Look For Me (Detective D.D. Warren #9)(110)

“Never get caught alone at Mother Del’s.” Mike spoke up. His tone was mournful. And his expression not just bleak. Hopeless. A boy who’d seen too much, endured too much. I recognized the look. I’d seen it so many times on my own face, day after day with Jacob Ness.

“Mike?” Roxy asked quietly.

“You were a bright light,” he said, finally glancing at her. “Such a bright light. Walking into the kitchen that first day. Bright, bright, bright. I saw him see you. And then, week by week, no more bright. I knew what he would do. I tried to help. It wasn’t enough, but I tried. Then you got away! Safe. Off to grow bright again. Except you came back.” He frowned. “You shouldn’t have come back. Why did you come back?”

I thought I got it. Mike had been with Roxanna in the hallway outside of Ms. Lobdell Cass’s office the day of the photo incident. He’d heard Roberto threaten the school counselor. And he’d understood, once again, that Roberto would get away with it. Five years later, he was still torturing Roxy and Lola. And five years later, the adults were still powerless to help. So Mike had taken matters into his own hands.

“You took Roberto’s phone,” D.D. was saying now, her own voice carefully neutral. “Didn’t you, Mike? You took his phone to protect Roxy. To get rid of the photos.”

“I crushed it. With a hammer. Little bitty pieces. Never to be put back together again.”

“You killed Roberto?” Anya cried from the floor. “You did it?” But everyone ignored her.

“Did you know about de Vries?” D.D. was asking, advancing a few more feet. “The theater director who was partnering with Roberto?”

For the first time, Mike appeared confused. “Dirty Doug? Old married Dirty Doug who always picked plays with lots of young-girl actresses?”

“Hey—” Anya, still being ignored.

“That would be the one. I just had the most interesting conversation with him while he was duct-taped to his car. Nice use of a box cutter, I might add.” D.D. glanced at Roxy, who flushed. I could already picture exactly where Roxanna had placed the blade. Once again, provide the tips and they will use them.

“According to de Vries, he spotted some of the images Roberto took of his victims at Mother Del’s. They organized a business where Roberto provided the inventory, while de Vries served as distribution. Roberto actually pissed off de Vries when he posted Roxy’s picture on the internet, calling unnecessary attention to their operations. De Vries was still trying to figure out what to do when you took care of the problem for him by killing off Roberto. You might have eliminated Roberto, Mike, but de Vries still has all the images. De Vries is the real problem.”

Mike finally looked at the detective. “Bright, bright, bright,” he said. “Brightest light I’d ever seen. You still don’t understand.”

Then, suddenly, I did. And I think Roxy must’ve, too, because her free hand flew up, covering her mouth right before tears flooded her eyes.

“You killed Roberto to eliminate the threat to Roxy and Lola”—I spoke up—“because you could see what it was doing to Lola. To Roxy. But even after Roberto’s death, Lola didn’t settle, did she, Mike? She was still angry, out of control, and taking everything out on Roxy. It was only a matter of time before she did something really stupid. Something Roxy couldn’t fix. Something that would hurt Roxy even more.”

“You loved her,” Mike said to Roxy, his voice sad. “But she didn’t love you back.”

“I tried to tell her to let it go,” Roxy said. “I tried to get her to see that when Roberto died, it was over.”

“You bitch!” Anya again.

“I wanted her to give up the gang. But she said she couldn’t. They made her strong, she didn’t want to be weak.”

“She would’ve gotten you to join.”

“No! Never, Mike—”

“You would’ve joined to save her. Roxy saves Lola. Always, Roxy saves Lola. And Lola—”

Roxy was crying harder now. I could tell she already knew what he would say next. In the meantime, I took advantage of Mike’s distraction to shift forward.

Mike, speaking quietly: “Lola never loved you. Not the way I loved you. She took. She did not give. She took, took, took.”

“No! She was lost. She just needed a chance—”

“You can’t repair what doesn’t want to be fixed.” Mike rocked up on the balls of his feet, his agitation returning.

“Lola seduced Doug de Vries,” D.D. supplied now. She’d worked her way to the front of the stage area, standing merely twenty feet away, an easy shot in terms of distance. Except there were too many of us clustered together. I blocked Mike from shooting Anya, but also D.D. from shooting Mike. Though it still felt good to have a detective at my back, especially with Anya now staggering to her feet.

“Then Lola sent pictures of the affair to Anya and Doug,” D.D. continued. “She wanted to hurt you, Anya. Not to mention destroy Doug with evidence of him sleeping with an underage girl.”

“Lola wasn’t going to stop,” Mike said. “I heard her talk: She felt on fire. She wanted the whole world to burn. She hated everyone—”

“She hated herself!” Roxy blurted out.

Mike looked at her. “She hated everyone. Even you. Especially you. Because Roxy saves Lola. But you didn’t. You didn’t.”