“I should have listened to you.”
“No,” she whispered. “He made sure you couldn’t.”
She kissed my forehead.
“I tried.”
“I know.”
“I called your old workplace.”
“I know.”
“I sent letters.”
I stared at her.
“You sent letters?”
“Dozens.”
Luke had told me Rebecca wanted nothing to do with me.
I had believed him.
The officer introduced herself as Detective Maria Torres.
“Caroline, I need to explain something.”
I nodded.
“Your doctor contacted us because your injuries raised concerns.”
She looked at the nurse.
“Your medical team has preserved the clothing you arrived in, documented your injuries, and secured the original medical records.”
I felt something I hadn’t felt in years.
Safety.
Not complete safety.
But the beginning of it.
“Luke is still here,” I whispered.
“He won’t be coming back into this room.”
Detective Torres paused.
“Not unless you ask for him.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
The word came easily.
“No.”
The detective nodded.
Then she asked,
“Do you believe he intentionally burned you?”
I looked at my sister.
Then at the doctor.
Then down at my hands.
“Yes.”
“Did he say anything while he was doing it?”
I swallowed.
“He said he would boil my belly until a son came out.”
The detective’s expression changed.
She wrote it down.
“Anything else?”
“He said I was useless because I couldn’t give him a boy.”
Rebecca squeezed my hand.
I remembered something.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“His phone.”
The detective looked up.
“Where is it?”
