Blood Loss (13 page)

‘D.C. And what do you mean “oh no”?’

‘Just … you could do without the complication.’

‘What do you mean?’ said Ren.

‘Why is he there?’ said Matt.

‘To mess with my head,’ said Ren. ‘This is all about me … obviously.’

‘And … how was it?’ said Matt.

‘You’d think I’d be over him by now …’

‘You
are
over him,’ said Matt. ‘This is just a little dramz. And you like the dramz.’

‘I do. But, it was a little … bam!’

‘Didn’t you sort this all out the last time?’ said Matt. ‘Didn’t you decide—’

‘Yes, yes, I know.’

‘Well, then. You’ve had the conversation. Don’t go back. And what about the new guy?’

‘I know. I know,’ said Ren. ‘But I can’t help how I feel. How I felt when I saw Paul.’

‘You can’t help how you feel, but you
can
help what you do about how you feel.’

‘I know, but … I’m not great at helping myself,’ said Ren.

‘Paul Louderback is – let’s not forget – married,’ said Matt.

‘I know,’ said Ren.

‘You said yourself you wouldn’t go near a married man.’

‘But I still have feelings for him …’

‘And so the cycle goes,’ said Matt.

‘What—’

‘Ren? Just get off the bike.’

Ren took the next turn onto French Street. A Missing poster for Shelby Royce was pinned to a tree and looked almost fluorescent in the glaring white light of a street lamp.

‘Oh my God, Matt,’ said Ren. ‘I gotta go.’

The poster was just like the other ones lined along the street. Except this one had something extra. Across her pretty face, someone had scrawled: WHORE.

Ren pulled in to the curb. She grabbed an envelope from her bag, put on her gloves, and got out of the Jeep. She took a photo of the poster with her phone, unpinned it, and put the paper and pins into the envelope.

What kind of sick bastard …

Ren checked the clock. She was due back to work in less than an hour. She turned the Jeep around and drove back to the office.

No point sleeping now.

Gary looked up as Ren walked in, then glanced at the clock.

What are you, the fucking slumber police?

‘Hi,’ said Ren. She sat at her desk, then realized that Paul Louderback was sitting two desks away.

‘Am I in some time–space continuum?’ she said.

‘I didn’t have a bed-time,’ he said. ‘Did you go back to the Inn?’

‘Shh,’ said Ren. ‘Of
course
I did.’

He smiled.

‘No – I found this.’ She called Gary over too.

She held up the poster. ‘It was pinned to a tree. I saw it on my way back … here … just now.’

Gary took it and studied it. He let out a breath.

‘I know,’ said Ren. ‘It’s terrible. It was just on French Street. Anyone could have seen it. Look.’ She showed him the photo on her phone.

Uh-oh. Shit.

‘So, you managed to see the front of this poster, while driving in this direction?’ said Gary. His face was set.

I’m dead.

He focused back on the poster. ‘Well … what’s this all about?’

‘It’s the only defaced poster in town,’ said Ren. ‘It could be nothing, it could be some Mean Girl who hates the attention going someone else’s way. It could be a girl whose boyfriend cheated on her with Shelby, I don’t know …’

‘Could just be an idiot,’ said Paul. ‘Or some young kids goofing around.’

‘Or Shelby Royce could be an out-and-out ho,’ said Ren.

‘And there’s that,’ said Paul.

‘Imagine if her parents saw this,’ said Ren.

‘We really need to get these high school kids to talk,’ said Gary. ‘They’ve told us nothing. I thought maybe that’s because there’s nothing to say … now I’m thinking maybe there’s too much.’

Ren nodded.

‘You haven’t talked to any of them …’ said Gary. ‘You get on well with young people …’

‘Jared Labati is my case-full of youth,’ said Ren. ‘Robbie
is
the youth, Cliff has sired the youth. I am nothing. They would do better.’

‘I think kids would relate to you better,’ said Gary.

Is this some kind of punishment? Resist. Resist.

‘I’ve been de-stabilized by my dealings with Mr Labati …’ said Ren.

‘Leave it with me,’ said Gary. ‘I have several things to consider.’ He left.

I’m dead.

Paul’s expression told her the same thing.

Robbie and Colin arrived into the office at nine.

‘Have all y’all got lists of who’s been in touch with the Whaleys and the Royces since Saturday night?’ said Ren.

‘Yes,’ said Robbie, handing her a print-out, ‘they got a bunch of texts from their friends and family after the press conference – more texts than calls – I think people are conscious of tying up their phone.’

