Megan
Three hours later, as the sedation wore off, Brigit’s eyes fluttered.
A squeal of glee leaped from my throat and I stood from the rolling stool. “She’s waking up!”
Seth stood, too, and we hovered over the dog as she blinked against the glare of the overhead light. She tried to raise her head, but could only manage to lift it an inch or two before putting it back down. The blood loss had left her without energy and strength.
I ran my hand over her head and neck, joyful tears welling up in my eyes. “Just rest, girl. Just rest. You’re going to be okay.”
Brigit released a shuddering breath, opened her mouth, and gave my wrist a loving lick.
* * *
With Brigit now stable and sleeping soundly, I checked in with Detective Jackson.
The phone had barely had time to ring before she answered my call. “How’s Brigit?”
“She pulled through,” I said.
“Thank God!” She breathed hard in relief. “We were all so worried.”
The veterinarian had said that my partner would have to stay at the animal hospital another couple of days for observation, but then she could come home to recuperate. I wasn’t sure how long it would take before things would return to normal, but I hoped it wouldn’t be long.
“What’s going on?” I asked Jackson.
“I just got back to the station,” she said. “It took us a while to sort everything out at the compound. Father Emmanuel is at the hospital. His skull is fractured, but he’s expected to make a full recovery.”
While I’d earlier hoped I’d killed the bastard, I had to admit I was now glad he’d lived. I didn’t need a kill on my conscience or my work record, and it would be fun to see him dragged through the mud, convicted, and sentenced, his sins made public.
“We’ve got two other men in custody,” Jackson said. “The ones that went by Zeke and Jebediah. The baby’s parents are here at the station. Can you swing by?”
“Of course.”
After making a quick stop at my house so I could change into clean clothes, Seth drove me to the station. My cruiser sat in the lot, waiting for me and Brigit to get back out on patrol together once she’d recovered. One of the other officers must have driven it from the compound back to the precinct. The chain I’d driven through at the park’s entrance had left a series of dents along the sides and chipped the paint, but the cosmetic damage shouldn’t cost a lot or take much time to fix.
Seth gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before I climbed out. “You sure know how to get a job done.”
“Are you saying I’m a good girl?” I put my curved hands up in front of me like paws and let my tongue loll out, pretending to pant. Heh-heh-heh.
He reached out to ruffle the hair on the top of my head. “Yep. You’re a good girl, Megan. A good, good girl.” A naughty grin spread across his face. “If you’d like, I’ll treat you to a bone.”
“Maybe later,” I replied. “There’s still work to be done.” With that, I returned his kiss and walked into the station.
I found Detective Jackson in her office. Juliette sat upright in one of the chairs. Though her cheeks were stained with fresh tears, her blue eyes were bright with hope. Her hand was clutched in the palm of an attractive young man who sat in the other chair. He had long limbs, short brown hair, and a sickly yellow tinge around one eye, the remnants of the black eye he’d received weeks before. He was the guy I’d seen through my binoculars, the one who’d tried to run to Juliette when she’d been in the garden.
Jackson introduced us. “Officer Luz, this is Luke. He’s the baby’s father.”
Just as I’d suspected.
Luke released Juliette’s hand and the two stood from their seats.
Juliette grabbed my hand in both of hers and raised it to her heart. “Thank you!” she cried. “Thank you for saving us from that awful place!”
“No problem.” I gave her a smile and a nod.
When she released my hand, Luke took it. “We owe you everything, Officer Luz. You and your partner.”
I shook my head. “We were just doing our jobs.”
Jackson scoffed but cut me a smile. “That’s the understatement of the year.”
Maybe so, but I’d only done what seemed right. I whipped out my cell phone and pulled up my camera roll, swiping through it until I found the picture I’d taken of their baby the night she’d been dropped. “I took a photo of your baby the night she was left at the fire station. Would you like to see it?”
“Yes!” Juliette clapped her hands and jumped up and down.
