Home to Whiskey Creek

The sarcasm in her response took him by surprise. “Pardon me?”

She lifted her chin, revealing her unwillingness to bend on this issue. “I can’t, okay? If I come forward, whoever did this will hurt Gran. He told me so.”

“Why would anyone want to hurt either of you?”

She didn’t answer.

“Are you not going to respond?”

“It’s just a freak thing that happened. If I put it behind me and forget, it won’t happen again.”

“You hope.”

She didn’t answer.

“What if Milly already filed a missing-person report?”

Obviously not enchanted by that idea, she caught her bottom lip between her teeth. “Would Chief Stacy allow her to? It’s only been one day. Doesn’t it take, like...three days for the police to consider a missing adult as a criminal case?”

“Depends on the circumstances.”

“Right.” She slumped over, as if her chances of having the ordeal go unnoticed weren’t as good as she’d hoped. “I was taken from my bed.”

“How’d that happen?”

“There’s a door to the outside in my bedroom, where the porch wraps around the house. I left it open to get some air, and he cut through the screen door.”

“Then it’s not like you drove off with him. I’m guessing the police are already involved.”

She stuck a French fry in her mouth. “So...I’ll just tell everyone the same thing I told you.”

“That you must’ve been sleepwalking.”

She had to roll back the sleeves of his sweatshirt; they were too big to stay pushed up on her long, thin arms. “Why not?”

The marks on her wrists suggested she’d been bound, which upset him more than any of it.

“Because no one will believe you.” Especially once they saw what he did.

“That part doesn’t matter.”

“It only matters that they not learn the truth. Is that it?”

She’d been shoveling the food down pretty fast, but at this she slowed. “Basically.”

He stopped at the light where he needed to turn to go to Whiskey Creek. “You’re not making sense,” he said in frustration. But then something occurred to him that he should’ve thought of before. “Wait a second. He didn’t...rape you, did he?”

She’d had her panties on, and they’d been intact. Her shirt hadn’t been torn off, either. But those marks on her wrists...

“No, he didn’t,” she said, but she’d spoken too quickly and the tears that welled up called her a liar.

Shit! He was an idiot for not catching on sooner. She’d been beaten but his sweatshirt had covered her wrists until she started eating. And the way she’d responded when he questioned her led him to believe she knew the person who’d hurt her and was even trying to protect him. That screamed domestic violence, not rape—at least, not stranger rape.

If she’d been sexually assaulted, maybe she was refusing to go to the hospital because she didn’t want anyone to find out, didn’t want to go through the humiliation.

Or she had no confidence it would make any difference.

“Adelaide, please,” he said, “let me take you to the hospital. I know it’ll be degrading and...terrible but...I don’t think you should make this decision in your current, uh, condition.”

A tear crested her lashes and ran down her cheek as she shoved the rest of the food away. “You don’t know anything.”

A car honked behind them. The light had turned green, and he hadn’t noticed.

“I know this is...a hard situation,” he said as he accelerated. “But...they have what’s called a rape kit. You need to try and get a sample of his DNA while you can.” He grappled for other reasons that might convince her. “You don’t want anyone else to be hurt, do you?”

She covered her ears. “Stop it! He won’t hurt anyone else. That’s not an issue.”

Could he believe her? Or was it wishful thinking?

Either way, her expression broke his heart. She’d reached her limit. One more push and she might shatter. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll back off.”

After that they drove in silence. When they reached the house, he thought she’d get out and go in without saying goodbye. Although they couldn’t see Milly through the windows, every light seemed to be on. He could sense Adelaide’s eagerness to get behind that closed door. But she turned back with her hand on the latch. “So...is this our little secret?”

He studied her. “Is what our little secret?”

She hesitated, obviously trying to define what she was asking. “Just...don’t make a big deal out of what happened. That’s all. Let me do the talking.”

“I’m not going to make a big deal of it. But if your grandmother’s called the cops, others will know about it. Even if it doesn’t reach the major news outlets, it’ll be reported in the weekly paper. You won’t be able to avoid the Gold Country Gazette.”

Her shoulders drooped as she recognized the truth in what he said. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She started taking off his sweatshirt.

He stopped her. “Keep it. I get free T-shirts and sweatshirts all the time, and it’s cold out.”

She seemed tempted to return it, anyway, but probably realized that would reveal more of her than she wanted him to see. “Thanks for the help.”

“No problem,” he murmured, but she’d already climbed out and was limping across the lawn.

4

The house was quiet. But the lights in the kitchen and living room would’ve told anyone who really knew Milly that all was not as it should be. She never stayed up past ten o’clock and, other than on the porch, she never left a light burning when she went to bed.

Adelaide had hoped to slip into her room and put on some clothes before she disturbed Gran. She didn’t want Milly to see her looking so battered. But she heard her grandmother call out the second she returned the hide-a-key container to its place under the porch. Gran had probably been lying in bed with her hearing aids in and turned up high, praying for her safe return and listening for the door.

“Addy? That you?”

The worry in her voice upset Adelaide, made her even angrier with the man who’d thrown her down the mine shaft. She’d always live in the shadow of the past, but Gran had nothing to do with graduation night fifteen years ago. Stephen, Derek, Tom or Kevin—whichever one of them had abducted her—had no right to put Milly through the panic of finding her missing.

“Yeah, Gran, it’s me. Sorry to wake you.” Intent on getting into a pair of sweatpants, she started toward her bedroom, but her grandmother wasn’t in bed. Gran intercepted her at the hallway entrance, fully clothed, walker and all.