AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dad’s hand darted out and took mine. I saw out of the corner of my eye Deb’s fingers curl around Dad’s knee.
After that, we all sat immobile and stared at Hank.
But now it was Eddie’s turn.
So we stared at him.
“Brody pinpointed a suspect who is now in prison in Wisconsin who we thought was good for what happened to Macy.”
Wisconsin?
We lived outside Philly.
Eddie kept talking.
“Hank and I spoke with local law enforcement and flew out to have a conversation with him,” Eddie went on. “The crimes he committed were against boys, but we were riding a hunch due to some of the things he said during interrogation. That hunch proved true, and we were able to elicit a confession of his abduction of five girls, along with the seven boys he’d been convicted of abducting and murdering. He gave us locations for where he buried the bodies. Luke and Hector attended the excavations.”
Back to Hank, “And we’re sorry to inform you that one of the bodies recovered was Macy.”
I heard Deb’s sob, but Dad made no noise or movement, neither did I, except his fingers tightened so tightly around mine, they caused pain.
I didn’t care.
Hank kept at it.
“I understand this probably gives no measure of comfort, but this perpetrator had a daughter. He seemed relieved to be free of the burden of the secret of taking the girls. He also didn’t abuse them. As he was molested by his uncles, he molested the boys, but he was adamant he did not do the same to the girls. He appeared openly repulsed by the idea. Why he took them and did what he did to them, we don’t know. We can only deduce that he couldn’t fight the urge to kidnap them, and he didn’t want to get caught, so he had to…I’m sorry to frame it this way, but in his mind, he was burying the evidence. Though, after Macy was recovered, we further interrogated him, and he shared he had Macy for two days before he bludgeoned her, buried her and moved on. We’ve been assured by the coroner that she died very quickly, and she would have been rendered unconscious by the blow, so if it wasn’t immediately, it would have still been without pain.”
At that, Dad surged to his feet.
I came up with him, as did Deb.
She latched onto his arm with both hands.
I got in his space.
“Dad—”
“Two days,” he spat.
“Dad—”
“She was dead two days after he took her!” Dad bellowed.
I crowded him as I sensed all the men retreating, which was a surprise, but I also sensed they did this because they would stand back and let him tear apart the room if that was what he needed.
And I knew why.
Because I saw the pictures of Mace and Stella and their kids as we walked to this room.
“Dad, look at me,” I urged.
He looked at me. “All that hope and fear and all theshit!” he exploded on the last. “Years of it! And she was already dead.”
“Okay, but?—”
“I’d convinced myself,” he spoke over me. “I’d convinced myself it was some guy who lost his daughter and Macy reminded him of her, and all this time, he loved her and took care of her. And she lived a good life and was in love with some clown he hoped she’d snap out of before he put any deposits down.”
OhGod.
