Bitter Falls (Stillhouse Lake)(83)

“But . . . you already know about the Garden. You have to know . . .” Her voice fades out. “Oh. You found the old place. The one up near Wolfhunter. They moved out of there before I joined up.”

“I know the new compound is somewhere up near the Catoosa Wildlife Area. Just—just tell me how to find them.” I’m shaking so hard now I have to brace myself with both hands on the back of one of the seats. Tears break free, and I feel them cold as melting ice on my cheeks. I don’t know what I’ll do if she doesn’t tell me. I don’t want to think about that. “Carol. Please.”

She’s shaking her head, God no, she’s shaking her head and I feel the desperation inside coil and twist like a snake through my guts. But she says, “He bought that old work camp up near Bitter Falls. But that won’t help you. There’s no way out. There’s no way in. It’s his fortress.” I see the glitter of tears in her eyes, sharp as tinsel, but she blinks the shine away. “I know people who tried leaving. They all died there. He made them his saints. I’m sorry about your boy, but I can’t help you anymore. I’m not going to let him drown my child like he did all those others—”

I go cold, and whatever else she says dissolves into noise. Drown my child. I try to swallow, but it feels like the saliva in my mouth has turned thick and hard as gravel. My voice is rusty when I say, “What do you mean, drown?”

Carol takes a horribly deep breath, like she’s going under herself. “He told me Nick was going to be his new messiah. But he said that before, and then he said that baby didn’t have the right marks, and he took him to the falls and came back alone.” She shudders, and I feel it, too, a cell-deep revulsion. No wonder she ran. “Any man who steps out of line he calls saints, chosen by God. And he drowns them while he baptizes them. He says he’s making an army up in heaven to defend us.”

I feel colder than I’ve ever been, listening to this. “Is that what happened to Remy?”

“Remy thought he could buy my way out by promising to work for them for three months. That’s what I told him. But he’s not coming back; they never let anybody go. They’ve got him, and either he’s one of them, or he’s a saint now. I don’t know which one.” She wipes away tears. “That’s the night I managed to slip away. The night Remy went with them. I took my chance, and I escaped. I traded him for my child’s life. And I think about that every day.”

She named her boy Nick. Nicolas. Remy’s middle name. I think she’s being as honest as she knows how right now. But the desperation gnawing at me won’t let go. “I need to get in, Carol. Find my son. Where would they keep him at the compound?”

“He’d sleep with the men in their house if he was a convert,” she says. “But it depends what they do with him during the day. Converts usually work the fields. But he’s not a convert, he’s a hostage, so I don’t know. Maybe they’ll keep him in the shed; that’s where Father Tom locks up those he calls saints before he takes them away. But none of that matters. You can’t get in!”

“I can ram the gates if I have to.”

“They’re too strong, and anyway, you’ll be shot to pieces. He’s got an army in there. Patrols all along the fences too. He preaches that the government’s coming to kill them all the time. They’ll fight. All of them.” She swallows hard. “They kill for him already. And they’d die to the last man defending him.”

“What about these falls you mentioned?”

“Doesn’t matter. There’re twelve-foot fences around the whole camp,” she says. “Wire on top, and patrols all the time. They can shoot you dead before you make it over. Even if you do, they’ll catch you. And God help you then.”

I have to believe that there’s a chance. I have to.

Carol says, “I used to have nightmares about those saints coming up out of that water. But it was never real to me. Not until I got pregnant.” She swallows hard, as if she’s fighting nausea. “Then I couldn’t sleep for imagining my baby being drowned out there. I didn’t know if it would be a boy or girl, but either way, I knew I couldn’t let it be born with him. I volunteered for the missionary circuit—they send us out in the RVs, three men and one woman. Us converts were better at flirting than the ones born inside the compound anyway; those poor girls, they never knew any other life. We could charm those boys, tell them our sad stories, make them believe they were saving us.” She looks down at the backpack she’s holding. “Like Remy. It was so easy to do it. Spin a sad story, tell him only he could be my hero. And he thought he was doing right.”

I want to go. I need to go. She’s confirmed the place—Bitter Falls—where we might find Connor and Sam. But there’s a magnetic, awful pull to her self-loathing and her guilt.

“None of this is on you,” I tell her. “You were a victim. You were a child. Brainwashed. Abused. The fact you found the strength to run says everything about you. Just—live for your son. Find a place you can be safe. I promise you, if you ever need me, all you have to do is call. I’ll help.”

“Why?” It sounds like a cry of pain. “I screwed you over first chance I got!”

“You did what you had to do, Carol. I understand.”