178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt7tg5NC2AI
Robert wrapped an arm around his wife’s thin shoulders and gave Zach a significant look. “I’m sure she’ll show up before too long, but could you go talk to those freaks? It’ll make Julie feel better.”178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCkBbDh3er2
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVvOfgccNeA
The very last thing he wanted to do was go out to that commune and sniff around. He wouldn’t find anything they didn’t want him to find, which made the whole endeavor pointless. Martha and her people would smile and chat him up, and he’d walk away empty-handed. “I can do that, but you know as well as I do that they aren’t likely to give me anything useful.”178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlDn2GQv9gd
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsl0m7bR1LI
He showed the Smiths out, making more promises to go out to the commune that very morning. If it’d make them feel better, he’d do what he had to do.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡarYZymJYm3
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyLjFGnK4Ss
“Trouble?”178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmonXjMHoA
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfnCe1JWj3b
He glanced over at Henry. The man had been working at the Clear Springs station since Zach was a teenager, but when the sheriff position opened up, old Henry wanted nothing to do with it. He liked being a senior deputy, and he wasn’t interested in adding more responsibility to his plate with retirement only a few short years away.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcOChwZK9nG
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLzvByGCzYh
Zach turned to face the west. He couldn’t see Elysia from here, but he could pinpoint its exact location. Some days it felt like that damn cult cast a shadow long enough to encompass the entire town.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWER7v3gRUg
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGf7lqKSGiU
He rubbed the back of his neck. “The Smith girl might be missing.”178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7YOLhqnij
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwHkWOMwY8V
“I’ll bet she is. Probably missing right up to Augusta, or even over to Great Falls. The girl gets around.”178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVWqtRsgCRn
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5quBg4f7bl
He shot Henry a look. It didn’t matter what either of them thought of Neveah Smith. What mattered was giving her parents some peace of mind until she found her way back into town. “They think Martha Collins has something to do with it.”178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk2Db1QTU24
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOXhMbxdC13
“That Julie Smith.” Henry snorted. “The Winchesters had a whole batch of bread turn up unexpectedly stale last week, and who do you think Julie thought was the cause? Martha Collins. How she thought the woman managed that is beyond me, but Julie ain’t exactly a neutral party, you know?”178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9DnTwt2J6f
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl9MvfOPp2b
“I know.” Hadn’t he been thinking the same thing? “We still have to check it out.”178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSXMPzKAGd
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl0VxqYdiW4
“By all means.” Henry grabbed the keys from the stand. “I’ll drive.”178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW2VsJ9i5yG
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3BND6G8xV
That was just fine with Zach. It’d give him some time to think. He headed for the cruiser and settled into the passenger seat. As much as he didn’t want to discount the Smiths’ fear, he couldn’t help thinking that Henry was right—Neveah Smith would turn up sooner or later, and it wouldn’t have had a damn thing to do with Elysia.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBUHr85u6g
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRwRo2htuZe
The trip took a good thirty minutes, but only because the roads were hardly anything to write home about. The narrow asphalt lane was full of potholes and uneven grooves, which made going more than thirty miles an hour a health hazard. There was no road directly into Elysia from the main highway—something he suspected was intentional.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡksiSAZyfCa
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNMNOAb4f8K
For someone to get to the commune, they had to really want to.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJsE8KUOawh
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSfCaQXtEQD
Terrain was tricky out here, and distances didn’t always match up the way one expected them to. That was why the hill the main settlement of Elysia was on seemed to rise out of nowhere. He knew that, but it didn’t stop some instinct inside him insisting that he needed to sit up and pay attention.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwYZQXa6pSy
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2BUz2nB6oL
Everything about that damn cult was smoke and mirrors, but he’d be the first to admit how dangerously compelling both Martha and her people could be. He’d listened in on their talks a time or two when he was young and had a chip on his shoulder a mile wide, and the whole back-to-nature way of life appealed to him. If that’s all this place was, he wouldn’t have a problem with it.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo8F4aW97Ao
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDeuzt2MgE1
But it wasn’t.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUe1Kd737bG
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ73u7lsKxq0
They wanted obedience as much as they wanted anything—more, in fact—and when he couldn’t get anyone to give him a straight answer about their belief system or what living on the commune entailed, he’d gone with his next best choice and enlisted in the Marines.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfP0dus2tZc
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuem5AiqTmK
It had been the best decision he’d ever made.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8YlZNkYi7
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEfji4wSlcj
Or that’s what he comforted himself with on the nights the nightmares had him by the throat.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjwWqA6JgVY
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLhLOwxsNnl
Henry pulled to a stop about a hundred yards from the gates of Elysia. They were framed by the eight-foot whitewashed fence that circled the main buildings, a direct contrast with the rest of the fencing that wound around the rest of the property, which was closer to something one would find on a cattle ranch. It marked the territory, but if someone was determined, it’d be easy enough to slip through. Doing so was something of a rite of passage with Clear Springs teenagers these days, and the Elysians seemed to tolerate it well enough that they only called him when one of the kids ventured too close to their homestead itself.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaClN50BaOc
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡehbg2IOnd1
Today the giant gates were closed, giving him a full view of their intricate design. The damn things were thick wood, a good ten feet tall and carved with a design he couldn’t quite make out at this distance. He knew what it was, though—a scene of a woman being dragged through a giant crack in the ground, a second woman on the surface reaching for her, both their expressions of fear and determination. Not exactly feel-good stuff.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbksHORW5oW
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxjDE3wCp6X
He got out of the cruiser and eyed the two men standing before the gates. The older man held a rifle in his hands with an ease that said he knew how to use it, and the other one had a bright smile on his face that was as false as everything else about this place. Zach lifted a hand. “Abram. Joseph.”178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbzJovy2Pj
178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0llfhc9tgA
Joseph moved forward, his smile not so much as flickering. Abram stayed back, which was just fine with Zach. There was something just off about Martha’s right-hand man. Just being within eyesight of him had instincts Zach thought were long dormant perking up and taking notice.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1jNXpEgZAM
Penana
search
Loginarrow_drop_down
Registerarrow_drop_down
