The Bone Field Debra Bokur (novels for beginners .txt) 📖

was while Lily was still alive, but clearly getting worse. There were some young women who stopped by. They were pleasant and seemed kind. After Linda mentioned Lily’s struggle, they told her about Abraham and his healing powers, that he had been blessed by God to help those who were suffering, regardless of how serious their health concerns might be. They told us stories of miraculous things that they’d witnessed Abraham accomplishing.” His voice grew bitter. “I told Linda that Waters was a con man, and whatever he was up to was nothing more than a performance designed to astound the vulnerable, and to encourage them to part with money—or more. But she was desperate to save our daughter.”

Bill described how Linda had grown angry at his resistance to giving Abraham a chance, while becoming more and more enamored of what she heard about Eden’s River.

“But before Linda could take her there, Matthew killed Lily,” he said, his bitterness mounting. “I know in my heart that he pushed her down those stairs—that he was weary of being saddled with a sick wife, and that his final act of violence was to take her life.”

“But you had no proof, and the medical examiner found no reason to see her fall as anything more than an accident,” said Walter.

“So you took things into your own hands,” said Kali. “I understand how distraught you must have been. You must have seen his death as retribution—perhaps a fair trade for the life of your daughter.”

“No, no, nothing of the kind!” said Bragden, his voice rising in distress. “I didn’t kill him, I swear!”

“Where is your wife now, Mr. Bragden?” asked Walter.

Bill put his hands over his eyes, leaning forward. “She’s still with him. Living on his new farm, here on Maui.”

“Have you been there?”

“No. I begged her to come home when the commune on Lna‘i was shutting down. I thought that by then, she would have come to her senses and realized what a sham the whole thing was—the miracle work, the fake healings, Abraham’s using all those women as sex slaves.”

Kali listened, wanting to believe him. She wasn’t sure why, but admitted to herself that her dislike of Abraham was so strong that she was ready to give the benefit of her doubt to anyone who had been victimized by him. But it wasn’t her job to judge. It was her job to find the truth. Once again, she removed the small anchor, encased in the evidence bag, from her pocket. She placed it on the table in front of Bragden.

“Can you identify this object?”

He looked at it, his misery apparent.

“No,” he said. “Not this object. The anchor, however, was the symbol of Abraham’s church.”

She felt Walter shift beside her, and sat back. Walter stood, indicating to Bill that he should stand as well.

“William Bragden, I am placing you under arrest for obstructing a murder investigation and for providing false information to the police,” said Walter. “You are also a suspect in the death of Matthew Greene. Please come with me.”

* * *

“I think we should bring Abigail and Ruth Waters in next, along with Linda Bragden,” said Walter.

Kali frowned. “I don’t know about Abigail,” she said. “She was a kid when all this went down, and even if she saw or heard anything, her memories are likely to be unreliable.”

“Bet she’d remember if she was raped by her own father,” said Walter. There was a look of profound disgust on his face.

“Would she? I mean, would she even regard it as rape? She grew up in a distorted reality, where Abraham’s authority was an extension of their religious doctrine.”

Hara walked into the room. Kali would have sworn that he was swaggering slightly, his happiness about the new police cruiser distinguishable in his body language. He stiffened as he caught the drift of their discussion, and regarded them with curiosity.

“Did I just hear that we have the cult guy in custody?” he asked.

“No, just a suspect,” said Walter. “Bill Bragden. I locked him up to see if we can shake him up a bit.”

“You know,” said Hara, “not everyone who grows up surrounded by fundamentalist views turns out to be brainwashed, or unable to tell right from wrong.”

Walter nodded slowly. “No, of course not. But we have a unique situation here. We know from witness accounts that Abraham used his daughter as a kind of recruitment officer, bringing people from the pineapple plantation into his flock.”

“But that doesn’t mean she knew that what she was doing was wrong,” insisted Hara.

Kali listened to the exchange, surprised that Hara was standing up a little bit to Walter and offering an opinion. She wondered if being given his own car had affected a personality shift, imbuing the younger man with a new sense of personal power. She almost smiled.

“Hara’s right,” she said to Walter. “I think the amount someone can be brainwashed into buying a belief system depends entirely upon the individual. At this point, I don’t think we should assume anything. I’d rather go easy with her right now, and focus on the older women, Ruth and Linda. One of them at least—and probably both of them—know something about Matthew Greene. If I had to bet, I’d say they also have information about the other bodies. And we still have no idea who the pineapple man is.”

“Do you think,” began Walter, speaking slowly, “that maybe Bill Bragden thought that if he killed Matthew Greene, Linda would be satisfied and would stay with him? What reason would Waters have for killing him?”

“The same reason, I’d guess,” she answered. “Or possibly, Greene challenged Waters in some way. Two alpha males in competition.” She briefly considered the facts, then made a decision. “I’m going to talk to Abigail again. Maybe I can get her to tell me about Helen and Reggie joining the cult. From what we’ve learned about her role at the plantation, Abigail was most likely the point of contact. Let me do that