Page 32 of Only Girl Alive

Eve’s hand moved to her side, closer to her own gun, as Collin and Ray stepped between the woman and the officer, blocking the view of the journalists. Clyde dropped his arm and stepped back, his eyes going pointedly to the officer’s hand. Slowly the man relaxed his grip and his fingers slid from the holster.

The woman, breathing heavily, backed toward Eve, then turned.

“I must speak with you. Please,” she begged.

She looked familiar, blonde hair in its high front poof making her prominent forehead stand out even more. It dawned on Eve: she was an Owens. It took another few seconds to register it was her stepsister Sheila, who had married before Eve left.

“I don’t want to live with him,” Sheila had cried to Eve the day before she was taken from their home. Her mother had only told her of the marriage that morning. “He’s old. I don’t care what the prophet says. I’ll run away.” She’d stayed even though she cried all night.

Her husband-to-be was their Uncle Thomas and he was older than their father. He had squinty eyes and walked hunched over slightly. Eve dreaded her sister leaving the house and she didn’t think their uncle would be nicer than their father. The two men were very similar.

Her stepsister left the following day. From then on Eve only saw her in church and never saw her smile again. Sheila was not allowed to speak to her siblings and had to stay loyal to her new family. Eve shivered internally at the memory of her stepsister’s fear that long last night and moved closer to Sheila, giving her a quick nod.

Another officer crossed the inner tape and joined the first. Was this the reason Aaron had arranged extra scene coverage? Was he trying to keep the women from speaking to them? It wouldn’t surprise her.

“This is my crime scene,” she told the officers. “You have crossed the inner tape against direct orders. I want a full written report of this incident within twenty-four hours. I will also call Chief Jackson and inform him of what happened here.” She said it loud enough for the media to hear. The officers had no choice but to back down. They didn’t blink over her threat to call their chief. They knew he wouldn’t care. The fact they hadn’t stopped Sheila would cause more trouble for them than disobeying orders.

“Please step into the van with Detective Blau. I’ll be right behind you,” she told Sheila, purposefully not using her name, hoping against the odds that the officers didn’t know who her husband was. The color dress she wore would identify her and her sister wives as belonging to the same man.

Collin, Ray, and Clyde stood beside her until the officers returned to the outer perimeter. This was another reason Clyde was on their team. He kept his cool in violent situations and he was always prepared when a threat escalated. She would send the report of this incident to Judge Remki. Maybe someday the reports would be enough to get rid of local law enforcement and start over in this entire area.

“Clear everyone fifty feet beyond the second tape while I speak with her,” she told the guys. “There’s a reason they don’t want her talking to us and it’s time to discover why.”

Before Eve stepped into the van, muscle memory moved her hand to her pocket and she flipped the switch that turned on her recorder.

“Detective Blau, please stand outside the door and see we aren’t disturbed.” This was said for Sheila’s benefit.

Behind the front seats, there were two bench seats along the sidewalls facing each other. Overhead cabinets were high enough that even Clyde could sit comfortably. Eve sat beside Sheila and offered a gentle smile.

It was the first time she’d seen her stepsister in over twenty years. She was one of Eve’s few siblings who had been nice.

Sheila was disheveled. The back of her hair was half out of its braid. The front swoop was sticking out in odd places. Her dress had dust on the hem and she had a smear of dirt on her face. They were the same blue eyes, though time had given her soft lines at the corners more prominent than Eve’s. Her jaw was clenched and her rapid breathing showed how upset she was. Standing up to the officers, men of the church, went against everything she’d been taught.

“I didn’t know if you would remember me,” she finally said, joining her trembling fingers together.

Eve smiled again. “You wiped my tears enough times. I don’t think I could ever forget you.”

Sheila had been nice to everyone. She made keeping sweet appear easy. Eve may have been a little jealous. They both had hopes and dreams of marrying one of the boys they saw at church. Neither had any idea what marriage meant back then. It was a way out of the house. They’d hoped their husband wouldn’t be as strict as their father, whose only allowance outside their structured life was monthly ice cream day. Her stepsister had not gotten her wish.

Sheila closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, the strain still showed.

“The entire community hates you,” she said softly. “I don’t know why you came back.”

Eve swallowed, finding it surreal to be talking to her. “I came so what happened to little Charlie and Becky would never happen again,” she said honestly. Sheila had wiped so many of the tears after Charlie was taken. There was more Eve wanted to tell her but she couldn’t risk alienating her.

Her stepsister’s attention turned to Eve’s hair, then her clothes. Eve’s pants and blouse were far from modest. Condemnation changed Sheila’s expression.

It hurt but Eve hid the pain. After the run-in with her stepbrothers, she shouldn’t be surprised. They were fully indoctrinated adults and no longer impressionable children.

Sheila glanced away and her eyes skimmed the inside of the van, looking at the drawers and cabinets that held their evidence supplies.

“When I heard you were taken,” she said, the criticism strong in her voice, “I thought they would find you and bring you home. When that didn’t happen, I hoped you would escape and return.”

Eve had never considered that the church would look for her. It was something she needed to ask her mother about. It might explain some of Maggie’s continued fear after she had Eve back with her.

She had a quick flash of Maggie after Eve had run from their small apartment one day and hidden in the bushes across the street for hours. Her mother was shaking when Eve had finally come out and Eve hadn’t understood.

“You cannot leave the apartment,” Maggie had yelled after they went back inside. “You are not safe out there.” To Eve, this was a way her mother, an apostate, kept Eve from keeping sweet. The apartment had too many worldly items such as a radio and television.

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