He shifted in his chair. “Sure.”
“What time?”
“Around midnight.”
“Had he been drinking heavily?”
“As always.”
“Did anything unusual happen?”
His blue eyes cut to Sonny and back. “Like what?”
“Late-night visitors…scuffles…accidents?”
Sonny couldn’t help it. She closed her eyes and held her breath, waiting to be outed.
“No,” James said. “When I left, he was asleep.”
Relief washed over her, along with a measure of shame. She was amazed that he would cover for her, appalled that she would let him.
DeGrassi asked about Lisette, and in this, James told the truth. He described every detail of the morning her body was caught in the fishing net, omitting nothing, from his regurgitated Fruit Loops to his father’s callous treatment of the remains. If anyone had been in doubt about what kind of man Arlen Matthews was, they weren’t any longer.
“When did you last see Lisette alive?” DeGrassi asked.
“A few weeks ago, she was at my brother’s.”
“What happened?”
“We talked,” he said shortly, fooling no one.
“You had sex?” DeGrassi interpreted.
“Just oral,” he muttered.
“She performed oral sex on you? Then what?”
He shrugged. “Then nothing.”
“Did you get her phone number? Arrange to meet again?”
“No. It was a one-time thing.”
DeGrassi was speculative. “How do you know she felt the same way?”
Color stained his cheekbones. “She was kind of mad at me when she left. I said ‘Carly’ when I, uh-at the wrong moment.”
“Who’s Carly?”
“My girlfriend.”
DeGrassi didn’t mince words. “You said her name when you ejaculated into Lisette Bruebaker’s mouth?”
James put a shaky hand over his face. “Yeah,” he said, almost inaudibly. He glanced at Nathan. “This was before I started dating Carly, but Lisette knew I liked her. I think that’s why she did…what she did. Anyway, when she left, she said, ‘I’ll tell Carly you said hi.’ So she was threatening me, I guess, saying she was going to tell Carly about it, to embarrass me.”
DeGrassi’s brows lifted. “Did she?”
“Probably not. Carly didn’t even know I existed back then. It wouldn’t have meant anything to her.”
“Did your father know about you and Lisette?”
“No. Why would he?”
“This incident occurred at your brother’s house, correct?”
He followed her logic. “Yeah, but not in front of anyone. We were in the closet. Stephen didn’t know, either.”
“Do you meet a lot of girls at Stephen’s?”
“Some,” he admitted. “But it’s not what you think. Stephen’s girlfriend teases me. My dad called me queer all the time. I felt pressure, you know? To prove myself. Act like a man.”
“Is that how you felt in the closet with Lisette? Like a man?”
“No. I felt like a jerk. That’s why I didn’t tell anyone.”
DeGrassi studied his handsome face. “Do you like boys, too, James?”
James’ eyes darkened. “No.” He leaned back in his chair, distancing himself from the very idea. “Hell, no.” As an afterthought, he turned to Nathan, aware that his attitude had been insulting. “No offense.”
“None taken,” Nathan replied amiably.
“Why do you think your dad accused you of that?”
James stared at the wall behind her head. “Maybe he wished I was queer, so he’d have an excuse to beat me up.” He let out a harsh laugh. “Like he needed an excuse.”
“He physically abused you?”
“Every day,” he said, meeting her eyes.
“Sexually?”
James looked at Sonny. Her heart broke for him, but she couldn’t offer him any words of comfort. DeGrassi had threatened her with bodily harm if she interfered. “He didn’t touch me or anything like that. But he did other stuff that I would call sexual abuse.”
“Like what?”
James studied his hands. “He made me watch, when he was with prostitutes. He made me participate.”
“He made you participate in sex with them?”
“No,” he replied with a shudder. “I couldn’t. He made me tie them up. I guess he thought that if I helped, I was just as guilty as he was.”
“Tying up a woman for sex, if she consents, isn’t a crime.”
“Yeah, well, what he did to them should be, if it isn’t.” He put his head in his hands, humiliated to voice his father’s atrocities.
“James, I know this is difficult for you,” DeGrassi said, and gave him a moment. Then she asked, “Are you ready to continue?” When he nodded, DeGrassi brought out the photos of the previous victims. “Did your father ever have contact with these girls?”
James examined them carefully. “Not that I know of.”
“Did you see any of them at Stephen’s house?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“What about Carly’s mom? Did your dad ever meet her?”
“No. Our families didn’t exactly travel in the same social circles.”
“Are you sure you haven’t seen the others?” DeGrassi persisted. “Would you remember them if you had?”
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I?”
DeGrassi leveled with him. “We know what goes on at your brother’s house. You said you meet girls there. Lisette was known to party. Do you like to party, too?”
He handed back the photos. “Are you asking if I do drugs? If I drink?”
She nodded.
“I’ve tried some stuff,” he said, looking away again, out into space. No one in the room was surprised by that admission. A lot of troubled teenagers experimented with drugs and alcohol. Children of abusers were twice as likely to become addicts themselves. “But I found out something pretty quick.”
“What’s that?”
His gaze met hers, and in that moment, Sonny was convinced that he was speaking as a man, not a boy. “I duck blows a lot easier when I’m sober.”
Sonny trudged up the steps to her apartment, in dire need of a long, hot shower. James’ words had made an indelible impression on her, and the ugly crime scene had left her feeling as though an invisible film of smut coated her entire body.
Like most little girls without daddies, Sonora Vasquez had grown up believing her father was a grand champion, a golden hero, or a fairy tale prince.
Practicality came with age, but as a child, she’d often used fantasy as an escape. Later she would realize that her father was probably like the rest of Anita’s loser boyfriends, a drug addict, an alcoholic, or a criminal. Even so, she’d imagined dozens of more palatable scenarios. Sometimes she dreamed he was a handsome Naval officer who’d never been aware of his daughter’s existence. Other times, she would pretend he was a firefighter, an international businessman, or a jet pilot.
