Suffer II (6 page)

Deputy Anderson walked into the sheriff’s office and closed the door behind him. He was carrying a folder full of documents he had just finished printing. Lewis sat in silence for several minutes as Anderson skimmed the pages inside.

“Wow,” said Anderson.

“That’s it?” asked Lewis. “Wow?”

“You’ll be saying the same thing,” said Anderson. “I’ll give you the short version before she gets here, but there’s a lot more coming off the printer.”

“Who is she?”

“For starters, she’s filthy rich,” said Anderson. “Eighty million rich after she sold her dead husband’s company for forty of that.”

“How’d he die?”

“Accidental drowning while scuba diving is the official cause of death. The Coast Guard never recovered his body. Her alibi is pretty solid. She was in a coma when it happened.”

“A coma?” asked Lewis. “From what?”

“Bear with me, boss. There’s a lot to cover here. Pretty crazy stuff.”

“She’ll be here any minute. Speed this up.”

“Okay,” said Anderson, taking a deep breath. “About a year ago in the Florida Keys a man broke into their vacation home. He raped and tortured Kate for hours before killing her son in front of her. He was six.”

“Jesus Christ,” said Lewis, rubbing his temples.

“They believe his plan was to kill her too, but by some miracle she survived. She was stabbed multiple times in the chest and abdomen. He sliced her throat, but not deep enough to sever any arteries. He also cut up her face pretty bad. She ended up losing her left eye. They say she lost almost half the blood in her body.”

“You said this happened a year ago?” asked Lewis.

“Yep.”

“And now she’s in our town asking questions about Emily Pierce,” said Lewis.

“Well, not exactly,” said Anderson. “She was invited by Karla. Kate runs a Victims of Violent Crimes online support group. I was able to read their message thread that started about a month ago. Karla asked for her help, believing that nobody here cares that her daughter is missing.”

“Did they ever find the guy that attacked Kate?” asked Lewis.

“Not yet. The investigation is ongoing, but it doesn’t look good from what I’ve read. I already reached out to the lead agency working on her case. The guy in charge is Sheriff Doyle. I left a message for him to get back to me.”

“Conrad Doyle?” asked Lewis.

“Yes, sir.”

“I know him. Not personally, but I know of him. He’s given a few lectures at the Drug Interdiction conference in Miami. He’s highly regarded in the law enforcement community. I’d like to be the one to talk to him.”

“Roger that,” said Anderson. “I’ll let you know if he calls back.”

A knock on the door let them know that Kate and Karla had arrived. “Okay, Anderson. Keep digging. I need to know what kind of people we’re dealing with here. You can go ahead and bring them in.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sheriff Lewis stood and walked to the front of his desk. He straightened his uniform and pulled another chair closer. He forced a smile when they walked inside.

“Good morning, Ms. Karla,” said Lewis. “And you must be Kate Freeman.”

“I am,” said Kate, extending her hand.

“Please take a seat.”

“I’m not staying,” said Karla. “In fact, I won’t come back here again if you make me a promise.”

“That depends,” said Lewis, crossing his arms and sitting on the corner of his desk.

“Tell her everything you haven’t told me,” said Karla. “Tell her everything that you think that I can’t handle. The time for sparing me heartache is over. I need to find my baby. Kate is here to help me do that.”

“I promise I’ll tell her everything I can,” said Lewis, standing. “You have my word.”

“That’s good enough for me,” said Karla. “I’ll leave you two alone now.”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting that,” said Lewis, sitting behind his desk.

“But you were expecting me,” said Kate, taking a seat.

“Tyler McKenzie called me this morning after he left Karla’s place. He told me you were asking questions about Emily.”

Kate was pleased that he didn’t try to lie. She already knew he wouldn’t be telling her everything. She didn’t know if it was because he was protecting himself, or if his hands were tied by someone else.

“Why do you think he warned you?” asked Kate.

“I’m not sure,” said Lewis. “He hasn’t been my biggest fan. The way I look at it, he either called because he’s truly concerned about Ms. Karla’s well-being, or he called to get in my good graces so I wouldn’t talk to you.”

“You’d like to believe it’s only because of his concern for her,” said Kate.

“You’re very perceptive. I believe it could be both.”

“You already know what happened to me, don’t you?”

“I do, Mrs. Freeman. I know a few of the details, but I don’t need to know all of them.”

“Why is that?”

“Because the second I found out your son was killed, I thought about mine when he was six. I tried to image the pain you must have gone through. I couldn’t. My brain wasn’t able to process it. I’m not sure why you’re here or what you plan on doing in our town, but I want you to know this: I’m sorry for your loss. I’m sorry your family was taken like that.”

“Thank you, Sheriff. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to accept what happened to them.”

