‘Of course, Papa,’ Abigail said with an eye roll that would have made any teenager proud. ‘I’m not a baby.’
‘No, you’re not.’ Amos kissed her forehead. ‘You are growing up too fast. Now go and find Mr Karl.’ When Abigail had disappeared into the hallway, he immediately turned to Mercy. ‘That woman, Agent Molina. There are things she didn’t tell you.’
‘I know,’ Mercy said. ‘She’s like that. I hope she didn’t make you uncomfortable.’
Amos shrugged. ‘Her interview room was rather terrifying, but better than the back of DJ’s truck, so I can honestly say that I’ve had worse.’
‘What did you tell her that she’s holding back?’ Gideon asked.
‘She seemed most interested in Pastor. She asked a lot of questions, and I gave her what little information I know.’
Rafe sat up straighter and noted Gideon doing the same. This was important. Rafe was after Ephraim – and now DJ – because they threatened Mercy, but the Feds were after Eden as a whole. ‘Like what kind of information?’ Rafe asked.
‘I was a member of Pastor’s church. Before Eden.’ Amos smiled up at Irina when she refilled his cup with tea. ‘Thank you. It’s just what I needed.’
Mercy looked taken aback. ‘Pastor was an actual pastor? For real?’
‘Pastor was his name,’ Amos said, completely serious. ‘Of course he was a pastor.’
Mercy bit her lip. ‘I guess I assumed he was hiding from the law like Ephraim and Edward.’
‘They robbed a bank,’ Rafe added, not sure if Amos was aware. ‘Thirty years ago.’
Amos’s mouth fell open. ‘I didn’t know that. Good heavens.’ He sipped on his tea with a thoughtful frown. ‘But the timing works, I suppose. I joined Eden when I was nineteen. That was thirty years ago and the Eden church was brand-new. I was raised by my grandfather, who had been an active member of Pastor’s congregation before Eden. It was a nondenominational church in LA. But then, in the late eighties, Pastor was accused of embezzlement, of falsifying his résumé and stealing from the church’s accounts. He’d been the pastor in the LA church for at least ten years, and was accused of taking almost a hundred thousand dollars.’ His smile was wry. ‘Which was a lot of money in those days.’
‘It still is,’ Gideon said. ‘Did you not believe the accusations?’
Amos sighed. ‘I didn’t, no. Mostly because my grandfather didn’t. He was one of the church elders and was devoted to Pastor and his family. The church itself was divided on the accusations. About a third believed them true and pushed for Pastor’s ouster. A third stood by Pastor, who maintained his innocence. The remaining third said we were all crazy and left the church. This left only the “for” and “against” groups and they fought for control. It was vicious. I remember some of the members threatening violence on their “enemies”.’ He finger-quoted. ‘Finally, Pastor gathered his closest supporters together in secret and announced that he was starting a new church, that if he stayed in LA the government would seize his assets and make him an example.’
‘The government,’ Mercy repeated flatly.
Amos sighed. ‘It was a paranoid time.’
‘Waco was only a few years after that,’ Gideon said.
‘We heard a lot about Waco.’ Amos shook his head. ‘I don’t know if half of what we heard was true, but we got an influx of new members after that. Anyway, he offered to allow his “chosen few” to come with him. They’d get freedom from the government, freedom from the growing immorality of the world, fresh air, and back to basics. Their children would grow up without temptation and would remain pure.’
‘And what did they have to promise in return?’ Rafe asked.
Amos briefly dropped his gaze to his hands. When he looked up, Rafe saw shame in his eyes. ‘Everything,’ Amos said quietly. ‘“If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me”.’
‘Matthew 19:21,’ Mercy said. ‘But you didn’t give to the poor.’
‘You gave it all to Pastor,’ Gideon murmured. ‘What did you sell?’
‘My grandfather’s house. All of our belongings, except for his pocket watch. I couldn’t bear to sell that. He was so disappointed that he couldn’t come with me. He was sick. Lung cancer. His last wish was that I would go to Eden and “thrive”. So I did. Or tried to.’
‘How much did you give to Eden?’ Mercy asked.
‘Several hundred thousand dollars. My grandfather owned a lot of land and developers had been after him to sell for a long time.’
‘Wow,’ Mercy whispered. ‘Did everyone give him that much money?’
‘Some gave him more,’ Amos said. ‘Some less. Some brought nothing but themselves and their children, like your mother, but looking back I can see there were more wealthy donors than poor members.’
‘What was Pastor’s name, back in LA?’ Rafe asked.
Amos gave him an approving nod. ‘That was what interested Agent Molina the most. His given name was Herbert Hampton, but now I don’t know if that was true, either.’
Rafe was already entering the name into his phone browser. ‘Nothing comes up on his name, but that’s not surprising if he hasn’t used it for thirty years.’ But he wasn’t discouraged at all. This was part of the hunt, his favorite part of the job.
‘Tom’s probably already searching,’ Gideon said. ‘He’s some kind of hacker whiz. If it’s on the Internet, or ever has been, he can find it.’
‘Or we could search the newspaper archives.’
Everyone turned to see Jeffrey Bunker standing in the kitchen doorway with Zoya, Karl, and Abigail. The sight of the little bastard reporter had Rafe’s temper rising fast, and from the way Gideon’s jaw bulged, his friend felt the same way. But Bunker had done some good today. He was trying to undo the harm he’d caused, and Rafe resolved to give the little punk a second chance.
‘This is a private conversation,’ Gideon growled, having clearly not come to the same resolution.
Zoya lifted her chin. ‘We were told to come for cake. Back off, Gideon. We didn’t do anything wrong.’
Abigail crossed the kitchen to climb into Amos’s lap. ‘He sounds mean again, Papa,’ she whispered, but so loudly that they could all hear it. ‘Why is he mean?’
Amos sighed. ‘He’s not mean. He’s frustrated. That’s not the same thing.’