Chapter 13 - DUSTIN'S CHOICE
Federal agents took Victor into custody.
Briggs went with them voluntarily.
I barely noticed.
Only one sentence mattered.
Dustin had been ordered to hurt Evelyn.
At the hospital, Harris met me outside her room.
“Eleanor and Evelyn are safe.”
“Where’s Dustin?”
“Interview room.”
“Did he confess?”
Harris didn’t answer immediately.
That was enough.
I walked into the small hospital conference room.
Dustin sat at a table wearing borrowed clothes.
His hands trembled.
He looked up when I entered.
I closed the door.
“Was it an order?”
He didn’t pretend not to understand.
“Yes.”
The word nearly broke the last piece of restraint I had left.
“Victor told you to beat my daughter.”
“He told me to scare her.”
“You broke three ribs.”
“I know.”
“You gave her a concussion.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that.”
He lowered his head.
“I was afraid.”
“So was she.”
That landed.
His face crumpled.
“I thought if I didn’t do it, he’d hurt her worse.”
“You always had another choice.”
“I know.”
This time I let him say it.
Because he finally sounded like he understood what the words meant.
“You’re going to prison,” I said.
He nodded.
“I should.”
“And you are never contacting Evelyn unless she requests it.”
Another nod.
Then he pushed a phone across the table.
“What’s this?”
“My backup phone.”
“Why give it to me?”
“Because Victor forgot I had it.”
Harris entered behind me.
Dustin unlocked the phone.
Hundreds of messages appeared.
Names.
Payments.
Threats.
Instructions.
Enough to bury half of Victor’s operation.
Harris stared at him.
“You understand what cooperation means?”
“Yes.”
“It doesn’t erase what you did.”
“I know.”
Dustin looked at me.
“I don’t want it erased.”
For the first time, I believed him.
Not enough to forgive him.
Enough to believe him.
Then Harris opened one message thread.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He turned the phone toward me.
A message from Victor to Dustin.
GET CLOSE TO THE GIRL. HER FATHER HAS THE LANTERN ARCHIVE.
Another message followed three months later.
IF SHE FINDS ANYTHING, SCARE HER.
Then one from the night Evelyn was hurt.
Dustin had replied.
I WON'T KILL HER.
Victor answered.
THEN I'LL SEND SOMEONE WHO WILL.
I read it twice.
Dustin had done something unforgivable.
But he had also hidden one more secret.
May you like
He had called 911 anonymously after Evelyn collapsed.
Without that call, Eleanor later told me, my daughter might have died.
