Chapter Two

Grace , North Carolina

TESSA GRAY looked at the two earnest women sitting in chairs on the other side of her coffee table and summoned a smile. "You're both very kind," she said. "But I really don't think"

"It isn't easy for a woman left all alone," the younger one said. "People want to take advantage. You've had offers for this house, haven't you? Offers for the land?" Tessa nodded slowly.

"And they were below fair market value," the older woman said.

It wasn't a question.

Again, Tessa nodded. "According to the appraisal. Even so, I've been tempted. This place is too much for me. And with land around here going for low prices"

"That's what they say." The younger woman's eyes all but burned with righteous indignation. "What they want you to believe. But it isn't true. Land here is worth a lot, and even more when people who know what they're doing work it and handle crops and livestock as they should be handled."

"I don't know what I'm doing," Tessa confessed. "I mean, I'm glad the farm has a manager to run things for me just the way he did forThe land and business belonged to my husband's family, as I'm sure you know, and he wasn't interested in any of it himself. He hadn't even been back here in years, since high school, I believe. It's just a fluke that he inherited and I was left with it all."

The older woman, who had introduced herself simply as Ruth, said, "The church can remove that burden, Tessa. Take over the running of this place for you, even the ranch in Florida. So you wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. It would all still be yours, of course; our laws forbid any member to turn over property to the church even if they want to. We're asked only to tithe, in money or in goods or services. If our properties and businesses make more than enough for us, for our needs, and we choose to donate the extra to the church, well, that's fine. It's a gift to help Father take care of us."

So the fourth visit is the charm, Tessa thought. Previous visits had offered the spiritual, emotional, and practical support of the church and its members, but no quid pro quo had been mentioned.

"I'm afraid I've never been very religious," she said.

The younger woman, improbably named Bambi, leaned forward in her eagerness to convince. "Oh, I wasn't either! The churches I went to growing up, they were all about punishment and sin and redemption and always promising a reward someday for being a good person."

Tessa allowed doubt to creep into her voice. "And the Church of the Everlasting Sin is different? I'm sorry, but it really doesn't sound"

"Oh, so different." Bambi's voice softened, and her eyes began to glow with an expression of devotion so complete, Tessa wanted to look away, as though from something intensely private.

"Bambi," Ruth warned quietly.

"But she should know. Tessa, we believe that the Everlasting Sin is the one committed by those who believe that our lot in this life is punishment and atonement. We believe that denigrates Jesus and what He did for us. We were washed clean of sin when He died for us. This life we're given is ours to enjoy."

Tessa waited, and as she'd expected Bambi's expression clouded over. "There are people who want to punish us for that belief. People who are afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"Afraid of Father. Afraid of his gifts. Afraid he knows the truth."

"Bambi." This time, Ruth's voice was firm, and this time the younger woman fell silent, her head bowed in submission.

With a slight smile and friendly eyes, Ruth told Tessa, "Obviously, Father inspires fierce loyalty in all of us. But, pleasecome and see for yourself. Visit our church. We hold services on Sunday, of course, and on Wednesday evenings, but the church is the physical center of our community as well as the spiritual center, so people are there most of the time, involved in one activity or another. Children as well as adults and young people. You're welcome to come anytime."

"Thank you," Tessa said. "I'll think it over."

"Please do. We'd love to have you. Even more, Tessa, we'd love to help you through this difficult time."

Tessa thanked them again and then saw them politely from the rather formal living room to the front door of the sprawling house. She stood in the open doorway until the ladies' white van disappeared down the long, winding driveway, then closed the door and leaned back against it.

"Bishop was right," she said. "It's the Florida ranch they're most interested in."

"Yeah, he has an annoying habit of being right." Special Agent Hollis Templeton came out of another room that adjoined the spacious foyer, adding in a thoughtful tone, "I don't think Ruth meant to let that slip, though. The way we set it up, that Florida property isn't obviously yours; the fact that the Church of the Everlasting Sin even knows about it smacks of the sort of intrusive background check most people wouldn't be at all comfortable with. Especially from a church."

"It also says something about the extent of their resources."

Hollis nodded. "One of the many things we're not happy about. To get the kind of information the church seems to be able to get so quickly and easily, the good reverend's connections pretty much have to be national."

"Homeland Security?"

"Maybe, scary as that possibility is. But even though he hasn't said so in so many words, I think Bishop's worried it might be somebody in the Bureau."

"Which explains why Haven is out front on this one?"

"Well, only partly. It made more sense on several counts to have a civilian organization involved, especially given our dearth of evidence against Samuel or the church. Haven investigators can go places and ask questions we just can't, not legally. In a situation like this, that ability isn't only vital, it's critical."

"So John told me," Tessa said. She inclined her head slightly in invitation and walked out of the foyer.

Hollis followed the other woman into the big, sunny kitchen and nodded when Tessa gestured questioningly at the coffeemaker. "Please. I'm still jet-lagged."

Tessa hunted in a still-unfamiliar pantry for the coffee and didn't respond until she found it. " Eureka. Why jet-lagged? Don't you guys work out of Quantico?"

"Most of us, yeah, but I was out in California on another case. He didn't admit it, but I don't think Bishop expected the church to move so fast or to be so insistent once they made contact with you. You've only been here a couple of weeks, after all. From our research and experience, it usually takes a couple of months for them to even begin to gather a potential new convert into the fold."

Measuring out coffee without looking at Hollis, Tessa said, "It took months for Sarah, didn't it?"

Hollis slid onto a bar stool at the kitchen's island and clasped her hands together on the granite surface, frowning down at a chewed thumbnail. "It did. But her cover wasn't quite as enticing as yours is."

"Is that why I was placed here even before anything happened to her?"

"Well, the plan was to have multiple fronts, as it were. To use every avenue possible to find information and, hopefully, evidence. We couldn't be entirely sure, from the outside, just what sort of background or situation would prove to be the most attractive to the church and Samuel. And not every agent or operative is going to be working the same way or be able to gain access to certain levels of the church hierarchy. Sarah wasn't able to get near any of Samuel's closest advisers in any meaningful sense, but she was still able to gather valuable intelligence. And able to get a couple of the kids out."

"Have they found her?" Tessa asked quietly.

"No." Hollis waited until Tessa got the coffee going and faced her before she added deliberately, "The bodies always turn up downstream. Sooner or later."