Dark Prison: A Dark Falls, CO Romantic Thriller

by Lori Ryan

  Eve frowned. “Of course. Is everything okay?”

  Sevier was one of her best detectives. He was also very recently married and she liked seeing him happy for a change. She hoped like hell this wasn’t bad news.

  He seemed to steel himself for something and she wondered just where the conversation was headed.

  “I, uh, I know you’ve been dating Glenn’s son and uh, that that might have some, uh complications. This might not be my place, but I just wanted you to know if he makes you happy, you should date him. Even if he is your partner’s son.”

  Eve sat back and clamped her mouth shut. Partly because she was tempted to laugh at the numbers of ‘uhs’ he’d just uttered. Mostly because her gut reaction was to tell him her love life was none of his damned business. But she respected Sevier and she also knew he wouldn’t come in here and raise this topic lightly.

  She reached for a paper clip on her desk and studied the wires as she bent it. “It’s complicated.”

  His bark of laughter at that wasn’t a surprise. “No kidding. I don’t think you could have picked a more complicated relationship. He’s your mentor’s son. He’s black and you’re not.”

  He looked stricken. “Shit, that came out wrong.” He scrubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “What I mean is, it makes things hard, that’s for sure. But here’s the thing, boss. He makes you happy. I could see it. I think we all could. And that matters. Especially in this job. We see a lot of shit in this line of work. Having someone you trust and care about to go home to can make what we do here okay. It makes it worth doing.”

  Eve twirled the wire between her fingers, watching it spin. “He’s not really talking to me right now. We had an argument.”

  “So talk to him. If you find someone who makes you feel the way I think he does, it’s worth holding onto. If you find happiness like that, you grab it and you don’t let go. You fight for it.”

  Eve nodded, feeling tension swirl in her gut. She wanted to do what he said, but she knew this thing with Kemal would never be easy. She thought of his dad as part of her family in a way, and Kemal didn’t want that connection. He didn’t want his dad to have anything to do with her right now. Her or the job.

  Sevier stood and shot a thumb over his shoulder. “I need to check in with forensics on one of the assault cases we caught last night.”

  “Thank you, John,” Eve said.

  He gave a nod and left.

  She picked up her phone and stared at the screen a lot longer than she should have. Twice, she opened it and then hit the lock button again. She had the next day off. She should try to talk to Kemal. She wanted to talk to him. To see if there was a way for them to work out all the complicated feelings and issues that hung between them.

  Because she liked him. Really liked him. She respected him. And the attraction wasn’t half bad either.

  Okay that was a flat out lie. The attraction, the sex, it was off the damned charts.

  And all of it, everything he made her feel, was worth fighting for. Wasn’t it?

  She messaged him.

  Can you come over tonight? Can we talk?

  She added the last because she didn’t want him to think this was just a booty call. That’s all this had been so far but she wanted it to be more. It was worth fighting to make this more.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Eve tried to not let it bother her that Kemal hadn’t messaged back yet. She’d spent the rest of the day checking her phone, but there’d been nothing. She was having to try not to let a lot of things bother her at the moment.

  The DA refused to go to a judge yet. Said they were asking for a lawsuit if they didn’t have a rock-solid case against the church before they sought a warrant.

  It pissed her off that this cult could hide behind the specter of religion to get away with the things it was doing.

  She spread the case file out on her desk to study it. Again.

  She’d looked at it so many times, she didn’t know how she could see something new, but this was the job. Looking at things again and again until you found a thread to pull.

  She thought of the reverend’s family and pulled out the sheet where she’d made notes about who was who. She pulled out a new sheet and wrote out all the family members again, this time putting them in a timeline. She marked the year the reverend took over the church, when he was married, and then put all of the children in according to age.

  Eve stared at the page, a feeling gnawing at the back of her mind. There was something there she wasn’t seeing. She ran her finger across the page from left to right looking at the timeline.

  Then she pulled out the pictures of the missing women and laid them out across the table.

  It took several minutes for a thought to gel but when it did, it hit her hard. It wasn’t evidence, it wouldn’t get her a warrant, but it was creepy. There was something about the ages of the reverend’s kids.

  She turned to her computer and pulled up the birth records of all of the children born to the reverend and his wife.

  The birth dates of the reverend’s children lined up with the timeline of the girls’ disappearances. Not all of them. There were two children born before the girls went missing. But after that, things lined up.

  Carina Nelson disappeared and the Richardson’s third child was born a year later. They had two more children after that and then there was a lull in children for the Richardsons.

  Then Samantha went missing and there was a child born fourteen months after that. Then another lull.

  Then Katie Frye disappeared and the children started up again. Same thing with Susie Norman. When she went missing, the Richardsons began having children again soon after.

  She’d never be able to get a warrant based on the timeline, but everything in Eve was screaming at her that this meant something. That this was important.

  She wondered if she just found Samantha Greer’s missing child.

  Eve looked at her watch. It was four in the afternoon. She could leave a few hours early and go visit the women at the church. If she remembered correctly, the church men stayed out “in the field” as they’d called it until six o’clock but the women would be at the main building, probably in that sewing room she’d seen a number of times.

