“Was it Bobby?” Luke asked.
“It was a man, I’m sure. Doctor called him ‘sir.’ Doctor said he had unruly prisoners.” She looked confused. “Then he asked what the VC would do. I didn’t understand.”
Luke did. VC. Vietcong. They were back to the Buddhist thích, a Vietnamese title. “So Granville and his thích are still thick, after all these years,” he murmured. “Monica, what did the man say?”
“He got mad. Slapped the doctor. Told him never to mention that again. Then the man said to break me, they had to make me an animal. Make me forget I’m human. But they couldn’t,” she added with pride.
“You’re strong,” Luke said, looking her square in the eye. “Never forget that.”
She nodded wearily. “You said you knew Angel, that you didn’t get justice for her.”
When we thought she couldn’t hear us yesterday afternoon. “That’s right. Did Becky tell you how they came to be in the bunker?”
“Her stepdad. Sold them both to Mansfield. They got too old for the Web site. Got new girls. Becky’s sisters. That’s why she kept escaping. To get them out.”
“Do you know last names? Becky’s and her stepdad’s?”
“Snyder. Both. Lived in Atlanta.” Her eyes narrowed. “Fourteen twenty-five Candera.”
Luke’s breath caught. “How long ago did they live there?”
“Six months, maybe. I don’t know.”
“How did her stepdad know Mansfield would buy them?” Susannah asked.
“Truck stop whores.” She began to wheeze, and Nurse Ella came in with a frown.
“You all have to leave. This patient shouldn’t be talking at all.”
“Wait,” Monica said. “Becky’s stepfather met Mansfield at a truck stop. He sold her and Angel and one other girl there. I think the third girl was their neighbor. Not sure.”
“That’s all,” Nurse Ella said. “Let her rest. Come back later. Please.”
“You did good, kid,” Luke said. “You get some rest. I’m gonna go to 1425 Candera, see if I can find this stepfather of Becky’s. I have someone to throw into hell.”
Monica grabbed his hand. “Save Becky’s sisters, please. She died for them.”
“I’ll do my very best.”
Atlanta, Sunday, February 4, 12:15 p.m.
Luke had parked in front of a target range. He made no move to go in, just sat behind the wheel glaring straight ahead. Susannah could feel the rage tightly coiled within him since he’d come out of that dingy apartment house at 1425 Candera, empty-handed. Becky Snyder’s stepfather and her little sisters didn’t live there anymore. Nobody knew where they’d gone. At least that was the story each neighbor had told.
“Why are we sitting in front of a target range?” Susannah finally asked.
“It’s my brother Leo’s place. It’s… where I come.”
“When the fury overflows, and eats you until you can’t think of anything else.”
He turned to her then, his eyes blacker than night. “When I first saw you, I knew you’d understand.”
“I have the same anger inside me.”
“I knew that, too.”
“Luke, this wasn’t your fault.” She put her hand on his arm, but he jerked away.
“Not now,” he warned. “I’d hurt you.”
“No, you wouldn’t. That’s not the man you are.” He said nothing, and she sighed. “Go and shoot something or take me back to your place where I can go to sleep.”
He looked away. “I can’t take you back to my apartment. Not yet.”
“Why not?” she asked.
“Because I want you,” he said harshly.
A shiver ran down her spine, dark and deep. “I can say no.”
He looked at her again and her chest grew taut, her lungs constricted. “But you won’t,” he said. “Because right now I’m what you want. I’m dangerous and I’m risky and I’m out of control. Which makes you in control. Which is what made you in control every time you picked a strange man to take to a dirty hotel room for sex.”
She considered him, considered herself. Then pushed her own anger aside. “So?”
“So, I don’t judge what you did, because I understand the need for control. I just don’t want to be with you like that. When you have sex with me, I want it to be because you want me, not this person I am right now.”
“Yin and yang,” she said quietly. “Darkness and light. Luke, you’re both of those people. And if I have sex with you, it’ll be because I want you. All of you. Not just the kind, gentle you.” She got out of the car. “Come on, let’s shoot some stuff.”
She was met at the door by a younger version of Luke. “You’re Leo. I’m Susannah.”
“I know. Come in.” Leo looked at Luke, still sitting in his car. “He’s brooding again?”
“He’s had a rough couple of days.” Susannah pointed to the gun cabinet. “Can I?”
“You shoot before?”
“Yeah. Let me have that one.” She pointed through the glass pane to a nine-mil semiautomatic she knew from experience was the best fit for her smaller hands.
“Good choice. Let’s go.”
When she was finished with round one, Leo looked impressed. She looked at the paper target whose brain was now a mangled mess. “Again?”
“Sure.” He watched as she reloaded. “Where did you learn to shoot?”
“A cop owed me a favor and taught me how. I find it disturbingly relaxing.”
“So do I,” he said. “Do you carry?”
“In New York, yes. I had an uncomfortable meeting with a bullet a year ago. After that, I got my concealed-weapon permit, but I didn’t bring my gun with me. I wish I had.”
“I see. What happened to Luke?”
“He got a lead on some kids being peddled online. He found the apartment, but they were long gone.”
“Seems to be the story of his life lately,” Leo said sadly, and she nodded.
“He keeps pushing himself,” she said. “Sooner or later, he’s going to crack.”
“It happens. Luke pushes himself, cracks, comes here to let off the steam, then goes home and gets superglued back together.” He smiled. “It’s what family does.”
She felt a tug of yearning she didn’t try to deny. “You’re lucky.”
“I know,” he said, then pointed at the target. “Have another go. On the house.”
The first time had been practice, impersonal. This time she was thinking about the press conference that loomed a few hours away. The target became definitely personal.
“Good aim,” Leo said with a wince when she was finished.
The entire pelvic section of the target was gone. “It’s Garth Davis.”
Luke had finally joined them. “Then it’s really good aim,” he said wryly.
Leo tossed Luke the keys. “Lock up when you’re done. I promised Mama I’d level her washing machine before dinner. Susannah, you’re invited, of course.”
“Not this week,” Luke said. “She needs to sleep.”
Susannah could see the pain in Luke’s eyes. He needed super- gluing. “I’ve run on less sleep right before a trial. Tell your mama we’ll be there,” she said to Leo. “Thanks.”
Leo left with a backward wave and Luke leaned against a wall, out of her reach. “Chase called when I was out in the car. Pete found Bobby’s little boys with Rob Davis’s family. Kate had dropped them off a few days ago and asked Rob not to say anything. The kids are all right.”
She sighed with relief. “That’s good news. We really needed some of that.”
“That’s the truth. Come on. I’ll take you back to my place so you can sleep.”
“No, we’re going to your mama’s.” She approached with care. “Are you safe now?”
His cheeks darkened in embarrassment. “Yeah.”
“Oh, stop it, Luke. You have a temper. Most people do. Yours happens to be fueled by more potent stuff. So what? You control it.”
His eyes flashed. “So, what if someday I don’t? What if someday it boils over and I hurt someone?” He looked away. “What if I hurt you,” he finished quietly.