Entrapment (Morelli Family 7.5)

“I did.”

For a moment, he doesn’t understand. Then he does. Then he’s really fucking confused.

I spread my hands, bowing my head. “Didn’t want to say so in front of them, you understand. Of course, it’s a little different in my case. Mia’s not a child anymore. As I’m sure you can guess, she’s grown up quite nicely.”

Leroy gulps again.

I smile. “I don’t blame you for not agreeing. Anyway, I understand what you mean. Mia has a pull. She lures you in. It’s really not your fault you couldn’t resist her. I couldn’t either. It’s almost reassuring to hear someone else had the same problem.”

Obviously hesitant to trust me, but desperate enough that he has to, Leroy tentatively says, “Yeah. Normally I’d never do something like… I mean, I didn’t hurt her. We were just spending time together. Shelly worked two jobs; she was tired all the time.”

“Pregnant women tend to be tired,” I say, mildly.

His gaze flickers to mine, but he’s not surprised.

“Casey’s yours, right? Your name’s not on the birth certificate but the timeline checks out. I just assumed.”

“Shelly doesn’t let me see her. Never has.”

At least she’s done one thing right. “Anyway, I interrupted.” I nod for him to go on.

He eyes me warily, but he’s already starting to believe me. “Mia liked to stay up late and sleep in on the weekends, and so did I. So after Shelly would go to bed, we would hang out on the couch and watch movies or TV shows. She liked to watch the rated R ones and her mom didn’t let her, but I did.”

I smile. “I bet she did. Mia loves to dip her toes into the forbidden, doesn’t she?”

“Yes,” he says quickly, since that’s something he can pin on her. “Yeah, she does. And so we’d watch these movies and get comfortable on the couch. She’d always sit on the other side though. I thought…” He hesitates, watching me. “I wanted her to sit closer.”

I nod my understanding. “Naturally.”

“So she came over and sat by me. Real close. And then one night I put my arm around her—innocently, I wasn’t trying to… I wasn’t trying anything.”

“Right.”

“And she just… she just leaned right into me.”

I don’t like this at all. I needlessly smooth down the lapel of my suit jacket and regroup. Now I look up at him like my mind is open to his explanation. I even offer a faint smile. “Yeah, she’s a cuddler, that one. She’s so damn friendly, isn’t she? I think that’s what it is. She leads you on. Makes you think she’s interested in you.”

Eyes rolling back with relief, he says, “Yes. Like I said, she flirts with you.”

I give him a nod. “I know. Adrian doesn’t understand. Adrian isn’t like us.”

Now he’s finally starting to calm down. Now he’s really starting to trust me. “She fucks with your mind. Shelly even saw it.”

“The friendliness,” I say, blandly.

A flicker of a frown crosses his brow. “The flirting. Yeah.”

“Right.”

“One night… one night Shelly almost caught us. We were on the couch like always and by that point I got her comfortable with me.” He pauses, realizing that sounded predatory, and darts a glance my way.

I smile darkly. “Yes, I know how that goes. She’s so easy once you get her comfortable with you.”

I don’t like the look that crosses his face, not one bit, but he nods. “Yeah, she was very trusting. Even when she didn’t seem comfortable, she still wouldn’t get up and leave. Too afraid to hurt my feelings.”

I crack my neck, feeling my poker face start to slip. I reach down deep and keep it solid. “Anyway, Shelly almost caught you,” I offer, so he continues his story.

“Yeah, so we were watching a movie. It took a few tries. She kept getting up and saying she had to go to the bathroom so she could sit back down on the other end of the couch. She was just shy about it, you know.”

“Of course.”

“But she always came back over if I bugged her enough—if she didn’t want to, she wouldn’t have done that,” he adds, defensively.

“Oh, absolutely. She wanted it; she just didn’t want to admit it. Didn’t want the responsibility of doing something wrong. It was the same with me,” I assure him with a nod.

“Exactly. Exactly. But yeah, so the movie was heating up anyway, we were getting hot and bothered.”

Jesus fucking Christ.

He’s caught up in his memory, so he’s barely paying attention to me now. That’s good, because as he goes on to explain how he worked his way up her leg, how his disgusting hand settled between her thighs, how he touched her on her couch, in her living room, where she should have been safest, my poker face dissipates in a puff of fucking smoke, revealing a peek at the murderous rage brewing beneath the surface. He’s gazing off at the wall with a faint smile as he recalls how Shelly came in the living room but he slickly recovered, how Mia sat there woodenly and didn’t say a word, even when her mom asked what was going on.