Читать книгу The Drowning Child - Alex Barclay - Страница 19

Ren looked through Caleb Veir’s cell phone records.

‘John,’ she said, ‘there was a call made from Caleb’s cell phone to your sister, Alice, at seven thirty a.m. yesterday. Did you know about that?’

John shook his head. ‘No, I did not.’

Those giant pupils. Sign of deception …

‘Do you know why Caleb would have called your sister?’ said Ren. ‘And so early in the morning?’

‘I have no idea,’ said John.

‘Are they close?’ said Ren.

‘They get along,’ said John. ‘They don’t see each other a lot, but when they do, yeah, absolutely, they’re close.’

‘I have cell phone records here going back three months and this was the first time he had ever called her,’ said Ren.

‘From his cell phone, maybe,’ said John, ‘but he has spoken to her on the home phone when I’ve called her.’

‘What would they talk about?’ said Ren. ‘Was your sister someone Caleb would open up to?’

‘Honestly, I didn’t pay attention to what they talked about,’ said John. ‘I was just glad they were talking.’

‘Monday’s call was ten minutes long,’ said Ren.

‘Honestly, I don’t know what that would have been about.’

‘The call was deleted from the call list on his phone,’ said Ren. ‘Why would Caleb have wanted to hide that?’

‘I don’t know,’ said John. ‘Maybe he was planning a surprise for me or his mom and didn’t want us to know he’d called Alice?’ He paused. ‘Oh, hold on … I forgot about this – Alice is working on a wrongful conviction case that’s getting a lot of attention. Caleb had mentioned her coming in to talk to his class on one of her visits here. Knowing Caleb, he was probably supposed to have someone organized for Monday, and he ended up calling Alice at the last minute.’

‘Did Caleb have a particular interest in the law?’ said Ren. ‘Or was there something about this case?’

‘It might just have been that Alice had been on television,’ said John. ‘You know kids …’

Ren nodded. Hold on a second … ‘Haven’t you talked to her yet? Told her that Caleb’s missing?’

‘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 …’

‘How did Caleb seem to you?’ said Ren.

‘Fine,’ said Alice. ‘Absolutely fine. Rushed, maybe, but he had to get to school, and he knew he should have asked me weeks earlier.’

‘Did he seem upset to you in any way?’ said Ren.

‘Why would he be upset?’ said Alice.

‘I’m trying to get a sense of his state of mind,’ said Ren. ‘I’m sure you understand. You’re the last person to have spoken to him.’

‘That you know of, I presume …’

This woman is going to be a nightmare.

‘Yes,’ said Ren.

‘Please don’t tell me you think my brother had anything to do with this,’ said Alice. ‘I see where this is going. I know from Caleb that he was home alone with John that morning and you’re now asking me what Caleb’s state of mind was. Caleb is a happy kid, John is a wonderful father. He would do anything for his son. He loves that boy more than anything in the world.’ Her voice cracked. ‘He’s such a good man, my brother.’

‘And Teddy?’ said Ren.

‘Great,’ said Alice. ‘Teddy’s wonderful.’

‘And how are things between John and Teddy?’ said Ren.

‘Great, from what I can gather,’ said Alice.

‘Do you get along well with your brother?’ said Ren.

‘Yes, we’re very close,’ said Alice.

‘And Teddy?’ said Ren.

‘Yes, we get along,’ said Alice.

‘What did you say to Caleb?’ said Ren. ‘Did you tell him that you’d come talk to his class?’

‘Oh, yes – I was more than happy to. I told him I’d come down next month.’

‘Were you surprised to hear from Caleb that early in the morning?’ said Ren.

‘Yes,’ said Alice, ‘of course. We’ve never spoken at that hour before.’ She let out a breath. ‘Please find him. Please, please find him. I’ve seen too much, I know what happens. I … can’t bear the idea that Caleb could be …’ She paused. ‘We all know about the first forty-eight hours, that they’re the most important in a situation like this. And I think we both know that window is halfway down.’