The Quiet Bones Page 7

“Well, not great,” said Noah. “I mean, my girlfriend is dead. I’m pretty upset about it.” He didn’t look upset, though, he looked very… clean. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and very white sneakers. His hair had product in it. Noah was the boyfriend of the second victim, Megan Wallace.

  “So, when was the last time you heard from Megan?” said Reilly.

  “Well, that’s the thing,” said Noah. “I was worried about her. It had been over a week, and no one was doing anything. I talked to people about it. I talked to teachers, and everyone acted like, you know, she was just avoiding me, like it was no big deal. But, I mean, clearly it was.”

  “Any reason she would have avoided you?” said Wren.

  “No,” said Noah. He looked down at the table, traced a whirl of the fake wood grain stamped onto it. For a moment, he looked younger than seventeen. He looked like a little boy who was about to start crying. Then he sucked in a breath and got himself under control. “Look, she was dead for all this time, that’s what I heard. Like a week or something? And no one was doing anything. No one listened to me.”

  “Right,” said Reilly. “I’m very sorry about that.”

  “Megan didn’t have, like, a mom,” said Noah. “She was all alone except for me, but no one cared what I thought.” He traced the wood grain in the table again.

  “We know this is tough,” said Wren. “But it would help us if we could ask you some questions to try to eliminate you.”

  “Oh, sure.” Noah looked up at them, nodding, almost eager. “I want to help any way I can. I want you to find who did this, and I don’t want you wasting time on me. I know you have to look into me, because I was her boyfriend. I know all about that police procedure stuff. I think it’s really interesting. So, I get it. And anything you need from me? DNA samples, fingerprints, anything, I’m totally willing to give that to you.”

  “Your father owns a handgun,” said Reilly. “Would you have access to that gun?”

  “Well, no. It’s in a safe,” said Noah. “But I think it got stolen. I don’t know. You’d have to ask my dad about that.”

  Reilly scribbled a note to check into that. “What we need is to know where you were yesterday evening around 8:00.”

  “I was out looking for Megan,” said Noah. “That was what I’d been doing every day this week, because no one was paying attention to me, so I felt like I had to do something on my own. So, I went around to various places where she sometimes hung out and I asked if anyone had seen her.”

  “And people could confirm that you came by?” said Reilly. “People at these various places?”

  “I’m sure they could,” said Noah.

  “Can you write us out a list?” said Reilly.

  “Yeah, yeah, no problem.” Noah reached into his back pack and got out a notebook.

  “What about the day that Bristol Cannon was found? Where were you around 4:00 in the morning?”

  “Oh, I think I was in bed,” said Noah.

  “Anyone can confirm that?” said Wren.

  “Maybe my mom,” said Noah. “Or my dad. I mean, I think they were both asleep too, but they would have known if I left.”

  * * *

  “So, I suppose there’s a reason I’m here instead of having my planning period?” said Tobias Harrison, who was the teacher who had access to a handgun.

  “Yes, well, I’m sure you can guess why we’re here,” said Reilly.

  Tobias slumped in the chair. “If we’re going to play a guessing game, I’m out. I really have no idea what this is all about.”

  “You’re working in a school where two students have been murdered, and you can’t guess?” said Wren.

  “Oh, right,” said Tobias. “That woman called me to ask about guns, but I told her that I don’t even have the ammunition for that gun anymore. Seriously, it belonged to my father. I’m not into it. My brother definitely isn’t into it. I should probably sell the gun. I didn’t shoot anyone. That’s what I told the woman on the phone. And if you’re here to try to accuse me of something, forget it.”

  “Well, we’re here to try to eliminate you,” said Reilly.

  “Oh, that’s a very nice way of putting it.”

  “We were actually here earlier in the week,” said Wren. “Before the body of Megan Wallace was found.”

  “Right, I don’t know the Wallace girl,” said Tobias. “I had Bristol in class, but not Megan.”

  “You weren’t in that day,” said Reilly.

