“I don’t understand. Why can’t we help her before it’s too late?”
“Because,” Elizabeth began, “Brother Abraham is also an Assemblyman. If he were a follower, like Brother Adam, it would be different.”
“Who’s Brother Adam?” Raquel and I asked in unison.
Elizabeth shook her head. “Forget I said that.”
My mind spun. “Is Brother Adam the husband of the woman who spoke to you, Mary?”
“It’s not something I can discuss.” Her green eyes shot toward me. “Forget I mentioned it.”
“Wait, so let’s say hypothetically”—I paused. When she didn’t respond, I went on—“a female follower comes up to you and tells you in confidence that she has a problem with her husband. I’m just going to say it. He’s abusive. Then do you tell Brother Luke and let it go from there?”
“Hypothetically,” Elizabeth said, “yes.”
“So with Deborah, if she said something to her overseer’s wife, could that Commissioner’s wife tell her husband, and then could he talk to Brother Abraham?”
“Theoretically,” Raquel said, “but guess who’s Brother Abraham’s overseer.”
I had four choices: Brothers Raphael, Daniel, Noah, or Timothy. I knew Brother Daniel wouldn’t turn a blind eye, and I worked with Brother Raphael. He’d always been kind to me. I didn’t know much about Brother Noah, other than Jacob said he worked with the finances of The Light. When new followers came to The Light they sold all their possessions from the dark and donated the money to help buy supplies. That left me one option: Brother Timothy. “Either Brother Noah or Timothy. I’m going to guess . . .”
Raquel nodded. “Without Brother Timothy’s consent, the concerns, even if they’re voiced by Deborah and Sister Lilith took them to her husband, can’t be taken to Father Gabriel. Nothing can be done.” She looked at Elizabeth and then back to me. “It’s better if you don’t say any more. It was brought up about a year ago, and you probably don’t remember . . .”
I shook my head.
“After that was when she was a patient. It didn’t do her any good. It made it worse.”
Horrified, I turned toward Elizabeth. “Is that what happens to people like Mary if you tell Luke?”
“Hypothetically?” she asked.
I nodded.
“Sometimes, but usually not. Followers respect the opinion and advice of Assemblymen. Luke carries a lot of weight. He can usually help the situation.”
“But just like Jacob helps Brother Daniel with the followers he oversees, doesn’t Brother Abraham help Brother Timothy?”
They both nodded.
“So if a follower is unfortunate enough to be assigned to that chain of command . . . ?”
Elizabeth nodded. “Then they still have Luke and me. We just have to be sure to follow the rules, but we still can do our best to help.”
I took a drink of my coffee. “Wow, Elizabeth, I didn’t realize how difficult your job was. I’m never complaining about the lab again.”
Raquel laughed. “Hey, you complained about working with my husband?”
“No,” I said, smiling. “I actually like working with him and Brother Raphael. They’ve been very patient, and so has Dinah. She’s been great.”
They both nodded. “She’s one of us. We stick together.”
I sighed. “I wish we could help Deborah. I still worry.”
CHAPTER 28
Stella
I handed Foster the list of properties Jenn, from Preston and Butler, had e-mailed to my personal address last night. “I’ve only glanced through it, but it seems like a lot of property. I always assumed that realty firms arranged the sale of property from the owner to the new buyer. I wasn’t aware that the firm would own so much itself.”
Foster shrugged. “They do both. It really depends on the size of the company. While Entermann’s began as a broker, looking at this list, now I’d call them an investment company.”
“Did you know that Entermann’s falls under a list of subsidiaries of Wilkens Industries?”
“I thought you were talking the other day about Uriel Harris and his connection with Wilkens Industries?”
“I was. Here, let me see this list.” I took the list and circled the property on Glendale, the old school. “This property is currently owned by Entermann’s, but before that it was owned by Harris, and before that Wilkens Industries. Since Wilkens owns Entermann’s, well, I’m seeing a circle, but why?”
“It’s only a complete circle if Harris is connected.”
“That’s what I want to know. I’ve been trying to find current information on Uriel Harris. In the day, he was all over, buying property, but then all his holdings were sold. He took a big loss and disappeared.” I shook my head. “I don’t mean literally. There’s no record of his death. What I mean is that I can’t find him. His last known address was 12560 Kingsway Trace, Bloomfield Hills.” As soon as I said the address, my heart clenched, and I looked up at Foster. “Tell me that isn’t same address as the MOA house you told me about.”