“Where are you?” she demanded.
“In a place where I obviously can see you and you can’t see me. Why did you bring all those people, Holly?”
“Because I don’t really know you, that’s why.”
“Okay. But why King and his apostles?”
“Because they found me last night and helped me. I was with them when you called. Doctor offered to come with me, just in case I needed any help.”
“Well, you don’t need any help, so you can ask them to leave. We’ll drive you where you need to go.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“I could have easily hurt or killed you last night, right? But I saved your life and then I let you go. Didn’t I, Holly? And we saved your boyfriend’s life, too. But for us, Luke’s dead.”
“That’s true, I guess,” she conceded.
“All we want is information. In exchange for that you get your stuff. But we’re not doing it with all these people here. So either ask them to leave or we’re out of here. And we’re going to take your stuff with us.”
“You promise you won’t do anything to me?”
“We’re Feds, Holly. We won’t do anything to you for lots of reasons, including the hassle of paperwork. I wouldn’t be doing any of this except for the note you left in my jacket.”
She pondered this for a moment. “Okay,” she said. “Give me a minute.”
She kept the line open and walked over to King. They could see her talking with him and then he said something back. She shook her head. He nodded, looked around the surrounding area, and called to his men. They climbed back into the van and slowly drove away.
Reel watched them leave through her scope. When they were far enough away she nodded to Robie.
They made their way down to lower ground and then took the path to the cabin. Holly was waiting near the front door and turned quickly to stare at them when they rounded a bend and came into view.
“Who’s she?” asked Holly, pointing to Reel as they drew nearer.
“She’s the one who saved your boyfriend’s life last night by taking out his fellow skinheads.”
She dismissively waved this comment off. “Luke’s not like that. He just joined those assholes to have something to do. He was bored.”
“He has a swastika tatted on his head.”
“It’s not a real tattoo. He did it with some temporary ink so he could take it off when he wanted to. He has it just to fit in. They have rules and crap. He’s going to take it off when we leave here.”
They stopped a few feet from her. “Okay,” said Robie. “About Roger Walton? We know that he came by to visit you at the rehab facility. Why was that?”
Holly said, “Where’s my suitcase?”
In answer Reel went inside the cabin and came out a few moments later carrying it. She handed Holly her passport.
“Signed, sealed, and delivered,” said Robie. “Now it’s your turn.”
Holly sat down on the porch of the cabin and glanced at Walton’s rental, which was still parked in front. She let out a long breath and looked nervously at each of them.
“I don’t want to get into trouble over this. I’m on parole.”
“Which means you probably can’t leave the area,” said Robie.
“I thought of that. I checked in with my parole officer and talked to him about my plans. They’re allowing me to transfer to another location where I’ll be checking in regularly with a new parole officer. I just can’t stay here anymore.”
“Your sister has been telling you that for some time, hasn’t she?” pointed out Reel. “She came out here because of you. She’s worried about you. She went looking for you last night but couldn’t find you.”
“My sister has been trying to run my life since we were little” was Holly’s surprising reply, her features hardening. “Did she tell you I was the brainy one? The golden girl?”
“She did. Are you saying you’re not?” asked Robie.
“Oh, I’m smart. I’ve got a head for math and science. I proved that. I graduated from MIT. I got offers from NASA and others.”
“But you turned them all down and came out here, why?” asked Reel.
“Because I wanted to get away from my family. I wanted to live my life.”
“Pretty drastic move. If you worked for NASA you would have moved from New York, surely.”
“It wasn’t just geographic. It was everything to do with that part of me. I was tired of all the expectations. Of making the family proud.”
Reel stared her down. “So your family is so bad that you came out here, got in with the wrong crowd, did drugs, got arrested, did some prison time, and now you’re hooked up with a guy with a temporary hate symbol on his head. Nice work. And your sister puts on a uniform and risks her life protecting people like you,” she added quietly. “I know she’s proud of you. Maybe you should be proud of her.”
Holly stood and snapped, “I didn’t come here to be lectured. Do you want my help or not?”
“We do,” said Robie with a sharp glance at Reel. “Walton?”
Holly sat back down. “When I was in rehab I heard some things.”
“What things? And from who?” asked Robie.
“Another patient. A guy named Clément. He was in for drugs like me.”
“What did he tell you?”
“That he thought people were being brought here against their will.”
“Brought here to Grand, you mean?” said Robie.
She nodded.
“Why?”
“He saw it. He saw the people in a van. They were tied up with hoods over their heads.”
“Where?”
“He wouldn’t say exactly. But he said there were people with guns guarding them.”
“And you believed him? Even though he was a drug addict? He could have just been making shit up. Either delusional or maybe trying to impress you.”
“No, I think he was telling the truth. There were too many details. He couldn’t have made it all up. And he was really scared. I could tell.”
“Did he tell anyone else?”
“I don’t think so.”
“So why confide in you?”
“We were sort of thrown together. They have a buddy system at the facility, and he was my buddy and I was his. We were supposed to look out for each other. And Clément was really fragile. He needed a friend and I was it. We had just finished up a counseling session when he pulled me aside and told me about it.”
“Did you ask him any questions?”
“Some. I was more concerned with doing my time there and getting out, but he talked to me about it on a couple of other occasions and I became more focused.”
“Where’s Clément now?”
“I don’t know. He left the facility before I did.”
“What’s his last name?”
“Lamarre. Clément Lamarre. He wasn’t from around here. I think he mentioned Boulder. But he’s originally from Canada. He’s French Canadian, or so he told me.”
“What was his issue that he was in rehab?” asked Reel after she wrote this information down.
“Like I said, same as me, drug use. Opioids, coke, and heroin. He’d done some prison time too.”
“And how does this tie into Roger Walton visiting you?”
“He just showed up one day. I had heard of him. I knew that he visited the area. Over the years I’d also heard that he was high up in DC in some way.”
“And you heard this from who?” asked Reel.
“Lots of people.”
“A nurse at the rehab said that Walton used JC Parry’s name when he came to see you. Why would that be? What’s the connection?”
“JC was my friend. I called him from rehab and told him about what Clément had said. Next thing I know, this Walton guy shows up.”
“So presumably Parry talked to Walton and asked him to come and talk to you about it?” said Robie.
“Yeah, I guess so. I didn’t know who else to call.”
“What about your sister?” pointed out Robie. “She’s the law out here.”
“I . . . I didn’t think she’d believe me.”
Robie studied her and decided she was telling the truth. “Did you tell Walton what Clément had told you?”
“Yes, everything.”
“And what did he say to that?”
“That he would look into it.”
“We know he only visited you once while you were in rehab. Did you talk to him again by phone?”
“No. And then I got out of rehab and then, I guess, Mr. Walton had disappeared.”