Sister of Silence (35 page)

About
Kenneth V. Lanning, who wrote the Afterword to
Sister of Silence

Mr. Lanning is currently a consultant in the area of crimes against children. Before retiring in 2000, he was a special agent with the FBI for more than thirty years, where he was assigned to the Behavioral Science Unit and the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime at the FBI Academy in Quantico, VA. He is a founding member of the board of directors of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) and is a former member of the APSAC Advisory Board. He is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA). Mr. Lanning was the 1996 recipient of the Outstanding Professional Award from APSAC, the 1997 recipient of the FBI Director’s Annual Award for Special Achievement for his career accomplishments in connection with missing and exploited children, and the 2009 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Service from the National Children’s Advocacy Center. He has trained thousands of law enforcement officers and criminal justice professionals.

CHAPTER ONE

He didn’t sweep into my life so much as he strolled into it. And when he did, it was as if an entirely new world had opened to me, one in which there was color and light, and sunshine and fresh breezes, blowing away the wounds from yesterday until just a stray one or two was left behind. It was a world I wouldn’t experience until four years had passed by, though.

That’s because I was still married to Eddie when I met Deputy Joe Stiles. I had
been working at the newspaper for all of three days, and had just received my first real assignment—which meant going over to the Preston County Sheriff’s Department. Two people had been injured in an auto accident and I had to interview the investigating officers.

I walked across the street to the old stone building and pulled open the heavy wooden door. Like many of the downtown buildings, this one held great historical significance. At one time, the upstairs had been living quarters for the then-elected sheriff and his family; that was more than twenty years ago. I stood in the littler foyer, noticing a door immediately in front of me and another one on my right. I stepped into a tiny hallway and then opened the door to the left, where a dispatcher was speaking into a microphone.

“Can I help you?” the man asked me, smiling pleasantly.

“Yes, I’m looking for Deputy Charlie Haney.”

“He’s gone, but he should be back any minute. If you like, you can take a seat and wait.”

I spent the next few minutes waiting there, making small talk with the dispatcher. In that time, I learned that Vince Padovini was quite the talker, and a great source of information. Suddenly, two men came into the room.

“Charlie, you have someone waiting to see you,” Vince told one of them. I wasn’t sure which deputy, though, since the one with dark hair was dressed in a suit and tie, and his back was to me as he spoke to Vince. The other man, obviously a uniformed officer, went behind the dispatcher’s station and began pulling papers from what looked like a mail slot.

“Oh yeah, who’s that?” the uniformed one I surmised must be Charlie asked.

I realized that was my cue, so I stood up and walked over, extending a hand for him to shake.

“Excuse me, are you Deputy Haney?” I asked timidly.

“Depends on what you want,” a cool blue stare came my way, with barely a smile. If you could call it that.

“I’m Daleen Berry, with the Preston County Journal. I understand you’re investigating the accident on Route 50. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”
I hope I don’t sound as nervous as I feel.

“Yes I do,” came the surprising reply. “I don’t have time to talk to you, and I really don’t want to.”

I noticed that what might have been a smile was definitely gone, having been replaced with a scornful frown.

“Don’t you have anything better to do than pester me?” His blue eyes were still cool, and his voice had raised just a notch, but there was enough animosity there for me to take a deep breath.

“I’m sorry. I was just trying to do my job.”

“Well, you’ll just have to wait for the news release, like every other reporter who shows up here.”

I started to turn away, ready to forego the interview, but I felt the hair on the nape of my neck stand up in irritation. I knew only too well that I was married to a man who treated me like crap, so I wasn’t too keen on being treated that way by men I didn’t even know.

I spun back around. “And when, may I ask, will that be?”

He is the most arrogant man I’ve ever met.
I made up my mind then and there that I would steer clear of him. I was so embarrassed by his rudeness I didn’t notice when Charlie’s companion—the man in the suit—came over and stood beside me.

“I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Deputy Joe Stiles, his better half. You’ll just have to look over him, he’s having a Monday from Hell.”