Luke nodded, a big grin on his face.
I held up the screen to show them.
Juliette’s hands went to her cheeks as tears flooded her eyes. “There she is!” Instinctively, she reached toward the screen as if to touch her baby. I handed her the phone, and Juliette clutched it as if hanging on to her baby for dear life.
Luke grinned at the screen, a proud papa, before turning to Juliette. “She’s just as beautiful as you said she was.”
“You never got to see her?” I asked.
Luke’s face clouded. “No. Father Emmanuel wouldn’t let me near the infirmary. He took the baby away right after the midwife delivered her.”
Juliette affirmed Luke’s words with a nod and looked up from the screen, her eyes going from me to Jackson. “I know y’all need to ask us questions, and I know our baby is safe, but is there any way we can go see Skye now?”
“Skye?” I asked. “Is that what you named her?”
She nodded. “The sky was the only thing we could see of the outside world from the church grounds. Looking up at the sky gave us hope.”
“It’s the perfect name for her,” I agreed, “especially since she looks like a little angel.” As much as I hated to interrupt her admiring the photo of her baby, I’d need my phone to call the foster parents. I held out my hand. “If you’ll hand me my phone, I’ll check with the couple who’s caring for her, see how soon we can get a visit.”
She handed the device to me, and I scrolled through my contacts until I found the number for the O’Neills. It was two in the morning, but after meeting the foster mother earlier and learning what a sweet woman she was, I had no doubt she’d forgive us for the late-night call.
The woman’s voice was groggy when she answered. “Hello?”
“Hi, Mrs. O’Neill,” I said. “It’s Officer Megan Luz. Sorry to call you so late, but we’ve got some new information on the baby girl you’ve been fostering.”
“What is it?” She sounded wide awake now.
“The baby had been kidnapped.”
The woman gasped. “Oh my gosh!”
“The man who dropped her off wasn’t her father. We found her real parents only a few hours ago, and they’d love to see her as soon as possible.”
“Of course!” she said. “Come as soon as you can.”
I gave the couple a thumbs-up so they’d know she’d agreed to the late-night visit. “We’re on our way.”
Luke and Juliette gathered up their meager belongings and we piled into Jackson’s unmarked car. Luke and Juliette sat in the back, while I sat up front and navigated.
On the drive, the detective filled me in on what happened at the compound after I left in the ambulance with Brigit. “Summer kept watch over Father Emmanuel until another ambulance arrived and took him to John Peter Smith,” she said, referring to Fort Worth’s primary public hospital. “I interviewed Juliette on-site. You were right about her being the baby’s mother, obviously. A year ago, Juliette and Luke asked Father Emmanuel for permission to marry, but he refused to let them wed and did his best to keep them apart afterward. He told them if they left the compound, they’d never be allowed back to see their families. He’d make sure they couldn’t even communicate with each other, either.”
Juliette and Luke interjected as the detective went along, describing Father Emmanuel as a control freak who expected complete and unconditional loyalty, and wouldn’t tolerate anyone questioning his teachings or methods. Neither Juliette nor Luke toed the party line to his satisfaction, and Father Emmanuel was intent on breaking them, molding them to his will. When he found out the two had somehow managed to get time alone together and that Juliette was pregnant, he was furious.
“He called me a whore,” Juliette said. “He told me I’d rot in hell for having a baby out of wedlock. But Luke and I had already committed ourselves to each other, before God, without Father Emmanuel’s blessing. As far as we were concerned, we were married. Our baby wasn’t a sin. She was a sign of God’s love, a gift.”
“A blessing,” Luke added.
Father Emmanuel felt differently, of course. He considered the baby a sign of their disobedience, a challenge to his authority. After Juliette gave birth, when he told her he was taking the baby for her newborn shots and eye drops, he ordered Zeke to drop the baby at the fire station to punish the young couple.
