CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Riley held her breath for a moment. How would the Bruders respond to Jenn’s pronouncement?

She was sure that Jenn was right, that Bruder and his wife were both lying. She felt it keenly, and had no doubt that Bill did as well.

Weston Bruder twisted his lips and said, “It’s not a lie.”

“Explain, please,” Jenn said.

Bruder said, “My home is wherever I find the Lord’s work to do.”

Riley had to stop herself from asking what he meant by that. She reminded herself …

Let Jenn handle this.

The young agent seemed calm and unflappable.

She said, “Mr. Bruder, what church do you and your family belong to?”

“The Congregation of Ephesian Elders.”

Jenn squinted slightly and said, “I’m not familiar with that denomination.”

Bruder said, “That’s because we only have one church, right here in Allardt. And now, if you’ll allow me to explain …”

He paused for a moment.

“Aside from our minister, every male member of our church is a lay preacher. We are required to travel, spreading the gospel in other communities door to door.”

Jenn nodded and said, “I believe Paul says something in the Book of Acts …”

Bruder said, “‘I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house.’ Yes, Paul said that to the Ephesian Elders. We follow his example. I was in another town when Fern died, knocking on doors and talking to anyone who would listen.”

“And where was that town?” Jenn said.

Bruder’s face twitched.

“I won’t tell you,” he said.

For the first time, Riley noticed a hint of surprise on Jenn’s face.

“Why not?” she asked.

“We conduct our lay ministries in secret, so that—”

Jenn interrupted sharply.

“So that ‘your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.’ Yeah, I get it, Mr. Bruder. And I respect that. But we’re dealing with the murder of your daughter. I don’t understand why accounting for your whereabouts at the time of her death should be a problem.”

Bruder’s face was reddening.

“It is a problem,” he said. “And I have no intention of telling you any such thing. And I don’t believe you can compel me.”

Bill said, “I’m pretty sure we can. And I don’t think you’d want to face an obstruction of justice charge. But what about the time of the other woman’s death—mid-morning yesterday? Where were you then?”

“I was traveling and preaching,” Bruder said. “I’ll say no more than that.”

Riley only half-listened as Bill and Jenn engaged in an increasingly heated exchange with Weston Bruder. She was watching young Bobby Bruder, who had been silent so far. He’d kept his head down and seemed much sadder than the rest of his family.

Now she noticed that he’d taken something out of his pocket and was fingering it gently. She couldn’t see what it was, but it was red and shiny.

She said, “Bobby, it looks like you’ve got something pretty there. May I have a look at it?”

The ongoing argument suddenly stopped, and everybody looked at Riley and the boy.

“Yes, ma’am,” the boy said.

He got up from his chair and handed the object to Riley.

It was a keychain with a charm shaped like a heart. The heart was made out of transparent red-dyed plastic and it had bits of glitter in it.

A sparkly red plastic heart seemed quite out of place in this household.

“Where did you get this?” Riley asked the boy.

“Fern gave it to me,” he said. “Just last week. A man gave it to her on the train.”

Riley’s head buzzed. Everyone else in the room remained quiet.

She said, “Did she say who gave it to her?”

The boy nodded.

“Red gave it to her,” he said.

The father gasped aloud.

“Red! Red Messer!” he said.

Riley asked Weston Bruder, “Do you know him?”

“Of course I know him. He used to be in our congregation. He’s a wicked man. And he—”

He took hold of his son’s shoulders and shook him.

“Why didn’t you show this to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was afraid you’d be mad at me,” the boy said.

Weston Bruder stood with his mouth hanging open. He looked like he was about to faint.

“Oh, dear God, he killed our daughter!”

He sat slowly down and said to Riley and her colleagues, “I’ll tell you where I was—both yesterday and when Fern was killed. I’ll give you names of the people I spoke to, and you can check them out. Whatever you need to eliminate me as a suspect. But you must arrest this man. I know that he killed her.”

For the first time since she’d been here, Riley was impressed by the man’s urgent sincerity.

“Why are you so sure?” she asked him.

“It must be him! He’s a sinful, godless man. He hates me, he hates all of us, and he hates our church. He left our congregation years ago. But he still lives right here in Allardt. I can tell you where he lives.”

Bill and Jenn went right to work taking information from Weston Bruder—where he’d been at the times of the murders and Red Messer’s address.

Holding the keychain, Riley spoke softly to the boy.

“I’m glad you showed this to me,” she said. “I think it might be a great help. May I take it for a little while?”

The boy nodded. Then he whispered, “Just keep it, please. Don’t ever bring it back here.”

Of course, Riley realized, the red plastic heart would never be allowed in this house again. The poor boy was feeling guilty for having brought it here.

“Thank you, Bobby,” Riley said. “This could be the most helpful clue we’ve found so far.”

At that, he managed a weak smile. Riley smiled back and put the trinket in her purse.

She and her colleagues left the house and got back into their car. With Bill again behind the wheel, Jenn sitting beside him, and Riley in back, they followed GPS directions to the address they’d been given.

As they drove, Riley was bursting with curiosity about how Jenn had dealt with Weston Bruder just now.

She tapped Jenn on the shoulder and said, “How did you—?”

“Know all those Bible quotes?” Jenn replied. “Well, it’s not that I’m especially religious. It’s just that …”

She glanced toward Bill warily, then back at Riley.

Riley immediately got the message—that this had something to do with things in Jenn’s background that she couldn’t talk openly about right now.

She said, “I was encouraged to read a lot when I was a kid. I found out that knowledge of the Bible could be … useful.”

Riley felt a little queasy. She knew that Jenn had been tutored in the ways of criminality—and of course, a con artist could easily make use of the Bible to manipulate certain kinds of unwitting victims.

Jenn obviously had a vast range of knowledge, far more than Riley had realized. Could she successfully channel that knowledge into enforcing the law rather than breaking it?

Riley could only hope so.

At that moment Riley’s cell phone buzzed. She was dismayed to see that it was a text from Bull Cullen.

I’m in Chicago. You need to be in on a meeting about this case. At the RP office in Union Station. Take the next train you can get.

Riley suppressed a sigh.

Chicago seemed like an unnecessary detour, and Bull Cullen was the last person she wanted to talk to right now.

She pulled up the train schedule on her cell phone and saw that the next train for Chicago left Allardt in about an hour.

I guess we can make it, she thought.

But what she really hoped was that she and her team would be making an arrest between now and then. Then that Chicago meeting might be completely unnecessary.

As they pulled up in front of a rather plain but decent-looking brick apartment building, she texted back.

OK. What abt our car?

The reply came through quickly.

I’ll have it picked up at Allardt train station.

She texted another “OK,” then put her phone away.

Bill said, “Apartment A. Probably right on the first floor.”

Jenn asked, “Do you think this is it? Do you think this is our guy?”

“I don’t know,” Riley said. “But check your weapon. You might be needing it.”

She took out her own Glock and clicked the cartridge out and back in again, assuring herself that it was in good working order.