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He looked down, his mouth moving as he counted. “Three hours ago? Maybe four?”
So after Rick had been dropped off with that note taped to his chest. The next body we’ll leave you will be that of your son. If Dewey had been driving the van tonight, he’d died after writing the note, which meant at least Kaj didn’t have to worry that he’d come back for Elijah. Someone else in Sixth Day might, but not Dewey Talley.
However, this Corey character was at least as alarming as Talley. Maybe even more so. “That had to be terrifying.”
Jace rounded his shoulders, using them to wipe at his face. “Dewey’s dead, Rick’s going to jail, Aaron’s already in jail, Dianne’s always drunk, and I got nobody to help me hide from Corey. I knew he’d kill me next, so I ran.”
“Why did you think you’d be next, Jace?” Kaj asked.
“Because I—” Jace clamped his lips tight, holding his words in.
“Because you what?” Kaj urged, keeping his tone soft and delicate, but his gut was screaming that this was important.
“I wanted to run away,” he finally said. “Rick and me, we wanted to run away together. From Corey.”
That wasn’t what he’d been about to say, Kaj was sure, but he’d go with it. “Why?”
“Because Corey...” Jace looked away. “He beats us. Especially Rick. It wasn’t bad when we lived with Aaron and Dianne. Dianne took care of us. But then Liam got sick and we had to go live with Corey. He was mad about that. He didn’t want us. I just did what I was supposed to. Well, mostly. Not school. I’m not good at school. But Rick wouldn’t say ‘Yes, sir.’ He always argued and Corey would beat him. When Liam died, Corey said it shoulda been Rick who died. He hated us both, but especially Rick. So we tried to get our e...” He blew out a frustrated breath. “Our independence.”
It shoulda been Rick. What a thing to say to anyone. “Your emancipation?”
“Yes, that. Then Aaron said we could live with him again, but he went to jail and we didn’t know what to do. Rick got this idea that if we could get him back, things would be okay.”
If this was true, it explained a lot. It was a harebrained scheme, one a sixteen-year-old like Rick might think up.
“You said that Corey asked Rick, who helped him plan. What did Rick say?”
“Nothing while I was there, but I’ve been thinkin’ on it. Somehow Rick knew where your little boy would be and that the lady with him was too pregnant to fight us.” He looked up, suddenly beseeching. “She’s all right, right? The pregnant lady? I saw her fall.”
Kaj stilled. I saw her fall. Genie had fallen backward into the laundromat. She’d been out of view of the cameras recording the attempted abduction. Her fall hadn’t been on any of the videos and it hadn’t made the news.
Jace had been there.
Kaj kept his voice level. “Yes, she’s all right for now.”
Jace sagged. “Oh, thank God.”
Kaj leaned in so that he was only inches from Jace’s face. “Jace, were you in the van?”
Jace reared back but went nowhere with Burke behind him. He was visibly trembling, but he lifted his chin. “Do I get a lawyer? I saw that on TV. I should get a lawyer.”
“Do you need one?” Kaj asked.
Jace’s eyes filled with new tears. “Yes. I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t want to do it.”
Kaj let the silence hang for a long moment. “Do what?”
A sound from behind him caught his attention.
“Elijah, no,” Val said.
“I need to see,” Elijah insisted. “I need to see. Dad, let me see!”
No, Kaj wanted to shout. But Elijah had seen the man. At least he’d seen his eyes. “Let him come,” he said to Val.
She approached with Elijah, one hand on his shoulder, her gun in the other. “That’s as far as you go, Elijah,” she said, stopping his son ten feet from where Jace was kneeling in the kitchen.
Elijah was still in the dining room, but he had a line of sight to Jace. Kaj wasn’t letting Elijah come a step closer.