Juliette’s fists balled involuntarily. “I begged Father Emmanuel to let me go with them to the hospital, but he wouldn’t let me. He said I needed to rest. I had a really bad feeling about things, but there was nothing I could do to stop them. When they were walking off with Skye, I realized how cold the night was. I asked them to let me get the blanket I’d made for her. While they waited outside the door to the infirmary, I got the idea to sew the message in the blanket. I only had a few seconds to get it done. I wasn’t sure it would do any good, that anyone would see it.” She gulped back a fresh sob of emotion, and when she spoke again her voice was tight. “Thank God you did.” She grabbed my shoulder and gave it a grateful squeeze.
Emotion gripped my vocal chords now, and all I could do was nod. It would have been so easy to overlook the threads, to miss Juliette’s critical message. I could only wonder how many other cryptic cries for help were overlooked each day.
Jackson eyed Juliette in the rearview mirror. “Sewing that message was a clever thing to do.”
“I suppose it was divine inspiration.” Juliette offered a small smile before continuing. “When Father Emmanuel came back, he told me our baby had died at the hospital. I was upset and thought he might be lying to me and I tried to fight back. That’s when he threw me into the silo. He knew nobody would find me there or hear me call for help.” She shuddered. “It was so dark inside. I lost all track of time. I had no idea how long he kept me there.”
My mind recalled the towering, leaning structure on the adjacent farmland, how I’d seen a man climbing down the ladder on its side. Had Juliette been inside at the time? And what kind of sick creep throws a new mother—one whose baby has just been torn from her—into that kind of solitary confinement? It was torture, pure and simple.
Jackson let out a loud breath. “It’s amazing you didn’t go crazy in there.”
“I nearly did,” Juliette said. “But I kept telling myself to stay calm, that I’d be no good to myself or my baby if I lost my mind. And I didn’t want to let Father Emmanuel win.” Her eyes narrowed and she gritted her teeth in determination before continuing. “When he let me out of the silo, I asked to see Skye’s body. He told me she’d already been cremated. At that point, I was starting to believe him. I thought maybe I just didn’t want to face the truth, that I’d really lost my baby. But a few days later he came to me and asked ‘Does your baby have a birthmark on her bottom?’ He talked about her like she was still alive, and it made me wonder again if he’d lied to me. She doesn’t have a birthmark, but it seemed like the right answer to give him was ‘yes,’ so that’s what I said.”
I explained to her that the pretend birthmark was my doing. “We knew from the description the firefighters gave us that Zeke was the one who’d dropped Skye at the station, but we had serious doubts about whether he was the baby’s father. A father would know whether his baby has a birthmark. The question was my way of determining if the baby really belonged to Zeke.”
Jackson chimed in again. “When Zeke gave the wrong answer, we knew for certain something strange was going on.”
“I’d seen you through my binoculars from the rise in the road,” I told Juliette. “You were in the garden with an older woman, sprinkling something on the lantana.”
Juliette exhaled sharply. “Father Emmanuel gave me a vase filled with what he said were my baby’s ashes. The garden was my favorite spot, the place where Luke and I used to meet and talk, so I decided to spread Skye’s remains there. Emmanuel wouldn’t let Luke come with me. He wouldn’t let me do it alone, either. After we asked Father Emmanuel for permission to leave, they kept us apart and always made sure another woman was with me and another man was with Luke. We were under constant watch.” She wiped a fresh tear from her eye. “Of course, I know now that those ashes weren’t Skye. They’d smelled of cedar. I bet Father Emmanuel just collected them from the fireplace in the manna hall.”
What kind of sick, twisted person would do such a thing? Tell a young mother her baby had passed and provide her with fake ashes? A person who belongs in prison for the rest of his life, that’s what kind.
“When I saw you,” I said, “it struck me that you had the same dark hair and the same blue knit cap as your baby. I figured you were likely the baby’s mother. But when we searched the place we couldn’t find you. We had no idea where you’d gone.”
