Poisonous: A Novel (37 page)

Tommy’s bottom lip trembled. “I-I don’t know. Mom told her never to come back and she and Mr. Kane left. Maybe we’ll never find out who killed Ivy.”

“She’s not leaving,” said Austin. “She
can’t
leave. I’m going to talk to her.”

“It’s dark. It’s almost nine o’clock.”

“The bike trail has lights. This is important.”

“I don’t think you should.”

It was all Austin could do not to snap back at Tommy. Didn’t he know he was doing this all for him? Didn’t he know that everything he’d done, he’d done for them?

“I have to talk to her,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Text me when you get back so I know you’re okay.”

“I’m sleeping in your tree house tonight.”

Tommy shook his head. “I don’t want to go to jail.”

“You won’t. I’ll be okay, I promise. It’s only a thirty-minute bike ride,” Austin said.

Before Tommy could argue with him—not that Austin would listen—Austin climbed out of the tree house and left.

Chapter Twenty-nine

Austin sped down the bike trail and it only took him twenty-nine minutes to get to Sausalito, and another five to arrive at Max Revere’s hotel.

He locked up his bike. His heart pounded in his chest from the ride, and he breathed heavily from his mouth. He was hot from the exertion, but his hands and face were like ice. The hotel was spread out into multiple buildings, more like oversized houses, and he headed for the building where he knew she was staying. Austin didn’t want to call her first—what if she didn’t want to talk to him? Or if she was mad at him for not telling her about the sleepwalking? As if that matters! Austin had learned, especially in the last year, that adults looked for any excuse to tell you that you were shit out of luck.

After Paula banned Tommy from the house, Austin had gone to see Bill at his office in the city. He’d waited two hours for Bill to finish a meeting and talk to him. Bill listened—Austin gave him credit for that—but then his stepdad said, “Austin, I’m glad Tommy has a friend like you. I’ve talked to Paula about this, and I think deep down she knows that Tommy would never hurt anyone, but she’s still grieving for Ivy. We need to give her some space to let her sort through this on her own. I’ll find time to take you and Tommy to a ball game or maybe a fishing trip like we talked about last summer before … before Ivy died.”

Nothing happened. Austin’s mother hadn’t budged, Bill was never home. His mom devoted herself to Bella. That kid had more activities and playdates than anyone Austin knew. She had even modeled for some kids’ clothing magazine.

Austin didn’t care about all that. His own dad was a jerk, too. Even more of a workaholic than Bill. More often than not, he canceled their scheduled visitations. Austin hadn’t seen him since last Christmas. Before that, he’d come for Ivy’s funeral. Flew in that morning, out that night.

Austin tried the door into Max’s building. Damn! He needed a keycard to get in. He waited fifteen minutes before someone walked out, then he slipped inside. The couple noticed, but didn’t say anything. He didn’t care, let them call security. He’d be gone before they got here.

He ran up the stairs to her room and knocked on her door. Louder. Why wasn’t she coming? He pounded again. “Max! Ms. Revere! It’s Austin Lake. Please! I have to talk to you!”

Had she already left? Why? Did she think Tommy killed Ivy, too? It wasn’t fair!

“Damn you, Maxine Revere!” he screamed.

*   *   *

David Kane jumped up from the couch in his hotel suite. He’d been reading an e-mail from Dr. Arthur Ullman, one of Max’s contacts, answering his questions about sleepwalking. David grabbed his gun and opened the door.

Austin. He was standing in front of Max’s door, raising his fist to pound again.

“Austin!” David said sharply.

The kid jumped around, surprised and scared. And angry. Anger and fear was etched in Austin’s face so clearly, it was as though David was looking into a mirror of his own past.

“I need to talk to her
right now!”
The kid stepped toward him, anger dominating his fear. “She’s leaving, isn’t she? She doesn’t care. Joke’s on me, huh? Who cares what I think? Who cares about Ivy? I don’t. I don’t care she’s dead. I don’t care!” Through the rage, he was crying, a thirteen-year-old kid trying to deal with a situation that was completely out of his control.

“Come in my room,” David said.

“She’s gone. She left. She’s not going to help, is she?”

A hotel security officer came down the hall, his hand on his radio. “I’ve called the police, Mr. Kane,” he said. “I’ll take him to the office.”

