Page 24 of Jeremy
“Sure,sounds good.” I follow him back to a golf cart parked nearby. He hops into thedriver’s seat and flips on a flood light attached to the front. We travel overthe empty field until we hit a paved drive that leads to the house.
It’sbigger than it looked from a distance, and the difference between how themembers live and the leaders live is clear the moment we walk through the door.Warm air, fragrant with the smell of cooking meat, smacks us in the face as weenter.
Anolder lady with wide hips and a wider smile greets us. An apron hangs aroundher neck, so I assume she’s the reason for the wonderful smell. “Harriet, thisis Jeremy. He’s interested in joining us.”
Aflash of pity crosses her face, but she quickly covers it with a smile.“Welcome to the big house.”
Anthonygrins and leads me into a game room. “We call this the big house and thetrailers are called the little village. Do you play pool?”
“Notespecially well, but I’ll play a game.”
Hespends the next few minutes running through a lot of the information I alreadyknow about the cult. The protests they lead, their drive to spread the word,the basic rules they live by. It boils down to this: no electricity, no cars,no purchases of any kind that aren’t approved by the First Men. At least,that’s what’s expected of the full time, live in members. Apparently, there isalso an option to start as a Friend of True Life.
Chuckling,I play along. “How do you keep women from shopping?”
Anthonygrins and knocks a colored ball into the pocket. “Part of the agreement theysign when they move in here is to hand over all access to their financials. Ifthey need something, they come to us. At least for the first few months, untilthey adapt to living here.”
“Andwhat does becoming a Friend entail?”
Anthonytakes another shot, which scratches, then hands me the cue ball. “We understandnot everyone wants to leave the outside world behind, at least not right away,so if you’re interested, you could instead volunteer here, and pay a monthlydonation to support our cause. What do you do for a living?”
“Idon’t have a job. My parents were wealthy and left me a hefty trust fund.” Hisreaction to my response gives me the first peek behind his mask. The wordstrustfundbring an instant smile to his face that he doesn’t reign in quitequickly enough. “Before I moved here, I volunteered at various agencies. I’mpretty new to town, so I’ve been looking for something to fill my time, and Ihave to say, I like what I’m hearing here.”
Hestudies me for a moment. “Do you have a criminal record?”
Shrugging,I step aside after missing my shot. “I’ve been charged for trespassing a coupleof times. A few friends joined me to protest an oil pipeline they were runningthrough our town. We chained ourselves together, destroyed some of theirequipment. They couldn’t prove we caused the damage though, so the only chargewas criminal trespass.”
“So,you understand we sometimes have to step outside of the law to get thingsaccomplished from time to time.”
He’stesting me, feeling out my limits. If I want to know what really goes on here,he needs to think I have no qualms about breaking the law. Which, technicallyis true anyway. While In Safe Hands works more with the police now, we used totake matters into our own hands when a particularly bad child predator beat thesystem. He isn’t the only one who has killed. The difference is the men who aredead because of ISH deserved what they got. We didn’t shoot innocent people ina damn shopping mall.
“Yeah,I have no problem with that. Do you have any idea how many laws thecorporations break? Environmental laws and too many others to name. You can’tfight fair when the other side isn’t.”
Awide smile crawls across his face. “Exactly. You know, Jeremy, I hope youdecide to join us. I think you’d do very well here. We need more men forleadership positions. At one time, we had two residential villages, but we raninto some hard times and had a little setback. We’d like to expand again. I’mnot promising anything, but if you’d like to start as a Friend, you can learnmore about us and see if you’re interested.”
Wow.He actually described the killing of three of their leaders during a plannedmassacre as a little setback.
Heknocks the eight ball in, and I place my cue on the table. “I’m interested. Ican write you a check for the first monthly donation tonight if you’d like.”
Anthonynods, and leads me toward the front hall. “Actually, we prefer cash, if you canmanage it. Helps us keep the government out of our business.”
“Understandable.I can bring it back by. Tomorrow okay?”
“Sureis. And I’ll have Shaun show you around, find you a project to get involvedin.”
“Soundsgood.” I shake his offered hand, swallowing back the urge to crush it and beathim until there’s nothing left but a bloody pile.
“We’llsee you tomorrow then. Shaun will take you back to your car.”
Myblood is boiling by the time I climb into my car and head back home. I think Iheld up pretty well, considering all I wanted to do was murder them like theydid Frannie and twenty-one other innocent people.
He’slooking to resurrect his other residential village. After the shooting wastraced back to their cult, the other village fell apart. The leaders were dead,and the rest were questioned to no end about their possible involvement in theplan. Those who didn’t go to jail, distanced themselves or just plaindisappeared. As far as I can tell, the authorities were never aware that thisplace existed for years before the shooting so they just never made theconnection.
I’mangry, but I’m also torn on what to do. My initial plan was just to take themout, maybe just blow the place up, but I didn’t expect to find children livingthere. I’m also not sure if the women in those trailers are really there oftheir own free will or not. I need to know more if I’m going to figure out howto make them pay, and shut the place down without harming any innocent people.
Mystomach growls, so I make a pit stop at a local barbecue place for take out onmy way home. It reminds me that Anthony wasn’t the only person to invite me to dinner.As tempting as it would be to take Melissa up on that offer, I just can’t. Ineed to keep my distance, which is harder than I anticipated.
Ofcourse, I should be concerned for the baby, and I am, but if I’m being honest,the baby isn’t what keeps invading my thoughts. For some reason, she just won’tget out of my head.
