Chapter Eleven #2
She sighed. “Someone cared enough to put her name on a piece of paper and pin it to her blanket. They wanted her to have a name.”
“Who named you Katherine?”
Katherine Matthews had been her name before she’d arrived at McKittrick House all those years ago. He knew that it was Harlan who’d started calling her Kit. He wasn’t sure why, though.
“My first social worker, or so the story goes. By the time I was old enough to comprehend, I’d already been in four foster homes. I was not an easy baby, apparently.”
“Sick?”
“Irritable.”
“That tracks,” he said lightly.
She laughed, swatting him on the leg. “I’d be mad, but you’re right.” She was quiet for a long moment. Just when he thought she’d gone to sleep, she said, “My file says I was found in a pile of trash.”
His erection abruptly softened as tears stung his eyes. “Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh. I was a few months old and screaming at the top of my lungs in a dirty alley in the city. Someone heard me and called the cops. There was no note, no name tag. No photo of my mother. Just a pile of trash.”
He’d wondered about the circumstances of her birth many times, but had never asked. Maybe because he’d been afraid of exactly this.
“Had a few families consider adopting me,” she went on.
“But something always happened. Akiko’s first two foster families were good people who would have adopted her, but things happened out of their control.
One family moved out of the country and the other foster mother got cancer and died.
But with me…well, no one wanted to keep me.
I was unruly, and I screamed a lot. When I learned to talk, I was mouthy and disrespectful.
When I learned to walk, I was hell on wheels.
By the time Akiko was five years old, Ito had come along and was mentoring her.
By the time I was five, I’d been in six foster homes and knew that no one would ever want me. ”
“Kit,” he whispered, tightening his hold on her, unwilling to let her go.
She patted his hand. “It’s just a fact, Sam. But…I wanted you to understand. Letting people in is hard.”
But she was letting him in. He blinked, his tears sliding down his cheeks and into her hair. “I want to go back in time and hit some people. But I don’t know who to hit.”
Her laugh was wet. “Same. And Mom and Pop feel the same way. They feel that way for every kid who passes through their doors. I got so lucky.”
“The universe owed you a boon.”
“Maybe. Maybe it was destiny. Maybe it was dumb luck. But I always knew that no one would want me. Took me years to believe that Mom and Pop did.”
“They love you.” So do I. But she wasn’t ready to hear that yet.
“Oh, I know. It was Akiko who helped me see that. She was always so much more willing to trust than I was. Than I still am.”
He held her tighter.
She patted his hand again. “It’s okay, Sam. I survived. Then I thrived. Harlan McKittrick was the first man I ever trusted. Baz was the second.” She hesitated. “You’re the third.”
His chest hurt. “You honor me.”
“I tell the truth.”
Another thing he loved about her. What you saw with Kit was what you got. “You still honor me.”
She sighed. “When I first met Akiko, she was almost a black belt. Ito was making her wait until she was sixteen to test. I remember meeting him and being so jealous. I was jealous of Akiko anyway. She was sweet and funny. Pretty and talented. Everyone loved her. I was prickly and angry and…well, Mom and Pop loved me but I didn’t believe that yet.
I remember that Ito looked at her like she hung the moon and stars.
It seemed fishy to me then. I suspected him. ”
“Of being abusive?”
“Yes. Nice men aren’t supposed to look at a teenager that way. She and I fought about it. She told me that her Shihan—this was a few promotions back and he was Shihan then—that he would never hurt her that way. I didn’t believe her. He seemed off to me.”
“You were right. He was hiding some big secrets.”
“Yeah, I see that now. But I realized I was hurting her with my suspicions, that she was capable of defending herself, so I stopped accusing him.”
“But you never stopped suspecting him.”
“Not really. Eventually, I accepted that my suspicion was rooted in jealousy. I wasn’t proud of myself for that.”
“You loved her. You still do.”
“With all my heart, as twisted as it was.”
Sam’s chest hurt again. “Your heart is not twisted. Then or now. It’s a big heart and you guarded it because you didn’t want to be hurt. That’s human nature, Kit.”
“You’re kind.”
“I tell the truth.”
She chuckled. “Throwing my words back at me. Nicely done.” She settled a little more, linking their fingers together over her stomach, and some of the pain in Sam’s chest eased. He couldn’t change what she’d been through, but he could make sure she understood what she meant to those who loved her.
“Thank you,” he murmured.
She made a contented sound as she relaxed into him. “I wonder how Ito knew where she was. In the foster system, I mean. He had to have known because he chose her to receive a scholarship to his dojo.”
