Faithless in Death (In Death, #52)(86)

“She had a shock stick and knew how to use it. I didn’t see anybody but her for I don’t know how long. A couple of days, a week.”

After a long breath, she picked up her coffee again.

“I had to eat when and what I was told, or shock stick. She’d run this bullshit propaganda about the order on-screen for hours. They restrained me and took me into a medical-type place. I got a physical, if you can call it that. Oh, I had a couple of tats—they took care of that. It hurts having tats removed.”

Though the sudden influx of caffeine probably added to Gina’s rapid recitation, Eve topped off her cup.

“Thanks. Anyway, a lot of it blurs. A lot of drugs pumped into me, a lot of shock-stick therapy.”

Gina paused and closed her eyes for a moment. “I’ve never tasted anything better than these eggs in my life.”

“Freedom tastes pretty great.”

When her eyes welled, Gina used the back of her wrist to dry them. “Yeah, it does. You get it. So … one day Mother Bitch brought in a white dress, told me to put it on. It was my wedding day. I got a punch in, one good solid punch before she shocked me, and they drugged me.”

“Do you need a break?” Eve asked her.

“No. No, it’s good to get it all out. So, now I’m in a chapel—pretty, like a vid, with me in this long white dress and a veil. Stained-glass windows, flowers, a lot of people. And The Asshole’s standing at the end of this aisle. They walk me down it, one on each side of me. The head guy—I find out later that’s Wilkey—he’s, like, the preacher, and he marries us. They make me marry this guy twice my age I’ve never seen before, and swear to obey him, to conceive children with him, to serve him and subjugate myself to him.”

She stopped, held up a finger while she closed her eyes, took careful breaths. “Then they take me to another room—nicer, windows, no Mother Bitch. I’m half out of it, but I still try to fight back when these two women undress me, and he comes in. They hold me down for him, Lieutenant.”

Tears leaked out again. “Maybe that was the worst thing of all. These women, they held me down while he raped me. I didn’t fight much, but—”

“Rape is rape.”

“He raped me every day, every night. He called it our honeymoon. He actually called it that. He brought me flowers, and candy, and sometimes wine. I could go outside for air, to walk, as long as he was with me. I knew better, I did, but he started to feel like he was okay to me. They came in, took blood, and did a test. A pregnancy test. Positive.”

She breathed out. “Can you turn the recorder off a minute?”

“Sure.”

“I didn’t want to be pregnant. I didn’t want a baby. If I’d had a choice, I wouldn’t have gone through with the pregnancy. I was barely eighteen. He’d raped me. I was a prisoner.”

“That’s nothing to be ashamed of, Gina. They took all your choices away.”

She breathed out again. “Okay. You can turn it back on. Everything changed when I got pregnant. Better food, smiling faces—like I’d learned a really complicated trick, you know? And The Asshole only wanted sex once a week. I got to go outside more. I had to take all these classes, not with Mother Bitch, but Mother Sweet Smile—ah, Mother Deborah. Child-rearing—the Natural Order way—cooking, cleaning, gardening. Lots more propaganda bullshit—you learned to say what they wanted you to say.”

“That’s how you survive.”

“Yeah.” Gina swiped away the tears, managed to smile a little. “You get it. Then The Asshole told me we were moving into a house of our own, and as long as I did what I was told—exactly—and kept a clean house and all that, I could live outside the compound. We moved to Zombie Town with our own version of Mother Catherine in Mother Rat.”

“Her full name?”

“Barbara Poole. Her asshole’s Vince.”

“Did she ever assault you?”

“No. I mean she slapped me a couple of times when I talked back.”

“Assault. You’re filing charges.”

“I am?”

“Yeah, you are.” She gave Peabody the come-ahead when her partner appeared at the door, then picked up her ’link. “Reo, I need you at Dochas.”

“I’ve got a meeting in—”

“Cancel it. I’ve got two women in-house now with their three minor children. And a fucking bevy of charges on Natural Order. Kidnapping, enforced imprisonment, torture, rape, assault, assault and battery.”

“Does this tie to the Piper case? Because that’s the meeting.”

“It does. I’ve got a briefing at Central in … shit, forty minutes. I need to get this ball rolling. Peabody, get Yancy in here now. Reo, we have to move fast—smart but fast. I’ve got the block locked off, but word’s going to get to their HQ eventually.”

“I’m on my way.”

Eve clicked off, turned back to Gina. “APA Reo’s going to review this recording—I’m going to copy her on it. And take your statement, yours and Zoe’s. She’s going to file charges against all the people you mentioned.”

“They said they’d take my kids.”

“Nobody’s going to touch your kids. Peabody, this is Gina—it’s not Dawber.”