The Sisters

by Rosalind Noonan

  Swanson put his flashlight back in his belt and touched Luna’s shoulder. “I’m sorry about your mom, Luna. We’re going to have someone from Social Services come round to pick you up, okay? Someone nice.”

  “My aunt is on her way. She works for Social Services.”

  “Is that right? Okay, then. For now, let’s get you girls in the front yard. Not sure I want either of you subjected to the chaos inside. Let’s go this way.” He walked them around the garage door to the front of the tired house. “Are you going to be warm enough out here, Luna?” Officer Swanson unzipped his jacket and propped it over her shoulders. “There. That should help for now.”

  While they were talking, a third police cruiser pulled up, the lights of its roof rack flashing. Two cops came up the walkway. They went inside with Swanson and returned with Leo traipsing between them, his hands cuffed behind his back. They shuffled him into the patrol car.

  “He’s under arrest?” Ruby asked Swanson.

  He nodded. “They found blood in the attic. A good amount. And two of the sisters are corroborating the homicide of Annabelle Clayton.” He pointed to Luna. “You mind staying with her?”

  “I’m good.”

  Ruby was left facing the mystery girl, her sister.

  “So I’m Ruby. We talked on the phone earlier.”

  “I know.” Luna stared at the ground. “I didn’t expect you to come here. And now, I’m in so much trouble.” A tear slid down her cheek. “Leo’s really mad.”

  “Don’t worry about him. You won’t have to deal with him, ever again. He’s the one who’s in trouble.” She pointed to the street. “Did you see the police take him away? He’s going to jail, probably for a long time.”

  Luna sobbed. “It’s my fault.”

  “You did the right thing. You needed help and you reached out to me. You’re a brave kid, Luna.”

  “I don’t feel brave.” She swiped at a tear. “What am I going to do now?”

  “I know it’s hard. Like you, I lost my parents when I was a kid.” As Ruby sat beside her on the porch and put an arm around her shoulders, she thought of herself so many years ago, sitting in a big chair at the fire station, dwarfed by all the brawny men with furry mustaches. And then the foster home with a round, dark-skinned woman who was so good at keeping Aurora from crying. And then the McCullums, both of them getting down on the floor and playing with her the way her daddy used to play. All through those first weeks, she’d been waiting for Glory to return, waiting and losing patience and watching as her familiar world slipped through her fingers like water down a drain.

  And now here was Luna, watching the thread of her life come untwined in much the same way. “I know it’s really hard,” Ruby said. “But my aunt Kaysandra is a social worker, and she’s going to make sure you have a safe place to live, with people who love you. And one day, you’ll wake up and realize that you love them, too.”

  “I want my mama.”

  “I hear you. I get that. But our mother is gone. And you’re going to need to open your heart to someone else. Someone who wants to help you and teach you things. So it’s okay to feel sad and confused. There’s going to be a lot of that. But you need to keep your heart open for the family who really loves you. ’Cause you can’t miss out on love.”

  As if on cue Aunt Kaysandra’s minivan pulled up, with Tamarind in the passenger seat.

  “Mom!” Ruby flew across the lawn and hugged her mother, shivering with relief that she wasn’t alone in this anymore. “How did you know?”

  “I’ve known you were up to something, but when Kaysandra called I was floored,” Mom said. “You are so courageous and so grounded.”

  “We were on our way when my office was notified of a child to pick up,” Kaysandra said, her gaze alighting on the girl hunched over on the stoop. “There she is, God love her. And here I thought you were getting sucked into some internet scam.” She hustled over to the porch and bent down to be eye to eye with Luna. “Hey, little miss. My name’s Kaysandra. Can you tell me yours?”

  “Luna.”

  “Hey, Miss Luna. You and I, we’re going to talk and talk and talk, and I’m going to listen to you. We are going to become good friends.”

  Luna lifted her head. Her blue eyes were shiny with tears, but she swiped them away with one sleeve. “I like having a friend.”

  The tremble in her voice tore at Ruby’s heart, and in that moment she vowed to protect this little girl, her sister.

