‘Joshua wanted the code to my cell phone,’ she said eventually. ‘I have two cell phones — one my parents gave me, the other one’s a secret. Joshua got it for me. We both think mom and Dale’s rule is dumb, that they get to see everything in our phones. None of my friends’ parents look at their phones.’
‘I never take my other cell phone with me when I’m with my parents,’ said Laurie. ‘I’d left it in my room back home.’
Laurie nodded. ‘To have fun. To send jokes to my friends, and to talk to boys and stuff. I know I’m too young to have a relationship … but …’
‘So … the phone … and Joshua …’ said Ren.
‘Joshua knows where I keep it, so he took it, so he could phone his friends in Breck when he got there. But when he went to turn it on, duh, he didn’t have the code. So he came back to the hotel to get the code. He called the desk from a payphone, and asked what room we were in …’
‘Just after Erica and Dad went to dinner. Like, just after nine.’
‘And what happened?’ said Ren.
‘He totally pushed in the door, and was, like, “what’s your code, Laurie, what’s your code?” I was, like, “Calm down, what’s your problem, what are you even doing with my phone?” And he was, like, “Just give me the effing code, you effing b.” He was crazy,’ said Laurie, out of breath, finally releasing everything she had been holding back. ‘It was freaky. I hadn’t done anything to him. I had actually covered for him, and now he’s, like, going insane.’
‘Where was Shelby Royce at this point?’ said Ren.
‘She was freaking out, too,’ said Laurie. ‘I told her it’s OK, he’s my stepbrother, but she was, like, “It’s not OK. It really is not OK. Something is wrong with him.” She looked terrified. I said “There’s nothing wrong with him, he’s just crazy.” That really bugged him.’
‘What did he do next?’ said Ren.
‘I told him no way was he getting the code,’ said Laurie. ‘No way. I told him that he scared the crap out of me earlier, hiding in the car, and that he was in so much trouble, and that I didn’t want to get the blame, and that he was spoiling everything.’
‘And what did he do?’ said Ren.
‘I told him he was a fat freak …’ Her lips started to tremble.
‘It’s OK,’ said Ren. ‘Take your time.’
Laurie burst into tears. ‘Joshua has never ever hurt me,’ said Laurie. ‘We’d have these little fights, he’d tease me, whatever, but … this was so scary. He kind of jumped at me, and he grabbed my arm, and threw me down on the bed. He pinned my arms above my head, and he, like, stuck his face in mine, and shouted, “Put in your code, you stupid b.”’
‘Where was Shelby at this time?’ said Ren.
‘She tried to reach for the hotel phone, and he threw it across the room. Leo started crying next door, and Joshua said to Shelby, “If you touch that effing phone, if you call one person, I will effing kill you. Go in there, and shut that little shit up.”
‘I’ve never seen Joshua so mad,’ said Laurie. ‘So I grabbed my phone from him, and I punched in the wrong code. Then I did it again. And then I did it one more time.’
‘So he was locked out of the phone,’ said Ren.
‘I told him I knew what he did to the Ronsons and that he was a psycho, but that made him even madder …’
‘And where was Shelby at this point?’ said Ren.
‘She was in the bedroom calming Leo down.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Then she came out and Joshua asked her for her car keys, and she said she didn’t have a car. He pulled out this big pen-knife and started waving it about. I couldn’t believe it.
‘I told him he had to stop, that this was going to get him in so much trouble. Even more trouble. I said that if he just left we wouldn’t say anything, we promised, but he kept saying “You will, I know you will.”
‘Then Joshua grabbed me up by the pajamas and he shook me real hard, and hit my head off the headboard. And then … I passed out. I woke up after that, and he took me out of the room. And then mom and Dale met us and took us home.’
58
Ren sat at her desk with her morning coffee and no food. She had typed up her interview with Laurie.
Gary came in and put a Danish on the desk beside her.
‘I had one left over,’ he said.
Ren smiled. ‘Thank you.’
Colin sat back from his desk. ‘OK — I’m done with my interview with Joshua. He is one nervous, jumpy kid. He could barely sit still. You want to keep snapping your fingers in front of his face to get him to focus. He was all over the place. Did you see his room? Shelves of shoot-em-up games. The kid just sits on his ass playing that shit all day. I’d say there were, like, two sports games.’
‘There is something weird about all this,’ said Ren. ‘Something I can’t put my finger on.’ She paused. ‘Hold on — does this latest version of events mean that Jonathan Meester stayed in the Merritts’ house while they went to Breckenridge the first time to get Joshua and Laurie? Or did he leave and come back to make sure someone was there with Joshua and Laurie while the Merritts went back to Breckenridge to address the problem of their “missing” daughter?’
‘The neighbor didn’t say anything about Jonathan Meester’s car leaving,’ said Gary.
‘Whatever the case,’ said Ren. ‘This means Jonathan Meester lied to us too. But why would he cover for them?’
‘Because they’re friends …’ said Gary.
‘Even if his own goddaughter had been hurt?’ said Ren. ‘Wouldn’t his feelings for Laurie Whaley trump any desire to protect Joshua Merritt? I mean, what does he care about Joshua Merritt …’
Gary nodded.
‘At the very least,’ said Ren. ‘Wouldn’t he have called a doctor? MeesterBrandt would have to have a list of doctors they deal with …’
‘Not at chairman-of-the-board level he wouldn’t …’ said Gary. ‘Cell phone records.’
‘I’m on it,’ said Colin.
An hour later, the details came through.
‘We got a call here from Jonathan Meester’s cell phone to a Bradley Temple, MD, at two thirty a.m. Sunday, November 15,’ said Colin.
‘When the Merritts were heading back to Breckenridge,’ said Gary.
Ren Googled Bradley Temple. ‘He’s a doctor here in Denver,’ she said. She searched his name with Jonathan Meester’s. ‘I got another hit here — they were at a pharmaceutical conference in Vegas together two years ago. Nolan Carr was there too. Bradley Temple was one of the “spokespeople” at the event, which was sponsored by MeesterBrandt, and he spoke very highly of their drug Cerxus, and produced some remarkable results of a clinical trial he ran …
‘Weirdness,’ said Ren, scrolling down the list of hits. ‘On the Saturday night of the conference, there’s a small piece in the
Ren looked it up in VICAP.
‘A-ha’ she said. ‘Bradley Temple’s
