Deadly Deception (SCVC Taskforce) (28 page)

My burden to bear.
“Not my sister. She wouldn’t betray me.”

“What is going on in here?” Melanie appeared and brushed past Jacob. She looked Adam over from head to foot and took the bottle of water from Jacob. Her brows creased in concern. “Adam, you’re sick.”

She unscrewed the lid on the water, held it to his lips. “Drink this.” As he took a sip, the water a cool trickle down his parched throat, she stroked his hair, matted with sweat from his brow. “There, now. Isn’t that better?”

Melanie was always there to take care of him. Not like Jacob who pushed and prodded and demanded he take his medicine when it did no good. She encouraged him to focus on his calling while she ran the farm.

“God is silent.”

Her face grew solemn. “You’ve sinned.”

“What have I done?”

Jacob handed her the pill. “You’ve allowed the enemy to enter our camp.”

Melanie waved Jacob off, pushed the pill into Adam’s hand. “Perhaps impregnating Kristine has angered God.”

Kristine.
My burden to bear
. “I didn’t.”

“Of course, you did.” She stroked his hair. Her eyes were so lovely. Such a deep blue. “Don’t you remember? You saw her in a vision. She was the one.”

“A vision?”

“That’s what you said.”

“I don’t remember. Maybe…” He’d only had visions a few times since he was young, but they’d always caused huge problems for him.
Why can’t I tell the truth from the lies?

My burden to bear.

Please, God. Show me the truth!

“Maybe the vision was untrue. Maybe Kristine angered God and I had a false vision about her to lead me astray.”

Melanie continued stroking his hair. A new light entered her face. “Well, then, we can’t have that, can we? If Kristine has led you astray from God’s word, she’s a vice.” Melanie’s hand was soft and soothing on the back of his neck. “Perhaps she’s an agent of the devil!”

Kristine, an agent of the devil? Leading him to sin, to be cut off from God? “That slut. That whore.” God had tested him and he’d failed. “Evict her from the house!”

Melanie nodded, her thin lips lifting slightly. “Jacob will take care of it. Once she’s gone, I’m sure God will be happy again. He’ll send you a new vision.”

Adam shoved her hand with the pill away. “No more. I can’t take any more.”

“Shh. It’s okay. Jacob will take care of Kristine right now, won’t you, Jacob?”

Jacob huffed. “What about the FBI? They’re our real problem.”

Melanie gave Adam one last pat and whisked away from him. She took Jacob by the arm and propelled him toward the door. Adam wasn’t sure, but he thought she said, “One traitor at a time.”

She turned back, waiting until Jacob left to say, “Don’t worry, Adam. Everything will work out fine, you’ll see. Stay here until I come to get you, okay?”

Adam sunk to his knees and began to pray.

Ronni waited until Melanie was out of sight. Jacob had left first, heading toward the men’s quarters. Melanie had come out seconds later, heading for the house.

Adam remained in the chapel.

A group of women who’d been in town selling products and taking orders at a local farmer’s market returned. Two groups who’d covered the sector farther north were still absent. The returning women carried empty baskets and wore tired smiles as they passed Ronni, casting glances at the chapel, but not stopping. Ronni snuck around back, tested the doorknob. Not locked. She opened it and went inside.

Adam paced the platform, the loud
thud-thud-thud
of his shoes sounding dead and lifeless. The man, himself, looked weighed down. He was sweating, breathing hard. His eyes were red-ringed as though he’d been crying.

“There is a Judas among us,” he said. His gaze was locked on the platform floor as he paced. “God is testing me.”

Was he talking to
her?
She didn’t think he’d noticed her standing in the shadows. Maybe he was talking to himself. If she stayed quiet…

He stopped, his gaze snapping up to meet hers. His pupils were dilated. “A Judas. Here. After all I’ve done for my flock, one has betrayed me.”

A flashback of Daniel played in her memory. A man at the Wrightsville compound had “betrayed” Daniel, or so he’d believed. They’d had a falling out, and the man and his wife had left Mount Royal. “Who?”

Adam turned, swayed on his feet, shuffled back across the platform. “Someone I trusted. Someone I cared for.”

Melanie? Jacob?

Her?

“Everyone here loves you,” Ronni cajoled. “No one would betray your trust.”

“Not true!” He rounded on her, pointing a finger at her face. “I opened my heart and loved them. Welcomed them into my home and offered them refuge here. And for that, they have betrayed me.” He clutched a handful of his shirt over his chest. “They’ve stuck a dagger in my heart!”

Paranoia or truth?

I welcome my enemies as well as my friends.

Was this simply an episode brought on by his condition? Or was he calling out Thomas and her?

A chill of fear slid down her spine. “What has this person done to betray you?”

Tears leaked out the corners of his eyes. He lowered his finger, dropped his head back to stare at the ceiling. “I tried. Tried to forgive everyone. Tried to do what God asked.” He blew out a deep breath, walked to the pulpit and knelt, bowing his head. “Why have You forsaken me, oh Lord? Why?”

She was losing him. There was no way to tell who the Judas was. Or if this was just a delusion caused by his disorder. “Tell me who betrayed you and I’ll take care of it.”

He cried softly against the pulpit. “God will take care of her.”

Her
. Fear lodged in her throat, tight and hot. There were nearly seventy women at the farm. He could have been talking about any of them. Somehow she knew he wasn’t.

“I would never betray you, Adam.”

Her nose had to be growing from all the lies she was telling today. Lying to a perp was one thing. Lying to her little brother, another.

Adam seemed to have tuned her out, rocking back and forth on his knees. “My burden to bear,” he whispered. “My burden to bear.”

The big sister in her hated seeing him in such emotional pain, but there was nothing she could do.

