Her footsteps retreat and I hear the swoosh of the door closing.
The first tear escapes and rolls down my cheek.
Mitch
“No.”
Chad startles when I block his way.
He tries to look into the room behind me but I shift and cut off his view of my daughter. I don’t want him even looking at her.
“I have a right to—” he starts, but I cut him off.
“You have no rights and you know it. Take a walk, Miller.”
Becky must’ve let him know Sawyer was awake because he’s been MIA since shortly after I got here this morning.
“Mr. Miller,” Matt says behind me. “Your wife is down the hall in the waiting room, feel free to join her, we shouldn’t be too long.”
He hesitates briefly, making one more attempt to catch a glimpse of my daughter, before he presses his lips together and stalks off.
“Punani will keep an eye on him,” Matt reminds me in a low voice.
I close the door, lean my back against it, and smile reassuringly at my daughter, who’s sitting up in bed, the color back on her cheeks.
Thank fuck.
“Go on, Pumpkin,” I encourage her.
Becky and I had sat at her bedside for what felt like forever when she’d finally started waking up a few hours ago. A little groggy at first, but that didn’t last long. She’d quickly perked up after a nurse brought her something to drink and some soup to eat.
Then she surprised me when she said she needed to talk to me alone. Becky didn’t much like that, but Sawyer insisted, reminding her mom she was a witness and had information for the FBI.
I made her wait until Matt could get here, mainly because I was afraid of what she might tell me. I had no idea what happened to her in the roughly thirty-two hours she was in the hands of these perverts.
To my immense relief, she’d been lucky. She’d been shoved around a bit but hadn’t been touched sexually.
“Dad, don’t leave him alone with Mom,” she says, her eyes on the door.
“Who, Chad? They won’t be, John Punani is keeping your mom company.”
That seems to appease her as she settles back against her pillows.
“Good. Because, Dad? He was behind it.”
It’s like the air is sucked out of the room and every muscle in my body tenses up.
“Your stepfather?” Matt asks.
She nods.
“Like I said, the guy who claimed to be a cop wouldn’t talk to me after he arrested me, and locked me in the back of his car. When we finally got to the house, he handed me off to the other guy, not the old man, but the guy on the boat. That one tied me up in the small bathroom and told me if I behaved, they wouldn’t have to hurt my mom. Then he said I could thank my stepdad for that.”
She closes her eyes briefly, looking pale again. I push away from the door, taking a seat on the edge of her bed and brushing the hair off her forehead. My anger momentarily pushed aside with concern for my girl.
“You need to take a break?”
She shakes her head and grabs on to my hand.
“I didn’t understand what he meant at first,” she continues. “But I could overhear them talk in the living room. They planned to sell me. Said I’d probably fetch them a good price, that I was worth more than the girl Chad traded me in for. They thought it was funny.”
She sniffles and turns her eyes on me.
“The worst part is, I had no trouble believing he’d do something like that. He gave me the creeps, Dad. The way he’d look at me, or sometimes touch me, I knew it wasn’t right. Last week he walked into the bathroom when I was in the shower. I know I locked the door. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
I shoot off the bed with murder on my mind when Sawyer starts crying.
“Dad, please…”
Matt, his phone to his ear, is already rushing out the door.
I tamp down my rage and turn back to the bed. Then I climb in beside her, rest my back against the headboard, and collect my little girl in my arms.
She’s had enough trauma for a lifetime, the last thing she needs is to have her father charged with murder.
“Nothing for you to apologize for, Pumpkin. Not a damn thing.”
I trust my team; they can take Miller down.
My daughter needs me.
“I did nothin’ wrong.”
The girl jerks her chin up defiantly.
“No one said you did,” Matt returns.
It had been getting dark when he poked his head into Sawyer’s hospital room and asked me to step outside.
Becky had come in at some point, her eyes red-rimmed from crying. Sawyer had fallen asleep and I’d moved to sit in a chair beside her, still holding on to her hand.
I was already moving out of the way when Becky mouthed, “Sorry,” and climbed into bed with our daughter, gathering her in her arms. I slipped out to get a coffee from the hospital cafeteria and put a call in to Jacob for an update on Kate. He was able to tell me she was doing well and would likely be released in the morning.
As much as I wanted to go see her, it would’ve taken me at least two and a half hours just to get to Morehead and back. I did try her number but it went straight to voicemail, and when I called the hospital, I was told she was sleeping. I didn’t bother leaving a message.
What I have to say to her has to be done in person.
“I turned eighteen last month,” the girl says defensively. “I’m legal. I can do whatever I want.”
“But you weren’t eighteen when you met Chad, were you?” Matt probes. “Did he force himself on you that first time?”
She tries to keep her face impassive, but only partially succeeds.
“It weren’t like that. Not like them lowlifes on the street who take what they want without anything in return. Look at this place.”
Chantel Staffman gestures around the cozy apartment that lowlife Miller had set her up in.
Joe found out about a lease for the place in Covington, just south of the Ohio River, when he interviewed the man’s secretary. According to her, Miller hadn’t been scheduled to go to DC until this coming week.
The bastard was probably hanging out here.
“I ain’t on the streets, I got food in my fridge, and he’s gettin’ me a car.”
That’s not likely to happen now and I can’t help feeling sorry for the kid. She’s been gaslighted.
“When’s the last time you saw him?”
“Couple’a days ago. Stayed for a few days.”
“Did he do that often?”
She shrugs. “A few times for the night, but mostly he’d just show up for a couple of hours.”
“Did he say why he was staying longer this time?” Matt asks.
“He didn’t say, he was kinda busy on the phone most of the time.”
“Do you know who he was talking to?”
“Some guy about a girl.”
“Did you get a name?”
“Nah, I just heard him say they could pick the girl up at her dad’s place.” Suddenly, she turns to me. “What’d you say your name was?”
I’m surprised, I’ve been keeping a low profile, letting Matt run the interview, but I did introduce myself when we came in.