Page 45 of In You

Wolf On A Hill

Caleb

When I served, I garnered the nickname Wolf on a Hill because of my solitude and my unwavering obsession to pursue justice at whatever cost. I only know now, two decades later, that this need to tip the scales of power is driven by my trauma.

And though I have good intent, there's that beast inside me that needs to be fed on the blood of those who hurt others.

Trevor's wife, Nancy, looks up from her spot in the bed as I walk in.

She's sitting up, with the baby on the comforter between her legs, and is in the middle of changing his diaper.

Obviously tired, she whips her head up to look at me, and it takes a second for her brain to process that I'm not one of her older kids.

Her eyes dilate, and her face flushes as shock morphs her features from one of exhaustion, into one of fear.

Not even through putting the diaper on, she moves fast, crying out and snatching the baby to her breast so fast I'm momentarily afraid for its neck. I put a finger to my lips and then shake my head no as I close the door behind me, then lock it.

My eyes leave hers briefly to land upon Trevor, who's knocked out cold in the bed next to her with his back to us.

My entire being fills with disgust at the sight of him laying there oblivious to his imminent demise. Though, it doesn't surprise me. He is a man with absolutely zero protective traits, after all.

She draws her knees up, cradling the baby to her chest.

"Don't hurt my babies," she whispers, keeping her eyes on mine. Not blinking, just clutching that baby to her with everything she's got. I tilt my head. "You can have whatever you want, just let me get my babies out of here."

"Wake him up," I say, taking a seat in a nearby chair.

She moves fast, shaking him with a hand to his shoulder. "Trev. Trev, wake up. Wake up!" she whispers, shaking him harder.

He moans and then flops to his back, pulling a knee up on a deep sigh. "Nancy, I told you I'd get up in the morning with them to make breakfast if you let me sleep tonight. I'm so tired." He puts a hand to his eyes and then groans.

"Trevor," she says, her voice trembling. "Trevor, the man from the grocery store is in our room."

He sits up fast, locking eyes with me before sliding down to the rifle clutched loosely in my grasp. They widen, and I swear I can hear his heart pounding from where I sit fifteen feet away.

"What do you want?" he asks softly, his eyes now narrowing. "We don't have money."

"I want you to tell your wife about Tamryn."

He frowns, curling his lip. "Who? I don't know a Tamryn," he spits out.

"Oh, that's right, you wouldn't know her as Tamryn, would you? No." My eyes stay tight on his and I lean forward, pointing my rifle at him. "You know her as Cunty."

Nancy's head recoils, and her mouth twists in disgust as she turns in the bed to look at him.

"What?" When Trevor gets another guilty look on his face, she leans forward and smacks him hard on his arm. "Cunty, Trevor? What kind of sick shit is he talking about?"

"I promise, Nancy, I don't know what he's talking about," he stammers, shaking his head and trying to push himself up further against the headboard.

I take the safety off and prime the chamber. Trevor's face goes red.

"You didn't think it was odd that a woman would come up to him like that at the grocery store, Nancy?" I say, bringing her attention to me.

"She was mentally ill!" he says loudly.

"Be quiet, you wouldn't want to wake your other kids up."

He turns his eyes back to Nancy's who's staring back with tears in hers.

"You're going to get us killed because you had an affair?" she says, her breath hitching as disbelief meets betrayal. "Trevor."

"I don't know her."

I sit and stew in his desperation for a second, instinctively knowing that there's a reason he's not wanting to confess for more than just the fact he's cheated with a grown woman.

Even if you throw in the fact that there was a sick adolescent theme which centered around her acting like an animal, there's something more here.

He's not begging for his kids to be spared, or for his wife.

He's willing for them all to die to protect something.

And it's more than what he helped do to Tamryn.

I don't mince words, or engage in any exchange that would require me to go back and forth.

"Get out your phone, unlock it, and put it at the end of the bed." Trevor's eyes go wide, sliding to Nancy's. "Now!" I bark.

He doesn't move. Impatient, I aim my rifle at him and pull the trigger, giving him a flesh wound in his arm.

Nancy jerks, her eyes going to him as she gets off the bed and then presses her back against the wall, curling herself around the baby.

