Joe sighed heavily, rubbing his face with his hands. “I know. I’m not sure what to do. I just couldn’t let him get away with it, Billie Ann. I couldn’t.”
“I understand that, Joe,” I said softly. “But we have to do the right thing. We have to tell the truth.”
His voice was shaking now. “I’ll go to jail. And what about our children? They need us.”
“But Joe, we can’t just keep this hidden.”
“I know, I know,” he said, his head hanging low. “But please, just give me some time to think.”
I nodded slowly, still in shock from what had just transpired. I couldn’t believe this was happening to us. “Okay, but it’s only a matter of time until they charge me or blame Charlene.”
“I know,” he said, his hand still clasping mine tightly. “I’ll figure something out. I promise. Let’s just go to bed for now.”
I watched him walk up the stairs to our bedroom, and suddenly I couldn’t shake the feeling that things were about to get much worse before they got better. I didn’t feel good about it, and there was no way I could just go to sleep, knowing this. It tormented me for an hour, and that’s when I made the decision. It was the right thing to do, even if it felt awful. It was my duty. I had sworn to uphold the law. I was suspended, with a killer out there—I was the only one who was still looking for Emma and Marissa. And I needed to protect my daughter.
I grabbed my phone and called the station.
Moments later they arrived.
SIXTY-SEVENBILLIE ANN
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Officer Steele was on call this evening, and as he came to my door, he looked at me with sadness in his eyes. I explained the situation to him, and to the Chief, and we all agreed that Joe needed to be taken in.
Even if it broke my heart to do so.
I nodded and let him and Officer Craig inside.
“He’s in the bedroom. Up the stairs and to your right.”
“Will he be hostile?” Steele asked.
I sighed. “It’s possible.”
Officer Craig placed a hand on my shoulder and bobbed his head. “We will take it from here, Wilde. I’m sorry that it has come to this.”
“Me too,” I said. “Me too.”
I watched as they marched up the stairs and into my bedroom, then closed my eyes and braced myself for the reaction. It came promptly.
“What is going on here?” my husband yelled.
I couldn’t hear what they were saying but knew they were telling him to go with them quietly. I had done this many times myself as a younger officer, but never to a colleague’s spouse. Someone they used to see at our yearly Memorial Day picnic, or who would come in and pick me up regularly with flowers and stealing me away from work on our anniversary or my birthday. They knew Joe, and that had to be tough. I know it was for me.
I saw his face as they escorted him out and down the stairs. He was fully dressed; they had let him do that. His face was red with anger, his eyes ready to kill. When he saw me, he started to yell and scream at me, his voice suddenly booming through the house.
“Why? Billie Ann? I thought we agreed on this. Why have you done this? Why would you do this to me?”
I wanted to explain, to tell him that I had been left with no choice, but the words wouldn’t come. Tears welled in my eyes and streamed down my cheeks. I couldn’t stop them no matter how hard I fought. Seeing the man I loved like this, in handcuffs, being taken away, screaming and cursing at me, made me lose it completely. I tried to avoid his eyes, but he put his face close to mine, and hissed, “This is not the end of it. This is not the end.”
“That’s it, we’re leaving, come on,” Steele said and pushed Joe away from me.
He growled at me, then did as he was told. I watched him be guided into the back of the cruiser, before they took off.
Then I closed the door and slid to the floor, sobbing.
“Mom?”
I looked up and saw Charlene at the top of the stairs. Behind her stood Zack and William.
“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice shaking. “Why is Dad yelling?”
I shook my head, unable to deal with this now. “Go back to bed.”
“But Mom? Why was Dad taken away by the police like that? Why was he screaming at you? What did you do to him?”
I stared at her, then exhaled, exhausted, drained. “Just go to bed all three of you, please.”
“But Mo-om—”
“NOW!”
The moment I yelled it, I immediately regretted it. But it was too late. The kids rushed to their rooms, the sound of their sobs following them.
SIXTY-EIGHT
Then
Kitty’s pregnancy was nearly over by the time the idea of escape first began to take shape in her mind. She had been pregnant three times and three children had been taken away from her almost immediately after birth. Years had passed since she was kidnapped and kept in the shed. She was tired and her body was broken but she had grown older and wiser. She had sunk into a deep depression after the third time, refusing to eat or even leave her bed. And Damian had left her alone for a while, not touching her, at least not very often. But soon he started doing it again, not caring that she didn’t want to be with him. And she let him. She didn’t even fight him. She simply didn’t care anymore. But when she discovered that she was pregnant for the fourth time, something changed in Kitty. She knew she wouldn’t be able to survive losing another child. This one she was determined to keep.