Realization dawned in her eyes. “That must have been when they put me and Luke in the silo together. We didn’t know why. But Jeb came and got me from the garden and hurried me to the back wall. They had a ladder and made me climb over and rushed me to the silo.”
The ladder was probably the same one Father Emmanuel had used to scale the wall earlier.
“It was the same for me,” Luke said. “After Zeke grabbed me, he forced me into the silo, too.” He cast a loving glance at Juliette. “When I saw that Juliette was in there, I was so happy. At first, anyway. Then Jeb pulled out a gun and said if either of us said a single word, he’d put an end to us both.”
“Luckily,” Juliette added, “they only kept us there for a few hours that time.”
I pointed to Detective Jackson. “You’ve got her to thank for that. She convinced Zeke and Father Emmanuel that we believed their story, that the baby’s mother had abandoned her and left the compound.”
Jackson shrugged. “My gut told me we should play along.”
Juliette looked from me to the detective. “Whose idea was it to send me the message on the quilt?”
Jackson pointed to me now. “Megan gets all the credit for that maneuver.”
I humbly raised my palms. “I was only following your lead, Juliette. I’d come across your bluebonnet blankets at the country store down the road. When I noticed that the blanket was so similar to the one the baby had been wrapped in, I asked the sales clerk where the store got their blankets from. She told me they were made by women in the People of Peace compound. That told me we were on the right track.”
She clasped her hands to her chest and choked up when she tried to speak. “You’ll never know what it meant to me when the quilt came back and I saw the words on it, offering to help me. For the first time, I had real hope I might get out of that hell, that Luke and I could start a normal life on the outside with our baby.”
“Speaking of Luke.” Jackson turned her focus to the young man and gestured to his black eye. “How did that come about?”
He put his fingers to his face, as if he’d forgotten all about the bruise in his excitement to be freed. “When Emmanuel first told me the same story about our baby, that she’d had a bad reaction to a shot and passed on, I questioned him. He took my questions as defiance, and told Zeke and Jeb to discipline me.”
Though Luke said no more, it was clear the discipline resulted in the horrific bruise. Those two could add assault and battery to the charges they’d be facing.
I asked Juliette and Luke some questions that had been dogging me. “Have you two always lived in the compound?”
“No,” Juliette said. “My parents moved us there from Fort Worth when I was ten. They were poor and not well educated and struggled. My father lost his job when the bean factory closed.”
The closing of the iconic Ranch Style Beans factory had been a dark day for the city. Residents had grown accustomed to smelling the savory aroma of simmering beans, onions, and garlic when passing the factory. These days, the space served as the home of a whiskey distillery.
“When we were evicted from our apartment,” Juliette continued, “we went to a church for help. It was nighttime, and the church was dark and locked up. I’ll never forget that night. I could tell my parents were scared, that they didn’t know what to do. Father Emmanuel happened to come upon us there and offered help. To my parents, he seemed like a godsend, a savior. He offered them both steady work and a roof over our heads and three meals a day. My parents considered the refuge a paradise, but I didn’t like it there. I missed my friends and my school. I didn’t like that we couldn’t all live together as a family anymore. And I never liked Father Emmanuel. Something about him always seemed weird to me, but my parents wouldn’t listen. They thought I was just being a rebellious adolescent. Anytime I brought it up, they’d force me to kneel in the church and pray for hours. After a while, I realized they’d never listen to me. They were caught in Father Emmanuel’s web. I gave up even trying to convince them to leave.”
Poor Juliette. She was caught in Emmanuel’s web, too, though unwillingly.
When she finished, Luke turned his attention from her to me and shared his story. “I was fifteen when my mother took me to the settlement. She’d had drug problems and hadn’t been able to get clean. She saw the refuge as a place to get herself together.” He closed his eyes for a moment, as if in pain, before opening them again. “She got clean, but she got brainwashed, too. If Father Emmanuel told her to cut out her own heart, she’d happily do it.”
