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“What kind of problems?”
“Similar to yours. Pedophiles, rapists, traffickers, abusers. Really bad people.”
“You get paid for it? Who pays you?”
“My boss does. There’s a group of us.”
Pieces of information start to click. “The people you live with.”
“My brothers.”
“Cashmere?”
Whisper shakes his head. “His husband.”
As reality sinks in, I can’t help but throw my head back with laughter.
“You’re laughing,” Whisper says.
“I thought…” I shake my head. “I thought if you ever found out, you’d be so disgusted. I never thought you could be… Wow.”
Whisper reaches for my hand and I let him. “I’m far from disgusted, but I am concerned. You could get caught the way you do things. There’ve been witnesses.”
“Who couldn’t describe me and wouldn’t tell the cops if they could.”
“Yet. I could help you tighten things up.”
“You’re not gonna tell me to stop?”
“Why would I? You’re hunting the same trash I do. You promise that’s all you do?”
“I promise. I would never hurt anyone innocent.”
“Okay then. What’s your plan?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you have a list? A target?”
“Uh, no. They just pop up. I mean, I did at first. That’s what started it.” I chew on my bottom lip for a second. “This girl I know, we grew up together. She was my neighbor. Her mom’s boyfriend was a real piece of work. You know the kind—drank too much, yelled too loud. We would see bruises on her and her mom, and then one day, the ambulance came and took her away.”
I pause as the memories return.
“I was twelve and she was ten. She had to the go the hospital because the boyfriend raped her while her mom was at work and she was bleeding and it wouldn’t stop.”
“Fuck.”
“The mom pressed charges and he was arrested. They convicted him too. Know how much time he got?”
“Not enough.”
“Not even close. Five years, and they let him out after three. Lisa and her mom were so scared that he would come find them, and they were right to be scared. He beat the mom so badly she was in ICU for a couple of months and Lisa had to live with her shit dad. I was just a kid and I thought if he was dead, they would be safe. They’d be together, and they wouldn’t have to be afraid.”
“Right.”
“For years, I kept track of him. His name was Mickey White. He was always in the back of my mind after what he did to Lisa and her mom. Then, years later, something happened in my family. A cousin.”
My throat tightens as I speak. I never talk about this. Never tell anyone. Not since it all happened.
