The Drowning Child

But he’s only just gone missing. There’s only been one night and one day.

‘Thank you,’ said the young man. ‘I appreciate it. And I know Aunt Shannon will too.’

I’m lost …

‘Hopefully,’ said the woman, ‘there’ll be a more positive outcome for Caleb Veir.’

Oh. OK. She’s talking about the other boy … the one who drowned: Aaron Fuller.

‘Yes,’ said the young man. ‘I couldn’t not come to help today.’

‘Good for you,’ said the woman.

She left quickly, and as Ren looked up, there was no one between her and the young man, and they locked eyes. He gave her a small nod, then turned and walked toward the line of volunteers.

When Ren went back over to Gary, Ruddock was standing with him, looking in her direction, but following the path of the young man.

‘Who is that guy?’ said Ren.

‘Interesting you should ask,’ said Ruddock. ‘He’s a former inmate of BRCI, got out last summer: Seth Fuller. He’s a cousin of Aaron, the boy who drowned. He lives with his aunt out at The Crow Bar on Lake Verny. She owns it. In fact, she bought it from John Veir – he bought it when he came back from one of his tours of duty. He was going to set up a dive school there, or do boat tours, but it never really worked out for him, so he had to sell up.’

‘How did he afford that?’ said Ren.

Ruddock shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’

‘What was Seth Fuller in prison for?’ said Ren.

‘Possession. He’s a former heroin addict, cleaned up his act, apparently.’

Not that apparent …

‘He wasn’t mentioned on John Veir’s questionnaire as someone to consider,’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Ruddock. ‘And Veir would have known him through selling the business to his aunt too.’

‘What’s your take on him?’ said Ren.

Ruddock tilted his head. ‘On Seth Fuller? He was a very bright, creative kid until he got involved in drugs – he was more a danger to himself than anyone else. That would have been my take on him … up until about five minutes ago. We’ve just learned a little something about Seth Fuller: apparently, he used to pay particular attention to Caleb Veir …’

10 (#ulink_c5c9385d-e18a-551d-945e-fdd76f6eeddb)

The crowd of volunteers was moving back and forth, and at that moment, parted to reveal Seth Fuller again.

Ren watched him shift from one foot to the next, his eyes on the battered paperback in his right hand, one of the classics, folded back on itself.

What am I getting from you? And what are you reading?

‘Who told you about this Fuller guy and Caleb Veir?’ said Gary.

‘The owner of the comic book store in town,’ said Ruddock. ‘He just called, said that on several occasions when Caleb was short a few dollars, Fuller would help him out. He also saw him buying the kid sodas and candy from the store across the street.’

‘Did he say how Caleb reacted to this attention?’ said Ren. ‘Did it seem to make him uncomfortable?’

‘He said Caleb just seemed happy to have someone pay his way,’ said Ruddock.

‘Well, he’s twelve years old and he was getting free stuff,’ said Ren.

Ruddock nodded. ‘You know what it’s like in a situation like this – everyone starts eyeing people suspiciously.’

‘Well, we need to treat it seriously until we know otherwise,’ said Gary.

Ren glanced up at him. That was unnecessary. Ren looked at Ruddock.

Apologizing with my eyes.

‘Have you seen enough, here?’ said Ruddock. ‘I wanted to let you know you’re all set up inside.’

There were twelve desks in the temporary office, five already occupied by agents from the FBI Portland Division, which covered the entire state of Oregon. Another desk was taken up by the CAST agent – Cellular Analysis Survey Team. He had given Wiley printouts of the Veirs’ phone dumps; John, Teddy and Caleb’s cell phones, and the home phone.

Wiley was waiting for them like a student eager to please.

Mixed messages central.

‘Nothing jumping out at me so far,’ said Wiley. ‘The last call made on Caleb’s cell phone on Monday morning was to his aunt, Alice Veir – John Veir’s sister. Veir himself made a call on Sunday morning to one of his colleagues, Rob Lockwood, a psychologist at BRCI.’

Wiley also had the reports from the lab on the Veirs’ laptops. They read through them.

‘Nothing here is setting off alarm bells,’ said Ren. ‘Caleb was looking up PlayStation cheats for Grand Theft Auto 5, emailing friends, posting on Facebook, checking out porn. Sure, he calls his father an asshole in a few of his emails, but that’s what kids do. He hates school – he’s twelve years old, no surprise there.’

Ruddock’s phone beeped. He checked a text. ‘The Veirs are here. I’ll go meet with them.’

Wiley followed him out.

Gary turned to Ren when they had left. ‘You and me are talking to John Veir. I think you might unsettle him. I wouldn’t say he likes strong women. You lead, and if his story starts smelling like bullshit, I’ll go big guns, round two.’

‘OK, but would you mind if Ruddock and I took Teddy Veir? She is so fragile: in the first interview, I’m not sure she responded very well to being faced down by two men. She looked a little freaked. She could be intimidated by male authority figures, especially if she’s a cowed wife.’

‘Or she could be used to male authority figures …’ said Gary.

‘Trust me on this,’ said Ren. ‘You could intimidate a woman like her without even realizing it. I’ll tread lightly, and Ruddock is a familiar face, with a gentle way about him. Between us, I think we can just …’ she shrugged, ‘set the right tone.’

Ruddock came back and brought Gary and Ren to the interview room where John Veir was waiting, pale-faced, twitchy, tense. Ren and Gary introduced themselves.

‘I’m sorry that we’re meeting under these circumstances, Mr Veir,’ said Ren. ‘And I apologize for having to ask you so many questions at such a difficult time, especially ones that you may feel you’ve already answered.’

John’s eyes flicked toward Gary.

You’re surprised the lady spoke first …