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“Opal told you that her daddy hurt her and not Vanessa,” Hunter said. “That should be all you need to know. Now that you know she’s telling the truth and Vanessa didn’t make her lie, that’s enough, isn’t it?”
“Maybe,” Nicholas said. “It helps, but children are too easily manipulated. That’s why we look carefully for signs that a child is lying or has been coached. And Opal gave those signs.” Nicholas looked over at Vanessa apologetically. “If what you’re saying is true, I’m sorry I didn’t believe her, but she acted like she was lying and that you had told her to. If anyone else questions her, they might come to the same conclusion.”
“So, how does it work with CPS?” Vanessa asked. “What do I need to do to prove Jeremy was the one who hurt her instead of me?”
“Do you have any proof?” Nicholas asked.
“You just got your proof,” Hunter said.
Nicholas shook his head. “That’s only proof that someone tried to hurt you. Or that maybe even someone was trying to hurt me.”
“But who would be after you?” Vanessa said.
Hunter’s eyes darkened. How dare he imply this. The rage boiled in his veins, needing less than a spark to ignite. This man better answer correctly. He glared at Nicholas. “Are you saying that Vanessa or I had something to do with this? That we wanted to hurt you to keep you quiet?”
“That’s not what I’m saying,” Nicholas said.
At least he had the decency to look ashamed. He must’ve been thinking that, though, to say what he said. Maybe part of him suspected that he or Vanessa was capable of something like killing him to keep things quiet.
“But it’s not proof,” Nicholas continued. “A judge is going to want to see proof that it was actually Jeremy and not Vanessa who gave Opal those marks.”
“I don’t have proof that he hurt her, but I have lots of proof that he hurt me,” Vanessa said. When Hunter met her eyes, she was shaky and looked close to tears.
“Can I see it?” Nicholas asked.
Vanessa nodded and got up, then left the room. He wasn’t sure what she was getting. He’d never seen any sort of proof. And now that he considered it, the last thing he wanted to see was some sort of evidence of what Jeremy had done. He would never be able to keep from killing this asshole if he saw something that made it even more real in his mind.
“Come on,” Hunter said. “Let’s get some place more comfortable. You doing okay?”
“I’ll probably see a doctor, but I think it’ll be okay. And I’d like to know more before I have to start answering questions.”
Hunter led him into the living room. Now that the bleeding had stopped, he seemed to be doing much better. He wasn’t so pale and had calmed down. The pain must be fading as well. Or maybe he was just going into shock. He sat him down and got him some water.
“Drink this.” He handed him the glass and after Nicholas gulped it down, he refilled it and handed it back to him.
Vanessa came from her bedroom with a box. He met her eyes and tried to get some hint of what was coming, but she looked away. She looked embarrassed, in fact. Her cheeks were pink and she didn’t look either of them in the eye.
She sat beside Nicholas and took the lid off the box. Then she handed it to him.
From where he stood, Hunter couldn’t see the photos, but he watched Nicholas’s reaction as he flipped through the photos. His eyes widened and he looked at Vanessa with compassion in his eyes. As much as he didn’t want to see it, Hunter couldn’t stand not knowing. He walked over and picked up the stack of photos that Nicholas had set on the table when he picked up the next stack.
The photos in his hand were all of Vanessa. He flipped through shot after shot of her. A black eye in this one. A bruise so deep it was green on her arm in the next. Then, a bruise on her shin. Then, bruises on her upper thighs that could be evidence of only one thing. Hunter clenched his jaw and dropped the photos.
He thought he might be sick. He’d only seen a small percentage of the horrible things that this box contained, but he’d seen enough. The rage tore through him, and he had to take several breaths to keep his feet planted on the floor. He wanted to burst out of the room that moment and find Jeremy and kill him in the most painful way possible.
“This has to be enough, right?” Hunter said, a sharp edge of anger in his voice.
Nicholas swallowed hard and set the photos down before looking at him. “It might not be.”
“Why not?” he barked.
“What’s not in this box is the police records of all this,” Nicholas said. “Did you ever report it?”
Vanessa looked down and whispered, “No.”
“Then it probably won’t stand up in court. There’s no way to know for sure that Jeremy was responsible for this. It could have been an ex-boyfriend or an angry lover. It could have been anyone who did this to her. There’s nothing specifically to tie Jeremy to these crimes. There’s nothing to support her claims, and it’s worsened by the fact that Jeremy was the one who called CPS because he was worried about his daughter. If Vanessa had called, it might be different.”
“It was me,” Hunter said.
