The Bone House

'From what? He didn't do anything.' She hooded her eyes and stared at her lap. 'Are we done? I need to find my mom.'

'Sure. I understand. You can go.'

Cab watched her as she gathered up used tissues from the table in her fist and left the room. Her face was a pouty mask. He realized that he'd reached a roadblock with Tresa anyway. The girl was shutting him out. What frustrated him was that he still didn't know a thing about Mark Bradley, and he didn't have any evidence about the man, only rumors.

He was an enigma. Was he an angry predator with a predilection for teenage girls or an innocent victim?

Maybe Glory Fischer, drunk, sexually promiscuous, had met Mark Bradley on the beach on Saturday night. Maybe it was an accident or a deliberate rendezvous.

Maybe.

If Glory did meet him, what happened next?

Chapter Nine

'It was him,' Troy Geier insisted, bolting out of his chair. 'Bradley. He did it. I know it was him. That son of a bitch.'

Cab held up his hands. 'Sit down, Troy. OK? Take it easy.'

The burly sixteen year old paced back and forth between the walls of the interview room and then slumped heavily into the chair again. 'Sorry.'

'You did the right thing by telling us about Mark Bradley. I appreciate it. Right now, though, I want to talk about Glory.'

Troy's big head bobbed. 'Sure. OK.'

Cab sucked out more of his iced latte, which had melted and was mostly warm. He gave Troy a minute to calm down. The teenager was a beefy kid with a broad face dotted by pimples. He had wavy brown hair covered by a baseball cap, which he wore backwards. His flabby chest and huge forearms stretched out the green fabric on his Packers T-shirt. As Cab watched, Troy stuck an index finger between his teeth and chewed on the nail.

'This is my fault,' Troy murmured, his mouth full.

'Why do you say that?'

'I never should have left her alone.'

'You're being pretty hard on yourself,' Cab told him.

'Yeah, but we argued, and it was stupid. She wanted to stay and swim, and I really wanted to see this Will Ferrell movie on TV. I told her to come with me, but she wouldn't, so I just left. Then the movie sucked, and I fell asleep anyway.'

'You never realized Glory hadn't come back?'

'I was out like a light. The bartender snuck me a couple beers for a few bucks. I crashed.'

The bartender. Ronnie Trask obviously had a thriving business funneling alcohol to minors. It was a spring break tradition in Florida.

'Tell me a little more about Glory, OK?' Cab went on. 'How long have you known her?'

Troy shrugged. 'Pretty much all our lives. We go to school together. Both of our families have been in Door County forever. We're natives, but now it's all rich fibs moving in, buying up the land.'

'Fibs?' Cab asked.

'Fucking Illinois Bastards.'

Cab smothered a smile. 'When did the two of you start dating?'

'Last year. She had a bad summer break-up. She was dating an older kid who was staying on the peninsula for the summer. A tourist. She figured he loved her, but he was just in it for the sex. After he dumped her, I think she decided she wanted someone who really wanted her. That's me.'

'What was Glory like?' Cab asked.

'She was super cute. Really outgoing, doing things a mile a minute. Me, I'm pretty shy, and I always felt like I was running to keep up with her.'

'Was it exclusive between the two of you?'

'Oh, yeah. Definitely.'

Cab was dubious. 'Are you sure it was exclusive for her?'

'Absolutely. After school, we were going to get married.'

'Was that your plan or hers?'

'Mine, but Glory wanted it too.'

'Most girls aren't looking for a serious relationship at sixteen,' Cab told him.

'Well, I loved her, and she loved me,' Troy insisted. 'We weren't thinking about college. You go to college, and they ship your job over-seas these days. I figured we'd both work at my dad's restaurant after we graduated. That's where Glory's mom works. When my dad retires, I figure I'll take it over, although he tells me I can't handle it.'

'Why does he say that?'

Troy frowned. 'Oh, he never thinks I can do anything right. He still thinks I'm a dumb kid.'

Cab thought about what Tresa had said. Troy's father didn't treat him well, and neither did Glory. Despite his size, Troy looked like the kind of boy who got kicked in the head and came back on his knees for more punishment. At some point, all the kicks probably felt like love.

'I heard that Glory was a wild child,' Cab told him. 'Sex, drugs, drinking. Is that true?'

'Sure, Glory liked to do crazy stuff sometimes. Drugs once in a while, but nothing heavy. She'd get me to sneak some wine from my dad's restaurant on the weekends. So what?'

'Sex?'

'Yeah, we had sex. Glory was cool about it.'

'It sounds like you two were pretty different, though.'

'I told you, I had to run to keep up with her, because she was always going two hundred miles an hour. It was like I was along for the ride sometimes.'

Or maybe you were just the designated driver, Cab thought. He understood the attraction for Troy, who had obviously worshipped Glory for most of his life. It wasn't as clear to him what Glory saw in Troy. The teenager was plain, and simple in a farm boy way, but he had the attraction of being utterly pliable. Cab guessed that Troy's role in their relationship was to do whatever Glory wanted him to do.

'Whose idea was it to go to Florida?' Cab asked.

'Glory's,' Troy said.

'To see Tresa dance?'

Troy shrugged. 'Yeah, that's what she told her mom so she'd say yes. Really, she just wanted a vacation in Florida, you know? Swim and sun.'

'How was it for you two hanging out with Tresa? Big sister, little sister. Did that slow you guys down?'

'Tresa's pretty low-key compared to Glory. Always with her nose in a book. We didn't spend much time with her. She was practicing a lot for the dance thing anyway.'

'Were there any arguments?'

'Between Glory and Tresa? No.'

'How about between you and Glory?'

Troy flushed. 'Just on Saturday. Glory was really pissy with me. I don't know why. That's one of the reasons I left her at the pool. She'd been giving me shit all day over the stupidest things.'

'Did something happen?'

'No, that's the thing. We'd been having a great week.'