Were people so desperate for a savior they were willing to believe anything and anyone? While I could understand having faith in a higher power, I supposed I’d never understand that kind of blind devotion to another human being, a mere mortal. My mind simply didn’t work that way. I’d been born with a brain that wondered “what if?,” that insisted on examining things from every angle, that accepted little without proof and rarely took things at face value, that sought to discern the motives behind human behavior. Some might call me a cynic or skeptic, but I preferred to think of myself as a truth-seeker.
As we drove, Luke and Juliette leaned forward anxiously in their seats and watched intently out the windows, as if seeing civilization for the first time. I could hardly imagine being confined to a few acres and cut off from the outside when there was a whole world full of possibilities to explore. I hoped these two would make up for lost time and find a happy place for themselves out here.
“How much longer?” Juliette asked after we’d been driving only a short time.
I glanced at the screen of my phone. “Eight minutes.”
“That long?” The agonized look on her face said it could never be soon enough.
The detective and I exchanged glances. Though this situation technically didn’t constitute an emergency, we’d implicitly agreed in that glance that it was worth bending the rules. I reached into the console and pulled out the detective’s temporary beacon. After plugging the ten-foot cord into the cigarette lighter, I unrolled my window, activated the flasher, and slid the flashing light onto the roof of the car, where a strong magnet held it in place.
“Hang on tight!” Jackson called to the couple.
She put the pedal to the metal and in three short minutes we pulled up in front of the gray brick home where I’d visited the baby previously. On the porch stood Mrs. O’Neill, along with her stocky, brown-haired husband, both wearing pajamas and slippers. The woman held Skye cradled in her arms. Though it had only been a few weeks since the baby had been left at the fire station, and much less since I’d paid them a visit, it was clear she’d grown quite a bit.
The car hadn’t even come to a complete stop before Juliette and Luke had thrown their doors open and leaped out. Detective Jackson cut the engine, and we opened our doors as they ran across the grass and up the steps.
“Skye!” Juliette cried. “Mommy and Daddy are here!” She burst into happy sobs as Mrs. O’Neill handed the baby over.
Luke wrapped his long arms around both the baby and his wife, enveloping them in a protective embrace. He, too, began to sob.
Lest the flashing light rouse the neighbors, I unplugged the beacon and removed it from the roof of the car, returning it to its place in the console. I walked up the front path, waving away a pesky moth that had flown in to powwow with his buddies around the porch light. After greeting the foster mother with a smile and nod, I extended my hand to her husband. “Hi, Mr. O’Neill. I’m Officer Megan Luz.”
Jackson introduced herself to the couple, as well. “Detective Audrey Jackson. Nice to meet you folks.”
After handshakes were exchanged, the four of us smiled at the couple oohing and aahing over the baby they’d missed so desperately. The little thing was only half awake, her eyes slowly blinking against the glare of the porch light. She was probably wondering why her sweet dreams had been interrupted.
“She’s such a good baby,” Mrs. O’Neill told Juliette and Luke. “Sleeps well, rarely fusses. Cute, too, as you can see.”
“She sure does eat a lot, though.” Mr. O’Neill patted his belly and jovially asked, “But who am I to judge?”
Mrs. O’Neill looked from the couple to me and the detective, her face slightly pained and pensive. “What’s the plan? Will they be taking the baby with them tonight?”
“Not yet,” Jackson said. “Given the unusual circumstances, the court will likely require them to take a blood test to prove they’re the baby’s parents before Child Protective Services relinquishes custody.”
“They will?” Juliette bit her lip. “How long will that take?”
Jackson rested a comforting hand on the young mother’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’m sure they’ll move things along as quickly as they can.” She removed her hand and addressed the young couple jointly. “Do y’all know anyone outside the compound you can stay with? A friend from before, or maybe a relative in the area?”
