Everyone Here Is Lying(51)

She says, “No.”

Bledsoe leans in close, lowers his voice. “A lie like that can get you into a lot of trouble.” He adds, “You could be charged with falsifying an incident, which is a serious charge.” She swallows, tears her eyes from his, and looks down at the table. “Did you see Avery get into Ryan Blanchard’s car on Tuesday afternoon?”

Now she lifts her eyes and looks up at them, as if coming to a decision. Gully waits, realizes she’s holding her breath.

Finally, she says, “Yes.”

Bledsoe lets out a long breath and looks down at some notes in the file on the table in front of him. “Okay. You said you were sure it was his car, but you didn’t see him specifically.”

She nods.

“Where were you when you saw this?”

“I was on my front porch.”

“You waited more than a day to make the first call. And then you refused to identify yourself. And then you denied it. Why?”

She swallows again. “I should have called right away. I realize that now. I regret that I didn’t. But I guess I hoped she would turn up and she would be all right. That’s what I told myself. Then, when she didn’t, I called, from a pay phone.” Gully and Bledsoe wait. “I didn’t want my name mixed up in any of this. I didn’t want to be in the news.”

“And why is that?” Bledsoe asks.

“Because of my ex-husband,” Marion says miserably. “I escaped a very abusive relationship a number of years ago. I had to get a restraining order against him. I don’t want him to know where I’m living now. I thought if I came forward as a witness, my name and photo would be in the news, and he would find me.” She looks back at them. “I didn’t want to risk him hurting me. I hope you can understand that.”

Gully finds her convincing. Her explanation makes sense. How unfortunate, she thinks wearily, that the one person who last saw Avery alive was too afraid for her own life to come forward.

“We can try to protect you, keep your name out of it,” Bledsoe says.

“Can you?” She looks back at him desperately. “Can you really do that?”

The relief she so obviously feels at this makes Gully feel genuinely sorry for her, even though she’s angry that she didn’t come forward voluntarily, and sooner. It might have made all the difference.



* * *



? ? ?

    Marion Cooke is uneasy as she leaves the police station after signing her written statement. She’d parked her car on the street and now she walks that way. It’s after four o’clock, but she doesn’t want to go home yet. She decides to walk around downtown for a while, to clear her head. As she walks, glancing in shop windows, her thoughts turn to what might happen now.





Thirty-two


Nora Blanchard opens her front door just before five o’clock and feels the world tilt. It’s the detectives, Bledsoe and Gully, back again, and they look grim.

“Is your son home?” Bledsoe asks.

She wants to lie, tell them he’s out—anything to prevent what she knows is going to happen next. But Ryan is already coming down the stairs; he must have heard the knock. Or maybe he’s been watching for them out his window, expecting them.

Nora can’t speak. She feels a terrible dread. Ryan comes and stands beside her.

Bledsoe looks at Ryan and says, “The witness has come forward, the one who saw Avery get into your car on Tuesday afternoon at four thirty.” He adds, “We’re taking you into custody. You’re under arrest.” Bledsoe reads him his rights again.

Ryan turns white as the cuffs go on. He bursts out, “They’re lying!”

Nora finds her voice. “It’s not true! Who is this witness?” she cries. But they ignore her. As they take her son away, Nora calls after him, “I’m coming with you, Ryan. I’m right behind you. I’ll call Oliver. I’ll get your father. We’ll be there with you.”



* * *



? ? ?

Gully drives, occasionally glancing via the rearview mirror at the white-faced boy sitting handcuffed and silent in the back. Bledsoe is beside her, probably running through his mind how he’s going to conduct the interrogation. They know they can’t talk to him until his attorney, Oliver Fuller, is present. For that reason, they probably won’t get anything out of him. But Bledsoe will try to scare him, then offer him hope—offer him something to make him talk. A lot depends on what happens in the next hour or two. Gully takes a deep breath. She knows they can’t fuck this up.

The attorney wastes no time getting to the station. They are soon all seated together in the interview room—Bledsoe and Gully on one side of the table, Ryan and Oliver Fuller on the other, like before. The interview is being videotaped. The cuffs have been removed.

“This is serious, Ryan,” Bledsoe begins. “A girl is missing.” Ryan stares straight ahead, not meeting the detectives’ eyes. But he’s trembling like a leaf. “We have a credible witness who will testify that they saw Avery getting into your car at approximately four thirty on Tuesday afternoon. And no one has seen her since.” He pauses. “We know you didn’t get home until sometime between six and six thirty. What were you doing in that time?”