dark eyes, he looks very snake-like. But he leans closer and the light shifts, and the thought flees the girl’s mind.
“Your grandfather loves you,” he says. “You needn’t worry.”
But I catch something in the words he’s not spoken, something evasive that the girl notices too. His answer’s not good enough for her, so she asks again.
“But does he . . . does he hurt kids?”
The man rolls back on his heels, and the reptilian triangles return. He says nothing, his face passive under the lights.
“He does, doesn’t he?” She sobs again.
It’s a sob I didn’t feel coming, and it jars me. It must have taken the girl by surprise as well, because she bites her lip and the bawling stops.
“I don’t have anyone else,” she says. “There’s nowhere else to go.”
The man runs his thumb over his mustache, one side at a time.
“What if I told you that I could protect you from him?”
There’s a hardness in his dark eyes, but it doesn’t scare the girl. She sees strength in it. My eyes follow hers as she considers how muscled this tall, lean man is. He could be her protector, she thinks. She hasn’t had one since her daddy died. He could be her knight in shining armor.
Warning bells sound in my mind, but my silent cautions do not reach the girl.
“Could you?” she asks. “Could you protect me?”
He takes her chin between his crooked forefinger and thumb, sending a thrill through her ten-year-old body. A thrill like she’s never felt before. It’s strange and confusing amidst the grief.
“Would you like that?” he asks.
“Yes,” she says, her voice reduced to a murmur. “Please.”
“You really are very pretty,” he says. “Do you know that?”
Her heart flips at the flattery. “The boys at school think so.”
I want to scream and shake her. I want to force her away from this man and his charming words.
“I’ll bet they do.”
He releases her face and pulls her up as he stands. “What would you say to a partnership?”
“You want me to be your partner?”
“I’d like that very much.” His voice is lower now. Seductive. Enticing. “I can protect you from your grandfather easily enough. But I bet there are things you can help me with.”
“Like with grandfather’s company?”
He rubs his thumb against her hand, the dirt there chafing. “Something like that.”
For the first time I can feel the anxiety brewing in her gut. She doesn’t understand what she’s agreeing to, and she’s anxious to have her hand back.
“Okay,” she says, discreetly trying to tug her arm from his grip.
“Okay.” Before she can free her hand, he flips it palm up and drags three fingers along the soft, milky skin of her forearm. It’s cold. So very cold, and she cries out. His other hand is quick, covering her mouth and pressing her head against the wall. I feel the pain shoot through her crown and down her neck. His dark eyes are as hard as ever, and for the first time she shares my terror.
And then it’s done. The pain fades and she stops struggling, stops screaming into his palm.
“I’m sorry I had to do that,” he says, pulling his hand away. “But I don’t want you to forget.”
Tears and snot run down her face. “To forget what?”
“Our partnership.” The smile he’d been liberal with before is gone, his lips a tight line. “You won’t forget, will you?”
Before she can answer, the door to her grandfather’s study opens. The man before her steps to the side, giving her a view of her grandfather. He follows two police officers into the hall, a cane draped over his right arm.
“I am so very sorry about your mother, child,” her grandfather says. His face is shadow, the light behind him catching the flyaway strands on his balding head. “I know you’ll miss her terribly, but you’ll be safe here. I promise. Come, let us find you a room.”
Turmoil sloshes around in her stomach, making both of us ill. She thinks about what her mama said. That her grandfather hurts little children. That he’s the worst of the worst.
Three gray scars sit side by side on her forearm, like rivers of ice under her skin. They don’t hurt anymore, not like the burns she has on her calf and ankle, and she makes a decision. She clasps a hand over her forearm.
“I won’t forget,” she whispers to the man next to her.
He slides a long arm around her shoulders, pressing her tight to his chest.