Alone (Bone Secrets, #4)(86)

“The old ways of beating down your wife?” Mason spit out.

“He is a boy. Right now he sees Abbadelli as some sort of symbol to admire. But he is friends with Abbadelli’s grandson. Perhaps the two of them…” She trailed off, a nauseous expression covering her face. “Perhaps together they…” She couldn’t finish.

Mason completed her thought in his head. Perhaps together they decided to punish today’s young women.

“Jesus Christ,” said Ray. “They’re just teens. Why would they do that? To get the old guy’s admiration? Maybe he orchestrated it. Manipulated the teens.”

“Abbadelli is definitely the pastor Brody was looking for. He wasn’t sure if he was dead or not. Do you know where he lives?” he asked Esther.

“He lives where he’s always lived,” she said simply. “We don’t go near him. My husband doesn’t want to remember his years in that church.”

“I wouldn’t call it a church,” said Mason. “This has cult written all over it. And Abbadelli is the aging Manson.”

Esther’s lips whitened. “Yes,” she whispered. “I would call it a cult. They don’t follow a religion. They follow the teachings of one mortal man. A very bad man. No one knew for certain if he killed all those women so long ago. It was only rumors. There was no proof. And if someone reported him, what would happen to their family? Would they die, too?” Esther wiped at her eyes. “I have to imagine they were all too scared of him.”

Mason’s gut was on fire. He wanted to hit someone. Preferably Cesare Abbadelli. And some of his spineless followers. Families had looked the other way as a madman possibly murdered women seeking help. And possibly his own wife and son? How could they do nothing?

“You said he lives where he’s always lived. Where is that?”

“I don’t know. He has a place in the forest. Some land near the coast.”

Ray straightened. “Wait a minute. Like out Highway 26? Over the Coast Range?”

“Yes, I believe that is where Nico said he lives.”

Mason looked at Ray. “What’s wrong?”

“Brody emailed me earlier. He said he’d located someone from the church who had some of the old church records and had passed Victoria Peres’s contact information to him. She’d told him she would head out there tonight. Brody didn’t say it was the pastor of the church, but I know the address is out in the middle of nowhere on the way to the coast. I think he found Abbadelli. But why didn’t he say so?”

“I don’t think he goes by Abbadelli anymore. I think he’s changed his name to something else,” added Esther. “I don’t know what name.”

“Get someone out to that address. And call Dr. Peres. See if she’s headed out there yet.”

His buzzing phone distracted him. “Callahan.”

“Detective, it’s Katy Morris again. I wanted to let you know we found Trinity, but thank you for your concern.”

Mason had nearly forgotten about the teen since the Abbadelli revelations. “Ms. Morris, we were just talking about you. Did you ever work with a Jackie Carey in your practice?”

Katy paused. “Yes, why?”

“That was her son with the gun at the memorial service. Is it possible he’d be angry if he saw you?”

Katy coughed. “Angry is putting it mildly, detective. Are you saying seeing me is what set off that teen?”

“It’s possible,” said Mason.

“Well, I told them to get him into counseling. Damn it! I knew that kid was a ticking bomb. I’m glad they’ve got him now. Maybe he’ll get the attention he needs.”

“I don’t understand what’s going on in teenage brains these days. But Trinity has been found? She turned up okay?” Mason asked.

“Yes, the car was washed off a road, but she and the boy with her are okay.”

“Thank God. So there was a boy. Is the car damaged badly?”

“I don’t know. Victoria Peres found her on the other side of the Coast Range. Can you believe that? She left me a message, but I haven’t been able to reach her. I think there’s no signal.”

Every alarm went off in Mason’s head. “Coast Range? Where was she going?”

“Beats the hell out of me. We’ll be having a deep discussion about this incident.”

“Who was the boy she was with?”

“I don’t know that either,” Katy admitted.

Mason looked at Ray. “Trinity Viders was found by Victoria Peres on the other side of the Coast Range. With a teen boy. How much do you want to bet it’s Abbadelli’s grandson?”

“Jason?” Esther asked. “She’s with him?” Fear filled her face. “I wouldn’t trust him. He must be taking her to his grandfather. What are they going to do to her?”

“And it sounds like Dr. Peres found a link to the birth records’ source. In the same place,” Ray stated. His face was grim.

“Detective, what are you talking about?” Katy asked, concern filling her voice.

“Dr. Peres didn’t tell you exactly where she’d found Trinity?” he asked.

“No. All she said was that they’d spotted her car and were getting her out. She did say she’d called nine-one-one.”