Killer Honeymoon (10 page)

“In August?”

“Yeah, those kids go all year long, I swear. The
point is we’ll find him at home right now and we can ask him whatever we want.”

Taylor led them to Miller’s house. He was home.
He was out back playing his guitar in front of a small fire, with Coco draped
over his shoulder.

“Hey, Mill. What’s up?” Taylor sat on a stump
across the fire pit from Miller.

“Nothing.” He set the guitar down.

“How are you feeling?” Jane asked Coco. “It’s
good to see you up and around.”

“I’m okay.” She leaned back, away from Miller.

“I wanted to ask some questions about the other
night. Do you mind?” Jane directed the question to Coco again. She wanted to
talk about Coco, not to her, but she had to work with what she had.

“I’m swearing off of all of it. The whole mess.”
She waved her hands in front of her like she was waving away her past mistakes.

“That’s probably smart.” Jane chuckled. “But I
just wanted to know…what all did you drink that night?”

“I don’t know.”

“Sure you do, Co,” Taylor said. “You hardly
drank anything.”

“I had that beer you brought.” Coco emphasized
that it was Jane’s fault.

“I am so sorry about that one.” Jane meant it.
Miller was a high school junior. She had no idea how old Coco was. Her face flushed.
It hadn’t even occurred to her that she might have been contributing to
underage drinking. “What had you had before that?”

“One beer right after work, with Taylor, to take
the edge off, right, Tay?”

“Yup.”

“But what else, not necessarily alcohol.” Jane
watched Miller closely.

He stared unflinching at his guitar.

“Miller gave me a water bottle. I’m sure that’s
what did it.” She rolled her eyes.

“Anything between the first beer and the water?”

Coco narrowed her eyes, thinking. “I just had
two waters, right, Mill?”

“How should I know?” He sounded hostile but
didn’t look at her.

“Because you came with me. You walked up to the
beach with us.”

“You gave me a water bottle and a flavor packet,”
Taylor said. “A margarita-flavored packet. It didn’t taste like a margarita,
but you wouldn’t know that, would you?”

He didn’t respond.

“Yeah, that was it. You gave me one, too,” Coco
said. “I had that and then a regular water. But the margarita flavor pack was
really gross.”

“I wouldn’t say it was gross.” Taylor narrowed
her eyes and looked at Coco. “It tasted like weak Kool-Aid, but it wasn’t
gross.”

Coco tilted her head. “Mine was gross. It tasted
really foul. That’s why I had the plain water, too.”

“Sounds like you had a rough night altogether,”
Jake said. “How was yours, Miller? Taste okay?”

“I don’t remember.”

Coco stood up and walked over to Taylor. “Mine
tasted like it had gone bad, like…sour and bad.” She stared at Miller. “I
thought it was weird. But it was worse than weird, wasn’t it? It was spiked.”

“What, no…” He blushed. Then he stood up and
backed towards the door. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Settle down, buddy,” Jake said. “And just talk
normal. Pretty girl like Coco. Let you hang out with her. You gave her
something in her drink, to relax her, maybe.”

“Whatever.” He squared his shoulders and looked
from face to face, like an animal trying to spot the weakest enemy. His guitar
was still on the ground between Jake and Jane.

“We’re just trying to sort it all out. To figure
out what relates to the murder and what doesn’t. Say you put a little vodka in
her water to help her relax. To help you relax, even, so you could tell her how
you feel. Maybe it wasn’t your brightest moment, but we’d kind of understand.”

“I wouldn’t.” Coco glared at Miller.

He glared back. “You have a big mouth, Coco.”

“Because I said your drink was gross? At least I
didn’t tell them about the time you tried to stick your hand up my shirt when
you were in seventh grade.”

He stood completely frozen, his face red with
anger, his mouth clenched.

“Or how you hung around Cherry’s stupid cousins
because no one else wanted to hang out with you.”

