Before He Harms

by Blake Pierce

  “Oh, I’m sure his mindless drones will soak up whatever he has to say,” Ellington said.

  “Those morons, sure,” the officer said. “I’m talking about the reporters and the cameras.”

  “Who the hell would interview that scumbag?” Mackenzie asked.

  The officer looked unsettled for a moment. “Ah crap. You guys didn’t know yet, huh?”

  “Know what?”

  “The press is here. They started showing up about an hour ago. There’s already two news vans out in the parking lot. Reporters getting makeup and sound-checks.”

  “How the hell did they know?” Ellington asked.

  Another voice answered, this one coming from behind them. They turned around to see Sheriff Burke, looking just as tired and aggravated as they were.

  “Because they had someone place a series of calls when everything was going down. Someone to file complaints about the arrests, and then someone to call the media to let them know that their religious freedoms were being trampled. It’s what happened when the Salt Lake City bureau tried looking into them a few years back.” He sighed here and looked at both of them almost apologetically. “It’s about to get really nasty.”

  “Well, it seems we’ll miss the fallout,” Mackenzie said. “Our director just called and removed us from the case.”

  Burke chuckled at this, but there was no humor in it. “Might be for the best. If you get a chance to hear how Cole can spin this sort of thing, you’ll want to kill him.”

  And with that, Burke walked past them. He entered the bullpen and seemed to do everything he could to not look in Marshall Cole’s direction.

  Mackenzie slowly followed behind him but then veered away and headed for the large picture window in the front of the building. She looked outside and saw a third news van pulling into the parking lot, the news crews coming to capture the tale of how the FBI was against religious freedom while, at the same time, slowly burying the news of four recent murders.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  When Marshall Cole came out of the building forty-five minutes later, he looked like a different man. He looked like a prisoner of war having just been freed from some overseas conflict. But as he neared that first news camera, he managed a smile that somehow seemed to speak of perseverance and determination.

  Burke and the other officer had been right. The man was good—and he hadn’t even spoken a single word. It made Mackenzie want to knock his teeth down his throat. She watched it all unfold as she also followed him out of the building. She stayed out of the way of the cameras and reporters, wanting to make sure she did not look as if she was infringing on his space.

  As soon as he smiled, the reporters lurched.

  “Mr. Cole, how were you treated?”

  “Mr. Cole, why was the FBI visiting the Community in the first place?”

  “Mr. Cole, do you feel you’ve been marginalized during all of this?”

  Cole paused and looked around at the four different cameras and three microphones in front of him. He did his best to look perplexed but then held up a hand. As he did, a Fellsburg officer fell in beside him, as if to keep the big bad news people away from him. Cole also pulled off a masterful performance of being shocked by the media presence. But the progression of emotion was too staged to be anything but rehearsed; he went from confused, to bewildered, to accepting. Oh, he seemed to say to himself. The media is here. Well my goodness, I suppose I can’t be rude. Might as well answer some of their questions.

  He latched on to the last question that had been asked: “Mr. Cole, do you feel you’ve been marginalized during all of this?”

  “Marginalized?” he said. “No. But I would say that I have definitely been personally selected as a target. Look…I consider myself an understanding man. I know there have been a few recent murders in the area and so far, there are no leads of any kind. People get scared. People look for answers. And when you have a group of people in your community that differ from the norm—for instance, myself and the Community—it’s easy to find a target for the fear and the worry. I get that.

  “But I also must protect myself and the people I share my life and time with. And because of that, I must condemn the actions of the FBI. Yes, I have been here once before and, shame on me, you’d think I’d learned my lesson.”

  “Mr. Cole,” a nearby reporter asked, practically breaking her neck to get closer to him. “Can you tell us exactly what happened?”

  “Well, the Community was paid a visit by the FBI yesterday morning. They asked to see the grounds and I allowed it. The agents in question were derogatory from the start so I didn’t expect much civility. But when they decided that I was not very forthcoming with answers to the questions they were asking, they saw it appropriate to arrest me. Quite forcibly, I might add. And then, once we were here, it was one comment after another mocking my beliefs and way of life. Which, if I’m being honest, I believe is the only reason they came to pay a visit in the first place.”

  Mackenzie had to clench her jaw to keep from shouting out. She knew it would get on the news and present another side of this bullshit story, but she also knew that it would only drag this nonsense out further.

  “Mr. Cole, can you tell us what the FBI’s case is built on?”

  “They are operating under the belief that these young girls that are being killed are somehow linked to the Community. I believe they are angling for the case that they are escaped women from the Community. And that, I’m sorry to say, is just foolish. They have no proof and I can all but verify that these unfortunate young women were not former members of the Community.”

  Keep digging that hole for yourself, Mackenzie thought, still making sure she swallowed down every argument that came to her tongue.

  “Will you be pressing charges?” another report asked.

  The smile crept onto his mouth for just a moment, and then faltered. Cole looked to the ground and Mackenzie could all but hear the cogs and wheels turning in his head. He was up to something, about to put on a performance.

