Julian’s mouth dropped open.
Wha…?
Of all things, thatwasn’twhat Julian had been expecting Petula to cherry-pick out of his speech. But he liked it.
“Uh. Yeah. If you’ll consider it,” he managed, his voice catching.
Statler cleared his throat. “Guys. I see where this is going, and I’d love to give you space to discuss things, but how about you save it for later? We should really stick to the problem at hand right now.”
Petula ducked to hide her red face, but Julian had seen it.
Letting her off the hook for now, he took it upon himself to get back to the cluster-fuck at hand.
“Uh… You’re right, Statler. Sorry.”
Having Petula acknowledge him the way she had, had temporarily knocked everything else right out of his head, as impossible as that seemed.
Julian regrouped.
“So here’s what I’ve come to understand. Bradly Bothwin Sr. was an abusive asshole, but never got what was coming to him while Petula was in the house, because he was a powerful man in town with deep connections and people in his pocket he was paying off to look the other way. Tex thinks he was most likely threatening them; anteing up to keep them quiet. Did he get that right?”
“He did,” Statler allowed bitingly.
If Julian’s anger was off the charts, Statler’s had to be boiling, since he’d had to deal with this for years.
On that note, Julian recalled the one bit ofgoodnews he could impart. “By the way, you’ll be happy to know that Bradly Sr. died ten years ago of anapparentheart attack. Tex’s words, not mine. Whether that was theactualcause of death or not, in the end, it’s good news for you.”
“Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy,” Statler glowered with a nod, while Petula’s shoulders came down just a bit from up around her ears where they’d been lodged.
Julian hated to take that momentary reprieve away from her, but he had to continue.
“Here’s the rest, though. Soon after you took Petula out of the house when she turned eighteen, the younger Bradly was found with…explicit photos on his computer, of…Petula throughout her stay with the family.”
Petula gasped, and her normally pink face went stark white.
Statler swore.
“He was sentenced to five years,” Julian concluded.
“He deserves to die, the fucking prick,” Statler growled, then raised angry and troubled eyes to Julian’s “What about the father?” he spit out, and when Julian shook his head, he continued to rant. “Don’t tell me. The asshole was never implicated.”
“Correct,” Julian hated to confirm, but the pair before him would understand how that had happened.
“And then?” Petula managed to whisper.
Julian informed him. “Just two months after Jr. got out, and a month after Sr.’s death, Mrs. Bothwin turned Jr. in again for the same crime; child porn on his computer. Apparently without Sr. there to intimidate her, the missus grew a backbone. The second time, Jr. received ten years.”
Julian watched as Statler did the math.
“Fuck.” Stat didn’t hesitate with the swear. “That means the asshole just got out of jail, doesn’t it?”
“Exactly,” Julian substantiated. “And here’s the problem. We don’t know if it’s just our paranoia that says Petula is in danger, or if one or the other of either Jefferson or Bradly is stalking her.”
“If Iambeing followed and harassed, we need to find out and…stop it.” Petula’s voice remained small, and Julian didn’t like that one bit. Her life, after settling in to a nice routine with her brother, was taking a turn that neither of them deserved.
Statler looked at Petula, leaned forward and took her hands in his. “We will, Pet. But it’s your call. Who do Julian and I involve?”
That Statler had included him in this, was a relief. Julian was solidly behind any plan they’d come up with to keep Petula protected.