“Shut your stupid mouth.” His words were cold, icy
even. “You are such an idiot. I didn’t want to knock you out to kiss you, I
wanted to shut you up. Everyone knows these two are all over town asking
questions. What were you going to say, huh? You were going to say you tried to
go with Levi and Amos, but there wasn’t room in the car and they said they
weren’t coming back for you. You were going to tell these guys that they did
something to Ryder, but they didn’t. And they wouldn’t because they are great
men with a great vision. That’s why I had to shut you up.”

“What did you do, Miller?” Taylor whispered.

“I put rubbing alcohol in her water. Okay? I
knew it would get her sick. That’s what it does. It didn’t work as fast as I
thought it would, but it worked. She was shut up for plenty of time. And I’m
not sorry I did it.”

Coco had her phone out, dialing.

“Just try to prove it. Even if you get the
police here, you can’t prove it. I’ll tell the police I lied. You barfed it all
up and I burned the bottle, so what’s there to tell? You’re a stupid bigmouthed
whore and you deserved it.”

The patio door behind them slid open. A tall
thin woman with one gray streak through her hair stood with her mouth gaping.
“Miller! What are you saying?”

“Nothing, Mom.”

“What was the vision, Miller? What were Levi and
Amos planning?” Jane asked in her most clinical voice. He was about to bolt,
but she needed him to talk.

He glanced at his mother. “Nothing.”

“Buddy, what’s going on? What’s the trouble?”

“No trouble. I swear. Give us a few more
minutes.”

She looked at the crowd.

Jane smiled, and Miller’s mom relaxed.

“If everything is okay…” She went inside and
slid the door shut.

“If Levi and Amos were around when Ryder was
killed, we need to talk to them. They could help us catch a killer.” Jane went
with that version of the potential story and prayed it would convince Miller to
talk. “Don’t you know where they are?”

“Yeah, of course I do. I’m joining them at the
end of the month. After payday.”

“But why haven’t you told anyone where they are?”
Taylor’s voice broke in anger.

“Because it was none of their business. People
always hate new and different, and what they were doing, what they were talking
about was wild.”

“Was it about God?” Jane asked.

“Yeah, about eternity. And life. And family and
a better Earth. They had a vision and I believe in it.”

“Did that vision…” Jane paused, searching for
the right words. “Did that vision involve men with plural wives?”

He clamped his mouth shut.

“Would you all be forming a new family group?” She
borrowed the name of the cult Daisy had escaped from. “One where you could
start over, somewhere safe and untouched, and with your wives you
could…populate the earth again?”

Miller blushed.

Coco laughed, loud. “You want to join a cult
that will give you women? Has it come to that?”

He lunged across the patio and knocked her
across the face with the back of his hand. She wavered and fell to the ground
with a thud.

“You are nothing but a dirty trailer-trash tramp,
and they would never let a woman like you into the family. I don’t ever want to
hear your voice again.”

Coco slowly propped herself onto her elbow, but
she was shaking. Jane went to her.

“If you hate her so much, why is she here
tonight? Did you poison her again?” Taylor pushed him against the wall and held
his shirt in her fist. “Did you?”

“He didn’t,” Coco said. “He sang me songs and
talked about dreams.” She spat. It was bloody. “He wanted me to come with him.
That’s what he wanted. He wanted to bring me along to be one of his harem of
crazy cult women.” She spat again. “Idiot.”

Jake put a hand on Taylor’s elbow and slowly
pulled her off Ryder. “There is a murderer on the loose.” His words were dead
cold. “If there weren’t, you’d be in jail for assault already. You need to tell
us where Levi and Amos took the girls.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, but Jake and
Taylor kept him from getting away.

“Jane, call 911.”

“They’re in the woods. Not far.” Miller growled
as he spoke.

“I want specifics,” Jake said. “A map. An
address. Coordinates. In fact, we’re having a sleepover, you and I. Real best
buddies. And in the morning you can take me to it yourself.”

This time Miller spat—in Jake’s face.

Jake wiped it off with the back of his hand.
“That’s okay. I don’t mind.”

Jane helped Coco up.

“Jane, why don’t you call the police anyway, for
Coco’s sake?”

Miller started shaking.