“Good point.”
“I wonder who left her in that box on the fire station stoop—Himari or Minako.”
“Mary or Minnie.”
“Yes. Ito had to have gotten some kind of permission for Akiko to attend his dojo. Either from social services or from her foster parent at the time. Maybe both.”
“I don’t know what the rules were back then,” Sam admitted. “Why are you wondering about this?”
“Because if Ito dies, we have no way of reconstructing all those years he mentored Akiko, when she was all alone except for him. I want to reconstruct those years. I want to know what the danger was. Why he didn’t adopt her.
He’s her grandfather. He could have established his custodial right, but he didn’t.
And he said it was because of the ‘danger.’ Danger that’s clearly come to fruition. ”
“We could ask around at social services. Or ask the foster family who had custody of her when she was five.”
“The mother died, but the father might still be alive.”
Sam didn’t think it mattered to the case, but this mattered to Kit because it would matter to Akiko. Especially if Ito didn’t make it.
“We can make some calls once we’ve slept.”
“Thank you, Sam. For being here. You always know how to make me feel better.”
Because I love you. “You’re welcome. Sleep now.”
“Don’t let me go,” she whispered.
“Never,” he whispered back, but she’d already slipped into sleep.
Anaheim, California
Tuesday, January 31, 11:15 a.m.
Sam was frying bacon in Anson’s kitchen when Harlan came in and slumped into a chair at the table. Harlan was looking…old, which left Sam feeling unsettled.
Sam moved the bacon from the pan to a plate before pouring Harlan a cup of coffee. “You don’t look okay. I’m not even going to ask if you are.”
Harlan sipped his coffee. “I hate seeing my kids hurting. It’s awful.”
Sam got himself a cup of coffee and joined Harlan at the table. “Did Ito die?”
“No. Still unconscious. Never woke up after those few moments he talked to Kit and Akiko last night.”
“Prognosis?”
Harlan shrugged helplessly. “Not good. But he’s holding on.
Anson promised to have one person on guard outside the ICU for the next few days.
They have no jurisdiction or authority, so they’re working with hospital security in case someone does come after Ito.
The cops came and went a few times, but they aren’t a constant presence. ”
“At least he’s protected. Where’s Akiko?”
“Kit’s tucking her into bed. I got us some food from a drive-through when we left the hospital.” He sniffed appreciatively. “But I’ll take some bacon. I’m still hungry.”
“And an omelet?”
“I knew I liked you.”
Sam smiled and got busy. “I take it that Ricky Nicchi never came back.”
“He did not.”
“Asshole.”
“I agree.”
“Next time I see him, I’m tackling him and tying him up so that we can call the cops. He knows so much more than he’s admitting.”
“Again, I agree, but who are you going to get to help you tackle him? He’s kind of huge.”
“Yeah,” Sam grumbled. “Everyone I’d ask is incapacitated at the moment. Connor would have been my first choice, but he’s recuperating. Marshall and Ashton are out, too. Maybe Kit can help me. She’s good at takedowns.”
“Akiko taught her that.”
“She told me that. Kit was wondering about something last night and I think she’s right. She wants to track Ito’s movements over the years so that she can figure out what this danger is to Akiko—you know, in case he never wakes up.”
Harlan sighed. “I think that’s wise. Where does she want to start?”
Sam had been mulling it ever since he’d woken up. “I’d start with the social worker who handled Akiko’s case when she was five years old.”
“I don’t know who that was. I only know the social worker who placed her with us.”
“I’ll start with her, then. The first social worker’s name should be in Akiko’s file. I’ll probably need her to sign a release or something to get it. How did Akiko come to McKittrick House?”
“Betsy and I got a call from the social worker who took over Kit’s case after her former social worker was fired.”
Sam nodded. “She told me about that, too. How her previous social worker made her look like a ‘little psycho’ for defending herself against predatory foster fathers.”
Harlan made a low sound in his throat, almost a growl. “I wanted to kill those men with my bare hands. Both of them. Trying to touch my Kit. Trying to touch any of the children under our care.”
Sam agreed with him wholeheartedly. “She told me that a new social worker believed her. That the men who tried to hurt her were finally punished.”
“Not enough,” Harlan grunted. “But that’s water under the bridge. They’re both dead now.”
Sam turned from the stove, surprised. “How?”
Harlan lifted his brows. “Well, I didn’t do it.”
“I didn’t think you did.” Mostly. “Kit didn’t tell me they were dead.”