A Time of Torment (36 page)

Sheriff Henkel had come down the same road shortly before noon, and when Hayward asked him his business, Henkel advised him in no uncertain terms not to fuck with him, and informed Hayward that if he didn’t lift the barrier within ten seconds Henkel would cuff him to a tree and deal with the legal consequences later. He wanted to see Oberon, he said, and Hayward, catching the look in the sheriff’s eye, decided that the best thing to do was raise the barrier and lead him to Oberon, keeping the pace slow in order to contact Oberon from his truck and give him any time he might need to prepare.

Oberon was waiting for them at the southern edge of the Square, and Hayward noticed that the barrier had been lowered behind him, sealing off the heart of the community: the sheriff wasn’t advancing any deeper into the Cut than this. Henkel got out of his car and straight into Oberon’s face.

‘Perry Lutter’s missing,’ he said.

‘How can you be sure?’ asked Oberon. ‘Perry Lutter takes walks right across this county.’

‘Does he walk in the Cut?’

‘I don’t believe so.’

‘Well, we need to know for sure. I want your permission to search it.’

‘This is private land, Sheriff.’

‘That’s why I’m asking.’

‘I can’t let you do it. We value our solitude.’

‘Bullshit.’

Oberon remained silent. He wasn’t used to being spoken to in this way.

‘I don’t like your tone, Sheriff Henkel, or your language.’

‘I don’t much care. Perry’s not in the habit of staying out overnight, not without telling his mom and pop where he’s going to be, and even then he always remains within sight of his home. We’re concerned for his safety. This is the largest section of privately owned land in the county. It’s possible that he might have wandered into it.’

‘If he’d wandered into the Cut, we’d know,’ said Oberon.

‘Is that a fact?’

‘It is.’

Hayward watched it all, waiting for the inevitable eruption. He wouldn’t have been surprised if one of the two men had suddenly leapt at the other, precipitating a confrontation that would bring the Cut into outright conflict with the county. Instead, it was Oberon who relented.

‘I’ll organize a search of the Cut,’ he said.

‘Not good enough.’

‘What more do you want?’

‘I want my people to join the search.’

‘This is our land.’

‘And this is a man’s life.’

And, again, Oberon retreated.

‘All right, but I get to approve the outsiders. There are people from the county who will only come onto this land over my dead body.’

Even Henkel appeared surprised at the compromise being offered. It was, Hayward guessed, more than he had expected.

‘Agreed.’

‘And they stay out of our houses and outbuildings.’

Henkel’s mouth twisted.

‘Agreed,’ he said again, but more reluctantly than before.

‘Give me an hour,’ said Oberon. ‘I’ll arrange for men to wait at each of the main entry routes. Who will you be sending?’

Henkel considered the question, then gave a list of names, two of which were immediately discounted by Oberon without explanation. Henkel substituted two replacements, and Oberon gave his approval.

‘If Perry isn’t found soon,’ said Henkel, ‘I’m going to start talking to people about their movements over the last twenty-four hours. That’ll include your folk, understood? You’ll make them available to me if required.’

‘I have no difficulty with that. Let’s just hope Perry turns up safe, so it won’t be necessary.’

Henkel glanced over Oberon’s shoulder to where three men had appeared from a house on the right of the Square. Even from a distance, he recognized the bulk of Cassander, and beside him his two sons. They were watching from a distance, but did not approach. Marius was putting on his coat, and the engine of his truck was running.

‘Yeah,’ said Henkel. ‘Let’s hope.’

O
beron had less than an hour to prepare for the arrival of the searchers, and ensure that certain areas remained out of bounds. He certainly didn’t want the blockhouse or anywhere in its vicinity to be inspected, which meant that those who entered the Cut from the north needed to be steered either east or west as they approached the Square. It was all a game anyway: even if Henkel suspected the Cut’s involvement in Perry Lutter’s disappearance, he must have known that they wouldn’t be dumb enough to dispose of him on their own land.

