Faithless in Death (In Death #52) - J.D. Robb Page 0,66
kitchen.
She snugged the toddlers into some sort of seats that attached to the counter, and the two older kids at a tiny red table. They hooted, shouted out preferences, banged while she got the tubes and little bowls of tiny crackers or cookies, or something kid friendly.
“That’ll hold them for a few minutes.” She moved out of the kitchen into the lounge while the kids slurped, chattered, and made an unholy mess with the contents of the bowls.
“I have to be very careful here. I have four children to think of. My husband has his career as well as our family to think of. We’ve been planning how and when to ease out of the order. Anson had his reasons for joining, and he was my reason. But since the kids.”
She glanced back at them.
“It doesn’t reflect who we are now, our beliefs, our values. At the same time, the order puts food on our table, and they can be … proprietary.”
“That’s a word,” Eve said.
“He’s looking for another job, even if we have to move out of New York. We love this house, this neighborhood, but we’d move if that was best for our family.”
“Have you had trouble, threats?”
“No, absolutely not. And I’d tell you. For them.” She watched the kids toss tiny crackers at each other. “They’re our world. And if one of them, if all of them fell in love with someone who doesn’t look like us, or has the same gender, they’ll still be our world. We can’t be in the order and know that. Anson, he’s a lab rat—a really good one. He’ll find another job. And when the twins are old enough, I can go back to teaching. We’ll be fine.”
“Would your husband talk to us?”
“He would, if necessary. He’s not inside the circle, if you understand. He does his job, he comes home to his family. We don’t do a lot of socializing, not with other members. That’s overlooked, as we have four children. But Sasha will start school next fall, and she’ll be expected to attend one approved by the order, and begin weekly instructions.”
“What kind of instructions?”
“On the tenets of the order.” Her chin firmed. “We’re not going to allow that, not with our kids.”
“Are you afraid, Ms. Frank?” Peabody asked her.
“Apprehensive. If Anson and I feared for our kids, we’d already be gone. We’re not important enough to be afraid. Gwen would be, I think,” she added.
“If you become afraid, or if you need help, if you think of anything that might aid our investigation, contact me.” Eve drew out a card.
Idina studied it. “Was the person who died a member?”
“No.”
“Is it terrible I’m relieved to hear that?”
“No,” Eve said again. “Talk to your husband, and if he has any information that may help, any small detail, please contact me.”
“We’ll talk tonight, after the kids are in bed.”
“You have a beautiful family, Ms. Frank,” Peabody told her.
“They’re a mess,” she said cheerfully. “But they’re my mess.”
They let themselves out so Idina could deal with her mess.
“Can’t see it.” Peabody shook her head. “Can’t see any pertinent connection there. She’s so normal.”
“People who join cults or do the weird often seem normal. But I agree. The thing with Gwen was a sad and needy teenage thing. Anson might have looked at her due to the order, and she might have looked at him as a kind of stable father figure. But that’s not the whys now.”
“I hope they get out without any trouble. That’s a happy house.” Peabody glanced back at it as she got in the car. “You can tell. Just like you could tell the one in Tribeca was anything but.”
“We’ll see what the potter in SoHo has to tell us.”
13
“Savannah Grimsley,” Peabody read as they pushed through traffic. “She’s twenty-six, a potter who works at the Village Scene—one of the places Ariel Byrd sold her art. She also works as an art model. Shares her loft with Vance Bloot—another artist. Roommates, not cohabs.”
“The brother?”
“Keene Grimsley, age twenty-four—twenty-two at the time of his disappearance. He joined Natural Order at eighteen, while at college, dropped out of college at twenty to work for the order in IT. He’s been missing since June 12, 2059. His sister filed the MP on June 15.”
“Other family?”
“Parents, divorced. Mother, remarried, living in Jersey City; father, remarried, living in Delaware. Maternal grandparents, Sag Harbor; paternal, divorced, both living out of state.”
“No connection to Natural Order with the other family?”