  Could she get them to open up to her? Maybe armed with the information she had from Gail Tanner about the treatment of the women in the church, she could convince some of them to open up to her. And she could ask about the women Gail had said were living there happily. Do a well check.

  It couldn’t hurt to try to get one of them to open up to her.

  It didn’t even need to be an official visit.

  Okay, so she was desperate and willing to try anything in a last-ditch effort to get to the bottom of what was happening behind the fence at Blessed Divine. Still, she had to try. If she didn’t come up with something soon, the mayor and the chief were going to pull the plug on this investigation. She wasn’t willing to let that happen without a fight.

  She let the department admin and her detectives know she was leaving a little early but didn’t tell them what she had planned. The last thing she needed if this blew up in her face and she was reamed out or written up for going in there again without a warrant were any of her detectives being dragged into it with her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Kemal was being a jerk. He knew it. He’d seen Eve’s message hours ago and still hadn’t responded.

  He wanted to see her. He wanted to do just what she’d suggested. Talk it out.

  He was beginning to realize that he’d been trying to control every aspect of his dad’s life because he was terrified he’d lose him. Some part of Kemal had always been afraid he’d lose his dad. Having a father who was a cop meant that fear was ever present. And then when his dad had retired, his mom had gotten sick and they’d lost her in some giant cosmic joke.

  Seeing his dad putting himself back out there with Eve meant he was in danger again.

  Not to mention, t
he feelings Kemal was starting to feel for Eve were too damned strong. And she would never be the kind of woman to stay home or work in a quiet job. A safe job. She was out there putting herself on the line every day and maybe, just maybe, that had freaked him out more than he wanted to admit.

  So, yeah, he was being a dick not replying to her message. At the very least, he needed to be a man and reply. He took his phone out and started a message then erased it. He had a few more stops and starts before he ended up texting what amounted to a copout.

  Working at the community center tonight, but I’ll try to call when I get out.

  Okay, it was lame. He shook his head and shoved his phone in his back pocket. He needed to figure shit out. Get his head on straight.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Eve sat in what she’d come to think of as the sewing room with three of the women from the church. She had a feeling Faith Richardson would be joining them soon. Word would spread that Eve was on the grounds and Faith would come intervene, she was sure. What she didn’t know was whether the men would come, too.

  Something told her she needed to act fast because Faith’s arrival might put a stop to this every bit as much as one of the men arriving would.

  She pulled out the pictures of the missing women, planning to ask the women if they’d seen them.

  The young girl Eve had seen on previous visits skipped into the room, coming right to Eve and the photos.

  She smiled at Eve and pointed to the picture of Susie Norman. “Isn’t she beautiful?” she lowered her voice to a near-whisper and leaned into Eve to speak in her ear. “She’s my secret mama. I’m not supposed to know but sometimes she sneaks me hugs and tells me how beautiful I am.”

  Wild eyes on the faces of the other women told Eve they suspected the girl had said something she shouldn’t have. They didn’t give Eve a chance to question her.

  Faith Richardson entered the room and shut the door behind her. Faith’s appearance just about slammed the door on any chance Eve had to question the other women of the church.

  She weighed her options. She should at least try to talk to Faith. To see if she would admit that the women were there and let Eve see them. She was here, she might as well go for broke.

  She didn’t have the chance to do any of that. She turned to the sound of the other women leaving the room through another door. She watched and knew the walls were going up. The only way she’d get anything now was with a search warrant and she didn’t have that.

  A blow came to the back of her head that sent her reeling and stumbling forward. Eve caught herself, coiling and turning to strike out, but there wasn’t time. Another blow came. Her head was spinning and she felt sick. Adrenaline spiked.

  She’d made a crucial mistake. She’d assumed the reverend was the one she had to worry about. She thought Faith and the other women of the church might talk to her.

  She raised an arm to ward Faith off, but the other woman was still coming at her, a heavy paperweight in her hand. Eve rolled but it was too late. Darkness swirled and swallowed her before she could cry out.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Kemal couldn’t blame Eve for not answering his calls. She’d reached out and he’d been an ass about it. To top it off he’d had to deal with some kids getting into a fight at the community center and one of the idiots had been stupid enough to pull a knife. Kemal and some of the other volunteers stayed until they were sure things were calmed down enough that the fight wouldn’t spill over after the teens left the center.

  So he hadn’t called her when he got finished. He was tired and aggravated and he’d just gone home and gone to bed.

  So he couldn’t blame her when she didn’t answer his call the next morning, but he thought she’d call later that day. She didn’t. And she hadn’t called that afternoon either.

  Kemal left her building that evening. She hadn’t answered the door. When he went to the station earlier, they told him she wasn’t due in until the next day. Would it be creepy to sit outside her building and wait for her?

  Probably.

  Maybe he could get his dad to call her for him. Surely, she’d pick up for his dad. She knew they’d talked since his dad was released from the hospital. He had heard his dad on the phone with her and knew he was getting an update on the Samantha Greer case, despite Kemal’s objections.

