Page 79 of Tusk's Fury

“We convinced him to hole up in an old church in our territory. My thought was if he got to Brittany before we did, it would make it easier to get her out.”

“So, why didn’t you go in with guns blazing and rescue her?”

Suddenly, Queenie puts the phone down on the table to talk. “They didn’t because we’re walking a thin line between hurting my daughter, who loves that stinking church with all her heart, and getting to Brittany before they rope her into marrying that ignoramus of a bishop they’re so enamored with.”

Rigs leans forward, “Forgive me, but it seems like we’re leaving something important out of the story, something that makes the whole situation make sense.”

All the men who accompanied her look at Queenie. She sighs and says, “Some of this might be on me. I was really messed up because I grew up in the church. Like Brittany, my parents arranged a marriage for me to a much older man. Only, I was young, naïve, and didn’t know how to get out of it. He raped me on my wedding night and whenever he wanted after that. I gave birth to my daughter. My husband died in a sawmill accident, and that’s when I decided to take my daughter and run. Only, my family found out and forced me to leave my daughter behind. From then on, I hated everything about the church.”

Between sips of his beer, Rock murmurs, “Tell them the rest. Her old man deserves to know.”

“I was dirt poor until I hooked up with Rock. We built the Sons of Rage together from the ground up. He was the club president, but as his queen, I was responsible for everything non-club related. Let’s just say, we prospered. I knew my daughter would never leave the church, and if I gave her a chunk of money, she would just donate it to the church. Brittany was just a kid when I set her up with a savings account she could access when she turned eighteen. I liked to think she would see through the bullshit and leave the church one day. I wanted to save her from the hardships I endured when I left.”

Rock jumps ahead to speed her story along. “But my Queenie had nightmares that Brittany would be neglected to the point that something bad happened to her.”

“Well, I was real messed up back then. My therapist called that a fixed delusion. But I had this idea of how I could protect her.”

“Were you the one who came up with the idea that she was special because she was an Eve?” I ask.

Queenie frowns at me. “Of course not. That’s the kind of religious bullshit that only a warped mind like Harper could come up with. My idea was to leave her an inheritance that she could access once she was thirty.”

A question pops out before I can stop it. “Why would Harper want to marry her for money when he’s already filthy rich?”

Queenie perks up. “I wanted to leave her something that her parents and their church would kill for. Something so precious to their religion that they would make damn sure she survived to inherit it.”

“Where in the world did you get such a coveted treasure?” Evan asks.

“Of course, I didn’t have an actual item. So, I invented one. I wrote in my will that I had in my possession a map leading to a cave which held the lost Altar of Adam, which had, according to church lore, been carried across the sea by Masons during the early days. It’s just basically a large flat stone wrapped up in a cloth with Mason symbols on it and placed in a crate.”

I say doubtfully, “That doesn’t sound very believable.”

Queenie points out what should be obvious. “Yeah, most regular people with good reasoning skills would call bullshit on a story like that. The thing is, our Mormon sect was absolutely obsessed with shit like this. They have a metric ton of religious objects mentioned in Smith’s writings, and they chase after every tall tale and jump at every supposed clue. It was enough to make sure Brittany was cared for and protected. That’s the only thing that mattered to me.”

I feel like my brain is on fire. “So, how does this work? If Brittany is married to Harper when she inherits the map, does the church see it as half his?”

“Not quite. Everything that belongs to a woman, by definition, belongs to her husband as well. It’s just the way that crazy sect works.”

“Harper’s after the bogus religious artifact, Brittany is just a means to an end,” I muse out loud. “Just tell him it was all bullshit.”

Queenie admits, “I could do that, but I feel like it would be traumatizing to my daughter, who is still a true believer. I wish that I had gotten my act together sooner, so I wouldn’t have been so paranoid or that I could have found another way to appease my fears about her being harmed or neglected. Because now, no matter what I do, we’re gonna end up hurting someone I love.”

Rock points out sagely, “The priority is Brittany, not her mother.”

“You’re asking me to pick my granddaughter over my daughter.”

Rock responds, “Sometimes life is full of hard decisions, Queenie.”

Levi pops up out of nowhere with a platter of steaks, and Evan is right behind him with plates and flatware.

Levi asks innocently, “Why don’t you just curse Brittany or something like that?”

I tell Levi, “We’re not cursing my old lady. Get that idea out of your head right now.”

Rigs waves me away. “No, let’s hear what Levi has to say.”

Levi launches into a long-winded explanation. “What you need is some kind of plan that will draw your daughter closer to the church and give her more status, while at the same time making them not want anything to do with Brittany, right?”

Patch speaks up, “This is actually a really good idea. We could fabricate some kind of disease that hits every other generation. Any autosomal recessive disorder would do. They can cause things like organ dysfunction, developmental delays, neurological problems, immune system disorders, and skeletal abnormalities.”

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