Her eyes slid to the window, and she bit down on her lower lip.
“There’s more. One night last fall Carlie woke up fussy, so I went downstairs to get him milk. I heard movement in the office, then a woman speaking, real quiet like she didn’t want anyone to hear. She must have been on the phone.”
“Did you recognize her voice?”
“Yes. It was one of the women who worked in the office.”
“What did she say?”
“She was telling someone that someone else was O.K. I didn’t hang around to hear more.”
“Go on.”
“About three weeks ago the same thing happened, only this time I overheard people arguing. They were really angry, but the door was closed, so I couldn’t make out their words. It was Dom and this same woman.”
She wiped a tear from her cheek with the back of her hand. She still did not look at me.
“The next day she was gone and I never saw her again. She and another woman. They just disappeared.”
“Don’t people come and go from the group?”
Her eyes locked on to mine.
“She worked in the office. I think she was the one taking the calls you were asking about.” I could see her chest rise and fall as she fought back the tears. “She was Heidi’s best friend.”
I felt the knot tighten in my stomach. “Was her name Jennifer?”
Kathryn nodded.
I took a deep breath. Stay calm for Kathryn’s sake.
“Who was the other woman?”
“I’m not sure. She hadn’t been there long. Wait. Maybe her name was Alice. Or Anne.”
My heart changed speed. Oh, God. No.
“Do you know where she came from?”
“Somewhere up North. No, maybe it was Europe. Sometimes she and Jennifer spoke a different language.”
“Do you think Dom Owens had Heidi and her babies killed? Is that why you’re afraid for Carlie?”
“You don’t understand. It isn’t Dom. He’s just trying to protect us and get us across.” She gazed at me intently, as though trying to reach inside my head. “Dom doesn’t believe in Antichrists. He just wants to transport us out of the destruction.”
Her voice had grown tremulous and short gasps punctuated the spaces between her words. She rose and crossed to the window.
“It’s the others. It’s her. Dom wants us all to live forever.”
“Who?”
Kathryn paced the kitchen like a caged animal, her fingers twisting the front of her cotton blouse. Tears slid down her face.
“But not now. It’s too soon. It can’t be now.” Pleading.
“What’s too soon?”
“What if they’re wrong? What if there isn’t enough cosmic energy? What if there’s nothing out there? What if Carlie just dies? What if my baby dies?”
Fatigue. Anxiety. Guilt. The mix won over and Kathryn began to weep uncontrollably. She was growing incoherent and I knew I would learn nothing further.
I went to her and hugged her with both arms. “Kathryn, you need rest. Please, come and lie down for a while. We’ll talk later.”
She made a sound I couldn’t interpret, and allowed herself to be led upstairs to the guest room. I got towels and went down to the parlor for her pack. When I returned, she lay on the bed, one arm thrown across her forehead, eyes shut, tears sliding into the hair at her temples.
I left the pack on the dresser and pulled the window shades. As I was closing the door she spoke softly, eyes still closed, lips barely moving.
Her words frightened me more than anything I had heard in a long time.
26
“‘ETERNAL LIFE’? THOSE WERE HER EXACT WORDS?”
“Yes.” I clutched the phone so tightly the tendons in my wrist ached.
“Give it to me again.”
“ ‘What if they go and we’re left behind?’ ‘What if I deny Carlie eternal life?’ ”
