Intentions (Carpenter/Harding Book 6) Read online

  A.D.A. Valerie Esposito was laying out her case, reminding everyone in the courtroom that besides Joseph’s murders, and the illegal gun sales, there had been a number of other crimes committed on the compound.

  “The man who murdered Ariel’s mother is facing a life-long prison sentence,” she said as she turned to the jury. “This matters. The testimony you’ll hear from Ariel Deane and the other women, is about the bigger picture of what happened behind closed doors in the Deane compounds. Not all of the men on trial might have been complicit in the murders, or covered them up, but there’s one thing they are all guilty of, without exception.

  Every girl who grew up in that place, every woman trapped in there knew that complete obedience and submission was expected of them, and that there would be consequences for any attempt at breaking those rules. Children witnessed many instances of abuse on a daily basis, including a mockery of marriage in which the Deane men involved underage girls. The many children rescued here, in Iowa and Arizona, have a chance now, as long as they can live the rest of their lives far away from the influence of those men. I trust that after hearing a first-hand account of those stories, you will make the right decision. There was some angry grumbling from the defendants’ side of the room. Valerie, unfazed, continued to explain how she was going to call Agent Strickland, who had successfully infiltrated the cult, as well as other law enforcement officers who had been confronted with the horrors going on at Prophets’.

  Joy Anne Deane, still in a wheelchair, was present as well. Ellie wondered if she was going to testify today. Every testimony of a cult member would add pressure on Ariel and the few women who had been able to tear themselves away.

  There was no doubt that the brothers who had originally founded the group, had known about the crimes of one of their members, and covered them up for years. Ariel’s testimony mattered for different reasons—it was going to show a pattern of domestic and child abuse, of fake marriages with underage girls and insufficient paperwork regarding the many children in the compound. In other words, one big mess. She and other eyewitnesses were instrumental in making the cases against the men who had benefited from these patterns for a long time.

  Dr. Bethany Roberts was in town as well. Ellie had briefly seen her when Valerie was preparing them for their testimony.

  It was pretty cut and dry: Joseph had played his family, and tried to play the authorities as well, in an attempt to hide his crimes, all the while building a graveyard on the compound.

  Remembering, Ellie had to breathe through the rush of anger. Days like these, everything they did seemed like a drop in the ocean, nothing more. For every Joseph they arrested, there seemed to be a dozen potential more, with the same smug attitude and antiquated ideas about gender. Not all of them became violent…but nothing much changed over time.

  * * * *

  Ellie was called not long after Strickland, which wasn’t surprising given that she had closely worked with the task force. Valerie asked her to describe the final day of the cult, obviously to show to the jury that everything had been done by the book.

  There was no love lost between Valerie, and Bethany who had involved Ellie in the final part of this operation in the first place, but they took care to keep it clear and professional. Ellie wanted to do her part as well.

  “I made contact with Agent Strickland, and we were allowed to go to a room. Joseph was supposed to give the FBI a signal. He didn’t.”

  “What happened next?”

  “Backup was coming in,” she said. “One of the men who had been guarding the door, yelled ‘traitor’ at Joseph and shot him. We exchanged gunfire, and then my colleagues came in. That is all. We only later found out about the other women Joseph had killed.”

  The attorney made a half-hearted attempt at an objection, but Ellie was excused. That had almost been too easy, then again, she wasn’t the star of the trial.

  She went to find Ariel who was waiting for her turn in an office, accompanied by Ms. Sherman, the door guarded by Libby. Ellie greeted her and went inside.

  “Hey. How are we doing in here?”

  Ariel hugged her, hard.

  “It will be okay, sweetie. I promise.” She was aware of Ms. Sherman’s surprised gaze, realizing that she and Jordan had a lot to explain to the woman. It might look irrational to an outsider, but for her, Jordan and Ariel, the case that had brought them together was the missing piece. She was certain of it. Life had handed Ariel the worst, taking her mother and leaving her knowing that her father didn’t care about her. They could alter the narrative. They would.