Oberon’s next move was a distraction from the main business, but a necessary one, if only for the sake of his own authority, and as an outlet for his rage. He headed to Cassander’s house. Marius had already left to source parts for a generator, or so Oberon was told by Cassander. Lucius was in the backyard, checking on the cold frames that would be used to grow vegetables over the winter. His father was at the other end of the garden, spreading a mulch of peat moss, bark, and shredded newspaper to insulate the plants and prevent erosion. All this, instead of coming to find out the reason for Henkel’s appearance in the Cut. They were deliberately distancing themselves from Oberon.

Lucius turned at the sound of Oberon’s approach, and was just in time to take a blow to his chin from the heel of Oberon’s hand. It sent him sprawling to the ground, and he tasted blood, although he managed to avoid biting his tongue.

‘What did you do?’ shouted Oberon.

Lucius tried to rise, but Oberon pursued him, kicking at his thighs, his ass, his back, until Lucius gave up the attempt to flee and simply curled in upon himself in an effort to protect his face and his groin from damage. By then Cassander was coming at a run, and he tackled Oberon, hurling himself with full force at the older man so that both of them ended up in the dirt beside Lucius.

Oberon was first to his feet, but he quickly found himself facing both Cassander and his son. He noted with satisfaction the blood running from Lucius’s mouth, and the swelling by his right eye where one of Oberon’s kicks had connected.

‘What did you do to Perry Lutter?’ asked Oberon.

Lucius wiped some of the blood away. Despite his injunction to Benedict to remain silent, he heard himself start talking before he could think straight. He hated Oberon, because Oberon frightened him.

‘He saw us,’ said Lucius.

‘When?’

‘When we were burying Killian and Huff.’

‘How do you know?’

‘I caught him watching us from the woods. It was only for a couple of seconds, and then he was gone, but it was him. I’m sure of it. I should have told you before, but—’

‘Go on.’

‘I was scared.’ The humiliation of the admission made Lucius want to throw up.

‘And?’

Lucius glanced at his father, who nodded once.

‘We took care of him.’

‘You “took care” of him?’

‘It was quick. He didn’t suffer. I didn’t want him to. I always liked Perry.’

Oberon turned to Cassander.

‘You knew about this? You knew, and said nothing?’

Cassander didn’t look away, and Oberon thought:
They’re openly challenging me. This is how it starts
.

‘We were going to tell you,’ he said. ‘
I
was going to tell you.’

‘When?’

Cassander shrugged. Today, tomorrow, next week – it didn’t matter. It was done.

‘Henkel is coming,’ said Oberon. ‘He’s bringing search parties into the Cut.’ Cassander appeared shocked. Even Lucius stopped dabbing at his bleeding mouth.

‘We have to stop him,’ said Cassander.

‘You don’t appear to understand,’ said Oberon. ‘Your son, by his actions, has brought them down on us. I’m not going to prevent Henkel from entering. I gave him my permission to come.’

‘You’re
allowing
him into the Cut?’

‘If I don’t, he’ll go looking for a warrant – and he’ll get it. It’ll draw more trouble to us, and we’re already engaged in damage control over Killian and Huff. Half the county is probably looking for Perry Lutter. If we stand in their way, they’ll turn against us. We have no reason not to allow a search, unless we have something to hide.’

Reluctantly, Oberon turned his attention to Lucius.

‘Where did you put him?’

‘Over the county line. We buried him deep, and put bricks on top. He won’t be found.’

‘We?’

‘Benedict and me.’

Oberon clenched his fists. He wanted to pummel Lucius some more, and his father along with him. Instead he said, ‘When this is done, you’ll answer for Perry’s death. Until then, get to the western road, and wait for the searchers to come. Make sure nobody wanders off the path, and delay them all for as long as you can. Cassander, organize guides to join the teams at the other approaches, then take four men and monitor the area around the blockhouse. If anyone comes near, head him off. I don’t want any outsiders to get close enough even to see it, am I clear?’

‘Yes. And what about you?’

‘I’ll join Henkel once I’m done.’

‘You won’t—’

‘What?’

‘You won’t kill them?’ said Cassander.

They all knew to whom he was referring. There was no need to speak it aloud.

‘They’re worth too much to us to kill,’ said Oberon. ‘My wife will keep them quiet. But your son has just cost your family fifty percent of your share. You’d better hope those plants make it through the winter, or you’ll be begging others for food.’

Cassander didn’t try to argue. He and his son watched Oberon walk away. His time was drawing to a close, and Cassander’s was about to begin.

