by Alex Barclay
‘New World Order,’ said Ren. ‘I’m really looking forward to it.’
He smiled. ‘What is the sorry tale here?’
More cars began to pull up: Sheriff’s Office investigators, and Kohler.
Gary waited until they had all gathered before he filled them in.
Crime scene investigators arrived and began processing the scene.
‘We’ll leave you guys to this,’ said Gary. ‘Ren and I will pay a visit to the abbey …’
‘Would eight a.m. tomorrow morning work for you?’ said Tolman.
‘An autopsy,’ said Ren, ‘always a bright start to the day.’
The temperature was rising and the sun beating down as they arrived at the abbey, deepening the rich brown of the clay roof tiles, making the white stucco walls glow. Evergreen Abbey was Spanish Colonial Revival; a protruding porch, curved gables and parapets, and a vast arcaded entrance under an arched window of similar size. The rest of the building was set back, spreading out on both sides, with perfect rows of arched windows. The building was simple, elegant, welcoming, but austere.
‘Wow,’ said Ren.
‘Everyone should work in a building with a little history,’ said Gary.
‘I thank you for that every day,’ said Ren. Though the main FBI building in Denver was a dazzling new office on 36th Avenue, the Safe Streets team, at Gary’s insistence, worked out of a building that was only ten minutes, but a world away in The Livestock Exchange Building, built in 1886.
They walked up the abbey steps to the huge wooden door. Ren rang the intercom bell and they were buzzed in to a cool, dark foyer, tiled in an ornate pattern of rich blue, yellow and white. There was no office, just two battered leather sofas and a door with pin code access.
‘I think we’re in some kind of delousing chamber,’ said Ren. ‘They know where I’ve been.’
The internal door opened and a woman in her late fifties walked through. She looked more bohemian gallery owner than head of a retreat for women. She had short, springy black hair with a narrow, off-center band of gray curving through it.
‘Eleanor Jensen,’ she said, shaking Ren’s hand first. ‘You’re very welcome.’
‘SSA Gary Dettling,’ said Gary. Gary’s tone had fallen on the right side of confident, the side that didn’t make him sound like an arrogant asshole, which he wasn’t. Ren had seen how some people reacted to him if his tone was off.
With Eleanor Jensen, she saw a flash of something different across her face. Ren sometimes forgot how Gary fit so well with how women imagined an FBI agent to be: tall, fit, serious, in control. He was the handsome hero who made them feel safe. And made them want to sleep with him.
He had never made Ren feel she wanted to sleep with him. Sleep with? No. Fuck hard all night? Yes.
But he was her boss. And he was a loyal husband, with a teenage daughter. And he had no interest in her. And he gave nothing sexual away.
Which makes you sexier. Which annoys me when it occurs to me.
She and Gary had been alone together many late nights – in the office or in some strange bar in a strange town during a boring investigation … and she sometimes felt that, after the tip-you-over final beers, they almost bounded off to their separate beds in relief.
Disaster averted …
I. Am. In. An. Abbey. Jesus.
I haven’t had sex in nine days. Nine!
Ben Rader, come back.
Give my roaming filth a destination.
6
Eleanor Jensen led them through a beautiful carved wooden door into a white marble hallway.
‘We’ll go up to the library,’ she said.
‘Well, that’s an offer we can’t refuse,’ said Ren.
‘It is rather beautiful,’ said Eleanor. ‘The first abbess here was a well-known author. She wrote many books on the Benedictine life. We pretty much live by those principles.’
You are babbling for comfort. You came to this remote place for a reason, to shelter from the cruel outside world, and now it has crept in after you.
Ren’s cell phone rang, startling her, a violation in the quiet hallways. It was Janine.
‘I’m sorry, I’ll have to take this,’ said Ren. She stopped.
‘Ren? Apparently, there was a second call from The Darned Heart saying that they had the burning vehicle under control, that there was no need to involve the fire department or the Sheriff’s Office. I just called them there to tell them, under the circumstances, that we would be sending investigators.’
‘And whose vehicle was it?’ said Ren.
