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“Yes. He continues to buy into all her crazy notions. They feed off each other’s worst traits.”
“I’m not shocked. She’s always been hungry for power,” Beck sneered.
“And I’m afraid Jed is totally depraved.”
Clearly, Zach was disenchanted with his dysfunctional family, so why had the man chosen to stay with the crazies at Messiah City? Because it was all he’d ever known?
“What do you mean?”
“Well, it started with Father’s other ‘widows.’ A few months after they buried him, Mother sat them down collectively and told them they had a great ‘honor’ to perform.” Zach scoffed, head shaking in disgust. “As wives of the dearly departed great Messiah, it was their duty to teach their chaste and virtuous Messiah-in-waiting the ways of proliferation. In other words, they were to spread themselves open and welcome Jed to use as ‘practice’ wives.”
“Jesus,” Beck growled. “The elders didn’t step in?”
“No, by then Mother had stabilized the town, so she silenced most who were a problem by telling the right white lies and playing on everyone’s fears of a dwindling existence. For the few who still resisted, she managed some behind-the-fence blackmail. Once they agreed, Jed plowed through Father’s widows with gusto,” Zach spat. “Mother had warned them that any who chose to fertilize their eggs with Jed’s seed would be deemed impure. ‘Lust-driven harlots,’ I think she said. And she warned they would be banished.”
“Those women had no control over whether he impregnated them or not,” Beck protested. “But of course, they don’t understand basic human reproduction. Well, they don’t want to.”
“It was God’s will that several became pregnant,” Zach said with a fatalistic shrug. “When their babies were born, Mother took the infants away and gave them to other women to raise. A few of the elders took mercy on Father’s younger wives and married them, but the rest were sent into the desert to die.”
Beck scrubbed a hand down his face. “So you’re telling me that cutting off the head of the fucking snake didn’t change a goddamn thing?”
Zack looked uncomfortable with Beck’s cursing but stopped short of saying anything. “Sadly, no.”
“How did they connect me with the woman they beat up in Las Vegas?”
“So you know her?”
“Yes. She’s my ex-wife. How did they find her?”
Zach blanched. “Wife? But I thought she was a…whore?”
“Shut your mouth and tell me.” Beck’s demand shocked the startled man even more.
“Last Christmas, one of the elders saw you at the gas station in a Cadillac. They wrote down the license plate number and called the Saint Squad. They also reminded Mother that by birth, you are the true Messiah.”
“Son of a bitch,” Beck barked, finally lowering his gun. “By going back there for ten fucking minutes, I handed Gloria to them on a silver platter.”
“Easy, man.” Seth clapped Beck’s shoulder to quell his guilt. “You had no way of knowing anyone would recognize you after all these years. Keep going,” he instructed Zach on the surgeon’s behalf.
“When Mother learned you were still alive, she went mad. Luckily for you, Sheriff Benson was on vacation. She never trusted the deputy, who isn’t as open-minded about our ways, so it took a while before she was able to get an address for the plates. She sent a couple of her goons to Las Vegas.”
“They damn near killed Gloria,” Beck bellowed.
“I heard later. I’m sorry.” Zach frowned with sympathy. “They weren’t supposed to do that, just find you or evidence of your identity so they could bring you back to stand trial for Father’s murder.”
“Trial?” Beck scoffed. “You mean a public stoning.”
Zach nodded grimly. “When the Saint Squad returned and told Mother the woman was a…prostitute, she laughed and deemed that Sin City was the perfect place for you to gorge on Satan’s whores and claim your immortal soul. Sorry, her words. But Jed wasn’t willing to let it go. You have the power to take his title. So he convinced Mother to send me to Las Vegas to watch your wife’s house. When you and this man”—he pointed Seth’s way—“showed up a couple weeks ago, I slouched down in my truck parked up the street and watched.”
“You followed us around Vegas that day, right?”
Zach nodded. “Yes, both of you and the beautiful blond woman between you.”
“Why didn’t you warn me then?”
“Jed didn’t know where you were or if you were alive, and you didn’t look like you wanted to be found. I figured I would only involve you if I had to. And to be honest, you and the other guy both being…affectionate with the same girl shocked me.”
As answers went, that one annoyed Seth, but he remained silent and listened.
