we went this morning? The Evangelical Order of David? That one?”
Khalil nodded. “Yes, the EOD runs the old part of Innsmouth to a large extent. There was an attempt, a few years ago, to use them as a liaison. The church penetrates the community there in a way that officialdom has never managed. We thought we could use them to collect information on health problems in the congregation, provide us with an idea of the levels of social need in the town.”
“They refused to play ball?”
“Oh no. They agreed readily, but then they just reported back to us that everyone was fine. No-one had any symptoms of respiratory disease, everyone had central heating. There was no drug use, no psychiatric problems, no poverty and no crime. After a few weeks it was abandoned. They had just seen another opportunity to keep us outsiders at arm’s length.”
“Hmm.” Carla pondered for a few moments. “The Taub boy had a lot to say about that church. He even hinted that they were in some way responsible for his condition. And the other kids. He seemed afraid of them. I think that tomorrow I’ll have to go and have a look, talk to whoever’s in charge.”
“They won’t talk to you” said Khalil, quickly. “It might be better to tread a little carefully.”
“Oh, they’ll talk to me” Carla assured him. “I’m a federal employee. If they’re as keen on avoiding publicity as you say they are, it would be better for them to talk to me than have me come back with a posse of doctors and police.” Privately she doubted that she would be able to raise a posse like that. Her boss considered this a punitive assignment, to be wrapped up quickly and without fuss. The threat of action might get her somewhere though. She got up to leave.
“Well, I wish you luck, Dr Edwards. I would come with you, but tomorrow I must work here. If I can be of any other assistance ...”
“I’ll be fine. You keep on looking for congenital defects in the birth records. I’ll see if I can find anything that links our cases to the EOD. Since they seem to be the only people who know anything about what happens in Innsmouth anyway.”
*****
She regretted that parting shot later. It was a little unfair. Khalil was, after all, the one who had alerted the CDC in the first place. Or the EPA, at least. It had irritated her though, to see how reluctant he became in the face of the Evangelical Order of David and their enthusiasm for litigation.
It was still pouring with rain by the time she got back to the hotel, with no sign of it lifting. Carla decided to call it a day and eat at the hotel with the two or three other disconsolate, travelling souls. The food was indifferent, to say the least: frozen fish, despite the proximity of the sea, tinned vegetables, sauce from a catering-size, plastic tub, and a flavourless Viognier loaded with sulphites.
She kept her laptop on the table while she ate, partly to discourage anyone from trying to make conversation and partly so that she could look for information on the Evangelical Order of David.
Perhaps slightly surprisingly, they had no homepage at all. Or at least none that Google could find. The only hit was a link to a cult survivors site. Carla followed the link and scanned the page until she found a throwaway reference halfway down. The EOD was included in a list of active cults, that was all.
Google also suggested that she might have meant the “evanjelicul order of david” and offered another link to that, but when she followed it she just got a 404 error. It seemed that the target site no longer existed.
Carla chewed her food thoughtfully for a few moments and then tried Googling for the url she wanted instead. As luck would have it, the search engine had stored a copy of the page in its cache. She loaded it and scrolled down
Khalil nodded. “Yes, the EOD runs the old part of Innsmouth to a large extent. There was an attempt, a few years ago, to use them as a liaison. The church penetrates the community there in a way that officialdom has never managed. We thought we could use them to collect information on health problems in the congregation, provide us with an idea of the levels of social need in the town.”
“They refused to play ball?”
“Oh no. They agreed readily, but then they just reported back to us that everyone was fine. No-one had any symptoms of respiratory disease, everyone had central heating. There was no drug use, no psychiatric problems, no poverty and no crime. After a few weeks it was abandoned. They had just seen another opportunity to keep us outsiders at arm’s length.”
“Hmm.” Carla pondered for a few moments. “The Taub boy had a lot to say about that church. He even hinted that they were in some way responsible for his condition. And the other kids. He seemed afraid of them. I think that tomorrow I’ll have to go and have a look, talk to whoever’s in charge.”
“They won’t talk to you” said Khalil, quickly. “It might be better to tread a little carefully.”
“Oh, they’ll talk to me” Carla assured him. “I’m a federal employee. If they’re as keen on avoiding publicity as you say they are, it would be better for them to talk to me than have me come back with a posse of doctors and police.” Privately she doubted that she would be able to raise a posse like that. Her boss considered this a punitive assignment, to be wrapped up quickly and without fuss. The threat of action might get her somewhere though. She got up to leave.
“Well, I wish you luck, Dr Edwards. I would come with you, but tomorrow I must work here. If I can be of any other assistance ...”
“I’ll be fine. You keep on looking for congenital defects in the birth records. I’ll see if I can find anything that links our cases to the EOD. Since they seem to be the only people who know anything about what happens in Innsmouth anyway.”
*****
She regretted that parting shot later. It was a little unfair. Khalil was, after all, the one who had alerted the CDC in the first place. Or the EPA, at least. It had irritated her though, to see how reluctant he became in the face of the Evangelical Order of David and their enthusiasm for litigation.
It was still pouring with rain by the time she got back to the hotel, with no sign of it lifting. Carla decided to call it a day and eat at the hotel with the two or three other disconsolate, travelling souls. The food was indifferent, to say the least: frozen fish, despite the proximity of the sea, tinned vegetables, sauce from a catering-size, plastic tub, and a flavourless Viognier loaded with sulphites.
She kept her laptop on the table while she ate, partly to discourage anyone from trying to make conversation and partly so that she could look for information on the Evangelical Order of David.
Perhaps slightly surprisingly, they had no homepage at all. Or at least none that Google could find. The only hit was a link to a cult survivors site. Carla followed the link and scanned the page until she found a throwaway reference halfway down. The EOD was included in a list of active cults, that was all.
Google also suggested that she might have meant the “evanjelicul order of david” and offered another link to that, but when she followed it she just got a 404 error. It seemed that the target site no longer existed.
Carla chewed her food thoughtfully for a few moments and then tried Googling for the url she wanted instead. As luck would have it, the search engine had stored a copy of the page in its cache. She loaded it and scrolled down
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