  “I cannot pretend that this does not bother me. But…I must admit to you all that I lied. A few moments ago, I lied. I wanted to keep it to myself, to…”

  And then the bastard started crying. He was very good at it, too. It came naturally and it also made Mackenzie wonder once again if the Community had a series of contingency plans for this sort of thing. Was this a scenario and act that they had long ago planned for? Had Cole been rehearsing this for years, knowing the day would come when he would need to break it out?

  The officer who was escorting him took a step toward him. Cole seemed to push the officer away as he wiped a tear away and looked back to the reporters. The tears were real and the emotion looked to be real, too. It even had Mackenzie wondering if perhaps there was something to it all that she had missed. But then he spoke, and she was wondering much more than that.

  “Mr. Cole, what have you lied about?” This question came from the loudest and perhaps bravest of the reporters.

  “The girls…one of them was indeed a member of the Community.”

  The silence from the media was almost sickening. They knew they had hit pay dirt. But Mackenzie hung on his every word, too. He was either about to massively mess up his story or he was going to make things infinitely worse for the police and the FBI.

  “Who?”

  “Which one?”

  They were like birds, pecking in the dirt for a worm.

  “There is one girl, not murdered. The police have her in custody right now. They are referring to her as Jane Doe but that is not her name. Her real name is Ruth Cole and she is my daughter.”

  He then hunched over and wailed.

  Mackenzie and Ellington simply looked at one another. It was like they’d just watched a decent movie and had it ruined by an unnecessary twist. Mackenzie actually felt herself starting to walk forward, but Ellington reached out and grabbed her.

  “No way,” he said. “Let this play out.”

 
; It took her a moment to put this all together. But she then realized that even though Cole had just delivered this bomb (one she was ninety-nine percent certain was bullshit) he had no idea that they had Amy in their back pocket. And, if Amy wasn’t just stringing her along, perhaps her insider as well.

  Cole composed himself but, with tears still in his eyes, he stared directly into one of the cameras. “The police have her in custody, thinking they are saving her. But she is my daughter and I want her to come home. I demand them release her to me!”

  That was all Mackenzie could take. The asshole was good, she had to give him that. He had played the sympathy card and then had thrown out a card that would likely have some of those watching siding with him—without knowing the facts, of course.

  Mackenzie walked forward and made sure she walked slowly and treated Cole gently. “Mr. Cole, let’s head back inside.”

  “No, I’ve been released!” He said it very loudly, so every camera could hear him.

  Mackenzie leaned in, almost whispering. She made herself aware that there were cameras on her. If she did even one thing wrong, it could help not only truly free this man, but also get her into a heap of trouble with the bureau.

  “If you want, I can loudly say that I’ll do everything I can to release your daughter right now,” she said. “You know how bad that’s going to look if you turn it down? Fight that on TV and see what happens.”

  For a moment, there was pure anger in his eyes. He had not expected such a brazen move, yet here they were. He nodded to her, then did the same to the cameras. He even gave a sincere “Thank you” to a few of the reporters as he allowed Mackenzie and his escort officer to lead him back inside.

  There was a murmur of conversation among the reporters and the shuffling sound of reporters hurrying back to their vans and pulling out their cell phones. Mackenzie knew what they were doing; they were making sure they were going to make it known that they were among the first on the story. Because based on the final comment Cole had made, the story had the potential to be huge.

  When they were back inside and the doors were closed, it was Ellington who let his temper get the best of him. He approached Cole and led him to the rear hallway. But instead of taking him back to the interrogation room he had previously occupied, Ellington pushed him along to the office he and Mackenzie had been sharing.

  On the way down the hallways, Burke had also caught wind of what was going on and started tagging along. He looked to Mackenzie for permission to enter and she gave him a nod. As Burke filed into the office and closed the door behind him, Ellington shoved Cole down into one of the free chairs.

  “There’s some abuse for you, you pretentious asshole,” Ellington said. “Man, you’re good. I’ve got to give you that.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You could run for President with that kind of act.”

  “Oh, I would make some much needed changes to this country, that’s for damned sure.”

  Mackenzie stepped forward, knowing that if Ellington lost his cool, the case would surely be in danger. He was a patient man at heart but when he did explode, he usually had a very hard time reining it in.

  “You prove our Jane Doe is your daughter right now, and I’ll call every reporter that was out there and tell them you were wrongly arrested and that we may have taken things too far.”

  Again, it seemed to not be a course of action that Cole had expected from them. “And how would you like me to prove it?”

  “When’s her birthday?”

  “We don’t keep up with birthdays at the Community.”

  “No traces of birth records at all?”

  “None. Sorry.”

  “Your poker face sucks,” Ellington snapped.

  “I can tell you where her birthmark is, though.”

  The flash of anger that rocked through her nearly caused Mackenzie to slap him. Instead of physically hurting him, Mackenzie got down into his face and looked him in his eyes. She was not surprised to find that he was unflinching.

