hands fisted by his sides. “I’m at home a lot. I get bored.”
“Does she have another hiding place?” Instinct told him the watch had been shoved in the underwear drawer quickly, maybe because Miriama had been looking at it, only to be interrupted. It couldn’t be the permanent spot. Not with Steve in the house.
The other man didn’t try any bullshit this time. “Behind the bed,” he said, pointing his finger at the single bed with its metal frame. It was neatly made up with a soft pink flannel sheet and matching pillowcase; a dark blue blanket lay folded at the bottom. “There’s a board on the floor that comes up. She hides her diary and stuff in there. The watch’s usually in there, too.”
“How many times have you read that diary?”
Steve’s lip curled. “I don’t need to read her diary. Probably the same crap women always write—feelings and shit.” A snort accompanied by a scratch of his protruding belly. “Only thing I’m interested in is between her—” Cutting himself off when he finally looked at Will’s face, Steve began to back away. “Look,” he said, “I don’t read too good. I just wanted to look at her stuff. I didn’t touch that diary.”
Waiting until the other man had backed himself all the way into the living room, Will shut the bedroom door before retrieving the single item beneath the floorboard: an old tin box heavy enough to hold a diary. As a hiding space, it was a good one. If Steve hadn’t been unemployed and at home so much—and likely a former thief—he probably wouldn’t have put together the sounds of the bed being moved with a hiding spot.
Will’s eyes moved to the computer; he wondered if Miriama had hidden her secrets a second way.
Deciding to talk to Matilda then and there, he made a call to the fire station.
“Take whatever you need,” she told him when he explained where he was and what he was doing. “But you take good care of it.”
“I will,” Will promised, and booted up the computer. “Do you know where Miriama keeps her old diaries?”
“She cuts out all the pages, then goes deep into the bush to bury those pages. Says it’s about saying good-bye to the past and living for the future.”
Will thought of the pages rotting away in the silent dark, an act of hope for the future turned into a somber omen. “I’ve got another question—what was the name of the man who molested Miriama as a teenager?” He was far more dangerous to the young woman than Steve.
“Fidel Cox.” Matilda’s voice quivered with rage. “That pokokōhua did a runner, cops never found him. You think he came back to hurt my Miri?”
“I don’t know, but I’m going to check it out.”
“Just find my girl, Will. Just find Miriama.”
Will didn’t make any promises; he’d learned his lesson about making promises and he’d learned hard. Never again would he tell a victim that everything would be all right. Because, too many times, the monsters won.
25
Will had one more thing to do before he left Matilda’s home. “I want you to remember something, Steve,” he said to the man in the sagging armchair. “Matilda might let you push her around, but I won’t look the other way. I see her with a single bruise, I’m coming after you.”
Steve postured, all raised shoulders and lifted chin. “A man’s got a right to do what he wants with his own woman in his own home.”
“You just remember what I said anytime you get the urge to hurt Matilda.” Will knew his eyes had gone flat in that way one of his partners had once said made him look like a psychopath. Will wasn’t always so certain he wasn’t a psychopath—psychopaths didn’t have feelings and his had burned down to ashes thirteen months ago.
Steve glared at him, but Will was satisfied Matilda would be safe from abuse, at least until Steve forgot his fear. Will wouldn’t have dealt with the situation the same way had it been a different man—some mean bastards would’ve hurt Matilda out of pure spite at being ordered not to, but Steve was both a coward and just smart enough to know that Will was too big a predator to challenge.
Walking out into the rain, the tin box and watch protected under the high-visibility police-issue jacket he’d changed into after the weather turned, Will put both items on the passenger seat of his vehicle, then ran around to get into the