‘A car belonging to Burt Kendall – from Kendall’s Auto Sales and Auto Parts. He also provides machine operators for his vehicles. They’re digging foundations for building work at the ranch. They don’t work Mondays. They had left some vehicles and machines there over the weekend.’
‘OK,’ said Ren. ‘See you in a little while.’
Eleanor Jensen was guiding Gary through the door of the library, a spectacular room with a line of floor-to-ceiling arched windows overlooking the grounds. The remaining walls were lined with mahogany bookshelves.
‘Wow,’ said Ren, as she followed behind. ‘This is beautiful.’
‘Please take a seat,’ said Eleanor. ‘I believe you are the bearers of bad news.’
‘Yes,’ said Gary, waiting for the women to sit down before he did. ‘I’m afraid we found the body of a young woman on Stoney Pass Road. We’re trying to piece together what happened, and we’d like to ask you a few questions.’
‘Oh my goodness,’ said Eleanor. ‘That’s terrible … what happened? Can you say?’
‘It was a shooting,’ said Ren. ‘We found her in her car.’
‘I can’t believe it,’ said Eleanor. ‘It’s so safe here. I’ve never questioned that for a second.’
‘We’d like to talk to everyone who was here today,’ said Gary. ‘How many people live here?’
‘Thirty-four,’ said Eleanor. ‘At least I can make your workload a little lighter; the bus you met … there were twenty-two women on that who have been in Boulder for the past two days. We lend our support to different causes in different places, depending. Eight more women are in Denver at a seminar. So, including me, there were just four of us here.’
‘If we could get a list of all the residents before we go, that would be great,’ said Gary. ‘Just mark in the four who were here. Investigators from the JeffCo Sheriff’s Office will be arriving to take care of interviews.’
‘OK,’ said Eleanor.
‘Can you give us a sense of what you do here at the abbey?’ said Ren. ‘What kind of women come here, how does it work?’
‘Well, a lot of women have come here from very different lives,’ said Eleanor. ‘They’re looking for freedom of all kinds. Usually they’ve been controlled by something else – addiction, a violent partner, sex, money … They don’t want to feel controlled by anything else, by what they may see as the restrictive nature of being, for example, in a religious order. It’s psychological. So the abbey suits them, in that it’s a spiritual community.’
Gary’s cell phone rang. ‘Excuse me,’ he said. He stepped outside.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Eleanor. ‘I’m talking too much, I’m babbling … please stop me. I know you’re busy people …’
‘You’re being very helpful,’ said Ren. ‘Don’t worry. I was wondering, could you tell me a little about The Darned Heart?’
‘Well, they’re a private organization – some of those kids are from important families. And they’re vulnerable. The owners are very protective.’
Ren nodded. ‘Your property adjoins the ranch – do you see much of the kids?’
‘A little,’ said Eleanor. ‘They’ve got stables, so we often see the kids trekking. And we take care of the ranch’s laundry. Sometimes Kristen sends kids over here to work – she wants to show them a different life to what they’re used to. These are often privileged kids, they have everything done for them, they have that sense of
entitlement – you can’t really blame them. It’s all they know. They have no respect for anything. It’s really sad that their parents have allowed that to happen. And in a few hours here, there’s little we can do to change that. All I could wish for is that they see something that inspires them to change, but I’m probably being a little naïve. They probably laugh at us over there, I’ve heard them call us Dyke National Forest … you know, the ranch borders Pike National Forest … but some of them, some of them are nice, polite, respectful kids. Some of them talk more than others, tell us a little bit about their lives. Others come in, do their duty like it’s the worst penalty they’ve ever been given.
‘We told Kristen and Ken that if they want to send a child here, the condition is that they help prepare, serve and eat a meal with us. Whether they’re here to wash one of the pick-ups, build a wall, clean out a barn, they need to get a feel for what it is like to be more than just a republic of one. They’re alone a lot at home, they have parents who work, they communicate with people through technology. They’re disassociated. And when they’re together with their friends, it’s not exactly a time for spiritual growth.’
Ren nodded.
