Keller says, “Mr. Young, I understand this may be a difficult subject. But you may be able to help us catch—”
“I’ve got nothing to say!” he shouts.
The department head’s eyes widen. “Walter, I think these agents just need to—”
“Get out!”
“Walter, I’m—”
“Out!” Walter lurches from behind his desk. Keller, Atticus, and the department head bump into each other walking backward out of the small office. Walter slams the door.
The department head escorts them out of the facility, apologizing for Walter’s behavior. It’s a difficult topic, his daughter’s murder, he explains. And Walter obviously has some social issues.
Outside, Atticus says, “What the hell was that?”
“No idea.” It was weird, but they need to push forward, go systematically through the prior investigation.
“Who’s next on our schedule?” Keller asks.
“Candy O’Shaughnessy’s mother. But not until two o’clock. Still no word from the other parents,” he says, checking his phone.
“More parents…” Keller lets loose a breath. They have time to kill. She thinks about her discussion with Bob last night—that perhaps Ella Monroe told a detective what the killer said to her. “I’d like to talk to the original leads on the investigation.”
“There were two leads,” Atticus says. “One died a few years back; the other, his name is Tony Grosso, retired shortly after the killings.”
“You got an address for him?”
“No, but I can ask the HR department. He probably gets a pension, so they’d have it.”
“If he still lives nearby, we’ve got some time, so let’s see if he’ll talk.”
“Why? You think the file’s missing something?” Atticus asks.
“It always is,” Keller says. “It always is.”
CHAPTER 26
ELLA
“You grew up here?” Jesse looks about the ornate dining room.
Ella doesn’t answer. She’s sipping coffee from one of the Shelley teacups her mother spent a small fortune on. Charles has checked in on her more than once, offering breakfast. But she has no appetite. Maybe it’s because of last night, the weight of the secret Jesse told her. Or maybe it’s being back in this house, dreading the visit with her mother.
Jesse drops down on the chair across from her. “But you, like, went to public school in Union County. You worked at a video store. I don’t understand—”
“Neither did my mother. It’s a long story.”
“I want to hear it,” Jesse says, not letting it go. She’s already got a journalist’s taste for the red meat of a story.
“My father insisted. After my older brother—Shane—overdosed. Dad blamed the money. That they’d spoiled him … the lifestyle.”
Jesse scrunches her face. “And he thought sending you to public school would—”
“Do me a favor,” Ella says, interrupting her. “Don’t bring this up when you meet my mom.”
Ella’s mother never forgave her dad for his little experiment—removing Ella from boarding school, sending her to Union High—and even letting her have a part-time job, the thing that ultimately ruined Ella. It was the last straw that broke their marriage. Or, as Phyllis would say in her wannabe English manner, it was the drop that made the cup run over.
“Why?” Jesse asks. “Does she blame your dad for what happened to you?”
Ella doesn’t answer.
“How’d they get so rich?”
“You’ll have to ask my great-great-grandfather.”
Jesse thinks about this. “Is that why the stories about Blockbuster have hardly any information about you? I mean, like, because you’re Bruce Wayne’s daughter or something?”
“More like Martha Wayne,” Ella corrects. “I imagine my mom’s army of lawyers and political connections didn’t hurt.”
“Where’s your dad?”
“Where’s yours?” Ella shoots back.
Jesse cocks her head to the side, seeming surprised—or maybe amused—at the edge in Ella’s response.
Ella immediately regrets it. “My father died,” she says in a softer tone.
It happened when Ella was in college. But her father really died on New Year’s Eve 1999, if Ella’s honest about it. Correction: he died the night police arrived at the house about Shane.