“This is my son, Wesley.”
“Sir.” Wesley pumped Russ’s hand.
Vaughn waved Clare over. “Wes, I don’t think you’ve had the chance to meet our new priest yet. This is the Reverend Clare Fergusson.”
“Ma’am.” Clare and Wesley studied each other while shaking hands. He was definitely discomfited to see her. Was it because she was the one who had brought his connection to Katie out in the open? Or because she had brained him with a rock last night? A tough, strong kid like him could have recovered enough from last night’s violence to appear this morning as if nothing had happened.
“Let’s all sit down.” Vaughn gestured Clare to one of the caramel-colored chairs. He was looking the worse for wear, too. As the men took their seats, she wondered if his control of the situation was what was keeping him together. “I’ve been talking with Wes.” Vaughn said, before Russ could speak. “He has something to say to you, Chief.”
The young man stood. “Sir, I am—I was Katie’s boyfriend. I am the baby’s father. There’s no need to do a blood test. I’m responsible.”
Russ laced his hands across his belt. “Sit down, Wes, you’re not on report.” The boy sat, spine held straight and away from the back of the love seat. “So you’re Cody’s father. Were you with her when she had the baby?”
“Yes sir. It was just after Thanksgiving.” He glanced at his father. “I told my folks I was spending a few days with a friend. I took Katie to the Sleeping Hollow Motel, and she . . . she had the baby there.”
“What happened after Katie gave birth?” Clare said.
“We waited a day to make sure he was, you know, okay, then we left him on the steps at St. Alban’s.”
She leaned forward. “Why?”
He glanced at her and then focused his gaze at a point two inches to the left of her head. “Ma’am, we agreed with each other to give the baby up. We thought—I thought, with the Burnses looking to adopt for so long, that it would be easy. Make sure they had the baby and then Katie and I could get back to our lives.”
Clare steepled her fingers against her lips, holding back her reaction to such raw thoughtlessness.
“I didn’t know the police would get involved!” he said. “I didn’t know she would—” he caught his breath. “I just found out last week she had been, had been, killed. Alyson called me.” Clare noticed a distinct lack of warmth when he mentioned his official girlfriend’s name. “She said Ethan had been arrested for the murder.”
“Ethan Stoner was arrested for threatening an officer and resisting arrest.” Russ said. “He’s no longer a suspect in the murders.”
Wesley drew a deep breath. “I didn’t kill Katie or her father. Sir. I—” his voice broke, a reminder that he was barely more than a boy after all. “I cared for her very much.” He looked at Clare, square on. “I guess it was stupid to just leave the baby. But I knew there was a meeting that night, and that somebody would find him quickly. I thought once he was gone everything could be normal again.”
His distress caught at Clare. “Pretending nothing happened can’t right the world again, though, can it?”
He shook his head. “I want to do the right thing. Even though it’s too late for . . . Katie. I’m ready to take care of the baby, to be his father.” He glanced at his own father. “I’ve discussed it with my folks.”
“That’s a very stirring sentiment from a boy facing a double murder rap,” Russ said.
Vaughn laid a hand on Wesley’s shoulder. “My son has said he had nothing to do with the murders of the girl or her father, and I believe him. He’s a Fowler. He wasn’t raised to tell lies.”
Russ unlaced his hands. “No offense, Mr. Fowler, but your son has already lied through omission about a lot of things, including his relationship with Katie, his whereabouts, and the fact that he’s now a father. You’ll understand why I have to take what he says with a grain of salt.” He turned to Wesley. “The way I see it, you were desperate to keep the existence of Katie and Cody under wraps. You thought the Burnses would step in and take care of your responsibilities for you. My guess is, sometime between the night you dropped Cody off at the church and the night Katie’s body was found, she got in touch with you and said she had changed her mind.” The young man’s face flinched almost imperceptibly. “Your plan for getting on with your life was about to be royally screwed. So you told Katie to meet you back in Millers Kill, drove her out to Payson’s Park to discuss things, brained her with a tire iron, and rolled her down the hill into the river.”
“No!”
“It wasn’t the blow to the head that killed her, you know. She froze to death.”
“No!” Wesley erupted from his chair, lurching toward Russ.
His father moved like an uncoiling spring, seizing his son by the arms. “Stop it, Wes! Stop it.”
“This is what we’re going to do,” Russ said, standing slowly. “Wesley, you and I are going to the station, where we’ll have a talk with Mr. Kaminsky of the D.A.’s office. If we decide we have enough to hold you on, we’re going to charge you.” Russ’s gaze flicked from the young man’s pale face to that of his father. “Mr. Fowler, I suggest you call your lawyer and meet us at the station.”
“You can’t question him without the presence of one of his parents.”
“He’s over eighteen.”
“I didn’t do it,” Wesley said. “I didn’t do it.” He shook himself free of his father’s restraint and turned to the older man. “What if I refuse to go?”
Russ broke in. “I’ll arrest you right here.”
Vaughn looked at his son for a long moment. “You go with him, Wes.” The young man opened his mouth in protest. “It’ll be for the best. We’ll get a lawyer over there and have you back out by dinnertime.”
“I didn’t kill her, Dad. I couldn’t have.”
Vaughn squeezed his son’s shoulders. “I know you didn’t, Wes.”
