Part 116 (1/2)
”f.u.c.ker. The f.u.c.ker.” Leaning back, Eli accepted the adoring licks. ”He's not going to hurt you. I'm not going to let him hurt you. You stick with me, girl.”
He led her back to the table. ”You stay right here with me.”
In response she laid her head in his lap, sighed in contentment.
He read the rest of the report, then e-mailed back his own, which started with:
The b.a.s.t.a.r.d plans to poison my dog. If you're in Whiskey Beach, don't come here. I don't want him wondering who you are. I'm done waiting around for him to make the next move.
He gave her an overview of what his research had unearthed, and the basics of what he'd done, and planned to do.
Planned to do rather than what he wanted to do right that minute-go straight to Suskind and kick the living s.h.i.+t out of him.
Temper still raw and ripe, Eli took his work and his dog back inside.
”No more going out by yourself until this b.a.s.t.a.r.d's behind bars.”
He pulled out his phone when it rang, unsurprised to see Sherrilyn's name on the display.
”This is Eli.”
”Eli, Sherrilyn. Let's talk about this idea of yours.”
He heard the unsaid ”stupid,” shrugged. ”Sure. Let's talk.”
He wandered the house as they spoke because it served to remind him what he was fighting for. And it had come down to a fight for him, even if he was denied the satisfaction of physical blows.
He walked to the third floor, and the curved gla.s.s of the gable where he imagined writing one day, once the fight was done and won, once he'd secured safety for all he loved, and his own self-respect.
”You've got some valid points,” he said at length.
”And you're not going to listen to them.”
”I did listen to them, and you're not wrong. The thing is, if I step back from this, let the police handle it all, or even let you, I'm back where I was a year ago. Just letting it all happen, letting the situation carry me instead of me carrying it. I can't go back to that. I need to do this for myself, for my family. And in the end, I want him to know that. I need that when I think of Lindsay, my grandmother, this house.”
”You didn't believe his wife.”
”No.”
”What did I miss?”
He lowered his hand to Barbie's head when she leaned against him. ”You said you had kids. You're married.”
”That's right.”
”How many times?”