newspaper clippings about the case. And his aunt said his behavior had changed after Justin’s disappearance. He had become withdrawn, moody, paranoid.”
“Janet said that there were a lot of adults at the park that day,” Kate said.
“A number of adults testified to seeing Dante in the park that day. They saw him talking to Justin and some of the other children.”
“But Dante always said he was innocent, that he didn’t hurt Justin.”
“Dante still says he’s innocent,” Stynes said. “I read your story this morning.”
Kate’s cheeks flushed, and she suppressed a little smile. But the gesture almost seemed too practiced, too aw-shucks. Could someone train her body to blush at will?
“I’m so glad to hear that. This is my first big series, and I’m kind of nervous about it.”
“It’s my experience, Miss Grossman, that whether you catch someone drinking and driving or you’re dealing with Dante Rogers, people almost never admit what they did wrong. If they did, we’d have a more efficient justice system.”
“Right.” Kate leaned back in her seat and raised her pen to her mouth. She chewed on the end, her straight white teeth taking a few quick chomps on the plastic. Janet sensed Kate had something she wanted to say but wasn’t sure how to say it. She removed the pen from her mouth and looked at Stynes. “Okay, so like I said, I just moved here to Dove Point. This is my first job. But I’ve noticed that there really aren’t a lot of black people here in Dove Point. Right?”
“It depends on how you define ‘a lot,’ ” Stynes said. “We’re kind of a smaller town.”
“Do you remember, Detective Stynes, if anybody on Dante’s jury was black?”
Stynes took a long moment to answer. “I don’t think so.”
Kate nodded and chewed the pen again. She wore a look that said,
“He had a lawyer defending him,” Stynes said.
“A public defender, right?” Kate said.
“That’s usually the case for people in Dante’s situation.”
“You mean people without a lot of money?” Kate asked.
“I guess that’s what I mean.”
“And I know…” Kate tapped the pen against her wrist. “I know Dante’s lawyer asked for a change of venue and was denied.”
Stynes didn’t respond.
“Do you know how much experience his public defender had?” Kate asked.
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Well.” Kate reached out and picked up the tape recorder. “I think I have enough for the story now.” She turned the recorder off and dropped it and her pen into her oversized bag. “I do appreciate the time you took to talk with me. If I need anything else, I can just call you guys, right?”
“Let me be clear about something,” Stynes said.
Kate stopped what she was doing and gave him her full attention. Stynes didn’t raise his voice or lose his cool, but he did seem determined to speak his mind to Kate Grossman.
“We did a solid investigation here,” he said. “We had the witnesses, and it went to a jury. It even stood up on appeal.”
Kate nodded. “I know, Detective. It’s my job to ask these questions.” She reached into her bag again and brought the tape recorder back. “Do you want to say something else on the record? I can add it.”
She flipped the switch and held it out toward Stynes, who looked at the recorder like it might bite him. He cleared his throat and leaned forward.
“The world was a better place with Dante Rogers behind bars,” he said. He punctuated his words with a quick nod.
Kate recognized her cue, shut the recorder off, and put it away.
Janet didn’t know if Kate picked up on what she had-a key element of Detective Stynes’s final statement. He’d said the world was a better place with Dante Rogers behind bars.
Given the chance to say so definitively, he didn’t say he thought Dante Rogers was guilty. He didn’t say that at all.
Chapter Nine
Stynes walked Kate to the door and watched her stroll down the walk-her young hips moving back and forth- and climb into a new red Honda Civic. A graduation gift from Dad, Stynes figured, watching her drive away. Most of the reporters he knew drove older cars held together by rust and prayer. One more reason to resent her, even if she did look good both coming and going. A rich college girl turning over the race card. Stynes felt his back molars grind against one another.
He turned to say good-bye to Janet and found her standing right behind him in the doorway. Before he could say anything, he saw the look in her eyes. Something pleading, almost fearful.
“Don’t worry about that stuff-”
She cut him off with a nod of her head. Toward the porch. She wanted to talk outside.
Stynes held the door, and they stepped out into the heat of the late afternoon. The sun glanced off the chrome and glass of the parked cars. The street shimmered. Stynes didn’t sit, but Janet did. She settled into a lawn chair and looked up.
“I just wanted to talk about all of that,” she said, pointing toward the general area where Kate’s car had been parked.
“Like I said, don’t worry about it. She’s just a kid trying to make a name for herself. She thinks a race angle might play big in a story like this. Little does she know people in Dove Point would rather attend free colonoscopy day at the hospital than dwell on racial issues. It probably won’t even get into the story. I know the features editor at the
“I don’t mean the race stuff,” Janet said.
Stynes shifted his feet. He wore a suit coat over a polo shirt, and he felt the sweat forming on his back. He had about two hours of paperwork to do back at the station, and he wanted nothing more than to get home in time to watch the Reds play the Cardinals. For the first time in years, the Reds had a prayer of reaching the playoffs, and Stynes wanted to enjoy it. The simple things, he called them. The simple things.
“Which stuff do you mean then?” he asked. “You just mean her questions? Did they upset you?”
Janet turned her head and looked over her shoulder to the front door, wanting to make sure her dad wasn’t there listening. When she was satisfied he wasn’t, she spoke in a low voice. “She seemed to be suggesting that Dante Rogers is innocent,” Janet said.
“No, she wasn’t-”
“And I was wondering the same thing,” she said, her voice still low but forceful. “Did you have enough to convict him?”
“We did convict him.”
“But like Kate said, in Dove Point-”
“Hold on.” Stynes held both hands out in front of him like he wanted to push something away. The sweat ran faster down his back and sides and suddenly the thought of his air-conditioned office seemed even more appealing than Kate Grossman’s backside. “Don’t let this girl get into your head. The story this morning, this interview-it’s all just talk. It doesn’t change the past.”
Janet nodded. She looked mollified, and Stynes took quiet pleasure in having found the right words for the right situation and shutting things down effectively. He sometimes thought the ability to talk, to placate, to smooth ruffled feathers in the heat of the moment was the most useful skill any cop or public servant could have.
“Janet, call me if-”
“Was the evidence against him just circumstantial?” she asked.
