A Shred of Evidence (9 page)

Ross grabbed her arm. “The
last
thing we need is for the police to get involved. I’ll handle it.”

“How? By having a fistfight with Eddie? This is more than name-calling. Think of the implications!”

“Why should I? I’m not a child molester!”

“
Something
Uncle Hank said gave Eddie the impression you were. Didn’t you even ask Hank what it was?” Julie sat on the couch, her fingers massaging her temples.

“I told you he was talking to Aunt Alice about everything that reporter wrote. Eddie must’ve gotten bits and pieces and put his pea brain to work overtime.”

“I must be missing something. Are you sure you’ve told me everything?”

“So now I have to defend myself with you, too?”

“I’m just trying to understand how something could get so radically misconstrued.”

Ross put his hands flat against the wall and hung his head. “If you wanna know what Uncle Hank said, ask him yourself. It doesn’t really matter. Eddie’s way off base.”

“Then report this to the police and stand your ground.”

“Why should I have to? It’s absurd.”

“Ross, listen to me. We have to refute this. They could take Sarah Beth away from us!”

“Mama?”

Julie’s heart sank. She turned and saw Sarah Beth standing in the doorway, her eyes wide and questioning. “Come here, sweetie.”

Sarah Beth ran to Julie’s open arms. “It’s okay.” Julie picked up her daughter and rocked from side to side. “Mama and Daddy are angry with someone, but not Sarah Beth.”

Julie looked over at Ross and held his gaze. “You have to make this go away.”

Ross headed for the door. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do—starting with that bigmouthed weasel Eddie Drummond.”

Gordy Jameson rode up to Hank’s Body Shop and leaned his ten-speed against the side of the building. He didn’t see Eddie, though his truck was parked out front.

“Hello Mister G,” Billy Lewis said. “I am fine. How are you doing?”

Gordy slapped him on the back. “Just great, Billy. I’m anxious to put you on my payroll this morning. We still on for eight-thirty?”

“Yes, eight-thir-ty.”

“Any idea where Eddie is?”

Billy nodded toward the office. “Everyone’s face is mad.”

“Okay, thanks.” Gordy walked in the customer service door and heard deep, muffled voices in another room. He stood at the service window, straining to hear.

“I don’t care
what
you think you know,” a man shouted, “I’m not a child molester! I’ve never even been arrested! How dare you vandalize my home and trash my reputation with that filth!”

“Settle down,” Eddie said, “it wasn’t me.”

“Well, don’t look at me,” another man said. “I was home with the missus all night.”

“Well, I sure as shootin’ didn’t do it!” a young man exclaimed. “I don’t even know what the heck you’re talkin’ about!”

“Maybe you should ask that lady who talked to Hank,” Eddie said. “She’s the one who’s got it in for you.”

“I just want it stopped! You got that, Eddie? It’s nothing but a bunch of—”

Gordy was suddenly aware of someone standing behind him.

“Is Ross Ham-il-ton a bad man?” Billy said.

“I’m not sure. Why do you ask?”

The young man hung his head, his hands in the pockets of his cutoffs. “People think I do not hear things. But I do.”

“Things about Ross?”

Billy nodded. “Ed-die says he does bad things—touches chil-dren in wrong ways, and
kills
them. I am afraid of Ross Ham-il-ton.”

Gordy heard a door open, and then through the customer service window saw a young man with a mustache rush out of Hank’s office and yank open the door to the waiting area. He paused in the doorway, seemingly stunned to see Gordy and Billy, and then brushed past them and went outside.

Eddie Drummond came out of the back, a smirk on his face. “I doubt he’ll be around much longer. Somebody spray-painted ‘Child Molester’ across the front of his garage.”

Ellen walked into the Seaport Police Station and asked to see Chief Seevers. After waiting twenty minutes, she was escorted to his office.

“Back again so soon?” the chief asked.

“I promise I won’t keep you long. I thought you should be made aware of this.” Ellen handed him the Valerie Mink Hodges article she had printed out.

“Sit down and let me take a look.” Chief Seevers put on his glasses, his eyes moving from left to right down the page. “Where’d you get this?”

“In the
Biloxi Telegraph
archives, February 15 of this year.”

“I don’t see sex offender mentioned anywhere.”

“No, but I find the deaths and disappearances equally alarming. I thought you should be apprised.”

“Hamilton’s never been charged with anything.”

“Yes, I know,” Ellen said. “But there’s still that unsolved hit-and-run in August of ’98. Doesn’t it strike you as odd that Seaport had a hit-and-run—one month after Ross Hamilton moved here? I assume you know he drives a blue truck and has a mustache, which fits the description of the driver?”

“And a hundred other guys.”

“But under the circumstances, surely you can understand my concern.”

“Sure I can.” Seevers looked over the top of half-glasses. “Now, I have a question for you: Where were you last night?”

“Excuse me?”

“My phone’s been ringing off the hook since early this morning. Seems someone spray painted the words ‘Child Molester’ across the front of Ross Hamilton’s garage.”

“Surely you don’t think I had anything to do with it?”

“Why not?”

Ellen felt the heat scald her cheeks. “I’m insulted that you would even imply such a thing! I’m the one who came to you!”

The chief folded his hands on his desk. “Relax, Mrs. Jones, I don’t suspect you. But can you see how easy it is to jump to conclusions? You had motive. Opportunity. Why
not
you?”

