Page 92 of The Secrets She Keeps

“Tell us about them,” Gunnar said.

“There were about seven or eight that had a rotation, I think. And they didn’t invite the doctors that worked there to our house at all. It stemmed from what happened to Bonnie’s mother, Maria. She was murdered, and some of the suspects were the men who worked there. Daddy didn’t want them near us, I think. But Maria was murdered when Bonnie wasfour.Twelve years before we were born. Over twenty before Hope was.”

“They never caught the killer?” Mac asked. He’d moved closer to Heather’s bed. There was an expression on his face Gunnar would never forget as Mac straightened her blanket and tucked her least injured hand beneath it gently.

Joy just shook her head.

That woman had saved Powell. They weren’t stupid—those bastards had intended to kill Powell and Heather. It was because of Heather that Powell was still alive. Gunnar would never forget. He doubted Powell’s brother ever would either.

“What about this social worker, Joy?” Miguel asked. Heather said something in her sleep—where’s Hope. Joy went to her, talked to her quietly for a moment.

“She’s back asleep.” Joy looked at Miguel and Daniel. “About a week after our parents’ funeral, the social workerfrom Garrity showed up. Heather was at Bonnie’s home in Value with the younger girls while Bonnie was enrolling us in the Value school for the next term, and Angela was working. He made some threats.”

“What was he after?” Daniel asked.

“Heather,” the sisters said together.

Joy was the one who continued. “You, gentlemen, have to understand something. My twin is a very beautiful woman. I knowyou have all noticed. Men…have almost always been after Heather since practically the moment she hit puberty.”

“Hard to miss. It has always made her nervous,” Miguel said.

“She’s still very uncomfortable with it at times. Especially since…what happened to her with Wilson. She keeps things inside,” Hope said quietly. She eyed Miguel for a moment. Like she didn’t understand him. “She thinks she’s protecting us, but we know.”

“This man walked in, saw the mess that was Bonnie’s house after four grieving young girls had just suddenly ended up there,took one look at Heather, and thought he’d landed in real perv heaven.”

Gunnar stiffened. He wasn’t stupid. He suspected he knew the rest. “Go on.”

“He threatened to take Hope away right then and there unless Heather took him into another room…to talk…privately. I’m sure you can figure out what he wanted. Hope heard that bastard say he’d take her away from Heather forever too. For years, Hope would scream if someone said ‘social worker’ in her hearing. Hope had some emotional issues and major anxiety after our parents’ death, as well.”

“I was clingy. Very, very clingy. To Heather and my mom, especially,” Hope said. “I still remember some of it.”

“That man said…he had waited a long time to get back at Heather. Even called her by name,” Powell said. Gunnar had thought she’d fallen back asleep. She’d been so quiet, so still. “He saidalmosttwo decades. He said the wordalmostevery time he said two decades.”

“It would have been after our parents died, then,” Hope said.

“So definitely something from when she was between thirteen and sixteen years old,” Miguel said. “But how does that connect to the OPJ case, Gun?”

“Heather and I didn’t even move back to Texas until eleven years ago when she transferred to Houston and was hired by the TSP after two years with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. Hope and Heather moved here to Finley Creek fully after Eastman took Bonnie and Crispin, but they were already staying here a great deal as Heather’s pregnancy progressed. I had just moved here a week before. Samia and Cara moved into the Hughes Heights house, too—after…Eastman.”

“Why wasn’t Cara living with your mother?” Mac asked. “I thought she always has. I noticed Heather fussed over her a bitin Wyoming, and I just got the impression Cara had always been with her mother.”

“Heather does mother Cara a great deal. She does all the younger girls, really. Heather was probably the most influential in raising them, after Bonnie. In a lot of ways,justas influential, while Bonnie-mom was at work and Marcia and I were working or studying. Mom had wanted Cara to live away from home for a bit. To help her interact more with the world. Samia went with her to watch over her, but Cara was constantly being harassed on campus over Eastman. Someone broke in through Cara’s bedroom window one night and attacked her, choked her—then turned on Samia when she rushed in. Samia ended up in County overnight. Ourliveswere in Oklahoma and then Wichita Falls.”

“Heather crossed paths with this doctor at some point,” Mac said. “Between fifteen and twenty years ago.”

“I seriously don’t have a clue where. I suppose it could have been anywhere.I mean, whenever there was a conflict or a confrontation with someone in our family, Heather was the one who would always jump in front. To protect us all. She always has.”

They discussed a few more angles, but Gunnar didn’t think they’d gotten anywhere.

“We’re just going to have to wait until she wakes to ask more questions,” Daniel said as Hope drifted off in the oversized chair.

“You won’t harass her or badger her, Commander Butthead McKellen. We are going to make sure of that,” Joy told him, standing and glaring at him, a glare worthy of Heather. She was small, but she wasn’t a pushover. “Your damned TSP has hurt my sister more than enough. Almost broken her down to her soul, especially after what that bastard was doing to her for years. She went to the TSP for help and got nothing but more harassment. More pain and terror. And it almost took Hope from us too. None of us will ever forget—or forgive—that.”

Their family’s anger was more than understandable.

Joy ignored Daniel when he tried to interrupt. She just held up one hand and silenced him with alook.She was good at that. And apparently, she was fierce enough to scare Daniel too.

“Nor will we forget how little help we were getting that day looking for Crispin. Until it became clear her disappearance connected to your big,importantcase and everything. Your big-wig rich Barratt friends who mattered more than Bonnie and Crispin ever would. No offense, Hottie Mackie McBarratt, but it’s true. The TSP is not going to hurt Heather again. Neither are Luc and his side. Keep that in mind while you’re making your littleplanswith your buddies.”

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