“It’s fine, Jay. I’ve got this.”

Jay looked uncertain. “He slipped in behind two guests. They came immediately to the front desk. I know—”

“I said all’s good. He won’t make any more trouble.”

“If you’re sure.”

“Thanks for coming so quickly,” David said. He opened the door wider and pulled Austin inside and closed the door behind him.

“You need to calm down, Austin. Pull yourself together and then tell me exactly what happened.”

Austin rubbed his face with the sleeve of his jacket and stood in the middle of David’s suite but didn’t budge.

David grabbed a water bottle from the minifridge and handed it to Austin. The kid just held the bottle, as if not knowing what to do with it.

“Sit,” David said.

The kid glared at him. He was debating his options, and obeying seemed to win out. He sat on the edge of the chair, ready to bolt.

David sat across from him. “Max is out working the case, but she’ll be back.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“Why shouldn’t you?”

Austin jumped up. “Because you and Max are just like everyone else!”

“Sit!” David ordered.

Austin waited several seconds before he sat down. A power play. A way to show David that he would sit when he wanted to.

“What happened?” David asked.

“You talked to that old hag, Mrs. Baker. Why’d you have to do that? Mrs. Baker hates kids. She hates Tommy. She called him an idiot.” Austin took a deep breath, and David appreciated his effort to control himself. “Tommy doesn’t sleepwalk anymore, not much anyway. And it doesn’t matter if he does, that doesn’t have anything to do with Ivy. Now everything is all fucked.”

“Max told you and Tommy that the truth is sometimes difficult to hear. She doesn’t investigate cases unless someone in the family wants her to because inevitably, some people aren’t happy with the truth.”

“So she’s quitting?” Defiant and scared, and mad as hell.

“No.” David sat down across from Austin. “You’re an angry kid. I saw it at the school when the reporter Lorenzo came up to you.” David didn’t say anything for a minute. He suspected the anger had been simmering for years. Besides the divorce and all the family turmoil, there was also the fact that Austin didn’t understand his mother and didn’t like his sister. When you didn’t like someone who then ends up dead, that’s when guilt seeps in, and there was no stopping it.

David had more than his fair share of guilt. Even now, when he knew he had no control over events in his past, guilt ate at him. He could have done more.
Should
have done more. Even when he knew in his gut that nothing he did would have made a difference, guilt that he was a lesser man always stayed with him.

“If Tommy wants her to leave, will she?” Austin asked.

“Did he say that?”

“Not exactly.”

“What do you think is going on here, Austin? Why do you think Jenny had such a negative reaction?”

“I don’t know,” he said quickly, but he wasn’t looking at David.

He knew. He might not be able to articulate his thoughts, but Austin was a smart kid and he had an idea of what Jenny Wallace was thinking.

David let Austin sit for a minute. The kid squirmed, his brow furrowed, his hands clenched in his lap.

“What if we never find out what happened to Ivy?” Austin said, his voice quiet.

It wasn’t a question David could answer.

“Have you eaten dinner?”

“My mom cooked.”

“Did you eat?”

The kid shrugged.

“I’ll call for room service. Cheeseburgers? Fries?”

Austin shrugged and nodded at the same time.

David made the call, then sat back down. Austin was calm, contemplative.

Still angry.

“Max doesn’t stop an investigation just because it becomes difficult,” David said. “She might not be able to solve Ivy’s murder, but it won’t be for lack of trying. And the more someone tells her not to do something or to stay away, the more determined she becomes. She doesn’t like anyone telling her what to do. Does that remind you of anybody? Regardless, before she leaves, Max will exhaust every lead.”

“My mom wants a restraining order,” Austin said. “Why is she doing this? Tommy never hurt anyone. He’s the only person who has never said a mean word to anyone in his life.”

*   *   *

It was late, long past sunset, two hours after Max grabbed a quick sandwich in her hotel. But Grace had called Max and asked her to meet, so Max put aside preparing her interview questions for Stephen Cross and drove to the edge of the bay, down a dead-end road lined with industrial shops. A broken-down block bordering an affluent community.

There were a half-dozen police cars, a fire truck, and an ambulance, but there was no urgency. Lights had been put up in the area, along a running path that cut through a flat open space. Bushes and grasses and some low growing trees lined the marsh.

