He fell silent, staring straight at them but not seeing them. Josie knew the look. He was either reliving something or dredging up some painful subject and deciding whether or not to talk about it. She said nothing, not wanting to do anything that might make him shut down. Clearly, Reina wasn’t going to share information about her brother, which meant their only source was Milo. Noah seemed to have the same thought, waiting patiently for Milo to come out of his reverie.
When he did, he rubbed the sides of his face and groaned. “That guy? The one who took over their lives after Mr. Holt died? God, I don’t even know how to say this.”
Josie and Noah stayed still and quiet again as Milo gathered his words. “He wasn’t after the business so much as he wanted Reina. The business was a bonus. Liora ran it, which meant he wouldn’t have to do any work, but he could collect all the money and he’d have access to Reina. She was just a kid.”
“Fifteen,” Josie said, stomach churning with disgust at the thought of a grown man targeting an innocent, vulnerable, grieving girl.
“Yeah,” Milo said. “It was bad. I think the only reason it stopped was because he died. Car accident. I think Griffin’s always felt guilty about the whole thing.”
“Why’s that?” said Noah.
“He was just a kid too, but I think in his mind, he failed them—Liora and Reina. Didn’t protect them. I’m pretty sure that guy was knocking Griff around too, though. It was a bad situation for all three of them.”
Josie’s blood rushed in her ears, making it difficult to hear anything else. Griffin Holt was looking more and more like their main suspect with every passing minute. It wasn’t just about recreating the perfect family. It was about saving it. Maxine and Haven, Dani and Cassidy—they were surrogates for his own family. He was still acting out a fantasy, which ended in death if the women didn’t want to be saved.
Milo went on, “Ever since then, Griff has made it his life’s work to watch over Reina. It’s noble and all but he’s never even had a girlfriend. At least, none that he’s ever brought home or even told her about.”
“How long have you and Reina been together?” Noah asked.
“Five years. She didn’t tell him for a long time, which was easy because although he calls and texts her a lot, he doesn’t come around all that often. About two years ago, she finally let him know we were dating.”
“Did he have a problem with it?” asked Josie.
“Not at the time. Like I said, he’s a good guy. We like each other. But I think in his mind, it wasn’t going to last, just like all of her other relationships.”
“Why was he upset the last time you saw him?” Josie said.
Milo’s expression was pained. “Well, for one thing, we’d been having a lot of issues around here with vandalism, theft, then the fire that we never told him about. Reina didn’t want to worry him. At least, that’s what she said, but I think that was just an excuse. The thing is that before this last time that Griff came around, we hadn’t seen him in months. Reina and I got married without telling him. It was a quick thing at City Hall with a couple of witnesses. No big affair. No one we worked with even realized it. We didn’t announce it or anything. She wanted to wait for the right time to tell Griff. Had she told him about all the stuff going on here, he would have rushed back. What I think is that she was waiting for the right time for her.”
“I thought they were close,” Josie said.
“Yeah, well, she thought he would be devastated if she told him we were getting married before we went ahead. That he might try to talk her out of it. I thought she was being ridiculous. He’s a grown man and she’s his sister. They’re very codependent but it’s not like he can stop her from living her life. If he really wanted her to be happy—and he does—he’d come around. No matter how angry or upset he might have gotten, he wouldn’t have abandoned her.”
“You went along with eloping,” Noah said.
Milo smiled wistfully. “I wanted to marry the love of my life. Didn’t much care how we did it. And no, we didn’t get married because Reina was pregnant. She wanted to start trying immediately after the ceremony. We thought it would take months, but it happened right away.”
“So when Griffin returned for a visit, you two could no longer keep the secret,” Josie said.
“Yeah. She’d started showing.”
“Was he as devastated as she thought he’d be?” asked Noah.
“Maybe more,” Milo said sadly. “A lot of it had to do with her lying to him. They’d talked and texted frequently, and shenever mentioned anything. Some of it had to do with him maybe feeling left behind? That’s what it seemed like to me. Like he’s been in the same place as when they were teenagers, just watching over her, making sure she has everything she needs, and then she moved on without him. Without even telling him. Maybe I’m misreading him, but that’s what I thought.”
“But he didn’t stay here,” Josie said. “Didn’t join her in the family business. You said he travels often.”
Milo nodded. “Yes, but I think that he’s kind of subconsciously stayed…unattached all these years and on standby in case she needed him. And now…”
“She doesn’t need him,” Josie filled in.
It was exactly the type of thing that could trigger someone who might be clinging to delusions, on the cusp of becoming violent.
“It’s not healthy,” Milo said. “I know that, but Griff’s harmless. A little sad, but definitely harmless.”
Josie wasn’t so sure.
FORTY
