Page 18 of Torn

“I didn’t even know you went to college. It wasn’t on your résumé when I hired you.”

She shrugged. “I dropped out in my final year. I thought it might make me look bad to have that on there.”

“Right. Anyway, I want to know what you can tell me about the Path of the Covenant.”

Her brows shot up again. “The New Eden people? Why do you want to know about them?”

I hesitated. I didn’t want to tell her about my plan, because she’d probably leap across the desk and slap me on behalf of women everywhere. Still, I wanted to find out as much as possible about the cult and their practices, and if she studied it in-depth, she’d know a lot more than internet rumors could ever tell me.

“I’m curious about the place. I was actually there just before it got attacked eleven years ago. My parents knew Jacob Chastain and we visited him earlier that day,” I finally said.

She nodded slowly. “Oh, that’s right. Your parents used to do business with him, didn’t they?”

I leaned forward, clasping my hands together on the desk. “Yeah. Anyway, I remember meeting a girl there that day. Cute little kid. I’ve always wondered how she is and what she’s up to, and it made me wonder what the rest of them are up to as well.”

Vlada didn’t look particularly convinced. “That’s nice of you,” she said, one brow slightly raised.

“So how much do you know about them?”

“Well, no one really knows much at all. Only what the cult allows visitors to see,” she began. “But my thesis advisor, Jack Lazic, actually went and visited them when he was studying fringe sects in Louisiana. They let him tour part of the ranch and speak to some of the members.”

“When?”

“Last year. I wasn’t actually studying anymore when he did it. I just keep in contact and hang out with him sometimes, because he’s an interesting dude.”

My shoulders slumped. “So you know as much as anyone else, then. Fuck all.”

Vlada shook her head. “No, he told me everything he saw and heard there. I…” She trailed off and hesitated. “Let’s just say he always thought I was interesting too.”

I smiled. “Ah. Got it. So what’s it like out there now? Does he think there’s gonna be some sort of Jonestown-type scenario one day when the Prophet tells them the apocalypse is finally happening?”

“Actually, he said he wouldn’t classify them as a doomsday cult.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He said the men never talked about anything like Armageddon or whatever. There wasn’t even a hint of it.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

She shrugged. “Apparently they’re just happy living simpler lives than they used to, or so they claim. They grow sugarcane to sell, and they have farm animals there to produce other stuff they might need. Milk, eggs, and so on. Anything else they might need, they buy when they travel into the nearby towns. That’s it. Laid-back living. Nothing about the end of days.”

I frowned. That was fucking weird. When I visited the place with my parents, Jacob Chastain was preaching all sorts of fire and brimstone crap. Why did he suddenly relax his views and stop claiming all that doomsday nonsense? Did that terrorist attack lead to a change of heart or something?

“So they’re a bit like the Amish, then?” I asked. Perhaps Thad was right earlier.

“Hm. Not really, no.” Vlada leaned forward. “Jack said he got the impression they were all totally full of shit.”

“How so?”

“He said they seemed like they were hiding a lot. In my opinion, if they don’t want people to know what they’re really getting up to out there, that’s probably because it’s bad. Like, super dark and scary shit.”

“But there’s no proof of that, right?”

“Right. But Jack also said they seemed super hypocritical, and in that sense, he did have proof.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded. “He said the men out there act like they want to live a simple life free of sin and modern crap, but the mansion there is basically a decked-out bachelor’s paradise. He went and sneaked around it for a few minutes after he used the bathroom, so he saw everything.”

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