Highway 90. Moonlight shimmered on the river as the willow trees that grew along the bank swayed in a mild breeze. Neon lights flashed above a honky-tonk set back from the road. The parking lot was full even on a Thursday night, though there wasn’t much traffic on the road.
“How much farther?” Claire finally asked.
“We’re almost at the turnoff. There’s a fishing cabin on a bayou just up the road. That’s where we’re going.”
“You still won’t tell me why we’re going there?”
“We’re meeting some people. You’ll find out the rest soon enough.” The lights of a passing car caught Dave in the face and he squinted. “I do need to tell you something before we get there, though. It’s something I should have told you a long time ago.”
Her heart quickened as she stared at his profile. “What is it?”
She saw his hands tighten on the steering wheel. “Two days after Ruby disappeared, I received a phone call from someone claiming to be her kidnapper.”
Claire felt the blood drain from her face. Another car passed them on the road before she was able to speak. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I couldn’t. That was one of the demands. I wasn’t to tell anyone. Not the police or the FBI. Not even you.”
She lifted a quivering hand to her mouth. “You were in contact with our daughter’s kidnapper and you didn’t tell me? How could you keep that from me?”
“I was trying to save Ruby’s life. Claire, please try to understand. I was terrified of what they might do to her. I couldn’t take a chance on telling you. You were on the verge of a breakdown. I was afraid you might let something slip to the police.”
“But the FBI told us that if we were contacted, the worst thing we could do was try to deal with the kidnapper on our own. You were a cop. You knew that.”
“Somehow none of that matters when your own kid’s involved.”
Claire closed her eyes. “What happened?”
“I agreed to their demands. They wanted something from me and I gave it to them.”
“What did they want?” She was almost afraid to ask.
“Do you remember the homicide case I was working at the time of the kidnapping? The victim’s name was Renee Savaria.”
“I remember. Her body was found in the river. She was just a kid, eighteen or nineteen, I think. You never liked to talk about your cases, but I knew that one kept you awake at night. I’d sometimes hear you pacing in the other room, and I would lie in bed thinking about her poor parents and what they were going through. If you were that deeply affected, I couldn’t even imagine what it was like for them, wondering how their child had suffered before she died.” Claire turned to stare out the window. “A few weeks later, Ruby disappeared.”
Dave was quiet for a long time. “I worked on that case for weeks without any real leads or suspects. And then I got my hands on Renee’s diary. The last entry was the location and date of a private party that she had been hired to work. According to a witness, Renee was killed at that party by a cop named Clive Nettle. The other cops there that night helped cover it up.”
Claire stared at him in shock. “Why would they do that?”
“Self-preservation. If word had gotten out about a cop party involving teenage prostitutes, a lot of careers would have been ruined. Not to mention the fear of prosecution once Renee turned up dead.”
“How did you find out?”
“A deathbed confession of sorts. Someone who was there that night recently told me what happened.”
“If you know all this, why hasn’t Nettle been arrested?”
“I’m working on that.” Dave slowed as they came to an intersection, then made a right turn onto another two-lane road. A convenience store with gas pumps sat on the left side, and to the right was nothing but rice fields.
“I don’t understand what any of this has to do with Ruby’s kidnapping,” Claire said.
“It doesn’t. But I was made to think that it did.”
“How?”
“The ransom demand was that I destroy the last page of Renee Savaria’s diary.”
The truck tires thudded over the metal grid of a bridge, and Claire waited until they were across before she spoke. “Did you do it?”
His face looked pale in the dash lights. “Yeah, I did it.”
“You destroyed evidence that could have proved that girl was killed by a cop. Because of what you did, Nettle got away with murder.”
“That’s exactly right.” Dave’s voice was hard and cold and empty.
“And you did it for Ruby.” Claire’s lip started to tremble and she looked away from him.
“I would have done anything to bring her back, Claire. You have to know that.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I couldn’t. I was too afraid to tell anybody, and I wanted to spare you as much as I could. After it was over, I was too ashamed.”
“Ashamed of trying to save your daughter?”
“Ashamed of letting myself be duped. Ashamed of going against everything I believed in as a cop.”
“Is that why you resigned?”
“Partly, I guess. And partly because I just didn’t give a shit about anything. After Ruby disappeared, nothing made sense anymore. Not even you and me.”
Twenty-Four
Claire laid her head against the back of the seat as she turned to stare out at the passing scenery. They crossed another bridge over a bayou, and she could see the reflection of the cypress trees in the water. The air blowing in through Dave’s open window was scented with honeysuckle and magnolias. Claire closed her eyes, his words echoing in her head.
“Where we’re going tonight has something to do with those phone calls seven years ago,” she said. “That’s why you were talking about Ruby earlier, isn’t it?”
“I shouldn’t have let you come with me,” he said. “What you see and hear in that cabin probably won’t sit too well on your conscience.”
She turned her head to look at him. “Meaning?”
“I’m going to do whatever is necessary to find out who made those calls.”
“Good.”
He shot her a surprised glance. “You may not think that later.”
She was silent for a moment. “What’s going to happen once we get to the cabin?”
“I told you, we’re meeting some people.”
“Who?”
“Titus for one.”
“Titus Birdsong? I didn’t even know the two of you were still friends.”
“He’s risking a lot by helping me out. I’m never going to be able to pay him back for this.”
“For what?” Claire asked worriedly. “You’re starting to scare me a little. What is it that you’re planning to do?”
“Only what I have to. Try to remember that.”
She shivered at his ominous tone. “Who else is there?”
“Clive Nettle.”
She stared at him in shock. “Clive Nettle is at the cabin?”
“Don’t worry,” Dave said. “In his present condition, he won’t pose much of a threat.”
