Harry had registered for her first seminar at the North Harris County Community College. Harry was a student.
The others had been killed or had disappeared while in Quebec.
My sister was in Quebec.
Or was she?
Where the hell was Ryan?
When he finally called my trepidation escalated to real fear.
28
“GONE? WHAT DO YOU MEAN, GONE?”
I’d slept fitfully, and when Ryan woke me at dawn, I felt headachy and out of sorts.
“When we arrived with the warrant the place was deserted.”
“Twenty-six people just vanished?”
“Owens and a female companion gassed up the vans around seven yesterday morning. The attendant remembered because it wasn’t their normal routine. Baker and I got to the commune around five P.M. Sometime in between the padre and his disciples took the big powder.”
“They just drove off?”
“Baker’s put out an APB, but so far the vans haven’t been spotted.”
“For God’s sake.” I wasn’t believing this.
“Actually, it’s worse.”
I waited.
“Another eighteen people have vanished in Texas.”
I felt myself go cold.
“Turns out there was another little band on the Guillion property out there. The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Department has been monitoring them for several years and weren’t all that adverse to taking a closer look. Unfortunately, when the team showed up, the brethren had split. They bagged one old man and a cocker spaniel hiding under the porch.”
“What’s his story?”
“The guy’s in custody, but he’s either senile or feebleminded and hasn’t given much up.”
“Or cagey as hell.”
I watched the gray outside my window lighten.
“Now what?”
“Now we toss the Saint Helena compound and hope the state boys can discover where Owens has led the faithful.”
I glanced at the clock. Seven-ten and already I was at the thumbnail.
“How’s your end?”
I told Ryan about the tooth marks on the bones, and about my suspicions concerning Carole Comptois.
“Not the right MO.”
“What MO? Simonnet was shot, Heidi and her family were slashed and stabbed, and we don’t know how the two in the upstairs bedroom died. Cannon and Comptois were both attacked by animals and knives. That’s not a common occurrence.”
“Comptois was killed in Montreal. Cannon and friend were found twelve hundred miles south of there. Did this dog catch a shuttle?”
“I’m not saying it’s the same dog. Just the same pattern.”
“Why?”
I’d been asking myself that question all night. And who?
“Jennifer Cannon was a McGill student. So is Anna Goyette. Heidi and Brian were also in school when they joined Owens’ group. Can you find out if Carole Comptois had any university ties? Took a course or worked at a college?”
“She was a hooker.”
“Maybe she won a scholarship,” I snapped. His negative attitude was irritating me.
“O.K., O.K. Don’t get your bra in a twist.”
“Ryan . . .” I hesitated, not wanting to give reality to my fear by shaping it into words.
He waited.
“My sister registered for her seminar at a community college in Texas.”
The line was quiet.
