Run Away(97)

“And when the maternal instincts won?”

“The mothers were told that their babies died in childbirth.”

Ash wasn’t stunned often. He was now. “Seriously?”

“Yes. There was a big funeral and everything. Some of the mothers believed that the stillbirths were their fault, that if they had just agreed to send their child to the Greater Haven…”

“My God.”

Dee Dee nodded. “The male babies were sold. Do you have any idea how much a healthy white male baby could fetch? Beaucoup bucks. Alison Mayflower, who is still loyal to the Truth, worked as the go-between.”

“How many babies did the Truth sell?”

“All male.”

“Got it. How many?”

“Fourteen.”

He kept his hand on the wheel. “And now the Truth is dying.”

“Yes.”

“And the Vartage boys—the Visitor and the Volunteer or whatever—are afraid these biological sons are going to claim a share of the inheritance.”

“For years, the Truth, the Volunteer, and the Visitor—all of us, really—had nothing to fear. There was no way to connect the adopted boys to Truth Haven at all. They were scattered about the country, and just to be on the safe side, Alison Mayflower destroyed all the records. So the Truth could never find his sons—and more important, of course, the sons could never find the Truth.”

“So what went wrong?” Ash asked.

“Have you heard about these new DNA websites like 23andMe or Ance-Story?”

He had.

“Tons of adopted people put their DNA in the bank and hope for a hit,” Dee Dee said.

“So I assume some of the Truth’s sons—”

“Found out about each other, yes.”

“And then somehow linked it back to Vartage?”

“Yes.”

“So two sons go on the same site, for example. They realize that they are half brothers.”

“Right. Then a third. Then a fourth. All fairly recent.”

“And someone in your cult decides that the best way to eliminate the problem is to, uh, eliminate the problem.” Ash looked at her. Dee Dee smiled again. “In exchange for a leadership position?”

“Something like that.”

He had to shake his head in awe. “How much is Truth Haven worth, Dee?”

“Hard to estimate,” she said, “but probably close to forty million dollars.”

That opened his eyes. “Whoa.”

“But this isn’t just about the money.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Stop being cynical for a second. Just imagine what would happen to Truth Haven if fourteen more sons come forward with claims. It will, in effect, destroy the Truth.”

“Come on, Dee.”

“What?”

“Will you stop with the Truth? You know that’s all a lot of nonsense. You just admitted that to me.”

Dee Dee shook her head. “You’re so blind, Ash. I love the Truth.”

“And you’re using it to get what you want.”

“Yes, of course. Those two things aren’t contradictory. No one believes every passage of a holy book—they pick and choose. And every pastor who makes money from his religion—if he believes in what he preaches or not—is getting something out of it. That’s life, my love.”

That was wild rationalization, but on some level, it was also absolute truth.

It was getting hot in the car. Ash turned up the AC. “So we only have two more sons to eliminate.”

“Yes. One in the Bronx, one in Tallahassee.” Then Dee Dee added: “Oh, and now we also have to get rid of Simon Greene.”





Chapter

Thirty-Five



Simon and Cornelius stood outside the same bank branch where a few hours earlier Simon had withdrawn the money for the DNA test. Rocco had sent Cornelius to make sure Simon understood that he wasn’t getting this information for free. So here Simon was, back at the bank, looking to take out more cash.

Because he’d already withdrawn a somewhat large amount of money and didn’t want to draw more attention to himself, he’d called Yvonne for help. He spotted her now, walking toward him.

“Any issues?” he asked.

“No.” Yvonne glanced over at Cornelius, this black man with the threadbare T-shirt and the thick white beard, then back at Simon. “Who is this?”

“Cornelius,” Simon said.

Yvonne turned to him. “And who are you, Cornelius?”

“Just a friend,” Cornelius said.

She looked him up and down and then asked, “And what do you need this money for?”

“It’s not for him,” Simon said. “He’s helping me.”

“Helping you what?”

Simon quickly explained about Rocco and Luther. He naturally left off the fact that Cornelius had been the one who saved his and Ingrid’s lives. When he finished, he braced for Yvonne’s counterarguments. None came.

“Stay out of sight,” Yvonne said. “I’ll get the cash from my account.”

Simon wanted to tell Yvonne that he’d pay her back, but Yvonne was Ingrid’s sister and would get pissed off if he made the offer, so he just nodded. When Yvonne entered, Simon and Cornelius walked down the block so they weren’t loitering directly in front of the bank.