131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58fKNQ5Yir
Robert wrapped an arm around his wife’s thin shoulders and gave Zach a significant look. “I’m sure she’ll show up before too long, but could you go talk to those freaks? It’ll make Julie feel better.”131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡblmHjnKnK0
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLU96F6pexI
The very last thing he wanted to do was go out to that commune and sniff around. He wouldn’t find anything they didn’t want him to find, which made the whole endeavor pointless. Martha and her people would smile and chat him up, and he’d walk away empty-handed. “I can do that, but you know as well as I do that they aren’t likely to give me anything useful.”131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHN4xrzXKE8
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw6mHAR6RLM
He showed the Smiths out, making more promises to go out to the commune that very morning. If it’d make them feel better, he’d do what he had to do.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmdmyaBZ6xy
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4DVwOHap6p
“Trouble?”131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfRXx6Ti9zW
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡASGrzXFCJj
He glanced over at Henry. The man had been working at the Clear Springs station since Zach was a teenager, but when the sheriff position opened up, old Henry wanted nothing to do with it. He liked being a senior deputy, and he wasn’t interested in adding more responsibility to his plate with retirement only a few short years away.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA18gOew7ep
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSt4I7NQv4s
Zach turned to face the west. He couldn’t see Elysia from here, but he could pinpoint its exact location. Some days it felt like that damn cult cast a shadow long enough to encompass the entire town.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ49PsAjRhej
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeoBSiKCbqg
He rubbed the back of his neck. “The Smith girl might be missing.”131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlQZEOvaPv
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlPuiwuPBpA
“I’ll bet she is. Probably missing right up to Augusta, or even over to Great Falls. The girl gets around.”131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1tDsd6laPn
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq0zXq9r98r
He shot Henry a look. It didn’t matter what either of them thought of Neveah Smith. What mattered was giving her parents some peace of mind until she found her way back into town. “They think Martha Collins has something to do with it.”131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtuXVrOUHEW
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwIIGd52UTI
“That Julie Smith.” Henry snorted. “The Winchesters had a whole batch of bread turn up unexpectedly stale last week, and who do you think Julie thought was the cause? Martha Collins. How she thought the woman managed that is beyond me, but Julie ain’t exactly a neutral party, you know?”131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRcXRofd5ZF
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr6r5khzNot
“I know.” Hadn’t he been thinking the same thing? “We still have to check it out.”131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ZWxmEIjuC
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7gS44HbQeR
“By all means.” Henry grabbed the keys from the stand. “I’ll drive.”131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY3g4Xb1RVN
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJo0KZ5dq06
That was just fine with Zach. It’d give him some time to think. He headed for the cruiser and settled into the passenger seat. As much as he didn’t want to discount the Smiths’ fear, he couldn’t help thinking that Henry was right—Neveah Smith would turn up sooner or later, and it wouldn’t have had a damn thing to do with Elysia.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOvPHd0y3rD
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMlQ3eAQN2D
The trip took a good thirty minutes, but only because the roads were hardly anything to write home about. The narrow asphalt lane was full of potholes and uneven grooves, which made going more than thirty miles an hour a health hazard. There was no road directly into Elysia from the main highway—something he suspected was intentional.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxw6GlwZJGI
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ097ugdzbgU
For someone to get to the commune, they had to really want to.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ05lGNABzVQ
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd5yxwMQksA
Terrain was tricky out here, and distances didn’t always match up the way one expected them to. That was why the hill the main settlement of Elysia was on seemed to rise out of nowhere. He knew that, but it didn’t stop some instinct inside him insisting that he needed to sit up and pay attention.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvkIil0UmxX
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSi16hV7929
Everything about that damn cult was smoke and mirrors, but he’d be the first to admit how dangerously compelling both Martha and her people could be. He’d listened in on their talks a time or two when he was young and had a chip on his shoulder a mile wide, and the whole back-to-nature way of life appealed to him. If that’s all this place was, he wouldn’t have a problem with it.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEvGekdsqK
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbivud1ApG9
But it wasn’t.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmmOwjmO2f3
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZBXovXjYCs
They wanted obedience as much as they wanted anything—more, in fact—and when he couldn’t get anyone to give him a straight answer about their belief system or what living on the commune entailed, he’d gone with his next best choice and enlisted in the Marines.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYd6sxP5Yo0
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbU8ilQTIEk
It had been the best decision he’d ever made.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJExCDwmp6k
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUDeJDfxJn4
Or that’s what he comforted himself with on the nights the nightmares had him by the throat.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡylH695Fy0B
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAeICQIKAKb
Henry pulled to a stop about a hundred yards from the gates of Elysia. They were framed by the eight-foot whitewashed fence that circled the main buildings, a direct contrast with the rest of the fencing that wound around the rest of the property, which was closer to something one would find on a cattle ranch. It marked the territory, but if someone was determined, it’d be easy enough to slip through. Doing so was something of a rite of passage with Clear Springs teenagers these days, and the Elysians seemed to tolerate it well enough that they only called him when one of the kids ventured too close to their homestead itself.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3MsGxhSJQ
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1TAIYEU1zQ
Today the giant gates were closed, giving him a full view of their intricate design. The damn things were thick wood, a good ten feet tall and carved with a design he couldn’t quite make out at this distance. He knew what it was, though—a scene of a woman being dragged through a giant crack in the ground, a second woman on the surface reaching for her, both their expressions of fear and determination. Not exactly feel-good stuff.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzrDv3pZ3QN
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡma0ztwuYFS
He got out of the cruiser and eyed the two men standing before the gates. The older man held a rifle in his hands with an ease that said he knew how to use it, and the other one had a bright smile on his face that was as false as everything else about this place. Zach lifted a hand. “Abram. Joseph.”131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKqF0WpXBt
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTj7i9pKVcY
Joseph moved forward, his smile not so much as flickering. Abram stayed back, which was just fine with Zach. There was something just off about Martha’s right-hand man. Just being within eyesight of him had instincts Zach thought were long dormant perking up and taking notice.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7QgQ0v5Yzd
Penana
search
登入arrow_drop_down
註冊arrow_drop_down
