Page 64 of Nineteen Eighty
“He’s Alain’s father. He didn’t disappear. Charles killed him.”
Augustus’ head shot up so fast she thought he might jump out of his chair. “He what?”
“After all these years? Are you really surprised? Really?”
“But… after that… teacher… he promised me.”
Maureen laughed. “Bless your heart, you think he stopped there?” She held up her fingers, ticking off. “Mr. Evers. Evangeline’s attackers. Four, I think? Colleen’s teacher.” She paused, stopping herself before she could add what she knew about Ekatherina. But she didn’t come here to hurt her brother, only solicit his guidance. “That’s six, and then you add in Soren, and now the husband of that woman he was fucking—”
“What woman?”
“Does it matter?”
“I guess not, but… are you certain?”
“Yes, and what’s more, I think you already knew all of this.”
“I make it a point not to get involved in Charles’ decisions, Maureen. It’s better that way.”
“Yes, and meanwhile he’s left a trail of at least eight bodies and no one has done a thing. Not a thing!”
Augustus inhaled and held the breath, closing his eyes.
Maureen had kept the tears at bay, but she couldn’t, not any longer. She’d tried so hard not to cry for Soren. For her sweet man. Her mad lover. Father of her son. She’d done this because if she succumbed to her grief and rage, there was no telling what the aftermath might look like. How her family would suffer.
But it ate away at her, just the same.
Day after day.
Night after night.
With Evers, she’d been a child, angry and indignant. With Soren, she’d been a woman, happily in love. Happy, even, to surrender that love for family, because she knew he still existed in the same world as her. Still looked up at the same stars, breathed the same air.
And Charles had stolen that, too, from her.
As he’d stolen her trust, those years ago with Evers.
As he’d stolen her innocence, forcing her into a marriage with her rapist.
And as he’d now stolen her joy.
These things had a way of wearing at the corners, of the very fabric of who she was. Maureen hadn’t ever thought of herself as strong, but she understood, now, that she’d been strong all along. Stronger than any of them. But strong people didn’t abide the actions of those weaker and crueler. They didn’t allow their power, and power of others, to be continuously stolen by a callous bully.
“I believe you,” Augustus said, his whole body animated through his heavy exhale. “You came to me for a reason.”
“Colleen and Evangeline still act like Charles is a problem they can’t be bothered with. Like… like we just have to live with this! You know, it’s just the way he is. But what happens, Augustus, when Colleen and Noah have a fight one day, and Charles finds out? What happens when Connor steps out of line? Do you know how many times he’s offered to kill Edouard? Every day, I have to live with knowing he might. That we live in a reality where my own brother might very well kill my husband.”
“Okay.” Augustus seemed to be working hard to compose himself, to catch up to all the bombs she’d dropped on him in the space of minutes. “What do you want to do?”
“I want him to be accountable. I want him to stop.”
“What does that look like to you?”
Maureen hesitated before saying the words. “I want to turn him in.”
Augustus glanced at the clock. “We have a few hours before Barbara and Ana are home. That should be enough time to get down to the station and make a statement.”
“You mean it?”