‘Fifty percent!’ said Lucius. ‘We can’t let him do that to us. We earned our full share. I earned it for us in Maine.’

‘I know,’ said Cassander. ‘Don’t worry. It won’t come to pass.’

‘He thinks that it was my decision alone to kill Perry.’

‘For now. You said nothing to Benedict to make him suspect otherwise?’

‘Not a word. You still believe it was the right thing to do?’

‘Yes.’

Oberon was almost at his house. His back was still impossibly broad, but he walked with a slight stoop. He was aging.

‘If you want me to do it, I’ll kill him,’ said Lucius.

Cassander gripped his son by the back of the neck.

‘We’ll see. Now get ready to meet the outsiders.’

Word was already spreading that the Cut was about to be violated, but it was made clear to all what was expected of them. Men, women, and children old enough to understand the importance of what was happening slipped into the woods to shadow the search parties as they moved deeper into the realm.

Oberon went to Sherah. He needed her for what was to come: she was a calming influence. She sent Tamara to summon Hannah, Bram’s wife, to assist her. When Hannah arrived, the two women walked quickly to the whelping shed where the bitches were kept. Sherah opened the outer door, revealing the second, inner door with its heavy window of reinforced plastic.

And from behind the window, two pregnant women stared back at her with mute hostility.

P
aige Dunstan had been a prisoner of the Cut for three years. In that time, she had given birth to two children, both girls, by Cassander and Oberon respectively. She was now six months pregnant with a third child, this time again by Oberon. Each pregnancy was the result of rape, although after early assaults she had given up trying to fight and had learned to hold the best part of herself apart from what was occurring, so that her body and her consciousness became separate entities. It was an imperfect arrangement, but it was the best she could come up with under the circumstances.

Paige had been abducted from her home near Ashland, Oregon, by Cassander Hobb. She could remember little about it: a dark night, a van, a sudden sharp pain in the side of her neck, and when she woke she was trapped behind a false panel in the back of the vehicle. She ate there, slept there, pissed and crapped there, and was not permitted to leave the van until it reached its destination, by which point her legs were so weak and cramped that she collapsed to the ground as soon as she got outside, and had to be carried to the building that had been her prison ever since.

The prison house had armchairs; two bedrooms; a supply of books and magazines that were regularly refreshed; a laptop without Internet access, but on which DVDs could be watched; and a cupboard filled with food. It did not have a stove or a microwave, so the foodstuffs consisted of candy, cereals, fruit, potato chips, processed meats – anything that could be eaten cold or uncooked. Once a day, she was brought a hot meal. Her utensils were all plastic, and none of her food was stored in cans or metal containers that could be used as a weapon to harm herself or others. The Cut, it seemed, had learned that particular lesson at a price: after two years as a prisoner, Paige was informed by Sherah, who was marginally more forthcoming than some of the other women who tended to her, that her predecessor had slit her wrists with the lid of a baked bean can. Paige had only been told the woman’s first name: Sally. She was buried in the Cut’s cemetery, in a grave marked by another’s name.

It had been a better end than Corrie’s. Paige still thought of her. She had spent a year with Corrie, who was already pregnant when Paige arrived, and gave birth to a boy shortly after. Paige had not been able to run when Corrie tried to make her escape. By then Paige had been eight months pregnant with her first child, and couldn’t fit through the window from which Corrie had painstakingly removed the mortar, replacing it with chewing gum and wet newspaper where the loosened original material was too damaged to sit unnoticed in the frame. They’d sent the dogs after her, but one of them had nicked an artery in her neck when it brought her down, and she’d bled out among the trees. They’d buried her with Sally, and the bigger windows were subsequently bricked up to become slits.

Paige had miscarried once, and received no pre- or post-natal care beyond what was offered by the women of the Cut, but they had been giving birth in its environs for centuries and their midwifery skills, while primitive, were accomplished. The sex was entirely functional on the part of the men involved, although with some degree of care and solicitude from Cassander and Oberon. The rapes largely continued only until she became pregnant, at which point they would almost immediately cease, although some men had been permitted to use her once the pregnancy had been confirmed, just as long as they did not damage her or the fetus.