Juliette swept her tears away with her fingers and shook her head. “No. The last time I saw any of my friends, I was only ten years old. I don’t remember any of their phone numbers or addresses. There’s no telling where they might be today. Some of them are probably away at college.”
Juliette had missed out on the chance to go to college herself. Heck, in the last ten years, she’d missed out on all kinds of things. The inauguration of the first black president. Twerking. The short-lived Pokemon Go craze. Nearly a dozen iterations of the iPhone. Brexit. The return of straight-leg jeans.
“I might be able to track down a relative,” she added, “but last I knew, none of them lived in town. The closest one back then was my aunt in Lampasas.”
Lampasas was a two-hour drive to the southwest. Nowhere the young couple could get to tonight, nor a convenient location for them to be able to see their baby until she was released to them.
Luke said, “My mother burned all our bridges before she joined the People of Peace.” Unfortunately, that wasn’t unusual for someone with a bad drug habit.
Juliette clutched her baby tighter. “I suppose we can go to a shelter until we figure things out.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Mrs. O’Neill said sweetly. “Our couch folds out into a bed. It might not be the most comfortable thing to sleep on, but it’ll do for now. You can stay with us until you sort things out. That will give my husband and me time to adjust, too.” She reached out and ran a finger along Skye’s cheek. “We’re going to miss your little girl. We’ve grown quite attached to her.”
With any luck, another child would become available for the O’Neills soon. They’d certainly make loving parents.
Juliette gave Mrs. O’Neill a soft smile. “Thanks for taking such good care of her.”
“It was nothing.” Mrs. O’Neill waved a dismissive hand, but the tear in her eye said taking care of Skye had in reality meant everything to her. She opened the door. “Come on in. Let’s get y’all settled.”
Jackson gestured to her car. “We’ll grab their things.”
While the two couples took the baby back inside, the detective and I retrieved Juliette and Luke’s things from the car. Each of them had a small stack of well-worn clothing. No bag or suitcase. Not a surprise given that they were not allowed to travel outside the compound and would have had no need for luggage once they’d been taken in by the cult. They each had a few toiletries wrapped up in a bath towel. That was it. No electronics. No books. No silly knickknacks or mementos. None of the things people their age normally owned.
Jackson and I carried the things inside and found Luke and Juliette side by side on the couch. Skye was cuddled up against Luke’s chest, snoozing away, not a care in the world. The little baby had no inkling of the trauma her parents had gone through. Maybe that’s a good thing.
After depositing their things on the coffee table, Jackson said, “We’ll head out now. Let us know if we can help with anything.”
The O’Neills walked us out onto the porch. There, the woman whispered, “I’ll admit I’m sad the baby won’t be ours now. But I can’t even imagine what those two have gone through. I’m glad they’ll get to be a family.”
Mr. O’Neill issued an mm-hm in agreement and pointed to me. “You come across any more babies that need a mom and dad, you let us know.”
I gave him a smile. “I sure will.”
* * *
The department gave me the next few days off so I could be with Brigit at the vet’s until she was released and then nurse her back to health at home. I bought her another noisy rubber pig to replace the toy she’d destroyed earlier. The oinking would drive me crazy, but if it made Brigit happy, I’d suck it up. I gave it to her when she was released from the veterinary hospital. She wagged her tail, took the pig in her teeth, and chomped down tight. Oink!
Back at home, Brigit recovered quickly and, before we knew it, she was back to harassing squirrels in the backyard as if nothing had ever happened, her shaved chest and the round scar the only signs she’d taken a bullet. But while my partner might be the same, I wasn’t sure I ever would be. Seeing Brigit so close to death that night had caused me a raw, helpless heartache like nothing I’d ever experienced. I understood how Juliette must have felt when she’d been told her child had passed away. Knowing Father Emmanuel had put the young mother through that unnecessary agony on purpose, for nothing more than spite, made me want to take my baton to every inch of him.
