Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Dragon
I drive to a small rural neighborhood on the outskirts of Taos.
It’s farther outside the city limits than my mother’s trailer park, which is technically still in Taos.
I drive to the address, up a gravel driveway.
The house is a one-story ranch. Painted light green. The paint is peeling, and the garage door is missing.
No cars in the garage. Even without a door, Diana’s BMW is safer inside this garage than just sitting out in this neighborhood. So I pull in.
Then I go to the front of the house and knock on the door.
No response.
“Damn,” I yell.
Then a yelp. A dog.
And then a small voice.
“Who is it?”
It’s a young voice. The voice of a young teenage girl. Surprise jolts through me. Oh my God… Could this be my niece?
“Are your parents home?” I ask.
“Is your name Dragon?”
Well, that confirms it. I am talking to my niece. The daughter of my long-lost sister. A well of emotions builds up in me, but I can’t process them right now. I’ve got to play it cool, make sure I don’t scare this little girl.
“Are you expecting someone named Dragon?” I ask.
“He said you’d come for me.”
“Then yes, I’m Dragon.”
The deadbolt clicks, and the door cracks open just a bit.
The dog—he looks like some kind of pit bull mix—peeks his nose out the door.
So much trust this little girl has. I could just be saying I’m Dragon.
“Bridget?” I ask.
“Yes,” the small voice says.
“Is your mother named Griffin?”
“Yes. My father called her Angel, but she told me her real name is Griffin.” She bites her lip, looks at her feet. “I never told him that I knew.”
“Where’s your father now?”
“He went away. He left me here with Eddie.” She scratches the dog behind the ear. “He said you would be coming.”
“Eddie?”
“My dog.”
“Bridget, I need you to open the door the rest of the way and let me come in.”
“Okay. He said you wouldn’t hurt me.”
“I would never hurt anyone.”
Funny, the words you say. They’re very true. They weren’t always true, but they are now. I won’t be taking another life. Not Mack’s, and not anybody else who has Griffin. Not unless I’m forced to in self-defense or in defense of Griffin, Bridget, Diana, or someone else.
She opens the door and?—
I force myself to hold back my gasp.
She looks so much like Griffin. She’s older, of course. Mack said she was thirteen. But the blond hair and blue eyes, the shape of her face, the full pink lips.
This must be what Griffin looked like at thirteen.
I swallow back the nausea. This is what Griffin looked like when Bridget was conceived.
I swallow again. A lump is lodged in my throat, and my stomach feels like lead.
But I need to be strong. Strong for this little girl, my niece. If I had any doubts, just looking at her confirms it.
“So this is Eddie?”
The pit bull tilts his head, looks at me, a slight growl coming from his throat.
“It’s okay, Eddie.”
Eddie stands between me and Bridget. I have to say, I respect the dog.
“Are you going to take me to my mother?”
“I’m going to try. But I don’t know where she is yet.”
Her lips quiver slightly. “Dad said he had to give her away.”
“He gave her away?”
“Somebody saw me. They wanted to take me, but Dad wouldn’t let them. He gave them Mom instead.”
Not exactly what Mack told me, but her words ring true. She says them in a voice devoid of emotion. As if it’s something that happens every day.
“I’m looking for your mother,” I say. “But do you know who I am, Bridget?”
“Your name is Dragon.” She purses her lips. “That’s an unusual name.”
I nod.
“My mother had a brother named Dragon. Are you that Dragon? The one I talked to on the phone?”
“Yes. I am.”
She looks me up and down. “Your hair is so long.”
“I like it that way. I’m a drummer in a rock band.”
She nods. “My mom told me about your drum. She didn’t remember much. She remembered that you made her happy. That you were always playing a drum. And that what you like best in the world were oatmeal cookies and making Griffin happy.”
Mrs. Ortiz’s oatmeal cookies. Yes. Griffin would remember those.
And the Osbornes.
My best friend Ricky.
And his big brother, Malcolm, who left home at eighteen. Who we never saw again. A couple of months later, Griffin was attacked in her bedroom.
Malcolm. He knew our house as well as anyone. He always made a fuss over Griffin. Told her what a beautiful girl she was. Called her Angel.
I didn’t think anything of it.
Stop it, Dragon. I hear the words in Diana’s voice. You were a child. You couldn’t have known. There was nothing you could’ve done.
And for the first time, I actually believe the words. I thought I believed them before. In therapy. When I talked to Jesse.
But I never did. That’s why I couldn’t lay off the sauce.
I believe them now.
There isn’t anything I could have done. I was a kid.
