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“Watch!” Booker raked his fingers through his hair. “They made me watch as they tortured that kid! Is that what you want to hear? You want all the gory details? Because they’re all in my head, like a fucking cinematic masterpiece. Things I’ll never be able to unsee.”
“Easy,” Colin said.
I regarded Booker.
And again, I saw the scared little boy he’d been. Justin Valente, who’d been relentlessly bullied by a prepubescent thug and his band of lemmings thirty years ago.
I’d felt sorry for him then. I’d wanted to help him. So I did what I thought would help. I invited him to go camping with me and my dad. My amazing, great dad.
And I’d made things worse.
So much worse.
I cleared my throat softly. “Joe, we need to let them go.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Please.”
I could have said so much more. That he’d be with Colin, and Colin seemed to trust him. That these two men were my father’s last victims, and I owed them something. That they hadn’t asked for what happened to them, and they were trying to heal. Booker might have been set on revenge, but in his heart, he wasn’t a criminal. I could see it now. I could see it in his eyes. Those sad, sunken eyes.
Joe would balk at that last thing. What did eyes say? Never once had I seen a criminal in my father’s eyes.
Not once.
But my heart, my soul, was telling me to believe Colin and Booker. To give them the benefit of the doubt. They’d both been victims of the man who’d fathered me, and though I wasn’t guilty of anything, I felt some responsibility. I wanted to see them heal. They might see my father when they looked at me, but I wasn’t my father. I knew that now, and I could prove it to his last victims.
Booker would never again be the innocent little boy he once was, but maybe he could live a good life. Maybe he and Colin both could.
Marj took my hand, entwining our fingers together. “I agree with Bryce.”
Joe seethed, his jaw tight and tense.
“Please,” I said. “I can’t erase what my father did to them, but I can let them go in peace.”
Joe raked his fingers through his dark hair. He didn’t speak, but finally, he gave a slight nod.
“I just want to see Jade,” Colin said once more. “Only for a minute. To say goodbye.”
Marj sent a quick text. “She says to go on in. She’s in the bedroom.”
True to his words, Colin didn’t stay inside for long. Within ten minutes, he’d returned.
Marj hugged
Colin.
Booker didn’t hold out his hand. Neither did Joe or I.
Some things were just too hard.
As they walked to their car and then drove away, I kissed the top of Marjorie’s head and whispered, “Vaya con Dios.”
Then my phone buzzed.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Marjorie
