“Sit in the chair,” she hissed, waving me toward the table.

The last thing I wanted was to sit in one of those chairs. “I think I’ll just stand.”

Before I realized what was happening, Rhonda pulled a stun gun from her jacket pocket with her left hand and aimed it at me.

I cried out as the pain flooded my body, but I fought the darkness at the edges of my vision. I needed to keep conscious.

Rhonda pulled the barbs out of my skin and dragged me over to one of the chairs, not an easy task given the fact that all of the muscles in my body refused to work. My head hung forward as she wrapped a rope around my chest, securing me to the chair. “If you’d just done this the easy way…”

“Mother?” Jonah asked from the doorway.

Mother? Rhonda was Jonah’s mother? I tried to lift my head, but my body refused to cooperate.

“Mother, what are you doing? Who is that?”

None of this happened in my vision. I nearly cried with happiness.

“That slut who keeps sniffing around you at the church. I saw through her just like I saw through all those other women.”

“Rose?” Jonah’s voice broke. “What other women?”

“Those church women who tried to lure you away from your mission.”

“Oh, Mother.” Jonah sounded devastated.

“Jesus was celibate. He devoted his entire life to his ministry. I know you can’t be a real priest now, Jonas, but you can still act like one.”

“Momma, give me the gun.”

The energy started to flow back into my muscles, and I could lift my head enough to see Jonah extending his hand to Rhonda.

“That’s a good idea,” she said. “You can kill her. You can prove your loyalty to your calling.”

I could see Jonah’s hand reaching for the gun.

Rhonda backed up. “No.” She sounded disappointed. “You’re not strong enough to do it. All these women have made you weak. It’s up to me to save you.”

“I swear to you that Rose hasn’t done anything. I asked her to help me. If anyone should be shot, it’s me.” Jonah dropped to his knees, pleading with his mother. “God the Father sacrificed his only son for the salvation of the world. You can do the same.” He reached for her but she stayed just out of reach. “You can sacrifice your son for the souls of the damned. The whores and the drug addicts and the thieves.”

She hesitated, finally, shaking her head. “No. They don’t deserve such a sacrifice.”

“But did the prostitutes and tax collectors deserve Jesus’s attention and love? If anyone should die, it should be me, Mother, so I can follow Jesus’s example.”

I shook my head, although it took more energy than I’d expected. “No. Jonah, don’t do it,” I said, but my words came out slurred.

Rhonda turned to me with a glare and whacked the side of my head with the butt of her gun. “Keep your heathen mouth shut!”

White light burst into my vision, but I clung to consciousness, even though my stomach rebelled.

Jonah cried out. “Mother! No!” He stood and crept toward her, his eyes wide. “There’s another way.”

She held the gun to my temple, and I fought a sob rising in my throat.

Jonah held up his hands. “Wait! Wait.” He was close to hyperventilating. His gaze turned to the doorway, and Rhonda’s followed, even though she was still holding the gun to my head.

Mason stood there, a shotgun in his hand, his face deadly calm. “Put the gun down. I can assure you that I won’t hesitate to use this.”

She sneered, “I know who you are. You’re the assistant DA. You won’t shoot me.”

A murderous gleam filled his eyes. “Don’t be so sure about that. I beat a man into an irreversible coma. Shooting you wouldn’t begin to faze me.”

Her hand shook, jabbing the tip of the gun into the place where she’d hit me. Bolts of pain shot through my head. I started crying harder.

Jonah reached out his hand. “Momma, just hand me the gun, and everything will be okay. Please.”

For the first time, she faltered in her conviction, tears filling her voice. “I just want what’s best for you, Jonas.”

Mason still stood in the doorway, his gaze turning to me for a moment. When he saw the blood dripping down the side of my face, his eyes hardened.

Jonah moved closer. “I know you do, Momma. You always have. That’s why we’re here. You realized I was about to get in trouble in Homer, so you suggested we move here.”

Rhonda nodded. “Yes! It needed to be done, Jonas. I needed to keep you pure. But I didn’t want people to blame you for killing those women. But women in this town are so much looser.” Her voice hardened again. “Like this one here, throwin’ herself at you.”

Mason turned the shotgun toward Jonah. “How much do you love your son?”

Rhonda gasped.

I tried to shake my head, but pain sent spots into my vision. “Mason. Stop!’

“I assure you, if you kill her, I will kill your son.”

Jonah lifted his hands in resignation. He would truly die to help save me.

The gun dug into my head. “You wouldn’t,” Rhonda challenged, but she didn’t sound so certain.

“Are you willing to risk his life to find out?”

I couldn’t sit here and let Jonah get killed or Mason ruin his career again, especially over me. I also knew Rhonda was too crazy for there to be any hope of reasoning with her.