Ren read through the list and the text messages.

‘So,’ she said, ‘who’s getting through the net … in terms of who they’re calling?’

‘Close family,’ said Robbie. ‘Both sets of grandparents have passed, so it’s siblings, really. And close friends.’

‘OK,’ said Ren. ‘Detective Owens?’

‘The Royces got a few texts,’ said Owens, ‘but they had a lot of people calling to the house. By about one a.m., everyone was gone.’

‘Thanks for these,’ said Ren. She looked down and scanned them.

Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh.

‘Thank you so much, Detective Owens,’ said Ren. She nodded as a way to dismiss him.

‘He itemized what foods each visitor brought,’ said Ren. ‘Mrs X, beef casserole. Mrs Y, homemade bread.’

Colin laughed. ‘What – in case someone was going to poison them? Are you serious?’

‘As serious as young Detective Owens clearly was,’ said Ren.

‘That kid is an idiot,’ said Colin. ‘The kid in school who sat at the back, scribbling really hard like a freak.’

‘Damn those Straight A students,’ said Ren. ‘Damn those people who lean heavily on their pens.’

Gary arrived back into the office. ‘Conference room everyone, please.’

By nine thirty the extended team of investigators was crowded into the conference room.

‘Welcome, everyone,’ said Gary. ‘Updates: the tip line has been swamped, we’re going through the promising ones: they’re in the minority. We’ve got nothing so far on calls to the Whaleys, the Merritts or the Royces overnight. I spoke with Mark Whaley’s boss at MeesterBrandt Pharmaceuticals, he’s the CEO, Nolan Carr. He confirmed what Erica Whaley said – that Mark Whaley’s behavior has been a little strange for “
at least
” six months. He said “off-the-record” that he suspected Whaley of having an affair—’

‘So another affair theory …’ said Ren. ‘Well, they both agreed he was working late, but he said it was mostly at home.’

‘There’s always lunch break,’ said Colin.

Ren nodded.

‘This could all be a high drama way for Erica Whaley to force the husband to admit it,’ said Bob. ‘She’d know that if his child went missing, he’d have to tell the truth …’

‘That’s very drastic,’ said Ren. ‘I can’t see her doing that. If I was going to go to extremes, I’d start by hiring a private investigator.’

‘Maybe she did …’ said Bob.

‘If Whaley was having an affair,’ said Ren, ‘does that mean he’s an all-round dirtbag, the type to hit on a sixteen-year-old babysitter?’

‘He could have made some kind of move on her,’ said Paul, ‘and when she rejected him, he made her believe that it was her fault, that she was giving off the wrong signals …’

‘He’s an older man – he could easily manipulate a sixteen-year-old that way,’ said Ren. ‘Maybe afterwards Shelby could have thought of his wife and kids and decided, “I don’t want to rock the boat here, he didn’t
really
do anything, I won’t say anything, I don’t want to mess up the family that way—”’

‘And then she ran?’ said Gary.

Ren nodded. ‘Yes. Just to get away from the situation.’

‘And took Laurie with her?’ said Gary.

‘Maybe, maybe not,’ said Ren. ‘Maybe Laurie, if she walked in on something, could have been the one who was about to blow his cover, and he flipped. Or,’ said Ren, ‘he’s not unattractive. Maybe Shelby Royce came on to him.’

‘I’m glad you said that,’ said Colin.

‘Nothing is beyond the bounds,’ said Ren.

‘Well, Whaley’s boss certainly suspected him of having some personal issues,’ said Gary. ‘He said that he has never had a problem with him up until this year, and several times he said that Whaley’s alcohol problem was something that he had hopefully overcome. He labored that point, I didn’t bring that up. He gave me details of Whaley’s salary and expenses, and emailed me a PDF of his business calendar for the past twelve months.’

‘Where does Jonathan Meester fit into the company now?’ said Ren.

‘He set it up – he’s the chairman,’ said Gary. ‘He bought Lang Pharmaceuticals six years ago, hired Nolan Carr as VP Sales & Marketing, and basically lined him up to take over from him when he took early retirement, which he did last year.

‘OK – on to Shelby Royce,’ said Gary. ‘A lot of Shelby Royce’s friends have been interviewed and they’re not saying anything other than the fact that she’s a lovely girl, doesn’t have a bad word to say about anyone … Her parents check out, so do the neighbors so far. The one interesting thing is that, according to Jane Allen, her closest girlfriend, Shelby Royce was
not
friends with Jared Labati. In fact, she refused his friend request on Facebook … the ultimate teen trauma according to my fifteen-year-old daughter. Jared Labati has already lied to us, so … we’re not considering him a reliable witness. Jane Allen says that Shelby had been on Facebook talking about not having enough money for Lady Gaga tickets, and maybe to suck up to her, Labati offered her a way of earning money at the hotel. Yes, you can still read someone’s Facebook profile without being “friends” with them …’

Gary Dettling, you dorky dad.

