The Lost Ones (38 page)
Authors: Ace Atkins
“I’m here.”
“You think that redhead you were seeing knows anything about where to find Janet Torres?”
“If she did, she wouldn’t tell me.”
“You can do better than that tight-ass,” Lillie said. “I do feel for Mara. If her lawyer can’t put fat Janet on the stand, jury won’t be able to make sense of the hell she lived through. She was a victim same as those other children.”
Quinn nodded and passed the baby back to Lillie, admiring the natural way Lillie took the child, held her, made her smile and laugh. Lillie always had seemed a lot better with children than grown-ups. He wondered about the other kids they’d found, not knowing where they’d been placed or how things had turned out after all that the Torres people had done to them. Lillie handed Quinn a piece of coconut cake and a fork, and Quinn sat on the church steps, eyes coming back to Anna Lee, her arms empty now, standing there alone in her bright red jacket, blond hair, and red mouth.
Anna Lee met his gaze for a long moment and then turned away. She seemed almost angry, maybe a little confused. He’d seen that look plenty of times before they broke up. She collected her child from a white-headed woman and marched down the hill, out of sight and out of reach. Quinn finished the pie, helped clean up, and then drove back to the farm.
The old tin-roofed house stood stark, shadowed. Hondo waited, tall on the hill, barking at his return.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
