“What did you do?”
“I pulled him off her and beat him bloody. He got his hands on a shovel and slammed it against the side of my face then ran out.”
“What happened to the girl?”
“I wanted to take her to the hospital, but she refused. Said she just wanted me to go. Said she’d get herself home. I asked if she wanted me to drive her to the police station. She shook her head and screamed at me to get out.”
“What’d you do?”
“I waited by my truck. I didn’t want to leave her there. I was afraid Remy would come back. Finally, she came out clutching her torn clothing around her, ran to a car parked in the lot across the field and drove off.”
“Did you know who she was?”
“No. Never saw her before, and she didn’t give me her name.”
“We need to find him. If you know anything about where he is, we need to know,” Landry says.
“He probably left Colorado. Most people suspect he was involved in a series of robberies of businesses here in town. Since he got arrested, they’ve stopped,” I say.
Landy drags a hand down his face. “He’ll turn up. If you hear from him, you let us know.” He lays a card on the table and stands.
“Absolutely,” I say. “He’s trouble, and I don’t want him around my family.”
He looks to Maggie. “He’s dangerous, so if you hear from him, do not help him or go to meet him. That would get you into a lot of trouble, miss.”
“I understand.”
I see them out, then turn and take Maggie in my arms, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “You okay?”
She nods. “I can’t believe it. All those poor women.”
“Thank God he didn’t do worse. Many rapists don’t leave a live witness.”
“So, if he hadn’t gotten arrested at the track for attempting to rob the ticket office, his DNA would never have gotten put into the system.”
“Yeah, guess so.”
She pulls back and looks at me. “He’s never coming back, is he?”
I know what she’s asking, and I can never give her details, but I can tell her that much. “No, babe. He’s never coming back.”
“And Derek?” Her eyes mist.
I shake my head. “No.”
A tear spills down her cheek. “I’m not sorry about Remy, but Derek…”
“He knew better, Maggie. He knew what they were doing was wrong, and he went along anyway. If he’d been present for any of those rapes, he’d have gone along with Remy and never said a word. That’s his crime.”
“I wish things had been different.”
“Maybe if your father hadn’t turned to the bottle, maybe if he’d been more present for his sons, things would have turned out differently for Derek, but Remy was who he was, and nothing your father did would have changed that. If a man’s got that evil inside him, if he doesn’t give a damn about hurting people, if he’s got no remorse, he’s not fixable. That’s just a fact.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“If he’d gone to prison for ten years, he’d have been the same asshole when he came out, probably more deadly.” I cup her face. “But you’ve got a new family now. One who loves you and will never let anyone hurt you again. You’ve got me, and you’ve got a bunch of new girlfriends ready to take you out and get youdrunk and make you forget about all this. You want, I’ll make that call.”
She shakes her head. “I think partying is out for me right now, at least for the next nine months.”
