got to the Compound, the fewer birds I saw.'
Robin turned her head and stared at him. 'What on earth does that mean?'
'I wish to hell I knew.'
She was silent as the Jeep picked up a little speed, then said, 'What Pel said. No wildlife on his morning walks. Why do I get the creepy feeling that when we get to the main part of the Compound, we aren't going to see any dogs or cats?'
Even though she had never formally been inside the Compound, Robin, like most residents of Grace, was undoubtedly familiar with the physical layout of the place.
It got discussed in town. A lot.
The church was sited pretty much dead-center on the two-hundred-acre parcel of land it owned. Around the large and impressive central building that was the church proper was a formal square, with neat little houses lining three sides of the square and set out with equal neatness along the four half-mile-long roads that stretched out from the corners of the square and ended in cul-de-sacs.
Sawyer could have drawn it out on a map. In fact, he had, bothered by the neatness and exactitude of the Compound. But if there was a pattern there, it meant nothing to him.
'They used to have animals,' he told his officer. 'Most every house had a dog in the backyard, a cat on the front porch. There were always a couple of dogs tagging along after the kids, and a cat or two in every barn to help control mice. Plus livestock in the pastures. Ponies for the kids, some trail horses, milk and beef cattle.'
'But not now?'
'No. I wanted to warn you, in case you noticed, not to say anything.'
'No pets at all? No livestock?'
'Not visible. I suppose there might be dogs or cats inside, but they used to be easy to spot.'
'When did you notice they weren't?'
'Last week, when I came up here to talk about Ellen Hodges. Before then I hadn't been up here since, probably, back in the fall sometime. I remember dogs barking then and seeing cattle and horses in the pastures around the Compound. Last week, nothing but people.'
Robin cleared her throat. 'You know, the first thing that popped into my head when you said that was'
'Some kind of devil worship. Animal sacrifice. Yeah, I figured.'
'You don't think?'
As the Jeep emerged from the woods and into a wide valley where the church and its score of small, neat houses lay just ahead, Sawyer answered, 'I have a hunch the truth's a lot more complicated.' He knew that Robin was looking around at the houses as they neared the Square, that she was looking for dogs or cats or signs of livestock, but Sawyer's gaze was fixed on the tall, wide-shouldered man waiting for them on the steps of the church.
The man who checked his watch as the Jeep entered the Square.
'A hell of a lot more complicated,' Sawyer repeated.
Chapter Four
GIVEN WHAT she'd been told and what she'd learned on her own about cults, Tessa had expected to be disturbed on any number of levels while she was among the congregation of the Church of the Everlasting Sin, but what she hadn't expected to feel was a sensation of sheer unreality. It was, she decided, a surface place.
The surface was pretty, ordered, calm, peaceful. The people Ruth introduced her to were smiling and seemingly content and greeted her with courteous welcome. The neat little houses boasted neat little well- manicured lawns and pruned shrubbery. The childrenall home-schooled, she was toldlaughed and ran around the very nicely designed playground off to the right of the main square, pausing in their play only long enough to run up, when summoned by Ruth, to be introduced en masse to Tessa.
'Children, say hello to Mrs. Gray. She's visiting us today.'
'Good afternoon, Mrs. Gray. Welcome.' It was a chorus, bright and cheerful, accompanied by big smiles.
Tessa wasn't all that familiar with children, but this bunch struck her as exceptionally polite. And rather eerily similar in that they were all impeccably dressedespecially for playtimewithout so much as a smudge of dirt or visible wrinkle in their neat white shirts, lightweight bluejackets, dark pants (the boys), and dark skirts (the girls).
'Hi,' Tessa responded, wondering how many of these kids Sarah had known, if there were any she had been close to. By all accounts, she had taken a special interest in the children. 'No school today?'
'Our children are home-schooled,' Ruth responded.
'And it's our playground time,' a dark, solemn-eyed boy told Tessa. 'Not as cold as yesterday, so we can be outside longer.'
'I see.'
Ruth shooed them away before Tessa really had time to pick out any more individual faces; she wasn't even certain whose small hand touched hers briefly before the group ran back to their playground.
'They're all fine children,' Ruth said to her.
'I'm sure they are.' What else could she say?
'Perhaps you can visit with them longer on another visit. I didn't want you to be overwhelmed, Tessa. So many faces, so many names. I do want you to meet some of our members, even though we have plenty of time for you to get to know everybody.'
'Yes. Yes, of course.'
Ruth continued the tour, pointing out this or that as they walked slowly around the Square.
As scrubbed and neat as the children, all the buildings were beautifully maintained, as though they had been freshly painted only this morning.
Especially the big, gleaming white three-story church itself, which was very churchlike, with rows of stained- glass windows (though generic abstract patterns, with no Biblical scenes Tessa could identify) and a tall steeple with a simple cross atop a bell tower.
She could see the bells gleaming even from ground level.
The church was surrounded, like all the houses in the little neighborhood, with a neat lawn. Wide steps led from the front walkway that was pretty and cobbled up to the gleaming wooden doors that were wide and welcoming.
But there was something just a little bit off in all the Norman Rockwell Americana perfection, and it wouldn't take a psychic, Tessa decided, to pick up on it. There was an eerie sameness to the faces, the smiles, the simple clothing, even the gestures. From the children to the adults, they all looked almost indistinguishable.
Interchangeable.
That was a horrifying thought and one Tessa shoved grimly from her mind as Ruth continued to introduce her around.
'Welcome, Mrs. Gray. We're happy to have you here.'
'Thank you.' Tessa shook hands with a couple who looked a lot like the previous six couples she had met since her arrival: somewhere in their thirties, a faint scent of soap clinging to them, a kind of bedrock serenity in their smilesand an odd, shiny flatness in their eyes.
'Everyone would love to meet you on this visit, of course, but we know that would be too much,' Ruth told her as she led the way, finally, back toward the church. 'Plus, many of our members work in town and haven't gotten home yet today.'
The church, peaceful and perfect in appearance, was now marred slightly by a dirty Jeep parked nearby, the logo on its side the seal of the Grace Police Department.
Cops. Cops she could trust?
