The Drowning Child

‘No, no,’ said John. ‘I didn’t want to bother her with it. She would worry. And she might drive down here for no reason. If he showed up after all that, it would be pretty embarrassing. She’s very busy.’

Embarrassing? Busy? What the what now? ‘Well, it’s been a while at this stage,’ said Ren, ‘so we’d like to talk to her about this phone call from Caleb, at the very least.’

Eye-dart. ‘Sure, I can call her.’

‘Let me take care of that,’ said Ren. ‘We’ve got her number here.’

John waited for the next question. Ren held eye contact long enough for his jaw to twitch, long enough that he was the first to avert his eyes.

What’s going on here?

‘Have you taken a look around the house, noticed anything missing that belonged to Caleb?’ said Ren.

He shook his head. ‘No. Not that I can think of.’

‘I’d like to talk to you about the escaped inmate, Franklin J. Merrifield,’ said Gary.

‘What?’ said John. ‘Why? I wasn’t even there when that happened.’

‘Did you know Merrifield?’ said Gary.

‘Yes, I knew him, but not well,’ said John. ‘I’ve never had any trouble with him – nothing.’

‘When you heard Merrifield had escaped, were you surprised?’ said Gary.

‘Absolutely,’ said John. ‘It’s the first time anything like that has happened since I’ve been working at BRCI.’

‘Do you think he had help on the inside?’

‘It’s not about what I think,’ said John. ‘I don’t know is the answer.’

‘Tell me what you know about Seth Fuller,’ said Ren.

‘Seth Fuller?’ said John. He shrugged. ‘Why do you ask?’

‘He was also an inmate at BRCI, and we’ve had reports he showed a particular interest in Caleb.’

‘That’s the first I’ve heard of that,’ said John. ‘Who said that?’

‘I can’t say,’ said Ren, ‘but we know that he paid for some comics for Caleb if he was short of cash, bought him sodas at the store, that kind of thing.’

‘Well, I know nothing about that,’ said John, ‘but Seth’s a good kid. I’m not worried about him. I would have written his name down on that list if I was.’

‘Can you be sure of that?’ said Ren.

‘Can anyone ever be sure of anything?’ said John.

Yes, actually, but … ‘So you didn’t know anything about Seth and Caleb …’

‘No,’ said John, irritated. ‘There was no “Seth and Caleb”. So he bought him a couple of things – I’d like to think that was just a nice gesture.’

‘So your dealings with Seth Fuller in BRCI …’

John shrugged. ‘I didn’t have any. I mean – no one-on-one dealings with him.’

Ren stood up. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘That’s all for now. Thank you.’

Ren and Gary walked down the hallway toward the office.

‘Did you hear the amount of times he did the question-as-reply thing?’ said Ren. And “Honestly …”’

Gary nodded.

‘We need to break his ass down,’ said Ren. ‘And what is the deal with his sister? Why the hell wouldn’t he tell her that her nephew had gone missing? Bizarre.’ She paused. ‘And that fucking stare …’

Black and eerie.

Ren went to her desk and typed Alice Veir’s name into Google.

Alice. Alice. Who the fuck is Alice?

The client whose case had put Alice Veir in the spotlight six months earlier was a man called Anthony Boyd Lorden. He had been jailed for life for the murder of Kevin Dunne, a sixteen-year-old hitch-hiker who disappeared in 1991 and whose skeletal remains were found a year later. Alice Veir lay the blame with the detectives working the case, saying that Lorden, who was only seventeen at the time of his arrest, had been coerced into signing a confession.

This will be fun … talking to a woman who rails against the interrogation techniques of law enforcement.

Ren dialed Alice’s number.

‘Ms Veir?’

‘Yes?’

‘I’m Special Agent Ren Bryce – I’m calling about your nephew, Caleb. I’m sorry to have to tell you that Caleb has been missing since yesterday morning.’

‘Yesterday?’ said Alice. ‘Why hasn’t anyone called me until now?’

‘Your brother, John, said he didn’t want to bother you in case Caleb—’

‘Hold on – why isn’t John the one calling me now?’

Ren could hear the defensive tone creep into Alice Veir’s voice.

‘At this moment,’ said Ren, ‘he’s speaking with investigators here in Tate PD. I’d like to ask you about your phone conversation with Caleb yesterday morning at seven thirty a.m.’

‘Of course,’ said Alice. ‘Of course. Yes. He wanted me to come talk to his class.’ She paused. ‘Sorry … I’m … I … can’t wrap my brain around this. Caleb’s missing?’

‘We’re doing everything we can to find him,’ said Ren. ‘Time is of the essence, as you know …’

‘Sorry – yes,’ said Alice. ‘The phone call …’