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Robert wrapped an arm around his wife’s thin shoulders and gave Zach a significant look. “I’m sure she’ll show up before too long, but could you go talk to those freaks? It’ll make Julie feel better.”146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy3B6XzmdMp
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The very last thing he wanted to do was go out to that commune and sniff around. He wouldn’t find anything they didn’t want him to find, which made the whole endeavor pointless. Martha and her people would smile and chat him up, and he’d walk away empty-handed. “I can do that, but you know as well as I do that they aren’t likely to give me anything useful.”146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrLvPLTYfdJ
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He showed the Smiths out, making more promises to go out to the commune that very morning. If it’d make them feel better, he’d do what he had to do.146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBcFp4ocWM
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“Trouble?”146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡubo5XvqOR0
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He glanced over at Henry. The man had been working at the Clear Springs station since Zach was a teenager, but when the sheriff position opened up, old Henry wanted nothing to do with it. He liked being a senior deputy, and he wasn’t interested in adding more responsibility to his plate with retirement only a few short years away.146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL5HqzeLMrq
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Zach turned to face the west. He couldn’t see Elysia from here, but he could pinpoint its exact location. Some days it felt like that damn cult cast a shadow long enough to encompass the entire town.146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZZTqfB7IN5
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He rubbed the back of his neck. “The Smith girl might be missing.”146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmajDi09k6p
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“I’ll bet she is. Probably missing right up to Augusta, or even over to Great Falls. The girl gets around.”146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCeIa0Cdruo
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He shot Henry a look. It didn’t matter what either of them thought of Neveah Smith. What mattered was giving her parents some peace of mind until she found her way back into town. “They think Martha Collins has something to do with it.”146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKCvQpolYVI
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“That Julie Smith.” Henry snorted. “The Winchesters had a whole batch of bread turn up unexpectedly stale last week, and who do you think Julie thought was the cause? Martha Collins. How she thought the woman managed that is beyond me, but Julie ain’t exactly a neutral party, you know?”146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyLjjRcja1n
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“I know.” Hadn’t he been thinking the same thing? “We still have to check it out.”146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdpFd58Rsl4
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“By all means.” Henry grabbed the keys from the stand. “I’ll drive.”146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1OMjmR8Gm
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That was just fine with Zach. It’d give him some time to think. He headed for the cruiser and settled into the passenger seat. As much as he didn’t want to discount the Smiths’ fear, he couldn’t help thinking that Henry was right—Neveah Smith would turn up sooner or later, and it wouldn’t have had a damn thing to do with Elysia.146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7nlyhpyVk8
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The trip took a good thirty minutes, but only because the roads were hardly anything to write home about. The narrow asphalt lane was full of potholes and uneven grooves, which made going more than thirty miles an hour a health hazard. There was no road directly into Elysia from the main highway—something he suspected was intentional.146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ269YHyIAky
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For someone to get to the commune, they had to really want to.146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvdRfDexQK
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Terrain was tricky out here, and distances didn’t always match up the way one expected them to. That was why the hill the main settlement of Elysia was on seemed to rise out of nowhere. He knew that, but it didn’t stop some instinct inside him insisting that he needed to sit up and pay attention.146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNCVWXU4BMJ
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Everything about that damn cult was smoke and mirrors, but he’d be the first to admit how dangerously compelling both Martha and her people could be. He’d listened in on their talks a time or two when he was young and had a chip on his shoulder a mile wide, and the whole back-to-nature way of life appealed to him. If that’s all this place was, he wouldn’t have a problem with it.146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwznakjUW6U
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But it wasn’t.146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1E3RVWSAkz
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They wanted obedience as much as they wanted anything—more, in fact—and when he couldn’t get anyone to give him a straight answer about their belief system or what living on the commune entailed, he’d gone with his next best choice and enlisted in the Marines.146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8N1mzNWXHY
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It had been the best decision he’d ever made.146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwxFPIRnByY
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Or that’s what he comforted himself with on the nights the nightmares had him by the throat.146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrl6uNb6oEt
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Henry pulled to a stop about a hundred yards from the gates of Elysia. They were framed by the eight-foot whitewashed fence that circled the main buildings, a direct contrast with the rest of the fencing that wound around the rest of the property, which was closer to something one would find on a cattle ranch. It marked the territory, but if someone was determined, it’d be easy enough to slip through. Doing so was something of a rite of passage with Clear Springs teenagers these days, and the Elysians seemed to tolerate it well enough that they only called him when one of the kids ventured too close to their homestead itself.146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTu6PCW586e
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Today the giant gates were closed, giving him a full view of their intricate design. The damn things were thick wood, a good ten feet tall and carved with a design he couldn’t quite make out at this distance. He knew what it was, though—a scene of a woman being dragged through a giant crack in the ground, a second woman on the surface reaching for her, both their expressions of fear and determination. Not exactly feel-good stuff.146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡolLKkInaQW
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He got out of the cruiser and eyed the two men standing before the gates. The older man held a rifle in his hands with an ease that said he knew how to use it, and the other one had a bright smile on his face that was as false as everything else about this place. Zach lifted a hand. “Abram. Joseph.”146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡktlBjQpgMv
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Joseph moved forward, his smile not so much as flickering. Abram stayed back, which was just fine with Zach. There was something just off about Martha’s right-hand man. Just being within eyesight of him had instincts Zach thought were long dormant perking up and taking notice.146Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQDwAFfH3d1
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