Jace said, “We don’t know anything about that. Bo said you hung around O’Riley’s on Friday nights. We sent Julie inside. When she spotted you, Bo texted you. I hit you when you came out.”
I bit my tongue, seeing the glaring hole in the story. How did Bo Hines obtain Childs’ cell phone? Wittman was too smart not to see it, but he was drunk. I needed to keep Jace engaged in conversation and keep him from passing out if I was to have any chance. He wouldn’t want his daughter to witness a murder. Hines didn’t seem to care.
“Why kidnap me?”
Wittman couldn’t remember. He looked at his brother-in-law.
“We haven’t kidnapped you,” Bo said smiling again. “We needed your undivided attention so you would understand our offer.”
“Why tie me up? Why the beatings?”
Jace said, “Tying you up was Bo’s idea. You provoked the beatings. Those are on you.”
My nose had stopped bleeding. I had to keep them talking.
“How about a drink of water?” I asked.
Bo said, “Julie, bring Mr. Holmes a glass of water.”
After she left the room, I said, “Jace, you don’t want her to see all this. Do you?”
Bo answered before his brother-in-law. “My niece knows how to keep her mouth shut. She needs to learn how the business world works, how deals are negotiated.”
After Julie handed me the glass, Hines squeezed her leg as she sat down beside him. He still had the gun pointed at me.
I asked, “Why tonight? Why not wait until you finalized your deal with the state attorney?”
Jace found his voice again. The alcohol had dulled his cognitive abilities, but he was shaking it off, like a bear waking from hibernation.
“When the porn bust hit, Bo said it was the perfect time to grab you because everyone else would be distracted,” he said. “If anything happened to you, people would think it was connected to your reporting on a child porn network.”
I said, “But nothing is going to happen to me, right? You and Bo just want to talk to me.”
“You always have to be prepared, Walker,” said Bo as he got up and stood over me.
“We aren’t going to start with the hitting again, are we?” I said. “As hard as it may be to believe, I’m not a fan of getting my ass kicked.”
Julie giggled.
“This is all your fault,” said Hines to me. His reptilian eyes had returned. The bourbon on his breath was overpowering. “You brought all this upon yourself.”
He made two drinks and traded Julie a bourbon and Diet Coke for the gun. He put his arm around the teenager and kept the handgun on his lap. She didn’t pull away, and Jace ignored them.
“Which one of you got Celeste Daniels pregnant?” I asked. It was a jump, but maybe it would buy me some time. The longer I dragged this out, the better my chances for survival.
Jace bolted up, spilled his drink, and rushed toward me. I grabbed his wrist before his punch connected with my chin. “I said no more hitting.”
He wrestled his arm away, picked up his red Solo Cup, and went to the bar. I started to stand.
Bo said, “Sit back down, Walker. We’re still negotiating.”
He squeezed Julie. “You wouldn’t want to deprive my niece of her education?”
I sat down, not taking my eyes off Hines.
“My guess, the baby was yours.”
Wittman started laughing. “You really are clueless,” he said. “Bo’s impotent, shoots nothing but blanks.”
Bo said, “Be quiet, Jace.”
Jace continued to laugh. “He can’t get anyone pregnant. Not Celeste, not Sue.”
“Be quiet,” Bo repeated.
I said, “So, you’re the father?”
Jace stopped laughing. I had hit a tender wound. Instead of striking me, tears filled his eyes.
“Yes,” Wittman said. “I loved her, really loved her. Everybody thought I dated her to hurt Stan, but she was special.”
He continued, “We kept it from her family, but I couldn’t keep secrets from my mother. She demanded Celeste get an abortion, even offered to pay for it. Celeste and I wanted to marry and move to Mobile or Birmingham.”
Bo tried again to stop his brother-in-law. “Is this the kind of tale you need to discuss in front of your daughter?”
I needed Wittman to continue talking. I asked, “Why didn’t you go ahead with your plans?”
With a tear running down his cheek, he said, “We were supposed to meet with her parents. We needed their permission to marry. I waited for her after school at the Burger King outside of Town and Country Plaza so we could rehearse our speeches, but she never showed.”
I said, “Why didn’t you tell this to the police?”
Wittman said, “I wanted to, but my mother told me to keep my mouth shut. It wouldn’t have changed anything. I didn’t know where Celeste was. The police would suspect I killed her and I would lose my college scholarship. I was a coward.”
“That’s enough ancient history,” said Hines. “Jace, you’re working yourself up. Let’s review our offer to Mr. Holmes. He stops writing. Your petition halts the park, and he saves his newspaper. Win-win-win.”
“How was she supposed to get to the mall?” I asked Wittman.
“Bo was supposed to give her a ride.”
Hines said, “I waited outside Catholic High for about an hour. She never showed up. I assumed she had found another ride.”
Jace said, “I went home, too afraid to call her house. I didn’t learn she had disappeared until the next day.”
Hines said, “We searched everywhere. Remember, Jace, how we talked to all her friends, visited her favorite spots. We got nowhere.”
“Yeah, we did,” said Jace.
Another thought popped into my head. “Jace, why did you start the petition? Was it because you needed the contract rebid so your consulting company would make money?”
“Walker, what’s with all the questions?” asked Hines.
“Humor me. I’m a journalist.” I said, finishing my glass of water. I tried to scan the room without being too obvious. The cabin was too clean, too tidy. Nothing to grab for a weapon.
Hines said, “I was going to make a