  “No, I had issues with my brother,” said Tobias.

  “What kind of issues?” said Wren.

  “Is that really important? You guys come here to get all up in my private business? Really?”

  “Well, is there a reason you’re hiding it?” said Wren.

  “No.” Tobias was defiant. “I’m not hiding anything. You’re accusing me, and you’re taking up my time. Why don’t you come to the point?”

  “Where were you yesterday evening around 8:00?” said Reilly.

  “Where I always am,” said Tobias. “At home, with my brother.”

  “Your brother again,” said Wren.

  “If you must know,” said Tobias, “my brother has special needs.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “He’s severely impaired. He can’t live on his own. I have to take care of him.”

  “You do?” said Reilly. “Not your parents?”

  “We lost both of our parents in a car accident several years back,” said Tobias. “What else do you want to know, huh? You want to know that I never wanted to be a teacher, that I had a degree in history, and I was planning to go to grad school, get a doctorate, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to take care of my brother that way? That it would be a lot of debt and no guarantee of a job after I finished? You want to know that?”

  “Mr. Harrison,” said Reilly. “We’re simply trying to establish an alibi for you.”

  “Well, I have my brother, so I didn’t get a doctorate. Instead, I got my master’s in education, and now, here I am, trying to babysit brats all day. So, no, I don’t have an alibi, unless you count my brother, who’s very easily manipulated, so his word is worth nothing. But I was with him, like I’m always with him, when I’m working my ass off to feed and clothe him. Good enough for you? Can I go now?”

  * * *

  “Okay, what do you think?” said Reilly, looking at Wren.

  She shook her head. “Oh, no, this isn’t my area. You are the one who’s good at interrogation and stuff. You tell me what you think first.”

  “Well, it’s hard to say, because these kinds of cases are different than your run-of-the-mill homicide. The motivations are very different. But right off the bat, I noticed that we had two people who weren’t cooperative, both the teacher, Mr. Harrison and Bristol’s boyfriend, Peter.”

  “You draw any conclusions from that?”

  “People are usually polite to the police, unless they’re assholes,” said Reilly. “Or unless they’ve got some inflated idea of their own importance and think the cops can’t touch them, and that’s kind of a psychopathic thing to think, am I wrong?”

  “No, you’re right,” said Wren. “But sometimes psychopaths are very interested in law enforcement. It’s power. And Noah did mention knowing all about police procedure.”

  “Yeah, but that kid, he was really upset. He almost started crying.”

  “True,” said Wren. “Of course, Peter seemed upset too.”

  “Mostly at his mother for leaving him.”

  “Wanting his mother isn’t a very psychopathic thing for him to do,” said Wren. “He would be self-assured and think he could handle everything on his own.”

  “But psychopaths are also really good at mimicking human emotions and doing and saying things just to manipulate people.”

  “Also true,” said Wren. “That’s why I don’t know what good it was to talk to these guys, really. We can’t know if they’re lying.”

  “Well, we interviewed them to try to dete
rmine if they had alibis or not.”

  “And none of them do,” said Wren.

  “Except maybe Noah,” said Reilly. “We’ll get the uniforms to check over that list he made for us. But honestly, even if people do remember seeing him for a few minutes here and there, it’s not necessarily enough to eliminate him.”

  “So, this was all a waste of time?” said Wren.

  “Nothing’s a waste of time in an investigation like this. You never know what you’re going to need to know later on,” said Reilly. “How about partners? Could any of these guys be working together?”

  “Well, maybe we should have asked them,” said Wren. “Do either of the boys have Mr. Harrison as a teacher?”

  “We could find that out,” said Reilly.

  “You know what I’m thinking, though, is Tobias Harrison’s brother. He didn’t really say what’s wrong with his brother, did he?”

  “No.”

  “So, what if his brother killed the girls? What if Tobias is getting rid of the bodies for him?”

  “Possible,” said Reilly. “I’m not sure it makes sense, though. Why not dump them? Why make those videos and everything?”

