Page 85 of Pretend You Love Me

He shakes his head. “I didn’t.”

“James, I have a sister, and she’s living in that home...with him.”

His jaw tightens.

I blow out a rush of air, and then I turn to Kip.

“My mom remarried when I was three. My stepfather was abusive - to us and to her. She tried taking us to a shelter once, but he found her after she left. When I was eight, my mom sent me to a neighbor for the night. While I was gone, my stepfather killed my older brother. I don’t know exactly what happened or what set him off, but my brother was only ten years old.”

I pause for a moment. My memories are so hazy from my childhood, but I remember my stepfather clearly. I remember him hitting us. I remember him hitting my mom. I remember him choking my mother when he was really angry.

Kip slides his arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer to him. “I’m so sorry.”

I breathe in deeply and then continue, “They disappeared that night. My mom and my stepdad. Everyone assumed he murdered her. Maybe a murder/suicide, but they vanished.”

I take another shaky breath. I don’t talk about any of this very often for a reason.

“I was put in foster care. That’s how I ended up with my siblings.”

I tuck a piece of hair behind my ears before continuing.“I hired a private investigator last year because I started to have questions. I wondered what happened to her. I wanted answers. I wanted to know if she had really died, and if she was alive, what happened to her. I know she wouldn’t have gone with my stepfather by choice.”

“What did he find?” James asks. He’s leaning forward.

“He found a few traces of them. They’ve moved all over the country, but they found that she had a baby - a girl about eight years ago. She’s the same age I was when they disappeared.”

James nods slowly, taking this in.

“I have a sister.”

His face softens.

“And she’s in trouble, James,” I continue. “She’s living with him. She’s not safe. Neither of them is. I have to find them.”

“And your investigator traced them here?” he asks.

“Yes, I found some arrest records of his known associates, so I knew I was close, and then I found some property records in one of his aliases.”

“The house?” Kip says.

I nod. “I found an address outside of town. It’s abandoned. They aren’t there anymore, but I know they were there. I know it for certain.”

“How?” James rests his elbows on his legs.

“Hang on.” I stand up and rush back to the bedroom. I come back with the brush in my hand. I hand it to James.

“It was my mother’s. It originally belonged to my grandmother. I remember it. I’m certain it’s the same one. I found it in the house. I know she was there, and not that long ago. I’m so close, but...”

I slump back down onto the couch. “But the trail has run cold. I don’t know where to go from here.”

“And the blood,” Kip says.

“What blood?” James asks.

“It looked like someone had been murdered in the bedroom,” I say quietly. I can’t make eye contact with him.

Kip clears his throat. “Looks like a gunshot. Blood splatter on the walls.”

“No body?”