‘And my dad’s Tahoe?’ Gideon asked.
‘Found north of Alturas,’ Molina said. ‘He set the SUV on fire.’
‘Of course he did,’ Gideon muttered. ‘Do we know what he’s driving now?’
‘An old truck he stole from a rancher. We’re looking for it now.’ Molina paused, studying their faces, her expression kind but firm. ‘He’s desperate. He’s not going to give up.’
‘I know,’ Mercy said quietly.
‘And you’re not going to solve anything by offering up yourself as a sacrificial goat,’ Molina added, still kindly.
Both Gideon and Rafe started to speak, but Molina held up her hand. ‘I get why you did it, Miss Callahan. Please know that. But I must admit that I don’t get why he’s after you. This is the second time in a week that he’s tried to abduct you. Or kill you. Why, after all these years, is he coming after you? He’s gone to great lengths to find you. He went all the way to New Orleans to hunt you. It can’t be ego, can it?’
‘Sure it can,’ Mercy said. ‘But not only ego. There were always politics in Eden. I didn’t understand what was going on when I was there, but I was only twelve.’
‘And being abused,’ Daisy murmured.
‘That too,’ Mercy agreed. ‘All I know is that DJ Belmont started to kill me that night thirteen years ago, but was interrupted. And that when my mother told DJ that Ephraim would kill him for killing us, he just laughed and said that Ephraim couldn’t.’
‘I read that in Agent Hunter’s report,’ Molina said. ‘What do you think that means?’
Mercy had been giving this a lot of thought as they’d driven from Snowbush to the Reno hospital. ‘I think it means that DJ and Ephraim had some kind of feud between them. That they held damaging information over each other’s heads. That makes sense, given that Ephraim was there hiding because of the bank robbery that he and his brother committed. Robbery and three murders,’ she amended. ‘Who knows if Pastor was also hiding? Or even Waylon, DJ’s father? They were all the original Founding Elders. Maybe they were all hiding. And, after all these years, I imagine they know each other’s business.’
Molina considered this. ‘Do you think that Ephraim believed you dead all this time?’
‘Yes, I do.’ Mercy glanced at Gideon, relieved that he was no longer glaring at her. ‘When Gideon escaped, DJ’s father brought back a body and claimed it was Gideon’s. The body was so damaged that I couldn’t identify it, but my mother did. She knew it wasn’t Gideon, though. I figure that they did something similar for me. They had to demonstrate the consequences of running away to keep up the fear. You leave, you die. It was that simple. I don’t know if Ephraim knew that Gideon wasn’t really dead, or that I wasn’t either, but we do know that he actively searched for Eileen.’
‘So you think Ephraim would have found you if he’d really looked?’ Molina asked.
‘I do. There was a police report about the shooting in Redding when I was left there, wasn’t there?’ Mercy asked. ‘Hunter referred to it last night. There had to have been one when Gideon was found there, too. If Ephraim had really wanted to, he could have found us. I don’t think he even tried, because he believed us dead.’
‘So back to my question,’ Molina said. ‘Why does he want you now?’
Mercy shrugged. ‘I don’t know, and that’s the truth. It could be that he saw the CNN report somehow, although I don’t know how he could have. There’s no TV in Eden. Although the timing makes sense considering he booked his ticket to New Orleans that night.’
Molina nodded thoughtfully. ‘True. We’ve established that Ephraim was in Santa Rosa the night of the CNN report, at the house from which Regina Jewel operated her prostitution ring. One of the underage girls who’d been forced to work for Regina said that she saw Ephraim that night. The girl had been scheduled to “service” him, but she was relieved because he canceled and left the building. She said that Regina was really annoyed, because she’d blocked out the girl’s schedule for two days.’
Mercy closed her eyes, both relieved that the girls in that awful place were free and knowing that true freedom was going to require a lot of therapy. ‘Are they safe now? The girls? Will they get counseling?’
‘Yes,’ Molina said gently. ‘They’re safe and will be receiving physical and mental health services. All right, I think that’s enough for the moment. Where will you all be staying tonight?’
Mercy looked at the others. ‘Can we go back to Sacramento? I need to feed my cats.’
André nodded, his arm tight around Farrah’s shoulders. ‘I second that. We all need some rest. I’d feel safer staying in a secure home than a hotel.’
‘But let’s stay together, okay?’ Daisy said with a worried frown. ‘Gideon, we can stay in Sasha’s apartment, and Farrah and André can keep the top floor.’
Mercy nodded. That meant that she’d stay with Rafe in the tiny studio apartment again. And even if he was furious at her, just being with him sounded really, really good.
‘Then I’ll put someone outside to stand watch,’ Molina said. ‘Until we find Ephraim, none of you go anywhere without telling me or whoever is on watch, okay?’
Gideon rubbed at his temples. ‘Okay.’
‘I’ve assigned Agent Hunter to be your escort tonight. He’ll drive you back to Sacramento.’ Molina rose and patted Gideon on the shoulder. ‘We’ll find him, Gideon.’
He smiled, but it was forced. ‘I know.’
Mercy wasn’t so sure. Ephraim knew how to hide. He’d been doing so for thirty years. ‘Agent Molina, will I be able to get the jewelry box back at some point?’
‘Yes, Mercy. I’ll make sure of it.’
Sacramento, California
Monday, 17 April, 8.30 P.M.
‘Jeffrey Bunker, if you don’t stop that pacing, I’m going to glue your butt to a chair.’
Jeff turned to where his mother was cross-stitching while watching her favorite TV show. ‘I’m sorry, Mom. I’m just . . . wired.’
She spared him a glance over her glasses. ‘Sit down, honey, and we can talk about it. Either that, or get on my treadmill and run off some of that energy, because you are driving me crazy.’
He flopped onto the sofa beside her. ‘I wish I knew what to do.’
‘About what?’ she asked.
He blinked at her. ‘About what? About ruining Mercy Callahan’s life, that’s what.’ It had been the only thing he could think about all day long.