Page 29 of Once Broken
“We thought that was the end of it,” Bill continued.“Leo disappeared from the program after being reprimanded.But recently, we discovered he’s been auditing classes at Jefferson Bell University, where Riley’s daughter April is a student.He approached April, befriended her under false pretenses, without revealing his connection to her mother.”
A slight pallor spread across Elizabeth’s face, but her voice remained steady.“And you believe he poses a threat to them?”
“I don’t know,” Bill admitted.“That’s why I’m here.I’m trying to understand who Leo is, what motivates him, and whether Riley and April should be concerned for their safety.”
Elizabeth studied Bill’s face as if searching for deception or manipulation.Finding none, her shoulders dropped almost imperceptibly.
“They are important to you,” she said.
“Very much.”
Elizabeth rose abruptly and crossed to a cherry wood sideboard, where a crystal decanter stood beside several glasses.“Would you care for some water, Agent Jeffreys?Or perhaps something stronger?”
“Water would be fine, thank you.”
As she poured, Bill noted the slight tremor in her hands—the first crack in her composed façade.When she returned with two glasses, her eyes held a weariness that hadn’t been visible before.
“Leo has always been drawn to strong, intelligent women,” she said, resuming her seat.“Particularly those in positions of authority.It began with his teachers in preparatory school.”
Bill waited for her to continue.
“He would develop these...attachments.Obsessions, really.At first, we thought it was just adolescent admiration.But there was something unnerving about the intensity.”She took a small sip from her glass.“When he was sixteen, his literature teacher requested a transfer to another school after finding elaborate journal entries he’d written about her.Detailed fantasies about their future together.”
“How did you and your husband handle that?”
Elizabeth’s laugh was brittle, devoid of humor.“Charles used his connections to make it go away.Increased our donation to the school’s endowment.Arranged for the teacher to receive a better position elsewhere.We convinced ourselves it was a phase.”
She set her glass down on a coaster, precisely centered.“We made things ‘go away’ for Leo his entire life.Until we couldn’t anymore.”
“What changed?”Bill asked quietly.
Elizabeth’s gaze drifted toward one of the silver-framed photographs on a nearby table.From his angle, Bill couldn’t see the image clearly.
“Kelli,” she said, the name emerging as something between a sigh and a prayer.“Our daughter.Leo’s younger sister.”
Bill remembered Riley mentioning that the Dillards lived in a Georgetown townhouse, but nothing about a daughter.“I wasn’t aware you had a daughter.”
“Had,” Elizabeth repeated, the single syllable weighted with grief.“Kelli took her own life five years ago.She was nineteen.”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.Bill set down his own glass, giving Elizabeth his complete attention.“I’m very sorry for your loss.”
Elizabeth nodded, a gesture of acknowledgment rather than acceptance.“Leo was twenty-two then, finishing his undergraduate degree at Georgetown.Kelli was a freshman.She was...everything Leo wasn’t.Warm, open, genuinely kind.”Her eyes refocused on Bill.“Do you have children, Agent Jeffreys?”
“Two sons,” he replied.“They live with their mother in California.”
“Then you understand how parents can simultaneously love and fear for their children.”She smoothed an invisible wrinkle from her skirt.“Kelli had always been sensitive.Emotionally vulnerable.And Leo...Leo knew exactly how to exploit that vulnerability.”
Bill felt a chill that had nothing to do with the room’s temperature.“What did he do?”
“It started with small cruelties when they were children.Hidden toys, whispered taunts, little traps designed to make her cry or get her in trouble.As they grew older, his methods became more sophisticated.”Elizabeth’s voice had taken on a distant quality, as if she were reciting facts from a case file rather than describing her own children.“He would plant doubts, undermine her confidence, isolate her from friends through subtle manipulations.”
“Did you and your husband intervene?”
“When we caught him, yes.But Leo was—is—extraordinarily intelligent.He learned to cover his tracks.”She met Bill’s gaze directly.“The worst part was watching him comfort her afterward.He’d be the perfect big brother, consoling her for pain he himself had caused.And she never suspected.She adored him.”
Bill remained silent, allowing Elizabeth the space to tell her story at her own pace.
“During Kelli’s freshman year, she met a young man, James.They became serious quickly.For the first time, she seemed truly happy, confident in herself and her future.Leo couldn’t stand it.”
