“Remember when he threw your shirt in the fire?”Corom said.
“He was so hardcore,” Tim said, and now he was the one who laughed.“He said he was going to make me go to school without a shirt, if that’s the kind of thing I wanted to wear.”
It had been aSimpsonsT-shirt, Tean remembered.AndThe Simpsonswere destroying the traditional family.The Simpsonswere part of a liberal agenda to destroy the image of the father as the head of the family.
“Your grandfather was a great man,” their father said.It was what Tean thought of as his church voice: serious, thick with emotion, meant—Tean suspected—to sound like a patriarch.“I want you boys to know that your grandfather had a testimony of the gospel.That’s his legacy to us.He knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that he had restored the true church of Jesus Christ.He raised his children to know it.And I want you to know that I have a testimony of the gospel too.”He stopped now, as though overcome with emotion.His hand tightened around Tean’s.“I love you all so much.”
“We love you too, Dad,” Seth said quietly.
Corom and Tim nodded.Amos reached across the table to touch their dad’s arm.
“What funeral home are we using?”Tean asked.
Tim blinked.Amos frowned.
Tean’s dad, still holding on to him, patted Tean’s hand with his free one.“You boys know your grandfather didn’t talk about his feelings a lot.He grew up in a different time, and it wasn’t always easy for him.But I want you to know that when I was eight years old, your grandfather said if I didn’t know the church was true for myself, I shouldn’t get baptized, because there wasn’t any point in it.And he believed it, too.He loved the church.And he loved the Lord.And he was a faithful servant.”
“Amen,” Amos said.
Corom and Tim gave their little nods again.
Seth didn’t do anything.
“Amos,” their father said, “I want to invite you to share your testimony now too.”
Amos sat back.He didn’t say anything for a second.Then he said, “Uh, yeah, okay.”
“I’m sorry,” Tean said.“If you tell me which funeral home we’re using, I can start making some calls.”
“You don’t need to worry about that,” their father said.He swung Tean’s hand gently.“It’ll all get done.”
“I know the church is true—” Amos began.
“It won’t get done if we don’t start making some phone calls,” Tean said.“Is the body still at the hospital?”
“I understand you’re worried about your grandfather,” their father said.His eyes were wet again.“You’re so responsible, Tean.I love that about you.But right now, I want to share this sacred time with my sons.It means so much to me that you’re here.The Savior taught us an important lesson when he reminded Martha to focus on the one good thing, and not all the little things that really aren’t important in the big picture.”He smiled then: soft, almost sweet.“You can stop worrying and just be here right now.Amos, go ahead.”
“I know the church is true,” Amos began again, “and I know Jesus is our savior and that He died for our sins.I know President—”
Tean produced his phone from a pocket, murmured, “Excuse me,” and headed for the door.
Outside, the air smelled like frozen concrete, and the cold was a relief: washing over heated cheeks, down the back of his neck.He could breathe again.
After a moment, he opened the notes Amy had sent.
It consisted of a single text file and a collection of photos, mostly sentence fragments that looked like jottings, shorthand, anything she might have used to capture an idea or impression before it was gone.Disappointment made Tean’s stomach sink.
He shared the attachments with Jem and texted Amy:Where’s the rest of it?
She wrote back a moment later:That’s everything I have.
And then another text followed:If she had anything else, it was on her phone.
Which meant it was lost, because the pack of killers had taken her phone, and if there was a backup, no one knew where it was or how to get to it.
Tean checked the pictures first.There were photos of the four members of the pack—several photos, actually, which Tean suspected River had acquired from social media sites and, more interestingly, high school yearbooks.Three of the people he had met in person: Kai, the leader, with his dishwater blond hair and his dead eyes; Zeb, his second-in-command, a big man with a scar on his cheek; and Tess, her dark hair tinted red and elaborate makeup.The fourth man was named Reed Conklin, and Tean spent longer on his photo.He had encountered Reed before, but only when the man had been wearing a wolf mask; he hadn’t even learned his name until the initial spate of the official investigation.In the photo, which appeared to be from Instagram, he was White, with short hair, dark eyes, and jug ears.A tribal tattoo on his arm had been done in cheap ink that already looked more green than black.
River had apparently saved any image containing the members of the pack.Some, Tean glanced at only briefly—photos, for example, that showcased Kai and the others at the UFO campground they had run in the Uinta Basin.These, Tean guessed, had been posted to social media by visitors to the campground, as part of documenting their vacation.An action shot of Kai working on a side-by-side.A candid of Zeb settling a restless horse.Tess on the porch of the campground office, feet up as she read a book.
