Free Ties That Bind by Natalie R. Collins

he said. “I’m sure they won’t mind if Sam comes. I’ll talk to my father.”
    “Why wouldn’t they let someone be there?” Sam had asked innocently, as though she had no idea who the Clarkstons were and what a marriage in this clan signified.
    Mary Ann glanced quickly over at Owen, then back down at her feet. She knew better than to say anything, but Owen had made this overture, and Sam didn’t miss the desperation on Mary Ann’s face. She really wanted Sam to be there with her, although she knew her desire alone would never make it happen.
    “They will if I say so,” Owen said, puffing up his chest a little.
    Jackpot, Sam thought.
    “Great. Glad you have such important friends, Mary Ann. What should I wear? What time should I be there? Actually, uh, where should I be?”
    Mary Ann turned and ran off, headed for the restroom.
    “Jitters,” Owen said. “She’ll be fine. She’s not the first bride to get nervous. But getting married to one of God’s holy priesthood bearers is the only way into the Celestial Kingdom. She knows that.”
    He gave Sam another once-over and then touched her chin. It took all she had not to haul off and punch him in the nose.
    “Why don’t you take your cute little self in there and see if she’s okay. And tell her to hurry out, because we got customers.”
    Sam smiled, trying not to gag as it felt like worms were crawling up and down her throat. She turned and walked to the bathroom. She couldn’t let this man see her distaste. She had a job to do.
    “What’s the matter, Mary Ann? Why aren’t you happy?” Sam asked when she discovered the girl sobbing in the restroom. Of course, Sam understood a lot more than she had let on. Her every instinct told her to sneak this poor girl out of the store right then and there—get her the hell away from these evil people who believed God was talking to them and only them.
    “I don’t want to marry him. He’s my … He’s my … I don’t want it. I don’t want to be here.”
    “Then don’t,” Sam said. “You are a woman and you have rights. This is not the eighteen hundreds. You don’t have to marry anyone you don’t want to.”
    “You don’t understand. You don’t know my family.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I can’t talk about it.”
    “Look, I can help you. I can help you get out, if you want out,” Sam said, knowing the words were a mistake even as she said them. She had to stay in her cover and play the part. But this girl was desperate. She needed help. She needed to escape.
    “How?” Mary Ann whispered. “How can you get me out of this? It’s my destiny.”
    “I can find you a safe place. You’re just going to have to trust me on this one.”
    Sam didn’t miss the dawning of hope in the girl’s eyes just as there was a sharp rap on the bathroom door.
    “Hey, what are you two doing in there?” Owen yelled.
    “Coming, coming,” Mary Ann called, wiping her eyes.
    “We’ll talk later,” Sam told her.
    But they never did.
    That night Gage pulled Sam off the case. And Mary Ann disappeared. Her body was found three months later, out in the desert on property owned by the Clarkstons. They claimed she had run away. The body had been too decomposed to identify a cause of death.
    *   *   *
    Sam’s lungs finally stopped fighting for air, the ache in her side eased, and her calves only throbbed slightly. She couldn’t run from her ghosts. She wasn’t sure why she kept trying.
    Because you’re damned stubborn and you always have been? Gage is here to help. Let him.
    Sam shook her head. I don’t need his help, Callie. I know the look you have on your face, I can see it like you were here by my side just yesterday, and I’m telling you, I can figure this out. I can keep more kids from dying.
    The answer was a whispering breeze through the tops of the trees. For once, Callie wasn’t talking. Recalcitrant, even in Sam’s mind Callie was still the teenager she had been when she died. She never