Page 61 of He Sees You
The confidence of that action sends heat through my blood.
"I'm here," she says to the seemingly empty cabin.
I step out from the shadows of the hallway. "I knew you would be."
She's dressed all in black—jeans, blouse, leather jacket.
Her dark hair is loose, and there's something different about her face.
Resolution, maybe.
Or recognition of what this moment means.
"You said you had something to show me about my father."
"I do." I move toward her slowly, giving her time to back away. She doesn't. "But first, you need to understand that what you're about to see will change how you view him. There's no going back."
"There's already no going back." She touches her bruised lips, where I marked her. "Show me."
I lead her to my library—not the main room where my common books are displayed, but the locked room behind it.
My private collection.
First editions, rare manuscripts, and things that shouldn't exist.
Like the files I've spread across the oak desk.
"How did you get these?" she asks, looking at the police department files, the ones stamped SEALED.
"There are benefits to being overlooked. People forget I exist, leave things unlocked, speak freely when they think no one's listening." I hand her the first file. "This is from seven years ago."
She opens it, reads. Her face pales. "This is Jake. He was accused of sexual assault. The girl was seventeen."
"Yes. She withdrew the complaint after a conversation with your father."
"No." But she's still reading, seeing the truth in black and white. "It says here Dad convinced her it would ruin her life to pursue charges. That Jake was young, made a mistake, had a bright future."
"Keep reading."
The second file is from five years ago.
Another complaint against Jake, this one from a woman who worked at the department.
Inappropriate touching, comments, showing up at her home uninvited.
"She was transferred to another county," Celeste says quietly. "Given a glowing recommendation by my father."
"Rather than deal with the problem, he relocated it."
The third file is from last year.
A domestic violence call where Jake was the responding officer.
The woman later complained that Jake had propositioned her, suggested she could pay for his silence in other ways.
"Investigation closed," Celeste reads. "Insufficient evidence. Investigating officer: Sheriff Sterling."
She sets down the files with shaking hands. "He knew. He knew what Jake was, and he protected him."
