“The ones who came to the study were Sisters in the highest levels. I heard them talk about the Mother, but I never met her.”
Eliana said, “Did you ever hear them call her by another name?”
“It won’t be helpful,” Faith said. “They called her Eve.”
Eliana shifted in her seat, giving off a wave of distress.
Carlos wanted to comfort her, but that would come later. First he had a lot of questions about why she was here, and what she thought she was achieving by working at the Shrine forDominatusof all places.
“Eve,” he repeated.
The fact that it had religious connotations wasn’t surprising. Eve was the first woman, the Mother of all humanity, as it were. But that didn’t help him find the woman so she could answer for what had happened at the community. It gave him no clues as to her identity. Didn’t help him know that Luci was safe.
“How long has it been since you saw your sister?” Faith asked, compassion in her expression. She glanced between them.
Eliana looked to him.
Carlos didn’t like the answer to that question but wasn’t going to lie. “Before the holidays, for sure. I looked at my call history and texts, and we haven’t spoken in over a year. Maybe she talked with my dad, though.”
“Same for me,” Eliana said. “Luci pulled away from us a long time ago to do her thing, but that doesn’t mean we quit caring about her.”
Faith nodded. “It’s good she has people to care about her enough to dig. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t go up against them on my own. I’m just me.”
Carlos slid a business card on the table. “Snap this and save my information. If you ever need anything, especially the aidof a cop—or every cop in Chicago that we can spare—call. It’ll reassure me to know that you have my number.”
Faith tugged an iPhone with a pink case from her purse and opened the camera. The information embedded in the logo on the card would save right to her contacts with one tap. “Thanks.”
“Anytime. I mean it.” He returned the card to his wallet.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more.” She said her goodbyes and hurried out, leaving the water behind.
Eliana exhaled. “That was a lot to digest.”
Carlos turned to face her, feeling as if the rest of the coffee shop bled away. He set his elbows on the table and leaned forward to get her full attention. “It was a lot. Are you okay?”
“Knowing Luci might be in a situation like that? Not really.” She bit her lip. “Given what those people did to us yesterday as well? It’s worse.” She scrunched up her nose.
“What is it, Lia?”
“What if we come down with a weird disease, or someone uses our DNA for something horrible? We could be convicted of a crime we didn’t commit. There are too many ways this could turn out.”
He reached over and laid his hand over hers. “Until something happens, we don’t know what we have to deal with. We can’t prepare for everything.”
“I want to find Luci, but no part of me wants to go up against these people.”
Carlos nodded. “People with creepy beliefs are scarier than a guy who picks up a gun and shoots a person he doesn’t like.”
Eliana frowned. “Maybe we need a mom-consult. But is she going to scrap her vacation, fly down here, and take over the whole thing? My dad will probably throw me in the trunk and drive me back to Cheyenne.”
“Leaving might not be a bad idea. I can work this case.”
She pulled her hand out from under this. “I don’t need you to protect me. I’m not helpless.”
“You’re the one who said you wanted nothing to do with it.”
“Did you also hear when I said Iwantto find her?”
“Wanting her back and actually being the one looking are different things. One is action, the other is a sentiment. And sentiments are a whole lot safer than putting yourself in danger.”
