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Her lips pursed, then she nodded.
Good.
“He told me that my ex-boyfriend broke in, but now I’m not sure that’s true. We buried the body together. I thought at the time I’d found someone who would love me, protect me, forever. And I had to do the same for him. But now I realize it was all a trap, it meant we were tied together by what we’d covered up.”
“And then…we had Delilah.” Her eyes flooded with tears. “She was such a perfect, beautiful baby. People would stop me in the grocery store to say she looked like a doll, with those long-lashed violet eyes and her dark curls. We were so happy for a while. He was controlling, he always wanted things done his way. But when it seemed like he loved us…it seemed so real.”
She closed her eyes. “No wonder Delilah believed him when he pretended to love her. I was a grown woman and I believed it too.”
It was grating to hear the name when I knew how much Aurora didn’t like being called Delilah, but Nina had gotten lost in the past.
“I should have seen it,” she added. “He was always traveling for business. He was private, and there were hints of things I found out. He had a hunting cabin; he said he inherited it from his father, and I always wanted to go out and see it, but he said it wasn’t romantic like I imagined. And we hung out with people like Alexander and his brain dead wife.”
“I knew Alexander had connections in the police. That was why when I found out what he was doing, I knew I just had to take Delilah and run.”
“Yeah, I understand that,” I said. “But then…you left her.”
She swiped at her eyes. “She was a little girl when I ran. She was so sweet, she charmed everyone.”
That sounded like Aurora. She’d even won over Cain.
“Just like he did,” she added. “She wouldn’t remember it because she was so little—at least, she wouldn’t remember it consciously—but I realized later that he was taking her out with him when he was hunting. He used her to lure people in and make them trust her. Aurora’s earliest childhood was…”
“Blood-splattered?” I filled in when she couldn’t find the words.
“And yet, she turned out to be so sweet,” said Stellan, who looked troubled, no matter what he said.
“Is that so?” The Demon’s voice crackled from the loudspeaker in the corner. The next second, the TV beyond the bars flickered to life.
God, he was so fucking creepy. I wish he’d come in here and get close, give us the chance to take him down.
“What do you boys think?” the Demon asked. “You’ve spent so much time with my girl. You must know by now there’s nothing weak about Aurora.”
“She’s not weak at all. But she is good.”
“A good liar, certainly.”
Stellan looked as if he wanted to leap to his feet, not that he could. “Fuck you.”
I gave Stellan a look, warning him not to piss off the serial killer who held us hostage. I’d already tried that. Then he returned to studying the television on the wall. It was too far to reach. Otherwise, I would have already figured something out.
“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” The Demon sounded amused by Stellan’s outburst. “She doesn’t even tell the truth to herself.”
A video came up on the screen. Aurora looked like she was around ten, with her dark hair in a braid and her cheeks still round like a little kid. She was grinning as she twirled in the leaves. She couldn’t have looked more innocent.
“What did she tell you about the people who had her when I found her?” The Demon asked.
“That you saved her,” I said tightly, because I hated to admit the Demon had done anything good.
“No,” the Demon said. “She saved herself.”
Stellan shook his head. There was high color in his cheeks. Was he doubting the truth about his sister’s death now? “Just tell your fucking story if you must. You’ve got a literal captive audience.”
“All right,” he said. “I’ll show you another video or two.”
The TV cut over to a view of Aurora—even younger—walking down a sidewalk with her backpack. The view was distant, a good thirty feet, and slightly obscured as if it had been taken from someone in hiding. She turned toward a little white house and disappeared into the backyard.
“I was watching her,” he said. “I was going to kidnap her. But I didn’t want to give the police any reason to connect Delilah and the Demon. I was going to take her without killing anyone. At the time, I didn’t realize how cruel Aurora’s life was or how much they deserved to be punished. How could I? As you can see, I was watching from across the street. I couldn’t see what was happening inside Aurora’s bedroom.”