  * * *

  It was late—after nine—when Tamarind got behind the driver’s seat of Ruby’s VW to head home. Her daughter sat beside her, looking just as overwhelmed as Tamarind felt. At first, Tamarind let the radio play on Ruby’s station, letting the Bruno Mars tune rock their minds back to the safe and normal. The Northeast Portland neighborhood was quiet as Tamarind steered east, deciding to take the 205 expressway, a longer but smoother route that would give her a chance to talk with her daughter and clear her head.

  Tamarind was only a paralegal by profession, but from the stories she’d heard tonight she suspected that Leo and his sister would be charged with kidnapping, child abuse, and neglect. There was also the possibility of homicide charges for the deaths of Glory Noland and the mysterious Annabelle and fraud for Natalie’s creative bookkeeping, as explained by a strikingly pretty sister named Kimani, who had emerged as an excellent possible witness. Ultimately, Leo and Natalie were turning a profit on the backs of their houseful of women.

  “What will happen to them?” Ruby had asked Kaysandra, who promised that she would work with the sisters on job placement and life skills. Still, it had been upsetting to see a few of the sisters sitting at the kitchen table, sobbing over the news that the Petrovs would not be returning to the house that night.

  “Leo is our protector!” one of them had cried. A tiny blonde who reminded Tamarind of a fragile bird. “We need him.”

  No, sisters, you don’t. Tamarind had wanted to counsel them, to reassure them, but she had been warned to stay out of it: “Don’t taint the witnesses or get involved with the clients.” She had come to the scene as Ruby’s mother, and that, she realized, had been an honor and a blessing, as her daughter seemed to have gotten everything in control by the time Tamarind and Kaysandra arrived.

  So Tamarind had observed. The run-down house, linoleum worn through to the previous layer in spots, and walls with blistered, yellowed paint. The women, who had an odd way of avoiding eye contact—a gesture of submission, she suspected. It made her sad that this had been the final destination of Ruby’s birth mother, Glory Noland. Even sadder that this had been the only world the little girl Luna had ever known.

  “Do you want to tell me how it started?” she asked her daughter. “How you traced Glory to that house? Because that had to involve a nifty bit of detective work.”

  “It was mostly luck. I was curious about my birth mom, but I didn’t want to hurt you and Dad, especially after you found out about the cancer. So I went looking and I found her. And then . . .” She bit her lips, taking a moment. She swiped at her eyes. “And then I lost her. She died, and I think it’s because she was trying to escape from the crazy cult she joined when she left Aurora and me behind.”

  “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry that—”

  “Please, let me finish. I want you to know that I tried to find her because of my own stupid curiosity and not because I don’t love and appreciate you and Dad. Because I do. You guys are great, and I love you. And I knew you were uncomfortable about me searching for my birth mother, and I respected that. But I always wondered, so I was doing a little research, and then I got lucky when I took Aurora over to the East Center Mall and there she was.”

  “Did your sister meet her, too?”

  “No. I never said a word about it to Aurora.”

  “That’s good. I guess she’ll need to know now. Luna is her half sister, too. I’m sorry, Rubes. I should have been more honest about the reasons I didn’t want you to be in touch with your biological mother.
It wasn’t about Glory Noland at all. She seemed like a good person. Well intentioned, but the deck was stacked against her. I think she tried, but when your father was killed she couldn’t dig herself out. Penniless with two babies and no family support, no resources. I think she knew you and Aurora needed more than she could give. And I admire that clarity of thought. I think Glory had a lot of good qualities. It was the cult that stopped me in my tracks. Based on what Kaysandra had seen from her limited contact with Glory, Leo Petrov and his sister were unstable people with a crazy amount of power over their followers.”

  “So you’d heard of Leo and the sisters? How did you know?”

  “Mostly through Kaysandra. When we took you and your sister in as foster kids, a big part of Kaysandra’s job was negotiating with your birth mother. Glory had left a note with you at the firehouse, signing over custody, but of course, Social Services has laws and regulations to conform to. Kaysandra was able to find Glory at the sisters’ house, and that got her looking into Leo and Natalie. Their cult was a bit controversial when they hit the neighborhood some twenty years ago—a young, attractive man, surrounded by young women—but the Petrovs were never accused of breaking any laws.”

