Blood Atonement

Leonie said nothing, just gazed at her hands. The face had seen too much sadness for someone so young.

'I seen cops all the time when my mum was alive. When I served you in the diner and then heard you was looking around the temple I knew you was looking for me.'

'So you came to find us?'

'I don't wanna cause my folks any trouble.'

Your folks?' 'My family. In Liberty'

Heather paused. 'I see. Who are your folks?'

She shook her head. 'Ain't gonna tell you that. I'll tell you what you want and then you go. I come out here so you wouldn't go sniffing around town again. Just don't ask me about my people in Liberty'

'OK.'

There was a long silence.

'Can I ask you how you ended up in Liberty? What happened after you disappeared?'

'I didn't 'disappear',' she said scornfully. 'I left because I chose to. My mum and the drugs and dying like that, I just wanted a fresh start. He helped me do that.'

'Who's he?'

'I ain't telling you his name.'

'OK.' Heather nodded. 'This is the man who came to your house, the man in the suit who spoke about God.'

Her brow furrowed. 'How do you know about that?'

'Gary told us.'

At the mention of his name her face froze. 'Is he all right?'

Heather paused once more. 'Leonie, you need to tell us everything, and I mean everything.'

'Have they hurt him? I said they wasn't to hurt him.'

Who are they?'

She fell silent.

'You have to tell me who this guy is, Leonie. Is he in Liberty?'

She shook her head. 'He's not never been, apart from the time he brought me. Then he left.'

'He's English?'

Yes. He's related to me. Not like a brother or anything.

Distant family. He was put up for adoption when he was a baby.'

Anthony Chapman, Nigel thought.

Leonie continued. 'He only found out about the family link and the sins of Sarah and Horton when he was a grown-up. He got in touch with the True Church of Freedom a few years back about coming and settling over here, and they said he could do some unfinished business for them. He started with me and he told me all about it, the Church and the family and what happened way back when. He converted me. It sounded better than the life I was living. When he said come with him, I jumped at it.'

You left of your own accord?'

'Uh huh. We spent a few weeks at his place. He treated me nice. He got me a false identity, a new passport and we came here. It was bloody strange at first but I sure got used to it. He left to do what he needed to do. I stayed. I married.'

'Married?'

'I was fourteen, which is when the Church decree you can marry. Which is why I was spared. To carry on the line.

The rest had to die. Apart from Gary'

Why not Gary?'

'Because I said so.'

Nigel could see Heather was shocked at what Leonie was telling her, at the teenager's quiescence. Here she was, half girl half woman, half Essex half American, speaking about leaving her life in England for a life in a cult where girls were forced to marry in their early teens, as if it was the one true path. He could also see Heather struggling about whether to tell the truth about Gary's disappearance.

'Another girl has gone missing. And the people you converted by proxy at yesterday's ceremony were murdered.'

'Oh, I know that,' she said. 'They had to die.'

What?'

Her eyes started to gleam, lit by fervency. 'Sarah and Horton Rowley sinned against this Church and its prophet.

They were responsible for breaking up the family and for the deaths of eighteen innocent souls. We all, me included, bear the stain of the sin and it must be atoned. The Church has sought and now achieved that atonement.'

'Leonie,' Heather said slowly. 'Gary is missing.'

Her face changed, the belief faded, merging into incredulity.

'I said he wasn't to be touched. That he would join us one day.' Now there was anger. She started to shake her head. 'You're lying. This is just a ploy to get me to go with you.' Her face contorted. 'You evil fucking bitch.'

The Essex girl had won out over the pious Utah child bride.

'Leonie,' Heather replied firmly. We didn't even come here to find you. We didn't know you were here.'

Anger gave way to bewilderment. Her eyes flicked between them. 'But why . . . ?'

'Because people are being murdered, and a fourteenyear-old girl is missing. And now, whether you want to believe it or not, your brother is missing. And you can believe any bullshit you want, Leonie, but tell me why he'd be spared when another boy about his age, your cousin, was shot like a dog and his body dragged into the garden along with your uncle. Do you honestly think they wouldn't kill Gary because 'you said so'? That they would forego the chance to reunite the family in eternity and atone for 1890 on the whim of a teenage girl? You've been had, Leonie. Open your eyes.'

Her eyes filled with tears but Nigel could see Leonie remained defiant.

'No one else should die, Leonie. It has to stop and it has to stop here. You left Gary to fend for himself. Now's a chance to help us find him. What was the name of the man who helped bring you over here?'

She wept silently for a few seconds, then she sniffed.

'Dominic. I thought I was doing Gary a favour. He'd get a nice foster family. A mum and a dad who'd love him.

Maybe had some money. Give him a chance. I was going to go back for him one day. Honest.' She wiped her eyes.

Who's Dominic?' Heather asked again.

'I don't know. He was just Dominic'

You didn't know his surname?'

'He never told me.'

Heather asked for a description. Leonie gave it: early forties, dark-haired, handsome, posh voice, shy but persuasive, blue eyes. Nigel made a note of it all, pointless though it was without a surname.

Where did he live?'

'He had a flat in Plaistow but he said it was just temporary.

He didn't like it there. He said he was going to get a house in Bethnal Green one day. That was where the family was from, though he'd only lived there a bit. He told me he grew up out of town near Buckinghamshire.'

'In Buckinghamshire?' Heather corrected.

Yeah.' She gave the name of the road in Plaistow.

Heather asked if she knew anything personal about Dominic, other than his adoption. Did she know the name of the family who took him in?

She shook her head. 'He hated them, though he said the sister was all right. He did say they had money. The dad had a brewery or something like that. That's all he said.