Chapter 35
Annie sat across the table from Mary Schultz—just as she had done before—but this time was different. First, her friend Cookie was in jail. Second, her family might be in jeopardy. The phone call. The strange symbols. Her boys being singled out in school. The police were always watching her house and following her. Anything else that happened would lead the police to tapping her phone. It was unnerving. She was losing her patience dealing with these backward notions some of the locals seemed to have. If she could just get Mary to talk, she was certain it would help.
“Good chocolate,” Mary said. “Thanks so much.”
She seemed more alert today, and the guard told Annie that they were trying a new medication on her. Maybe that was why her blue eyes looked so alert and clear.
“You’re welcome, Mary,” Annie said, thinking she had very little time and so she had to forge a level of trust with the woman quickly. She was pleasantly surprised that the guards let her bring in the chocolates. “You know, I’m not supposed to feel friendly toward the people I visit here. But I can’t help but like you. We’re a lot alike.”
Mary nodded. “I can see that. We’re both fighters. I’ve read some of your stuff. Impressive.”
Annie’s heart leapt. She had always hated to hear about other journalists playing it this way, but was this actually going to work?
“Thanks, and yes, we are both fighters,” Annie said. “Sometimes it gets very lonely for me.”
Mary slowed down her chewing and looked almost as if she was empathizing. “Me too. It’s even harder now. These women in here. They just don’t get me.”
“I hear you,” Annie said. “So, Mary, were you able to find out anything about the Carpenters?”
“Oh yes, Annie. There was a shunning. But my sources don’t know why exactly. Just that one morning she was gone. The family—and the whole congregation—turned their backs on her. They just don’t talk about shunnings to outsiders.”
Annie was stunned. How could your family turn against you? What did it take to do such a thing?
“Annie? You okay?”
“It just makes me so sad to think of it.”
“It’s hard on everybody,” Mary said. “Even the people doing the shunning.”
“I get that,” Annie said after a moment. “But what would the girl do out in the world? I mean, where would she go? Who would she even know?”
“She probably went to a friend’s house, or another congregation could have taken her in. I don’t know.”
“You mean another Mennonite congregation?”
“I suppose. These days, there are a lot of factions, even up at the Nest. You know?”
“These young women lead very secluded lives, yes?”
Mary nodded—almost with the abandon of a child—as she bit into another chocolate.
“How would she even meet someone from outside of the group?” Annie asked, thinking how frightening it must be for a person who had lived that life to all of a sudden be without the resources it provided.
Mary shrugged, licked her lips. “A market maybe?”
Could be, Annie thought. Maybe she needed to pay more attention to the Wednesday Mennonite Farmers’ Market in town.
“What would persuade a family to shun their child?” Annie asked.
“Could be anything. Willful disobedience about anything, like wanting to marry someone outside of the Order or maybe even an unwed pregnancy. Oh Lawd, I remember once a friend of mine knew a girl that was beaten half dead by her daddy.” Mary looked down at her hands. “She was pregnant and not married. I reckon she’d have preferred to be shunned.”
“I don’t know that I could shun my own flesh and blood,” Annie said.
“You might be surprised what you’d do if you had a whole group of people telling you this is the way it should be. And if you believe in the common good for the whole group—not just your family. It’s simple brainwashing. Some of our brains are easier to wash than others,” she said and grinned.
Just then the door swung open; it was Detective Bryant, with several uniformed guards trailing behind him.
“What are you doing here?” he said to Annie. “I want her out of here. She is not to be allowed to visit in this prison until this case is resolved. I thought I told you that.”
“I’m sorry. I never got any paperwork on that, sir,” the woman behind him said. “Ms. Chamovitz?” She gestured for Annie to leave.
Mary frowned. “We were just visiting.”
Annie picked up her bags and handed Mary another bag of candy. “One for the road,” she said. “Thanks.”
She turned around and glared at the detective, who looked as if he were about to blow smoke straight out of his ears. Okay, now Annie knew that Bryant knew more than he had let on. There was no way a detective would place a ban on visiting a prisoner, unless there was a reason.