Eleanor’s gaze drifted. ‘I’m sorry. I’m just … shocked by all this.’
Ren nodded. ‘I understand.’ She stood up and walked over to the window.
‘Do you think this was a random shooting?’ said Eleanor.
‘We don’t know yet,’ said Ren. At the edge of the property, she noticed a small timber cabin.
‘What’s that cabin over there?’ said Ren.
‘In there is the closest thing you’ll find to a nun at Evergreen Abbey,’ said Eleanor, joining her. ‘We kind of inherited her. Delores Ward. She’s in her seventies, she’s been here forever. She might be moving into the abbey, though … there’s an ongoing boundary dispute with the ranch. Technically, the land Delores’ cabin is on belongs to the ranch. None of us knew until the Faules had a survey carried out when they decided to build the theater. When they realized, the land – it’s about four acres – was incorporated into the building plans by the Faules’ architect, without consulting us. They all just assumed that we’d go along with it, because it was the law. Obviously, it’s not as simple as that. Delores has been there for over fifty years. She wants to live there until she dies.’
‘Well, I guess it’s her home,’ said Ren.
‘Of course,’ said Eleanor, ‘but it got water-damaged. One of the excavators struck a pipe. The cabin’s damp now, it smells. Delores could have a beautiful room here overlooking the grounds, we’d do it just the way she wanted it, but she won’t hear of it.’
‘What’s the current state of play?’ said Ren.
‘Well, it had reached a stalemate,’ said Eleanor. ‘Realistically – who is going to sue a little old lady and an abbey devoted to charitable works without bringing down a load of bad publicity on top of them? The abbey’s been here over a hundred years. The ranch, in this incarnation, only four. The Faules can’t rock the boat around here. They need the local community.’
Ren nodded.
‘They’re being very understanding, actually,’ said Eleanor.
As they try to flood, then burn a little old lady out of her home. What next?
‘Really?’ said Ren.
‘They drained the land, repaired the pipe and agreed to halt construction works for six months to see if Delores would reconsider. They even offered to buy her a new cabin and install it wherever she wanted on the grounds of the abbey.’
‘Well, that’s very generous,’ said Ren. ‘I’m surprised she didn’t take them up on that. Does it really matter exactly where the cabin is? Is it a matter of principle?’
‘Principle, sentimentality, fear of change … I don’t know. I tried to reassure her about helping her with the transition, but she was steadfast. She’s a tough cookie for such a lady.’
‘It can’t be the warmest place in the winter,’ said Ren.
‘It isn’t,’ said Eleanor. ‘I just have to keep reminding myself it’s her home.’
‘Were you here earlier today?’ said Ren.
‘In the library, no,’ said Eleanor.
‘Did you see smoke over at the ranch around lunch time?’ said Ren.
Eleanor nodded. ‘Yes – actually Kristen called us to let us know that a car had caught fire by the cabin, but that it wasn’t at risk, that we weren’t to be alarmed. And I knew Delores was in the chapel, anyway.’
‘Can you please check with the other women if they saw anything?’ said Ren.
‘Yes, I can do that.’
‘Eleanor, has a woman called Laura Flynn ever been in touch with you?’ said Ren.
‘I couldn’t say off the top of my head, but I can check my emails and talk to the others, see if they heard from her. I don’t handle the website – there may have been some contact that way.’
‘Do you think we could get a hold of any inquiries people made about the abbey in the past six months?’ said Ren.
‘Absolutely,’ said Eleanor. ‘I can have that emailed through to you by tonight.’
Ren handed her a business card. ‘Thank you. And could we also get a list of anyone who carries out work here at the abbey … landscapers, carpenters, etc.’
‘Yes,’ said Eleanor. ‘But we’re pretty self-sufficient, we take care of most of the work …’
‘Good for you,’ said Ren.
Gary came back into the room, but stood just inside the door.
‘Ms Jensen, thank you for your time,’ he said.
‘That’s my cue,’ said Ren. ‘Thank you again.’
Ren and Gary walked down the steps of the abbey. She talked him through the rest of her conversation with Eleanor.
