It wasn’t much longer though until their father’s heavy drinking did more damage to his body than it could handle. His fragile frame caved into the liquor and quit one summer day, leaving his two daughters completely alone in the world. They were entrusted to the care of a family friend, Uncle Lenny Martin, who was their father’s oldest friend and who they had known all their life. They were grateful for how much he had cared for them and helped them, but there is no perfect substitute for missing parents.
At least Annie had had Kate, who did her best to fill every role her little sister needed. Somehow it had worked, somehow Kate had managed to shield Annie from a life that could have led to cynicism. Instead, Annie was a free spirit traveling wherever the wind picked her up and dropped her off. She loved life and indecision and happily flitted from one job to the next, one home to the next, one man to the next. Her laugh was always piercing the air with its melodic tone when she came to visit.
Their life had not been easy but Kate had carried the brunt of their trials and had held the bitterness at bay when Annie was near. She never lied to Annie so it was no secret that the abuse had deeply affected Kate but she locked her pain up tightly out of Annie’s reach. Kate felt a possessiveness over it, as if she had deserved it all. Every time she felt that reminder of how she had gutted her family up like a fish, she snuck off to her vault and reveled in the pain she felt she deserved.
Every time she thought of that man’s hands skimming across her skin and forcing their way to places her young mind didn’t know existed, she shuddered and felt sick. Nausea crept up and smashed against her with the same force as the images pounded her mind’s eye. The memory of his pant’s zipper always down, the way his aftershave stung her nostrils, or the way he glared at her like she was something to be devoured. Those thoughts would never leave her, they popped up whenever they please with no warning to remind her of what she was long before the attack from two weeks ago. She had never been whole. She had never been worthy. She was always tainted.
Kate squeezed her eyes tightly, exhaling forcefully, as if she was trying to push every negative sensation right out of her. She blinked back tears burning her eyes and lay back down. She finally settled herself against a pillow, pushing against it in an attempt to plump it up in a more comfortable position. She turned onto her side and punched the pillow again, causing a muffled sound that made Derrick stir next to her. He turned to face her and flopped his arm down across her waist, pulling her closer to him unconsciously as he drifted back into a deeper sleep.
She studied his face, a few inches away from hers, and wondered if she could trust him enough to tell him everything about herself. This deliciously handsome man in front of her enticed her in every way possible, but now there was a new feeling when she looked at him. A sensation that she had never experienced with him before.
It was fear.
CHAPTER THREE
“Craig McDermott.” Detective Mike McCraig shouted down the sidewalk to the young man walking out of a door onto the city street. The young man stopped and stared at the two confident detectives striding towards him.
“Can I help you?” He said, a mixture of irritation and curiosity in his voice, as he pushed his hands into his pockets and stared at the duo.
“Sure can, if you don’t mind following us down to the precinct.” McCraig’s partner, Detective Liz Snow, flashed her badge at Craig as she came to a stop in front of him and McCraig circled to around Craig’s side, cornering him.
“Come on, I just left my parole officer. I’m clean, I haven’t done anything!” Craig pointed to the door that he had just left from which was clearly marked as Department of Correction offices.
“How do you think we found you? Just serendipity?” McCraig joked snidely and grabbed Craig’s upper arm, pulling him along the sidewalk with them as they headed towards their squad car parked on the corner. Snow got in the driver’s seat while McCraig pushed Craig into the backseat of the car, then joined Snow in the front seat.
~~~~
“So, good behavior, huh? How did you get that? You don’t have the rap sheet of an eagle scout here, Craig.” Snow pulled out the metal chair at the table across from where Craig was also seated on another metal chair in the interrogation room at the precinct.
McCraig was leaning up against the concrete wall, a long mirror to his right which was clearly a secretive window for others to watch in even though it looked like a mirror from inside the room they were currently in. McCraig stood silently and crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes piercing into Craig.
“I kept to myself, I didn’t do anything. I hadn’t even planned on being there in the first place, man! That was never my scene! Always did my jobs and fast, kept my head down, didn’t cause any problems.” Craig tossed his hands up in exasperation, still unsure why he was even there.