It feels like a weight off my chest, as if I’m breathing freely for the first time since I was eight years old.
“So where’s my mom?” Bridget asks again.
“I’m not sure. But Bridget…”
“What?”
“I have to call the police. You’ve been abandoned.”
She holds her hands out in front of her. “Please, no. I don’t want to go with strangers.”
“I may be your uncle, but you don’t know me.”
“Please…” She wipes a tear from her cheek. “Please don’t call them.”
My heart breaks. This girl is thirteen, and I heard just as many horror stories from the group homes for girls. I can’t put this little girl through that.
Unfortunately, though, I don’t have a choice.
I can get a DNA test, show the courts that I’m this little girl’s uncle. Petition for custody.
Yeah, as if the state will give custody to a recovering addict who was recently arrested for solicitation…
And the hooker looked like Griffin. Like the child in front of me.
Not great optics.
With every bone in my body, I want to take her with me. Tell her that I will keep her safe forever. But we’d be on the run.
And more importantly?
She’s not mine to take.
She’s a minor. I have no right to this child.
God, I don’t want to call the police. I don’t want to call child services. I don’t want Bridget in their custody.
But if I take her now, I may never be able to care for her in the long term. I have to do what’s right. I have to follow the law.
“Bridget,” I say, “I’m sorry, but I have to call the police.”
She inhales sharply. “But my father told me you’d take care of me.”
“I wish I could. But if I take you without the legal right to do so, I could end up in prison. I can’t help you from there.”
“But…”
“The one person who has a right to you is your mother. I’ll find her, Bridget. I’ll find her, and then you and she can be together again.”
She grabs my arm. “Please…”
Oh God. Her voice. She even sounds like Griffin. Or does she? Do I even remember what my sister’s voice sounds like? She was five years old. She still had a baby voice. This girl is thirteen. She’s on the verge of womanhood.
If only…
But I can’t.
Besides, Diana and I can’t go after Griffin with a thirteen-year-old girl in tow. We wouldn’t be able to take care of her. We wouldn’t be able to guarantee her safety.
This is so fucked up.
“Bridget, did your mother ever tell you how she and your father came to be together?”
“Not really. I guess I never asked.”
“Does your father have a phone number?”
She scratches the side of her head. “I’ve seen him talk on the phone. But I don’t know the number.”
I cock my head. “How can that be? Didn’t you need to give a phone number to the administration at your school?”
“I don’t go to school. Mom teaches me at home.”
“Oh.” Makes sense, except… Griffin was taken when she was five years old. She had never even been to school. How could someone who never had any education teach another? Did Malcolm teach her? Did she somehow learn on her own?
So many questions, and I have no answers.
When my sister was taken, she didn’t even know how to read.
“What kind of things did your mother teach you?” I ask.
“The alphabet. Some songs. Colors, shapes.”
“Do you know how to read, Bridget?”
She frowns. “A little bit. I recognize some words. Mom is better at it than I am.”
Dear God…
Putting this young girl in the care of the state would be such a mistake. She has so much to learn.
But again, I don’t have a choice.
“Bridget, I’m going to have to call the police and social services.”
“Please, don’t.” Her face twists. “My father promised you’d come and take care of me.”
“Did you get the idea, Bridget, that when your father left you, he wouldn’t be coming back?”
She nods. “He said he won’t be back. That he was leaving. That he had to, because if he didn’t, the police would take him away.”
“I see.”
“Please don’t call them.”
“I wish I didn’t have to. But like I said, if I take you without the legal right to, I’ll get in big trouble. Then I won’t be able to help you. So I need to call them.” I kneel, grab her hands. “But I promise. I promise I will find your mother. And when I do, she will get you back.”
“I’d rather stay with you.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“You’re my uncle. Mom told me all about you. I know you.”
I want to take her into my arms, kiss the top of her head, and promise that I’ll protect her always. Something I couldn’t do for Griffin, but maybe I can do for this young lady.
She’s older than Griffin was, but I’m older now too. I’m a grown man. A grown man who’s lived through a hell of a lot of hard knocks and still managed to get Diana Steel to fall in love with him.
Hell, if I can do that, I can do anything.
“I have to,” I say again. “But they’ll keep you safe.”
I hope to God I’m not lying to her.
“And I will find your mother,” I say with renewed determination.
Because Griffin is alive.
Not just alive in this daughter born from her body, but alive. I feel it in my heart and my soul. I feel it viscerally in the marrow of my bones.
My baby sister is alive, and I will find her.
Then I’ll find Malcolm Osborne.
And I will make him fucking pay.