‘No — I found this.’ She called Gary over too.
She held up the poster. ‘It was pinned to a tree. I saw it on my way back … here … just now.’
Gary took it and studied it. He let out a breath.
‘I know,’ said Ren. ‘It’s terrible. It was just on French Street. Anyone could have seen it. Look.’ She showed him the photo on her phone.
‘So, you managed to see the front of this poster, while driving in this direction?’ said Gary. His face was set.
He focused back on the poster. ‘Well … what’s this all about?’
‘It’s the only defaced poster in town,’ said Ren. ‘It could be nothing, it could be some Mean Girl who hates the attention going someone else’s way. It could be a girl whose boyfriend cheated on her with Shelby, I don’t know …’
‘Could just be an idiot,’ said Paul. ‘Or some young kids goofing around.’
‘Or Shelby Royce could be an out-and-out ho,’ said Ren.
‘And there’s that,’ said Paul.
‘Imagine if her parents saw this,’ said Ren.
‘We really need to get these high school kids to talk,’ said Gary. ‘They’ve told us nothing. I thought maybe that’s because there’s nothing to say … now I’m thinking maybe there’s too much.’
Ren nodded.
‘You haven’t talked to any of them …’ said Gary. ‘You get on well with young people …’
‘Jared Labati is my case-full of youth,’ said Ren. ‘Robbie
‘I think kids would relate to you better,’ said Gary.
‘I’ve been de-stabilized by my dealings with Mr Labati …’ said Ren.
‘Leave it with me,’ said Gary. ‘I have several things to consider.’ He left.
Paul’s expression told her the same thing.
Robbie and Colin arrived into the office at nine.
‘Have all y’all got lists of who’s been in touch with the Whaleys and the Royces since Saturday night?’ said Ren.
‘Yes,’ said Robbie, handing her a print-out, ‘they got a bunch of texts from their friends and family after the press conference — more texts than calls — I think people are conscious of tying up their phone.’
Ren read through the list and the text messages.
‘So,’ she said, ‘who’s getting through the net … in terms of who they’re calling?’
‘Close family,’ said Robbie. ‘Both sets of grandparents have passed, so it’s siblings, really. And close friends.’
‘OK,’ said Ren. ‘Detective Owens?’
‘The Royces got a few texts,’ said Owens, ‘but they had a lot of people calling to the house. By about one a.m., everyone was gone.’
‘Thanks for these,’ said Ren. She looked down and scanned them.
‘Thank you so much, Detective Owens,’ said Ren. She nodded as a way to dismiss him.
‘He itemized what foods each visitor brought,’ said Ren. ‘Mrs X, beef casserole. Mrs Y, homemade bread.’
Colin laughed. ‘What — in case someone was going to poison them? Are you serious?’
‘As serious as young Detective Owens clearly was,’ said Ren.
‘That kid is an idiot,’ said Colin. ‘The kid in school who sat at the back, scribbling really hard like a freak.’
‘Damn those Straight A students,’ said Ren. ‘Damn those people who lean heavily on their pens.’
Gary arrived back into the office. ‘Conference room everyone, please.’
23
By nine thirty the extended team of investigators was crowded into the conference room.
‘Welcome, everyone,’ said Gary. ‘Updates: the tip line has been swamped, we’re going through the promising ones: they’re in the minority. We’ve got nothing so far on calls to the Whaleys, the Merritts or the Royces overnight. I spoke with Mark Whaley’s boss at MeesterBrandt Pharmaceuticals, he’s the CEO, Nolan Carr. He confirmed what Erica Whaley said — that Mark Whaley’s behavior has been a little strange for “
‘So another affair theory …’ said Ren. ‘Well, they both agreed he was working late, but he said it was mostly at home.’
‘There’s always lunch break,’ said Colin.
Ren nodded.
‘This could all be a high drama way for Erica Whaley to force the husband to admit it,’ said Bob. ‘She’d know that if his child went missing, he’d have to tell the truth …’
‘That’s very drastic,’ said Ren. ‘I can’t see her doing that. If I was going to go to extremes, I’d start by hiring a private investigator.’
‘Maybe she did …’ said Bob.
‘If Whaley was having an affair,’ said Ren, ‘does that mean he’s an all-round dirtbag, the type to hit on a sixteen-year-old babysitter?’
‘He could have made some kind of move on her,’ said Paul, ‘and when she rejected him, he made her believe that it was her fault, that she was giving off the wrong signals …’
‘He’s an older man — he could easily manipulate a sixteen-year-old that way,’ said Ren. ‘Maybe afterwards Shelby could have thought of his wife and kids and decided, “I don’t want to rock the boat here, he didn’t
‘And then she ran?’ said Gary.
Ren nodded. ‘Yes. Just to get away from the situation.’
‘And took Laurie with her?’ said Gary.
‘Maybe, maybe not,’ said Ren. ‘Maybe Laurie, if she walked in on something, could have been the one who was about to blow his cover, and he flipped. Or,’ said Ren, ‘he’s not unattractive. Maybe Shelby Royce came on to him.’
‘I’m glad you said that,’ said Colin.
‘Nothing is beyond the bounds,’ said Ren.
‘Well, Whaley’s boss certainly suspected him of having some personal issues,’ said Gary. ‘He said that he has never had a problem with him up until this year, and several times he said that Whaley’s alcohol problem was something that he had hopefully overcome. He labored that point, I didn’t bring that up. He gave me details of Whaley’s salary and expenses, and emailed me a PDF of his business calendar for the past twelve months.’
‘Where does Jonathan Meester fit into the company now?’ said Ren.
‘He set it up — he’s the chairman,’ said Gary. ‘He bought Lang Pharmaceuticals six years ago, hired Nolan Carr as VP Sales amp; Marketing, and basically lined him up to take over from him when he took early retirement, which he did last year.
‘OK — on to Shelby Royce,’ said Gary. ‘A lot of Shelby Royce’s friends have been interviewed and they’re not saying anything other than the fact that she’s a lovely girl, doesn’t have a bad word to say about anyone … Her parents check out, so do the neighbors so far. The one interesting thing is that, according to Jane Allen, her closest girlfriend, Shelby Royce was
