Chapter 19

After having stuff happen on what seemed like a daily basis, the following several weeks were filled with the agony of waiting. We had to wait to see what, if anything, was going to happen to Steven Mertz. While I had gotten the impression from officer Jawarski that the situation was getting taken care of, it was impossible for us to know with any certainty; but going back to her again for more information, was something I wanted to avoid at all costs.

Carter Talmon was looking into both Mapes, and Tami’s family’s church group, but he had been very clear that it would take time to get any solid information about either. He didn’t need me bugging him every day for updates, and Jonathan assured me multiple times that he was very capable and we would know something as soon as he did.

The contract for the full order of SWEEP drones seemed to be languishing. Ron had been increasingly hard to get a hold of, and the guys Jonathan brought in to work on the contract all said this kind of slow down didn’t match with their previous experiences.

All we could do was wait.

After two weeks of trying to pay attention in school, my nerves were totally shot. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I called Carter as soon as I got home from school on Friday.

“Yeah,” he said when he answered my call.

“Mr. Talmon, This is Caspian Grey,” I said, not sure how many clients he had at a time.

“Yeah,” he said again. You had to appreciate a guy who remained consistent.

“You were looking into a couple of cases for me,” I supplied, hoping he would offer up information.

“Yeah,” he said. This guy really puts new meaning into the word monosyllabic.

“I was hoping for some updates.”

“Not over the phone. I’ll bring what I have to you,” he said and hung up.

I didn’t know whether I was annoyed at the way this guy acted, or if I absolutely loved it; but it’s one or the other. I went into the living room and sat down to wait. He didn’t say he was headed right over, but that was my impression.

Thankfully, ten minutes later the doorbell rang. I found Carter Talmon standing on the other side of the door. I ushered him into the kitchen so we could sit at the table to talk.

“Which case do you want to talk about first, the dirty security guy, or the creepy church people?” he said with no preamble.

“Let’s go with the creepy church people first,” I replied using his name for them.

I had decided. I loved this guy’s act. I didn’t know if it was a put up job, or if this is how he really was, but sometimes you gotta love a character.

He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a series of five pictures and set them in front of me. Each included the same older man but different girls. I say girls because they were all Tina’s age or younger. In one he was holding hands with the girl. The others were much more disturbing. There was nothing overtly obscene, but each picture he was being way more affectionate than was appropriate for an adult and a child.

“This is Joseph Taylor,” Carter said pointing at the older man. “Each of the girls are his current ‘brides’ from the previous year.”

“These seem pretty damning. How come the cops can’t get this kind of surveillance on him?”

“Because he keeps himself pretty well hidden. I had to sneak well onto their property to take these shots. I can’t turn them over to the police, because I was trespassing when I took them. In reality, they are also evidence of me committing a crime. The stronger evidence is the audio recordings.”

“Audio recordings?”

“Yeah. I tapped his phone. That’s illegal, which again is why it can’t actually be used against him. I have one where he talks about his plans for his ‘old brides’ to make way for the new ones.”

I felt a tightening in my stomach, “What plans?”

“It seems every year he marries off his previous years brides to people in the church, supporters and what not, so he can bring in the new girls. These aren’t legal marriages, mind you. Besides the girls not being old enough, most of these guys already have a wife or three.”

He passed several audio cassettes over to me.

“I also was able to get some of his banking information.”

“That can’t possibly be legal,” I said.

“I told you that what I was going to get wasn’t going to be admissible in court. What did you think that meant?”

“There’s a difference between non-admissible and straight out illegal,” I said.

“I guess, but if you want a smoking gun this is how you have to do it. You are planning on blackmailing these people with this information, which is also against the law.”

“Not for money or anything,” I said, defending my plan.

“No, but to force him to pack up and leave, or at least change the way they operate. Blackmail is blackmail. Not that I am against your plan. These guys are seriously disturbed.”

“Yeah,” I said noncommittally. I was trying to do good, but to have the facts of where this was headed put so bluntly made me slightly uneasy. Not that I was giving up on my plan.

“So,” I continued, “What did you get with the banking information.”

“Payments from the men who are getting these girls from Taylor,” he said looking disgusted. “He’s straight up selling these girls to them.”

“Jesus Christ! I can’t believe this kind of shit is happening so blatantly,” I said. I was truly shocked by what I was hearing.

“You should see some of the stuff that happens down on the border. Slavery is still alive and well in this country. It’s just easier for Taylor and his group. These girls are as brainwashed as their parents. From the conversations I have heard, they are all looking forward to their new place in the church. Apparently having been one of Taylor’s wives is a huge honor for these wackos.”

“I wish there was something we could do for them, too. It seems cold hearted to get Tami and Judy out, but leave these other girls to the mercy of depraved men.”

“I am not sure there is anything you can do. You would get a lot of push back from the girls. If I had to guess, if they were to be taken away from that ‘church’, they would find a way to escape and come back to the flock. You have no idea how lucky you are that your friends managed not to become brainwashed.”

“Yeah, I guess,” I said still feeling the guilt. “Ok, what about Mapes?”

“This Mapes character is as crafty about what he’s doing as these church people are blatant. Except for the alarm code thing, he has really covered his tracks. His IDs are all fake. Every address I can find for him leads to random businesses. I can’t find any banking or financial information on him. Except for his dealings with you, this guy may not have even existed. Everything about him points to his being a professional. Where did you get him from?”

