The Rapture of Omega (23 page)

“I hope not, but I’ll go check it out. Let me know if you find out something different.”

I started down toward the river again, but was met halfway by Naomi. Unfortunately, she was already looking for me, holding the answers I wasn’t sure I wanted.

“I’ve got some bad news,” she sighed, putting her hands on her hips. “There were some children down there, in the circle.”

“Oh, Jesus!” I muttered. I started to pace back and forth. “Let me guess—four of them, all with facial deformities?”

She nodded, but I knew there was more coming. “There were ten children total. We got some of the survivors to talk. Apparently, some of the parents wouldn’t go without their children—they were all drowned together.”

My stomach gave a quick flip, and I groaned loudly.

“I swear to God, Naomi, we’ve been through a lot together, but I think this is just entirely too much to take.”

We stood quiet for a few moments, listening to the bustle of a large crime scene. I felt helpless and hopeless.

“Naomi, would you do me a favor?” I stared down at the bright lights coming from the riverbank. “Would you go to my car, it should still be parked halfway up the
driveway, and get in my trunk? The keys are in the ignition.”

“Sure, why?”

“In the trunk I always have a box of stuffed animals. Of course, I never thought I’d need all of them at once…” I swallowed the lump that began to rise in my throat. “There should be enough. Could you take the box up to the house and pass them out to the kids? There’s a big yellow stuffed dog in the box—the biggest, I want you to give it to a little boy, he’s four, and he’s sitting with all the littlest ones by the hallway. His name is Jack Martz. He’s blond with big blue eyes, you can’t miss him. Tell him it’s from me. I’d do it myself but I don’t think I can go in there again tonight.”

“Of course, CeeCee.” She started walking by me and stopped. “You know, I keep thinking about that little boy you saved. I’ve checked in on him in the ambulance about three times now. His name is Mason—he told me. There’s something about him…” Her eyes began to fill with tears, which she promptly wiped away. “I think I’ll go see him at the hospital tomorrow.”

She walked away without waiting for a reply.

I made my way to the river again and found Michael among the hordes of people. They were trying to figure out how to get the bodies out, since it was impossible to get any vehicles down there. Michael was clearly overwhelmed and I had to tap his shoulder, firmly, to get his attention.

“Sorry, Cee. You okay?” He looked distracted.

“I guess. I wanted to know if we identified the surviving members in the tent. Specifically, I want to know if any of them are parents to some of those children up at the house.”

I really wanted to know because I wanted to waltz in
the tent and spit in their faces, although I didn’t tell Michael that. Also, I was simply curious.

“Actually, we did. Brace yourself. One of them is Illeana’s son.”

My eyes widened. “What? I didn’t know she had a son!”

“Yup, his name is Donovan—he’s twenty. And he was her silent partner through this whole thing. Kirk Richards failed to mention his part in the murders of Francesca Tracy and her family. Donovan Barron was there, and he pulled the trigger more than once.”

“Where’s her husband?” I looked around.

Michael gave a sarcastic laugh. “He’s over there, heading up the circle of death. Illeana made him go first in the suicide, to show everybody it was ‘easy,’ and they shouldn’t be scared.”

“Of course she did, that cowardly bitch.” I felt anger rising again. “Who are the other people?”

Michael pulled his notebook out and began flipping through several pages of handwritten notes. He kept flipping back and forth; I was growing impatient.

“Um, let’s see…Oh! Here it is: Donovan Barron, Derick Strock, Kimberly France, Susan Brody, Jill Campbell, Elgin Daniels, and Donald Long.”

“Donald Long? He was the one who rented the apartment across from the station to watch me. Derick Strock? Benjamin Rader’s wife said he befriended a guy named Derick before he left his family—it had to be him.”

“Make sure you note all of that,” Michael said, as if I needed to be told. “We’ve got a lot of interviews to do.”

