“But he did make you stay, right?” I asked. “He held you there. He forced you.”
“I can’t tell you something that isn’t true.”
I pounded my fist against the table, rattling my mug.
“He made you stay. I know it. You wouldn’t have imagined our voices if you didn’t want to leave. Right, Caitlin? You wouldn’t have imagined you heard us, would you?”
“What makes you think I imagined them?”
“Because I didn’t know where you were. None of us did.”
“I don’t know that. I don’t.”
I stood up, almost knocking the chair over. I shoved it out of the way and moved toward her. “No, honey, that would never happen. Never, ever. Never.”
She cringed. Her body locked when I approached, and she took two steps back. She held her hands out in front of me as though she wanted to shove me away. “Just take me to him,” she said. “We made a deal. Take me to John if you want to know anything else from me.”
She left the room before I could say anything.
Chapter Fifty-one
I pulled the phone book out and looked up the number. It took two tries for me to find the right one. An older woman answered, and I asked for John. A long pause followed, a staticky stretch of dead air. “Why can’t you all leave him alone?” his mother asked.
“I’m not a reporter,” I said. Another long pause. “I’m the man who was at your house last night talking to John.”
“Oh, I see.” She sniffed. “Are you really that girl’s father?”
“I am.”
“Well. . Johnny. . he’s always loved children. I mean. . he wouldn’t really hurt anybody. He wouldn’t. Not intentionally. Now did you ever think these girls-they ask for it, don’t they? They wear certain clothes. Even the young ones. .”
“Just put him on.”
She breathed a deep sigh into the phone, then the receiver clunked against either the counter or the floor. “Johnny?”
Someone picked up the phone; then I heard voices arguing. I couldn’t make it all out, but Colter’s mother said, “I can’t have you in trouble again. My house, Johnny.”
“Get out of here,” he said. He must have waited while she left the room, because it took a few more moments for him to come on the line and speak to me. “Mr. Stuart?”
His voice caused a shiver of revulsion to pass through my body.
“It’s me,” I said.
“I’m glad you called. I knew you would, though.”
The phone felt warm against my ear. “You’re awfully confident.”
“Don’t we both have things the other wants? Don’t we have a. . what you might call a symbiotic relationship?”
“Symbiotic?”
“It means that we mutually benefit.”
“I know what it means.”
“Hell, we’re practically family. So what’s your answer?”
“I spoke to Caitlin today.” I swallowed hard. “She’s game, and I am too. So. .”
“You’re agreeing to bring her to me?”
I hesitated. I wanted to know. I simply wanted to know. “Yes,” I said.
“Okay,” he said. “Okay.” What he meant was:
“Start talking.”
“I got a call from my lawyer this morning. Apparently, they have a new witness and new information about the case. He told me to expect an arrest and a new indictment any day now. For all I know, they’ll be showing up today to put me in chains. What I’m saying is, if we’re going to do this, we don’t have much time to make it happen.”
“Maybe I should just let it all go then. You can go on to jail, and Caitlin would never have to face you in court.”
“I told you-I’m leaving no matter what. And if you don’t ante up, you’ll never know what you want to know.”
“I know some things. Caitlin told me a few of them just today. Hell, maybe I know enough already.”
I walked through the house to the living room and stopped, staring out at the front yard. The trees were almost bare, the leaves carpeting the ground or else piled at the curb by my industrious neighbors. The clouds hung low, seemingly just above the treetops. They were as gray as cold ashes.
Colter hesitated. “What could she have told you?” he asked.
“She told me plenty. How you got her in the car, looking for the dog. She told me how you got her back to the house. Your dumpy little house.” As I talked and looked into the yard, I pictured that day. The car circling the park, then leaving with Caitlin inside. I pictured it driving right past our house, Caitlin in the front seat perhaps, staring out the window as she went by here for the last time. “I can go to the police with that, tell them what Caitlin told me. I can add to what they already have.”
“Hearsay.”
“How did you get her to stay in your house?” I asked. “How did you keep her there?”
He ignored my questions. “No one will believe you. After you told the cops about seeing ghosts and all that bullshit, you have no credibility.”
“The parent of a crime victim always has credibility. Now tell me-how did you keep her there in your house?”
“I want to see her before I tell you anything. That was the deal I offered.”
I turned away from the window. “If you want to see her, you have to give me something. You have to tell me some facts.”
“Why should I deal with you?” He lowered his voice, added a hint of menace to it. “You want this more than I do. You’re obsessed with knowing. I can hear it. You know, Caitlin told me some things about you. She told me about your stepdaddy. How he didn’t love you. How he used to come in your room and scare you, like you were a little baby.”
“Caitlin didn’t know that.”
“Somebody told her about it. Somebody in your family.”
“Do you know my brother?” I asked. “You saw him at your house. Do you know him?”
“That’s the angle the cops are working, right? That your brother put me onto Caitlin’s trail?”
“Do you know him?”
“Let’s just say I’ve crossed paths with a lot of people in my time. It’s possible your brother was one of them.”
“Caitlin says she heard his voice there, in your house.”
“He might have been there. Like I said, I can’t keep track of everything that happened in four years. And someone in Caitlin’s situation-living in a strange house, away from everything that used to be familiar-she might imagine some things. It might even be that a guy like me might help her along in that direction.”
“What do you mean?”
“Did she say she thought she heard your voice?” he said, his voice almost jovial.
“She did.”
“It’s not hard to convince a confused kid that certain things might be true. Like her parents don’t want her
