Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
BANNER
“I was saying goodbye to Alec,” she begins, staring off into space.
I climb onto the bed beside her, careful of her arm, and pull her toward me, anchoring her to me, terrified she’ll slip away if I don’t.
“But when I started talking, I realized mentally I was already done. There was nothing left to say, so I decided to meet Banner at the diner. I was turning to leave when they were just there. I never even heard them approach.”
“Who was there, Sorrow?” Wade prompts softly.
“The rookie, Denny.”
I jolt at that, my eyes flying to Wade’s. Blake and Kellen look as surprised as I do, but Wade doesn’t. He doesn’t look surprised at all.
Before I can call him on it, Sorrow continues. “I knew immediately something wasn’t right. Given my history with the man, I knew he wasn’t there for a friendly chat, but I didn’t understand why he seemed so damn mad.
“I backed up, but he kept coming for me, ranting about how he was gone and it was all my fault. And then he shoved me. I hit my head and blacked out.”
“When I came looking for you, I found your phone near Alec’s gravestone. I looked for you, but I clearly didn’t try hard enough. You were right fucking there,” I snap, trying to hold back my anger.
She wraps her good arm around me and presses her head to my chest. “None of this was your fault. It wasn’t any of our faults. Denny made his own choice, though there is something very wrong with the way that man’s wired. I’m no expert, but I don’t think he has any business being a cop.”
“That’s not going to be an issue,” Wade mutters before turning the page on his pad. “Did he say anything after that?”
I look down at her as her eyes flutter closed for a moment, and the color bleeds from her skin.
“I woke up alone in the dark. It was so dark I couldn’t see a single thing, and it was freezing.”
And the sundress she was wearing would have been no match for the cold. I pull the blankets around her on reflex.
She snuggles into me further and sighs. “My head hurt, and I was freaked out. But I pushed through it and decided to try and figure out where I was. In hindsight, that might not have been the best idea because once I realized I was effectively in a tomb with dead bodies, I had a full-on panic attack,” she admits, her voice dropping lower with embarrassment.
I slide my fingers under her jaw and tilt her head back. “Not a single fucking thing for you to be embarrassed about, Sorrow. What you went through would have terrified anyone.”
“I feel like I let myself down. I promised myself I wouldn’t ever be so vulnerable again. But when faced with yet another fucked-up situation, I folded like a piece of paper. I hate feeling weak, Banner.”
“You are far from weak, Sorrow.”
“He’s right. I don’t like tight spaces. I’d have lost my ever-loving mind in your shoes,” Wade admits, drawing Sorrow’s attention.
“Yeah, turns out I don’t like them either.
Not one little bit.” She sighs as I play with a strand of her hair.
“I got this when I fell.” She lifts her cast. “I heard it snap, knew it was broken, but the pain took a back seat to how scared I was. In the end, I made my way around the room, looking for a door, and I eventually found it. But I couldn’t get out,” she chokes out.
“We really should have emergency pull levers like we do in the trunk of a car because the bruises down the left side of my body are all from me trying and failing at breaking the door down. When Stephenson turned up, I honestly thought he might be there to finish the job.”
I tense beside her, barely managing to hold back my snarl.
“He didn’t, though. Now I can think about it without freaking out, he looked wrecked. He picked me up and carried me to his truck after calling you,” she says to Wade. I don’t miss the sound of gratitude in her voice. Something tells me Wade is the only reason she let Stephenson anywhere near her.
“And, well, you know the rest.”
“What I don’t fucking get is why Denny did this?” Kellen states. “Yeah, he fucked up. But he was following orders, which was the reason he got to keep his job when Stephenson lost his, albeit with a lot of conditions attached.”
Yeah, getting made to do anger management classes and spend a year being mentored was not my idea of punishment.
I thought he should have been fired, but the higher-ups decided he needed more training.
Man, how I hate that I was right. If I get my hand on this son of a bitch, training will be the last fucking thing he needs to worry about.
“I think I can shine some light on that,” Wade says with a sigh.
His eyes move to mine and I brace myself. Whatever he says is gonna piss me off.
“The mausoleum Sorrow was locked inside of was the Peterson mausoleum. That name ring a bell for any of you?”
I shake my head and look at Sorrow, who shrugs.
Kellen sighs. “Can’t say I’m familiar with it either.”
