The Blood We Spill: Suspense with a Dash of Humor (The Letty Whittaker 12 Step Mysteries) (30 page)

“Not so fast,” Maliah hissed.

Adlai said, “Welcome, Leona,” and I moved on to
Mark, then Rachel’s husband Dathan—re-anointing my hands in the blood with each
one. I slowly worked my way up the line to Gabriel, who had the kind of chest
worth rubbing. And to Casper, who most definitely did not. Eli was next—third
in rank. I avoided his eyes; there was enough going on, and dripping blood
didn’t make me go all flirty.

Then Moses. His breathing was only slightly less
raspy than the night before. His hands shook as he pulled his robe apart and he
closed his eyes, waiting for my touch. I gritted my teeth and dipped into the
bowl for what I hoped was the last time. The moment my palms made contact, he
gasped and his face froze in a rictus of tension. Then he sighed softly and
shuddered.

I yanked my hands off. Did he just…? His eyes
opened dreamily. And then he smiled.

Cozbi caught my hand in midair and shuffled me
back in place in front of Father before I even realized I was going to slug
him.

Next thing I knew, Maliah launched, screaming,
into Cozbi and me. Blood geysered up from the bowl, showering Maliah from
head-to-toe. Cozbi and I scrambled out of the way, squealing in revulsion, and
I’m pretty sure I heard a girly shriek from Father as he jumped back too.

The cause churned at our feet.

Eli had Moses down, raining thudding blows on him
that were audible, despite the erupting screams of the crowd behind us. Gabriel
and Dathan were trying to pull Eli off, but they kept stepping and stumbling on
the two combatants and getting in each other’s way. Dathan tripped and fell,
almost taking Casper down with him. Finally, Gabriel locked Eli in some kind of
hold, dragging him off Moses. Justus appeared out of the chaos, and together
they wrapped Eli up in a jumbled man-hug and began to propel him away from the
writhing mess on the ground. I could hear them telling Eli, “It’s all right.
It’s over. It’s over.” Eli twisted and writhed between them, not listening, not
answering. Definitely not calming down. He almost got loose once, but before
he’d gotten more than a few feet, they snagged him back up and held firm. They
stood there, locked together until the rage slowly leached from his face and we
could see his mind surfacing from wherever it had gone after relinquishing its
hold to instinct. His struggling slowed. And though they didn’t let go, all
three relaxed a notch, breathing hard and leaning into each other as though
holding each other up from exhaustion.

Eli was okay. 

Moses, on the other hand… Dude wasn’t doing so
well. No one appeared all that eager to give him a hand, either. He had risen
to one knee, but his upper body swayed back and forth, and he gaped blearily at
his surroundings. Maybe his mind had run away and hid too. He was gasping and shuddering
again, but I noted with feral pleasure the sick, dreamy smile had most
certainly been wiped off his face. As had, it appeared, his nose and mouth—both
of which were bloody, sodden messes. Crooked too.

“Enough!” Father stepped forward, staring in
disbelief at his ragged posse. Turning to face the crowd, he seemed for the
first time to be at a loss as to how to address them. Finally, he raised his
hands as though in benediction, and abruptly dismissed them. 

Turning back, he ran his gaze over the lot of us,
searing everyone in a death glare. Nobody died, though. A disapproving scowl
seemed mild compared to the thumping Moses had just gotten. Reality—or at
least, Father’s version of appropriate submissiveness—hadn’t had enough time to
reset itself. Several of the men—Gabriel and Eli among them—met Father’s stare
directly. There was a little too much testosterone in the air for Father to
push the point, and he wisely switched his focus to Moses, still on one knee
before him. He could at least pretend that Moses knelt in submission instead of
as a result of a thorough ass-kicking.

“Get up,” Father ordered him. “And somebody clean
him off.”

After waiting to see if there were any other
takers, Casper stepped up and offered a hand to Moses.

Lifting his fancy golden robe to keep it from
dragging along the bloody ground, Father stalked up to his second-in-command
until they stood nose-to-battered, mushy nose. Moses flinched as Father hissed,
“Get your ass to my office as soon as you are presentable.” Jaw clenched,
Father turned to Eli, started to speak, then snapped his mouth closed. He
paused momentarily, but then spun on his heel and left.