‘So,’ said Gary, ‘Jared Labati could have been doing anything to get close to Shelby Royce. He certainly tipped the power balance in his favor on Saturday night. He may have seen her as “owing him one” after that.’

‘Maybe he went up to the room to collect,’ said one of the detectives. ‘And the little girl got in the way …’

‘That’s a possibility,’ said Gary.

‘It’s not really a break-in when the guy’s got a key …’ said Bob.

‘What about the stepfather?’ said Paul. He glanced at his notes. ‘Dale Merritt?’

‘Seems like a big friendly giant,’ said Ren. ‘I’m not getting evil stepfather vibes.’

‘There is one other person who was in the room …’ said Gary.

‘A very little person,’ said Ren.

Mark and Erica Whaley sat, holding hands, in Bob’s office. Leo was in a fold-away stroller beside them. His little arm was wrapped around a Spiderman action figure, his fist curled into a ball.

Adorable.

‘I am really uncomfortable with Leo being interviewed again,’ said Mark Whaley, glancing down at his son. ‘He’s been through too much. First off, he wakes up alone in a strange room, God knows what he’s witnessed, his parents come in and start shouting and screaming … then he’s taken away from us at the Sheriff’s Office, and he’s put in a room with a stranger and asked a bunch of questions …’

‘We’d like God not to be the only one who knows what he witnessed …’ said Bob.

Risky.

Mark looked at him. ‘He’s been through enough.’

‘He’s three, Mark,’ said Erica. ‘He’ll be able to get through this a lot quicker than he’d get over the loss of his big sister …’ She slid her hand from Mark’s.

No-one said a word.

Eventually, Mark spoke. ‘He probably saw nothing. And if he did, it’s unlikely he’d be able to vocalize it.’

Erica stared at him. ‘Last week, you were calling him “
easily
one of the smartest kids” in pre-school, and saying how wide his vocabulary is.’

‘Erica, this is completely different. What they’re asking for, ultimately, is for our three-year-old son to relive the most traumatic experience of his short life …’

‘Mr Whaley, Leo won’t be asked leading questions, so he won’t be exposed to any scenario that’s outside of his experience on that night,’ said Ren. ‘He won’t have scary images planted in his mind. Child forensic interviewing is a real skill, and we have one of the country’s leading interviewers here.’

‘Well, she didn’t find anything out the last time …’ said Mark.

‘This kind of interview usually takes place when the child is well rested, and has eaten. We couldn’t afford the time to wait for that the first time. The circumstances early Sunday morning were not very conducive to a successful outcome, but we wanted to try.’

Erica was nodding. ‘Mark – she’s right. Leo isn’t able to concentrate when he’s tired. He’s not himself when he hasn’t slept. You say so yourself. His Spidey senses are weak.’ She tried to smile.

‘When do you want to do this?’ said Mark.

‘This afternoon,’ said Gary. ‘Some time around four p.m.’

Erica turned to Mark.

He was staring at the ground. ‘Fine, then …’ he said. ‘Go ahead. But … ’

‘Thank you,’ said Erica. She nodded toward Ren.

God bless you.

Gary followed everyone back into the command center.

‘Ren and Colin,’ said Gary. ‘About our old Tinytoes Bandit case – there’s a discovery conference at the U.S. Attorney’s Office with the AUSA and the defense attorney at twelve today – I need you to go to that.’

‘What?’ said Ren. ‘But—’

‘Colin – you drive,’ said Gary.

‘Good,’ he said. ‘I get to hold on to my breakfast.’

Ren grabbed her purse. ‘OK. I think I can channel Miss Daisy.’

Colin and Ren spent the first ten minutes of the drive in silence.

I want to slam your foot onto the accelerator.

‘Why the hell do we have to go to Denver in the middle of all this?’ said Ren.

‘I think they can survive without us for a couple hours,’ said Colin.

No, they can’t.

‘Do you mind if we go to Safe Streets first?’ said Colin.

‘No,’ said Ren.

‘I just need to pick something up.’

Much like your girlfriend needs to pick things up. Here goes:
‘Naomi sure knows how to have a good time,’ said Ren.