Once Father Emmanuel was released from the hospital, he was taken directly to the county lockup and charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, resisting arrest, assault on a police officer, and attempted murder. He wouldn’t be getting out of prison any time soon. I hoped he thought of Brigit every time he looked in the mirror and saw her fang scars on his neck. I also hoped he thought of me any time he suffered a headache.
Zeke was also charged for aiding and abetting the kidnapping of Skye. He worked out a plea deal and would serve two years in the state lockup.
Given that it was his first and only charge, Jeb got off relatively lightly, sentenced only to probation and community service for his role in Luke’s assault.
With more than enough evidence to convict Father Emmanuel, I was able to convince Detective Jackson and the district attorney to release the bluebonnet baby blanket from the police department’s evidence warehouse and return it to its rightful owner—Skye. Luke and Juliette were tested, and proved to be the baby’s biological parents. The state’s custody of their baby ended, and she was theirs once again, to have and to hold.
Mr. O’Neill landed Luke a job in the warehouse of a discount furniture company, where he worked as a manager. Knowing Beverly was looking for help in her sewing business, I introduced her to Juliette. Beverly was impressed with Juliette’s technique and hired her on the spot as her new assistant. It turned out to be the perfect arrangement for both of them. Beverly allowed Juliette to bring Skye with her to work, and fell in love with the adorable baby, acting as a surrogate grandmother and spoiling Skye rotten with toys and clothes. When Beverly learned that the O’Neills hoped to adopt and would need their nursery on short notice if a baby became available, she invited Luke and Juliette to live with her until they could save up enough funds for an apartment and furnishings of their own. A vacant bedroom was put into use, and the crib Beverly’s grandchildren had slept in came out of its retirement in the garage and was put back in service. In addition to helping Beverly with the alterations and custom clothing orders, Juliette continued to make her beautiful bluebonnet quilts and sell them at the country store. Now, though, rather than being forced to turn over the financial fruits of her labor to Father Emmanuel, she got to keep the share she earned.
Because the assets of the People of Peace sanctuary had been used in crimes, they were forfeited to the government. The vehicles were seized and sold, and the city took over the compound to expand the lakeside park and facilities. The adjacent farmland was purchased by a cattle rancher who promptly tore down the leaning silo rather than risk the structure falling over on his land and livestock.
The members of the People of Peace scattered to the wind, some of them moving on together to another secluded sanctuary in New Mexico, while others reconnected with family and friends and decided to rejoin the society they’d once shunned. Juliette’s parents and Luke’s mother were among the latter. They found a more mainstream church that offered them the spiritual support system they needed, as well as some financial assistance to help get them on their feet. The social worker who’d picked up Skye from the fire station gave Juliette’s father some leads on worker training programs. He’d signed up for classes and was working hard to gain some new marketable job skills. Frankie put in a good word for Juliette’s mother at the grocery store where she once worked, and the woman was given a job as a cashier.
Though their relationship would be recognized as a valid common-law marriage under Texas law, Juliette and Luke nevertheless wanted to hold the formal ceremony and celebration they’d been denied when living in the compound. Juliette spent a week sewing her own wedding gown, with Beverly giving her expert advice on the beading. She also made a beautiful ruffled dress in bluebonnet blue for her daughter for the event. The pastor of their new church agreed to perform the ceremony in the city’s botanical gardens, by the turtle pond. It was a beautiful spot.
I’d introduced Seth to Juliette and Luke shortly after their rescue from the compound. They were glad to meet the man who’d been the first on the outside to see their daughter and ensure she was safe and protected. He’d been invited to the wedding, as had the paramedic Doug Harrison, Detective Jackson, the social worker, the O’Neills, Beverly, and, of course, Juliette’s parents and Luke’s mother. Brigit had been invited, too, her plus-one being Blast. Seth had brought Ollie along simply so he could get some fresh air and enjoy the crisp autumn day. The wedding was the perfect occasion for me to wear the pretty coral dress and purple jewelry I’d bought from Felicia.
