“Reported what? I learned to get by. I took care of myself. I never complained to anyone. The teachers never found out what was going on at home. They just thought it was me, that I was difficult. Or maybe they didn’t care. I don’t know. Either way, no one said anything.”

“So, what happened?”

“My father disappeared at some point. I think he got tired of life at home, tired of us. He moved to Greenland, got a job up there, and sent money home for a while.”

Heloise considered for a moment telling her that she had met with Frank Kiel, that he had tried to use his own daughter’s situation to bilk some money out of her. But she didn’t have the heart to be the one who keyed yet another scratch into the paint job of Anna Kiel’s existence.

So, she bit her tongue and listened.

“When the money stopped coming, my mom fell into a black hole. She started spending money we didn’t have, a lot of money. She borrowed huge amounts that she gambled away, and when she lost, she couldn’t pay what she owed.” She paused for a moment, thinking back, trying to blink the memories away. “I remember the night they came to our house. My mom wasn’t there. She was out somewhere. I don’t know where. I never knew where. But it was late, and I had already gone to bed. And then they rang the doorbell. I thought it was her. She was always coming home drunk or high, always losing her keys or her purse. So I assumed it was her at the door.”

“But it wasn’t?”

“No. It was two men.”

“Did you know them?”

“No, I had never seen them before.”

“What did they want?”

“They asked for my mother, and I told them she’d be home soon. But of course I didn’t know if she would come home at all. I was just standing there in my nightgown, scared shitless and hoping they would leave again. One of them was this real slimy guy. He smiled and told me I was pretty and asked me how old I was.”

“How old were you?”

“Eight.”

Heloise shook her head, dismayed.

“Then he leaned down and put his hand around the back of my head, and he kissed me—stuck his tongue in my mouth. I can still remember the taste, cigars and wine, and the feel of his sticky spit in my mouth.”

“Did you push him away?”

“No, I was too scared. I just let him do it. As I stood there, I felt something warm running down my leg. I had peed my pants, I was that terrified. When they realized what had happened, they just laughed.”

“How did you get rid of them?”