Part 20 (2/2)
”Hey, easy on the insurance salesmen. My favorite uncle sells insurance.”
”Not that there's anything wrong with it. It's just that, well, look at Jack.” Miranda shook her head. ”He's a crazy man. I saw an interview with him on television a few years back. He has seven children by five different women in different parts of the world, one of whom, by the way, is reported to be a princess in some small, obscure European country.”
”Hey, you're related to royalty.” He tried to make light of it.
”No. I have Portia. I have my mother. Roger. That's it.”
”Aren't you even curious about-”
”No.” Her blue eyes darkened to cobalt. ”Not about any of it. Not about Jack or his life, not about his kids or his music. He's never been involved in our lives, and he doesn't exist in mine.”
”Those photos I saw the other day, he looked like he was pretty involved then.”
”I think we were a novelty to him back then. After all,” she said dryly, ”we were his first offspring. He did support us financially when we were growing up, but he's never been a father to us. And we could have used one, since our mother wasn't much of a mother. I find his attempts to get in touch with us now little more than an annoyance.”
”How did the two of you grow up to be what you are?” he wondered aloud.
”How could we have been any different? When you grow up fending for yourself, you get strong because you have to be. Your instincts about people grow sharp because they have to be. And you trust the law because you never learned to trust anything else.”
”You're really something else, Cahill.”
His phone rang, and she pointed to it. ”Answer it,” she said, and left his cubicle.
”So, have you thought about what you might want for your reward?” Genna slowed her stride as she and Julianne approached the drugstore. Her heart was beating like crazy. She'd been in more dangerous situations, surely, but she could count on the fingers of one hand the number that had held such personally high stakes. She'd gotten Julianne out of the Valley of the Angels. Could she get her out of Linden?
”I don't know.” The girl shook her blonde head.
”Well, Eileen got a sketchpad, and Caroline picked out a journal. Maybe something along those lines?” Genna opened the door to the store and held it until the girl stepped inside.
”I'm afraid I'm not much of an artist.”
”A journal is nice to write your thoughts in.”
”My father . . .” she began, then stopped.
”Your father what?” Genna asked casually.
”He doesn't like me to be secretive. He always tells me to talk everything over with him.” She smiled faintly.
”But every girl has her secrets,” Genna whispered conspiratorially.
”I don't.” The admission seemed almost apologetic.
”You tell your father everything?”
”He likes to know what I'm thinking about.” Julianne stopped to look over a package of faux tortoisesh.e.l.l hair clips. ”I guess it's because I don't have a mom. That's why he makes me stay with him and Pamela, in their apartment, instead of in the cabins with the other girls. He wants me to know her.”
Genna had seen Jules with his new young wife. She was pretty and blonde and, well, young. Barely of legal age, Genna guessed, though she suspected that Jules Douglas was just too smart to take an underage bride.
”You stay with them, not in a cabin, like the other girls?” Genna asked, though she knew. It appeared Jules used his position as one of the reverend's financial advisers to keep his daughter from harm's way. For that, Genna grudgingly gave him credit.
”My dad says a family should stay together.”
”Well, the cabins are a bit crowded. And I'm sure your father likes to have you close to him,” Genna said. And your father would probably like to keep you from forming any attachments that might cause you to ask too many questions when girls you become close to disappear. And your father would probably like to keep you from forming any attachments that might cause you to ask too many questions when girls you become close to disappear.
As she'd antic.i.p.ated, Genna had had a hard time getting Jules to agree to permit Julianne to leave the compound today. Only the fact that Reverend Prescott approved of Genna's mission and would be sending Daniel to accompany them persuaded Jules to let his daughter leave the Valley of the Angels. Genna was grateful for Prescott's backing. There was something about Jules Douglas that she found menacing. The sooner she could get Julianne away from him and back in her mother's arms, the happier Genna would be.
”I think I like this little dish.” Julianne stopped in front of a display of small ceramic items. ”See, it has a little lid.”
She carefully lifted the box to show Genna. ”It has a tiny pink flower painted inside.”
”Pretty, yes.” Genna peered inside. ”But what will you put in it?”
”Tiny stones, maybe.” Julianne smiled. ”Or other pretty little things I find.”
”Sounds like a winner. Let's take it.” Genna gestured for Julianne to follow her to the front of the store and the cash register, where she paid the unsmiling clerk for their purchase.
The middle-aged woman hadn't been the only person in Linden to show a lack of friendliness to Genna and her charges over the past few weeks. It was an odd position for Genna to be in. She'd made a solid place for herself in the Bureau by being one who always fit in, wherever she was. Here in Linden, she was the odd man out, identified as a member of Reverend Prescott's followers by the white scarf she wore around her neck. Apparently the good people of Linden had their reservations about strangers, especially those who dwelled in the Valley of the Angels.
As well they should have, Genna thought as she accepted her change and pocketed it. Genna thought as she accepted her change and pocketed it. What will they think, once the reverend's little empire is exposed for what it is? What will they think, once the reverend's little empire is exposed for what it is?
She could almost hear the interviews on CNN and the morning news shows. ”We always knew there was something going on out there. . . .”
Soon enough, Genna told herself as she took Julianne by the arm and leaned into the wind that snaked around them and blew the snow in whirls of icy mist. Genna told herself as she took Julianne by the arm and leaned into the wind that snaked around them and blew the snow in whirls of icy mist.
Soon enough, of course, a.s.suming that those who were responsible for their escape from here on out had everything in place. Genna simply had to trust. of course, a.s.suming that those who were responsible for their escape from here on out had everything in place. Genna simply had to trust.
The Jeep was still where Daniel had parked it outside the grocery store, but Daniel was nowhere to be seen. They were just crossing the street when Julianne tugged at her sleeve and said, ”Look, there's Daniel.”
They stopped in the middle of the street.
”Who are those men he's talking to?” she asked, and pointed to the three men in black who surrounded Daniel at the entrance to the store.
”Maybe someone from the compound.” Genna hurried the girl toward the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street.
”They're not. At least, I don't think they are.” Julianne had paused to study them. ”I've never seen any of those men before.”
”Well, I'm sure Daniel knows them, or he wouldn't be talking to them. Come on, Julianne. The diner is another block up the street. It's freezing, and I'm starving. Have you thought about what you might like?”
Minutes later, Genna and Julianne were seated in the diner, shaking off the cold. Every few minutes, Julianne looked out the window, as if watching for someone.
”Is something wrong?” Genna finally asked.
”I was just wondering if Daniel . . . if he was in some kind of trouble.” Julianne looked up and down the street.
”I'm sure if he'd been in trouble he'd have said something while we were crossing the street.”
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