He nodded, clearly bemused.
“So, what I’ll do then is I will ask for a meeting with the prosecutor. And the prosecutor and I will watch the tape together so I can explain that the way your father’s femoral vein was nicked shows the same pattern of behavior that you used with all of the women you raped.”
Andrew looked as startled as Leigh had seconds before. He’d never considered the possibility.
“It’s called a modus operandi, Andrew, and it will send you to prison for the rest of your life.” Leigh put a finer point on it. “Mutually assured destruction.”
He took only a moment to recalibrate. He made a point of slowing it down, shaking his head theatrically, even tsking his teeth. “Silly girl, do you think that’s the only tape I can show people?”
Leigh felt her bones shaking beneath her skin. He sounded so much like his father that she was back in the yellow Corvette again, her legs clenched together, her heart racing, her stomach turning inside out.
Andrew said, “I’ve got hours of your poor, fragile little sister being fucked in every hole she’s got.”
Leigh felt as if each word was a punch to her face.
“I found them in my VHS collection when I went to college. I thought I’d get some nostalgia in by watching Disney, but then I realized Dad threw out the tapes and put his private collection in.”
Leigh’s eyes filled with tears. They had never searched his room. Why hadn’t they searched his room?
“Hour after hour of the best porn I’ve ever seen in my life.” Andrew studied her face, taking in her pain like a drug. “Is Callie still small the same way she was back then, Harleigh? Is she still like a little baby doll with her thin waist and her wide eyes and her tiny little pussy?”
Leigh pressed her chin to her chest to deprive him of the pleasure of her agony.
He said, “The second anything bad happens to me, every man, woman, and child with access to the internet will be able to watch your sister getting shredded.”
Leigh squeezed her eyes closed to keep the tears from falling. She knew Callie was haunted by that very scenario. Her sister couldn’t walk down the street without worrying that someone would recognize her from Buddy’s movies. Dr. Patterson. Coach Holt. Mr. Humphrey. Mr. Ganza. Mr. Emmett. Their violation had hurt Callie almost as much as Buddy had. Andrew letting countless other disgusting men watch the vile acts would splinter Callie into so many pieces that no amount of heroin would be able to pull her back together.
She used her fist to wipe her eyes. She asked the same damn question that she kept asking. “What do you want, Andrew?”
“Mutually assured destruction only works until someone loses their nerve,” he said. “Convince the jury that I’m innocent. Tear apart Tammy Karlsen on the stand. Then, we’ll see what else you can do for me.”
Leigh looked up. “How long, Andrew? How long is this going to last?”
“You know the answer to that, Harleigh.” Andrew gently wiped away her tears. “For as long as I want it to.”
11
“Mrs. Takahashi?”
Callie swung her legs to the side of the chair so that she could look up at the librarian. The woman’s mask said READ MORE BOOKS! She was holding a copy of A Compendium of North American Snails and Their Habitats. “I found this for you in the return bin.”
“Wonderful, thank you.” Callie took the thick paperback. “Arigatou.”
The librarian either bowed or did a kindly brontosaurus as she took her leave, both of which could be construed as cultural appropriation.
Callie turned back around. She placed the book beside the computer keyboard. She assumed that she was the only junkie who had ever committed identity theft for a library card. Himari Takahashi had been a war bride. She’d sailed across the Pacific to marry her dashing soldier lover. They’d both enjoyed reading and taking long walks. He’d passed away before her, but she had contented herself with gardening and spending time with her grandchildren.
At least that was the story Callie had told herself. In truth, she had never spoken to Mrs. Takahashi. The woman had been zipped inside a black body bag the first and last time they had met. Back in January, when Covid was wiping out nearly four thousand people a day, Callie had taken a cash-paying job with one of the local nursing home chains. She had worked alongside the ranks of other citizens who were desperate enough to risk their own health by loading Covid-positive bodies into refrigerated trailers that the National Guard had trucked in.