“There’s only one person I’m interested in sitting across a table from—Illeana Barron.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Cee,” Michael said. “Especially since you punched her out. We need a lot of
information from her, specifically helping to identify these people. Plus, I don’t think she’ll talk to you.”

“Believe me, she’ll talk to me. In fact, I’m pretty damn sure I’m the only one she’ll talk to.”

“I hope you’re right.” He looked up at the sky. “I think I got my wish. The storm seems to have passed, thankfully. What a nightmare that would’ve been, cleaning up these bodies in the middle of a monsoon.”

“Not to mention the river is pretty near crested. Any more rain and this entire area would be underwater. We would’ve been cleaning up bodies miles down the river.”

“I don’t even want to think about it.”

“Now what?”

“The vans are lining up at the edge of the woods, by the trail. We have to tag each one of these bodies with numbers, before carting up them up the trail and loading them. It’s gonna be a bitch! We also have to sketch the area, mark where each body was located, with a description of each. We’re going to be here for several days.” He rubbed his temples. “We have to take dirt and water samples and do a shitload of other stuff. We’ve photographed just about everything from the air and the ground.”

All of the evidence was still being collected, including the guns. According to Michael, they had recovered over 300 various weapons ranging from assault rifles and handguns to live grenades. The bomb squad had arrived earlier to collect those. The shell casings from the shooting I was involved in were being collected as well. However, Michael gave me an interesting piece of information.

“You said that none of the gunmen were able to get shots off before you killed them, right?”

“That’s right.”

“So far, they’ve recovered over eleven shell casings from the area of the tent. Yours were found on the other
side of the river, just as you said. But someone was shooting here, there’s no doubt about it.”

I was taken aback. “Michael, I was here, at the farm for probably half an hour to forty-five minutes before I confronted them. I would have heard gunshots even if I were standing at my car. There weren’t any.”

“Maybe they shot them off earlier, who knows? I think we’re going to find out a lot more when we start the interviews—if they’ll talk.”

Just then, another agent approached Michael to alert him to another useful piece of information.

“Sir, we’ve found them, about a mile south of here, in a wooded ravine.”

“How many?”

I was snapping my head back and forth between the two men, unable to quell my curiosity.

“How many what?” I hoped they weren’t talking about more bodies.

“Cars. They drove here somehow so we’ve been out looking to see where their cars were stashed. How many, Bill?”

“We found seven vans, five cars, and two campers.”

“All right, photograph them and have them towed out. We can process and inventory all of them at the lot.”

“Yes, sir.” Bill scurried away.

Michael turned to me. “Listen, Cee. I’d like you at the interviews. Why don’t you go home and get some sleep, and plan on being at the station at seven tomorrow morning. I want to interview all of the members before Illeana, and I’ll need your help.”

“Okay, I’m exhausted. I’ll head home.” I paused, waiting. “Anything else?”

He smiled. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

My exhaustion completely took me over by the time I arrived home. Rena had stayed up, anticipating a late night. She had food ready, although I still had the spaghetti sauce in my car with the other groceries. I wasn’t hungry, but helped myself to a small portion of the pot roast she had made. I peeled off my clothes and threw them in a garbage bag before taking a shower. Although they had dried, the unpleasant smell of the river water was taking its toll on my stomach—along with everything else. After checking on the children, I was asleep within five minutes.

When the alarm went off, I still felt pretty groggy. Michael hadn’t come home at all; not that I was surprised. I’ve seen him go for two days straight in an intense investigation like this one. I quickly dressed and headed for the station, anxious for my interview with Illeana. Michael was in my office, his head on my desk, sound asleep. I smiled.

“Hello there, sleepyhead!” I patted his shoulder.

He jerked himself awake, sitting upright and immediately looking at his watch.

“Damn! I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Oh, hi, baby. You sleep okay?” He rubbed the sleep from his bloodshot eyes.

“I’m all right, but we need to get going. If we’re going to interview the seven survivors first, it’s going to be a long day. I’ll grab you some coffee.”

