Mercy

“But why wait so long? I mean, why wait until the senior prom?”

“I guess he’d seen Carrie. He probably did it for dramatic effect.”

“But it’s not like he humiliated her in public like in Carrie. Your sister just vanished on the night of the prom. No one saw her again.”

“Clayton Burrow wasn’t the brightest button. He’d’ve probably done something more dramatic if he could. He wouldn’t have had the brains to pull it off. He probably just bundled her into a car, drove her off to a quiet location and killed her.”

“So what did he do with the body?”

“I guess he buried her.”

“Buried her well enough that the body was never found?”

“I guess so.”

“Can you think of any reason why he’d refuse to reveal where the body was buried now?”

“Why should he? He’s still claiming he’s innocent.”

“But if his life depended on it. He could save himself by — ”

“So it’s true?”

Could this have been all he was after?

“Let’s say it is true. Does it make sense that he’d keep quiet even when he could save his life by spilling his guts?”

“I guess not.”

They had arrived back at the office building. Jonathan held the door open for Juanita. She smiled a polite thank you and walked through.

“There was something else that had us puzzled.”

“What?” he asked as she pressed the elevator button.

“Well we have evidence that Dorothy bought an airline ticket a week before she disappeared.”

He seemed startled by this. She was watching him carefully and although he had tried to hide it, she had noticed.

“Where to? The ticket, I mean.”

She debated telling him that they didn’t know. But this would give him the advantage. If he thought they already knew, he might be less inclined to hold out with whatever he knew.

“We were hoping you could tell us.”

This was good cross-examination technique, she realized. Now he couldn’t be sure whether they knew where the ticket was to or not. Alex would have been impressed, just as she had been impressed by him. The important thing was that now Jonathan would be wondering if she was just trying to test him. The elevator arrived and the doors opened. Jonathan waited politely for Juanita to enter first.

“I don’t know anything about it,” said Jonathan, stepping in behind her. “Did she get the flight?”

The doors closed behind them.

“Can you think of any reason why she wouldn’t?”

They heard the familiar hum and felt that heavy sensation of being inside a rising elevator.

“Apart from the obvious one,” said Jonathan, “no.”

“It’s just that if she did fly,” said Juanita, “then that would explain her disappearance. Maybe she left and never came back.”

Jonathan shrugged.

“Or maybe she came back and was killed after that,” he said.

Juanita wondered if this statement was just a theory or a reflection of personal knowledge. But she didn’t want to show how desperately she needed to know the answer. That would put Jonathan squarely in the driver’s seat. She was saved by the whirring halt of the elevator and the opening of the doors.

“Is that what you think?” asked Juanita. Without waiting for an answer, she started walking down the corridor, forcing Jonathan to hasten to keep up with her. When they had reached the door to the law firm’s office, Jonathan still seemed to be considering Juanita’s question.

“I don’t think anything,” he replied cautiously. “I’m just speculating — like you.”

He opened the door for her. Nat was sitting at the reception desk, manning the phones. He looked up.

“Oh, Nat, this is Jonathan, Dorothy Olsen’s brother.”

They nodded politely and mouthed “hallo.” Then Nat turned away to the computer screen that had been the object of his attention when they entered. Jonathan, for his part, appeared to be in a dream.

“Well, thank you, Jonathan. It was a pleasure talking to you.”

Juanita’s words seemed to snap Jonathan out of his reverie.

“Oh yes, thank you.”

He turned abruptly and left.

Juanita was puzzled by his sudden urgency.

14:54 PDT

“So how d’you hook up with Jonathan Olsen then?”

Juanita was back at the front desk and Nat was sitting there with a cup of coffee.

“He came here while you were out.”

“Yes, but he wasn’t here when I got back?”

“Yes, but he saw me at the deli and invited himself to join me.”

“Kind of a coincidence, don’t you think?”

“He was probably hanging round outside aimlessly and decided to go for something to eat and just got lucky.”

“Or maybe he followed you.”

Juanita smiled.

“You’re getting paranoid.”

“You sure?”

Juanita shrugged.

“Maybe you’re right. So what? His sister’s dead and we’re trying to save the neck of the man who he thinks did it. He wants to talk. He wants to understand.”

“And that’s it?”

She looked up and met his eyes.

“You’re very suspicious today, Nat.”

“It just seems kind of strange that he comes round, talks to Alex, and then just happens to bump into you outside.”

“Okay, maybe he did follow me. He wants to talk. He needs to talk.”

“To us?”

“To someone — anyone.”

“Just talk?”

Juanita thought about this for a moment.

“Okay, maybe more than just talk.”

“Like what?”

“I think he was trying to pump me for information. That’s why I stretched the break for so long.”

“I’d’ve thought it would’ve been the opposite way round.”

“You have to understand that I wasn’t just sitting on my tush spilling my guts. I was pumping him for information too.”

“What did he want to know?”

“Well at first he was asking about how many people we have working here — shit like that.”