Chapter 12 #3
“We tried to talk to him; Gavin has talked to him. He’s gone crazy as a loon,” Vince said.
“And gone for good, I’m pretty sure. I don’t know if any therapy could ever help him.
He told me that he’d rather die than betray the master, who will save us all.
He will have a place of beauty without horrendous people like us around him.
You going to take a stab at it? This whole case got so nuts that the powers-that-be have ordered Gavin to take over in the field, but I guess you know that.
We all went off on what he asked last night. ”
“Yeah! You guys got a great tour,” Connie said, grimacing.
“Oh, it was great,” Skye said, grinning back at her. “So—”
“We’re out. Off to a meeting with a group of forest rangers. We’ll give them what we know, and maybe they’ll give us something. We’re reaching at straws—so if they can hand us a few, who knows? Something has to break this. Anyway,” Connie said.
“See you somewhere along the way. Gavin is keeping us all looped in, so you don’t need to worry. You’ll get anything we have!” Vince promised.
As the two of them went out, Gavin arrived from the back.
“I know you want to have a stab at our guest,” he said to Skye.
“But I wanted to let you know about something else. My cousin made some discoveries—fellow is so good on a computer he could have made big money somewhere, but … anyway. He’s found three rehab centers in the area that have no idea where several patients went.
But, of course, when something is voluntary or when someone had completed a program as ordered, they are free to disappear if they wish.
But Ben has a friend who has an aunt who just needed help with depression, and who was supposed to go live with her mom when she got out, and she just seemed to walk away. ”
“Are all three centers voluntary?” Zach asked.
“Two are. One is more or less what you’d call a lockup—state- or federal-ordered addiction and psychiatric help. I have the addresses—if you want to go to them today. I know that—”
“We’ll need to move quickly,” Skye said. “May I get started with Nick Sandoval?”
“Of course. Come on back.”
Gavin led the way down the hall to the interrogation rooms and the observation room that sat between them.
Nick was in one of the interrogation rooms, head lying on his arms, which rested on the table.
“Did you two want to take him together, or—”
“Skye is going in. I’m going to ask you about something that’s a theory now, but that we’d like to expound on,” Zach told him.
“We think the witches are hiding people in a building near or in a forest, maybe one with shacks around it. Something that appears old, locked up, and ready for demolition. Maybe. Or not. But we’re almost positive they’re being scared by the darkness and being taught that Puritan people were right to be afraid of the devil and evil. ”
“All right, if you have a plan—” Gavin began.
“Well, we do have a plan, and it is logical and requires procedure—real law enforcement work,” Skye announced with determination.
“We want to go to each of the locations where we’re pretty sure the kidnappers did whisk away Jeremy and Patricia, and where Nick Sandoval was probably headed last night.
If we can get to both locations, we might be able to see a car and people waiting, ready to drive away—”
“Driving away at the one, and having to give up on the other when Nick didn’t make it out with his target,” Zach elaborated, fleshing out Skye’s plan.
“Hey, you drive; I’ll hop in the back,” Gavin said. He looked at Skye.
“I’m going into the interrogation room; we want to get to the hospital to speak with Cathy, too.”
Gavin nodded. “I’ll get my people looking for abandoned properties.”
“Or just properties where you might hold people, when you’re not drugging them and dragging them out into the darkness,” Zach said.
Gavin nodded, and Skye slipped out.
And they watched as she took a seat opposite Nick Sandoval.
He didn’t lift his head, but Skye waited. She appeared to have all the time in the world. When he kept his position, she yawned and leaned back in her own chair.
Curiosity apparently got the best of Nick.
He raised his head and stared at her. “So now—you!” he said wearily.
“Now me,” Skye said lightly.
“You know, you look like you could be nice. You’re really a beautiful woman, but don’t you see? That just can’t matter when you live beneath the devil!”
She shook her head. “Nick, I’m so sorry, and I don’t know who told you that; but what’s being done here, the people who are ordering you to commit crimes—”
“It is no crime to save a girl, to bring her to the way of the master!” Nick told her.
“I’m sorry, Nick, but it is a crime. And you’re going to be arraigned for kidnapping, for drug possession, and possibly other charges,” Skye said gently.
“And you may shackle me and put me behind bars. I will not betray all that I know to be good and just and right.”
“The master is lying to you,” Skye said just as gently.
“The master does not lie. He brings us to feel the night; to understand the darkness; to know that if we listen to you who play with the devil and all his demons, we will know nothing in the coming life except for darkness. He helps—”
“No, he doesn’t help anyone. He takes little children from their parents.
He threatens people that he will kill their children or those they care for if they don’t listen to him.
That’s not listening to goodness, to seeking beauty and grace in an afterlife.
That’s just practicing cruelty here in this world. ”
“I know you will say these things. I know you will lie and lie. Because you don’t know.
As I said, it’s a pity, because you could have been a wonderful asset to the tribe, to those of us who have been chosen to know the truth, to live the way, to bring others into the fold.
You may beat me, you may hang me by the neck until I’m dead, but I will never betray the master. ”
She smiled sweetly at him. “But you already have, Nick. You failed him!”
“What?” Nick was stunned, taken aback by her words.
“Oh, Nick! You led us right to the road,” Skye lied sweetly.
“Of course, you didn’t realize what was going on, but we judged exactly where you’d been and where you were going …
It’s only a matter of time now.” She lowered her voice and whispered, “And I’ve heard that if someone fails him, or if he fears someone, they die!
Maybe they go on to wherever it is that the master talks you into believing you’re going, but in this life, they die.
Poor Mr. Bolton. I believe he killed Mike because Mike might have guessed who he was.
And, of course, there isn’t one master; there are two—”
“No! No! Only one master. He has those of us who love and follow him—”
“And charm and kidnap young girls for him, dress up in costumes, and kill for him.”
“He only kills evil!”
“But you failed him, so … well, he could see you as evil now. And if what you’re saying is the truth, why doesn’t he let the world see him? Why doesn’t he spread his word on television or through the Internet?”
“Because people are stupid! They’re sheep.
Something has been believed, so they just keep on believing it.
He very carefully chooses those to teach, to give the gift to, the gift of truly divine life, truly forsaking the devil!
” Nick announced. “And just because you find the pickup spot, that doesn’t mean you’ll find him! ”
Skye sat back, shaking her head. “Here’s something you should think about.
You believe there are witches—or whatever—who truly dance with the devil in the darkness of the woods.
Well, here’s the thing. Think about it. If the poor innocents tried for witchcraft in 1692 really were evil, all cozy with the devil, why didn’t they just call on him to save them from the ropes?
Maybe the devil and the master are the same!
People believed those in cahoots with the devil deserved to die.
Maybe this person convinces others that there are people being evil along with something like the devil and therefore, they deserve to die, too.
” Skye leaned close to him. “I have it on good authority that the master does kill if he senses someone might betray him in any way, shape, or form. You got any friends back there with the master? Even they could be in danger. Or you could see that they’re safe now? ”
She stood then, smiling at him.
“Think about it, Nick, please. Just think about it.”
She turned and left the room. Nick Sandoval just stared after her.
And Zach knew. She had gotten to him. In a few hours, they just might get something from him that would lead them in the direction they needed to go.