Page 131 of My Vows Are Sealed

“Come on, guys,” Peter sighed, looking like he’d aged a thousand years since I’d seen him last. “Come into my office. Agents, if you need anything, just knock.”

He opened the door to the office I’d been in a thousand times before and ushered us inside, and Detective Michele and Detective King followed, shutting the door behind us.

“Darla, you can take my comfortable chair,” Peter chuckled weakly.

I cracked half a smile as I made my way behind his desk and sank down into the cushy office chair. Brendan grabbed one of the chairs from the other side and dragged it around so he could sit next to me, then took my hand and kissed it. Peter sat across from us and rested his elbows on the desk, burying his head in his hands as he took several deep breaths, almost like he was afraid of actually telling me whatever news he’d wanted to deliver in person. The detectives remained standing, looking like they’d rather have been anywhere else than here.

“I don’t even know how to say this,” Peter finally said, raising his head to look at me. “Um…I was in your father’s office looking for any notes he had on the Ten Commandments sermon series he was in the middle of. I figured I could pick up where he left off. And…”

I was shocked to see a few tears building up in his eyes, and he swallowed hard, then took another deep breath. He’d always made it beyond evident how much he cared about this church and our congregation, especially the kids, but I’d never seen him getthisemotional before. Aboutanything. The closest I’d ever seen him come to this was at the hospital a couple of days ago.

“There was a whole shelf of videotapes with past sermon dates labeled on them. I picked up the most current one to watch it so I could refresh myself,” he choked out. “But…it wasn’t a sermon. It was a video of—”

This time, there was no stopping the tears from falling down his cheeks. He just let them come, burying his head in his hands again as he broke down in sobs. Detective Michele cast a sympathetic look in his direction, then came to sit on the edge of the desk, facing us.

“Darla, is thereanythingyou left out in the statement you gave me? Anything else your father did to you?” she asked quietly.

Oh, my God. There was only one reason that I could think of why she would have asked me that. I already knew what my father had done to Ethan. I knew what he’d almost done to me, and what he’d been doing to my mother for years. I knew exactly what kind of evil, horrible things the man who had donated his sperm to bring me into this world was capable of. So if there was a whole shelf full of videotapes…

Exactly how many children had my father hurt?

And was there no end to the amount of tears I would shed over all the pain and harm he’d caused? Because if there was, I hadn’t reached it yet. I didn’t even have the energy to fight the tears that streamed down my cheeks.

I shook my head. “No. I told you everything. The closest he came to…to touching me was the day I left home.”

Detective Michele took a deep breath. “I wish there was a more delicate way to say this, but those videotapes in his office…they weren’t videos of his sermons. They were taken with a hidden camera in his office, and they go back several years. All of them are videos of your father molesting children just a little younger than you are now.”

My head spun and bile rose in my throat. Ignoring the screaming protest in my ribs, I shoved back from the desk and grabbed the small trash can beneath it just in time to lose my lunch.

“How many?” I choked out as soon as I could speak again.

“Dar,” Brendan murmured as he rubbed my back. “It’s not—”

“I need to know, Brendan,” I insisted, then looked up at the detectives. “How. Many? How many kids did my father hurt?”

Detective King sighed. “They’re still going through everything, and your mother’s given us permission to search your house as well, but there were at least fifty tapes here. Some of them are of the same children, and some tapes have more than one child, so we don’t have an exact number yet.”

My stomach turned again, and I spewed more of its contents into the small, rectangular bin on the floor.Fifty?They’d foundover fiftyvideos of my father hurting kids my age? How hadn’t I known? How hadn’t my mom known? How many kids had I sat next to in youth group over the years, never knowing that my own father was causing them so much trauma and pain?

“I…I can’t…” I trailed off.

As fast as my broken ribs would allow, I stood up and rushed out of the room, running from the agents who were tearing up the church office. I opened the door, walked out into the lobby that was slowly starting to fill with parishioners, and made a beeline for the ladies’ room.

* * *

BRENDAN

It felt like all the wiring in my brain had shorted, leaving me sitting there in Peter’s office just staring off into space as I watched Darla run out of the room.

Over fifty tapes?And no one had any idea? None of the kids had spoken up? How was that possible?

Or had they tried to, and their parents had shut them down like Ethan’s parents had done? Unfortunately, knowing the kind of influence he had over this zombie-like congregation, I would have had no trouble believing that.

“So…I’m guessing he’s not getting out of jail any time soon?” I finally managed to ask.

Detective King snorted quietly. “Nope. Child pornography is above our pay grade. That’s why the FBI is here. We’re turning that part of Mr. Jones’s case over to them, and even if Mr. Jones cuts a deal, there’s enough content there to put him in federal prison for two or three life sentences, at least.”

“Um, detectives, you did say something about having them seal the office overnight and come back tomorrow so we could still have our service tonight, correct?” Peter mumbled.

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