The Departed

inside.”
    “Woulda been nice if he’d said something to somebody,” Dez muttered, shaking her head.
    “He probably didn’t realize it was this bad,” Taylor said. “And the boy hid everything very well. His dad is a counselor, you know that? A counselor—didn’t realize his son was an alcoholic.”
    “He hid it well.” She blew out a breath and glanced back at the mother. “I wonder if I should talk to her.”
    Taylor grunted and stepped aside. She lifted a brow at him and he said, “You already know you’re going to talk to her.”
    “And you know this…how?”
    “Because you came over here.” He glanced toward the woman and then back at Dez. “You can’t stand to see suffering. It’s in your nature to try to ease it if you can. If you didn’t think you could, you wouldn’t have come over here.”
    “And it’s not possible that I came over here to talk to you?”
    His only response to that was a smirk.
    Sighing, she looked back at the woman. Then she lifted a hand to the glass window, pressed her palm flat to it. “Her pain is enough to steal my breath away. I can’t hear her thoughts well, but every now and then, even through my shields, I hear something—she keeps thinking how close she came to losing him. And then she keeps wondering what she did wrong, how he could have done something so awful.”
    “Do you blame her?”
    “No.” She looked at him. “I’m angry at that boy—so angry. But I’ve also felt his pain, his fear. And it would have been so easy for him to pretend ignorance, or try to stop me. To just keep hiding under the covers. He’s trying…that’s more than the other bastards will ever do, I guarantee you that.”
    She closed her eyes and squared her shoulders. Then, taking a deep breath, she opened the door and slipped inside.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    TALKING to Mark’s mom had been hard. By the time she was done, Dez’s heart was battered and bruised. By comparison, going to Ivy’s room felt a little easier. Like trying to juggle three chainsaws instead of four, perhaps.
    Her parents were sitting at her bedside, there was hospital security at the door, and Dez was scrutinized within an inch of her life. Jeez, the rent-a-cop took his job seriously. But she was kind of happy to see it. At least she knew anybody else going inside that room would get the same hard once-over.
    She hoped.
    As the girl on the bed turned toward her, Dez summoned up a smile. It wasn’t easy. Ivy still looked so battered and worn. But when she saw Dez, a tired smile lit her pretty face.
    “Hi!”
    Dez stopped at the foot of the bed. “Hey. You’re looking better.”
    Ivy made a face. “No, I’m not. But I feel better. I get to go home tomorrow.”
    “That’s good.” She glanced at the woman on Ivy’s left and gave her a polite smile. “Ma’am.”
    Dez looked back at Ivy. “Have you talked to the police?”
    Terror turned the girl’s eyes all but black. She cowered into the bed, clutching the blankets to her. “Nuh…no. I…I can’t tell them anything. I don’t remember…”
    “Ma’am, we’ve already discussed this. Ivy doesn’t remember enough to help. I don’t know who you are, but I won’t have you upsetting her—” This came from the big-ass guy sitting next to her. As he spoke, he came out of the chair, taking one step toward Dez.
    Dez lifted a brow at him. Sweetie, if you think that’s going to do anything to intimidate me, you need to think it through a bit more . “Upsetting her?” Dez said quietly.
    “Yes, upsetting her. She didn’t sleep—she can’t sleep.” The girl’s mom glared at Dez, her eyes snapping.
    “I can understand that.” Dez looked away from the man, away from the woman, and focused on Ivy. “And if you can’t remember, then there’s not much you can do to help, I suppose.”
    Taking a chance, she lowered her shields. Things were so fucking weird here, anyway, she didn’t know what she’d get from this girl. Not much…but enough. Ivy wasn’t being completely honest. She didn’t remember much of what happened here , but she knew something about who’d hurt her. Who had taken her. “Tell me something, Ivy. How well are you going to sleep knowing the boy who did this to you is still out there?”
    Ivy whimpered, bringing her hands up to cover her face.
    “Damn it, that’s it, you get out of here.” The man reached to grab Dez, and she stepped back.
    “You don’t want to do that,” she warned.
    “Joey…”
    The