Time of Death

ordeal. God knows what went on during that time. He is disturbed. Maybe, just maybe he does know something, but bullying him won’t get it out of him.’

Bullying? ‘Nobody is bullying anyone,’ said Ren. ‘With the greatest respect, Luke has lied to you before – about spring break. And when I told him just now that I would come back to see him again when he was feeling less tired, he said to me “don’t bother”. Which I find strange, because his brother is still missing.’

Catherine paused. ‘I doubt very much he would say something like that—’

‘He did,’ said Ren. ‘Is it a phrase he uses much?’

Silence. ‘If Luke did say “don’t bother”,’ said Catherine, ‘all I would hear in that is the response of a distraught teenager who is in physical pain and his been through a terrible emotional ordeal.’

‘I understand that,’ said Ren. ‘I really do. But I think that would be all the more reason why he would not want Michael to have to go through the same. I think that would be the very reason why he would talk to me for hours on end in the hope that even one detail would lead to Michael being found.’

‘He can’t remember!’ said Catherine. The volume was rising, the tone turning shrill.

‘Did he even tell you that he had seen Michael?’ said Ren. ‘Were they taken together?’ Were they taken at all? Did they kill their father and run? Did Luke kill his father and brother?

‘They were taken together,’ said Catherine. ‘By the man who shot Greg. That’s all he can remember.’

‘Catherine, I am just trying to help your family,’ said Ren. ‘And to prevent anyone else from having to go through what you have.’

‘It’s not helping if you’re harassing a seventeen-yearold—’

Oh, sweet Jesus. ‘I am reaching out to you, Catherine – I am not in there berating Luke. I’m talking to you because you’re his mother and you’re Michael’s mother and this is urgent.’

‘I am so sorry. It’s just…I’m afraid. I’m so afraid to hear what happened to him. Or to Michael. I can’t bear the thought of what I might find out. And I can’t bear the thought of him having to relive any of it—’

‘He is not you,’ said Ren. ‘And this situation is different. Maybe this is the right time for him…’

‘Oh, God,’ said Catherine. She gestured toward the room. ‘He just looks like a boy who’s been in an accident and part of me can wrap my brain around that. And it makes me feel like he could be any other high school student who…I don’t know if I’m making any sense…’

‘You are,’ said Ren. ‘Maybe if you could encourage him to speak with me again…if there is anything he remembers…’

‘He would have told you,’ said Catherine. She walked towards Luke’s room. As she opened the door, she turned back to Ren. ‘Thank you for everything.’

What a total disaster.

41

Ren went straight from Denver airport to Safe Streets. Cliff was the welcome face in the office.

‘Help me out here, Cliff,’ said Ren, walking in, dropping her bag on her desk. ‘As we know, I am without child, so can you explain to me how parents can be so shut down to the possibility that their offspring can do wrong? Or not even that – obviously some parents do acknowledge that. What I want to know is what makes one parent own up to their child’s bad behavior and another parent swear blind that they couldn’t possibly have done anything wrong? I don’t get it. Especially if there is evidence to the contrary.’

‘I was in school with this kid,’ said Cliff. ‘We were seven years old. And he was an arsonist. A full-blown set- a-hugefire arsonist. Who developed into a set-a-huge-fire-and-jerk-off-while-you’re-watching-it arsonist. He smelled of fire the whole time. He had burn marks on his hands. The kid died in a fire, for Christ’s sake. And his parents, one of whom was the school principal, still to this day, talks about his son’s “accident”. I used to imagine the parents, standing in their garage, shaking a jerry can and thinking “Oops, we’re running low again.”’

‘It’s insane,’ said Ren. ‘When I misbehaved as a kid – over and over – my mother never once tried to tell anyone I was innocent.’

Cliff said nothing.

‘Oh my God,’ said Ren. ‘That’s why I’m fucked up.’ She paused. ‘Your silence is telling me that that’s not normal, my own mother not backing me up.’

‘Hold it right there,’ said Cliff. ‘Mothers have instincts when their kids have done wrong. The crucial thing is – did your mother stand up for you when you were innocent?’

‘I never was,’ said Ren.

‘There you go, then. I’m sure if someone had accused you of something you didn’t do, she would have waded right in there.’

‘But Luke Sarvas is a liar.’

‘He’s a seventeen-year-old kid whose mother thought she’d lost him for good.’

‘You know in a movie where there’s this kid who just has these knowing eyes that slide around the place to flag the fact that there’s something weird about them? Luke Sarvas gives me that vibe. It’s not that I think he’s weird. But he is not some innocent. You can’t be innocent if you’re doing blow and hanging out in titty bars.’ She smiled at Cliff. ‘I know I sound like someone’s grandma, but I liked it when kids were more innocent. God, if I have kids it’s going to be like The Village.’

‘You’d be surprised at how you adjust,’ said Cliff. ‘And you’d be surprised at how you can bring up your children a certain way that acknowledges the world we live in and just gives them the coping skills to navigate through it.’

‘Wow,’ said Ren, ‘would you like to be the father of my children?’

‘Just up until the point of conception.’

Ren smiled.

‘So,’ said Cliff, ‘about you murdering Douglas Hammond…’

Ren shook her head. ‘You heard.’

‘Of course I heard,’ said Cliff. ‘Why were you meeting him on a dark night?’

‘I can’t get into that, Cliff,’ said Ren. ‘I’m sorry. You know I love you, but…I can’t.’

‘Is it to do with your friend Helen?’

Ren nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘And while we’re at it,’ said Cliff. ‘Do you know something about Trudie Hammond?’

‘Here’s the thing,’ said Ren. ‘I know something about me. Like, I did not have a hand in Douglas Hammond’s death. I do, however, look as though I did. So…if I could, for example, work out whether maybe he was the target of his wife’s killer all those years ago, then I could at least have some evidence in my defense.’

‘It probably looks like you did because you lied about it.’

‘There’s more to it than that, Cliff. Which I know is annoying to hear when I’m not revealing what that “more” is. I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t be, but don’t get in trouble because you won’t ask for help.’

‘OK.’

‘So, what is the JeffCo Cold Case Unit looking at in the Hammond case?’

‘Running DNA tests – glass fragments, nightgown, carpet.’

‘Any theories?’

‘Firstly, I think it’s weird that Hammond didn’t insist on it earlier. And secondly…well, let’s see what comes up.’

‘Was she raped?’

‘No signs of rape at the autopsy. She did have consensual sex with her husband that morning.’

‘It could just be an intruder expecting to burgle an unoccupied house during the morning when people are out at work,’ said Cliff. ‘They had a nice house, rich pickings…’

‘But I’m wondering, could someone have been waiting for Hammond to come home?’ said Ren. ‘Hammond