Page 98 of Bring Them Home

“Are you here to tell us you arrested the people responsible for all of this?” Deborah asked, her voice leery.

“We know who did it,” Trent said. “Plans are in motion for arrests to be made.”

“There’s that at least, but…” Deborah’s chin quivered, and Bruce wrapped his arm around his wife.

Amanda glanced at Valerie and found her watching her. “Could we speak a moment?”

Valerie nodded, and Bruce was quick to take position behind her chair and wheel her to a corner of the room where Amanda and Trent had moved to. He then left them alone and returned to the rest of the family.

“We can both understand your hesitation to talk out against the people who did this,” Amanda began. “The man responsible is very dangerous, which you witnessed firsthand.” A sliver of guilt fired through her for the senseless statement that would have only served as a potent reminder. “Do you know how long you were in that well?”

“Just that it was after they killed Abigail, after they had already…” Valerie scrunched up her face and stared in the distance.

“We can only imagine what you’ve been through.” Getting right to the questions was working to open Valerie up.

“Can you though? I saw my husband stabbed in front of my eyes by this sadistic woman and then watched her cut out Abigail’s tongue.”

Amanda made a mental note of this, even if it was as they suspected. A woman, Antonina Martini aka Nina. “Did someone order her to do this?”

“I don’t think I should say any more.”

“Hernandez has no reason to know if you speak to us. I promise whatever you say is only between us. But you could help us direct our investigation more accurately.”

“How can I trust that, Detective? That it’s between us? Nothing against you, but look at what happened to Abigail. She sacrificed her life and still ended up dead. I can’t lose anyone else.” Valerie hugged herself, as she looked over at her family.

Amanda empathized with Valerie’s side but flipped her defense in her mind. “This could be something you do for your family, for yourself, Mrs. Archer, and for Abigail and Paul.” She put it out there as tenderly as she could.

A few beats later, Valerie said, “Another man was there when Paul was killed, but he acted like he took orders from her. When Abigail’s tongue was”—Valerie swallowed roughly. “The other man was there. Devil Eyes.”

Hernandez… Tremors ran through Amanda. They had their confirmation, but as she’d promised Valerie, Hernandez and his people didn’t need to know.

Valerie continued. “They took her outside, and I heard Devil Eyes say, ‘She’s mine.’ I thought that he was going to return for me and Brooke and kill us.” She paused and rubbed her throat. “But Devil Eyes said he had other plans for us. That’s when they took us and put us in the well behind the barn.”

Abigail’s time of death was estimated as late morning to early afternoon. “They took you there during the day?”

“No, it was later at night. They didn’t return for a long time after leaving with Abigail.”

By that account, Valerie and her daughter had been in that well over forty-eight hours. But still… “Do you know how they knew it was even there?”

Valerie shook her head.

“Okay, thank you for telling us all of this. As I promised, all of this is between us. Could you tell us about your relationship with Abigail? How long had you been in contact with her?” They knew that someone on a burner phone had reached out about a year ago and had assumed it was Abigail.

Valerie glanced at her family, who seemed caught up in their own conversation, then back to Amanda and Trent. “For about a year. She reached out over a burner, and we’d keep in touch here and there, and she’d switch them out.”

Just as we thought… “Do you know why she contacted you in the first place?” It was one puzzle that baffled Amanda. Was it regarding her testimony being dismissed? Though, if so, that would have happened years ago. So why not reach out before the last year?

Valerie toyed with the hem on the sleeve of her hospital gown. “Abigail was homesick and frustrated. She wanted to come home, but she was scared to leave WITSEC in case it put the rest of us in danger. She said she saw Hernandez face to face once, and that’s all it took to shake her to her core. He had the eyes of the devil.”

Amanda couldn’t disagree, but Abigail never should have seen him in person unless a trial happened. “When did she meet him?”

“When she overheard him say what he did.”

Amanda’s heart rate calmed down. That made more sense. Ever since having her hackles raised about Anderson, she was less trusting. Seeing conspiracy and corruption everywhere. “Right, yes, of course.”

“She was terrified. As it turns out, for good reason. I never should have called her to get tested. It’s just that…” Valerie looked over at her son, who, despite his health, was grinning.

“You wanted to help your son.”