Molina considered this. “Do you think that Ephraim believed you dead all this time?”

“Yes, I do.” Mercy glanced at Gideon, relieved that he was no longer glaring at her. “When Gideon escaped, DJ’s father brought back a body and claimed it was Gideon’s. The body was so damaged that I couldn’t identify it, but my mother did. She knew it wasn’t Gideon, though. I figure that they did something similar for me. They had to demonstrate the consequences of running away to keep up the fear. You leave, you die. It was that simple. I don’t know if Ephraim knew that Gideon wasn’t really dead, or that I wasn’t either, but we do know that he actively searched for Eileen.”

“So you think Ephraim would have found you if he’d really looked?” Molina asked.

“I do. There was a police report about the shooting in Redding when I was left there, wasn’t there?” Mercy asked. “Hunter referred to it last night. There had to have been one when Gideon was found there, too. If Ephraim had really wanted to, he could have found us. I don’t think he even tried, because he believed us dead.”

“So back to my question,” Molina said. “Why does he want you now?”

Mercy shrugged. “I don’t know, and that’s the truth. It could be that he saw the CNN report somehow, although I don’t know how he could have. There’s no TV in Eden. Although the timing makes sense considering he booked his ticket to New Orleans that night.”

Molina nodded thoughtfully. “True. We’ve established that Ephraim was in Santa Rosa the night of the CNN report, at the house from which Regina Jewel operated her prostitution ring. One of the underage girls who’d been forced to work for Regina said that she saw Ephraim that night. The girl had been scheduled to ‘service’ him, but she was relieved because he canceled and left the building. She said that Regina was really annoyed, because she’d blocked out the girl’s schedule for two days.”

Mercy closed her eyes, both relieved that the girls in that awful place were free and knowing that true freedom was going to require a lot of therapy. “Are they safe now? The girls? Will they get counseling?”

“Yes,” Molina said gently. “They’re safe and will be receiving physical and mental health services. All right, I think that’s enough for the moment. Where will you all be staying tonight?”

Mercy looked at the others. “Can we go back to Sacramento? I need to feed my cats.”

André nodded, his arm tight around Farrah’s shoulders. “I second that. We all need some rest. I’d feel safer staying in a secure home than a hotel.”

“But let’s stay together, okay?” Daisy said with a worried frown. “Gideon, we can stay in Sasha’s apartment, and Farrah and André can keep the top floor.”

Mercy nodded. That meant that she’d stay with Rafe in the tiny studio apartment again. And even if he was furious at her, just being with him sounded really, really good.