“Absolutely,” Abby said.
“I’ll meet you there.”
“Good,” Jesse
said and hung up.
He leaned back against his chair and looked up at the ceiling for a time. See if I can stay sober.
32
Simpson brought Kevin Feeney in with his mother and father.
When
they were seated in Jesse’s office, Simpson left and closed the
door behind him. Kevin’s face was pale and he swallowed often. His
freckles stood out starkly.
“Kevin says he doesn’t know why you
arrested him,” Kevin’s
father said.
He was a smallish man with thinning red hair and a somewhat unsuccessful mustache. Mrs. Feeney had long gray hair. Her flowered dress was large and shapeless.
“Actually,” Jesse said, “we
haven’t arrested him. We have asked
him to come in and answer some questions.”
“About what,” Mr. Feeney said.
His voice cracked a little. Jesse took a copy of one of the photographs from a folder and slid it across the desk.
Candace’s
face had been blacked out.
Mr. and Mrs. Feeney looked at the picture. Kevin did not.
Mrs. Feeney said, “Oh my God, Kevin, is that you?”
Mr. Feeney continued to stare at the picture. Jesse waited quietly.
After a time Mr. Feeney said, “Who’s the girl?”
Jesse didn’t say anything.
Mrs. Feeney said, “Kevin?”
Kevin looked at the floor.
“Kevin,” Mrs. Feeney said. “Who
is that girl?”
Kevin kept looking at the floor. He shook his head.
Mrs. Feeney looked at Jesse. “Who is she? Why is her face
blacked out?”
“No reason to humiliate her more than necessary,” Jesse
said.
“But how can we help if we don’t know who she
is?”
“Kevin probably knows,” Jesse said.
“Goddamnit, Kevin,” Mr. Feeney said.
“Who is she? What’s going
on?”
Kevin huddled up tighter into himself and stared harder at the floor. Both parents looked at Jesse.
“What’s going to happen?” Mrs.
Feeney said to Jesse. “He’s not a
criminal, you know.”
“We have a picture of him forcibly restraining a naked young
woman who is crying,” Jesse said.
“There’s probably a crime in
there someplace.”