‘I’d like to find out if anyone saw the car before it went on fire, though. It’s a little too coincidental …’
‘Because of the robbery?’ said Gary.
‘Yes,’ said Ren, ‘but also I’m wondering about how close it was to Delores Ward’s cabin.’
Gary nodded. ‘That call I got? It was Eli Baer in New York.’
Eli Baer was Safe Streets’ favorite contact in the New York office. He was a short, perfectly-groomed nerd who threw himself into all tasks with an intensity and efficiency that had clearly been with him from birth. It was easy to imagine him in kindergarten with a pristine shirt buttoned up to his neck, slim pants that were maybe an inch too short and shiny, shiny shoes.
‘This is going to be a big one,’ said Gary. ‘The victim’s employer reported her missing this morning. These are big shots. Let’s just say we’ll be “assisting” JeffCo more. His name is Robert Prince – he’s a multi-millionaire, married to an ex-model. Laura Flynn was their housekeeper. She was six months pregnant. They live in New York, but have been going back and forth to Golden since January.’
‘OK,’ said Ren. ‘Why Golden?’
‘You can ask Mrs Prince,’ said Gary. ‘She’s there now – at their rental. I’ve mailed you the address. You and Janine can take care of the notification.’
‘And what about the victim’s actual family?’ said Ren.
‘We’ve got nothing on that yet,’ said Gary. ‘All I know is that Mr Prince was very concerned when he called this in, so whether this housekeeper is family or not, they seem to really care … According to the Princes, the victim was going to stay with a friend in Chicago, but we’ve no confirmation on that yet. No one could get hold of the friend.’
7
Janine Hooks had arrived at the scene by the time Ren and Gary got back from the abbey.
‘Hey, girl,’ said Janine. She gestured to the body. ‘Well, this is terrible.’
‘Ugh.’
‘Anything from the abbey?’ said Janine.
‘Not yet,’ said Ren. ‘We’re waiting on the director to get back to us on a few things. There’s certainly a nice view of the area close to the vehicle fire. I’m wondering did anyone see anything … I’d like to be armed with something concrete
before I talk to the owners.’
Janine nodded. ‘Oh, yes.’ She took out her notebook. ‘OK … as I was driving here, Logan Teale – who I now sit opposite, nice guy – got more lowdown on our victim: Laura Flynn from Waterford, Ireland, been living in New York for the past five years – just got her citizenship this year. She flew from Denver to Chicago last Thursday on a return ticket, due back last night, but obviously didn’t take the flight. She rented the Hyundai at nine thirty p.m. Thursday at O’Hare. She filled out the form saying the drop-off would be there too. So she was either lying on the form or she made a last-minute decision to come here.’
‘So,’ said Gary, ‘she drives from Chicago to here, that’s what – a fourteen-hour drive?’
‘I guess so,’ said Janine.
‘When was the flight due in?’ said Ren.
‘Last night,’ said Janine.
‘So, when did she set out?’ said Ren. ‘Did she stop anywhere along the way? Did she stay somewhere overnight? She couldn’t have slept in the car with that bump …’
‘No,’ said Janine.
‘So – any idea which case she had information for you on?’ said Ren.
‘No,’ said Janine. ‘I have a few with New York links, but I just can’t see how a young Irish woman in New York five years could know a thing about them. Or about a 1963 homicide in a Colorado girl scout camp. Like I said, hundreds of people were interviewed – who knows how far and wide they scattered? A lot of the people were young and could still be alive. Too many for now to narrow it down. But obviously, anyone can show up from anywhere at any time about any case … even still, though, why would she come all the way to Colorado?’
‘Oh, we got more info on that,’ said Ren. She filled her in on the Princes.
‘Ah,’ said Janine. ‘So she wasn’t staying too far away.’
‘Maybe she had some old relative ’fess up on his deathbed,’ said Ren. ‘An old Irish drunken uncle comes clean.’
‘Not to be racist …’ said Janine.
‘Noo,’ said Ren. ‘So, was our victim a pregnant runaway heading for shelter in the abbey, or was she doing some poking around at The Darned Heart Ranch, or none of the above?’