Page 39 of Savage

I took it and let Savage lead me away. Whatever just happened had flipped Savage’s world on its head.

Savage.

The call from Lettie had taken me completely unaware. I’d spoken to Earle two days ago, and he’d been fine. Now, she was telling me Earle had suffered a stroke, and I needed to come.

I shook my head. Earle was so big and strong.

Grace followed me into my bedroom as I dropped her hand and paced back and forth. This situation could attract media attention, and I might be hunted down. Grace needed the truth. To protect herself and know what she was stepping into.

“Some random reporters may knock on your door, looking for information on me. And then they could recognise you. That’s why I’m telling you, so you and the girls can get out of town for a few weeks until this shit dies down.”

“Start from the beginning, Savage,” Grace said gently.

“Forty years ago, in a Hicksville town in Kentucky, is when it started. I told you my name is Jesse Walker; it’s not. It’s Buck Sawyer Ellison from Layton, Kentucky,” I stated.

Trying to understand the importance, Grace frowned. “Layton, Kentucky,” Grace repeated, and her eyes widened. “That kidnapping and serial killing family?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know much about it, Savage, but you’re too young to be one of them.”

“Not to be the rape baby,” I replied, and Grace blanched.

“Oh no, oh,” Grace said. Tears started falling. And my heart expanded because those tears were genuinely for me. “You don’t have to say anything more.”

“I do because you were so brave in telling me. Now I’ll tell you.

“Forty-six years ago, my grandmother began seducing and killing strangers and emptying their bank accounts. One day, Loretta Sawyer was coming home with her son Cletus, and they found a guy changing a tyre. Loretta recognised him and knew he was rich, so Cletus knocked him out and shoved him in their old beat-up truck. Cletus dumped the car in the lake, and they took the man home.

“He was their first long-term victim. Loretta and her daughter Sandie raped him until they both got pregnant. The idea was to give birth and use the kids to get money from him. Only, he managed to escape, and Cletus shot him. Cletus was a kid then. Both women lost their babies, but they’d discovered a viable plan, so the next time they noticed a rich man, they did the same.

“Again, he died, and neither of them had fallen pregnant. But the third guy was their meal ticket. D. J. Ellison was the richest man in several counties. Why D. J. was in Layton, I have no clue, but it wasn’t somewhere he’d usually visit. Loretta saw D. J. and followed him until they were on a lonely stretch of road and then forced his car off. Cletus knocked him out and drove his motor back and hid it.”

“Jesus,” Grace said in horror.

“For half a year, those women kept D. J. hogtied and raped him daily until they got pregnant. Sandie, the daughter, got pregnant immediately, while Lorette took a couple of months. The younger son of Loretta, a bright, highly intelligent and kind boy, Earle, had no idea what was happening. One day, eight-year-old Earle followed Sandie after hearing something that made him curious. Earle discovered D. J. but initially fled in horror.

“Earle was brave, though. He decided to get help for D. J. and began making his way into town. He’d found a pocket watch with D. J.’s name and knew it would be seen as proof. Despite the long journey, Earle was willing to walk to town for two reasons. He knew his family was in the wrong, and now he knew they’d beat him to death for discovering their secret.

“D. J., who’d been told by Earle he’d get help, was a coward. When Loretta came to rape him, D. J. blurted Earle had discovered him and was getting help.”

“No!” Grace whispered, horrified. “He gave up an eight-year-old boy?”

“Yeah. The coward saved himself from an assault that day only to set the dogs loose on a child. Loretta sent Cletus, who was a vicious brute, after Earle. By all accounts, Earle thought he might have had a twenty-four-hour head start. Instead, he had six. Cletus caught him up and nearly beat Earle to death. After almost killing him, Cletus left Earle to die and returned home. Earle had taken several beatings to the skull and seemed to think he was Captain America.” My voice broke, and Grace reached out and grabbed my hand.

“Earle staggered to his feet on a broken leg and fashioned crutches as Captain America would have. Step by step, he made his way to a road. It took Earle around twelve hours—and in the dark of night with animals. But Earle wouldn’t give up because somebody needed his alter ego, Captain America. He collapsed on the street, and someone driving by found him and rushed him to hospital.

“Earle’s brain was so swollen that he was put into a coma, which pissed the local law enforcement officers off. Because Earle was still holding D. J. Ellison’s watch, and that was the first lead they’d had in months to the lost millionaire. Earle had many more injuries than a broken leg and was unconscious for four weeks. When Earle came out, he could only remember one name: Mrs Simms, but nothing else.

“The cops searched for Mrs Simms and finally located a teacher in Layton who’d reported a missing child, Earle Sawyer. She identified him, and the police raided the Sawyer’s land. There, they discovered a thinner and abused but still alive D. J. Ellison. They also found the bodies of over thirty men who had been killed for their money or their sperm. For years, Loretta had been committing murders.

“Eight months passed since D. J. Ellison had disappeared, and Sandie went into labour as their home was raided. Loretta had lost her baby and was raping D. J. to get pregnant again as the police descended.

“On that day, Sandie gave birth to a healthy baby boy and named him Buck Sawyer Ellison.”

“Holy fuck, that’s you!” Grace exclaimed.

“Yeah, but the shit show doesn’t stop there. D. J. was running his mouth, and it came out that Earle had found him but not untied him. Everyone wanted Earle put on trial, too. But Loretta, Cletus, and Sandie didn’t know about the outside opinion and had stated exactly what had happened, making Earle a victim, too. A newspaper reporter got hold of the story and outed how D. J. tried to save himself from a rape and gave up a child. Public opinion split. Some landed on Earle’s side and others on D. J.’s because Earle was a Sawyer.