“Ricky was a sickly child. He often suffered seizures. When your father rescued them, it had been chaos. He had to rush. Luther told him that they needed to go back and get the boy’s medicine. But your father didn’t have a chance. That wasn’t his fault, of course. Normally we would have taken care of it right away. We would have gotten our hands on the medications. That was part of our protocol. We always ask about that when they arrive.”

“But not that night,” I said.

“No. That night, when the police came, we didn’t have time. Ricky had a seizure. A really bad one.”

“And he died?” I asked.

“Yes.” Dylan Shaykes looked into my eyes. “Can you imagine it? Watching the only person you ever loved die on the floor in front of you. Pounding on the big metal door. Screaming for help.”

“And no one could hear,” I said.

Dylan nodded. “We sealed up the room after that. No one has been in it since.”

We walked some more.

“Luther never forgave, did he?”

“He pretended he did. But that was just to get placed. As soon as he was out, he ran away. I don’t know where he’s been. He blamed all of us, but your father most of all. He swore that he would get revenge.”

“What did he do to my father?”

“I don’t know.”

“I saw him there. Eight months ago. He was dressed as a paramedic. He took my father away.”

He nodded. “I know.”

“Bat Lady thinks my father’s alive.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

Dylan looked at me and I saw the answer before he said it. “No.”

I swallowed. “You think . . . ?”

“That Luther killed your father. Yes. I saw him, Mickey. I saw his rage. So, no, I don’t think he spared him. I think he took him away and killed him.”

“Is that why he burned down the house? For revenge?”

“I assume so.”

“And he’s still out there.”

“Yes.”

“So you’re still not safe.”

“None of us are, Mickey. None of us are safe.”

CHAPTER 34

I came home exhausted.

I figured that I would text Ema and start filling her in on my encounter with Dylan Shaykes, but as soon as my head hit the pillow, I started drifting off. It could wait, I thought. In fact, it would probably be better to go over this with her face-to-face.

I fell into a deep sleep.

When I walked to school Monday, I took a slightly different route to avoid the Bat Lady’s house. I was not sure why I did that. Or maybe I knew but I didn’t want to think about it.