Page 77 of Little Ballerina
“Of course.Shewas the one her stepfather wanted, not her sister.”
“Then he would have killed Ruth.”
“But he wouldn’t have gotten his hands on Naomi.” If it came down to it, he would have traded Ruth’s life for Naomi’s. He wasn't sure if that made him a bad person, but surely that was just human nature, right? He loved Naomi, he and Ruth Sullivan had never been more than acquaintances.
“Not physically, but you know Naomi, you know she would never recover from her sister dying in her place.”
That took a little of the wind out of his sails because it was true. Naomi cared more about everyone else than she did about herself. Well, more about everyone else but him it seemed. She knew that he loved her, but that hadn’t seemed to weigh into her decision to go after her stalker alone.
“She left you her phone.She could have taken it with her. I think leaving it was her way of admitting she couldn't do this on her own, of asking for help, of telling you that she needs you.”
That was true. Sam pulled out a chair at his kitchen table and sank into it.
“Stop being angry with her, Sam.”
Dropping his head into his hands, he squeezed his eyes closed. “I can't. I'm afraid that if I do then the fear the anger is holding back will consume me and Naomi will pay the price.”
“I know what you're going through. I know how I felt when Aggie was in trouble and I couldn’t help her. But you have to stay strong for Naomi. We’ll find her.”
He wished someone could promise him that.
“Did you get that out of your system?” Allina asked from behind them. “Because Ruth is here, and since you two have known each other most of your lives, I thought you might be able to get more out of her.”
He still had control of his emotions, barely, but he was clinging to control because Naomi’s life depended on it. Pulling his mask of calm firmly back into place, he stood. He could do this. “Where is she?”
After giving him a probing visual assessment, Allina replied, “She’s in your living room.”
They were still at his house because they’d gathered there after finding Ruth as it was close to their current crime scene. Sam led the way to where Ruth was sitting scrunched up on his sofa looking like she would rather be anyplace but here. He went to sit beside her, but all he could think of was sitting here in this very room, on this very sofa, not even twenty-four hours ago listening to Naomi as she confessed to him the abuse she had suffered.
“We have to talk,” he finally said to Ruth, shoving all thoughts of Naomi out of his head.
“I don’t know why he took her, Sam,” Ruth said immediately.
“That’s okay, how about you just give us some background on their relationship. How did Naomi and your dad get along?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, okay I guess. Kind of like he and I got along, I don’t remember him ever treating her any differently than me or my brothers.”
“Then just tell us about your family life.”
“Well, for Naomi life was all about dancing. She went to her studio every night after school for hours, then weekends were competitions. I hated when we had to go watch her, it was so boring. Well except for when Naomi danced. She was so good. Even as a kid I was in awe of her. But Naomi and I didn’t have a lot in common, I was into my friends, and she was completely dedicated to dance. The boys were, well, our little brothers. And our parents were our parents. I don’t know what else to tell you.”
“What about after the fire? How did that change things?”
“You know it changed things a lot, I'm sure Naomi told you,” she said a little sullenly.
“I knew you back then, Ruth, I know you got addicted to painkillers. I want to hear your take on your family after the fire.”
She sighed dramatically, but began, “I was in and out of hospital with various surgeries. Seth rarely left his room. Naomi threw herself into her schoolwork and extra-curricular activities, she wanted to be perfect at everything she did. My mom struggled to move forward so she didn’t do much of anything. My dad worked all the time, I think it was his way of coping. My grandmother thought children should be seen and not heard, so she didn’t spend much time with us. And my grandfather suffered from dementia.”
“Wait. What?” Naomi’s step-grandfather was suffering from dementia? That certainly changed things. Especially now that they knew that her stepfather was involved somehow. Just how much did he know about her abuse? And how much was he responsible for?
Ruth’s face clouded over, and her eyes refused to meet his, looking everywhere but directly at him, and he knew. The expression on her face all but screamed it. Ruth had known that Naomi was being abused.
“You knew,” he exploded. “You knew and you didn’t say anything.”
“I … uh … why would you … I …” Ruth stuttered.
“Why didn’t you say something?” he raged. How could Ruth have known what was happening to her little sister and not done something to stop it?