I felt my face flush as I again held out my hand, and Deputy Stiles shook it. Another pair of blue eyes—the bluest eyes I had ever seen—stared into my own. But while Deputy Haney’s eyes were cold, Deputy Stiles’ eyes were engaging, warm with humor. “Daleen Berry, nice to meet you.”

Just then the door opened and an older, distinguished looking man appeared. “I see you two have met the new reporter from the Journal. How are you then, Ms. Berry?”

“Fine thank you, but please Sheriff Liller, just call me Daleen,” I said.

“All right, as long as you call me Jim. And are these two officers helping you—or giving you grief? That’s what they’re best known for,” he
said as he smiled at me.

“That’s really hard to say, Sheriff, since I was just on my way out.” I turned to grab my jacket. “Deputy Stiles, Deputy Haney, it was nice meeting you both.” I noticed the smile playing at the corners of Deputy Stiles’ lips, and I was glad he, at least, found the situation amusing.

I walked out of the sheriff’s office and across the street to the newspaper building, where I stopped at the receptionist’s desk.

“Hey there, Daleen. I see you’ve been to the grand Preston County Sheriff’s Department. Is that your first visit?” Nancy Robertson asked. Nancy was an older woman with beautiful white hair and an ornery sense of humor, who was also one of the pillars of the community. She and her husband, Willis, owned their own construction company. Even though she hadn’t worked there long, Daleen knew Nancy was also a g
ood source for the latest tidbit of talk around town—which might lead to a good news story.

I
grimaced. “Oh yes, that I have.”

“Let me guess, you went there to get some information but all you got was a stone wall?”

I stared at her. “How did you know?”

Nancy laughed loudly. “My dear, everyone knows that there has been a battle between Jim Liller and Linda Benson ever since Glenna Hawkins worked here three years ago. Ask Linda about it; she’ll tell you.”

“I will. Thanks, Nancy.” I took the steps to the editorial department two at a time. I put my notebook and jacket down in my office, and then went down the hall to Linda’s office.

Linda Benson was in her early 40s and strikingly attractive. She was petite with shoulder-length blond hair, and I had learned in a short time why business people in the community respected her so much. She and her husband, Delbert, had built their newspaper business over the last twenty years, and it was as much as part of their family as the two daughters they had raised while running it.

“Well, how did it go?” Linda asked.

I plopped down into the chair in front of Linda’s desk. “Not well. I didn’t get a single thing. Except some ridicule from Deputy Haney.”

Linda’s smile faded and her look became stern.

“What did Haney do?”

I shook my head. “Oh, it wasn’t so much what he did, as what he said. Something about not wanting to give me any information, and why wasn’t I spending my time on more worthwhile pursuits? He was just a general pain, that’s all.”

Linda tapped her pencil lightly as she talked. “So he refused to give you the information about the accident?”

“Basically, I guess you could say that.” I remembered Nancy’s words. “What’s his problem, anyway? Or does he just not like the media?”

Linda smiled thinly. “That’s just Charlie, although I’ve never personally had a run-in with him. But a few years ago, we had a reporter here who got her facts messed up and we ended up with egg all over our face. Our rapport with the sheriff’s department hasn’t been the same since.”

“Does it extend throughout the entire department?”

“More or less. Jim Liller and I were good friends for years—until Glenna Hawkins wrote that story and I printed it. After that we
’ve barely spoken and it’s only been recently that they’ve begun giving us real news again. Mind you, not a lot—but enough to work with,” Linda said, leaning back and looking at me.

“I need to give Jim a call about this. It’s ridiculous for Charlie Haney to withhold the news from you, especially since we go to press this afternoon. We need that story. Why don’t you finish your other story and let me talk to him?”

I stood up and started to leave the room. “Oh yes, who is Deputy Stiles?”

Linda smiled. “You met Joe? He and Charlie are best buds,” she said, crossing her index and middle finger to show me how close they were. “What did he do to you?”

I laughed. “Actually, he was quite polite. He didn’t do anything and I think he felt sorry for me, since his buddy was so nasty.”