  “Leo is really scary, the way he sucks you in. And Natalie is just a bitch.”

  Tamarind let out a breath. “It scares me to think of you tangling with them.”

  “I never planned to, but when I found out about Luna, that there was this little kid living there without her mom after Glory died, I had to make sure she was okay.”

  “And of course she wasn’t.”

  “She was in danger, Mom. Leo was targeting her. She called me using Glory’s old phone. Mine was one of the few numbers in there. But she almost didn’t speak up when I barged in today. I don’t know if it was fear of Leo or fear of the unknown world beyond her back fence, but it’s crazy that that kid’s never gone past the house next door. Never ridden in a car or plane. Never seen the ocean or the mountains.”

  “Well, she’s in good hands now. Kaysandra is a strong advocate.”

  “That was such a moment, seeing Luna get in Aunt Kaysandra’s car. The look on her face. Her first car ride.”

  “You’re really brave,” Tamarind said. “And a risk taker. I never expected that of you.”

  “Same.”

  “You could have told me. You can tell me anything.”

  “I know that now, but you had the surgery, and then chemo, and I couldn’t heap one more terrible thing on you.”

  “That’s considerate, but too kind. Don’t you know you’re supposed to be a burden to your parents, kiddo?”

  “I guess I made up for lost time tonight,” Ruby said. And they laughed together, letting go of the strange house and the lost sisters and the wide-eyed little girl. Letting go, at least for now.

  EPILOGUE

  August

  Ruby placed the cake with Harold and his purple crayon on the kitchen table and followed her family out to the Hansons’ backyard. Luna had held fast to her friend Hazel as a source of security during all the changes, so the Hansons’ house had seemed a good, familiar place for a celebration.

  The backyard gathering with purple and blue balloons, a bouncy castle, and party lights could have been any eleven-year-old’s party. But today’s birthday girl was a special kid, not just for Ruby, but for most people in Portland.

  The trial had been hot news for a few weeks that summer, with headlines like “Pdx Man Keeps Sex Slaves: The Cult Next Door” and “Orphan Imprisoned in Home 10 Years.” Ruby had been glued to the news coverage, as had much of the country, though she and Luna hadn’t needed to testify. Thank God. Ruby had gotten sick of shaking off hero status. She’d been glad when people had begun to forget her role in releasing Luna and let her slide into being just Ruby again.

  Ruby was glad that Luna didn’t need to know all the details of the trial until she was older. The way Leo had brought in broken young women, grooming each woman as a sexual partner and then sending her off to work in the hotel after he had tired and moved on to another young woman.

  At least two of Leo’s “pet” women had gotten pregnant. Glory had kept her pregnancy a secret from Natalie until it was too late, and Luna had been born in the house, unattended by any medical professionals. Undocumented, Luna had been raised by Glory and the sisters in the small, dysfunctional world of the cult. Glory’s attempt to leave had resulted in her death.

  Most of the sisters didn’t even try to leave. By targeting damaged women, Leo and his sister had collected women too insecure to leave once they were assured of food and shelter. And for those who wanted to escape, they were stopped by doors secured by multiple locks and alarmed with fictitious lasers.

  “Leo and Natalie kept us captive through a system of psychological control, threats, and occasionally physical violence,” testified Kimani Adams. A former nurse’s aide, she had joined the group when she’d hit rock bottom with opioid addiction. During her time with the cult, she described a process of her own cognitive healing that had helped her recognize the Petrovs’ accelerating control of the sisters. The prosecution’s star witness, Kimani described how she learned of Leo’s schemes to kill Annabelle Clayton and Glory Noland when she heard him bragging about it after the fact.

  Kimani had also led the police to investigate Natalie’s bookkeeping practices, leading to charges of theft and fraud. It turned out that Natalie not only had collected money through the SNAP program to feed the sisters, she also had allocated payroll to them for their services to the hotel—money that the women never received for their work.

