“The kids said they saw some paraphernalia, trucks coming and going in the middle of the night, some other things. Since there’d been an increase in drugs in the area and no one knew for sure who the source was, it seemed like the smart thing to do.
“Doug was the one who suggested we look deeper into Eden, and volunteered for the job. Our boss agreed and we moved forward, but there was no way Doug was going to be the UC. He was green as hell, just a few years out of the Academy, and he got turned down in favor of a more experienced agent. He was pissed. At the last minute, that agent had a heart attack, so we had an operation in play with no one to go in. Against our boss’s better judgment, she sent Doug undercover into the NRM.
“He was under for about three months when he stopped reporting in. We sent a team, asked some questions, looked around, but Doug wasn’t anywhere to be seen. The leader said she’d never known anyone by that name, stonewalled the crap out of our people. We went back to D.C. and got a broad-scoped warrant, but by the time we returned to Eden to do a more thorough search, it was too late. Do you recall Heaven’s Gate?”
“The suicide cult,” Fletcher said. “Did the folks at Eden do the same thing? Go to meet the comet?”
“Yes.” Thurber’s face clouded; it was clearly a disturbing memory. “Freakiest thing I’ve ever seen, right out of a horror movie. Fifteen women and four men, all members of Eden Doug had identified, were found hanging in a barn. Just swinging in the breeze. The only people missing were the head of the cult, surprise, surprise, Doug and a girl he’d mentioned in one of his reports—Lauren. They, and he, never surfaced again, until now.” He trailed off, then shook himself as if he’d felt a chill.
“I think I remember hearing about it. I don’t recall the name Eden, though, or Curtis Lott,” Fletcher said.
“We kept those details out of the media.”
Fletcher crossed his arms. “Why in the world would you do that?”
Thurber didn’t answer. Instead he said, “Damn, ten years of wondering what the hell happened to Doug, and he’s living in Lynchburg, of all places. Why the hell wouldn’t he let us know he was okay?”
“Thankfully, he reached out to Sam before his death, so we can start finding some answers,” Baldwin said.
“I’d like to hear more about Eden. Is it rare to have a female cult leader?” Sam asked.
Thurber nodded. “Not rare, but certainly not common. Eden was an interesting crew. They were set up to work in a trinity—I don’t know if you’re familiar with the idea of synarchist rule? Harmony among multiple leaders? Historically, Eden had three leaders, all from the same bloodline. Three generations of women. A young girl, a middle-aged woman and a woman in her seventies.”
“Maid, mother and crone?”
“Right. But the older woman was among the dead at the barn. The ‘mother’ was in her forties at the time, and from the reports Doug sent in, one seriously crazy bitch. I think she decided she wanted the whole thing for herself, killed off dear old Mom and everyone else who might get in her way and reestablished herself somewhere else.” He shook his head. “We missed it. Doug never indicated they were headed for any sort of mass suicide. He said the leader was a preacher of sorts, had some funky beliefs about the end of time, but nothing he reported on indicated that the time was nigh.”
“Who is their leader?” Sam asked.
“She went by a number of names, but at the time Doug went undercover, she was calling herself Curtis Lott. Some of the clippings in your file are on Eden, their history and such. They were a peaceful group going back to the sixties until all this happened.”
Sam sat straighter in her chair. “Her name was Curtis Lott?”
He nodded. “You’ve heard of her?”
“Yes, but not in the way you might think. Curtis Lott was one of the beneficiaries of Savage’s will. And the name Lauren was written on the back of a letter included with the will. She wasn’t left anything, and the name was oddly out of place. Let’s shoot for the moon here. Are you familiar with the names Anne Carter or Frederick McDonald?”
Thurber nodded. “Anne Carter, absolutely, yes. She was our boss during this time period. She’s retired now, lives out in Fauquier County toward Front Royal. McDonald—him I don’t know.”
“Well, now we’re five down with one to go. At least we have an idea of what Savage, sorry, Matcliff, was up to with his will. He was pointing us in the direction of the story. So we’d find these people, and it would all come to light. But why be mysterious about it? Why not just lay it all out? And how did Benedict’s killer find out about the will?”
Thurber shook his head. “We don’t know. Remember, we didn’t know Doug was even alive until this afternoon.”