Cowboy's Redemption. B.J. Daniels

believe her,” Colt told the sheriff. “What do you know about The Society of Lasting Serenity?”

      “Just that they were California based but moved up here about five years ago. They keep to themselves. I believe their numbers have dropped some. Probably our Montana winters.”

      “You’re having trouble believing that Jonas Emanuel would steal Lola’s child,” Colt said.

      Flint sighed. “No offense but, yes, I am.” He turned to Lola. “You say your only connection to the group was through your parents before their deaths and your return to the States?”

      “Yes, they became involved after I left for college. I thought it was a passing phase, a sign of them not being able to accept their only child had left the nest.”

      “You never visited them at the California compound?” the sheriff asked.

      “No, I got a teaching job right out of college in the Virgin Islands.”

      Flint frowned. “You didn’t visit your parents before you left?”

      Lola looked away. “By then we were...estranged. I didn’t agree with some of the things they were being taught in what I felt was a fringe cult.”

      “So why would your parents promise you to Jonas Emanuel?” the sheriff asked.

      She let out a bitter laugh. “To save me. My mother believed that I needed Jonas’s teaching. Otherwise, I was doomed to live a wasted life chasing foolish dreams and, of course, ending up with the wrong man.”

      “They wanted you to marry Jonas.” Flint frowned. “Isn’t he a little old for you?”

      “He’s fifty-two. I’m thirty-two. So it’s not unheard-of.”

      The sheriff looked over at Colt, who was going to be thirty-three soon. Young for a major in the Army, he knew.

      “I doubt my parents took age into consideration,” Lola said. “One of the teachings at the SLS is that everyone is ageless. My parents, like the other members, were brainwashed.”

      “So you went to the compound after you were notified that your parents had died,” the sheriff said.

      “I questioned them both dying especially since earlier I’d received a letter from my father saying he wanted out but was having a hard time convincing my mother to leave SLS,” she said. “Also I wanted to have them buried together in California, next to my older sister, who was stillborn. My parents were both in their forties when they had me. By then, they didn’t believe they would ever conceive again.”

      “So you had their bodies—”

      “Jonas refused to release them. He said they would be buried as they had wished—on the side of the mountain at the compound. I went up there determined to find out how it was that they had died within hours of each other. I also wanted to make him understand that I would get a lawyer if I had to—or go to the authorities.”

      “That’s when you learned that you’d been promised to him?” the sheriff asked.

      “Yes, as ridiculous as it sounds. When I refused, I was held there against my will until I managed to get away. I’d stolen aboard a van driven by two of the sisters, as they call them. That’s when I met Colt.”

      “Why didn’t you go to the police then?” Flint asked.

      “I planned to the next morning. I’d gone into the back of the hotel when I saw one of the sisters coming in the front. I ducked down a hallway and literally collided with Colt. I asked for his help and he sneaked me up to his room.”

      The sheriff looked at Colt. “And the two of you hit it off. She didn’t tell you what she was running from?”

      “No, but it was clear she was scared. I thought it was an old boyfriend.”

      Flint nodded and looked to Lola again. “You didn’t trust him enough to ask for his help the next morning?”

      “I didn’t want to involve him. By then I knew what Jonas was capable of. This flock does whatever he tells them. The few who disobey are punished. One woman brought me extra food. I heard her being beaten the next morning by her own so-called sisters. When I had my daughter, they took her away almost at once. I could hear her crying, but I didn’t get to see her again. The women would come in and take my breast milk, but they said she was now Jonas’s child. He called her his angel. I knew I had only one choice. Escape and try to find Colt. I couldn’t fight Jonas and his followers alone. And Jonas made it clear. The only way I could see my baby and be with her was if I married him and gave my life to The Society of Lasting Serenity.”

      Flint pushed back his chair and rose to his feet. “I think it’s time I visited the compound and met this Jonas Emanuel.”