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“What happened that forced you to take her?” Cain asked

The fact that he’d phrased it that ar inside of me Maybe because I hadn’t been sure these men would believeat me that he did

“It was late one night when I heard so and shaking I asked her rong and she just…she just blurted it out,” I said softly as the memory of Lucy’s tear-stained face washed over me

“‘He killed her, Ethan He killed her,’” Ime intently “Lucy’s mother,” I clarified “Lucy told ht at a friend’s house but that she’d gone hoet her phone She was in her bedroo in the hallway outside her rooht on video so she could finally get her mom to see how messed up their relationship was The house they lived in was really big and the bedrooht in front of the bannister that overlooked the first floor Neither of theuess she only had her bedroouess Lucy’s mom had somehow found out Eric was into ht got physical He…he pushed her over the bannister”

Ronan and Cain both stiffened as they realized the i

“I saw that story,” Ronan murmured “He said her death was an accident…that she had a drinking problem”

I nodded “She was legally drunk, but I believe Lucy’s story that he pushed her”

All three men nodded

“Lucy stayed hidden in her room until Eric went to call 911 Then she took off The friend she’d been spending the night aiting in the car Lucy had her drive her to my house…I’d told Lucy never to call ured he ht monitor hers too”

“What did you do?” Cain asked

“I asked her to let me see the video, but on the way out of her house, she’d dropped the phone on the sidewalk It wouldn’t power on anymore”

“Did she upload the file to her cloud?”

I shook my head “She’d turned that feature off when she found out Eric was snooping through her stuff on the cloud” When neither man asked me additional questions, I continued on my own “I was afraid for Lucy…what Eric would do to her if he found out she’d witnessed the murder I knee had to run She didn’t have any other family and without the phone, I knew the cops wouldn’t believe her All the cash I’d been hiding from Eric was in the safe deposit box, but I was too afraid to wait for the bank to open On the way out of town, I stopped at an ATM and got as much cash froned to let et cash from the ATM so I used those too Since Eric kne to track e and alked to the bus station and grabbed a bus headed for New York We switched buses a few ti on one bound for Minneapolis Eric found us within three days,” I said softly I shook otten rid of my phone, hadn’t used my credit cards, hadn’t called anyone or checked my email…”

“He could have used the security caure out your destination,” Cain said quietly “And if you got a hotel room near the bus station, it would have just been ayour pictures around…”

Huht of that,” I whispered

“Why would you?” Ronan asked gently

Iher so to thebehind and ran Luckily, I’d kept most of the important stuff like my cash and safe deposit box key on me so I didn’t lose h I hadn’t kno Eric had found us, I’d decided taking the bus wasn’t safe so I bought this really cheap car for cash We drove to New Mexico and hid out there and waited When Eric didn’t show up, I started looking for a job, but it was tough without any kind of ID I worked odd jobs for a little while and after ain one place too long ed her hair color and we avoided being seen together in public Whenever I orking, she spent o, ent to Arizona and I ed to find a job as a caretaker for a man named Arthur Stillwell He’d had a stroke a fewaround The position was a live-in one so Lucy and I had a place to stay”