your loss, for your daughter’s death.”
“Yeah, I know. Everyone’s sorry,” he said from between his fingers. “You’re all sad that the monster down the hall murdered my daughter. I’ve got it.”
Frowning at him, I was trying to decide what to say when Max spoke up. “The chief is trying to help, Mullins. You know that. We want to find out who murdered Laurel, Anna and the children.”
Mullins remained silent, maybe assuming that wasn’t something he had to remark on.
“How are we supposed to solve this case, Mullins, if you continue to interfere and put the man you peg as the main suspect on guard?” I asked. “You know that’s not a good thing. We need to convince him to talk to us.”
Mullins dropped his hands and looked up at me. “You can’t blame me, Chief. That man killed my girl.”
He had a point, if Carl was truly guilty. But as far as I knew, we didn’t have any evidence against the guy. “Let’s back it up,” I said. “Start at the beginning. Give us some context about all this. When did Laurel marry Jacob?”
For half an hour or so, Max and I listened while Mullins talked. Some of what he said we already knew, for instance that for years Jacob and Carl lived in Mexico, high in a mountain town, with a splinter group of Elijah’s People. While my hometown had never been welcoming to strangers, always a cultish place, wary of unfamiliar faces, El Pueblo de Elijah sounded even more reclusive. According to Mullins, armed guards working for the sect’s hierarchy patrolled the roads leading into the town. Strangers weren’t allowed in.
As Mullins talked, he detailed the similarities between the folks I’d grown up with in Alber and the ones in El Pueblo de Elijah. They shared the faith’s belief in plural marriage, revered as the Divine Principle. The Mexican branch followed the same prophet folks in Alber did: Emil Barstow. An octogenarian, he’d controlled the town with an iron hand until he was sentenced to years in a federal prison for marrying off underage girls to older men.
It was in Mexico that Jacob met and married Anna, a Mexican national who came from a neighboring village. Their two children, Sybille and Benjamin, were born there. Then, Jacob’s parents asked him to return to Alber to take over the bison ranch. Aging, Michael and Reba couldn’t keep up with the grueling schedule the vast operation required. Jacob agreed with two stipulations: that he was given a second wife and that his pal, Carl, be allowed to return with him.
“Carl was allowed to return home?” I questioned. “Mullins, you’re saying Carl was driven out?”
“Yeah, he was. After he was convicted and served time on that assault charge, the prophet had ordered Carl to leave Alber. He was the reason Jacob moved to Mexico, to be with him. They’ve always been close, those two.”
“And when did Laurel and Jacob get together?” Max asked.
“Right after Jacob returned. He saw Laurel on the street and asked about her, told his father that he wanted to marry her. Jacob’s father, Michael, sent a message to the prophet in prison, asked him for Laurel for his boy. The prophet issued an edict, said he’d had a holy revelation and my girl was to marry Jacob. They were married a few weeks later.”
At that, Mullins concealed his face behind his hands again, I sensed not wanting to show either of us his pain. I sat next to him. “It’s okay, Jeff.” I didn’t often address my detective by his first name, and Mullins looked over at me, perhaps surprised. “Max and I understand that this is hard. You’re a grieving father right now, not a cop. We’re working this, not you. You don’t need your game face on. Okay?”
Mullins twisted into a painful grimace and dropped his head. A tear traced the scar down his cheek and fell onto his folded hands.
“What was the marriage like?” I asked.
“I don’t think we should talk, I mean, personal stuff like—” he started, as if he planned to protest.
“These are the same questions you’d ask a family member if you were investigating this case, right?” I pointed out.
Mullins paused. “Right.”
“Tell us about the marriage,” I said again.
“Not particularly happy,” Mullins said. “Laurel didn’t want to marry Jacob. She had other ideas. But when she got pregnant right away, she settled in some. And when Jeremy showed up, well, she fell in love with the child like he was the