Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Carlos tugged his chair closer to the tiny coffee shop table, even though he didn’t really fit.
He hadn’t lied to Eliana about being worried over Luci’s situation.
Still, the truth was, he found himself more bothered by the fact that he’d never noticed anything amiss in that doorway yesterday.
Finding his sister could have cost Eliana her life, and he’d never be able to walk away from that.
This wasn’t about which one of them he cared for more.
They were both sisters to him. But Luci had always insisted she could take care of herself.
Eliana seemed to invite the help, and when he’d asked, she jumped in with both feet to go with him.
Even now that something had happened to them, she wasn’t backing down.
Whether or not he was determined to keep her safe…
in the end, it might not make a difference. All he had were good intentions.
Eliana sat across the table, sipping on coffee. Around them, the patrons had occupied every chair—except the one he’d snagged for their guest. A mass of teens, moms with kids, and older folks chattered and hung out.
Eliana peered at him over the lid of her cup. “You okay?”
He shrugged. “You go to that church every week? I haven’t found one yet.”
She nodded. “One of the people I work with at the Shrine recommended it to me when I started working there.”
“You say that like it’s a normal place for someone to work.” Another thing he wanted to talk to her about. After they found Luci? Maybe he didn’t want to wait that long.
Eliana stiffened.
“You’re deceiving everyone who works there by not telling them who you really are.”
“That might be true,” Eliana said. “If they didn’t already know exactly who I am. Why do you think they reached out to me and offered me a job?”
“Why do you wear a wig at work, then?” They didn’t have much time before his source showed up, but Eliana might actually be telling him the truth right now.
“Visitors and guests would recognize me.” Eliana shifted in the chair, her slender shoulders shifting with tension. “It isn’t about notoriety. They know I’m there to find out about the organization that had such a profound effect on my family.” She shifted in her seat. “Heads up.”
Carlos turned slightly to the side and watched a woman enter the coffee shop, look around, and spot them in the crowd. He lifted two fingers, and she came over.
She was at least forty, her brown hair colored with blond streaks. Maybe older than forty. She wore jeans and a black shirt. Modest clothing, but current with the styles that seemed to change before Carlos had even figured them out.
He stood as she approached. “Faith Blackburn?”
“You’re the cop who called?”
Carlos nodded. “Officer Ryson, but Carlos is fine. This isn’t official business, as I said.” He indicated Eliana. “This is a family friend, Eliana. We’re looking for my sister, who is missing. Her name is Luci.”
She held her purse close to her body. At hearing this was about a missing woman, she stiffened very slightly. Definitely wary. “I don’t know anything about missing people.”
“But you know about the Reverence Sisters,” Carlos said.
Eliana waved toward the front counter. “Would you like some coffee? I’ll buy you a cup, and maybe we could sit and chat. We’d like to hear about the group.”
Faith shook her head. “I don’t need coffee, but some water would be good.”
Carlos went to the counter, paid for a bottle of water, and brought it back to Faith. When he sat, Eliana held her coffee in her hands on the table, her demeanor as if they were having a secret conversation or trying to draw the woman into her confidence.
“Thank you so much for coming to talk to us, Faith.” Eliana paused. “It was very brave of you to even step inside this coffee shop.”
“You have no idea.” Faith twisted the cap off her bottle, displaying toned arm muscles.
Carlos didn’t think the strength she’d built was for aesthetics, though he could be wrong. “Do you believe you’re in danger from these people?”
Faith took a tiny sip. “Maybe at one point. But it’s been years, and nobody has come around asking about me. I’ve been starting to let my guard down.” She looked at Carlos. “Your call was a reminder that I should never stop looking over my shoulder.”
He didn’t want that to be the case, but said, “Smart.”
Eliana leaned forward. “What can you tell us about the Reverence Sisters?”
Faith shuddered just hearing the name. “It was three years ago. I started going to a Bible study on campus. At least, I thought that’s what it was on the surface.
The women who ran it were… Well, I should’ve probably seen some red flags.
My friend went with me once and never came again.
I kept going. There was something about them, and what they were saying. They were good.”
Eliana said, “Good at drawing you in, and connecting with you?”
Faith nodded. “Until it’s too late and you realize the whole thing was a trap.”
Carlos managed to get a question in. “How long were you there?”
“Two months.” She took a breath. “I ran track in high school. State championship, fastest time of the women’s division.” She shuddered, and her voice broke.
Eliana said, “Running is your superpower.”
Carlos looked at her, blinking at the sudden shift in the conversation.
“I’ve always thought that being tall is mine,” Eliana continued. “I mean, I can reach things shorter people can’t. I stand out. So if I decide it’s what makes me unique and it’s something to be proud of…” She shrugged.
And wouldn’t you know, Faith softened enough to smile very slightly. “Running is my superpower. It’s been a while. Actually, I haven’t run since I ran away from the community. I should do it again.”
Eliana smiled, and the two shared a moment.
Carlos had to ask, “Did they try to stop you?”
Faith took another sip of water. “They shot at me. They chased me. Thank God they didn’t have dogs.
” She shook her head, fear in her movements.
Even just the memory of fear. “I just ran. I kept running. I don’t even know how far it was.
My legs were burning. My lungs. Tears dried on my face.
The heat drenched me in sweat so that the dress I wore was soaked by the time I stumbled onto the highway, and this couple picked me up.
They were terrified. Thought I was a ghost or something.
They took me to the hospital, then came back and checked on me, and eventually they offered me a room in their house. ”
“It’s amazing that you got out,” Eliana told her.
Carlos figured she needed as many people as she could get to tell her that. “You’re rebuilding your life.”
