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The sniffle on the other end of the line was enough to break my heart, over and over again, until it was a pulverized mess.
What had she done to me?
“She starts reading this diary. And the first written entry is the day she met the boyfriend she was with for over two years. Though, Ande said she didn’t know that Addison had a boyfriend, let alone one who lasted that long,” Winston continued. “Well, they started dating, but Ande said that in the journal, she explains that she feels like this boyfriend is hiding something.”
“Does the boyfriend have a name?” I asked calmly.
“No,” Winston answered, knowing why I was asking that question. “Folsom’s working on that right now. As well as my guy.”
I didn’t need to hear the rest of the story. If this man was responsible for making Ande cry, then that was a reason enough for me to kill him with my bare hands.
I waited for him to continue, but still listened to the soft weeping on the other end of the line.
“Well, for two years, Addison dates this guy. And slowly you can see the light go out of her in these journal entries. She explains that she’s depressed. That things are happening that she has no control over. Just a bunch of bad feelings when it comes to this guy. But it’s only in the last six journal entries that you learn why she’s gotten so depressed. Addison Carter was sexually assaulted for two years. Forced to do things that are unimaginable. And when she outlived her purpose, the boyfriend kicked her to the curb. But only after finding out that she was pregnant. That’s when she was beaten so badly that she lost the baby. The very last entry says that she can’t live in a world like this anymore.”
I deflated.
There were no other words for it.
“Shit,” I said. “Baby…”
The sniffling came closer. Then Ande said, “I want to find this guy. And when I find him, I’m going to ruin his life.”
She was going to have to get in line.
“Baby,” I said, “you need to listen to me. Very carefully.”
The sniffling stopped.
I could tell I had her entire focus in that second.
“What?”
“You can’t tell your brothers.”
She inhaled deeply but didn’t argue. “Can you tell me why?”
I looked at the phone that I used for everyday stuff.
“I can’t tell you that,” I said. “But right now, they don’t need to know.”
I heard a rumble, and then heard Hannibal say, “If you tell them, then they’re going to try to go through official channels. They’re all police officers. It’s their job to follow the law. If you don’t tell them, then that gives us the chance to follow where the path leads.”
What he didn’t say was ‘and kill him and hide the body where no one will ever find him.’
“Oh,” she said, understanding completely now. Drawing a deep breath, she said, “They’re supposed to be here in an hour to pick me up. Everyone has to leave or they’ll wonder why.”
“You’re still at her place?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she hesitated. “Should I go?”
I wanted her to get the fuck out of there. Just the idea of her being in that house, now tainted with what we’d learned, gave me hives.
“No,” I said. “But let one of them stay there until you get picked up. The next time you go, I’ll be accompanying you.”
My phone made a strange sound, and then Folsom started speaking.
“So, I figured out why she was cremated before the parents got there,” Folsom said to everyone. “Legally, that shouldn’t have happened. It should be the next of kin deciding what is done with the body.”