  “Yeah, the videos are throwing us off,” said Wren. “Let’s say that the brother first killed Megan, maybe in a similar manner, out in the woods or something. He sat with the body for a while, working up to his attempt to molest the body, and then maybe Tobias discovered him. Tobias hid the body, thinking maybe no one would find it, but—”

  “But the brother did it again,” said Reilly. “And this time, Tobias can’t get there in time to hide the body. It’s discovered. So, he goes and makes videos and uploads them to try to throw the police off the trail.”

  “And dumps the first body in the library,” said Wren. “I don’t know. It’s a little complicated. Maybe I’m reaching, or being a little too creative.”

  “We should check it out, anyway,” said Reilly.

  * * *

  Later that evening, Reilly was sitting in his car, across the street from Garth Gardner’s house. He shouldn’t have looked up Janessa’s fiance’s address with police resources. It was a bad call, and it was against the rules, and it showed a certain moral failing as well. Reilly was trying to convince himself to start the car and drive home and forget all about this, because it was ridiculous.

  What was he even going to say to this guy?

  Nothing good could come of his being here, and he knew it.

  So, he was going to put the keys in the ignition, start the car, and drive back home. Maybe he’d go to Billy’s, get a beer or two. Maybe Maliah would be there. Maybe he’d even take her home. What did it matter at this point?

  Reilly took a deep breath.

  He opened the door to the car, got out, shoved his keys in his pocket, and shut the car door.

  Aw, hell, this was not what he should be doing.

  He straightened his tie and his suit jacket and had a long stare-down with Garth Gardner’s house. It was a nice house. It was in one of those developments out near Route 9. Perfect commuter location. There was a big back yard. He bet Timmy would like the back yard.

  God damn it.

  He stalked across the street and climbed the steps to the front door of the house. He knocked.

  At first, no one answered, and Reilly told himself it was a sign. It was a reprieve. Now, what he needed to do was get his ass back across the road and get out of here.

  But he didn’t. He knocked again.

  This time, Garth answered the door. He looked surprised. “Can I help you?”

  “You know who I am, right, Garth?” said Reilly, smiling widely.

  “I can’t say that I do,” said Garth.

  “I’m Caius Reilly. I’m Janessa’s ex-husband.”

  Garth’s eyes widened. He took a step back. He was a little afraid.

  Reilly smiled wider. “I just want the truth, Garth. Janessa won’t give it to me, so I came to you.”

  “The truth?” said Garth. “The truth about what?”

  “How long has this been going on between the two of you?”

  “Uh… I don’t know. It’s been pretty recent. Maybe a few months.”

  Reilly shook his head. “That’s bullshit, and we both know it.”

  “What?” Garth took another step backward. “Look, I don’t know what it is that you want me to say, but I don’t know if I like the way this conversation is going.”

  Reilly stepped forward, bracing an arm against the door frame. “Janessa, there’s no way she decides to marry someone after a few months. No way. So, I’m pretty sure this was going on while she and I were still married. And you know what? It’s not that I care, because I got no call to care. I can’t throw stones, not with after what I did, but, hell, I want to know the truth.”

  “The truth is that we’ve only been together a few months,” said Garth.

  “And that doesn’t make any sense.”

  Garth sighed. He looked down at his shoes and then up at Reilly. “Listen, there’s maybe a little more to it than just what you heard, but I don’t know if I feel right sharing it with you, not if Janessa didn’t want to tell you. She must have had some reason to keep it to herself.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I think maybe you’ll need to talk to her,” said Garth. He stroked his chin thoughtfully. “On the other hand, talking to you upsets her, and it’d probably be better not to upset her right now.”

  “Listen, if there’s something that you should be telling me, please speak up,” said Reilly.

  “Or what?” said Garth. “You threatening me?”

  “Absolutely not,” said Reilly, but he didn’t give up any ground either. “I would never do that.”