“No.” Coco’s voice came out firm. “It’s not
worth it if it means we can’t get my friends. Miller, tell us right now or I am
walking inside and telling your mom everything. Including you trying to put
your hand up my shirt.”

The color drained from Miller’s face. “They’re
at the old revival camp. It’s south of Dry Creek, back in the woods. Past the
clear-cut and past the old mill train tracks. No one goes there anymore. Most
people don’t know about it. It’s got some cabins and stuff.” He pulled himself
together a little bit. “That’s where they’re going to stay. To make the family,
and it’s going to be amazing.”

“A turkey in every pot and two women in every
bed,” Jake muttered. “All right. You and I are going in. I’ll explain myself to
your mom. You’d better not say anything at all. Jane, I’m sorry. What a
honeymoon, right?”

“Right.” She shook her head. What on earth had
they gotten themselves into?

“I’ll have the walkie on. If they find them
tonight, I’ll call. If they run into trouble, I’ll call 911. I’m not letting
Miller out of my sight.”

“I love you forever.” She blew him a kiss and
then turned to Coco. “Are you okay? Do you girls want to come back to my place?
Will your parents mind?”

They shrugged. “Sure, we can come.” Taylor
texted someone, but Coco just followed.

Jane settled the girls around the living
room—her living room—with blankets and tea. “I would love to hear whatever you
know about this family group thing. Like, did you really want to leave with
them?”

Coco sipped her tea. “Of course not. But I
wanted to know when or if Cherry was coming back. Taylor and whoever else can
be as rude to me about it as they want, but they’re right, I’ve always been in
love with Eric. It’s always been him. If she was leaving him for good, I had to
know.”

“So you had a scene at the car before they
left?”

“Something like that. It was the day before, but
it was one of the last times anyone saw them.”

“How much did you know at the time?”

“Nothing, I swear. We were all hanging out. She
said she wanted to hit the road with the boys to have an adventure. They all
laughed like they had a secret joke. I tried to get them to tell me. Miller was
there. He hung around those two a lot.”

“Polygamists are generally not into having extra
men around. Do you think they really wanted him to come?”

“Hard to say. If he was bringing money, they
might have.”

“He does have a good job at the hardware store,”
Taylor added. “But he’s so young, why would they want him to drop out of
school?”

“What’s this revival camp thing?” Jane asked.

“I’ve never heard of it.” Coco wrapped the
blanket around her shoulders.

“There’s all sorts of stuff up in the woods,”
Taylor said. “I think I’ve heard of this one. Back like forty years ago, there
were more church camps and stuff around. I remember my grandma talking about travelling
preachers coming through and doing revivals. She said she went to one for a
week back in the woods, when she was a teenager. I asked once if we could hike
to it, but she said it was probably long gone, old wood buildings out in the
rain like that.”

“But it sounds like they aren’t all gone yet.”

“I guess not, but it sounds awful bleak.”

“I’m surprised they haven’t started a wildfire.”
Coco shivered. It felt like the whole Northwest was on fire, from Alberta to
Northern California. The news was nothing but the fires, and some days the
smoke rolled all the way to the beach. “There’s a burn ban on.”

Jane didn’t mention the three fires she’d seen
Coco hang around. Considering she’d been thoughtlessly participating in giving
minors alcohol, she thought she’d better not start pointing out other people’s
sins just now.

Taylor yawned. “I can’t chase down Cherry with
you tomorrow. I’ve got to go to work.”

Coco stroked her cheek, which was green with the
fresh bruise. “So do I.”

“That’s okay. We’ll have plenty of manpower, I
think.” And she prayed it as well. She had no idea how many people were in this
family group or what kind of guns they had with them.

“Girls, before we go to sleep, can we talk about
something important?”

Coco yawned. “I guess.”

“We’ve talked a bit tonight about making the
world a better place, and this cult thing of Levi’s that they think will bring
them closer to God. Do you know much about God? Or how to have a relationship
with him?”

Tayler covered another yawn and shrugged. “I’ve
been to church before.”

“Then can I tell you a bit about me and God? The
more personal stories?”

Coco’s eyes were big and vulnerable. She nodded,
but didn’t speak.

