Read Online Satan’s Lambs by Lynn Hightower - Free Book Online

when he was little, that if he did, it would kill him. Eat him up inside with fire, is what he said. And how he joked about it, and said of course it wasn’t really true, but still she never saw him go into a church.”
    Mendez unloaded six cans of Green Giant Blunt Cut Unsalted Green Beans on the table. “There are eight more cans of green beans in here.”
    â€œThat’s Beth,” Lena said. “She’s into coupons.”
    Mendez refilled her wineglass. “What else did your sister tell you?”
    Lena took another sip of wine. She smiled, though she wasn’t sure what she was smiling at.
    â€œGo on,” Mendez said.
    â€œTrust me, Joel, you don’t want to hear this.”
    â€œYes I do.”
    â€œOkay, then, I don’t want to talk about it.” Lena’s lower lip quivered. “Please, Joel—”
    He was close again, bending over her, and she could smell his cologne. He pushed hair out of her eyes, his hands gentle.
    â€œDid Hayes talk about being taken to ceremonies?” His voice was low and insistent. “About men and women and children, standing around a naked woman? Did he say he saw animals butchered, and drained of blood—that he had to taste the blood?”
    Lena put her hands over her ears. She was breathing fast—too much wine, too many beers. Mendez pulled a chair up in front of her. He sat down and pulled her hands away from her ears, his fingers pressing against hers.
    â€œLook at me, Lena.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œLook at me.”
    She tried pulling away but he kept hold of her, his hands warm, his grip tight.
    â€œLet me tell you what else he said,” Mendez told her. “He said he was forced to drink urine. Eat excrement. Hold a knife and use it. He saw a woman murdered, heard a baby scream.”
    â€œHow do you know?” Lena took a harsh breath. “How do you know what he said?”
    â€œWho took him? Who made him go to the ceremonies?”
    Lena shook her head.
    â€œWho?”
    He was close to her, too close. Lena pulled back and glared at him.
    â€œHis mother . And his grandparents. There was an uncle and some cousins.” Lena snatched her hands away. “You see what I mean? No mother would do something like that. You’re telling me his family—”
    â€œThere are hard-core groups, Lena. Family groups. They brutalize their children from generation to generation.”
    â€œHere? In the kind of little town where Hayes grew up?”
    Mendez nodded. “Hayes comes from a classic hard-core situation.”
    Lena stood up and walked across the room. She backed up against the kitchen counter. “So why didn’t he tell anybody? Why didn’t he get away?”
    â€œWho would he tell? You didn’t believe him; you didn’t want to. What happened when Whitney tried to tell? What happened when you told the parole board that Hayes was a Satan worshiper who committed crimes in the name of his religion? Didn’t buy it, did they?”
    Lena shook her head.
    â€œThese people are not stupid. They are good at sleight of hand. They can impress a child, make them believe incredible things. Make them think they see a man killed, then come back to life. Remember, they’re drugged. What happens when you drug a child, and tell him he’s bad, he belongs to Satan, that Satan will always watch and know? There’s a Santa Claus and an Easter bunny. Why not the devil? And when the child reports the things he thinks he sees, as well as the things he really saw—”
    Lena sighed deeply. “No one believes. If one thing can’t be true, the other probably isn’t either.” She sagged against the sink and folded her arms. “So how do you know what really happened?”
    â€œYou don’t. But some groups are … extremists.”
    â€œExtremists. Why? What’s the point of this?”
    Mendez shrugged. “Power, acceptance, and