Waving the waitress over, I settled the bill, and we headed back to the motel. There was an unseen barrier we’d crossed with her admission. Alyssa gave me a glimpse into her life which was so much more than I had before.
When we packed our bags and minimal belongings, I carried them to the car.
I opened the door for her, and she paused, turning toward me. “Thank you. I never thought I’d get out of Fort Hill, and when I did, I had no idea if you could be trusted. I just want you to know, I do. You come to know a lot about a person who’d risk their freedom for you.”
My heart thudded in my chest, and the way she was looking up at me made me want to kiss her and promise her we were going to make this all better.
She got on her tiptoes, surprising me when she kissed my cheek. “You’re a good one, Doc.”
When we walked into her house, her stance stiffened. She took a few steps in and turned toward me.
“I don’t know if I can do this.” She held her hand across her stomach. Her face was pale as if she was going to be sick.
“Hey, hey, look at me, it’s okay. We don’t have to do this now if you’re not ready.”
I gripped her shoulders.
She took a deep breath. “No, I have to. We don’t have much time, and what you see and hear today makes all the difference. It could be what stands between us finding Gracie or not.”
There was something incredibly brave about Alyssa. It was always there, beneath the surface. She was a fighter of that, I was sure.
She smiled at me weakly as she led the way. I’d shut the door and made sure there was no way anyone could peek inside through moved curtains or open blinds. I knew this was her home, but it still felt like breaking and entering.
She’d barely spoken on the drive, and I left her with her thoughts. I knew that the demons she was fighting were real. If I revealed something like that about my life, I wouldn’t know what to say.
“Alyssa, this isn’t your fault,” I said to her as we stood in the foyer. “You didn’t ask your husband to get messed up in the kind of things he did.”
“I just wonder sometimes if I did do what you suggested, if I’d taken Gracie and gone to the cops, maybe got into some kind of witness protection.”
“I guess you’ll always wonder. It is normal, but you cannot put undue blame on yourself. There are a few people to blame, but you are not one of them,” I reminded her.
She burst into tears, and I wrapped my arms around her.
“I didn’t think it would be this hard being back here,” she admitted.
“Let’s do this slowly, okay, and anytime you want to stop, we can.”
She buried her face against my chest, holding onto me tighter. I ran my hands through her hair, not wanting to let her go but knowing we didn’t have much time. “Come on. I’m right here with you.”
She pulled away slowly, her hand still fisting my shirt at my waist. Taking a deep breath, she let go, and I followed her up the staircase.
ChapterTwenty-Six
Alyssa
Present Day
Walking into my old house was a surreal feeling. I never thought I would ever see this place again. A house that once held happy memories and warmth was now an empty and cold void. But the life we led was a lie, and so this… this represented the truth I’d been too blind to see. The man I loved and married was a monster, twisted and warped by his father. He wanted to be normal so desperately that he deceived me. I couldn’t help but fear for my daughter.
Was I too late?
Surely, Gregory wouldn’t allow Malcolm’s daughter to be humiliated, degraded, and eventually sold to the highest bidder? I had to think the monster that existed inside of him was not everything he was.
Luke had parked the SUV a block away, and we walked to the house. The ball cap and sunglasses I wore were enough to disguise me, but I could not say I minded when Luke slipped an arm around me, pretending that we were just taking a stroll.
Since it was the middle of winter, there was no way Melissa would be wandering the neighborhood. The nosey bitch would be quick to call the cops on me. To think I actually thought we could be friends when they moved next door.
As I walked through the house, a musty smell hung heavy in the air. Every room I passed had a memory attached to it, and every item of furniture, now covered in white sheets, had a story. Instead of remorse and tears, an all-consuming anger filled me when I looked at the dust covered pictures hanging on the walls.