Jane settled down and told them the story of how
she met Jesus as a little girl, and what having him in her life had done for
her as she grew up, and how he had protected her in a world full of
murderers—and how, if they wanted to—they could also have that kind of
protection and peace in their lives.

To Jane’s great joy, Coco wanted to.

Jane saw the girls off the next morning, placing
a Bible in Coco’s hand and promising to talk more later. She hadn’t seen it
coming, hadn’t really practiced for it and wasn’t sure what to do about it, but
she was thrilled. Deep in her bones thrilled, that out of this weirdly dark and
frankly disastrous honeymoon, one eternity had been secured. One young life was
off on a better foot.

She called Jake as soon as they were gone. “You
will never believe it. Coco accepted Christ.”

“That’s amazing.” Jake’s voice was froggy.

“You sound tired.”

“I forgot that teenage boys are literal pigs.”

“The sleepover wasn’t any fun?”

“I tried to talk about God with Miller, but he
has it all figured out. He knows he gets to be a priesthood holder in the new
family group and that he will be responsible for the eternity of the women he
is given—that he will carry his kids into eternity. Have I ever mentioned I
hate teenagers?”

“Can he hear you? Is he there?”

“He’s here. He can hear me, and I don’t care.
He’s taking us to the camp. Call Rocky and Flora and meet us back at his house.
I don’t want anything to go wrong.”

“Did you hear anything from the dads?”

“They called last night around two. They both
took the day off today and are coming with us to the woods.”

“Good. I’m glad.”

“The more the merrier, but those priesthood
holders had better watch out—there are some big strong daddies who have no
intention of letting their daughters get carried away into crazy-eternity.”

“I am a little afraid this could get ugly,” Jane
said.

“Me too. Josh, you remember the cop? Taylor’s
brother-in-law? He and his partner Dave are coming along too. I’ve already
spoken with him. This is very, very, very official. All four of those girls are
underage, and both Levi and Amos are over twenty-one.”

“Funny how ‘praise God’ is the first thing that
comes to mind.”

“I know what you mean. I’d rather go in with the
law on our side, too.”

“The girls went to work this morning, but I’ll
be right there, and I’ll call Flora and Rocky on my way.”

“I love you more than words can say, babe. You
did an amazing job with this honeymoon murder.”

“I don’t know that I did anything at all—right
time, right place.”

“You don’t even know. But that’s what I love
about you. Get here fast before Miller slips me a roofie.”

Jane hung up, both overjoyed that things all
seemed to be falling into place and disgusted by the idea of Miller and the
other young men and their sordid plans.

Rocky and Flora met Jane and the rest of the
search team at Miller’s house.

Miller’s father stood in the driveway with them.
He was a tall man, but not broad. His face was soft, and his eyes large and
sad. He chuckled under his breath nervously. “I’m glad we’re going out to the
camp, but you know kids. They have such big imaginations.” His voice was deep
but very quiet. “I’m sure everyone is just camping and having a good time. No
harm done.”

Emma’s father stepped forward, huge fists
clenched.

Jane put her hand out, but was too far to catch
him.

He stepped, one heavy foot at a time until he
was nose to nose with Miller’s dad.

“Say it again, Gerald.”

Gerald flinched and stepped back.

Rocky put himself next to Emma’s dad. “Hold off.
Hold off. He might not be wrong. Let’s get to camp first and punish people
second.”

Josh and Dave—the police officers everyone had
known forever—hadn’t said much yet.

“Rocky’s a smart man. Don’t do anything to each
other that will slow this down, got it?” Dave said.

Emma’s dad quivered in anger, his broad
shoulders shaking. “Yes, sir. It’s our daughters out there. Finding them is the
first priority.” Tears stood in his eyes.

Miller’s father had his back to the garage door,
his arms spread like he was trying to get a grip on it to save himself. “I still
think we’re all overreacting. The kids go out camping every year. Right,
Miller? It’s not what it looks like.” His voice was just as deep and quiet, but
sounded scared.