“You may form an opinion about me when you leave today that might not be flattering,” said Lewis. “There are questions you’re going to ask that I can’t answer. Like Karla, you may think I’m dragging my feet and don’t care about what happened to Emily. That wouldn’t be the truth.”

“What can you tell me about her arrests?”

“On the record, there weren’t any,” said Lewis. “By law, she was never arrested, charged, or punished by the courts for anything.”

“Because they were expunged,” said Kate.

“I see you’ve done your homework,” said Lewis. “Yes, they were expunged with speed. Not only that, but they made sure everything disappeared. I mean everything. I’ve never seen anything like it in my twenty years on the job. We were ordered by the court to destroy all physical and electronic evidence associated with Emily’s non-arrests. We had no choice but to comply.

“Officially, it never happened. Included in the documents were gag orders that were executed against every deputy and employee at my office, the State Patrol, and any court official that was aware of her non-arrests. Simply put, I have no records indicating that Emily Pierce was ever questioned, detained, or arrested at any point in time, until the end of time.

“With that being said, Mrs. Freeman, you’re going to have to look elsewhere for information about her arrests for drug possession, prostitution, DUI, and public intoxication charges that never happened.”

“I walked in here not knowing if you were going to stonewall me because of personal involvement or because your hands are tied,” said Kate. “I believe I have my answer now.”

“You have no idea,” said Lewis. “I can’t even tell you who signed off for the records to be expunged or who issued the stack of gag orders. I don’t think it’s going to take you long to figure it out.”

“It won’t,” said Kate. “Can you talk to me about the missing persons report filed and where the investigation stands?”

“That, I can do,” said Lewis, smiling. “Once Ms. Karla filed the report, our investigators were told by reliable sources that Emily was addicted to heroin and may have been trading sex for it. We obtained information about a few places she would frequent to either buy or use. A couple of those places are hard to get to. I’m sure you’re familiar with our local topography.”

“I am,” said Kate. “I’ve heard it mentioned a few times that Boudreaux is at the end of the earth.”

“Maybe not the earth, but certainly the end of the road,” said Lewis. “Between us and the Gulf of Mexico are hundreds of square miles of sparsely inhabited wetlands made up of bayous, swamps, and marshes. The few folks that do live out there aren’t particularly fond of law enforcement or government. We searched those locations and found nothing.”

“What do you think happened to her, Sheriff?” asked Kate.

“Just like the rest of the country, heroin is making a strong comeback around here. It’s now cheaper than meth and the high is longer and better. What I find hard to tell Karla is that I do believe Emily was addicted to it and on occasion traded sex for it. I think she died out there in the swamp. I don’t know how or where, but she’s gone.”

“I agree with you,” said Kate. “But I believe she was murdered.”

“I’m not saying that she wasn’t,” said Lewis. “I am saying we don’t have enough evidence to open a homicide investigation. Even if I did, I have a funny feeling it would be shut down the same day I started it.”

“That doesn’t make you angry?”

“I knew Hank,” said Lewis, lowering his head. “He was a good man that loved his wife and adored Emily. She was his world. I’m glad he’s not around to see what happened to her. Yes, it makes me angry.”

“Karla is,” said Kate.

“I’m sorry?” said Lewis, raising his head.

“Karla is around to see what happened to her,” said Kate. “I know how it feels to lose your family. I know how it feels to have everything you love taken away from you in an instant. All she has left is hope that Emily can be found and laid to rest next to her father. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. That’s the reason why I’m here. I’m not leaving until I find her.”

“You’re going to find out quickly how hard that’s going to be,” said Lewis. “There are bodies out there that may never be found. If you start kicking over rocks, you’re going to find snakes. A lot of them. This is a dangerous place, Mrs. Freeman. Trust me when I tell you that.”

“I appreciate your candor and your help, Sheriff. I won’t be coming back anytime soon. I now have what I came for today. Thank you for that.”

“Do you mind me asking what that was?” said Lewis.

“A name to cross off my list,” said Kate, smiling at Lewis. “A list nobody wants to be on.”

“Somehow, I know you’re serious about that. Listen, I’ll do what I can to help, but I’m afraid it won’t be much. I have a family of my own, and they need me to come home every day. Those snakes I’m talking about are poisonous and come at you in different shapes and sizes in this town. You’re going to figure that out as well.”

“I plan on it,” said Kate. “I have a few snakes of my own.”

“I hope you’re right,” said Lewis. “Can I ask something of you?”

“Of course.”

“I understand you have the means to make things happen quickly.”

“I do.”

“Then get Ms. Karla as far away from this place as you can before you kick over that first rock. I’m serious about that, Mrs. Freeman. She’s been through enough.”

“Arrangements have already been made,” said Kate, standing. “She’ll be leaving tomorrow night. She’ll be safe where she’s going.”

“Thank you,” said Lewis. “I hope you understand that I wish I could do more, but my hands truly are tied with this one. To be honest, I’m glad you’re here. I didn’t see you coming and neither will they.”

