Page 70 of Last Seen

“Well, that’s a good question. Multiple jurisdictions want to talk to him, but surprise surprise, we’ve been told to lay off and let the man grieve.

He’s been rocked by this, apparently. His dead son coming back to life, having a coven of women right below his very feet?

That his very special anechoic chamber was being used as some medieval torture room? ”

Halley shudders. The darkness creeps in when she isn’t expecting it. She has to keep looking toward the light so she doesn’t slip back in.

“Sorry. Listen, though. The letters? I took some photos. It seems she was telling a story. Writing a pretty disturbing memoir, one of the guys said. She detailed everything, names, places, times. He had her in thrall, but she subverted him whenever she could. She wasn’t kidding when she says she did it all for you.

You sure you want to read these? They’re pretty awful. ”

“Yes. I need to know.”

He hands her his phone. There are pictures of the letters.

They tell the story of what Cat went through at the hands of her captor, what he turned her into.

How the power he had over her was absolute, because everything she did was to keep Halley safe.

He knew Halley had lived through that first attack in Nashville, when he killed their mother, and he used her as a bargaining chip.

She became the monster he wanted her to be.

Halley swipes through, reading a sentence here and a paragraph there, her sorrow building with each word. The pictures tell a disjointed tale but are enough to make her understand her sister better, and perhaps allow her heart a step toward healing.

You cannot possibly understand what has happened, but I want to try and explain. Mom is dead, and it is my fault.

There were too many voices in my head, too many paths I was forced to follow.

I thought I loved him.

He took one look at you and I saw something in his eyes that terrified me.

He lost all interest in me. All he wanted was you.

He said come here. Come here to me. And you went to him.

He cuddled you and said can I see your room?

You were so young. So pure. You did not realize what he wanted from you.

I did. And I said no. I grabbed your arm and I pulled you away from him.

We fought. He hit me. He left and I thought we were safe.

Then Mom came home, and she knew something was wrong.

We talked and I told her I was afraid of him.

That I was afraid for you. And he came back.

This time, he had a knife. He was going to take you by force.

Mom stepped in between you, and he stabbed her.

I think he was surprised at how quickly she died.

It was like she was there one minute, and the next, poof, she was gone.

Her eyes were wide and she fell on the floor.

I screamed, and you screamed, and he laughed. He laughed at us, at our pain. He tried to kill you, and somehow you survived.

Then he said if he could not have you he would take me in your place. I had no choice but to leave with him. He told me if I did not say I killed Mom and make them believe it, he would go back for you.

I know what you’ve been told, but one day you will want to know who really killed your mother. His name is Ian. Ian Brockton. And I will hunt him down and kill him for what he did to our family. I will keep you safe.

Everything I did, I did for you.

But then, I found myself pregnant. I had to make sure my son wouldn’t be marked by the madness of his mother and his father.

There is nothing harder than losing a child.

When my son was taken from me, I had no choice anymore. I had to find a way out. I had to leave. I had to stop him.

You are too young to comprehend how difficult it was for me when you came into our lives. You were perfect. You were sunny and smart and joy. I am darkness and rain, a thundercloud. I was always in your shadow, and that was fine.

I hoped I could find him again. As wrong as that was, I needed to try.

I went to Brockville because I hoped he was there. Hoped, because I need revenge. Hoped, because I’d been tracking him for years. And I was right. He was there.

There are so many powerful people involved in this. People who will watch for you to surface. I can’t let that happen.

I saved you once, Halley. And I will save you again, even if it kills me.

Six people sit in an anxious circle in a posh, elegant cabin in the woods in a small town called Brockville.

That’s enough. She hands the phone back to Theo, wiping her eyes. Looks through the bedroom door at all she has left of her sister, the physical manifestation.

“I don’t want him to see. He already knows his mother was a hero in the end. I don’t want him to ever know anything otherwise.”

“I’ll do my best to get them eighty-sixed. But a lot of other families need to know what Cat did for their women.”

The thought sickens her. “When can we leave? I want out of here.”

“In the morning. We’re done here for now. FBI is taking over. I can take you both home.”

Home. The word has never been as sweet.