“I sell mattresses. I’m not curing cancer.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Carlos said. “You know I’m a cop.
So believe me when I say that many people don’t get out of whatever terrible situation they end up in.
They’re stuck and they stay stuck. For whatever reason they can’t fight or don’t believe they even have a chance if they did. But you took a chance and you got out.”
Eliana stared at him, a sheen of tears in her eyes.
“Thank you.” Faith hugged her purse on her lap but didn’t make any move to get up. Maybe she was reluctant to leave the conversation for some reason. “Sorry I can’t help you find your sister.”
Eliana said, “While you were there, how many others lived in the community?”
“Six or seven, I think. It fluctuated. We weren’t allowed much contact at first. Until we had passed the first two levels, we were kept alone. I saw them out my window sometimes, walking to the meeting hall. But I didn’t get far enough to speak to them.”
Carlos didn’t like the idea of Luci being in that situation any more than anyone else. These people needed to be shut down—which meant, hopefully, they hadn’t destroyed themselves already. But if they had, where were the bodies? “Did you ever meet the leaders?”
“The ones who came to the study were Sisters in the highest levels. I heard them talk about the Mother, but I never met her.”
Eliana said, “Did you ever hear them call her by another name?”
“It won’t be helpful,” Faith said. “They called her Eve.”
Eliana shifted in her seat, giving off a wave of distress.
Carlos wanted to comfort her, but that would come later. First he had a lot of questions about why she was here, and what she thought she was achieving by working at the Shrine for Dominatus of all places.
“Eve,” he repeated.
The fact that it had religious connotations wasn’t surprising.
Eve was the first woman, the Mother of all humanity, as it were.
But that didn’t help him find the woman so she could answer for what had happened at the community.
It gave him no clues as to her identity.
Didn’t help him know that Luci was safe.
“How long has it been since you saw your sister?” Faith asked, compassion in her expression. She glanced between them.
Eliana looked to him.
Carlos didn’t like the answer to that question but wasn’t going to lie. “Before the holidays, for sure. I looked at my call history and texts, and we haven’t spoken in over a year. Maybe she talked with my dad, though.”
“Same for me,” Eliana said. “Luci pulled away from us a long time ago to do her thing, but that doesn’t mean we quit caring about her.”
Faith nodded. “It’s good she has people to care about her enough to dig. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t go up against them on my own. I’m just me.”
Carlos slid a business card on the table. “Snap this and save my information. If you ever need anything, especially the aid of a cop—or every cop in Chicago that we can spare—call. It’ll reassure me to know that you have my number.”
Faith tugged an iPhone with a pink case from her purse and opened the camera. The information embedded in the logo on the card would save right to her contacts with one tap. “Thanks.”
“Anytime. I mean it.” He returned the card to his wallet.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more.” She said her goodbyes and hurried out, leaving the water behind.
Eliana exhaled. “That was a lot to digest.”
Carlos turned to face her, feeling as if the rest of the coffee shop bled away. He set his elbows on the table and leaned forward to get her full attention. “It was a lot. Are you okay?”
“Knowing Luci might be in a situation like that? Not really.” She bit her lip. “Given what those people did to us yesterday as well? It’s worse.” She scrunched up her nose.
“What is it, Lia?”
“What if we come down with a weird disease, or someone uses our DNA for something horrible? We could be convicted of a crime we didn’t commit. There are too many ways this could turn out.”
He reached over and laid his hand over hers. “Until something happens, we don’t know what we have to deal with. We can’t prepare for everything.”
“I want to find Luci, but no part of me wants to go up against these people.”
Carlos nodded. “People with creepy beliefs are scarier than a guy who picks up a gun and shoots a person he doesn’t like.”
Eliana frowned. “Maybe we need a mom-consult. But is she going to scrap her vacation, fly down here, and take over the whole thing? My dad will probably throw me in the trunk and drive me back to Cheyenne.”
“Leaving might not be a bad idea. I can work this case.”
She pulled her hand out from under this. “I don’t need you to protect me. I’m not helpless.”
“You’re the one who said you wanted nothing to do with it.”
“Did you also hear when I said I want to find her?”
“Wanting her back and actually being the one looking are different things. One is action, the other is a sentiment. And sentiments are a whole lot safer than putting yourself in danger.”
“Everyone I know gets to do that. They get to choose, and they jump at the chance to put themselves in danger. Just because I think twice means I should go home?” She picked up her cup and stood.
“Lia.”
She didn’t look at him.
“You’re right that we should let them know what’s happening, but we also need concrete information about the Reverence Sisters. Files we can send them. Which means we need my laptop.” He drained the last of his coffee and stood as well. “My place? We could order pizza.”
Her eyes narrowed, and he knew then that she was curious about his life.
Curious enough to agree? With the way her family was, he wasn’t going to make the mistake of falling for her.
If he was looking for a relationship, Eliana happened to be the one person in his world who understood his life better than anyone.
He’d thought about her in that way over the years, sure.
After a girl declares her undying love, of course you think about it.
He’d just never had the chance to do anything about it because she’d stayed away.
“Okay.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and grabbed that tiny backpack she carried. “I’m hungry enough to agree, and I want to go over what we have.”
Carlos followed her to the door.
Sure, Eliana was a gorgeous woman. But the problem with her knowing everything about his life was that she knew too much.
There was way too much water under the bridge for him to let go and be comfortable with her knowing what she did about him.
He could also argue that he knew too much about her as well.
Then again, was inferring she only thought about herself just a way to project his guilt onto her, somehow making what he’d said to her in high school less terrible?
He wasn’t trying to sweet-talk her into forgiving him. If he thought that pizza was powerful enough to do that job, he’d have shown up with one long before now.