  Garth smirked. “Right.” He didn’t sound as though he believed Reilly.

  “Listen,” said Reilly, “I’m not leaving until you start talking.”

  “I can see why she divorced you,” said Garth.

  “You can insult me all you want. It’s not going to change anything. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Garth didn’t say anything.

  “Come on,” said Reilly. “Spit it out.”

  Garth spread his hands. “She’s pregnant.”

  Reilly suddenly felt as though the world had tilted sideways. He scrabbled at the door frame, clutching it like it was the only firm thing in a sudden storm. “What?”

  “I don’t know if she doesn’t want you to know for some reason, but I think it’s better if there aren’t a lot of secrets. Anything that’ll keep you from making her feel unbalanced. She needs to care of herself right now. I don’t know if she’ll agree with my decision to tell you, but I guess that’s something she and I will have to talk about.”

  “What?” Reilly said again.

  “It wasn’t planned,” said Garth. “It happened, and we would have done it differently if we had the opportunity, but we didn’t, so we’re making the best of it. I always wanted a family. I’m excited. I think she is too. It’s fast, but it’s going to be good.”

  Reilly shook his head.

  “All right, well, I told you,” said Garth. “Now, I’ll thank you to get off my porch.”

  Reilly stumbled backwards, scrambling down to the steps. He didn’t say goodbye. He fought his way across the road back to his car and got inside, slamming the door closed against everything out there. He was having trouble catching his breath.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “Well, well, well,” said Hawk Marner, peering down at Reilly. “If it isn’t the detective.” Hawk was holding a beer and he was standing up next to the bar.

  Reilly was sitting down at a bar stool. He’d ordered a shot and a beer, and he’d been hunched over his drinks, committed to doing nothing except drinking them as quickly as possible. He thought he’d done a good job of conveying that he didn’t want to talk to anyone, but maybe Hawk was shit at reading body language.

  “This seat taken?” said Hawk, already settling down on the stool
next to Reilly.

  Reilly glanced at him. “What if that seat is taken?”

  Hawk set his beer down on the bar. “You don’t want to talk to me, Detective?”

  “No,” said Reilly tersely.

  Hawk laughed.

  Reilly sighed. He had a shot in front of him. He downed it. Grimaced. Chased it with beer.

  “You don’t look like you’re doing too well, there,” said Hawk.

  Reilly glared at him over the beer bottle. “What do you want?”

  “Just making friendly conversation.” Hawk turned outward to face the rest of the room, resting one arm on the bar. “Not that it comes real easily to me, especially since I know you thought I was capable of murdering little girls.”

  “You were one of a number of suspects,” said Reilly. “And I happen to have it on good authority that you’re visiting the jackass who was responsible. You go see him once a week like clockwork.”

  “Major’s family,” said Hawk. “You don’t abandon family.”

  Reilly took a drink of beer. He was in a bad mood, and he didn’t even know why. The news he’d gotten from Garth Gardner, it had tinged everything in the universe with a dark brush. He couldn’t understand why.

  No, that wasn’t it. He could understand, if he wanted to admit it to himself, but he didn’t want to admit it. He didn’t want to examine his emotions and confront whatever it was inside him that was reacting to this news.

  Instead, he was drinking.

  Hell, maybe Hawk was a good distraction. He surveyed the other man. “You really want us to have a friendly beer together now and again?”

  “Sure.” Hawk shrugged.

  “Why? What do you care?”

  “Maybe I don’t,” said Hawk. “Maybe I’ll go and see if someone wants to play pool.” He dug in his pocket and came up with some quarters for the table.

  “You any good at pool?” said Reilly, standing up from the bar.

  Hawk raised his eyebrows. “I’m not bad.”

  “Fine. Sure. I’ll play.”

  Hawk laughed. “I thought you wanted rid of me, Detective.”

  Reilly picked up his beer and headed across the room to the pool table. He looked it over, the green felt worn off in a few places. He picked up the triangle rack, moved it to the proper side of the table.