We met the other agents, Coop, and Naomi outside the interview and interrogation rooms, waiting for the corrections officers to bring in the first group. Michael and I were going to watch the interviews via closed-circuit television. I wanted to save my mental strength for Illeana.

What we learned throughout the day was almost as
horrific as the crime scene. Bits and pieces of the events that took place were put together from the survivors and painted a gruesome and disturbing picture.

We learned where the shell casings came from. According to Kimberly France, who was one of the more cooperative members, anyone who walked into the river and began to have second thoughts, or tried to escape, was shot dead by one of the gunmen. They were shot while standing in the river, which explained why no blood was found at the scene, with the exception of the blood of the men I shot. Illeana strictly ordered the men to shoot them in the head so the white robes wouldn’t be splattered with blood or get holes in them. I expressed my horror to Michael at Kimberly’s revelations.

“I already found that out last night, Cee. It was too late to call you but when the bodies were loaded and carried up to the vans, several had gunshot wounds to their heads. It wasn’t difficult to assume that they were the ones not cooperating.”

I had a thought. “Did you check for the tattoos?”

“I didn’t see it on any of the bodies. Do you want me to have Bill ask Kimberly in there?”

I nodded. Michael walked out of the room while I watched on the television screen as he lightly knocked on the door of the interview room. He whispered into the agent’s ear as Kimberly sat quietly. Within seconds, Michael was seated next to me again and the agent was asking Kimberly about the tattoos.

She looked genuinely confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Honestly. I don’t know anything about an
O
tattoo.”

“Damn!” I muttered. “Michael, we’ve got to be able to connect those other homicides to Illeana.”

“Well it’s not like she’s
not
facing execution with the
hundred-plus murder charges we’ve already got on her,” he countered.

“That’s really not the point, is it?”

I made a mental note to put the tattoo question before Illeana.

“How’s it going with Donovan Barron?” I asked, changing the subject.

“It’s not. He invoked his attorney rights and didn’t say shit. I just hope his mother doesn’t do the same.”

“She won’t,” I muttered, more to myself than to Michael.

It was nearing five o’clock in the afternoon by the time the interviews with the surviving cult members were finished. We had learned these people actually believed in Illeana. They believed in her so much, they were willing to kill, steal, and organize a mass suicide—and homicide. What was even more interesting was that they survived only because Illeana did not intend to kill herself. In the broad scheme of things, she was nothing more than a thief and a murderess. Illeana had made a secret pact with the surviving members that, after everyone was gone, they would continue spreading Eve’s word. They would take the dead members’ money and start over somewhere else. After the suicides, the remaining eight were going to flee to a remote region in Brazil where they would start recruiting again. Kimberly France’s last words in her interview haunted me.

“We believe that the sacrifices made by the others will only strengthen Eve. If we continue her fight, there’s no doubt she’ll take the rightful place that God stole from her,” she said matter-of-factly with a smile. “There are more of us out there, you know. Do you think Illeana would let this stop here? Of course not. She sent a large group out weeks ago, in case something like this happened.”

Kimberly refused to give the agent the names of the people that had left. It was going to be extremely difficult to find out who they were, especially if they had left the country. They would be located eventually, only after they began recruiting and gathering a large membership like Illeana had. I could only pray they could be found before it was too late.

Michael suggested we grab a quick bite to eat before my interview with Illeana. I relented, not because I was hungry, but only because I knew I would need all of my strength to deal with her. Intense interviews, like the one I expected with Illeana, could be mentally and physically draining.

She had already been delivered to the largest interview room when Michael and I returned. She was waiting. All of the agents and other personnel were gathered around the closed-circuit television to watch—and study. Any information that came from a profoundly disturbed individual like Illeana would no doubt prove useful in future psychological profiles and apprehensions. Somewhat unnerved, I took a few deep breaths to relax. If I went in there in my current state, she would control the interview. I couldn’t let that happen.

