Shanna ordered a BLT with fries and ate with utter relish and abandon, washing everything down with three glasses of sweet tea. Clare picked at her chicken salad and attempted to avoid Adam’s pointed gaze. He kept trying to catch her eye, as if they sat across an interview table instead of a picnic bench.
When they’d finished they headed to city hall and filed inside, finding the county psychologist waiting outside Hughes’s office, a briefcase in one hand. He introduced himself as Dr. Latten, shaking hands with Clare and Adam alike. He was a small man, balding with a dull fringe of red hair above his ears. He greeted Shanna warmly and she seemed at ease with him as he showed her into the nearest room and closed the door. Through the window in Hughes’s office Clare saw the sheriff speaking on the phone. He caught her eye and motioned that he’d be out momentarily. She wondered if he was talking to Parson about a female intruder on their property the night before. Wondered if the notes he was jotting down were her rental’s license plate number.
Before her paranoia could climb to even greater heights, Adam gently guided her away from the office doors and out into the high-ceilinged lobby. A set of chairs rested by a tall window looking out to Sheen’s main street. They went to them and sat.
“Where the hell did you go last night?” Adam said quietly.
“How do you know I went anywhere?”
“Because you didn’t get those scratches yesterday and you slept till almost noon. I’m not stupid, Clare. Spill it.”
She sighed, glancing around the lobby to make sure they were alone. “I went to Parson’s camp to see if I could spot Rainier or Shanna’s son there.”
Adam sat back and looked over her shoulder. Wouldn’t make eye contact.
“I know, I know. But I knew there was something off about those people. Hughes wasn’t going to do anything and you—”
“And I what? I’m already working outside the law here. But that wasn’t good enough for you,” he said, finally looking at her again. Clare swallowed. She’d seen Adam angry before and it was an intimidating experience. He seemed to grow larger, to loom over her even from where he sat. “I’m trying to help you and your sister, and you run off into the goddamn woods in the middle of the night to do a stakeout? Je-zus.” His jaw clenched, then relaxed. He sat back in his chair and shook his head. “Are you going to be charged with something in the next few minutes? I just want to know what to expect.”
“I don’t know. I don’t think they saw me. I had a camera and lost it out there.”
“Christ.”
“But there’s nothing tying me to it. They might’ve seen my license plate, I can’t be sure. There is one other thing, this local reporter must’ve followed me. She tried hinting at blackmailing me this morning on the phone if I wouldn’t give her an interview.” Clare relayed her first encounter with Johnson and waited while Adam processed everything. When he remained silent she pressed on. “I know. But in my defense I was getting a lot of pushback regarding Parson’s group and the coins. I didn’t feel like I had a choice.” Adam started to speak but she cut him off. “I saw a toy truck in Parson’s house.”
“A toy truck.”
“Yeah, like a little kid would play with. A little boy.”
“Clare, listen—”
“They were singing one of my father’s hymns.”
“What?”
“My father wrote hymns. He used to make us sing them, mostly in the middle of the night. I think it was a litmus test to see who was devoted and who wasn’t. He watched to make sure we knew all the words. He made us sing for hours sometimes. Those people were singing one of his hymns in the middle of the night. The only way they could’ve known that song was through Rainier.”
Adam watched her and she felt the small hope she’d had earlier begin to wither. She knew that look, one she’d seen from countless therapists and counselors in her childhood and early twenties. It was pity, distrust, and a little fear all rolled into one.
“There was a man,” she said, voice beginning to quaver. “The first time I saw him was . . . was in Oregon. He was lurking around our house. I spoke to him and he said some strange things to me. And last night I think I saw him outside the hotel near the woods.”
Adam studied her for another moment. “You’re sure?”
“I don’t know.” She shifted in her seat. “I thought I saw him, but . . .”
“But what?”
“I don’t know. It was dark and I’d just come from Parson’s camp. I was frazzled, but I think it was him.”
“I really hate to ask this, but are you still on a medication?”
“What? Yes, but that doesn’t change what I saw. You think I imagined it?”
“I didn’t say that, but you’ve been under extreme duress. The mind can do things—”
“Don’t tell me what the mind can do,” Clare snapped. Adam recoiled slightly and she was immediately sorry, but he’d nudged a raw nerve. The same thing she’d been wondering all along—were the things she was seeing real, or all in her mind? “It has been stressful. But I’m not imagining things.” I hope.
Adam seemed to digest this. “Obviously we can’t go to Hughes with this, and your story about the hymns and the toy truck won’t be enough to convince him anyway. Until we have something concrete tying the two cults together we won’t be able to get a search warrant. Hopefully my guy will unearth something useful. In the meantime, here’s what we do—we talk to Hughes about moving you both to a safe house. It’ll be good no matter if there’s someone actually watching you or not now that Parson might know you were spying on him last night. We’ll tell Hughes our concerns and leave out the part about you going off into the woods on your own.”
She started to speak again, but Hughes stepped into the lobby and moved toward them. “How is everyone today?” he asked as he approached.
“Doing okay,” Clare said. She glanced at Adam, who gave her a slight nod. “There is one thing we wanted to talk to you about.” She told him about seeing the twisted man near the woods the night before, changing her story so that she’d spotted him while getting some fresh air prior to bed.
“And this isn’t the first time you’ve seen him?” Hughes asked, shifting his gaze from her to Adam.
“No. I think I saw him at the hospital, too, on Shanna’s floor.” The lie came out unimpeded and she saw Adam look away. “We’d all feel safer if we moved out of the hotel as soon as possible.”
“Why do you think he’s a threat?”
“Both times when he noticed me seeing him he took off. Like his cover was blown.”
“You already have an armed guard and patrols going twenty-four hours a day.”
“Even so.”
Hughes studied her for a moment. “Let me see what I can do. I have a place in mind but I’ll have to do some checking beforehand. Think you could describe this guy?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll call our sketch artist in this afternoon. You can swing back through around four to meet with him. This is the most work he’s had in years.”