Susan avoided eye contact by glancing over at the bones on the metal gurney. She wrinkled her nose and pointed to the remains of Baby Doe. “What are those?”
Everyone knew what bones looked like. What game was Susan playing now? “They’re the skeleton of an infant, a baby girl, or at least most of the bones.” Kerry forced her tone to be even.
Susan’s face turned ashen. She grabbed the top of the desk chair next to the gurney and slid onto it. “How did the baby die?”
Kerry couldn’t figure out if this was some kind of ploy to soften her up or if the appearance of the small bones truly distressed her sister.
“I’m not sure. Florida had some pretty heavy rains last fall that washed the dirt away from the grave site and exposed the body bag.” Susan didn’t need the grim reality of the dog ripping apart the heavy plastic. “We’re still trying to determine cause of death.”
Susan covered her mouth for a moment. “How terrible. She wasn’t in a casket?” Her eyes brimmed with tears.
“No. Someone buried her in the woods. Why the interest?”
“How old was she?”
Susan’s quick change of focus more than hinted she wasn’t ready to address Kerry’s questions of abandonment. “Susan why did you come? I don’t think it was because you were interested in my work.” Yes, she sounded bitter, but Kerry’s pent up anger got the best of her.
“I wanted to tell you my side of the story of what happened years ago. I’ve kept my secret way too long.”
“Secret?”
“Yes. Secret. I know I’ve hurt you, and I want to right that wrong.”
Kerry didn’t have time for some phony confession, or some made up secret for that matter. “I’m busy right now.” Another harsh comment, but her sister had never been straight with her.
Susan leaned forward. “I know you hate me.” She reached out and grabbed Kerry’s hand. Kerry flinched, but didn’t pull away. “Trust me, I only did what was best for you when you were young.”
“That’s rich.” She slid her hand from Susan’s tense grasp and fiddled with the bones on the cold, metal tray. “Why should I believe you now?”
“Maybe because it’s the truth.”
Kerry was tired, irritable and pissed, but Susan’s words rang true. No doubt her stubborn sister wouldn’t leave until she vented. “Fine. Tell me about this secret.”
“Do you want to sit?”
“No.” She wanted to pace, stomp, kick something. Instead, she stood still.
Susan let out a long breath. “I’m not sure where to begin.”
“Don’t do this, Susan. Just start at the beginning.”
She sucked in an audible breath. “I know you think I always ran off when Mom left town, but it’s not what you think.”
Kerry’s hands flew to her hips. “That’s because you always did.”
Susan slipped a strand of hair behind her ear, a habit Kerry always adopted.
“I realize now how terrible and frightening my disappearing act must have been for you.”
Took her long enough to figure that one out. “I was only seven. You were supposed to stay with me, watch me, make sure I was taken care of. At least that’s what Mom told you to do. What was I supposed to think when you took off and stuck me with the drunk neighbor?”
“I know. My leaving was inexcusable.” Susan studied her lap. “I used to visit Dad whenever Mom left town for one of her auditions. He didn’t like picking me up when she was around.”
“You spent alone time with Dad? I always thought we visited him together.”
“I didn’t want you to know. That’s why I told you I was out with my friends.”
This was getting them nowhere. “Yeah, you always had some reason why I couldn’t come. I asked Mom about that once, but she said teenagers needed to be away from their sisters sometimes. I believed her.”
Susan bit her lower lip and sniffled. She surveyed her hands. “Daddy and I did more than visit. I never told you. In fact, I never told anyone.” Susan twisted her fingers together.
Something wasn’t right. Oh, shit. A two-by-four could have smacked her across the back of her head, and Kerry wouldn’t have been more surprised. “Are you saying Daddy molested you?” Kerry’s pulse zipped to warp speed. That couldn’t be true.
Shame slammed across Susan’s face. “Yes. If I hadn’t agreed to service him, he said he’d...he’d come after... you.”
Kerry’s mouth dropped open. “When I was six or seven?” Her legs weakened and bile rose up her throat.
“Yes. It was unthinkable, is unthinkable, but I was fourteen when the abuse began. He was our dad. I believed he’d harm you if I didn’t do what he said.”
From Susan’s shifting eye movement, Kerry knew her sister was telling the truth, and a wave of disgust blasted her. “Couldn’t you have told Mom?” Kerry slipped down in the seat next to Susan.
Her sister leaned forward. “You don’t understand what it was like. He made me promise not to tell anyone. I know he would have hurt you if I hadn’t done what he’d asked. Besides, do you think Mom would have believed me? She claimed Dad could do no wrong.”
“Until he took up with another woman and left us.”
“She always became angry when I bad mouthed him.”
Mom was a wonderful, warm woman, but she was often in denial about most issues. Too bad she had more prescription drugs than a pharmacy, which made their mom less than coherent at times.
Reality stabbed Kerry in the heart. “You protected me and never told me?” How could she have been so blind for so long?
Susan cocked a brow. “At seven, would you have understood?”
Kerry’s mind took a trip back in time. “I guess not.” She wanted to forgive her sister, but Kerry recognized there was a lot more to the story. “When Daddy died, why didn’t you tell me about the abuse then?”
Susan pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose—a definite stall tactic. “Shame maybe. Besides, you were in high school and able to fend for yourself. Why ruin your year? Even after the abuse ended. I wasn’t ready to face what I’d done.” Susan stared off into space for a moment.
“Couldn’t you have spoken to a shrink or something?”
“Maybe, but I thought if I just left town, I’d be fine. I wasn’t ready to confront Mom with the accusation Dad abused me while she did her thing. Knowing her, she would have pushed me even further away, so I came to Florida. Grandpa was someone I could count on.”
“At least we agree on one point.” Kerry had missed so much of her sister’s life, and sadness replaced bitterness. “How could you leave Ohio though? It was our home.”
“You left too.”
“But I had a good reason.”
“So did I.”
She’d give Susan a chance to explain. “I’d like to hear it.”
Susan studied the hanging light in the ceiling before fixing a look at Kerry. “You were in school when I met a guy who I thought would solve all my problems and help me get away from Dad. Only Brad was as bad as our father. Eventually, I had to hide from him too, had to leave.”
Ohmigod. “He abused you, didn’t he?”
She nodded as her lower lip trembled. “I didn’t want to leave you or Mom, but I had no choice. You think I wanted to quit my teaching job and sever ties to everything I held dear?”
“That would be hard.” If Kerry ever had to stop working with bones, she’d go crazy.
“Damn right it was hard, but if I hadn’t, Brad would have hounded me. Trust me, I moved three times and he still found me. He even showed up at work.” Susan shook her head. “I finally had to pay a skip tracer to help me hide. I had to give up my career, my friends, my church group, everything. Only Grandpa knew I was in Florida. Even then we had to be super careful anytime we contacted each other.”
“You couldn’t have called me? Even once?”
“Back then, they didn’t have burner phones. I always believed somehow I’d slip up and Brad would trace my call. He was a computer programmer, and well-trained in all the latest technology. You were in college and happy. Grandpa kept me informed what was happening in your life. Why ruin things?” Susan shifted in her seat. “Would you have welcomed my calls back then?”