“Turn on your computer,” said Lien-hua. “It’s probably on the Internet.”
While I searched online, she continued, “Speaking of tapes and Jonestown and the CIA, Jones actually recorded his final talk as he convinced all the people to die together. It’s called the Death Tape. I listened to it when I was doing his profile. Very creepy. He called their action ‘revolutionary suicide.’ Anyway, on that tape, he tells his men to get Dwyer out of there, meaning away from the pavilion.” “Who’s Dwyer?” asked Ralph.
“Richard Dwyer was an official in the American Embassy in the city of Georgetown, Guyana. By nearly all accounts he was a CIA operative sent to infiltrate Peoples Temple. Although when he was asked about it later during the congressional investigation, he said, ‘No comment.’”
“Unbelievable,” I mumbled. “There’s even evidence a CIA agent was there when it all started.”
As it turns out, we didn’t have to search far to find tape Q875. Someone had posted it online. I downloaded the audio file, hit play. It was chilling. Throughout the tape you could hear radio announcers in the background talking about Congressman Ryan’s death and the rumors of mass suicide the day before at Jonestown.
The day before.
Which meant Q875 had been recorded on November 19, 1978. The day after everyone at Jonestown was already dead.
We listened to the whole thing. Twice.
Then again.
Static… a radio announcer talking about the tragedy… a chair squeaking… a few voices in the background, someone saying “Shh!”… the sound of people moving around, opening and closing drawers… someone sneezing… an announcer mentioning that there would be autopsies performed on Ryan and the others, and then the garbled sound of one of the people there in the cabin muttering curses… more news reports about Jonestown… someone saying “Shut up!”… a screen door slamming… static.
“That is very, very eerie,” said Lien-hua. “Whoever made this tape did it with nearly one thousand corpses lying nearby.”
“I wonder if they’ve ever done a voice analysis on it,” I said.
Ralph shook his head. “Speech segments are too short.”
“So this tape was recorded on November 19”-I was thinking aloud-“the day after everyone supposedly died. Why?”
“What I wanna know,” said Ralph, “is if everyone at Jonestown died on the 18th, who made the tape?”
“What tape?” asked someone in the doorway.
We turned.
Margaret.
Aaron Jeffrey Kincaid, the Father, the Master, removed a black and white photograph of three smiling children from the wall. A blowing ocean of wheat fields stretched behind them and ended at the base of a lush jungle. He tilted the photograph in the gentle, dancing candlelight. These children had been waiting in line when he ran into the jungle. Even now, thirty years later, he remembered their names: Jacob and Isaiah and Emilia. He remembered seeing them giggling and teasing each other as they waited for their turn to drink from the vat, just like schoolchildren might do while waiting in line beside the drinking fountain at recess.
“We are not committing suicide,” Kincaid remembered hearing Jim Jones say as the people lined up. “It’s a revolutionary act. To me death is not a fearful thing, it’s living that’s treacherous.”
Living is treacherous.
Kincaid turned to David. “We are in the business of sowing beliefs. And we must be ready for whatever fruit those beliefs produce. Both in our lives and in the lives of those we teach.” He put the picture down next to one of the candles.
“Yes, Father.” David’s voice rang with resolve.
Kincaid knew that David was a true believer. He had already made significant sacrifices, had already proven his devotion. Yes. Kincaid was proud of his son.
“And do you know the rest of the verse, David? The rest of the words of the Nazarene?”
A short pause and then, “No, Father. Forgive me.”
“‘A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.’ Matthew chapter seven.” As he said the words he stared intently at the photograph. Then he turned to look at his pupil. “We are about to cast the tree that does not bear good fruit into the fire. The corrupt tree cannot be allowed to grow any longer.”
“Yes, Father.”
Kincaid set the picture back on the shelf. “I’ll join the others soon, David. Tell them to begin with the children.”
“Yes, Father.” Then, without another word, David bowed deeply and backed out of the room.
Kincaid watched him go. Yes, beliefs bring forth fruit, and now the whole world would see the depth of his beliefs. The media elite and the United States government would taste for themselves the bitter fruit they had sown when they hunted down, harassed, and then defamed his family.
For a few more moments he watched the candlelight flicker and reflect. Flicker and reflect. Illuminating his faces of the children.
Then he blew out the candles so that he was once again alone in the darkness, with the stars blinking at him through the night. A family of daggers puncturing the sky. How many stars were in the sky, he did not know: to him there were 909-one of each family member who died in the jungle.
Always 909 points of light piercing the darkness.
Then, he reached up with his hand and felt his shoulder, the scar that had started it all.
Some scars are meant to be caressed forever.
53
Ralph worked at briefing Margaret while I slipped off by myself to get some work done on the revised geo profile. We had twice as much work to do now. The case had split in half: we had the Jonestown angle and the yellow ribbon guy. It’s supposed to get easier the more you work on these things, not harder.
I eliminated Alexis and Bethanie from the equation and reworked the numbers. The results weren’t bipolar this time. New hot spots appeared, much more focused. New names floated to the top of the tip list.
And Grolin’s was one of them. He moved up from 113 to 8.
I tried to remind myself that my role in this case was to help focus the investigation, not nab one specific suspect, but it didn’t really help. I wanted to get this guy. When he brought my daughter into it, he made it personal. Her life might be in danger. I hated to think what he might do to Tessa if he ever got his hands on her.
Also I wasn’t too happy that he tried to blow me up.
In addition, we still had no leads on where the rest of Jolene’s body might be. I was almost afraid to find out. I decided to follow up on the possibility that someone on the team was the copycat killer. I brought up the names of everyone who had access to the case files and medical examiner reports and found sixty-two names. Wonderful.
Ralph stalked over to my desk.
“How’s Margaret doing?” I asked.
“Shell-shocked, but I didn’t say so,” said Ralph.
“Gotcha.”
He shook his head. “She told me she’s going to take care of investigating this cult.”
“What?” I said. I noticed Lien-hua coming over to join us.
“Yeah, it was kind of strange. When I told her about the tape and the connection to Bethanie and the governor, she said we would need someone running point on that part of the investigation and she wanted to do it. Told me she wants us to focus on bringing Grolin in.”
“Doesn’t that seem a little odd to you?” asked Lien-hua.
He shrugged. “I dunno. Pat?”
