She flushes. “I don’t know. When the first one arrived, I couldn’t believe it was actually…real. Like, how did he get to me? He’s in jail. You’re not supposed to be able to do that when you’re in jail.” She shakes her head. “I was dumb. I didn’t realize that it’s easy to do things in jail if you know the right people. But with that first one, it’s like I didn’t even want to think about the fact that it existed, so instead of saying anything, I shoved it into the back of my closet.” Her mouth is set in a line.

“But they kept coming?”

She bites her lower lip. “Yes. They kept coming. And coming. And your mom never stopped him.” Her mouth is set in a line.

“Did she know?” I sound skeptical. I can’t help myself. There’s no way my mother knew about that shit and didn’t try to stop it. I might have major personal issues with her, but I have to admit that she’s really good at her job.

She looks at me like I’m an idiot. “Why wouldn’t she? He’s her fucking client.”

I can’t believe I’m about to defend my mother, but here we go. “Yeah, but I doubt she knows everything he does. If there’s one thing I know about my mom, it’s that she’s obsessed with following the letter of the law.”

The expression on her face gives me the chills. She purses her lips. “Do you think that fucking matters, Zach?” She growls my name. “She should have known. She should have done something. She should have done her job. She should have protected me. Someone should have protected me.” Her voice has been growing louder and louder, and on that last word, it shatters into a million pieces and she starts to sob. “Did you read the last one?”

I nod.