

  “You know what I mean. You’re not thinking clearly. You’re being impulsive. Iris…you have done enough.”

  “No, I haven’t. I haven’t. Carmichael’s right. This is mostly my fault, Luke. My brother is in serious fucking danger now because I—”

  “No. You know I’d tell you if this were your fault. This is on Carmichael. He should have told the sheriff about his investigation months ago. He brought in Helen Mitchell prematurely and lost her. He let his pride get in the way of the case. It is not your fault, Iris, and I will be damned if you put yourself in danger for another man’s mistakes.”

  I hung my head. “I put myself in danger for almost ten years for total strangers. This is my brother, Luke. My family. If something happens to him my grandparents will be devastated. Mom would probably kill…” I shook my head. “And if I don’t warn him, if I don’t try one last time to get him out of there, I will never, ever forgive myself. I couldn’t save Hayden. I cannot lose another person I love. I can’t. What wouldn’t you do for someone you love?”

  I glanced at Luke, who stared at me with sympathy and resolve. “Nothing. Not a damn thing.” He stared straight ahead and sighed before starting the car. “You remember the address or how to get there?”

  “To my grandparents’ house?”

  “The Apex. You remember where it is?” Luke asked.

  “You’re not going,” I stated.

  “And you’re not going without me. Someone has to watch your back.”

  “No. No way. You heard Carmichael. If we get caught, he’ll arrest us. He’ll—”

  “After all his screwups he wouldn’t dare accuse me of anything. This is nonnegotiable, Iris. You go, I go. Ride or die, remember? So let’s ride. End of discussion.” He pulled out of the parking lot. “Now let’s go save your damn brother.”

  I stared at my partner, my best friend, who was ready to risk himself to help me to his own detriment. I found myself smiling. “I really don’t deserve you,” I whispered.

  He looked at me and smiled. “Well, you’ve got me as long as you need me.”

  I had the horrible sense I’d need him more than ever in the hours to come.

  Be brave.

  Chapter 15

  Surveillance always was the worst part of the job. Surveillance outside in the middle of summer was hell on Earth. Luke truly must have loved me to endure two hours hiding behind a tree, watching the comings and goings of cult members. There weren’t as many people in the fields as the day before, and those who were kept glancing everywhere for danger. There were also a few real lookouts, people in chairs scanning the area with binoculars, but we’d discovered a blind spot. We just had to be careful. We drank all our waters and got to add an embarrassing story about each other to the files. Peeing not inches away from one another—another first. We weren’t even perspiring anymore. We’d run out of sweat. Luke always had more patience than me, but he was the first to say, “This is ridiculous,” as we began hour three. He was not wrong. Not all my plans were winners.

  “Just a few more minutes,” I said, checking through my own binoculars. We’d stopped at my grandparents’ house for water, sunscreen, bug spray, ball caps, snacks, tissues, and binoculars. Wish we’d remembered a portable hand fan and ice.

  “Iris, this isn’t working. They could stay inside that house all day.”

  “Then I’ll wait all day. You can go, Luke. Seriously, it’s okay.”

  “You are so—”

  Patience was a virtue for a reason. The good news was that whatever was happening in the farmhouse ended. Almost forty people started filtering out onto the porch. I recognized only a few, including Dutch, Britt, Paul, Chantal, and finally Billy. There wasn’t a happy face in the bunch. A few of the women cried and most everyone else’s heads hung. Yeah, they knew about the DEA. That their little slice of heaven was about to be devoured. A pang of sympathy pierced my heart.

  Billy and Paul strolled together toward the trailers, and I knew it was time to move. We’d already worked out our cover. The lookouts were temporarily distracted by the group, especially the ones getting the download of the meeting. There was only open field for about twenty yards. No Man’s Land. Our only choice was to blend in. It was risky as hell, but we bet on the members being in shock and in their own heads, plus the Apex contingent not knowing the Temple newbies that well. As long as we kept our distance, with luck, we’d be fine. “Here goes nothing,” I said as Luke wrapped his arm around my torso and I rested my head on his chest, pretending to weep. That way no one could see my face.

  With Luke’s head down like everyone else’s, we left our tree and began walking through the open field. Luke pretended to whisper comforting words to me but really was describing people nearby. His heart pounded as hard as mine did as we entered hostile territory. The few times I dared to look up, I saw that no one was paying attention to us. We were just another couple whose world was crumbling. If anyone did scrutinize us, Luke just kissed my head to hide his own face. We let the baseball caps do the rest.

  Damned if it didn’t work. We made it to the tents, and before our luck ran out, we went into the trailer Billy had entered. I found my brother sitting on a tiny bed, head in his hands, thinking. Unlike the trailer he’d shared with Gia, the one he shared with his wife reeked of old cigarettes, had mold on the walls and counters, and hadn’t a stick of furniture that wasn’t from the seventies. A definite downgrade in every corner of the home front.

  At the sound of our entering, Billy said, “I’ll be out in a—”

  “Billy?” I asked as Luke shut the door.

  Billy’s gaze shot up to me, both surprised and horrified. “What the—”

  “Billy, I need you to listen to me right now, okay?” I cut in.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” he hissed, leaping up.

  “I’m here to get you out before your entire life gets ruined,” I said.

  “Before my life…You! You ruined my life. You brought the DEA in to arrest us all!” he shouted.

  “No. I didn’t. I swear on Hayden’s grave I didn’t. The DEA’s been investigating the Movement for months.
I had no idea until yesterday afternoon. Billy…they have proof someone smuggled drugs in your car. A witness. Pictures.”

  “What? Drugs? I never smuggled anything.”

  “The ambassador trips. Someone told you where to go, right? Megan, Ken—I don’t know who, but you were transporting pills and meth for a biker gang called The Scythes. They were even cooking the shit at the edge of this property. You can’t tell me there haven’t been bikers around here, especially in the last day or two.”

  “Lots of people…come and go,” he said uneasily. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

  “Goddamn it, Billy, open your eyes. Open your brain! I know Helen told you about the investigation. The DEA doesn’t spend millions of dollars and months investigating for shits and giggles.”

  “They do! Helen said the agent guy has a vendetta against Mathias that started years ago.”

  “No, he doesn’t have a vendetta, he just knows what the man’s capable of. Did Helen mention Mathias’s real name is Samuel Mueller? That he’s been arrested for drug running, fraud, fleeing justice, and suspected murder? That this is his third cult they know of? That he abandoned one right when the police were closing in? That in the last one, two witnesses were murdered by other members, most likely on Mathias’s orders?”

  “No—you’re making this up just like he said you all would,” Billy said, shaking his head.

  “Do you think I could make this shit up?” I asked incredulously.

  “She’s not,” Luke said.

  Billy glared at Luke. “Oh, please. Like you wouldn’t lie for her.”

  “We’re not lying. Just like I’m not lying about the fact that yesterday, Mathias threatened me and our grandparents.”

  “Oh, now I know you’re lying,” he snapped.

  “Then how do I know that during one of your conversations with Mathias or Helen, you told them about what I did to Meriwether? That Luke lied to protect me? That you told them our grandparents don’t declare everything on their taxes? I didn’t even know that, Billy, so how do I know it now? Mathias told me he’d call the FBI and IRS on us. How could I know you told him these things, Billy, if he didn’t tell me? He tried to blackmail me, just like he had you blackmail your friend Kevin.”