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His nostrils flare. “If I knew that, don’t you think I’d havegunned him down? He cost me nearly fifteen years. Because of him, I lost everything.”
“Why would I believe you?”
“That bastard did something to my niece,” he roars.
My jaw drops, and my mind conjures up those polaroids of Amethyst I posted on the wall. Father knew Amethyst?
“Explain,” I demand.
“Something happened when she was ten. Melonie visited me in my first month of prison, begging for information about Dalton. She was half mad, ranting about a car accident. Said her daughter’s safety depended on finding him, but I couldn’t help her.”
I lean forward, my breath quickening. Father got his hands on Amethyst?
Nocturne clenches his fists, his features twisted with pain. “Melonie didn’t visit after that, and I didn’t hear anything about the girl until she walked into the kitchen two weeks ago.”
I continue questioning Nocturne about the past, but his knowledge is restricted to the limited amount of information Melonie shared during that single visit. After his release, he became a hunted man and hid in the Alderney Hill house after vigilantes burned down his residence. Twice. By then, any mention of Amethyst would trigger Melonie into a rage.
“What’s your connection to Dr. Saint?” I ask.
His features relax. “Melonie recommended her services, and she’s been helping me with my depression. It was her idea to restart my nightclub.”
I check the wall clock, hoping Jynxson has finished interrogating Dr. Saint.
“Are you going to kill me?” Nocturne asks, his voice thick with grief.
“Not unless you’re withholding information,” I reply. “I want every scrap of intel you have on Dalton Greaves, including what you think he might have done to your niece.”
We continue along these lines for another hour, with Nocturne delving deeper into his brother’s relationship with Father. Amethyst already told me Lyle Crowley ran an international adoption agency, but hearing it again from Nocturne puts that information into a chilling perspective.
I would bet my left nut that Father used the Happy Hearts Adoption Agency to traffic children into his underground facility.
Nocturne breaks down in tears, and I ease off, leaving Camila to complete the interrogation with orders to release Nocturne somewhere within walking distance of Alderney Hill.
Exiting into the darkened hallway that connects the cells to the catacomb’s upper levels, I grapple with the new insights into Amethyst’s past.
Did Father throw her in that institution to manipulate her mother into a relationship, or am I being too sympathetic to Melonie Crowley? I need to capture that woman. She’s the key to everything.
Footsteps echo toward me, and Jynxson steps out of the shadows.
“What did you find out?” I quicken my steps to close the distance.
He raises his shoulders. “The shrink is clean. Mostly.”
“What does that mean?”
“She doesn’t keep records on Amethyst because Mrs. Crowley wanted no traces of her daughter’s crimes.”
“So, there was more than one.” That isn’t a question. All evidence points toward Amethyst striking a second time at the age of eighteen.
He rubs the back of his neck. “Amethyst attacked two men in a drunken rage. She claims not to know what happened to them, but Mrs. Crowley demanded a stronger prescription to keep her daughter under control.”
I nod, remembering the disappearance of Sparrow and Wilder Reed. Melonie must have brought Amethyst back for a repeat of what she did after the music teacher. “An alternative to being institutionalized.”
“The doctor said Amethyst came to her fourteen years ago, freshly released from an asylum. Dr. Saint couldn’t remember its name but said it was out of state.”
“Shit. And Scroggins?”
He huffs a laugh. “Just a random hookup. What do you want me to do about him?”
