Page 83 of The Lost Girls of Willowbrook

She nodded.

“That’s odd.”

“Do you know where he lives?”

“No,” he said. “But now I know why Detective Nolan asked me the same question. I thought it was just because we worked together and he wanted to know if we were friends. I didn’t know his file was missing.”

“Can I ask you something?” she said.

“Sure, anything.”

“How the hell can you stand working at Willowbrook?”

He shrugged. “I don’t like it. But I’m working there because I got into trouble last year. My uncle got me the job, said he’d keep me in line while I earned my GED.”

“What kind of trouble?”

His scrubbed a hand on his leg, looking uncomfortable.

“Never mind,” she said. “You don’t have to tell me.”

“I got in a fight,” he said. “A bad one. Put some jerk in the hospital for a few days. Got expelled, you know the drill.” He fixed his eyes on her as if desperate to be understood. “I’d never been in a fight in my life before, but the guy was a real asshole and deserved what he got. He wouldn’t leave this girl alone. She was a little heavier, you know, and he was tormenting the shit out of her. I finally pushed him away from her, but he wouldn’t back off, so I punched him. He pulled a knife, we wrestled, and he fell on the blade. Went into his chest and just missed his aorta. And, of course, his friends told the copsIwas the one who pulled the knife.”

She almost said something trivial and appropriate, likeI’m sorry, orhow awful. But the way he was looking at her, both troubled and distracted at once, made her stop. She knew what it was like to have no one believe her. “What about the girl you were sticking up for? Did she tell the truth?”

He shook his head. “You know how it is. The kids who get picked on keep quiet, otherwise they get picked on even more.”

Yes, she knew how it was. It didn’t matter how many times she had been teased in grade school for being taller than everyone, including the boys; she’d never told anyone. There was no point. If she had told a teacher or principal, the teasing would have just gotten worse. It reminded her of the employees at Willowbrook, how they were afraid to snitch on one another. “That sucks,” she said. “I take it your mother didn’t believe you either?”

He let out a humorless chuckle. “She was more worried about the family name. She’s a big deal at the Richmond County Yacht Club, and she likes to think of herself as a great philanthropist who’ll always be remembered for her good deeds. She’d never forgive me if I caused a scandal. Said she’d disinherit me if I messed up again. Eventually it came out that the knife wasn’t mine, but the school didn’t want me back, and my mother wanted to put me in the military, so my uncle put me in an apartment and got me the job. My mother gave me two years to turn my life around before she cuts me off completely.”

“She sounds . . . pleasant.”

“Yeah, she and Alan would get along great.” He grinned. “Maybe we should introduce them.”

“Somehow I can’t picture Alan hanging out at a yacht club,” she said. A smile spread across her face for the first time since she had been imprisoned at Willowbrook and she almost laughed. It felt strange. Maybe she and Eddie had more in common than she thought.

She picked up her fork and cut into the pancakes. When she took the first mouthful, she had to stop chewing and push the food to the side of her cheek, certain she couldn’t swallow over the sudden lump in her throat. The combined flavors of maple syrup and moist pancake seemed amplified a thousand times, making her taste buds explode. It surprised her, and she had to catch her breath before she choked on the joy of something so simple and delicious. She put her fingers over her closed lips and sat back in the booth.

“What’s wrong?” Eddie said.

She shook her head. “Nothing,” she said. “I’m just happy to eat real food again, that’s all.”

CHAPTER 21

By the time they finished eating and Eddie paid the bill at the Top Hat, it was 2:30 a.m. Ten minutes later, Eddie pulled the Mustang into an open parking spot half a block from her apartment building, put the car in park, and shut off the engine.

“Sorry I couldn’t get closer,” he said.

“It’s all right,” she said. “Thanks again for breakfast.”

“Anytime.”

She wanted to say more—wanted to thank him for helping her, for keeping her safe and sane. If he hadn’t been working at Willowbrook, if he hadn’t been kind to Rosemary and gotten to know her a little bit, Sage might have spent the rest of her life locked up. But at the same time, she didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. She opened the car door and started to get out, then hesitated and looked up and down the empty sidewalk and deserted road, scanned the thick clumps of bushes and the black trunks of trees. It was nearing 3 a.m., the darkest hours of the night, full of strange shadows and sinister secrets. But no deranged killer with a bald head and tattooed arms was waiting for her outside.

None that she could see, anyway.

She turned in the seat to look back at Eddie. “Would you mind walking me up?”

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