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“Morning, Sarah,” Denny greeted her as he opened the door. “How’re you feeling?”
From the floor of the pantry’s back corner, she lifted her head wearily. Her blonde hair was messy. Her face was puffy. She looked like she’d been crying all night. As her gaze swept over us, her eyes were full of equal parts hate and fear.
“Are you going to hurt me?” she said in a voice so small and timid, I felt like a jackass just for existing.
This was the woman who’d keep Rylan from us, I had to remind myself. She was lucky she was still breathing, let along unharmed.
“Just your cholesterol, maybe.” Denny gave her an easy smile and took the box of donuts from me. He popped its top open and held it out to her. “Have a donut.”
She licked her lips as she studied them. Hunger flashed in her eyes.
Had Beauty and Rab not fed her since we left?
Was that some kind of interrogation tactic, or had Denny’s guys simply been too busy gorging themselves to throw some food her way?
“You hungry?” Denny asked.
Her eyes wandered to the corner next to the door. Denny and I followed her gaze and found a dramatic splatter. A few stray chili beans clung to wall, and a dark, reddish sauce stained the floorboards in streaks, like someone had tried to quickly clean up a mess.
Right. So they’d given her food.
She’d just thrown it right back at them.
“Thank you,” she said, crawling toward Denny. Her hand shot out quickly, snatching a donut before she retreated back to her corner.
“No problem,” Denny replied. “If we can get you anything else, you just let us know.”
She paused as she raised the donut to her lips. “These aren’t poisoned, are they?”
Denny shrugged and bit into a donut himself. “If they are, it’ll kill us both.”
She nodded, accepting that logic, but still sniffed the donut, inspected it thoroughly, and pulled it apart before she finally placed a bite into her mouth.
“Mm.” After the first bite, she began stuffing more into her mouth at rapid pace.
“Taste good?” Denny asked.
“Yes.” A little bitterly, she added, “Thank you.”
“No problem.” Denny said. He dropped down into a crouch, placing himself on her level. “Listen. I want you to know that no one’s gonna hurt you. We just have some questions for you, okay? We’d be much obliged if you’d try your best to answer them truthfully.”
“Is Grayson okay?” she asked next, as though she hadn’t heard a word Denny had said.
“Rylan is fine,” I assured her. “He’s with his mother.”
Her eyes widened. “With Melony?”
My lips curled with disgust. She was lucky Denny answered before I did.
“No. With his real mother,” Denny said gently. “That baby you’ve been taking care of, Sarah… that’s not Melony Houghton’s son.”
I watched her, eager to see the moment that it sunk in.
I was doomed to disappointment. The moment never came.
“Yes, he is,” she insisted. If anything, she sounded offended that we were suggesting otherwise.
Denny arched a brow. “How do you figure that?”
