Page 75 of Deserving Maisy
Maisy swallowed hard, suddenly overcome with emotion. She’d arrived here in New Mexico a week ago expecting to be shunned, to be ostracized. Instead, she was brought into the fold by these women as if she’dalways been there. And Ry…Maisy couldn’t come up with the words to thank her.
“It’ll be okay,” Ry said gently.
Taking a deep breath, Maisy nodded. “Yeah. It will be. Because I’m going to turn him in.”
“Your brother?”
She nodded. “I can’t prove he killed my parents. But I’ll do what I can to prove he killed his wife. I have a few blurry pictures I took in the dark, I have Martha’s wallet—which is relevant, because Jason told the police she took it with her when she left—some recordings of my brother being awful to me, and a diary where I wrote down every single thing I could think of that can hopefully be investigated.”
Ry stared at her for a long moment before saying, “I have emails. And texts. I downloaded them from his phone. It’ll help with Martha, but maybe not your parents. That was too long ago. I’ll print them out and you can take them with you when you meet with the police in Washington.”
“You do? Youwill?”
“Absolutely. Anything that will help take him down and keep you safe, I’ll do.”
“Why?”
“Because he shouldn’t get away with what he’s done. Because he’s a greedy asshole. And because I like you, Maisy. We’re a lot alike. More than you know. You had to do things you didn’t want to do because you had no choice. You had to stay silent for your own safety. I get it. Isoget it. You deserve a second chance, and I want to help you make that happen.”
“You do too.” Where the words came from, Maisywasn’t sure, but she had a feeling this woman deserved that second chance as well.
Ry smiled sadly. “I’m not so sure about that. My sins are way bigger than yours. I wasn’t forced into lying. I made the former housekeeper here at The Refuge leave through deception so I could get the job. And I’m not sure anyone can forgive me for having information about the women when they were in trouble, and not sharing.”
“From what I just heard, youdidshare,” Maisy protested.
Ry shrugged. “Too little, too late. I’m sure that’s what the men think. Besides, I know stuff about The Refuge. Things they don’t want anyone knowing, and I won’t tell them how I found out. Although it should be obvious. Nothing electronic can hide from me. Tiny definitely doesn’t trust me.”
Maisy bit her lip, but since they were laying all their cards on the table, she decided to ask what was on her mind. “Why are you still here? I mean, I doubt you actually need the housekeeper job.”
“I don’t. And I stayed because I wanted to find Stone,” Ry said.
“Well, he’s here. And fine.”
“You want me to leave?” Ry asked with a tilt of her head.
“No! Not at all. But with all the talk about Jack and how he looks at me, I can’t help but notice how Tiny barely lets you out of his sight.”
“Right, because he’s afraid I’m going to bankrupt this place or something,” Ry said with a roll of her eyes.
“I don’t think so.”
“No,” Ry said with a shake of her head.
“No, what?”
“Don’t go thinking there can be anything between Tiny and me. I’m still here at the moment because I’m working to fuck over that brother of yours. Sorry, but if you have even the smallest shred of love left for him, you need to get over it. He’s a monster.”
“I know he is. But, Ry?—”
“Please don’t,” the other woman whispered in a tortured tone.
Maisy wanted to push. Wanted to do more for Ry, but it was obvious there was a lot going on with her she didn’t know about, and it wasn’t as if she knew Tiny all that well either. She just didn’t like to see her new friend so…resigned. To what? Maisy didn’t know, but she didn’t like it.
“All right. I don’t know what I could ever do to repay you for your help, but if you need anything, I’m here for you, Ry.”
“Thanks. You don’t know how much that means to me.”
“I do, actually.”
