I stared at the Bennetts, one after the other.
“The fuck is he on about?”
“Mr Teller? Jesus, I’m so sorry.” Nige said, his voice low.
“Just tell us, bruv.” Samuel said, glancing at Seb, who was holding onto Cass.
“So… I’ve traced everywhere those bastards have ever lived, and the pattern is undeniable. Rapes. Young women, badly beaten, raped, left for dead. They were all too scared to talk. Whatever he did to them, it scared them enough to keep silent, and let him keep fucking doing it to others.”
I felt ill. I grabbed the nearest chair, falling into it, my head in my hands. “Jesus fuck.”
A hand squeezed my shoulder again, but I had no idea whose.
“He never killed any of them, but there were two pregnancies. At least from what I can find. One kept the baby, and the other put the child up for adoption. My god, these poor women. Over the span of twenty years, there were sixteen of them. All with the same M.O. How nobody realised, or put two and two together, I have no idea. From the police reports, they definitely saw a connection between several of the attacks, but, I guess since they moved about a fair bit in the early days, it made it harder to spot. Once Harvey was at uni, his dad stayed at the same address, and it all fizzled out.”
“Until now.” Seb said, tightening his grip on Cass, like there was imminent danger.
Nige sighed heavily. “There have been two attacks locally, over the last week. Uh… before, uh… anyway, the assaults sound similar to the others, and all the girls would say was that it was an older man. It all adds up. Bastard put up one hell of a front. I’m sorry, I should have spotted this sooner. I should have seen something.”
“Nige, you can’t know to look for this shit. We all thought he was just a dad. A poor widower who lost his son.”
“Yeah… what about the wife? She died years ago, right?” Seb asked, almost speaking over his brother.
“Report says she apparently died in her sleep, but there were signs of rough sex. Somehow it was decided that the sex was consensual, and she’d had a coronary in her sleep.”
What a sick, fucked up family. Had Harvey known his father murdered his mother all those years ago?
“Thanks, Nige. Get some rest.” Samuel ended the call, and looked at me.
“We’re going to make sure some of us are here, for as long as she’s here. She won’t be alone. Neither of you are.”
“Thanks. I, uh… I guess I don’t know what to do next. Shit… her house… what happened to him?”
Samuel waved a hand. “Don’t worry about any of that. Our boys are sorting it. The house is being secured, and there won’t be a trace of any of this. Just focus on your lady, bruv.”
I chewed the inside of my cheek. “I’ll do whatever she needs, but it might be that what she wants, or needs, is for me to stay away.”
Cass pulled away from Seb, making him frown down at her.
“Adam, don’t take it to heart if she pushes you away. She knows you won’t hurt her, but she’s dealing with a lot right now.”
“I get that, Cass. And I can accept that she might not want me to touch her, or whatever, but it’s so hard to not pull her into my fucking arms, and hold her, and try to comfort her. She panicked, just when my fingers brushed hers, when I handed her a glass of water. I guess I’m just wondering if I should stay out here, and give her time.”
Lenore cursed quietly, then stood up. “She doesn’t know what she fucking wants right now, Adam. I know you were struggling with… last night… with what she needs, but now all of that has changed.”
“What if it hasn’t?” I asked, standing up too, my fists clenching.
“What if the next thing she does is start cutting herself again? What if this time she doesn’t care if she’s careful? What then? I didn’t know how to help her before all of this. I put one foot wrong in there, and I could fuck her up beyond repair.”
Marco stepped between us, like he wanted to referee.
“Just listen to her, man. If she asks for you, sit with her, be what she wants in that moment, and if a minute later she wants you to leave, you fucking leave, and you wait out here. That’s all you need to worry about.”