Find Thomas
, her instincts warned. If Adam believed Ronni was the Judas in his midst, Jacob might be gunning for her and Thomas both.

It was time to go, no matter how much she wanted to stay.

“You can’t save them all,”
Celina had once told her. Logically, Ronni accepted that. All agents did. But this time…

The heat and humidity inside the chapel hit her like a freight train. She had to get out. Get some fresh air.

She hustled for the door, ran outside. Bending at the waist, she drew in several unsteady breaths. She started for the house, stopped, and headed the other direction, not sure where to find Thomas, but needing to clear her head.

The sun was low in the sky, throwing peach-colored rays over the fields. The honey house beckoned to the north. The orchard, quiet and peaceful, to the south. Emotions continued to rage unchecked inside her. Adam’s bipolar condition complicated things, but she was still certain he was innocent.
I have to save him. Again.

First, she had to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid in his current state. Adam needed help. A psychiatric hospital where they would stabilize him and keep him from harming himself or someone else until they got him stabilized on his meds. After she brought her partner up to date about everything she’d learned that day, she’d use the house phone and make a few calls to get Adam help.

Ronni had just taken a step toward the men’s quarters when a scream from the house echoed over the farm. As she ran in that direction, others emerged from various places, shouting questions and following her. “What is it?” they asked.

She shook her head, kept going. Once there, she found Melanie on the front porch, sobbing.

“Kristine…” She gulped, pointing behind her as Ronni climbed the front steps. “Kristine is…is dead.”

Shocked murmurs rippled through the gathering crowd. Jacob came up behind Ronni. “What are you talking about, Melanie?”

Her frantic eyes went to him, and her hands shook as she smoothed the skirt of her dress. “She’s dead. In her room. There’s blood…everywhere. I think she’s been shot.”

Goose flesh rose on Ronni’s arms. As Jacob told the crowd to stay back and ushered Melanie inside, Ronni looked over her shoulder. Thomas stood at the back of the group.

Kristine. Dead.

Why didn’t I hear a gun shot?

Immediately, Ronni looked for Lance in the faces surrounding the porch, he was absent.

The two people she trusted least on the farm were alone with the body, Adam was losing his grip on reality, and Lance had disappeared.

She motioned at Thomas. He pushed through the crowd, climbed the stairs, and nodded at her. Together, they went inside.

Chapter Thirty

Inside the house, Thomas grabbed Ronni’s hand and pulled her toward the den.

“Hey,” she said, resisting. “We need to get upstairs.”

Wrapping an arm around her waist, he forced her into the room and shut the door behind them. “I need to tell you something first.”

“Did you hear a gun shot?” she asked. “I didn’t hear anything.”

“Could have happened earlier when you were gone. I was in the field on the tractor. Never heard anything.” Facing her, he lowered his voice. “Jacob is a cop.”

Her face, grim and set with determination, blanched. “What?”

“He and I had a pow-wow early this morning. He’s a detective with the LAPD, working undercover and investigating your brother.”

“LAPD? Why are they investigating him?”

He repeated what Jacob had told him.

Disbelief registered on Ronni’s face. “Did Dupé know?”

Thomas shook his head. “He wouldn’t have sent us in here blind. Not Dupé. But I need to speak to him and verify Jacob’s story.”

“Use the landline in the kitchen. I’ll keep them busy upstairs and contact the authorities.”

“Where’s your brother?”

“In the chapel.”

“Someone needs to secure him.”

“You don’t think…” She stopped, took a deep breath. “I was with him right before Melanie screamed. He said there’s a Judas in the group. Someone deceiving him. I thought he was talking about me, but maybe he meant Kristine.”

Pain was etched on her face. Thomas wished he could hold her, tell her things would be okay.

She looked away, toyed with her hands. “When I got back here this morning, he was burning my picture in the kitchen sink.”

“Burning your picture? Why?”

“He’s off his meds. He’s not thinking clearly. He called me a…whore.”

“Jesus.” This time, he did grab her and pull her in for a hug.

She embraced him for a moment, then pushed back. “You go upstairs and secure the scene. Have Melanie call 911. I’ll go get Adam and see if I can find Lance.”

“What about Dupé?”

“Verifying what Jacob said has to wait.”

He hesitated. “You sure you don’t want me to grab Adam?”

“My brother, my responsibility.”

“He’s a grown man. He’s
not
your responsibility.”

She kissed him, a light peck on the cheek. “I respect your point of view, but you don’t understand.”

“The hell I don’t. Remember what I told you about my father?”

“That’s different. You couldn’t have stopped him from using drugs or overdosing.”

“And you can’t stop Adam from doing what he’s doing.”

She harrumphed, firmed her lips. He could see it in her eyes…she wanted to argue, knew he was right.

Her hair was straight again. Polished. He touched the silken strands. “I like your hair better when it’s messed up.”

She shook her head. “No, you don’t. You like things orderly and neat.”

“Not you.” How could he explain? The truth was sure to drive a wedge between them again. And they really had more important things to do at the moment. “I like you, well, the way you were.
Before
.” He drew the word out, hoping he hadn’t just severed the tender trust growing between them.

“Before…?” Understanding dawned. Her eyes went dead. “Before Valquis? That Ronni is gone, Thomas. She’s not coming back.”

“She was back last night.”

All business again, she turned on her heels. “We have work to do,” she said, and disappeared out the door.

In the kitchen, Thomas grabbed a pair of rubber gloves and headed to Kristine’s room. Once there, he found Melanie crying softly into Jacob’s chest.

“Did anyone call 911?” He moved around the body on the bed, snapping on the gloves.

Jacob nodded. “I called it in, and confirmed she’s dead. Police are on the way.”