Page 87 of Justice

I washed my hands at the utility sink in the corner and watched the water run pink down the drain.

Driving home in the dark down 495, I waited on the weight to hit me. The turn in the stomach. The little voice that tells a man he went too far. It never came. I felt good. Clean. Settled like I hadn’t been in weeks, since before that mall, since before I knew what my baby had been trying to get into. A man came for my child, and now that man would spend the rest of his life flinching at his own reflection, remembering exactly why. That sat just fine with me. Better than fine.

Some men need killing. This one needed to live a long, ugly, careful life remembering what he almost did.

It was the kind of punishment I would give to whoever scared Skye. To the man who left her for her sister. To the man who damaged her to the point where she was afraid to tell me her secrets. Even though I was close to learning them.

44

SKYE

Dream had been home from school a couple hours, and I’d made her finish every bit of her homework at the kitchen table before I turned her loose. That was the rule in this house. Homework, then horse. She’d rushed through her math so fast I made her check it twice, her leg bouncing, her eyes cutting to the window every thirty seconds like that horse might disappear on her.

Thankfully career day had gone well. Her little costume was a hit and so was her presentation according to the teacher’s handwritten note. I’d saved the day after damn near ruining it. Or maybe it was Storie. I would never know but if she bleached those clothes, something was truly disturbing about her.

That was something my ex-husband would do. Sabotage me to make me look incompetent. Where did this little girl even learn such dirty tricks.

Now it was going on evening, homework done, and she was out in the yard burning off the last of her energy while I sat on the deck with my feet up on the railing and Aubrey in my ear.

The sky was a watercolor sight of pinks, golds and purples. The stable was off to the side. There she was doing cartwheels in the grass having a ball, while I sat on the phone.

I’d been on the phone with Aubrey for a while. She was trying to talk me off of a ledge but it wasn’t working. I knew I had to get out of here soon.

“I don’t think he knows you’re here,” Aubrey said in my ear. “I did some digging. Roman’s still got his main office down in Atlanta, but he picked up a gang of new contracts around the DMV this year. Big ones. Government money. So he’s been going back and forth. Couple weeks here, couple weeks home. He hasn’t moved up here for good. Not yet, anyway.”

“Not yet.” I watched Dream do a cartwheel. “That’s supposed to make me feel better?”

“I’m just telling you what I found, boo. I’m not saying it’s good news. I’m saying it’s not the worst news. There’s a difference.” She paused. “You still thinking about running?”

“I’m always thinking about running, Aubrey,” I whispered.

“I feel like you’re settling in there.”

“Yeah, a little too much. I’m lying to this man and he’s working with Roman. It’s just a matter of time before the truth comes out. I gotta get the hell out of here.”

“What about your son? You were doing this to get him back and run away.”

“I have to figure something out, Bree.”

I listened to her get quiet as the wheels in her head started to turn.

Out in the yard, Dream popped up and brushed the grass off her knees.

“I’m gonna go feed Midnite, Miss Skye!” she hollered, already pointing toward the stable. “It’s her dinnertime! She gets mad if I’m late!”

“Go ahead, baby. I’m right here watching you.” I turned back to the phone and pressed it to my other ear.

“Listen, I can give you about $10,000. I can take it out the girl’s college fund.”

“No. Absolutely not. This is my mess. I created this…”

“Ahhh!!!!” I heard a screeching shriek that was loud enough to reach the neighbors who were miles away.

I have heard a lot of screams in my life. I have made a few of them myself. So I know the difference between a child playing too rough and a child in real trouble.

“I gotta go,” I said into the phone, and I didn’t even hear if Aubrey answered. I dropped it on the deck chair and ran.

I went across that yard in my socks, over the cold grass, calling her name the entire way. “Dream! Dream, baby, I’m coming! Where are you? Talk to me!”