Page 34 of Mountain Captive

“What for?” Mom asked.

“We’re looking for the money that was stolen. We’re searching the homes of everyone who worked that booth today.”

Was he accusing her mother of being a thief? Chris expected her mother to be upset about this. Instead, she stepped back and bowed her head. “Of course,” she said. “I have nothing to hide.”

For the next hour, the four men searched every inch of the trailer. They emptied all the clothing from the dresser and dumped all Chris’s art supplies on the bed. She thought of the picture of the Exalted—the devil picture—in her sketchbook. When they found it, would they punish her? But they only flipped through the book, paying no attention to the drawings. They took the food from the refrigerator and opened every jar and bottle as if they expected to find coins and bills instead of mayonnaise and ketchup.

All they found was five dollars and forty-two cents in change in an old pickle jar. Members of the Vine were allowed to keep this change when they sold cans they picked up on the side of the highway, so Jedediah reluctantly set the jar back on the dresser. “There’s nothing here,” he said at last, and the men left.

Mom sank into a chair. She looked very pale, but when she saw Chris watching her, she forced a smile. “That was upsetting, but it’s over now,” she said. “There’s nothing for you to worry about. Why don’t you get ready for bed?”

Chris started to point out that it was an hour before her bedtime but thought better of it. She washed her face and hands, then put on her pajamas and crawled under the covers. Her mother kissed her forehead and pulled the curtain over the bunk. Within minutes, Chris was asleep.

It was still dark when she woke again. Her mother sat on the edge of the bunk. “Get dressed,” Mom said. “We’re going to leave now.” She handed Chris a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. “I packed a bag for us. I put in as many of your art supplies as I could, but we can’t take everything.”

“Where are we going?” Chris asked, pulling off her pajamas and sliding into the jeans.

“We’re leaving the Vine,” her mother said. “And we’re never coming back.”

Chapter Eleven

If Chris was upset about what had happened to Rand and Danny, she kept her feelings hidden. She was clearly relieved Rand was all right, but when he thanked her for alerting the sheriff’s deputies to what must have happened to them, she dismissed his thanks. “It was a lucky guess,” she said. “I’m glad it worked out.”

“Why were they so set against calling in medical help for that woman?” he asked. “Is it because they don’t believe in medicine? Or they think it’s some kind of spiritual weakness to rely on doctors?”

“It’s mostly because they don’t want outsiders coming into the camp,” she said. “We were always told we didn’t need anyone but each other and the Exalted.”

“Because outsiders might see something illegal they shouldn’t see?” Rand asked.

She blew out a breath. “I don’t know. I was taught—all the kids were—that outsiders were dangerous. That they would take us away from our families and sell us to people who would do bad things to us. For the first few months after Mom and I left the Vine, I was terrified to let her out of my sight or to talk to anyone.”

“The woman I tried to help, Lana, looked younger than you—maybe not even out of her teens. I wonder if you knew her.”

“I’ve been away for a long time,” she said. “I doubt I know any of the current members. I don’t remember anyone called Lana.”

“Jedediah is still there,” Rand said. “There are probably others you knew who are still with the group.”

“Maybe I would know their names,” she said. “But I don’t know them. I never did.”

Her tone was defiant, her expression fierce. When she turned away, he didn’t press her. He knew plenty of soldiers who refused to discuss things that had happened during their military service. Maybe it was the same for survivors of cults.

Three days after Rand returned home, Sheriff Travis Walker and Deputy Ryker Vernon came to Rand’s house at four thirty, shortly after he arrived home after a shift at the hospital. “We wanted to bring you up to date on a few things,” Travis said after Rand had welcomed the lawmen inside.

Chris came in from the kitchen and stopped short. “Oh, hello.” She glanced at Rand. “Is something wrong?”

“We just have some updates,” Travis said. “For both of you. Sit down, please.”

They sat—Rand on the sofa and Chris in a chair facing him. “First of all, I’m sorry to tell you that Lana and her baby died,” Travis said.

“Yes, I know,” Rand said. “I had a colleague track her down for me.”

Chris turned to him. “You didn’t tell me.”

“I didn’t want to upset you,” he said.

Chris studied her hands, knotted in her lap. “It’s just such a sad story.”

“We searched the camp for her brother and the other man you described,” Ryker said. “We were told they had been banished.”

---