A grateful look washes over him, but our moment is broken when someone knocks on the door.
“Come in,” he calls, and I go back to my pepper steak.
Savannah's head pops into the room.
“There is someone here to speak with you, Sheriff,” she says.
“When did you become my secretary?” he asks with a laugh.
Savannah rolls her eyes at him.
“I don't know, and I don't like it,” she says.
We leave our food in the conference room and head out to the front of the station. An older man and woman huddle close together in front of the desk. When the man sees Sam, he takes a step toward him.
“Sheriff Johnson?” he asks
“Yes,” Sam says.
“I'm Thao, and this is my wife Cam. We are Everly's parents.”
Sam nods as he shakes the man's hand.
“Yes. Thank you for coming. If you'll come into the back with me, we can talk. This is Emma. She's helping me with your daughter's case.”
I greet both of them, and they nod back at me. When we get into the interview room, the couple opts to sit on the couch at the far end, perching close together at the edge of the center cushion. Sam and I move chairs closer.
“I'm sorry it took so long for us to get here,” Thao says.
“Please, don't worry. I can't even imagine how difficult this time is for you, Mr. Zara.”
He shakes his head.
“Not Zara,” he says. “Everly took that name when she was very young. It belonged to a family who helped my wife and I when we first came to this country, and who became very close with our daughter when she was born. You may call me Thao.”
"Did it bother you that your daughter changed her last name?" I ask.
"We came here so our children would have a chance at a life we never dreamed of, a life we never could have given them without being here. We had nothing at the time, but it was what gave us the strength and courage to make the move. We wanted everything for her. The best schools. The most opportunity. We didn't have much money, but we gave her everything we could to help her succeed and find her best life here. That included agreeing to a simpler last name that would help her feel more comfortable at school and meeting new people. It didn't feel like an insult. She still had her love for her family, and it was an honorable choice to choose the family that helped us so much," Thao says.
He's doing everything he can to stay strong and fight tears pooling in his eyes. Beside him, his wife trembles, rocking back and forth as she cries.
“She was my only child,” Cam suddenly starts. “My baby. And someone took her from us. Her past finally caught up with her.”
My eyes jump over to Sam.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Cam,” Thao scolds under his breath, trying to quiet her, but she shakes her head adamantly at him.
“No,” she says. “I won't stay quiet. Not now. Can't you see staying quiet has killed our child? We should have listened to her. We should have understood. But we didn't, and now she's gone.”
Thao stares into her face for several seconds, then finally nods.
"You’re right. Tell them," he says. "Perhaps they can save another life."
Half an hour later, I pound on Michael Blair's door. It takes a few moments, but finally, he opens it.
“Emma, Sheriff,” he says, confusion written on his face. “I wasn't expecting you. Did you find out something?”
“Yeah,” I say, stepping into the house. “You could say that. Why didn't you tell us Everly was involved with a cult?”
He takes in a breath, his head hanging as he slowly closes the door. Gesturing ahead of him, he guides us into the living room where we can sit down.
“How did you find out?” Michael asks.
“Her parents came to the station,” Sam says. “Her mother told us Everly started talking about a group she was involved with about five years ago.”
Michael nods. “She met a guy in the coffee shop where she was working. He showed her a lot of attention and made her feel special, then invited her to meet some people he said were important to him.”
“She told her parents they were impressed by her and wanted her to come study with them. That they were going to save the world. They thought she was talking about some sort of humanitarian program at first. Then she talked about them more and more, and said they wanted her to come stay with them.”
He rubs his hands through his face, staring off as if he can see her alive still.
“Everly loved her parents. Very much. It was never lost on her how much they went through and sacrificed for her so she could have a life. So she could have a future. I think that's what convinced her to stay with the Society.”
“What do you mean?” Sam asks.
“Like I said, she loved her parents. But they weren't affectionate. They weren't the type to lavish praise or give hugs. When she excelled at something, that was just her reaching her potential or doing what she was expected to do. They didn't see it as anything exceptional or worthy of acknowledgement. She got validation from them in other ways, but she still craved that sense of being cherished and appreciated and special just because she was who she was and not because of anything she was capable of accomplishing. These people knew that. The guy she got wrapped up with did everything he could to make her feel beautiful and precious. When he brought her to The Tower, the people there piled it on even more. They remarked on her beauty, they hugged her, they hung on her every word and were excited every time she came. They told her she was destined for greatness. Was one of the special chosen who would bring about the ‘New Time’, or whatever.”
“And she fell into that?” Sam asks.
“Cults are incredibly powerful,” I comment. “They exist because they appeal to what a person needs. A sense of community. A family. Respect. Wealth. Power. Feeling better than others. Feeling like they know something others don't, or that they will be privileged in some way over others. A promise of a better life. A sense of worth. They all do the same thing, just different packaging.”
“Exactly,” Michael nods. “They offered her so much and totally immersed her in this idea of an incredible future they were creating, by the time everything changed, she belonged to them. They erased her. From the first moment, they changed her name. Everyone within the Society was given a different name when they came. They were given roles and responsibilities. She didn't know at the beginning that her name meant she was chosen to be in the leader's harem. He convinced the women that having sex with him brought them closer to what he called The Essence.”
"Their version of God?" Sam asks.
“He was their version of God,” Michael corrects. “But something like that. They believed this man, Lucas, was going to bring about the cataclysmic reckoning of the Earth that would then allow their New Time to rise from the ashes. But in order to do that, he needed to… take advantage of them. The man who brought her in was a recruiter. He went out and found women to offer up to either become sex slaves, servants, or broodmares populating their new world. He found men to be either laborers, enforcers, or other recruiters.”
"How long was she a part of it?" I ask.
"Two years. She was starved, beaten, raped, and worked brutally for the last six months of it before she managed to escape."
"That explains why her parents didn't hear from her," Sam muses.
"She wondered why they never did anything to try to find her," Michael says. "But even after she was out, they couldn’t bring themselves to admit she was involved in something like that. They knew she got involved with something but would never admit it was as dangerous as it was. Even though she spent a year running from them."