Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 114419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
“Reva Keeling, Bernadette Murray, and Harry Lockheed,” Sienna said quietly.
Mirabelle nodded, her eyes downcast. “Yes.”
“The . . . victims? The ones who were strangled?” Gavin gripped his hair, turning away and then back again. “Oh, Jesus.”
“Yes,” Mirabelle said.
Sienna thought of the letter she’d found in Mirabelle’s kitchen. He’d believed his mother had chosen them over him. “Do you think Roger spoke about them? Is that why Danny went after them too? I mean, we’re talking twenty-something years ago, Mirabelle.”
“I guess so. Roger was . . . very violent. Danny heard and saw everything. Roger accused me of choosing my friends over him and my children.” Her last words ended with a shuddery intake of breath as though she was trying desperately not to cry. Sienna could only imagine how hard this was for Mirabelle to reconcile. That a child she’d loved deeply—mourned—could become a killer.
Gavin’s expression was stony. But Sienna saw the pain in his eyes and the confusion. He didn’t know how to feel, and she didn’t blame him one bit. She didn’t either.
“The rest,” Gavin said, and though the words were demanding, his voice was laced with the same pain Sienna saw in his eyes. “What else do we need to know to get out of here?” Gavin picked up the box and began bending the lock back and forth. It wasn’t likely to work, but Sienna had a feeling he needed to occupy his hands in order to control his emotions.
Mirabelle sniffed back another sob. “That day, Roger played a sick game of hide-and-seek. He hit me. He threatened me. He made us run. I was standing between the two of you, and he made me choose.” Anguish altered her features before she again got hold of herself. “I chose you because you were too little to hide on your own.” She hung her head, and they gave her a minute to compose herself. That was why. That was why Danny had started shouting numbers as they hid. That was what Mirabelle had meant when she’d said he was re-creating that day. That day he’d never really moved past.
“I reported the abduction, of course, and the police issued an arrest warrant. The Amber Alert wasn’t even a thing back then.” She gave her head a small shake. “And I think because it was a parent abduction, the investigative motivation wasn’t quite the same as it would have been had a stranger taken Danny. Anyway, they searched for Roger for a while. But with all his connections, who knew where he might have gone and who could have helped him.”
Mirabelle took a staggered breath. “Anyway, everything was repossessed. The house, my car, all the furnishings. I was left penniless and still in fear for my life. I’d received several threatening notes from Roger, telling me he’d come and take Gavin too. I gave them to the police, but as far as I know, they simply filed them away. It was then I hired the PI with the very last of what I had, and only because I’d been able to sell a few pieces of jewelry Roger had given me in the beginning, but that ended up being fruitless too. No more notes arrived, and that was both a blessing and a curse because while I wasn’t being threatened, I had no proof that Roger hadn’t driven himself and Danny into a lake somewhere.” She offered a completely mirthless laugh, which ended in a terribly pained grimace. “The things I imagined . . . the scenarios that went through my head . . . it was hell on earth.”
And oh God, Mirabelle had no idea how horrific it had really been for Danny. Sienna’s heart broke to know that she’d find out if—no, when—they survived this; it would be inevitable.
“The police provided some protection for a short while, but that went away quickly too. And anyway, what they’d offered was so weak. And so I put myself into my own protection program. I changed my name. I never contacted anyone I had known in my previous life again. I didn’t change your first name, but you were so little. You weren’t even in school yet.” Her eyes met Gavin’s. “I’d already lost one son; I could not lose two.”
Mirabelle looked down, exhausted. “I was always wary Roger was going to come after me and Gavin,” she said.
She’d protected Gavin by staying unattached with no driver’s license. Untraceable. Mirabelle hadn’t known that Roger had been dead for years. No longer posing a threat. It was all so heartbreaking.
“I searched for such a long time. Anywhere I knew Roger might go to earn money under the radar.”
“That’s why we moved around when I was young,” Gavin said, setting the unopened box back down on the counter. The lock would not be broken by mere twisting and turning and pulling. “To Las Vegas and then to Atlantic City and then back to Reno. All places where gambling was plentiful.”