Luke made a handsome groom in a dark gray suit with a light gray shirt and white tie. As he took his place next to the pastor under a sprawling live oak, the rest of us took seats in the lawn chairs we’d brought to sit in.
The procession began with Beverly carrying Skye up the short aisle. Skye was too young and lacked the motor control to actually toss flower petals, but Beverly improvised, taking the baby’s hand in her own, plucking pink petals from the basket, and tossing them into the air. Once Beverly had taken a seat on the front row next to Juliette’s mother, a flautist from their church launched into a high-pitched rendition of “Here Comes the Bride.” We stood as Juliette’s father walked her the seven steps up the short aisle, their procession ending long before the song.
We retook our seats as Juliette took her place next to Luke, a bouquet of artificial bluebonnets in her hand. She gazed up at him, and he looked down at her, their love and devotion written clearly on their happy faces.
“Dearly beloved,” began the officiate, “we gather here today to celebrate the marriage of Luke and Juliette…” The ceremony continued on until they were pronounced husband and wife, gave each other a warm kiss, and the pastor said, “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”
Amen to that.
The flautist launched into a short recessional as the newly married couple turned to us, both of them beaming.
Given that Luke and Juliette were not quite twenty-one yet, we toasted their nuptials with plastic glasses of sparkling grape juice kept cold in a rolling cooler. Brigit and Blast served themselves mouthfuls of water lapped up from the turtle pond. After the couple cut their cake, Juliette’s mother and I finished the job, handing pieces to each of the guests along with a napkin and fork.
As the celebration wound down, Seth pulled a tennis ball from his pocket, cocked his arm back, and sent it sailing across the long stretch of grass. Blast and Brigit took off after it. My furry, four-legged partner might have recently taken a bullet to the chest, but you’d never know it to watch her now. She easily bested Blast, snatching his ball up in her teeth on the fly, and banking until she headed back in our direction. When she ran past us, Seth and I turned to see where she’d gone. She’d carried the ball to Ollie. Beverly had pulled her lawn chair up next to his. The two looked down and laughed when Brigit dropped the ball at their feet and issued an insistent arf, demanding they throw the ball for her.
I nudged Seth in the ribs and whispered. “You seeing what I’m seeing? Looks like your grandfather and Beverly are hitting it off.”
“Ugh,” Seth said. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
He was only teasing, of course. Frankly, it was high time Ollie got back in the romance game, and we both knew it. He’d pined for his dead wife and retreated from the world long enough. Just like the cult members, it was time he was liberated.
Seth’s focus moved from his grandfather to the newlyweds. His eyes narrowed as he watched them. “You ever think about it?” he asked. “Getting married?”
“To Chris Hemsworth?” I said. “All the time.”
He cut me an intent look, arching an inquisitive brow. “Anyone else?”
I gave him a sly smile. “Never. You?”
He gave me a sly smile right back. “Not even once.”
We were both lying, of course, and we both knew that, too.
When Juliette and Luke were ready to go, the rest of us formed two lines and sent them off amid a colorful shower of dried-flower confetti. Those of us in attendance had pooled our resources and paid for the newlyweds to enjoy a couple of nights at a quaint bed-and-breakfast in Granbury. They’d have fun exploring the historic square, enjoying good food at the town’s restaurants, and attending a live show at the theater. I hoped it would mark the beginning of a long and happy marriage for the two of them. They certainly deserved it.
* * *
Brigit and I were back at work on Monday, patrolling the streets. The cult case was certainly one of the strangest and most challenging we’d worked so far, and I could only wonder what else lay ahead for my furry partner and me.
I eyed her in the rearview mirror. “Hey, Brig. What do you think our next big case will be? Drugs? Armed robbery? A murder?”
She gave a single wag of her tail as if to say, Who knows?
Whatever it might be, we were ready to take it on together.