Grace Anne - By Kathi S. Barton Page 0,65
during.”
Michael had a feeling that they would find she’d done it while the guy was still living. He shuddered when he thought of what could happen to Grace. The limo pulled up in front of him and slid to a soft stop. He turned his back to it and spoke to Payton again. “Did you send us a car?” Payton said he had and gave him the driver information. “All right. My parents and I are coming there. Tell Trace…tell him we’ll get her back and that I’ll be there soon.”
“Will do,” Payton said. “And Michael, when this is over, I’d like to talk to you about moving here permanently. You and the new family can build and we’ll be all one big, happy clan.”
Michael didn’t say anything. His throat had closed up on the emotion he felt about having a family of his own. He sat in the limo across from the only father he’d ever known and didn’t know what to say to him. He was glad that the man seemed to know this and didn’t speak either for a long time.
“It’s entirely my fault,” Lucas said and before Michael could tell him he was full of shit he raised his hand to stop him. “Just after his mother died I sort of went into a deep sort of depression. He was hurting too, I guess. Though to be honest, I never really thought that Thomas knew his mother all that well. He’d been in trouble a great deal as a child and we ended up having him put…away, I guess. He’d had this…he would kill the neighbor’s animals. Just for fun, he’d told us. It was just a way to pass the time.”
“How old was he?” Joey asked softly. “How old was he when it started and then when he was let go?”
They both looked at Lucas as he shifted on his seat. “Five. His mother died when he was seven so he was in the home for just under two years. And when he came home he was so different. And as long as he took his medications he was the same as every other little boy.”
Michael waited and when Lucas didn’t speak for a while he reached over and took his hand. “What happened to make you not want to be with him anymore? What made you turn from him?”
Lucas turned and looked at him with tears in his eyes. Michael could see the pain there. It was raw and open, nearly as messy as a real wound and no less painful.
“I fell in love with your mother and you. You were the kind of son I wanted. Normal and smart. You seemed to have it all together and knew just what you wanted, what you needed. And then when you signed up for the service I realized that I loved you more than I ever had Thomas and would never feel…I’m such a horrible man.”
The sobs tore through Michael. He didn’t know what to do about what Lucas had just said, so he looked to his mother. She, too, was crying, but her tears were silent. She held onto her husband and said soft words, but nothing that Michael could understand.
“You’re not a horrible man. And I’ll kill anyone who tries to say differently.” Michael looked away as he began telling his parents something he’d never told anyone before. “Thomas was…he’s evil. He’s always been that way, even when we were children. I knew about things, things that I’d never talked about with you, but I learned to watch out for. Things like people around him. He always acted, no matter who they were, that he was above them. And the drugs didn’t help him either.”
“Drugs?” Lucas asked. “I never… Well, I suppose that’s not true either. He seemed to be fine for long periods and, though I should have questioned him, to be honest I was just glad he wasn’t bothering me. And the evil part, I agree. As much as it pains me to say it, he should never have been released from that home. None of this would have happened if I had just—”
“Thomas is with someone who is by far more insane than him. You remember me telling you about Grace’s mother? Well, she has her too. And Thomas is with them. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but the Feds are involved and so are the locals. He killed a cop, Dad. They aren’t going to go