“Eden told you about that?” Josie said.
“Yes. She was trying to explain to me that when her father blackmailed me, it wasn’t the first time he’d done it. She told me how her sister had made accusations against Dr. Rafferty. Their father made Amber do it so that he could blackmail him. She told me how heavily it weighed on Amber. How it was a regret and a burden to Amber. In fact, when I met Lydia at Amber’s house, she was tearing the place apart. She was sure that Amber had left some evidence behind about Rafferty and she wanted to find it and destroy it. I tried to tell her not to bother. That was Amber’s cross to bear, and it was up to Amber to decide what to do with any information or evidence she might have kept. That’s when Lydia kicked me out.”
“Do you know if she found anything?”
“I don’t think so. She was very frustrated.”
Gretchen said, “Mr. Toland, do you have any idea where Vivian might have gone? Why she would come up here to the second-floor concourse instead of just exiting the building?”
He shook his head.
“She’s trapped,” Josie said. “We need to get the rest of these people out of here and then we can find her. She can’t hide in here forever.”
Gretchen said, “I’m going to escort these people downstairs.”
While Gretchen walked away, Josie stared at Thatcher, more of the puzzle clicking into place in her head. “What did you mean when you said that ‘we could try to become a family’? Did you mean you, Vivian, and Eden?”
He shook his head again, now using the paper towel to dab at the tears spilling from his eyes. “No. I mean me, Vivian, and my child.”
“Your child? Your child with…” Josie prompted.
“Eden. Eden bore my child,” Thatcher said. “But I never knew it. I never knew until I went to her to tell her how sorry I was for how badly I had mistreated her and how horribly I had behaved toward her. I wasn’t even sure she would listen to me but God bless her, she did. She accepted my apology. We talked for hours on many occasions. Then she told me that she had had my child all those years ago. It was like God himself had come down from the heavens and squeezed my heart right out of my chest. A child! Born of my greatest sin! Eden wasn’t even angry with me. She had forgiven me long ago, she said.”
Josie could see the flaws in his logic—thinking that his wife would be just fine with taking in a child he’d had with an underage girl while he was the pastor of his first church. Josie tried to look at things from Vivian’s perspective. Admitting to having a sexual relationship with a minor was not only a criminal offense but a public relations nightmare for their church, but to have a child? Living, tangible proof of Thatcher’s crime? If you were Vivian, and you were ruthless, it would make sense to have Eden killed. Without her, who could testify as to what had truly happened between them? Who better to do it than Gabriel? He would be able to get close to her. Even if they were estranged, he was still her brother. But what about Lydia? Amber? Nadine? They likely all knew about the baby, Josie realized. They must have known. But why hadn’t Vivian had Amber killed? Why hold her in the bottom of the new megachurch? Why had they held Eden for so long? It seemed extremely risky.
“Where is the child?” Josie asked.
“I don’t know,” Thatcher cried. “Only Amber knew. When the baby was born, the family wouldn’t let Eden keep it, so Amber took it and found it a home. That’s what Eden said.”
“Amber would have been what? Sixteen? Seventeen? All those adults in her family knew about this baby and they left it up to a teenage girl to decide what to do with it?”
Thatcher looked up at her, eyes bloodshot from crying and his dip in the chlorinated pool. “They thought that their Aunt Nadine was going to kill it. Amber did it out of desperation. She told Eden that she had taken the baby somewhere safe where it could be placed into foster care and eventually get a good home.”
That was why Vivian held Amber. She was trying to get the location of the child from her. Josie shuddered to think what would have happened if Vivian had got her hands on Thatcher and Eden’s child.
A commotion from the second-floor seating area drew Josie’s attention. Leaving Thatcher on the bench, she went to the nearest set of doors and jogged down the hall to the seating deck. A man stood there, pointing across the arena and shouting, “They’re fighting! They’re fighting! Someone is going to get hurt.”
Josie followed the direction of his finger to see two women across the arena locked in a tussle. One of them was wearing a red dress. The man took out his phone. “I’ll call the police!”
Josie said, “I am the police,” and took off running.
She weaved her way through the rows of seats until she reached the other side of the arena. She had to force herself not to look down the entire time or else she’d get vertigo. As she got closer, she could hear the two women grunting as they rolled along the aisle that split two of of the seating sections. Their bodies were locked close together but each one of them tried to punch the other, all the while staying as close as possible to avoid the blows. Vivian bear-hugged the other woman and lifted her slightly, slamming her back against the first row of chairs. Their fused bodies fell into the narrow space between the seats and the railing. Josie moved closer. “Vivian Toland,” she shouted. “Stop right there. Stop what you’re doing and put your hands up.”
The woman beneath her screamed, “She’s going to kill me!”
The voice was familiar but Josie couldn’t place it immediately, and with Vivian straddling her, Josie couldn’t see her face. Taking hold of the metal railing, Josie again averted her eyes from the drop-off and stepped closer to the two women. “Vivian,” she said again. “Stop! Put your hands in the air.”
Vivian rose up, her back to Josie, and then started raining down blows on the woman beneath her. Josie dove forward and grabbed Vivian under her armpits, dragging her flailing form away from the other woman. “Let go of me!” Vivian snarled. “Both of you, get out of my way.”
Vivian pushed her upper body back against Josie. Her feet kicked against one of the chairs, knocking both of them off-balance. Josie’s body twisted. Her back slammed into the railing. She felt herself going over the top as Vivian pushed off and away from her. On the brink of plunging head first into the seats many feet below, Josie had time for one thought: this is how I die.