  Passing by the fat hydrangea blossoms in the Hansons’ backyard, Ruby said hello to Hazel’s father, Jeff, then went over to join Mom and Aurora at a table with Nicole Hanson, who was pouring everyone lemonade.

  “Have a seat, girls. We’ve got more chairs if we need them.” Taking a seat in a wicker chair, Ruby sat back and realized she was looking straight in the direction of the sisters’ former house. The tired façade hadn’t changed, and she could see the small attic window where Luna used to peer out at the neighborhood when she was trapped. For a moment that window held Ruby’s gaze, like an instrument of dark magic. Creepy. Then, with a deep breath, she got up and angled her chair so that she was facing the other side of the yard.

  “Where’s Marigold?” Mom asked.

  “Monitoring the bouncy castle,” said Nicole. “Or playing inside it, knowing her.”

  Marigold and Charles were the amazing foster parents Aunt Kaysandra had found for Luna. Quirky, loving, and down-to-earth, the former schoolteacher and archeologist had brought Luna the balance of playfulness and social grace that she needed.

  Even Aurora, who had begged her parents to adopt Luna, had been won over by Marigold and Charles, but it hadn’t been easy. The first time Aurora met her half sister, she had wanted to move the little girl into their home. “She is so stinkin’ adorable! I could hug her every day, all day. And have you noticed how smart she is? This kid has read War and Peace!”

  “She’s definitely a bright kid,” Ruby had said. “But she’s missed so much socialization. Don’t you notice her insecurities about social interactions, and how clingy she can be?”

  “That’s so unfair after what she’s been through,” Aurora insisted.

  “I don’t mean it as a criticism,” Ruby said softly. “It’s just that she needs to do some catching up and our house isn’t the best place for a little kid anymore.”

  “I agree with Ruby,” Dad said. “Luna is a quick learner, but she’d be better served by a nurturing environment that’s completely tailored to helping her grow.”

  Then Aurora had pulled the family card. “Mom, Dad, come on. You always talk about how important family is. This is a time when we have to keep the family together.”

  “Luna is part of our family,” Ruby said.

  “That’s right,” Tamarind said. “But because we love her, we want her in the most suitable home for an eleven-year-old girl who’s
been through hell. And we are going to take every opportunity to spend time with her and drag her to our crazy McCullum family functions.”

  “Hey.” Dad squinted at Mom. “You calling my family crazy?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Although Luna was in a wonderful home now, horrible details of her treatment in the sisters’ house had emerged during the trial. Ruby had turned to Aunt Kaysandra, who wasn’t supposed to talk about details of the case but sometimes guided Ruby on her developing relationship with Luna. “Did Leo abuse her?” Ruby had asked. “Sexually?”

  “He was beginning to target her,” Kaysandra said, “but from what we can tell, he did not sexually assault her. And I’m only telling you this because you’re her family. So not a word to anyone, you hear me?”

  It had been an easy promise to make, as Ruby would never have done anything to hurt Luna. Since their dramatic first meeting they had spent time together, along with Aurora, trying to find common ground. Ruby learned that Luna also adored Harold and the Purple Crayon, and they talked about things they would draw to make the world a better place. At the spring show in her new school, Luna went onstage and recited “Jabberwocky” and Ruby, seated in the audience, cried at the realization that this poem about conquering evil was their legacy, like a family crest. They attended Aurora’s soccer matches and spaghetti nights hosted by Marigold and Charles. Disney movie dates and ice skating. Ruby loved the way Luna clung to her on the ice, holding on to her jacket and hand while Ruby pushed off on the ice, showing her how to glide in an easy stride.

  It was nice to be needed in the purest way. To be able to keep Luna from falling, to be able to help—that just made Ruby’s heart soar.

  The pace of the party was picking up now. Aurora had helped Hazel’s dad choose some music on his iPhone, and the noise level was rising with the whir of the bouncy house compressor, the music, and the shouts of kids.

  “How many kids do we have here?” Tamarind asked.