When I was confident that I could hold my own, I entered the room. Illeana was seated at the old wooden table facing me, her white ceremonial robe replaced by a red jumpsuit. An image of Paula Terman just days earlier in the same garb flashed through my mind. Illeana’s eyes were closed, her head tilted back, and she wore her trademark smile, as if she were in the throes of a happy memory. If she was aware that I’d entered the room, she gave no indication of it. This immediately annoyed me.

I walked over to the table and slammed my notebook down. Slowly, she brought her head forward and opened her eyes.

“Good evening, Sergeant,” she said, her eyes locked on mine.

I pulled the chair over, ignoring all formalities, and sat across the table from her, staring just as intently.

“Why don’t we get started,” I began. “I’ve been told your rights have been read and you understood them. Is that correct or do I need to advise you again?”

“I understood just fine. As hard as it is for nonbelievers like you to understand, I’m perfectly sane and logical,” she said calmly.

“I beg to differ, but we’ll talk about that later.”

I noticed she was shackled at her hands and feet so I grabbed my key and unlocked her handcuffs. Michael and the other agents would clearly be fuming at this, but it was my interview and I would run it as I saw fit. I wasn’t scared of Illeana. I knew that a physical confrontation wasn’t her style. And if she were to write a confession, I needed her hands free.

“Ah, a gesture of kindness,” she said. “I always knew there was something deep inside of you that was a true believer. You don’t like to see me suffer, do you?”

“I think it’s best if I don’t answer that question right now, and don’t take this as an act of kindness either. I have my own motives, but for now do you want anything to drink before we get started?” I sat back down.

“No, and what makes you think we are going to ‘start’ something? How do you know that I am going to say anything?” Her smile broadened.

“I know, and I know I’m the only one you’ll talk to, right? You’re dying to tell me everything, aren’t you? Because you know the details of what you did will disturb me and make me uncomfortable, and that gives you pleasure, doesn’t it, Illeana?” I folded my hands on the desk.

She sighed, her smile fading. “Is that what you think? That I want to make you uncomfortable? You have missed the entire message here, and I thought you understood.”

“Go ahead and explain it to me then.” I stayed focused on her eyes and spoke low.

She raised her head in defiance. “I already have, and you’re testing me. Eve just told me. You
do
know what the message is, don’t try to hide it in front of those chauvinistic coworkers that can only hide behind the glass.” She nodded at the two-way mirror. “Remember the day you watched our ceremony, our tribute to Eve? I could feel you outside, I could sense your own sexual tension growing, needing and wanting to be a part of it. You wanted to be in there, didn’t you! You wanted those men to make you feel alive like no man has ever done for you before!”

I tilted my head back and laughed. “Sorry, Illeana, I’ve had a man make me feel alive more times than I can count. The thought of partaking in the barn orgy doesn’t seem to fit the bill of being alive. Nauseous, maybe, but not alive.” I waited for a response, but she simply stared at me. “You murdered people down there. Do you understand that? You murdered children.”

“It’s not murder if you understand and believe. They wanted to join their families in Eden, but God put his evil grip on them and tried to make them believe what they were doing was wrong. We had to stand up to God for Eve’s sake.” She smiled again.

“Why didn’t you kill yourself, Illeana?” I wanted to shock her.

Her smile faded. Clearly, I had succeeded. “You. Because of your intrusion, that’s why.”

“No, because you’re a coward. That’s the real reason,
right? You were too scared and chickenshit because you don’t believe what you preach. It was all about the money.” I leaned back in my chair, visibly smug.

Her face turned red, and for a moment, I thought she might come unglued; I was hopeful. However, she took several deep breaths and smiled again. I was far from being finished.

“Why did you have your people tattoo the
O
on Kelly Dixon, Edward Honeycutt, and Benjamin Rader? None of the other members had them.”