“I do understand,” said Kate, shaking his hand before leaving. “Yours may be tied, but mine aren’t.”

Grey sat at the desk in his hotel room staring at the growing list of names in his notebook. He had read Emily’s journals twice. On the third round, he was reading slower. As an FBI agent, his job was to crawl inside the minds of violent criminals. Grey was considered one of the best profilers in the Atlanta field office. His fellow agents called it his gift. On most days, he called it his curse.

As he rubbed the stubble on his face, it concerned him that it was easier for him to understand how the minds of serial killers and rapists worked more than Emily’s. He knew the complicated answers to the easy questions were concealing themselves within the pages of her journals. Each time he read them he felt closer to her, but understanding how her life spun out of control eluded him.

“You’re on this list. You’re on it because I loved you. You blindsided me, and I died without knowing it was you that killed me. You didn’t do it with your own hands, but you put me in the room with the person who did. I loved you, and you used that against me.

“Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. You stayed close to me because you wanted to see me broken and defeated. You wanted to watch me disintegrate into what I became. When I was at my lowest, you were always there to comfort me. Why did you want to hurt me so bad? What did I do to you?”

A knock on his door pushed Emily’s voice out of his head and back into the silence. Grey looked at his watch and realized he had been sitting there for hours. Without looking through the peephole, he opened the door. Without saying a word, he turned and walked to a chair in the corner.

Kate stood in the doorway for a moment with a raised eyebrow. When she saw Grey’s face after he sat in the chair, she knew what he was doing before she arrived. It was an ability they both possessed that made them effective and efficient hunters. It created a bond between them that neither could explain to anyone else. As she passed the desk, she looked at his list before sitting in the chair across from him. Kate waited for Grey to speak first.

“When you came out of your coma, I knew you had changed,” said Grey, breaking the silence. It wasn’t the direction she expected him to go. “I knew that you had already made your choice.”

“How many choices did you think I had?” asked Kate.

“Two,” said Grey, looking over at her. “Two roads you could’ve taken. One light and one dark. You could’ve just accepted what happened to you as a shitty set of circumstances. You know, sometimes bad things happen to good people. You could’ve let your family take care of you while you healed. They would’ve been by your side every step of the way while you let the police find Diego. And even if they couldn’t, you know I would have.”

“But I chose the other road,” said Kate. “I chose to fight back.”

“No, you chose revenge. Plain and simple. It’s the reason why we’re here now.”

“I could’ve accepted what happened to me,” said Kate. “I’m serious. If it was just me that he hurt, I would’ve let the police – and you – find him while I healed. But he didn’t just hurt me, Grey. He killed my child.

“When I was aware enough to realize what he had done, I had no choice because he didn’t leave me with any. If you had found him, and I know you would have, you wouldn’t have had any choices either. You would’ve arrested him and left his fate at the mercy of the courts.

“There’s no doubt in my mind he would’ve been convicted and sent to prison for the rest of his life. You and I both know that people don’t rot in prison. They’re fed, given a warm, soft place to sleep, and have people watching over them to make sure they’re treated humanely. They can read books, watch TV, and even get an education if they choose. If
they
choose.

“He didn’t give Caleb a choice for anything. He didn’t give him a choice to either live or die. He made it for him and cut his throat. You’re wrong about me having two roads. When I came out of my coma, I only had one. He took my baby’s life, so I was going to take his. Plain and simple.”

“I get that,” said Grey. “I guess I’m just trying to wrap my head around why that isn’t happening here.”

“What do you mean?” asked Kate.

“Why aren’t the people that care about Emily burning this town to the ground looking for answers? She was sweet, kind, beautiful, and would do anything for her family and friends. She had a good heart, Kate. She didn’t deserve any of this, but nobody seems to give a shit about that.”

“And there it is,” said Kate, smiling.

“Where’s what?” asked Grey, narrowing his eyes.

“I hate to say it, but I was right.”

“Just spit it out and stop gloating, please.”

“It actually happened faster than I expected, but you care about Emily,” said Kate. “So do I. We’ve become those people who are going to burn this town to the ground looking for answers. The difference between us and them is that we’re strong enough to do it. You talk about being an outsider looking in. Well, that’s what makes us very powerful around here. Whoever hurt Emily won’t be able to hurt us.”

“Oh, they’ll try, Kate.”

“I know. That’s why Chief, Evan, and Abby are coming tomorrow. We’re going to need them here.”

“For the record, I knew you were going to bring everybody whether I agreed to it or not.”

“And you didn’t argue with me?” asked Kate, replacing the smile with a frown. “Where’s the fun in that?”

“It’s just easier for me to argue when I know I have a chance to win.”

“Smart man.”

“I take it Karla will be leaving on the same plane that’s bringing them?”