  “When the hell did this happen to me?” he asked his empty car. “I’m thinking of having my dad call a woman for me.”

  Fuck, he was an idiot.

  He pulled out his phone again and sent her a text.

  I’m around if you change your mind and want to talk.

  It was all he could do for now. He’d have to wait for her to be ready to talk to him.

  Because he wasn’t calling his dad.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Kemal watched as his dad helped Antoine tip the scrambled eggs from the pan onto three plates. The two of them were laughing, but Kemal wasn’t in much of a mood. Eve hadn’t called him back.

  But what did he expect? He’d blown her off. It was no wonder she was done with him.

  His dad frowned as he pushed one of the plates in front of Kemal. “You okay, son?”

  Kemal looked up and nodded. “Tired.”

  Antoine took a bite of his eggs and spit them back onto his plate. “I think I messed this up.”

  Glenn and Kemal looked at the boy.

  Antoine was shaking his head at them, eyes wide. “Those ain’t right.”

  Kemal couldn’t help but smile at that. He pushed his plate at his dad. “You try them.”

  Glenn was no idiot. He didn’t taste the eggs. “Did you put something in when I wasn’t looking?”

  “Nothing you didn’t say to put in.” Antoine pushed his own plate a little further away.

  Glenn just looked at the kid with the kind of look that said he knew Antoine’s story was bull.

  Antoine screwed up his mouth. “I maybe added some extra.”

  “Extra what?” Kemal and Glenn asked at the same time.

  “Salt?” Antoine looked down. “And some garlic powder. And more salt.”

  Glenn took a small forkful of the eggs and tasted them before making a face. “Damn, Antoine, that’s a lot of extra you put in there.”

  Kemal was shaking his head, but he was laughing too, and he was glad Antoine had come to stay with them for a while. It was good having the kid around. He could see his dad liked it, too.

  Glenn’s phone rang, pulling him away from the table to answer it.

  Kemal had to admit, he was listening pretty intently to see if it was Eve on the other end of the call. As far as he knew, his dad was still consulting on the case. It wouldn’t be out of the question for her to call him.

  “Eve? No I haven’t heard from her. Is something wrong?”

  The blood in Kemal’s veins turned to ice as he heard the concern in his dad’s voice. He stood and went to his side, trying to listen. He couldn’t identify who the male caller was but he could guess it was one of Eve’s detectives from his words.

  “Eve didn’t come in this morning and hasn’t called in. We sent uniforms to her house but they got no answer. She’s not answering her phone.” The report was succinct, but Kemal could hear the worry behind the words.

  Glenn looked at Kemal. “Have you talked to her, son?”

  Kemal shook his head. “She didn’t return my calls yesterday but she wasn’t too happy with me.” An ache started deep in his chest.

  Fuck, when had she gone missing?

  “The church,” Kemal said.

  His dad spoke into the phone. “She interviewed a former member of the church. She said the woman told her about wife swapping at the church and she saw two of the missing women in the church compound. She said they were there voluntarily. Eve didn’t think she could get a warrant but she was going to try. Would she have gone to the church without a warrant?”

  Kemal listened to the response.

  “I don’t know. The church f
ile was open on her desk,” the detective said. “I’m going to see if the DA will take it to a judge for an emergency warrant. I have to have a warrant.”

  “Well, I don’t,” Kemal said, grabbing his keys and running for the door.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Eve kept her eyes closed and her breathing steady. Something told her she couldn’t let her captor know she was awake yet.

  Flashes of memory snaked through her mind but it was hard to make the images sit still long enough to analyze them.

  Instead, she listened for noise in the room around her. And she waited. Waited on clarity to come.

  In time, the images and memories settled. She had awoken before but in such a groggy state she’d been easy to manipulate. A woman coaxed tea into her. Bitter tea that made her head spin.

  She had no sense of how long she had been there. She remembered people talking and more of the tea.

  She needed to feign sleep long enough to be fully lucid and able to fight the next time they tried to get her to drink if she wanted to survive this.

  A sound from across the room nearly startled her into movement, but she caught herself and focused only on her breathing. Her head was clearing. But would she have any strength to fight?

  She catalogued her entire body. Her head felt sore and bruised. The rest of her felt weak and achy like she’d had the flu.

  Long minutes passed and Eve felt her head clearing more and more. She slit her eyes open and saw stark gray walls, a small room with little light. A woman on a small bed in the corner.

  She closed her eyes again and breathed steadily, evenly, biding her time. When moments passed and the woman didn’t come to her, Eve opened her eyes again.

  The young woman’s belly was swollen, at least five months pregnant, maybe more.

  Eve slowly pushed herself to sitting, keeping her eyes on the sleeping woman. There were no windows to tell her what time of day it was. Her arms and legs were weak, but Eve started to flex her hands and feet, working the blood flow to help wake herself up. The fierce pain as the blood reentered her limbs couldn’t be helped.