  “We came here only looking for a killer,” she said. “But before we leave, even if it’s not you or someone in the Community, I want you to know that it’s now my mission to make sure I bring you down.”

  “You won’t be the first,” he said. “Isn’t that right, Sheriff Burke? Do they know how badly the Salt Lake City agents were treated when they tried bringing down the Community?” He then got up and stood nose to nose with Ellington, as if daring the agent to shove him again. “Now…I’ve been signed out and am free to go. Hold me any longer and I can make a scene about that as well.”

  He walked slowly toward the door and turned to give them a little wave as he headed out. “I’ll be back for my daughter,” he said.

  And with that, he closed the door just as politely as you please.

  “Charming, isn’t he?” Burke said.

  “How is he not behind bars yet?” Mackenzie barked.

  “You saw how the reporters fawned all over him. He’s a walking news story. And he used his religious freedom and a shield. Out here in Utah, that means a lot in case you haven’t heard.”

  “I have to ask, though,” Burke said. “And please don’t get pissed. But he was here, locked up, when Shanda was murdered. Bob Barton, too. So why are you so determined to nail Cole to the wall?”

  “You mean besides the fact that he’s a scumbag?”

  “Yeah, besides that. Can’t arrest him for that.”

  “All of these girls are connected to the Community,” Ellington said, putting some bass into his voice. “Sure, these two aren’t the killer, but you don’t think they know who the killer is? Hell, Cole might even be orchestrating it all.”

  “Yeah, I figure that’s probably what’s happening.” He left it at this and, by doing so, his silence said everything.

  His silence said that while they were busy fuming over Cole—a man who was very clearly not the killer—there was still an active killer out there somewhere. He may be in the Community and he may not. But they sure as hell weren’t going to find out if they kept all of their attention focused on Cole.

  I bet that was the bastard’s plan all along, she thought. To distract us. And like an idiot, I fell for it.

  Not that it mattered, of course. After all, McGrath had pulled them from the case. The only thing she really should be doing right now was looking for flights back home.

  Mackenzie took a deep breath, let out a curse, and left the office. She barely caught a glimpse of Marshall Cole once again exiting the building. Another officer escorted him as the reporters once again fell right in line.

  Ellington came up behind her and, for just a moment, put on the husband hat. He placed his hand on her waist from behind and whispered in her ear.

  “You okay?”

  “No. I don’t know the last time a suspect has gotten under my skin so badly. I don’t like the loss of control.”

  “So let it go. We need to be looking for flights home. But we also need to keep in mind that there are now four dead women and a runaway who, from the looks of it, would have been number five if we had not stopped it. So we need to come up with some other ideas while we slowly make our exit.”

  “You happen to have any?”

  “None,” he whispered in her ear. He then kissed the nape of her neck and headed back for the office. Before he could get inside, Burke came out. He was on the phone, wrapping up a call. His face looked worried and his voice sounded flat as he said his goodbyes.

  “That was the guys looking over the BP footage,” he explained. “There’s nothing at all on it that helps us. Just some shadows flickering in and out. He says you can see the very edge of one of the cars but he’s not even sure if it’s yours or Barton’s.”

  “So Barton is as good as free, too?”

  “Yes.”

  “Even though he was wielding a crowbar?” Ellington said.

  Burke shrugged “Believe me, I get it. It’s frustrating
as hell. But what else do you expect us to do?”

  Mackenzie nearly recommended that the FBI and the entire body of the state police could grow a pair. That would be a good place to start. But the sad reality of it was that she knew where he was coming from. Religious liberties and freedoms had been an effective shield for far too long, and Marshall Cole and his people seemed to understand that better than anyone she’d ever met.

  “I’m very sorry,” Burke said.

  He went back down the hall. After a while, Ellington followed him. Mackenzie was sure it might seem like a form of abandonment to some, but she loved him for it. He had an uncanny radar for when she needed to be consoled and when she wanted to be left alone. He’d read it dead on this time, sensing that she needed some privacy.

  Mackenzie remained in the hallway, just outside the office. She could hear the murmurs of conversation as Ellington and Burke spoke, heading down the hall. It droned away, though, as she did her best to come up with something she might have missed. She’d been so caught up in her hatred of Cole that there was no telling what she might have missed.

  Four dead young women.

  An abusive religious leader who treated women like nothing more than vessels for the pleasure of the Community’s men.

  And somehow, she was going to be sent home before seeing it all brought to an end.

  It was absolutely unacceptable.

  But here she was, being forced away, and there was nothing else she could do.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

  The sense of failure in her heart was so strong that Mackenzie actually felt physically ill as Ellington drove them to the airport two hours later. Just before they left the police station in Fellsburg, Bob Barton had also been released several hours ahead of time. Already, in that one simple act, Mackenzie could see how the Fellsburg PD was moving to do what they could to remedy the damage done with the Community. And if it happened too fast, the entire process of finding the killer would slow and then come to a screeching halt. She was sure the Salt Lake City branch would quietly get involved, but they’d be so timid around Cole and his little cult that they’d be highly ineffective.