  “Ariel, do you think I could talk to Ms. Sherman for a moment? We’ll be right outside the door.”

  “Yes, sure. It’s not time yet, is it?”

  “No. They’ll hear more of the officers who were at the compound that day, and then some of the other women. I’ll see you in a minute.”

  “I don’t know what you did at that safe house, but it had some effect,” Sherman said, “Ariel seems…different. Of course she’s still grieving, but for the first time since I met her, she appears less nervous about the testimony. It’s a lot for someone this young.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. Ms. Sherman, we were hoping to get some advice from you. Right now, there’s a lot of media attention on this case, so we have to be careful, but…Detective Carpenter and I have made a decision. We’ll start the paperwork to adopt Ariel as soon as possible.”

  The audible gasp hadn’t come from Mary Sherman, but Libby, who quickly schooled her features into a neutral expression.

  “You talked about that yesterday?” Sherman asked.

  “I know what you’re going to say, but we did think this through. We just bought a house. Two incomes. We can offer a safe environment to Ariel, and I think the sooner she has certainty as to where she’s going to live, the better. As you know, her mother is dead, and her father waived his parental rights. No relatives have come forward. We spoke to Ariel as well. We were hoping you could get us started once Ariel has testified.”

  “You can come to my office when you’re ready. Then we can have that conversation.”

  “Thank you so much.”

  * * * *

  Jordan’s testimony later that week was fairly uneventful as well—no attorney could argue much with the bodies found on the compound. Ariel was called that afternoon, and she stepped into the witness’ stand looking pale, but determined as she faced the hostile stares of the men and women sitting with the defendants.

  “Ariel, first of all I want to say I’m so sorry for your loss,” Valerie began.

  “Thanks,” Ariel whispered.

  “I know this is hard for you, but I think it’s important that the jury hears about your and your mother’s story. Could you please tell me about your Deborah’s plans, and when she shared them with you?”

  “She wanted to get us out.”

  Ariel’s voice was barely audible, and the judge asked her to speak louder. The girl cleared her throat. “She wanted us to leave, on the night the FBI was supposed to raid the place. She told me only a few days before, but I know she had spoken to Lilly, and they had come up with the plan together.”

  “By Lilly you mean Lilah Strickland, the agent who was undercover at the house.” Strickland, who had given her testimony earlier, had used that name with the cult.

  Ariel nodded. “Yes. She wanted to make sure we were safe by the time they came in, but…” She swallowed hard. “Mom never came back.”

  Ellie felt the tears stinging behind her eyes. This was only the beginning, and if Ariel was supposed to make it through, she and Jordan had to keep it together for her. She cast a quick look at Jordan sitting next to her, her hands held together tightly in her lap.

  “Again, I’m sorry. Did your mother tell you why you were going to leave? And why it had to be done in secret?”

  “I think she wasn’t very happy. She said she had been dreaming about it, but now that Lilah was going to help us, it could be real, that they
couldn’t come after us.”

  “Why would they come after you?”

  The defendants’ attorney jumped to his feet. “Objection. Speculation.”

  “I’ll rephrase,” Valerie said coolly. “Did Deborah mention anything specific she wasn’t happy about?”

  “Yes. A girl that lived with us just got married. She was fifteen, and…it would have been me, next.”

  Ellie could see the jaw-dropping effect the revelation had on the jury.

  “Objection—”

  “I heard her talk about it with Dad!” Ariel defended herself. “He said it was time I did my contribution, and that I was old enough. I didn’t want to get married. The guy was, like, thirty! And after that, it would all be over, taking care of the babies would be all I’d do.”

  It wasn’t the first time Ellie heard about the practices of the Prophets, but the reality of it never failed to put her in a state of rage.

  “I think we can all agree that this would be a good reason for Deborah to part with the family. Your dad made those decisions all by himself?”

