Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Dragon
I stay with Griffin as she tells her story to the police.
Her blond hair is dirty and stringy, and she’s too thin. She looks underfed.
I stay by her side, and as she recounts how Sir, as she calls him, gave her to the cult, rage courses through me.
But I have to stay calm. If I’m going to be any help to my sister—and we truly don’t even know each other at this point—I must be strong and control my emotions.
Malcolm.
She remembers Sir’s name. Mack.
Griffin was only five years old, so she never knew his last name. Osborne.
Brother to my best friend, Ricky Osborne.
Was he the one who came into her room that night and cut her? The event that led to my abandonment by my family?
She doesn’t know.
She can’t remember.
And that’s okay.
She recalls only being taken from her home by Sir, whose real name was Mack. He didn’t hurt her at first, she says. He only hugged and kissed her and gave her baths where he touched her all over.
I want to kill him.
But when she grew up a bit…
The horrors unfold as she breaks down, and finally the detectives questioning her take pity on her.
“We can finish this another time, Ms. Locke.”
“Where’s Bridget?” Griffin asks.
“She’s in the custody of child services,” I tell her. “You’re her mother, so you can get her back.”
“Yes, and we’ll help in any way we can,” the detective says.
“And Sir?” she asks timidly.
“He left her,” I tell the detective. “He’s the one who’s been getting in touch with me. He called me and left me clues.”
“I guess he was finally ready to move on,” she says.
“You’re going to be okay now, Griffin,” I tell her. “You and Bridget both. We’ll get her back. And somehow, I’ll take care of both of you.”
“I knew I’d recognize you when I saw you again,” she says. “I’ll never forget those kind eyes of yours, Dragon.”
I smile and pat her hand. “Come with me. Diana and I will take you back to the house in Taos. You can get all your things, and tomorrow, we will get Bridget.”
“I’d like that,” she says.
“So you’re comfortable going with Mr. Locke here?” the detective asks.
“Of course I am.” She grabs my hand and squeezes it. “He’s my brother.”
“All right. If you’re sure, we will release you into his custody. You’re an adult, after all.”
“Do you even have any identification?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Probably not. I never learned to drive, and honestly, Dragon, I can hardly read. Neither can Bridget.”
“We can take care of that right away.”
She widens her eyes. “What if it’s too late?”
“It’s never too late to learn.”
I close my eyes. Think about everything my sister has been through. Abduction. Abuse. Rape. Having to bear a child when she herself was still a child. Being subjected to God knows what at the hands of this awful cult.
Fuck.
I could use a drink.
But now more than ever, I am staying sober. For my sister. For my niece. For Diana.
Most of all?
For myself.
To be the person I was meant to be. Griffin has a second chance now, and so do I.
It’s nearly ten p.m. by the time we get back to Taos, but Griffin insists on going by the house she shared with Sir. She wants to get her belongings. Then she’ll stay at the hotel with Diana and me, and tomorrow morning, we’ll go see about getting Bridget back.
Diana and I go with Griffin into the house. It’s run-down, as I expected. Old papers scattered all over in messy stacks. It reminds me of that television show about hoarders.
Griffin scrapes a few things together into a reusable grocery bag. “This is all I need,” she says.
“What about some extra clothes?” Diana asks.
She bites her lip. “I don’t have any extra clothes. All he ever gave me was sweats.” She swallows. “Except for the lingerie, and I don’t want that.”
I hold back puke again as I glance into the bag. On top is a pair of pink flannel pajamas with rainbows. There’s a heart cut out of the fabric.
“You kept them,” I say.
“They’re the pajamas I was wearing the night he took me.” She frowns. “I’m not sure why there’s a heart shape cut out of them.”
“He sent that piece of heart-shaped fabric to me,” I tell her. “That’s how I knew he had you. Or at least that he knew something .”
She looks down at the bag. “I could never bear to part with them. They were the only thing that reminded me of where I came from.” Her face twists, and she wipes a tear from her cheek. “I feel bad, Dragon. All these years… Sometimes the memories get so blurry.”
“You were a kid,” I tell her. “Only five years old. It’s amazing that you have any memories at all.”
She meets my gaze, cracks a small smile. “I remember you. You and your drum. Honestly, I remember you more than I remember Mom and Dad. I remember you went away, and that I was so sad.”
I open my mouth to tell her what happened, but then I close it. I don’t need to lay anything more on her. It can wait for another day. She doesn’t need to know that our parents sent me away because they thought I was the one who hurt her.
“Do you want to see Mom?” I ask.
She scratches the side of her head. “I don’t know. Should I?”
“She’s a mess,” I say. “But I think it might help her to see you. But you don’t have to do that right away. You can get cleaned up, get some rest. We’ll get Bridget back. Get the two of you settled somewhere. You’ll have to talk to the cops again because we’re going to have to find Mack. He can’t get away with this.”
She squeezes her eyes shut, rubs her hands over her temples. “He got away with it, Dragon. We were here the whole time.”
“I’m sure Mom and Dad did everything they could to find you.”
Actually, I’m not sure at all, but I don’t want to say that to my sister.
“You think?”
I blink. “Probably. I’m sure there was an investigation. But Mom and Dad didn’t have a huge amount of money. I’m sure they did all they could with the resources they had.”
That seems to satisfy her for now.
“What about the dog?” she asks.
“He’s at a kennel with our mother’s dog,” I say. “I guess they’re our dogs now. Diana’s and mine.”
She cocks her head. “So you two are…”
Diana nods. “We are. And I’m so glad we found you.”
“I am too.” She looks around slowly, her eyes wide. “It just seems so…unreal.”
“I promise you that it’s real, Griffin,” I say. “We’ll figure this all out. We’ll pull your birth certificate, and you and I can have DNA taken to prove we’re brother and sister. That way you’ll know for sure who you are. And we can get you educated, teach you how to drive, get you a license. Get your daughter educated.”
She closes her eyes again, breathes in deeply. “It’s so strange, Dragon.”
“I know.”
“No, I mean… I thought I would hate the baby. Because of who gave it to me.” She opens her eyes. “But I love her, Dragon. I love Bridget so much.”
“Any mother would. That’s what mothers do.”
I’m not sure where those words came from, as my mother certainly found it very easy to turn her back on me, but I’ve learned a lot from Diana. From how she talks about her own parents. How much they love her and her siblings.
“Of course you do,” Diana says. “You’re her mother, Griffin. She’s a part of you. It doesn’t matter who her father is. Besides, we’re going to make sure he stays far away from both of you from now on. When we catch him, he will be going to prison for a long, long time.”
Yeah. If I don’t kill him first.
But the words in my mind are no longer true, even though Mack deserves much worse.
I’ll never take another life.
That’s not who I am anymore.
We make it back to the hotel. Diana gives Griffin some clothes to put on after she takes a shower.
We make sure she eats something, and then we put her to bed.
Diana and I will sleep in the other room, but we leave the adjoining door open in case Griffin needs us.
I fall onto the bed, and Diana curls into my arms. I kiss the top of her head, and only then do I remember…
I missed my first night of work.
And I didn’t call Antonio.