As soon as Father was gone, Cozbi reappeared at my
side. I glanced around for Maliah, but a vivid recollection of her quite
literal blood bath surfaced. She hadn’t hung around to finish her escort
duties. Ignoring Cozbi, I headed for Beth a few feet away.

She gave me a tight hug, then began leading me
back to the campus. I looked over my shoulder. Eli, freed now, stood watching.
I stopped and made as if to turn back, but he raised his hand and nodded.
Taking a deep breath, I nodded back. Then, not caring who saw, I gently blew
him a kiss.

He looked startled, then laughed out loud. Next to
him, Gabriel raised his eyebrows, then shook his head in mock admonishment and
smacked Eli on the back.

It wasn’t until we were walking up the path to the
barn that I remembered to ask Beth about Maggie.

“I’m pretty sure I saw her,” Beth said. “But then
all hell broke loose and, you know…”

“Damn it. And of course they’ll all be gone by
now.”

But they weren’t.

When we rounded the barn, we discovered most of
the church had gathered in gossipy knots all up and down the driveway clear to
the parking lot. Ignoring the stares, I scanned the cliques and searched for
Maggie.

There she was.  

She stood outside the side kitchen door. Maybe
waiting for supplies?

I walked over to introduce myself. As I drew near,
I caught a whiff of something unpleasant.

Maggie must have gotten her looks from her father,
because unlike Reggie, she was tall and skinny as a stick. Her hair—dark brown
and thick—would have been gorgeous if she had washed it anytime in the last few
days. A scabby cold sore edged her upper lip, and acne dotted her face.

“Hi, I’m Letty. I mean, Leona,” I smiled and held
out my hand. “With all the… excitement, I almost forgot my new name. I kind of
wish I’d gotten to pick. I’ve always wanted to call myself ‘Reggie.’”

I startled her, but she responded to the handshake
gesture automatically, the way we’ve been trained to do in our society. Her
hand almost burned, it felt so hot. I took a closer look. Her pale blue eyes
were so dilated they looked black. And the breakouts weren’t from acne or a
herpes virus.

A short, barrel-chested guy moved to intercept us,
pulling Maggie by the arm. “Hey, nice to meet you,” he said jovially. “Sorry,
but our ride’s taking off. Congratulations.” He steered her to the parking lot.

“Hey!” Beth called out.

Maggie looked back, but Stocky still had her arm
and they didn’t stop. The kitchen screen door slapped shut behind me, making me
jump. Another member of their group, this one loaded down with several boxes of
food, hurried past us.

Maggie shot another glance over her shoulder, her
expression piercing, but indecipherable.

Beth and I turned to each other.

“Did you see that?” I asked.

Beth nodded grimly. “If it weren’t for that
expression, I would say let’s get the hell outta here, but damn…”

“She’s scared,” I said.

“Or, I don’t know, wistful, maybe? Whatever it
was… it just didn’t look right.” She heaved a sigh. “That’s not good.”

“She’s got bigger problems,” I said.

“Bigger than being kidnapped or held against her
will?” Beth’s face crinkled in disagreement.

“More like added on to all that. If she really is
being held.” I looked around, belatedly cautious of being overheard. “Did you
see her face? The lesions? And that smell?”

Beth stared at the figures in the distance. “What
are you saying? Meth?”

The three had made it to the lot and were standing
next to several dirt-crusted ATVs waiting for their buddy. As soon as he joined
them, they loaded the boxes into a wire basket of the all-terrain vehicles. As
soon as he bungeed the supplies down, all three set off with a roar down the
driveway.

I felt overtaken by a wave of exhaustion…

And the smell of sausage. Despite everything—the
humiliation of standing naked in front of eight men, the repulsive indignity of
immersing my hands in blood and smearing it on their chests, the fight—despite
all that, my stomach gurgled like a draining sink. It felt drained.

Beth heard it, and we finally laughed. Deciding to
not wait for the call to breakfast, I strode to the dining hall door. I had
missed five meals, and I fully planned on making up for it.

I went through the food line twice and then raided
the kitchen for a couple of teaspoons of contraband white sugar to liven up a
final bowl of generic cornflakes. Jala pretended not to see. I was just
finishing up when Eli walked in.

Nobody overlooked his entrance. I was at the far
end of the hall, and he made straight for me, moving with an sinewy grace that
contrasted sharply with the recent episode of violence. He sat across from me,
resting his forearms on the table. Both hands had angry, half-moon gashes
studding the knuckles. I wondered briefly about the state of Moses’ss teeth.
Not that I cared.

