Land of Entrapment by Andi Marquette Page A

married and raise their children on a farm, making sure they had good things to eat and wouldn’t grow up influenced by
    “corrupt Jew culture.” But he also said that he needed to get some money together for the down payment on the land. He was going to go to work for a couple of his friends, he said, and within a few months, they’d have enough. He signed off with “for blood and future.” That was a new one. Oddly, he made no reference to any particular group with which he might be affiliated. Damn.
    Megan’s responses to these overtures were at first noncommittal. So she hadn’t bought it completely.
    Still, the last e-mail she sent to him said that she was really looking forward to being with him forever and she had packed up a few things and was waiting for him. She sent that message the week before she disappeared. I stood, gritting my teeth. The whole relationship detailed right there. I’d tell Melissa about the e-mails, but I didn’t think she’d want to read them.
    I went to the bedroom and got my address book out of my “college bag.” I flipped to Judy Hansford and dialed the number on my cell. I got her voice mail and left her a brief message along with my number and asked her to please give me a call when she had a chance. Almost five. I’d better check in with Melissa.
    I dialed her number, thinking I’d probably better program it into my phone. She answered on the second ring.
    “Hi.”
    “Hey. I went through Megan’s e-mail files. She saved everything she got from him. It’s—” I paused.
    “Well, it’s how he recruited her.”
    Melissa was silent for a moment. Then, “Do I want to read them?”
    “I don’t know. Some of it’s hard to take. He worked on convincing her that being gay is like an addiction and if you would just get into treatment, you wouldn’t be gay anymore.”
    “Oh, God...”
    “Maybe you shouldn’t,” I said. “Let me deal with it.” “Thanks.” She paused. “Is it okay if I swing by now?”
    “Sure. I need to give you a new key, anyway.”
    “Give me a half-hour. See you soon.”
    I hung up and started poking around on Megan’s bookshelves, trying to fill the time before Melissa arrived. I found three paperbacks with inscriptions from Cody within. He loved her and was so glad she was taking an interest in his life. I flipped through the pages, noting what was underlined. Megan liked blue highlighter. I had checked the textbooks on her shelves. The underlining in these books was in black pen. Cody had given her his personal copies. I checked the shelves in her bedroom. Nothing racist here, thank God. One shelf was devoted to three framed photos, including one of Megan with Cody—I recognized it from her hard drive—and one of her with Melissa.
    I remembered the trip. I had taken this photo. The three of us had gone to the Grand Canyon about eight months before Megan started using the second time.
    Though they only shared one parent, they had similar facial features. Both had dark hair though Melissa’s had a sort of auburn sheen to it. Where Melissa’s eyes were a mixture of blue and gray, Megan’s were a clear blue. Both women enjoyed those high cheekbones that straight women would kill for and lesbians would die for. I stared at it for a long time, thinking that Megan had seemed happy on that trip. We all had. I put the photo down and picked up the third.
    Melissa again, alone and smiling. I didn’t recognize it, so it was probably taken after I had left.
    Idly, I opened Megan’s jewelry box, which sat on the top shelf. I didn’t know what I expected to see in it and I was still nervous about finding drug paraphernalia. Fortunately, only earrings and bracelets inhabited the top tray. Underneath that I found another framed photo. I almost dropped it when I looked at it. Melissa with me. We were standing near Taos Pueblo and she had her arms around my waist while my right arm was over her shoulders. We were both smiling. I remembered that trip