We all look at Blake, who taps his chin in thought. “They were one of the founding families, right? Only if I remember correctly, a scandal kind of had the town rewriting history a little.”
“They didn’t rewrite it so much as edit it until people mostly forgot about them,” Wade continues, taking a seat in one of the empty chairs.
“There were a few generations of Peterson that left their mark for all the right reasons, and then Mark Peterson was born. According to rumors, there was something amiss about that boy. Back then though, there wasn’t enough known about mental health, so a lot of shit was pushed under the rug.
When Mark was six, his sister was born. Greta Peterson.
Not much was known about her until she started high school.
She was a studious girl, quiet, kept to herself.
Imagine everyone’s surprise when the then high school science teacher, Doherty, was arrested for having sex with a minor. That minor being Greta.”
“Fuck. How old was she?” Kellen spits out.
“Fourteen.”
I shake my head, feeling sick. People in a position of power who abuse it like that are the scum of the earth.
“It gets worse. Greta ended up pregnant. Her father wanted Doherty’s head, and the whole town was in uproar.”
“Can’t say I blame him.”
“Yeah, well, here’s the kicker. Doherty wasn’t the baby daddy. He never touched Greta.”
“What the hell?” Sorrow gasps.
“And before any of you jump to conclusions, Greta tried to tell people it wasn’t true, that Doherty never touched her.
But nobody would listen because a year earlier, someone else had made a false allegation against him because he failed her.
And people started thinking there was no smoke without fire.
It didn’t matter that it was a lie. The damage was done.
Doherty hung himself from his kids’ treehouse after his wife took the kids and left him. ”
Blake runs his hands through his hair. “I swear to fuck, as much as I love living in a small town, there are times when I just want to scream at people to stop being fucking sheep.”
“Tell me about it.” Sorrow sighs.
“Shit, sorry, Sorrow. I wasn’t thinking.”
“You didn’t say anything that isn’t true.”
“Still. I don’t like dredging up shit that might upset you,” he grunts, making my lips twitch.
“So who said it was the teacher in the first place?” Kellen steers the conversation back on track.
“Mark, the brother. Said he caught them together.”
“What the fuck could he possibly gain from doing that? Did he have something against Doherty? Or did he just want to drag his sister through the mud? Because we both know, even when people thought she was the victim, there would have been those who blamed her for it.”
“She shouldn’t have stayed after class, shouldn’t have worn a skirt or smiled at him…” Sorrow whispers, trailing off when she sees us watching her.
“It’s not a unique story. Ask a crowd of women how old they were when they were first sexualized, and it will blow your mind. Better yet, find a rape survivor and ask her how often she was made to feel like she was the guilty party.”
Blake looks as sick as I feel. Wade gives her a knowing look. I’m sure it’s something he’s had to deal with time and time again.
Suddenly, Sorrow gasps, her eyes flying to Wade’s. “It was Mark, wasn’t it? He was the father of his sister’s baby?”
“Jesus Christ. Tell me she’s wrong,” I hiss.
Wade shakes his head. “Can’t do that. Turns out Mark had been raping his sister since she was a little girl.
When the truth came out, the father shot and killed Mark before handing himself in to the police.
He did eight years in prison, eight years into a fifteen-year sentence, before he had a heart attack and died.
Mom upped sticks with Greta before the trial even started.
Nobody heard from them again until a few years ago, when the mayor was informed that the mother and Greta had died in a house fire. That left just the son.”
“Denny Dickerson,” Kellen deduces.
“One and the same. He was never given the family name for obvious reasons, instead adopting his grandmother’s maiden name.
He moved back after they died. After taking the relevant courses to become a police officer, he started at Tempest PD so he could investigate what happened to his family.
I guess that his mom and grandma answered just enough questions to spark his curiosity, but kept him mostly in the dark about what really happened.
I can’t say I blame them. How do you tell your child something like that? ”
“Fuck if I know.”
“I don’t understand what any of that has to do with me unless you’re going to tell me he had an affair with my mom, too.” Sorrow grimaces.
“No, Sorrow. It had very little to do with you to begin with.”
“So the chief ordered Denny to mess with Sorrow. And he just agreed, so he didn’t rock the boat and lose his position at the PD? And by default, his ability to dig up his family tree?” Kellen scowls.
“No, he enjoyed messing with me. It felt personal.” Sorrow folds her arms.