Page 18 of Only Girl Alive

She received a text message from Aaron shortly after she’d climbed down the attic stairs. He’d dealt with the media and had an officer stationed at the home around the clock until Eve finished processing the scene. This type of cooperation from him was strange but she didn’t question it. He asked if he could be interviewed in the early afternoon and she agreed. He would bring the responding officers and police chief with him.

That works for me. Please call Mr. Wall and ask about his and Hannah’s interviews. I will make time to do them today no matter what is on my plate, she’d texted back. Eve hated asking please when dealing with Aaron, but those interviews were vital. As a child, she’d begged him to leave her be because please didn’t work. He took satisfaction in getting her into trouble. She finally learned to stay quiet and accept his bullying. Keeping sweet was no longer in her vocabulary but she needed to interview Hannah.

I’ll make contact, Aaron assured her. She wished she trusted him.

Over the next two hours, several more media vans arrived.

Eve called Tamm and requested an expert who could identify the type of knife used in the homicides. Tamm had accomplished everything from Eve’s earlier list and was one step ahead of her.

“I have a forensic expert out of Texas on standby. He works in federal law enforcement,” Tamm said.

Eve would be able to send him the images that evening and get his opinion on the murder weapon. When dealing with civilians with expert knowledge there were hoops to jump through. The expert’s certified status made it much simpler.

“Is your brother causing trouble?” Tamm asked.

“Not as much as usual,” Eve told her. The strange feelings she had were not something she could put into words.

After the call ended, she walked to the front door and looked outside. The wall and their strategically placed van blocked the media’s line of sight into the courtyard and home. She decided her team could continue gathering evidence and she would use this time to put her mental notes on paper. Mostly questions. She used the kitchen table inside the house, which had no evidence tags on or near it.

Sometime later, Clyde sat down next to her. She looked up from reviewing her notes and gave him a soft smile. It was natural. His steadfast personality calmed her and she’d learned to appreciate him during the cases that seemed endless. She had a lot of pressure on her back from those who gave her this position and Clyde knew it.

“I have something you need to see,” he told her. “We found this in the very back of the drawer in the bedside table next to Bart Tanner’s body.”

He opened his hand and she saw a small, unframed picture. It wasn’t weathered with age. Eve closed her eyes. The baby appeared to have the same genetic disorder as little Charlie. They had found no evidence of a baby in the home, not even an old crib in the attic. Things were simply too strange in this case for her to take chances. Her cell rested beside the legal pad. She lifted it and hit Aaron’s number.

“Was there a baby in the house?” she asked after he answered.

“He died last year.”

Anger exploded inside her head.

Had the child died naturally or had he too disappeared?

Twelve

Eve’s adoption by her polygamist father had been illegal, just like his marriage to her mother. With no entitlement to child support, the only money Maggie had after leaving the community was what she brought home from minimum-wage jobs. Reprogramming Eve’s brain was the hardest part of her rescue. For a long time, she thought of her mother as the devil’s apostate and wanted the comfort of what she referred to as her true family. It didn’t matter that her stepmothers and siblings had never been overly nice. The poor treatment by her fundamentalist family was all she knew and her life with them revolved around entering heaven, even if the top tier was out of her reach.

Clothing, daily prayers, and everything else about her life changed after leaving the fundamentalist sect. It terrified her. She had been due to marry soon and her mother tried to explain it was against the law. Maggie did not understand those laws did not apply to Eve. Only the laws of the prophet did.

Two things changed Eve’s perspective and let her see around the church doctrine that had been brainwashed into her. Maggie gave Eve a kitten for Christmas. Worldly holidays were something else she wasn’t accustomed to and pets were not allowed within the community. It was a wonderful feeling to have Whiskers’ soft fur against her while she slept. The cat’s sweet disposition and willingness to be held helped open Eve’s heart to change.

The second gift brought Eve a new beginning. A camera. It was not expensive but to her, it was priceless. Her fears of the sinful world looked different through the lens. The camera protected her from prying eyes as she spied through the filtered view with the click of the shutter. She became the girl in school who always had a camera to her eye.

Her mother had a hard time communicating with Eve. She tried to apologize but it pained them both more than it helped. When Eve did ask questions, they were evaded, which Eve didn’t understand. Maggie finally sent her to a therapist where she could talk through her emotional difficulties. After meeting with one woman for several years in high school, law enforcement was mentioned as a possible career. Eve’s strong sense of injustice over living within the cult was something the therapist helped her with. The more Eve thought about it, the more she realized law enforcement could help her right the wrongs done to women and children.

Maggie had married a violent man, then given her daughter to an abusive society. Eve felt she needed to protect other women and children from the same scenario. These thoughts spurred her forward.

She graduated from high school at nineteen and signed up for community college, majoring in justice studies. After receiving an associate degree, Eve attended the police academy at age twenty-one and went to work for the State Police in Utah.

The prophet who ruled during Eve’s time in the church was dead but his son, a bigger monster, was isolating the community even more. Eve read every scrap of information she could find, from news articles to memoirs of those who got out.

While working on patrol full-time, she returned to college and earned her bachelor’s in criminal science and then her masters. It brought her to where she was today. The promise she made herself years ago about never forgetting little Charlie spurred her forward still.

During her second case within the polygamist community, a young mother mentioned the loss of her child and then Babyland. It was a chance discussion but one that wouldn’t leave Eve.

She brought it up when she met Aaron at his office to review another case she had in his jurisdiction. His expression immediately closed and he glanced away. When his eyes returned to hers, he gave a tight-lipped response.

“It’s none of your business. Let the children rest in peace.”

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