Blood Loss

‘So, the mystery semen is a mystery no more,’ said Ren. ‘Jared Labati blackmailed Shelby Royce into oral sex.’

‘That kid gives me the creeps,’ said Bob.

‘And even worse, it’s his word against ours,’ said Ren. ‘He can keep saying it was consensual, we can keep saying it was rape, but we’ve nothing to back it up. That skeevy piece of shit will still be out there spiking drinks or whatever other fucked-up shit he wants to do.’

‘We can still get him on lying to a federal officer,’ said Gary. ‘Where was he hiding her?’

‘In number three, Wildcard Drive,’ said Bob.

‘We’ll send an ERT,’ said Gary.

‘He went back and forth to her over the weekend,’ said Ren. ‘The last time he says he saw her was Monday night while everyone was at the vigil … when he claims they had this consensual experience. He says he doesn’t know what happened after that.’

‘So,’ said Gary. ‘We know where Shelby Royce went, but where did Joshua and Laurie go? Did Joshua bring her with him and his friends? Did she want to see Shaun White too?’

‘And how did they make it back to Denver?’ said Ren.

‘We need to get Laurie and Joshua in separate rooms and find out what the hell is going on,’ said Gary.

‘I’ll call Cathy Merritt,’ said Ren.

‘Cathy, it’s Ren, did you speak with Joshua?’

‘Yes, yes, I did,’ said Cathy. ‘And I approached it calmly so he wouldn’t flip out and go silent on me. I told him he wasn’t in trouble, but he needed to let me know how he got back from Breckenridge that night. And he refused to tell me.’

Hello? And you’re OK with that? ‘Did he acknowledge he got a ride back with one of his friends?’

‘No,’ said Cathy. ‘He’s saying nothing.’

‘Did your husband speak with him?’ said Ren.

‘Yes,’ said Cathy. ‘But it’s the same thing — he won’t say anything.’

‘But, Cathy, this is a criminal investigation, he can’t just say nothing.’

‘I don’t know what else to do,’ said Cathy.

Be a parent.

Ren called Gary.

‘His parents are being obstructive. If we can’t get the truth out of Josh, I’d like to call the school, get the names of his friends, take a trip to the wonderful world of Facebook, find out which of them went to Breck that night, then stock up on some traffic cam or tunnel footage. Or both.’

‘Where was Laurie Whaley during all this?’ said Gary.

‘Not with her father, that’s for sure.’

By eight o’clock that night, Ren and Colin were sitting in the Merritts’ living room facing Dale and Cathy.

‘Is Joshua still saying nothing about who drove him back from Breckenridge that night?’ said Ren.

‘Yes,’ said Dale.

‘We have tried so hard to get a name from him,’ said Cathy. ‘But you know teenagers. They’re loyal to their friends, they won’t “rat them out”, as they see it. No matter what you threaten them with.’

‘Well,’ said Ren. ‘I tried hard too …’

Cathy frowned. ‘Pardon me?’

‘I tried hard to get the name,’ said Ren. ‘And here’s what I’ve got: ten thirty-two p.m., a car drives through the roundabout in Breckenridge — from the direction of Denver. Eleven twenty p.m., the same car drives back through the roundabout, in the direction of Denver. Then, three a.m., the same car drives through the roundabout and exits toward the Sheriff’s Office.’

Dale and Cathy said nothing.

‘So,’ said Ren. ‘My question is: what were you doing in Breckenridge between the hours of ten thirty-two and eleven twenty p.m. on Saturday, November 14? Because I know that after three a.m., you were in the Sheriff’s Office with me.’

57

Dale Merritt sat forward in his seat and Ren realized for the first time the intensity of a man she had thought was a gentle giant. He was clearly someone who would do anything to protect his young.

‘What would you do?’ said Dale. ‘Your son calls you to say that he accidentally hurt his stepsister. Accidentally. He’s in a state of panic. What was I meant to do apart from going to him, and helping him?’

What about Laurie, helping her?

‘Was it accidental?’ said Ren. ‘It doesn’t look accidental to me. You’d have to push someone pretty hard to split their head open on a headboard. This wasn’t just him bumping into her and knocking her down. Colin is going to go talk to Joshua after this, and I’ll be talking to Laurie.’

‘But-’ said Cathy.

Try to argue with me.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Ren. ‘We need to find out what happened for once and for all. I understand your need to help your son, Mr Merritt. What I don’t understand is all the rest of it. All the lying, the covering up …’

‘We know absolutely nothing about what happened between Mark and the babysitter,’ said Cathy. ‘We were as shocked as anyone else. I have no idea what happened there. I didn’t think Mark was capable of anything like that. We just … we just … we did the wrong thing, but we thought … I don’t know what we thought.

We just needed a few days until we worked something out. I don’t know. We didn’t have a plan. We wanted to make sure she wouldn’t tell on Joshua. Dale couldn’t bear to have him taken away.’

‘He was grounded for breaking into a neighbor’s home, is that correct?’ said Ren.

Silence.

‘Laurie had a head injury that night,’ said Ren. ‘What did you do about that?’

‘We monitored her,’ said Cathy.

‘You didn’t bring her to a doctor to get it checked out?’ said Ren.

Cathy paused. ‘We … didn’t think she needed that. If she blacked out, maybe, but she didn’t.’

‘How could you watch your ex-husband go through so much anguish over his missing daughter?’

‘Because he never noticed mine,’ said Cathy. ‘He never noticed my anguish for all those years.’

You scary, scary bitch.

Laurie Whaley was sitting cross-legged against a pile of pillows on her bed. There was an iPod on the bed beside her, a bottle of purple nail polish on the nightstand. She smiled at Ren when she came in.

‘Can I grab this seat?’ said Ren, pointing to the one at Laurie’s desk.

‘Sure,’ said Laurie.

Ren sat down. ‘How are you doing?’

‘I’m good,’ said Laurie. Her gaze was unsteady.

‘I’ve got a few more questions for you,’ said Ren.

‘OK,’ said Laurie.

‘We know now that Joshua came to your hotel room, Laurie.’

Laurie’s eyes went wide. She opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn’t.

‘Do you know why Joshua came to the hotel room?’ said Ren.

Tears welled in Laurie’s eyes. ‘Did you ask him about it?’

‘My colleague Colin is speaking with Joshua right now.’

Laurie looked everywhere she could, apart from at Ren. She pulled her iPod by the headphones toward her, and started rotating it between her little fingers.

Ren waited. ‘You have to tell me the truth, Laurie. You’re free to talk to me about anything.’

Laurie nodded. She started to wind and unwind the headphones around the iPod.