“Yes,” said Kate. “Tomorrow night. Also, you can take her name off that –”

“Nope,” said Grey, cutting her off. “She’s not on my list because I think she killed her. She’s on it because she’s not telling us everything she knows. She’s coming across as this sweet, frail, vulnerable woman. I’ll buy some of that, but not all of it. We need her to give up some of her ghosts.”

“That’s what makes you better at this than me, Grey. You know when to care, and when not to.”

“What about the sheriff?” asked Grey. “Can he come off my list?”

“Yes,” said Kate. “He’s in the same boat you and Chief were in when you were still cops. He has to play by the rules or risk losing his job. He also hinted that there are some powerful people who may come after him or his family.”

“I imagine he didn’t give up any names.”

“No, he didn’t. We’re going to leave him alone for now. We’re going to need him later when we start setting those fires.”

“Speaking of powerful people,” said Grey, “there was only one judge who had a kid in the same school and grade as Emily. Her name is Cassandra Hall.”

“Do you know if they were friends?”

“That’s not the kid’s name.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Her kid’s name is Mark,” said Grey. “They knew each other, but I wouldn’t call them friends. He had a thing for her, but she certainly didn’t have one for him. He lived with his mother in Boudreaux while she served as a state district court judge until she was appointed to the United States District Court in New Orleans. His dad skipped out on the family when he was two. I’m guessing Mark stayed with family or a friend until he graduated.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because he was a sophomore when his mom moved up the ladder. Evan is working on getting us his school records and anything else he can dig up about them.”

“Anything yet on Dawson?” asked Kate.

“He’s next on Evan’s list,” said Grey.

“I think it’s a bit strange that he’s not here,” said Kate. “He seemed to care about her a great deal.”

“He may not even know she’s missing,” said Grey.

“How is that possible?”

“I’m not sure. Like I said, I don’t think Karla is telling us everything she knows. According to Emily’s journal, Dawson wanted to get as far away from this town, and his alcoholic father, as possible. Looks like Emily’s dad helped him make that happen.”

“How?”

“A few months before Hank died, he started introducing Dawson to his coworkers. The oil company eventually gave him a job, but the position was on a new rig in North Dakota. He left town as soon as he graduated from high school and didn’t look back. He only visited Boudreaux one time after.”

“Is that when he and Emily had sex?”

“It is.”

“I find it hard to believe that neither Tyler nor Karla let him know she was missing,” said Kate.

“That’s the reason why they’re still on my list.”

“Do you have Dawson’s contact information?” asked Kate.

“I do.”

“Text it to me and let Evan know I’ll be reaching out to him,” said Kate. “Dawson may be more willing to talk to me since I already have a connection with Karla.”

“I’m not sure that would help,” said Grey. “Karla may be the reason why he doesn’t talk to you.”

“No, he’ll open up.”

“Is that one of your gut feelings?”

“It’s a little more than a gut feeling, but yes,” said Kate. “I think you’re looking at Karla in the wrong light.”

“How so?”

“I agree with you that she isn’t telling us everything, but I think it’s more out of embarrassment and regret than anything sinister. She feels responsible for what happened to Emily because she wasn’t strong for her when Hank died. It’s still difficult for her to talk about it.”

“Well, she needs to get over that,” said Grey. “She’s not helping us find her by holding back information.”

“I’ll take care of that,” said Kate. “Anyone else jump out at you from her journals?”

“Yes a few, but one name in particular.”

“Whose?”

“Brittany Greene,” said Grey. “They became close friends their first year in high school. They were a bit of an odd couple since Brittany was more into cheerleading and the social side of school. Emily was more into her academics.

“They were good friends, but became best friends shortly after Hank died. It seems that Brittany was there for her when Karla wasn’t. When Emily wasn’t taking care of her mom, which was damn near all the time, she was with Brittany.”

“What about boyfriends?” asked Kate.

“Brittany certainly had those, but not Emily,” said Grey. “There isn’t much mention of boys at all, other than Tyler and Dawson. She drew a lot of attention from boys, but she didn’t reciprocate from what I read.

“She was asked out a lot, but never went on dates. There was only one guy she wrote about with any affection other than Dawson, but he was off limits.”

“Why was he off limits?” asked Kate.

“He was the quarterback of the football team,” said Grey. “He actually got a full ride to LSU and plays there now. The reason he was off limits was because Brittany was in love with him. To say she was infatuated would be an understatement.

“Emily wrote that he was having trouble with one of his classes and reached out to her for help, but didn’t want anyone to know. He made a move on her and stole a kiss during one of their study dates. She liked him, but immediately shut him down along with their study dates. She told him that her friendship with Brittany was much more important than a guy.”

“Smart girl,” said Kate, smiling. “Did Brittany end up with him?”

“I don’t know,” said Grey.

“We need to find that out.”