The Departed

You go ahead and do it. Coward. Can’t protect your wife or your son. Look at you—the people who did this are standing right there .”
    “You don’t worry about him.” Moore shook him so hard the man’s head smacked into the wall. Harsh flags of color rode high on his cheeks and there was a look of livid, complete hatred in Moore’s eyes. “You worry about me.”
    Taylor heard the familiar sound of feet on the tile floor. Cop shoes. One didn’t tend to forget that sound after hearing it a few hundred times. “Moore, you’re about to have company,” he warned. He glanced down at Jacqueline’s heartbroken, terrified face, the fear that turned her eyes black. Small shudders wracked her body every few minutes.
    Worst of all, she kept whispering, “I’m not his angel. I’m not his angel. I’m not…”
    Shit. He could try to find justice for Anna. But if Anna had glimpsed any of the hell he saw in this woman’s eyes… peace or justice… Although how in the hell he could help this woman find peace without finding her justice, he didn’t know.
    He gripped Moore’s shoulder and tugged. “Let him go now, before the cops decide to hassle you. He’s the bastard here. Not you.”
    Joshua shrugged his hand off, although he did let go. Slowly he backed away, unable to tear his gaze away from his father-in-
law. “You have no idea what he did.”
    “Yeah, I think I do.” He focused his eyes on Beard. “And if this slimy fuck has a lick of sense in his brain, he’ll run. Fast and far. Although he can’t find a rock to hide under, not from me.”
    “It’s too late.” Joshua shook his head. “It’s too fucking late .”
    Taylor continued to stare at the man. “Is it ever too late to ruin a man?”
    “You can’t fucking ruin me .” Beard sneered at him. He shot a hateful glare at Moore, then looked back at Taylor. “Stupid, fucking idiots. If I want to see my daughter, I will , and you can’t stop me.”
    “I can.”
    Her voice was a shaking, quiet sound. And when they turned to look at her, Jacqueline Moore stood on legs that were wobbling and none too steady. “I can stop you… Daddy . You fucking bastard.”
    As the cops drew near, she furiously dashed away tears. She wouldn’t look at Taylor as she edged around him until she could lean against her husband. She took her hand in his and, in that moment, Taylor realized she was tiny. Frail, even. Almost as delicate as a child.
    “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, choking the words out as she stared up at him. “I’m so sorry.”
    Joshua brushed her hair back. “You don’t apologize to me,” he whispered. “Not for what he did to you, not for any of it.”
    She shook her head. “I can’t stay quiet, though. I’m sorry.”
    Then she looked at the police officers who were now gathered around them, frowning like they weren’t sure why they had even been called up there. “This man—my father—killed my baby when she was just three months old. He held a pillow over her face until she suffocated. The doctors said it was sudden infant death. But it wasn’t.” Her voice shattered and she whispered, “It was him.”
    As Beard lunged for her, the cops caught him and wrestled him back.
    In the chaos, only three people heard what she said next.
    “And it was his baby. He raped me. For years. And he got me pregnant.”
    Joshua stumbled back, falling into a wall as he stared at her in dumbfounded shock. “Jacqui?”
    “I’m sorry,” she whispered again. “I’m so, so sorry.”

CHAPTER TWENTY–TWO
    “IS she here?” Taylor lingered by the car while Dez stood halfway between him and the cemetery.
    She glanced back at him, her face unsmiling, her eyes sad. “I don’t know.” She sighed and rubbed the heel of her hand over her heart. “For the first time, I really don’t know what to tell her, either. She wanted me to help Jacqueline and I don’t know that I can.”
    “You tell her that you did what you could,” Taylor said, his voice stark. Then he looked down. “And you tell her that I love her. Can you do that?”
    Tears clogged her throat. “Yeah. I can do that.”
    “I wish…” He blew out a sigh, shaking his head. “I’ve never really wanted to carry any of the burdens the rest of you carry, you know. I don’t want any of those gifts. But right now, I wish I had something, just enough to see her once.”
    Unable to stand the distance between them, even though it was just physical, Dez went to him. “I think