Off the phone, Sariah came back and sat with the others. All three of my mothers appeared shaken, but Mother looked nearly destroyed. Her shoulders sagged and her breathing sounded labored, as if she was forcing her body to take in oxygen. “Before you leave so I can get to work on this, I have one more question,” I said. As sorry as I felt for her, there were things I needed to know. “Mother, who did you tell about Delilah disappearing? Who did you think was looking for her?”
My mother stared up at me, her face as I’d never seen it before. She looked haunted, remorseful. Mother rarely let her guard down, but I heard shame in her voice. “I did what I have always done, what we were told to do for generations in Alber. What my grandparents and parents did before me. The Barstows have always been the family the faithful turn to in times of trouble. When Delilah disappeared, I asked the prophet for help.”
“But your prophet, old man Barstow, is in prison.”
“Yes,” she said. “But the elders have a way of contacting him when something happens in the community.”
Of course they would have found a contact within the prison who carries messages and keeps him involved. I should have known. I thought about what Hannah and Max had said, that little in Alber had truly changed. “What did the prophet tell you to do, Mother?”
“Our prophet sent a message that I wasn’t to worry. He said his sons would look for Delilah.”
My heart felt like butterfly wings fluttering within my chest, perhaps because I already suspected the answer when I asked, “Which sons?”
Mother hung her head and murmured, “Evan and Gerard.”
I plopped down in a chair across from her. Mother’s words hit me like a physical blow. My mother had trusted my prime suspect, Evan Barstow, to find Delilah. Livid, I ached to chastise her, to force her to accept responsibility for the folly of turning to men like the Barstows. But when I looked over at her, I lost any appetite for retribution. I saw that I couldn’t punish Mother any more than she punished herself. Her hands locked in a death grip on her lap, her chin trembled and her eyes reflected the terror of someone truly lost.
I leaned toward her and asked, “So both of them, Evan and Gerard, were supposed to look for Delilah?”
“Yes.” Mother examined my face, and I’m sure saw the disappointment there. “Clara, how could I have known? I mean, it made sense. They’re both policemen.”
“Did you talk to either one of them personally about Delilah?” I asked.
Her chest heaved with a swallowed anguish. “Only to Evan. He promised that he would explain the situation to Gerard and that they would work on this as a team, as their father ordered.”
Only to Evan. I drew in a deep breath and tried to remain calm. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”
Mother wiped a tissue over her eyes, blotting tears. “Evan insisted we keep Delilah’s disappearance a secret. He promised me that he and Gerard wouldn’t tell anyone. And Evan said our family had to act as if nothing had happened, to protect Delilah.”
“To protect Delilah?” I asked.
“Yes, to protect Delilah.” Her voice dropped so low I could barely hear her when she swore, “I promise you, Clara, everything I did was to protect Delilah. She was my only concern.”
Mother’s words chilled me to my core like a harsh winter wind. “I don’t understand. How did concealing the fact that Delilah had been abducted protect her?”
“Clara, you know what Alber is like,” Mother said, as solemnly as I remembered she counseled me as a child. “In the eyes of the faithful, a girl despoiled by a man is ruined. No man wants a tainted woman as a wife.”
“Mother, no.” I couldn’t bear to hear what I knew she would say. “Please, no.”
“Clara, it’s true. This is the way of our people,” she insisted, her voice gravel. “Evan Barstow warned me that if people found out that Delilah had been taken by a man, she would be deemed unfit for marriage. Our Delilah would become one of the fallen girls.”
Forty-Two
My heart ached as I watched Lily prop up Mother as they shuffled out the courthouse door. Sariah wrapped her arm around Naomi, who like Mother struggled to move forward. Once they reached the trailer, they faced the grim task of telling the rest of our family about Sadie. I found Max in his office, filled him in on what I’d learned and asked him to call Alber PD. “If Gerard is there, tell them that we’re on our way. If he’s not, ask where he is. We need to find out what he knows.”
When Max circled back to my makeshift office, I was buckling my gun belt. As I slipped my Colt in the holster, he explained, “Gerard never returned to the station. They haven’t heard from him. The dispatcher has been calling him all afternoon on another matter and he hasn’t responded.”
“Put a BOLO out,” I said. “Anyone who sees Gerard should detain him for questioning.”
“You sure about that?” Max asked. “We’re talking about Alber’s police chief.”
Frustrated that he still pushed back, I pointed out, “We’re talking about the brother of a kidnapping suspect who may have inside information.”
Max looked concerned but agreed. “Okay. Will do.”
“Strange time for Gerard to go AWOL,” I remarked. “Let’s send backup to help keep Evan under surveillance, just to be safe.”
“I already did,” Max said. “The squad we left there hasn’t seen any unusual movement at the ranch. Just kids playing in the yard.”
“We’re not ready to confront Evan yet. We need more evidence.” I thought about the chains in Evan’s shed and wished yet again that we’d taken them. “The most important thing is that we need to figure out where he’s keeping Delilah. Do we know if Evan owns any other property?”
“I haven’t heard that