“The
O
saved them!” she yelled, startling me a little. “Don’t you get it? They turned their backs on Eve! It was the only way for them to join her in Eden, putting her mark on them as their souls transcended!”

Now I had her on the three homicides, but like Michael said, it wouldn’t change the possible sentence she was facing: death. But it would give the victims’ families some closure.

For the next hour, I asked her questions pertaining to the inner workings of the cult, and where they obtained the weapons. She refused to answer any of those questions, only repeating the mantra, “Eve delivered them.” She also refused to give the names of the members that had fled weeks before the suicide.

“Their names are of no use to you,” she explained. “They will continue Eve’s work throughout the world—after they finish one important task for Eve.”

“And what might that be?”

She smiled and began twirling her fingers in her hair. She wasn’t going to answer and I believed there was no more to say. That is, until Illeana Barron shocked the living hell out of me. I stood up and began gathering my things.

“How’s Lola?” she said, almost in a whisper.

My head snapped up, and I glared. “What did you just say?”

“I said, how is Lola? You didn’t think I knew, did you?”

My heart kicked into overdrive as I felt rage rising up at the mere mention of Lola’s name by Illeana. I knew she was trying to bait me, so I did my best to calm down. It didn’t work.

She clapped her hands together, laughing. “You wanted to know, didn’t you? Well, Lola’s mother wants her daughter back—with her, in Eden! Eve wants her, too!”

I realized what she was saying and every nerve ending in my body came alive. My mind was frantic with thoughts of getting home to Lola, to protect her. I would kill Illeana in this very room before I went through a repeat of the Paula Terman incident. Illeana, unfortunately, wasn’t finished.

“After the new leaders grant Eve her wish and send Lola to Eden with the rest, their new world begins. Only then can their new world begin.” She smiled, knowing she had me.

I completely snapped. Whether it was from the stress of the last several days, fatigue—I didn’t know. But when I jumped over the table, grabbed her neck, stood her up, and slammed her against the wall while choking the life out of her, I had every intention of killing her right there. Logic and common sense seemed to escape me at that moment.

Fortunately, Michael and two agents pulled me off within seconds, hurling me back into reality. I wanted to tell her I would kill her if she touched my daughter but I realized she wouldn’t care. There was nothing I could say that would faze her. Michael stood in front of me, holding me in a tight grip while the other two agents put Illeana’s
handcuffs back on and led her out of the room. I couldn’t help but add one last comment.

“I’ll keep my promise, Illeana,” I said coolly.

She turned. “What promise is that?”

“That I’ll be there watching when you die. You can count on it.”

“Silly, silly sergeant. Death doesn’t frighten me. In fact, I look upon it with longing and hope. You have delayed my reunion with Eve, but rest assured, I will be seated by her side soon. Very soon.”

She smiled as she turned and walked through the door. I was wrong when I thought Illeana was only concerned about the money. She truly believed in Eve. The prospect of execution meant nothing to her; for her, there would be no punishment. Even with Illeana in custody, I felt defeated. No matter what, she had won. I gently nudged Michael to back off me before I sat down in the chair, collecting what sane thoughts I had left.

“Cee, you okay?”

“Did you hear her, Michael? Did you hear her threaten Lola? What are we going to do? We don’t know who these people are, where they are, or what they’re planning! I’m scared.” My voice trembled.

He knelt in front of me. “I heard it and, quite frankly, I wanted to come in here and snap her in half, but you beat me to it.” He chuckled slightly. “Those agents think you have some serious anger issues. What’s that make? Three beatings in the last week or so?” He smiled again trying to lighten the situation. “We’re doing everything possible to find out who these people are. I have a suspicion that Illeana merely said that to set you off—to have the last laugh. Those people are not going to hang around here and chance being caught. They want to spread Eve’s word, right?”

“Right. But we need to keep extra eyes out just in case.”

“Of course.” He helped me up. “C’mon, it’s time to go home.”

“That’s a wonderful idea.”