Page 60 of Tear Me Apart
But that means I won’t be able to see you for a long time. And that’s not making me happy at all. If they let you out, will you come visit me?
Love and stitches (or should we say belts?),
Liesel
May 1994
Dearest Liesel,
Oh, you make me laugh. Love and Belts! I actually did it with a sheet, which Ratchet tells me was the reason she came into the room. She thought she saw my blanket on the floor. Whoops!
I’m devastated you’re going to move. Devastated. Please don’t forget your friend, who loves you very much, and would like to come visit when she’s deemed safe to herself and others. I had a meeting with Dr. Freakazoid today, actually, to discuss a possible transition to a halfway house. Yes. I am doing that well. So don’t move before I get out!
All my love,
V
PS: Almost forgot, Ratchet had her baby! I heard the nurses talking about it after group. It’s a boy. She’s going to be out for a few weeks on maternity leave, so things are going to be very slow and dull around here. Write soon!!!!
August 1994
Dear Liesel,
My last few letters—
“Mindy? Where are you, honey?”
Shit, shit, shit. She turns on the water, shoves the letters under the sink.
“I’m in here, Mom. Don’t worry, I’m just taking a shower.”
“I got you a decadent tub of Dutch chocolate pudding. It’s ready when you finish your shower.”
“Thanks, I’ll be out in a minute.”
Mindy holds her breath. Her mom will hear her if she unlocks the door, wonder why it was locked in the first place. Lauren doesn’t like locked doors. It’s a thing with her. Closed is fine, and she always knocks, but locked is out of the question.
But her mom leaves, and Mindy sighs in relief. She can’t return the letters, though, which is not good, but she will try later. After she’s read them all. There are many more in the stack. Several years’ worth of missives.
She wraps her leg in a bag and steps under the water to wash off the grime of the hospital, thinking,Who are these girls?
32
DENVER, COLORADO
Before Juliet can start her search, Cameron shows up at her door. He’s carrying a pizza, a bunch of files, and is buzzing with suppressed energy.
“The dead doctor, Castillo? There’s more to the story. Way more. She got fired back in 2000, and she committed suicide not long after.”
“Come in. Suicide? What’s the story? Why did they fire her?”
“Apparently, she was taking money under the table. Probably for illegal adoptions, like your sister’s.”
This makes Juliet’s heart race. She shuts the door behind him carefully. “Illegal? Not closed?”
“Any time you have the transfer of a child, there has to be paperwork. It’s illegal to give your kid away for money otherwise. Apparently, one of the services the doctor was providing was finding homes for her indigent patients’ babies. She took money from the family who was adopting the child, erased the bills for the hospital records for the birth mothers, and pocketed the rest. The hospital found out and booted her. Thing is, she’d managed to place a bunch of kids.”
“Wow. On one hand, I guess you could say she was doing people a service. Those babies might not have stood a chance being brought into the world by indigent teen moms. On the other hand...”
