Page 96 of Scatter the Bones

We eat in silence for a while, the clink of silverware and low murmur of conversations filling the space between us.

“Your mom helped save my life,” I finally say. “She…helped me leave. He probably would’ve ended up killing me, otherwise.”

“We tried to leave once.”

“Really?” I raise my eyebrows. Surprised Ruth had it in her. The little I knew of her seemed so meek.

“Didn’t get far.” He pokes at his potato, jaw tight.

“How’d you end up in New Mexico?” I ask.

He shrugs. “We were in southern California for a while, but it was too expensive. She liked the art community there.”

“Did you like it?”

“Yeah. It was okay.” The corners of his mouth twist up, but there’s no joy behind it. “Anywhere I didn’t have to sit through four-hour fire-and-brimstone sermons or get my ass beat for blinking at the wrong verse felt like heaven.”

“I’m sorry,” I say quietly. “You were…young. He didn’t start…hitting us and stuff until we were older.”

He frowns at me.

“Uh, I had two older brothers…Wehad two older brothers. They were…long gone before your mom came to live there, though.”

“Where’d they go?”

I shrug. “I don’t have any proof, but I think our father killed them.”

His face pales. “I used to think he was a monster sent by the devil himself to test us.” He hits his hand against the side of his head a few times, the ring on his pinky glinting under the lights. “He was always screaming about sin, punishment, and how the devil tricks you.”

“I remember those lectures.”

“He was meanest to Jezzie, though. If I messed up something, he’d take it out on her. I just stopped saying anything after a while so she wouldn’t get hurt.” He focuses his glassy eyes on me again. “Are you sure she’s okay?”

Fuck me. What if he’s putting on the performance of a lifetime just to get close and hurt us?

He can’t be that diabolical at his age, can he?

“Yeah, she’s fine.” I pull my phone out of my pocket and search for a photo of her that’s a couple years old. I find one with her on the back of my bike, arms raised over her head, laughing. Aunt Angela took the picture and fussed over the short ride. I turn the screen toward him. “She’s in school, a couple hours from here. Comes to visit on the weekends sometimes.”

He studies the picture like he’s searching for proof—something in her eyes, her smile, maybe the way she holds herself—that she’s okay. After a few seconds, he nods and hands the phone back without a word.

“How about when we’re done here, I’ll take you to see the apartment?” I slide my phone back into my pocket. “We can stop by the gym too. If Sully’s around, you can meet him.”

He nods again, more sure this time. “Okay.”

Obviously, he doesn’t trust me yet.

Can’t blame him.

I’m not sure I trust him either.

But at least it’s a start.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Margot

“That wasthe most frustrating movie ever. I still don’t understand why he didn’t just tell her what he saw,” April mutters as we step out of the movie theater and into the cool night air. “She would’ve helped him kill that guy to save her family.”

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