“Everyone take one of these.” Jake stepped in to
break the tension and passed around the Crawford family walkie-talkies. “We
don’t want to get lost out there.”

“And let’s load up and go.” Rocky directed the
searchers into three cars, taking Miller and his father in his.

They took the highway into the woods, a caravan with
Rocky in the lead and Dave and Josh bringing up the rear—one in a regular
police car and the other in a van—a move that meant they intended to take home
a lot of people.

They veered off the main road and found
themselves on a narrow one-lane logging road, one side a naked clear-cut, the
other still forested by towering evergreens. Not old growth, but tall, slim
trees casting dark shadows across the road.

They veered again, but this time onto a wider
road Jane hadn’t expected to see. They drove for miles, Jane at the wheel,
Flora next to her, and Jake in the back. They drove, following Rocky, mostly in
silence.

The road died out in a clearing sprinkled with young
trees, quite possibly the old parking area for the revival camp.

They stopped and got out. The girls’ fathers
stood, feet apart, arms crossed, determined. Gerald, Miller’s father, stood
behind them, to the side.

“We’re going to work our way out from this point
like a fan, crossing back and forth, widening the search, and reporting to each
other. There may not be an actual camp left up here, so they may be somewhere
unexpected. We don’t want to miss them. Jeff”—Dave, the senior officer, indicated
Emma’s father—“you, and me and Gerald will take the middle.” He would be
keeping an eye on Gerald. Jane appreciated that. “Ken”—this was Rose’s dad—“you,
Jane, Jake and Miller take the left.”

Jane swallowed. She didn’t know if she could
keep Ken from killing Miller, but she’d do her best.

“And Josh, you go with Rocky and Flora to the right.”

“Aye, aye.” Jake’s voice wasn’t as flippant as
it could have been. She squeezed his hand.

“Use the walkies. Communicate. This won’t take
long.”

With the dim morning light, the deep mist and
fog, and the shadows from the thick forest, the woods were something from a
horror movie.

“How did you learn about this place?” Jane
whispered to Miller. The silence—or rustling non-silence—of the woods was going
to kill her.

“Dad used to take us hiking here.”

“They must have really appreciated you giving
them a place to…live.”

“Yeah. They did.” He said it like a
challenge—like he dared her to prove him wrong.

There seemed to be shadows of old trails through
the woods. The memory of where campers used to hike, but then, they were
probably just animal trails.

Ken led the way, holding back tree branches and
keeping his feet quiet on the littered forest floor.

Miller, not so much. The leafy branch of yet
another maple whacked Jane in the face. “Could you maybe pay attention?”

“What?” Miller trudged on, not looking behind
him.

Ken stopped. He pointed forward and to the
right. A gigantic Douglas fir with a trunk as wide as a table stood between
them and a small cinderblock building with a mossy roof. “Is that it?”

“Yeah. We’re here.” Miller turned towards the
building.

Ken grabbed his arm. “Not so fast. You’re not
going in there and warning them that we’re here.”

“Let me go around and see if this is where
they’ve camped out,” Jane whispered and it seemed to carry all the way back to
the beach.

Ken nodded.

Jake followed closely behind her.

Jane stepped gingerly to the tree and then
around it, hoping it shielded her from anyone in the encampment.

The cinderblock building was one of four spread
out over a quarter acre or so of semi-cleared land. A line of laundry connected
two of them, but the blue jeans that hung from it were still in the dead air.

A burn pile in the middle of the once-cleared
land smoked as though it had just been put out.

Someone was here, but had Miller led them right?
Were these the missing kids? And the killer?

Jane double-checked her team. Ken still held
tight to Miller. Jake was close at hand. Everyone stared at her for a signal.

She scanned the woods and caught sight of Josh behind
one of the buildings. He caught her eye and held a finger to his lips.

She found Dave as well. He nodded, acknowledging
they had come to their place.

Jake took her hand and squeezed, a silent
reminder that he was there; that he had her back. This was dangerous. It was
intense. It was important even. They were doing something good in an evil
world. Not across the world, but right here, in a dark and hidden hollow at
home—and they were doing it together.