I gripped the edge of the counter as I leaned against it, pouring all of that anger out into my hold, my fingertips screaming from the pressure. “Shay had been at a violin recital. Her parents had stayed home to talk to Michael. To tell him about the new program he’d be attending. Cops learned later that Michael had already known about their plans. Overheard his mom talking to the intake doc on the phone. He planned everything.”

It was hard for me to understand how an eleven-year-old boy could have that kind of capability, but Michael McCabe clearly did. “Their mom had a prescription for anti-anxiety meds. He crushed some up and put them in the parents’ drinks. As soon as they started to feel the effects, he began. The father tried to make a run for the phone, but Michael caught him in the hallway with a knife. They weren’t able to get a total tally on the stab wounds, there was so much rage.”

Griffin muttered a curse, his jaw flexing.

“Then Michael came back to the kitchen. His mother was trying to drag herself to the hallway, towards her husband’s screams. He killed her right there. That’s where Shay found her. She slipped in the blood on the tile floor.”

I could see it in my mind as if I were there. Even though I had no idea what the house looked like and hadn’t seen photos of her parents. I wanted to be able to stop Shay before she ever reached the front door. To whisk her away so she never had to experience what came next. “Michael caught her in the kitchen. They don’t know how long he had her, but she had over thirty stab wounds and cuts. The houses in their neighborhood were set far apart, but a neighbor across the street had gone outside to take out his garbage cans. He heard a scream and called the cops. The sirens sent Michael running. He thought she was dead.”

“How’d they catch him?” Ford asked, his voice rough.

“He was just swinging in a nearby park. Covered in blood. Knife in his hands. He went with them willingly.”

“Holy hell,” Hunter muttered. “How do you ever get over that?”

“You don’t.” Shay would live with those memories forever, and there was nothing I could do to erase them. But even though I couldn’t take them away, I could fill her life with good things. So many happy memories that the bad ones would have less space to live.

Ford ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe they let someone like that out.”

“Me either.” If it were up to me, Michael would be locked up for the rest of his life.

Griffin straightened. “Be honest. Do you think he’s going to come after her?”