had been the only relative anyone could find. He had married Emily, a woman twenty years his senior, a few years before she passed away from a brain aneurysm while exercising or something like that. After being told about the unfortunate situation, Uncle Walter had driven into town and scooped Skye up and taken him away to somewhere in Montana, where he lived.
That was the last time Dru had seen his best friend, despite the fact that they had sworn to stay in touch.
“Babe, the food is here,” Thom said from behind the couch, making Dru snap out of his thoughts. Just in time before he could get teary eyed over the exact details of the last time he had seen Skye.
“Okay… thanks,” Dru said and got up with shaky legs just to burrow himself under Thom’s arm for a moment before walking into the kitchen to eat.
They ate in silence, and Dru noticed that Thom had cleaned up his almost-baking.
“Sorry about the muffins,” he said, and Thom smiled a bit. The smile was sad, and he could understand why.
“Don’t worry about it,” Thom said, and his smile turned a bit sneaky. “The next time you’ll bake twice as many.”
Dru chuckled at that while digging into his meal and felt better for a while. That was, until there was the distinct sound of the fax machine from upstairs.
“I’ll go get it, eat the rest,” Thom said firmly, and somehow Dru managed to do as he was told.
When Thom came back with a pile of papers, he placed them facedown on the island. “How do you want to do this?” he asked, and Dru released a breath he had been holding since he had seen the papers.
“Let’s clean these up and get the coffee and go to the living room,” he said, and Thom nodded.
In five minutes—which seemed to be both the longest and shortest in Dru’s life—they were sitting on the couch again. Their knees were touching, and Thom was holding the papers.
“So…,” he started, and Dru closed his eyes for a moment to think.
“How about… you read them and tell me what they say? So I can hear it from you and….”
“Okay, I can do that. Though there’s one that’s handwritten and addressed to you. So you have to read that, I won’t look at it. But the rest of this I can read,” Thom said and extracted the letter before putting it under the other sheets in his hands.
Thom took a look at the documents and sighed. “Okay… so…,” he started before taking a sip of his coffee. He could probably distance himself from this using his professional skills of reading all sorts of papers from police reports and autopsy records, or so Dru thought.
“The uncle, Walt, took him to his house in Montana and pretty much immediately drugged him. He then kept Skye drugged and chained to a wall in a spare bedroom. He did get food, but he was left alone during the days when Walt went to work. The… the sexual abuse came later, and by then he had somehow managed to make Skye think it was the only option the kid had….” Thom seemed to block out Dru’s reactions to what he was reading, probably to be able to continue.
“They moved around a lot, but since Skye didn’t really have anywhere to run to, he was convinced by Walt that he was better off with where he was, ‘safe and fed’. When Skye began to grow up, Walt became more interested in… in hurting him. In the last house, he kept Skye in the basement.” Thom sighed a little bit. Skye had also been chained to a wall, gagged so that he couldn’t scream for help. Not that he would have, in the end.
“It says here that Skye was nearly catatonic when they found him after Walt fell off the scaffolding. There were signs of malnutrition, beatings, and rape, and it seemed like he had been in the basement for months because his eyes couldn’t deal with sunlight at all.”
There were other things in the paper, things Thom didn’t want to read to Dru, that much was obvious. When the
That was the last time Dru had seen his best friend, despite the fact that they had sworn to stay in touch.
“Babe, the food is here,” Thom said from behind the couch, making Dru snap out of his thoughts. Just in time before he could get teary eyed over the exact details of the last time he had seen Skye.
“Okay… thanks,” Dru said and got up with shaky legs just to burrow himself under Thom’s arm for a moment before walking into the kitchen to eat.
They ate in silence, and Dru noticed that Thom had cleaned up his almost-baking.
“Sorry about the muffins,” he said, and Thom smiled a bit. The smile was sad, and he could understand why.
“Don’t worry about it,” Thom said, and his smile turned a bit sneaky. “The next time you’ll bake twice as many.”
Dru chuckled at that while digging into his meal and felt better for a while. That was, until there was the distinct sound of the fax machine from upstairs.
“I’ll go get it, eat the rest,” Thom said firmly, and somehow Dru managed to do as he was told.
When Thom came back with a pile of papers, he placed them facedown on the island. “How do you want to do this?” he asked, and Dru released a breath he had been holding since he had seen the papers.
“Let’s clean these up and get the coffee and go to the living room,” he said, and Thom nodded.
In five minutes—which seemed to be both the longest and shortest in Dru’s life—they were sitting on the couch again. Their knees were touching, and Thom was holding the papers.
“So…,” he started, and Dru closed his eyes for a moment to think.
“How about… you read them and tell me what they say? So I can hear it from you and….”
“Okay, I can do that. Though there’s one that’s handwritten and addressed to you. So you have to read that, I won’t look at it. But the rest of this I can read,” Thom said and extracted the letter before putting it under the other sheets in his hands.
Thom took a look at the documents and sighed. “Okay… so…,” he started before taking a sip of his coffee. He could probably distance himself from this using his professional skills of reading all sorts of papers from police reports and autopsy records, or so Dru thought.
“The uncle, Walt, took him to his house in Montana and pretty much immediately drugged him. He then kept Skye drugged and chained to a wall in a spare bedroom. He did get food, but he was left alone during the days when Walt went to work. The… the sexual abuse came later, and by then he had somehow managed to make Skye think it was the only option the kid had….” Thom seemed to block out Dru’s reactions to what he was reading, probably to be able to continue.
“They moved around a lot, but since Skye didn’t really have anywhere to run to, he was convinced by Walt that he was better off with where he was, ‘safe and fed’. When Skye began to grow up, Walt became more interested in… in hurting him. In the last house, he kept Skye in the basement.” Thom sighed a little bit. Skye had also been chained to a wall, gagged so that he couldn’t scream for help. Not that he would have, in the end.
“It says here that Skye was nearly catatonic when they found him after Walt fell off the scaffolding. There were signs of malnutrition, beatings, and rape, and it seemed like he had been in the basement for months because his eyes couldn’t deal with sunlight at all.”
There were other things in the paper, things Thom didn’t want to read to Dru, that much was obvious. When the
Similar Books
PERSONAL: A Stepbrother Sports Romance
Stephanie Brother
The Lie
Michael Weaver
In the Middle of the Wood
Iain Crichton Smith
Odd Interlude Part One
Dean Koontz
Spin Out
James Buchanan
A Life's Work
Rachel Cusk
Like a Fox
J.M. Sevilla
Blood Orange
Drusilla Campbell
The Coronation
Boris Akunin
Thrown by a Curve
Jaci Burton