Gingerbread Man

blowing full throttle when I got a phone call from Reggie. Said to come to his house right away. Said not to say a word to anyone about where I was going."
    Vince was fully alert now. Weariness no longer held a candle to anticipation. "So, you went."
    "Of course I went. When I got there, I found Reggie pacing. And there sitting by the fire, was this little girl. Skinny as a rail, pale, soaked to the bone." He hesitated for a moment. "She was bruised, and there were these ..." He lifted a hand, ran his thumb around his wrist. "These red rings around her little wrists. Like she'd been bound, but not with rope. Cuffs of some kind, was my best guess. Metal. She wouldn't let Reggie near her. Wouldn't let either one of us near her for a time. And her eyes, they were just..." Sighing, he shook his head slowly. "I don't know. Hollow. Empty. I don't know how to describe it. She looked ... bleak."
    Vince was on the edge of his chair. "What did you do?"
    "We got her some food, warm milk to drink. Reg had already given her blankets to wrap up in. She reacted well to the food. Like she hadn't eaten in days. And I think that was when she started to trust us just a little. We finally got her calm enough to sleep, and I managed to examine her. Once she was out, I'll tell you, she was out."
    "And what did you find?"
    Doc looked away. "She'd been raped. More than once. There was internal damage. I doubt she'll ever be able to have children of her own. She was malnourished and suffering from exposure and post-traumatic stress. Nothing life threatening. She'd been drugged. Sedated. I wanted to call in authorities. And that's when Reggie started lying."
    "What do you mean?"
    "When I first arrived, he'd told me this little thing had just shown up at his front gate, in the middle of the night, right in the full brunt of that storm, not wearing a stitch of clothes. That he just got up and looked out the window and saw her out by the gate. But the minute I wanted to report this to the police and Social Services, his story changed. He said he knew who she was. He said she was the child of a relative of his, and he made up the name. Amanda, he called her. Hell, I knew he was lying. And he knew I knew it."
    "Why? Why would he lie, Doc?"
    The doctor looked Vince squarely in the eye. "Reggie ran away from his father six times, Vince. The first time he was only seven years old. Every time he was found by police or social workers, no matter how many burns or broken bones or bruises they found on that kid's little body, the authorities sent him right back. And every time they sent him back, he got beaten ten times worse than he had before he'd run. Every time, he would wait until he was healed up, strong, and then he'd try again. Five times they sent him back for more. The sixth time, he made his escape." Doc shook his head. "Why do you think he lied?"
    "He was afraid she would be sent back to whomever hurt her."
    Doc nodded. "She wouldn't talk much that first night. Barely at all. Wouldn't tell us her name, her age, anything. But the one thing she did say was all it took to convince Reg to do whatever it took to keep her with him."
    "And what was that?"
    "When we asked her who hurt her this way, she replied, 'Daddy.'"
    Vince closed his eyes, got to his feet, and leaned over to flip open the file folder. Inside were photos of a little girl who looked haunted, skinny, ill. He fought against waves of nausea as he studied the snapshots.
    "I went along with the lie," Doc went on. "I knew what he was doing, but I pretended not to. It was the best thing for the child. I believed that at the time, and I still do. Look, flip the pages. There's a photo taken six months later."
    Vince did, and found the snapshot of a beautiful light-haired girl, smiling, with dimples, having what looked like a birthday party. Her eyes were still shadowed by the past, but she looked about a thousand percent better than in the first photos.
    "Reg had no idea when her birthday was, of course. He just picked a date. Just like he picked a name. And even after Amanda's body healed, she couldn't remember what happened before Reggie found her. Except that her daddy had hurt her. The idea of going back sent her into hysterics."
    Vince nodded, closed the file. "When you examined her that first night, did she have a mark on her back?"
    Doc looked up fast. "Yes. A burn, seared into her flesh, right between the shoulder blades. Four-leaf clover. There's a photo of it in the file."
    Vince