She found Grace talking to Chief Reinecke near the headlights of two cop cars. She approached, surprised when no one stopped her.

“Revere,” Grace said.

“You were cryptic on the phone.”

“We found Travis Whitman.”

Max glanced around the area. The cops. The dogs. The lack of urgency.

“He’s dead.”

Grace nodded. “Been dead for a while, probably since yesterday morning when he left to go running. He’s in sweatpants and a Windbreaker. Running shoes. His body isn’t in good condition.”

“Why wasn’t he found earlier? This is a pretty open area.”

“Look, we’ve only been out here for an hour. I don’t have much information yet. It was dusk when a runner heard some yelping. Thought it was an injured or lost dog and went to inspect. Found two juvenile foxes fighting over the body. Called it in. We sealed it off. The coroner’s here now. All I can tell you is that it looks like Travis was shot at least twice. His body was dragged off the path and into the vegetation. We can’t do much tonight, but I’ll have a crew here to protect the crime scene, and a full team come in at dawn to canvass the area.”

Chief Reinecke looked pained. “I’m going to notify his parents.”

“I can do it, Jim,” said Grace. “It’s my case.”

“I’ll do it. Whatever happened—” He glanced at Max. “Well, you’re a smart lady, you suspect it’s connected to Ivy.”

Max did. But how? Travis was killed before her “Crime NET” segment even aired. “Do you have a theory?”

Grace shook her head. “Here’s the kicker—we can’t find Travis’s phone. It’s not on his body, and so far it’s nowhere near his body. It’s not in his truck, which was parked at the dead end. Joggers use this area often. Hikers. Marine biologists. The marsh is used by schools. Because of the drought, it’s drier than usual. This section of the marsh is always useable, but as you get closer to the bay the tides come in. I don’t know if the killer thought the tide would come in this far or not—but it doesn’t. Still, his body was in a damp area, and there was animal and bird activity.”

“You don’t think it was robbery.”

“His wallet was in his jacket pocket.”

“He knew something,” said Max

“We can’t speculate,” Reinecke said, “and I would appreciate if you didn’t, either. I didn’t want to call, but Grace said you have an insight into this case and have interviewed people we haven’t spoken to in over a year. She assured me you wouldn’t give away anything.”

“I’m not that kind of reporter,” Max said. “I don’t have a nightly news deadline I need to meet. I’m here to find out who killed Ivy Lake.” She paused. “And I suspect whoever killed Ivy also killed Travis.”

“And we’re back to square one,” Grace said.

“No, we are not,” Max said.

Grace arched her eyebrow. “We?”

“Like the chief said, I have insight into this case.” Max paused, considered how to give Grace the information she had. “Bailey Fairstein, Ivy’s former best friend, told me Travis had cornered her at her school on Tuesday. He knew I was in town and accused Bailey of putting a phone in his locker. She didn’t know what he was talking about, and because I was talking to her about Ivy’s psychology, it didn’t really stick with me. I’d planned to follow up with Travis.”

Grace glanced at the Chief. “We have access to school lockers?” she asked.

He nodded. “Call the school deputy and tell him to seal the locker. He’ll contact the principal, but there’s no warrant necessary. When you’re done here, you can search it.”

Max said, “Bailey told me she’d had no contact with Travis until he came to her school, and that he’d seemed … agitated. Upset.”

“Because of your questions?” Reinecke asked.

“This was before I spoke to him. Before most people knew I was here. It seems that Travis knew something about Ivy’s death. Whether he was involved in her murder remains unclear, but he knew something that he didn’t share with you or me. And that knowledge got him killed.”

“He told his mother he was running with his friend Brian,” said Grace. “Brian claimed not to have spoken to him that morning. After I search Travis’s locker, I’ll go over and formally interview him. He lives in the mobile home park not a quarter mile from here. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

Reinecke said, “I’m going to check in with the coroner, then go see Mr. and Mrs. Whitman. Keep me informed of every step of the investigation.”

“Yes, sir,” Grace said.

After he left, Max said, “I had a few calls on the hotline. Nothing specific, but I’m going to interview a family who moved from town, possibly after something happened with Ivy. They live in San Rafael.”