Haunted

XIV

"So, where do you think we should go next?" Joey asked.

I frowned. The talk about Cade had thrown me off, and the fact that Caleb was so evasive made me rethink my theories. Maybe it wasn't best to go looking for another suspect at the moment.

"Why don't we try Gretchen's house? We can always ask her if she saw anything suspicious over the last few days. If the killer is looking for a new victim, she would be a pretty good choice with her mother being a witness against Cade's father and all." I suggested.

Joey nodded. "That seems like a logical choice."

He started the car and pulled out of the dirt parking lot of the rodeo area, leaving a dust cloud in our tracks. I sighed and looked down. My mind was still whirring.

"So, Cade's father is in the federal max prison?" I questioned.

"Yeah, his lawyers got him to be put there because Willy wanted to be close to Cade. It was so Cade could visit."

"Has he ever been?"

Joey chuckled, which was quite out of character for him. "No. Cade would let the world burn before he visited Willy in prison."

I frowned. "Why? I mean, he's still the man who raised Cade, right?"

He sighed. "That's the thing. Cade's childhood was horrible, though you couldn't tell from an outsider's point of view. I couldn't even tell that something was wrong with him and I was his best friend. Of course, everyone kind of figured there was something a bit off because he flinched whenever someone touched him, but we all assumed it had something to do with his mother's disappearance and it affecting him weirdly.

"From what Cade had told me, though it isn't much, I can deduce that his childhood was like living through a horror movie. It's all fractured and he can't remember many concrete events. If he would let himself go to a psychologist, he would probably be diagnosed with PTSD. You've got to understand that he's really good at hiding all of this. He's good at putting on a mask and becoming someone else. It was something Willy was good at too. It was why no one suspected him of being such a cold heartless killer.

"Willy was raising Cade to be the perfect killer. He would make Cade watch sometimes as he took the last moments of a person's life. He would force Cade to touch them, so that he would be plagued by visions of their brutal deaths over and over again. He taught Cade so many different ways to kill a person it would shock you. I couldn't imagine having to live with all of that knowledge and baggage. I couldn't imagine growing up in that environment. Yes, Willy is Cade's dad, but in no way was he a father to him."

I sat in silence for a bit. I still held on to the assumption that somewhere deep down the father and son had to care for each other but if Joey's story was true, then I couldn't imagine love coming from either side of the equation. How could you do that to your own son?

This day was just making me feel like I should be over with Cade as be braved out the reporters and cameras on his doorstep instead of trying to foolishly track down a killer.

"Does he ever get mail or anything from his father?" I wondered aloud.

"Yeah, but they aren't opened. On his birthday every year Willy sends a letter, and it's usually pretty thick too. As far as I know, he burns them as soon as he sees who they're from."

"He's lived a sad life because of his father, hasn't he?"

Joey nodded with a sad expression on his face. "And with his ability, it makes it even worse. Before you came along, he thought his gift was a sort of curse for not trying to stop his father earlier on. That he's destined to see how everyone dies because of his father."