“Because I would never do something like that.”

“My point exactly. Look, I had a heart-to-heart with Hank Ordman. Ross is his nephew. He told me all about the things written in this article and the suspicions surrounding Ross. There simply hasn’t been evidence to support his wrongdoing in any of the deaths or the disappearances. And there’s no point in trying to reopen the 1998 hit-and-run case because the man who bought Ross’s white Taurus totaled it shortly afterwards.” The chief leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head. “And unless someone comes forward with a legitimate accusation of child molestation, there’s nothing to investigate.”

Ellen picked up a pencil and twirled it over and over like a baton. “I think it’s important that Ross Hamilton know that
you
know he’s living in Seaport. If he’s innocent, he shouldn’t mind you keeping a watchful eye. If he’s hiding something, then he deserves to squirm.”

Chief Seevers got up and stood by the window, his hands in his pockets. “I’ve known Hank Ordman all my life. If he had the
slightest suspicion that Ross was guilty of any of these charges, he never would’ve hired him. He says Ross isn’t capable of hurting anyone on purpose.”

Ellen sighed. “With all due respect, Mr. Ordman can hardly be objective. I’m not looking to persecute Ross Hamilton. But it seems you owe it to this community to keep an eye on him. You have to admit trouble seems to follow him wherever he goes.”

Will Seevers pulled his squad car in front of Ross Hamilton’s house and saw the words “Child Molester” bleeding through a fresh coat of white paint.

He got out of the car and pushed his way past a handful of reporters and a blue pickup in the driveway Just as he put his finger on the doorbell, a pretty young woman with frightened eyes opened the door.

“Mrs. Hamilton? I’m Police Chief Seevers. I called earlier.”

“Please come in.”

Mrs. Hamilton led him into the living room where a thirty-something man with a mustache sat on the couch, his arms folded, his jaw set.

“Please sit down,” Mrs. Hamilton said. “My name’s Julie, and this is my husband, Ross.”

Will started to offer his hand and then changed his mind. “Mr. Hamilton, I appreciate your agreeing to meet with me here instead of at the station. I didn’t see any reason to cause you more embarrassment. I know my officers have already questioned you, but Hank asked me to talk to you myself.”

“I’m
not
a child molester,” Ross said.

“Can you think of any reason why someone would accuse you?”

“No.”

“Why didn’t you report the vandalism to the police?”

Ross glanced over at his wife and then at the chief. “With all
the freaky things that have happened to me, I assumed you’d believe it. I didn’t want to be interrogated all over again. Guess I can forget that.”

“Hank seems sure you’re not a child molester. And he thinks that lady reporter in Biloxi is way outta line, too.”

“Yeah, well, try telling that to her readers.”

“I spoke with your coworkers. Eddie Drummond admitted talking to some friends down at Gordy’s about you. That’s where the lady who spoke to me overheard the conversation.”

“Here we go again,” Ross said, throwing up his hands. “Telegraph. Telephone. Tell a
woman.”

“Might wanna cut her some slack,” Will said. “This woman is the
only
one who’s going through proper channels. Said she was alarmed and didn’t feel comfortable not checking it out. I honestly think she has your daughter’s best interest at heart.”

Ross rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’ll bet.”

Will paused for a moment, studying Ross’s face. “Can you account for your whereabouts last Wednesday afternoon at 4:00?”

Ross put his hand on the back of his neck and rolled his head from side to side. “I’m not your hit-and-run driver either. You can go over my truck with a fine-tooth comb. You won’t find anything because I didn’t do it.”

“Do you remember where you were at the time?”

“Hank sent me to Auto Supply to pick up a part. I’m sure you can find my signature on the paperwork. I wasn’t anywhere near that hit-and-run.”

“Mr. Hamilton, I can only imagine how frustrated you must be. But I assure you that if you’re innocent of any wrongdoing, you have nothing to fear from the Seaport police.”

“If?”
Ross leaned his head on the back of the couch. “I’d like to rip those two letters out of the alphabet.”

Julie stood at the front door until the chief’s squad car pulled away from the curb. She cracked the door to Sarah Beth’s room and peeked inside, then went back into the living room.

Ross sat on the couch, his arms folded. “She still asleep?”

Julie nodded. “I think the police chief believes you.”

“Yeah, well, let’s see how long that lasts once the media puts their own spin on it. It’s gonna be the same wherever we go.”

Julie sat next to Ross and wished he would hold her hand. “Sarah Beth and I love you. We’re in this together.”

“I miss Nathaniel so much. I don’t think I can handle anything else …”

She blinked the stinging from her eyes. “I know.”

There was a long stretch of silence.

“Julie, you believe me, don’t you?”

“Of course, I believe you. You’d never be inappropriate with Sarah Beth.”

“Well, after the way you reacted this morning, I got the uneasy feeling you were doubting me.”

“It’s just beyond me how Eddie came up with such a gross accusation based on anything Hank would’ve said. Why would he just make up something like that out of the clear blue?”

“Because he’s a moron.”

“Obviously.”

Julie sat in silence, her hands folded in her lap, all-too-aware of the oppressive, impenetrable wall between Ross and her. She felt a twinge of doubt and quickly dismissed it. He wasn’t capable of such a thing. He just wasn’t.