“You. It has always been you,” Isaac whispered. “I am with God. Did you really think you could do the devil’s work for so long? That it wouldn’t catch up with you?”
“I’m not entirely sure you aren’t the devil.” She’d given plenty of thought to the matter.
Isaac made a disappointed clucking sound that had made children quake in terror for years. “Are you trying to get Trixie and your mother killed?”
So Trixie was still alive. Pippa scrambled for something to say that wouldn’t make him strike out at her friend. “How did you find her?”
“Picture in an online newspaper after the shooting the other day. One of my family members was a reporter with connections, and was able to track down her name and the fact that she worked as a waitress in the area. It was simple investigation from there.” He chuckled, the sound ominous. “I like the name Trixie. It was from those books you girls were caught reading, remember?”
She remembered the punishments. Isaac had no problem denying food or sleep to any of them. And manual labor was encouraged. “Did she tell you my name?”
“Pippa. It’s an odd one. Where did you get it?” he asked.
“None of your business.” Pippa’s body chilled. For Trixie to have given up her name, she had to be hurt. Badly.
He sighed. “Yet she couldn’t give us your address. I find that interesting. That she didn’t know it.”
Tears gathered in Pippa’s eyes. “She wouldn’t let me give it to her.” They both knew Isaac wanted Pippa above all else. So Trixie had always refused to know Pippa’s address in case she was ever caught. “She was protecting me.”
“That’s my job,” Isaac said simply. “You have a destiny that God demands. I’m sorry we couldn’t have these years together to prepare you, but you must repent and pay. Dearly.”
She shivered. “What do you have in mind?”
“Come home and I’ll tell you. It’s your only safe recourse at this point,” he said.
She blinked, exhaustion pounding through her temples. “What do you mean?”
“Authorities outside Boston have been alerted to a dead body, Mary. They’ll identify your brother, and they’ll be after you. Come home, and I promise they’ll never find you.”
“Mark wasn’t my brother,” she spat. “None of you are my family.”
“Oh, you’ll pay for that. For now, you have an hour to get here to prepare for the cleansing fire on Friday. I’ll text you the address,” he said, his voice so calm, they could’ve been talking about the weather.
She shook her head. “The cleansing fire? What exactly are you going to do?” She had hoped when he lost her that he’d find some other course of action.
“What needs to be done, and you’re at the center of it. Come home. Now,” he ordered.
There had to be time to figure out this mess. Her mind scrambled for something to hold him off. “I started driving west toward California the second the cops released me after the shooting. I’m at least twenty-four hours away, Isaac. You know I can’t fly. No identification.”
His suffering sigh was full of disappointment. “Get here as fast as you can. Every hour you make me wait, I cut off pieces of Trixie.” He ended the call.
Pippa dropped the phone. Sobs racked her, and it took several sucking breaths to get herself under control. She had a gun. If there was a way to hide it on her, she could shoot Isaac in the head when she arrived. She’d go to hell, probably, but she’d be doing this world a favor.
Her hand shook so violently, it took several tries for her to turn the key and start the car.
She’d bought herself some time, but Isaac hadn’t been joking about hurting Trixie. He’d enjoy it.
She remembered that fact well as she flashed back to the night that had changed everything. When she and Trixie had barely escaped.
* * *
Her backpack was heavy, but she didn’t complain as Trixie led her toward the west, through trees with branches that kept grabbing her hair. The moon was bright in the sky and easily lit their way.
Was this an unholy mistake?
She hadn’t lived in the outside world for nearly eight years and she didn’t know what to do. The money in their packs would help them—that much she understood.
It was stolen, though. That was a sin.