We spent several moments just soaking each other
up. Any doubts about our attraction to each other had already been blown,
anyway. Eli reached across the table to hold my hand.

“I’m out, Letty,” he said.

It took me a minute to process. “You’re…?”

“Father says I’ve got to go. He’s backing Moses.”

“I don’t… He’s blaming you? That’s crazy. He was
right there. He saw what happened.”

“He says Moses was… is… trying to deal with his
demons. I was never more than an enforcer for him anyway. He knows I’m not
really buying his shit. That’s the bottom line, you know. And Moses is sucking
it all down and asking for dessert.”

It shouldn’t have surprised me. Moses wouldn’t be
able to live here knowing Eli could—and obviously would—rain down his own kind
of judgment if the freak didn’t deal with his “demons.”

“He’s put Moses in what he calls a period of
atonement.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Gabriel says it means Moses is in for hours and
hours of fasting and prayer. There’s an altar in Father’s house that he’s got
to kneel in front of. Tile floor.” Eli shrugged. “He’ll be uncomfortable, but I
don’t see it changing anything. He’ll still be twisted and unstable. He’ll
still be dangerous.”

His gold-flecked eyes held mine. My two breakfasts
clumped like mud in my stomach. I knew what he was asking me. Before answering,
I checked to make sure no one could overhear us. The hall had emptied, and the
clatter of dishes from the kitchen would cover our voices.

“I can’t leave yet,” I said quietly. “We just saw
her. Maggie. And I think I know what’s going on. She and her little group look
and act like meth heads. I’m guessing that’s why Father’s keeping them
separated from the rest.”

Eli held a hand up. “Wait. You’re telling me
Father’s running drugs?”

“It makes sense. He’s got a lot of properties, and
a meth lab out here in the boonies is perfect. We’re right between Chicago and
the Cities. And Maggie—” I spread my hands “—was a chemistry major. It explains
a lot, including why Father freaked out when Enoch took off. And I think I know
where it is too.”

Eli closed his eyes, shaking his head, then
scrubbed his face with puffy, sore-looking hands. “Okay, we got a nutjob with
rapist tendencies who’s fixated on you, a control freak with a secret meth lab
and presumably the willingness to off anybody who risks exposing it, and a
missing meth head chemist who may or may not agree to get the hell out of
Dodge. Does that sum it up?”

We stared at each other.

“Pretty much,” I finally said.

More face scrubbing. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.
Okay, then. What’s the plan?”

“It’s, uh, still in the firming-up stages.” Eli
grimaced and mashed his fists into his eyes. Looked painful.

“Do you have a headache?” I asked.

“Yes. Yes, I do.”

I reached over and pulled his hands down. “Look, hon,
I know this is bad. I really do. I’m not… Look, all we’re going to do is check
out the place where I think the lab might be. If I’m wrong, we’re out of here.
If I’m right, we’re going to take one shot at Maggie. She either comes with us
or not. Either way, we’re leaving. I’m talking two days, three tops.”

He studied me closely. “What about Enoch?”

“What about him?”

“You’re telling me you’re not sticking your nose…
you’re not getting involved in whatever happened to him?”

“He’s not my business. The police can take care of
that. Once we’re all out, we’ll contact them and tell them everything we know.”

Gabriel entered the hall. He stopped when he saw
us and waited til Eli looked over. Gabriel nodded and tilted his head at the
exit.

Eli turned back and took my hand again. “Two days.
Not three. If you’re not out in forty-eight hours, I’m coming to get you.”

I nodded.

“One more thing—Rachel.”

“What about her?” I said.

“They’re telling me she’s still under house arrest
or whatever, but my gut tells me there’s something else going on. I don’t know what.
Maybe they kicked her out too. Or maybe she took off on her own like Enoch, and
they don’t want everyone knowing there’s another deserter. Just… be careful,
Letty. I want you to come home in one piece.”

I nodded, tears welling up in my eyes.

He stood and walked to my side. “C’mere.”

I rose and he wrapped me up in his arms, burying
his face in my hair. We stood, hearts echoing inside our chests, and held each
other. He pulled back first and kissed my forehead and cheeks, over and over
again. Then, he kissed me for real.