“He was a second hand reference from our military contact. I have trouble believing Ron was involved; but then, it wasn’t really his reference, either. He got the name from someone else in his office.”

Carter finished jotting down notes and said, “That gives me another angle to look at, but I wouldn’t hold onto a lot of hope. This guy knew what he was doing. Tracking him down might not be an option. You guys need to be on the lookout, though. This wasn’t a ‘one off’ thing. This kind of guy works for someone.”

“So this isn’t over,” I said, more as a statement then a question.

“Not by a long shot,” he replied.

I stood and walked Carter to the door, thanking him for his information. The girls had headed out to do some stuff together, which meant Tami was going to be occupied for a few hours. I knew that Judy went with Tina most afternoons, so she was also out of her house.

Putting the information Carter had given me in my backpack and grabbing my bike, I headed for the Smith house. I couldn’t get over the weird sense of déjà vu from my trip to Emily’s house, just after New Years. I seemed to be making a habit out of coercing my girlfriend’s, or at least potential girlfriend’s, families. While in both Emily’s case and Tami’s case I felt justified in my actions, I still felt bad that this seemed to be my go-to move to get things to go my way.

Pulling up to their house, I pushed those thoughts aside. The house itself was so vanilla it was shocking. This would be one of those places that, if the story of what was happening ever got out, the neighbors would all talk about how nice and normal the family seemed.

I knocked on their front door and waited. I wasn’t sure if they would recognize me or not. Between dating one of their daughters, and my sister being friends with their other daughter, I couldn’t imagine I was an unknown quantity; though I hadn’t ever really had a face to face contact with the Smiths.

The door opened showing a woman in her 40’s who said, “Ohh ... you. What do you want?”

I guess that answered my question.

“I need to speak to you and your husband,” I said.

“We are preparing to go out for the evening, and have nothing to say to you,” she said, practically snarling.

“You will want to hear what I have to say. Otherwise I can go visit your neighbors and share what I have to say with them, instead. Of course your preacher friend would not be happy with me, or you, if that happened.”

She glared at me a moment but stepped aside as I walked in. A tall, bean pole of a man stood just inside. It was unusual that her husband would let her do the talking in a situation like this, and I did a quick recalculation in my head of who was really in charge in this house.

I didn’t know the layout of their house, but neither of Tami’s parents seemed inclined to give me a tour. I could make out what looked like a living room just off the entry way. I walked past Mr. Smith and into that room.

Sitting down I motioned that the couple, who had followed me into the room, should take the love seat opposite the couch I sat on. More glaring ensued, but neither argued. Mrs. Smith motioned with her head for her husband to take a seat. She followed after him.

“I’ve discovered recently that in this kind of a situation, I am not one to beat around the bush. So I will just lay out what I have to say. I know what you are planning to have Judy marry, or at least how you see it, Mr. Taylor. I am not going to lecture you how amazingly repugnant this idea is. Not so much because I don’t think you deserve to have someone tell you what pathetic human beings you are, but more because I don’t think you would hear a word I have to say. Anyone willing to sell their daughter off to a serial child molester is so far gone, nothing I could say would make a difference.”

Mrs. Smith started to protest; but I ignored her, and rolled on, forcing her to quiet down.

“No, instead, I am going to rely on how much you two clearly love Mr. Taylor and this ‘church’ of yours. I am betting there is very little you wouldn’t do, to keep it from falling to pieces.”

I pulled a small tape recorder out of my backpack, which I’d already pre-loaded with the tape Carter gave me. I pressed play and let a conversation I had cued up fill the quite room. Two men, both of whom must be known to the Smiths, were speaking about one of the previous years brides being auctioned off. I let the conversation go for just over a minute, so the couple understood how explicit the conversation was, before shutting it off.

“Besides this conversation I have bank records that confirm the exact nature of the conversation you just heard. I am betting your friends and neighbors, and those of the rest of your little church, know nothing about this little ritual you have going on. The cops might have a rough time getting something tangible on Taylor and the rest of your group, but how do you think the community would take this? How long would it be before you had a mob forming up on your doorstep?”

I sat and stared at the couple. Mr. Smith just looked at his feet. Mrs. Smith, however, continued to glare at me.

“What do you want?”

“I know Tami is off the table for your little ceremony, but Judy needs to be off the list, too. She isn’t going to become one of Taylor’s ‘brides’. Neither girl should have to attend your church one moment longer, if they don’t want to ... and I guarantee they do not want to.”

Mrs. Smith’s facade of anger started to crack, and I could see the edges of worry and panic slipping in.

“What are we supposed to do? It’s already decided. We can’t just tell Joseph she isn’t available.”

“Well then, you two better think up something. If I hear one word of Judy being auctioned off to Taylor, or one complaint about their home life from either girl, everything I have will show up in every one of your neighbors’ mailboxes, the next morning.”

“How do we know you won’t just do that anyway?”

“Because you’re a bright woman. You have to be considering your daughters. You know that this is my leverage. Without it, I lose my ability to protect them. So you keep your daughters free and clear of this, and I will refrain from riding your church out of town on a rail.”

She stared at me for a long moment and said, “Fine.”

“See, I knew you were smart,” I said standing up. “Well, you two have a nice day, now.”

I excused myself, leaving the couple still sitting on the couch, looking like they had been hit by a freight train. Which I guess they kind of were. Not that I felt bad about that.