  “He made all decisions by himself, except when the brothers told him otherwise. I know Mom was only trying to protect me, but she should have left a long time ago. He beat her—because they said that was okay, to discipline the wife when she talks back at you.”

  “Did he ever hit you?”

  There was a pregnant pause. The air was thrumming with emotion, mostly anger, from those in the room who found it unbearable to listen to this account, and from those who were indignant about their secrets being revealed.

  Ellie could barely breathe.

  “Not that often,” Ariel said. “He knew Mom would go crazy on him, and she was around me most of the time.” She shrugged. “It happened. You know…They make you think that being born a girl is like a flaw somehow, that you have to work on your whole life. Mom often told me that they were wrong, that I shouldn’t think that way, but…it was hard sometimes.”

  “Well, your Mom was right, and we can best honor her memory by acknowledging that.”

  “That’s all sad, but what does it have to do with anything?” the attorney asked.

  “Counselor, do you have an objection?” the judge queried, and the attorney sat back down, shaking his head with a sullen expression.

  “Good,” Valerie said. “This is not going to be easy to hear, and it’s not easy for Ariel to do this, but to put all of this into context for you, we’ll go through several specific instances that she witnessed in only the past eighteen months. Like we’ve heard from the other women, the Deanes’ lifestyle wasn’t just theory, and they enforced it every single day.”

  “Objection. She’s testifying.”

  “Sustained.”

  “Sorry, Your Honor.” Valerie went back to asking Ariel questions about her day to day life with the Prophets.

  Ellie laid her hand over Jordan’s. They were surrounded by colleagues, not that she cared who saw it at this moment. This couldn’t be over soon enough.

  * * * *

  Ariel was holding up, until the defense called Joy Anne Deane who seemed hell-bent on dismantling everything the girl had said. The jury had hung on to every of Ariel’s word earlier, but they were just as drawn to the soft-spoken woman in the wheelchair, Jordan noticed with trepidation. Joy Anne was dressed in a skirt and a blouse, her long hair coming down to the middle of her back. It wasn’t quite the look the women living with the Prophets had been forced to adopt, but there was no doubt they went for an appearance that was soft and harmless. The bruises still visible in her face only added to the image.

  “I don’t mean any harm to Ariel. I know she’s been through a lot. But someone needs to tell the truth. I understand that my sisters are prepared to do the same, even though they’ve been harassed by this department as much as I have.”

  “Could you explain what you mean by that?” the attorney asked, now a smug expression on his face. Valerie’s lips were set in a thin line.

  “They put words in my mouth from the beginning,” Joy Anne claimed. “It was hell for me and my family. We were all afraid they were going to take our children away from us, based on those accusations.”

  “Well,” he said, “the police made some gruesome discoveries on your grounds. Isn’t it understandable that they were worried about the children?”

  “But no one knew anything about it except Daniel, and Joseph, of course. We don’t claim that no one is ever…tempted by evil. Everyone was shocked, and the police department used that in their agenda against us.”

  “Objection!” Valerie was on her feet. “There is no proof of any of those accusations, none. We’ve heard already that the agents and officers working with them were acting well within their competence. They were doing their jobs.”

  “Let’s see. Ariel earlier talked about child marriages on your premises, and polygamy. You have been part of the family for longer than her. Can you tell us about your experiences?”

  Joy Anne shook her head, laughing bitterly.

  “We might be old-fashioned. People laugh about that these days. That is why we keep to ourselves. In all my time, I haven’t witnessed any marriage with multiple girls, and not one with an underage child. We keep a traditional lifestyle—we’re not abusers.”

  “Liar!” A woman’s voice was heard, and the judge banged his gavel.

  Jordan couldn’t see where the interruption had come from. Joy Anne’s face reddened. She straightened in her wheelchair.

