Hearing the pain in the other woman’s voice, Skye hurt for her.
Claire’s lashes lowered as she stared at the floor. “I hadn’t dated before Ethan. I was nervous and scared, but he seemed so patient with me. He sent me flowers. Waited for me after work. He seemed so perfect.” She glanced up. “It didn’t take me long to realize that perfect was just a lie.”
***
“A few months after Sara came to work for me, she told me about her sister.” Trace remembered the way Sara had approached him. She’d been so hesitant. So protective.
“Claire had a boyfriend when she was a teen. He was charming to Claire and her family, at first, but the deeper the relationship went, the more his real side started to show.”
Alex cursed. “Let me guess, that real side was ugly.”
“If Claire was late for a date, he thought she was cheating on him. He started by yelling at her, threatening her, and then…he hit her.”
“Bastard.” Trace heard the fury humming in the one snarled word.
Trace nodded. Yes, Ethan Harrison was one sick bastard. “Claire was scared. She broke things off with him. Her parents sent her out of town because they wanted her away from the guy.” Trace’s lips twisted. “He had connections, you see. To an Alabama senator. That was his old man, and the punk was used to getting authorities to look the other way whenever he got a little rough with his girlfriends.”
Red stained Alex’s cheeks.
“But something was different this time. Ethan didn’t want to take no for an answer. Not when it came to Claire. He went to see Claire’s parents, and when they wouldn’t tell him where she was…”
***
“He killed them,” Claire whispered. “One shot to the head each. First my mother. Then my father. Th-the police said that based on the blood…they were probably kneeling. He made them kneel, right in front of him, then he shot them.”
Skye jumped from her chair and hurried to Claire. She opened her arms, then stopped.
I don’t like to be touched.
“He found me,” Claire said, still staring into her past. “Right after that. I think he must have searched the house until he found a note that I’d sent to them. He came looking for me at the cabin. He had the gun with him.”
“I’m so sorry,” Skye whispered.
“I didn’t know they were dead when he arrived. I’d been trying to reach them, but no one answered my calls. He was walking toward me on the dock.” She gave a sad shake of her head. “It was an old, rickety dock at my grandfather’s fishing cabin. Ethan’s convertible stood out there like a sore thumb. But he didn’t care who saw him. He didn’t care what anyone said. He was coming for me.”
“He didn’t get you,” Skye said, her voice hard. “You’re safe.”
Claire blinked. She seemed to see Skye once more. “He did get me that day. He found me on the dock. He put the gun to my head. He made me get on my knees.”
Dear God.
“And he pulled the trigger. He laughed when I screamed and he told me that he’d already used those bullets.”
On Claire’s parents.
“He told me that I could be his or I could be dead.”
***
“The senator couldn’t cover up two dead bodies. The cops started a manhunt, and they found Ethan two days later—he was in the woods with Claire.”
Trace could still see Sara in his mind. She’d stood in front of his desk, her voice soft, emotionless, as she’d told him this tale.
“A sniper shot Ethan in the leg. The cops got Claire away from him.”
“The leg?” Alex’s eyes turned to slits. “He should’ve aimed higher.”
Yes, he should have. But the senator had been standing behind the sniper, and it had been his call.
“They took Ethan in and that’s when the SOB got real creative. His daddy got him the best lawyers he could, and they claimed that Claire was the mastermind. That she was the one who’d seduced Ethan and pressured him into killing her parents. He was just an innocent boy who’d been led astray.”
“Tell me the jury didn’t buy that bull.”
“Claire tried to kill herself during the trial.”
Alex tensed.
“She was admitted to a psychiatric ward, and she stayed there for five months.”
“Sonofa—”
“The jury didn’t buy his story. They found Ethan Harrison guilty of both murders.”
“I hope they scheduled him an appointment with the needle or shoved his ass in the electric chair.”
“The judge gave him two concurrent life sentences.”
“So what—the ass**le could be out in fifteen years, provided he has good behavior?”
“He was almost out three years ago,” Trace said. Sara’s image was crisp in his mind. I know I don’t have the right to ask, but I need help. And I swear, I’ll work off the money. I will. “His daddy was still throwing his money around, and he hired new lawyers. An appeal was going up before the court.”
“I’m guessin’ this is where you come in…”
“Sara thought it was a matter of money. Convincing the right people that Ethan Harrison needed to stay in jail. But, of course, bribery is against the law. You know that well, Detective.”
Alex held his gaze. “Sometimes, it’s not about money. It’s about power. And we both know you have too damn much of that.”
***
“People believed him when Ethan said I told him to kill my parents. I could see it…people who’d known me for my entire life were suddenly doubting me. Strangers called me a whore. Men on the street shouted that I should die. So…I thought maybe I should.” Claire glanced down at her wrist. Skye saw the faint, white line there. “I’d almost bled out by the time Sara found me.”
I’m so glad Claire didn’t see Sara covered in all of that blood.
“I got better,” Claire said with grim pride. Then she whispered, “But the nightmares never stopped.”
They were about two feet apart. Claire was a few inches taller than Skye. A little younger. But, on the inside, Skye felt as if they were the same.
“I have nightmares, too.” Skye said. “Sometimes, they’re memories. Other times, they twist. They become something else.”
“Yes.”
“But when I wake up each day, those nightmares fade away.” That was the way it had been when her parents died, and that was the way it happened for her now. “Because nightmares can’t hurt us. We’re alive. We’re getting through this world, one step at a time, and it doesn’t matter what anyone else says or what anyone else calls us.” Skye willed Claire to believe what she was saying. “All that matters is that we know…we’re survivors.”