He slaps a hand to the bullet wound and then grits his teeth hard, tossing his head back as he bites back a scream, his face red and sweat dotting his brow.

"Fucckkk," he groans through clenched teeth.

"Every time I have to ask, I'll shoot," I say plainly.

"Just do it, Trevor!" she whisper-yells. " What is wrong with you?"

But still, he pauses, and I don't exactly have the patience for it.

"I will slaughter your entire family if you don't unlock that phone, Trevor," I lie.

Stunned, Trevor grabs his phone and is shaking too hard to put the passcode in. "Here," he bites out at Nancy, sounding sick. "You do it. I can't."

Nancy keeps her eyes on me while she leans forward to grab the phone from him, but when she looks down at the phone, she pauses. "You never would give me the code…remember?"

Ahhh.

Something satisfactory unfurls in my core at the realization this woman's going to get some answers to questions she's probably been harboring. And something like relief fills me, because she didn't know. She's not like my mom.

"Two, nine, seven, one," he says, panting and putting his eyes on mine. "You're not going to find anything."

Nancy gets the code put in and then looks at me.

"Bring it here."

She doesn't trust me, so she turns, placing the baby in the bassinet before walking to me and then handing me the phone. I wait until she's back against the bassinet before looking down at the phone and beginning to scroll through the apps as I search.

"You don't think it's odd he hasn't begged for me to spare your lives?" I ask quietly, flicking my eyes up to hers.

She nods. Just once. But it's enough for me to start putting pieces of the puzzle together. I go through his messages, his deleted messages, his files, and see nothing out of the ordinary, but I supposed he'd be smart about hiding his dirt.

"You're a sneaky one, huh?" I mumble. Seeing a fake calculator app, I pause on it then turn it to face him. "What's the code?"

His eyes drill into mine, and become truly afraid. I lean forward, bracing my elbow on my knee.

"Trevor, you're caught. There's no way you're getting out of this alive, okay? Right now, I'm trying to see how much of this your wife knew about. Otherwise, she's dying too."

Nancy jerks her head to his and then her breath hitches. "I didn't have anything to do with anything!" She swings her head to look at me. "I don't even know what the hell is going on." She points to him. "He cheated on me with that woman. Right? So why should I have to pay for that?"

I arch a brow and then tilt my head, thinking on her body language.

"Nancy, he wasn't just sleeping with her.

He was raping her. The woman that you saw at the store today was a victim of a man named Calvin, who tortured and brainwashed her to the point she developed DID.

Her mind split into several alters, one of them a seven year old child named Cunty.

And your husband," I put my eyes back to his, "your husband would pay Calvin to come to his house and do sick stuff with her, brainwashing her into thinking your husband was her father.

Did I get all that right, Trev? Am I missing anything? "

Her jaw drops and stays open as shock fills her features.

"Oh," I scoff, clearing my throat and leaning back against the chair, spreading my legs. "He ate dog food out of her vagina. That might be important to share."

That snaps her out of it, and her head whips to his so fast that I'm surprised she didn't break her neck.

"Is this true?" When he tightens his lips, the color coming high on his face, she takes a step forward, clenching her fists.

"I asked you a fucking question, Trevor. Is. He. Telling. The. Truth?"

After a very tense silence, he nods his head. "Yeah," he whispers.

I go back to the phone, feeling like I'm intruding, spying on her hurt and betrayal. I type the same number she used to get into the phone into the calculator app and then nod when it opens up to a picture gallery.

Image after image of Tamryn is in there, and I pray to the God that I've just been reacquainted with that I don't find any children in here.

But I know it's wishful thinking. I scoff when I come across a picture of a female child and then hold it up to Nancy, and give her a look of pity as her hands fly to her mouth.

I'm almost at the end, just about ready to haul him out of here when I get to the last folder and then click on it.

My brows raise and I look up to see him crying.

Because he already knows what I've found.

My demons stir, making me feel feral and sad at the same time.

I scoff sadly. "Family man indeeeed," I breathe, shaking my head. Lamenting that it's always the ones who look like family men, like they've got the American dream, who tend to be the most sick. It's incredibly disappointing.

I turn the phone to her, showing her the very first picture, the most recent one.