  “Ask yourself who’s the liar,” she hissed, in a heartbeat shedding the pretense of sympathy and kindness. “They were going to take away everything from us. Deborah could have taken her daughter and left, and the same went for Jennifer, but they didn’t. There was no need to drag all our names into the mud. They lie, and they don’t care whose lives they are destroying. It’s because of them that I saw no hope! It’s their fault!”

  Ariel started crying.

  Jordan exchanged a look with Ellie, and they took the girl outside. After Joy Anne’s testimony, the court would be adjourned until the next day. It had been too long already. There was no saying how much damage she would do, and if her words could intimidate the other women.

  “I knew she was going to say these things, but it’s…” Ariel didn’t finish her sentence. They had found a bench in a quiet corner in the hallway, where Jordan held her close.

  “I know. I’m sorry you had to go through all this.”

  “Hey girls, I just wanted to say hi…oops, sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

  Jordan suppressed a sigh at the sound of Bethany’s voice.

  “That’s okay,” she said. “We were just trying to get away from the malice.”

  “I don’t blame you. You have a good evening. Ellie.” She surveyed the scene. If she was surprised, she was hiding it well. “By the way, I’ll be in town for a couple more days, so if you still hang out at the Night Shift, maybe we can all have a drink?” Much to Bethany’s credit, the offer was meant for the two of them.

  “Maybe, but not tonight. We’ll see you tomorrow,” Jordan said.

  Ariel pulled back and wiped her face. “I think I can go back to the house now that it’s clear no one pushed Joy Anne…You guys can go out. I don’t want to keep you from anything.”

  “You’re not,” Ellie said firmly. “It’s true that the safe house is probably no longer necessary, but we’ll come with you. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about the next steps with Ms. Sherman. We’ll get this done as quickly as possible.”

  Ariel gave her a tired smile.

  “Okay then. I’d still like to be alone for a bit, later, if that’s okay. You think they’re going to call me again?”

  “Of course, and no. We can think about the future now. Let’s get you home.”

  * * * *

  Jordan wasn’t surprised to hear the warnings from Ms. Sherman. She could tell that the woman had mixed feelings about the proposal, and she didn’t blame her. If this worked out for Ariel, the sooner she
got into a family, the better. Jordan and Ellie were determined to do whatever they could to make this happen, but there was no doubt Mary Sherman had seen a lot of stories that didn’t work out.

  No living relatives except for a father who didn’t give a damn about his daughter.

  This shouldn’t take too long, should it?

  Sitting at her desk the next day, Jordan allowed herself a moment to fantasize about the future. They had mailed Andrea Cox the signed papers. Everything was in order. The house inspection would come next, giving them an idea about what kind of work needed to be done right away, if any. By the time Ariel could move in with them, her room would be ready.

  She wondered if Jack and Pauline had been this guiltily excited once the framework was done and the child from the broken home arrived at their doorstep.

  Not the same. Not exactly.

  There was no denying, though, that she was excited. And feeling slightly guilty about that—but they would always be aware of the fact that Ariel had a mother who had been ripped away from her by a vicious crime.

  “Detective Carpenter, do you have a moment, or are you just busy staring into nothing?”

  She sat up straighter, knowing right away that Valerie’s question couldn’t mean anything good. After they’d broken up, Valerie had refused to call her by her first name for weeks.

  “How can I help you?”

  “That’s a good question. A very good question indeed. Let’s go do this in private.”

  “Sure.”

  Aware of Derek’s questioning look, she shrugged in his direction and followed Valerie to the break room.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Valerie asked, enraged. Jordan wasn’t sure what she’d done to deserve her wrath.

  “Let me rephrase that. Why on earth is Phelps calling you back to the stand?”

  “He is?” Jordan frowned. That wasn’t good. “Why?”

  “I asked you that already. I do have a theory though. Maybe it has something to do with you and your girlfriend getting cozy with the main witness in this case.”

  “What? He can’t question any of that! Both Ellie and I were with other cops the whole time, who can confirm anything we’ve said. The woman from CPS was on the other side of the window with an agent!”