Am I having a stroke?
She now remembered going berserk when she had read that nursery rhyme in a book while she’d been with Desiree. She had come upon those words and it was like something exploded in her head. She had never known why. But the other child? Then she felt stupid. The rhyme was a choosing rhyme. Of course there had to be someone else. And then something else clicked in her mind. The rare memory she had always carried with her that allowed her to survive Desiree.
It’s okay, Momma, it’s just Lee being Lee. She’ll find her way down. She always does. Don’t be mad at her, Momma.
“Eloise, are you okay?”
Cain came out of her musings with a jolt and stared at the old woman, but her heart was racing like she’d just snorted a dozen lines of coke. “Something just occurred to me, that’s all. So my real name is Mercy?”
“Yes. Do you remember that at all?”
Cain shook her head. “Desiree did a really good job of making me forget things.” She looked darkly at Wanda. “But then you knew that, too, didn’t you?”
Wanda quickly looked away. “I guess you hate me. And you have every right.”
“I don’t think you’re important enough anymore for me to hate, Wanda.”
Wanda glanced up. “What have you been doing all these years?”
“Surviving.” She glanced at Len. “Will he always be like that?”
“Yes. And it’s just me to take care of him, really.”
“Well, I guess you both are living in your own little prison now, aren’t you? Tell me, how does it feel?”
“I’m very, very sorry, Eloise.”
“Yeah, you already said that. But then words don’t cost anybody anything, do they? What else did this FBI lady say? Why do they want to find me if I didn’t kill Joe?”
“I think they want to help you. You were kidnapped, after all. And I looked that up after they left. The FBI deals with kidnappings.”
“All these years later?”
“It’s a cold case, that’s what they call it on TV. Maybe you should go and see them.”
Cain eyed her closely, her suspicions running high. She wasn’t ready to believe any of this, particularly coming from this woman. “Are you sure they don’t want to arrest me for Joe’s murder?”
“Well, I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so? That’s not good enough.”
“I don’t know any more than that.”
Which means I’m still screwed.
The weight of the world seemed to reappear on Cain’s broad shoulders.
“What about Desiree?”
“What about her?”
“Give me the phone number. I want to call her.”
“But why?”
“I don’t think you have any right to ask that. Just give me the damn number.” Cain rose and looked down at the woman.
Wanda stared back up, obviously frightened.
“It’s good to be scared, Wanda, when you’re around me. I’m not normal. No one would be normal after what happened to me. Give me the number. Now! Or I won’t be responsible for what I do to you or the prick in the wheelchair.”
“Are you going to try to find Desiree? And hurt her?”
“That’s my business. You don’t have a say in that, not now. Not ever.”