“Can we go home yet?” Lily asked again. She was sitting on a chair in Knox’s office, waiting for Shade with Beth sitting next to her, holding her hand.
“They’ll let us know. It shouldn’t be much longer.”
Knox had led Shade and her in here after they had left the house that King had taken her to. The ambulance had taken away King while two other ambulances had to be called along with the coroners from three counties to deal with the bodies.
“How did the Porters find me?” Lily asked.
“I have no idea,” Beth responded as Knox and Shade came in.
“I can answer that question.” Knox took a seat behind his desk.
Lily waited expectantly. “Well?”
“We’re waiting on someone. We promised we would until he arrived.” Shade walked to stand beside her chair, taking her hand. Razer came into the office then, shutting the door behind him. Lily could tell from their faces that the news they had wasn’t going to be good.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, there’s just a few things Razer and I haven’t told you. It’s not because we didn’t want to, it was because we couldn’t,” Shade answered her question as Razer moved to stare down at his wife.
A knock sounded on the door.
“Come in,” Knox called out.
The door opened and Pastor Dean came inside, closing the door with a serious expression instead of the affable one he normally wore. He was also dressed as she had never seen him before. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, which was unusual enough, but the ATF jacket and hat was what had both her and Beth sitting in shock.
“Beth, Lily.”
“Why are you wearing that?” Lily asked, standing up, her face tuning pale.
“Because I’m an ATF Special Agent.”
Lily wanted to run from the room, but that was the old Lily who always ran away, afraid to face her nightmares. She wasn’t going to run this time.
“I’ve been undercover since I took over your father’s church. It’s taken me this long, and over forty agents, to shut down a pipeline that carried drugs and firearms through nine different states.”
Lily stood, listening to him, and all she could think of was how much she had confided in him over the years.
“When Cash joined the military, he never forgot you two. He was especially sickened with Beth’s treatment and he knew it wouldn’t be much longer before Lily would be receiving the same. Shade’s father, Will Hunter, had retired, and so Cash asked him to stop by Treepoint to check on you two.”
Lily’s eyes flew to Shade at the mention of the former Sheriff.
“I was going to tell you when Dad came back into town next week. Think, Lily; why would I hide that from you when I’ve confessed to much worse than that?”
Lily nodded, believing him.
“When he stayed here those few days, Will decided he liked it enough to stay indefinitely. He and his wife both were tired of moving around so much and wanted a break from it.
“They settled here, and as you both know, it wasn’t long before he gained enough respect to become Sheriff. That’s where his military training came in handy. He soon discovered the pipeline and notified the proper authorities.” Dean walked further into the office, leaning against the corner of Knox’s desk.
“This is where the conversation becomes confidential.” He stared at both of the women with silent warning. “I had left the military and joined The Last Riders. I had been in the Seals and had served as a military Chaplin, but when I left the service, I no longer felt the call to serve as a pastor, so I left that part of my life behind. But I wasn’t content. I missed the action of being in the military, so when the CIA approached The Last Riders to become a paramilitary group, we accepted.
“That’s how we ended up in Treepoint to begin an investigation. The ATF offered me a position as a Special Agent to lead the investigation, but I had to go undercover to do so. The people who had begun developing leads ended up dead, so I waited for a way to enter the community that would be above suspicion.”
“Our parents’ death created the perfect opportunity,” Beth said; her face had gone as white as Lily’s as she gazed at Razer.
“Sadly, yes. I’m sorry.” Dean paused then continued, “I became Pastor Dean and began my investigation. It’s taken me all these years to gather enough evidence to win my cases. I was a week away from making my arrests. I even had the warrants ready to go, but it all came crashing down today. “
“Why today?” Beth asked. Lily watched her sister calmly asking questions while she just wanted to get out of there.
“Because of Lily. We pooled all our available resources together, but to do that, I had to break my cover.”
Lily felt sickened. She was hurt that Pastor Dean wasn’t the man he’d pretended to be, but she didn’t want his work to have been in vain, nor did she want the criminals, who were hurting others, to remain free.