“Good. I’ve heard that Joe can have an attitude when he wants to, although he never has with me.” Linda picked up the phone receiver as I went down the hall.

A few minutes later Linda walked in. “I spoke with Jim and told him this has got to stop, that we need the news and they need the free publicity. He said you’ll get your information before lunch.”

“Great. Thanks, Linda.” I turned back to my computer monitor. I was editing a news story when the phone rang. “Daleen, you have a call from Deputy Charlie Haney. Can you take it?” I heard the amusement in Nancy’s voice.

“Sure Nancy, thanks.” I picked up the receiver and took a deep breath.

“Hello, this is Daleen. Can I help you?”

“Yes, this is Deputy Haney, and I have some information I think you’re interested in. Is it all right if I come over there with it?”

I hesitated, then spoke quickly. “Yes, sure, that’s fine. My office is the first one at the top of the stairs.”

“All right, I’ll be over in a minute.” The line went dead in my hand and I looked at it, confused.

A few minutes later I heard the sound of footsteps and voices mingling on the stairs. Nancy appeared in the doorway, the two deputies I had met earlier just behind her. “Daleen, you have visitors.” She grinned at me before she left.

“Please, come in.” I motioned for them to take a seat, but they remained standing.

Deputy Haney spoke first. “I want to apologize for the way I talked to you earlier. If I had known you were new here, just starting out, I wouldn’t have been as rough on you.”

“Oh yes he would have,” Deputy Stiles said, smiling.

“Now Joe, don’t go telling her that. She’ll never want to talk to me again.”

“She probably doesn’t now, after the way you behaved,” Joe chided him good-naturedly.

Haney cleared his throat. “Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. My day got off to a bad start and I took it out on you. I’m sorry.”

It was my turn to smile. “I appreciate that, Deputy Haney. Thank you.”

“Yes, well I know you were just trying to do your job, and that’s what I was doing, too, but I didn’t think about that at the time. So I hope you’ll forget about it and we can put it behind us,” the chastised deputy said.

I felt my earlier resolve to never talk to this arrogant man dissolve. Standing in my office, he didn’t seem arrogant at all. “Consider it forgotten,” I said, smiling easily.

“Well Charlie, didn’t you have something else for her? You didn’t just come over here to tell her that, did you?” Deputy Stiles winked at me.

“Joe, if you’d just let me do this my way—” Deputy Haney was searching his notebook.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Go right ahead.”

The two men were obviously close friends in addition to being coworkers, and they played back and forth off one another so well that it was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud. What a team they made.

Having found what he wanted, Deputy Haney stopped turning pages and handed a piece of paper to me. “This is one of our standard press releases, which I’ll leave with you. But if you have any questions, I’ll be happy to stay and answer them for you.”

I tried not to smile, certain that Linda’s phone call to Sheriff Liller had done the trick. I quickly skimmed the short summary about the accident, which said two people had been taken to the hospital. I took a deep breath, trying to remember the basics: I need to know who, what, where, when and how.

“Who are the victims?” I asked.

“Donna and Gary Lewis, a couple from Bruceton Mills.”

“Do you know the extent of their injuries?” I asked, glancing up as I made notes.

Deputy Haney seemed to be waiting for that question. “Yes, he has some internal injuries and she suffered a head injury. That’s why they flew her to the hospital in Morgantown.”

“And do you know what caused the accident?”

“Well, we’re still working on that. We have a witness who said their car swerved into the oncoming lane of traffic, but we won’t know conclusively until we interview Mr. or Mrs. Lewis, and that won’t be until they’re well enough to talk to us,” Deputy Haney said.

I looked at him but he guessed my next question. “That may not be for a few days, but if you give me a call then, I’ll tell you whatever I know.” Then he smiled
. “Well, whatever I know about the accident. Not just whatever I know in general.” He laughed then and any remaining tension melted away.

Deputy Stiles nudged him with his elbow. “See, there’s another reason why you shouldn’t have been so mean to her. She’s a leftie, too.”

“I noticed that.” Deputy Haney was grinning.