by B J Bourg
“By the way,” I whispered to Lou, “good job finding his truck. What made you think to look back here?”
“I used to come out here a lot when I was a patrol deputy and you wouldn’t believe the stuff I’d find.” He shot a thumb over his shoulder toward a large dumpster at the corner of the shell parking lot. “I was cruising through this area one night to see if anyone was doing drugs and I thought I heard a baby crying. When I looked inside the dumpster, I found a baby wrapped in an old wool jacket amidst all the trash.”
“So, that was you, eh?” I’d heard about the incident on the local news. “Didn’t you track down the mother from a receipt you found in the pocket of the jacket?”
He nodded, but didn’t say another word as we watched Michael step from his truck. He had backed the trailer into the water and was manually guiding the boat onto the skids. The girl was standing nearby watching.
“Ready?” I asked. “We should be able to get to him before he can do anything stupid.”
“Let’s do this.” Lou stepped out from his side of the oak tree and I stepped out from mine.
Fanning out a little, we walked across the parking lot, trying not to make any crunching noise in the loose shells. We were about thirty feet from the boat when the girl turned around and let out a screech. Michael whirled around and froze in place when he saw us. Our badges and guns were in plain view on our belts, and that’s what seemed to attract the most attention.
“Hello, officers.” Michael’s voice was hesitant. “Is there something wrong?”
“Michael Odom?” I asked, to which he nodded. I turned to the girl. “And I presume you’re Rose Murdock?”
The girl shook her head and removed her glasses. It was then that I realized she was not our missing girl. My heart fell and my shoulders drooped.
“What’s going on?” Michael asked. “Why’d you think she was Rose? Rose should be at school.”
“No, she’s not at school.” I ambled toward the truck and looked inside. The interior was clean and there were no visible signs of a struggle. For a young man, he kept a tidy truck. I returned to where Michael and the girl were standing and glanced into the boat. There were plastic bags containing grocery items strewn about and a large ice chest pushed up against the bench seat. “How long have you been out on the water?”
“Since yesterday morning,” Michael explained. “My grandpa has a camp out on the lake and we go there sometimes to hang out.”
“Do you have your phone with you?”
He nodded. “It’s in my duffel bag.”
“Why haven’t you answered it?”
“We don’t get reception out on the water.” Michael looked from me to Lou and then back to me. “So, what’s this about? Is something wrong with Rose?”
I turned my attention to the girl. “What’s your name?”
“Faleena,” the girl said in a low voice.
“Faleena?” I didn’t even try to hide my surprise. “Are you the same Faleena who’s supposed to be friends with Rose and who was supposed to go to Orange Beach with her this weekend?”
Faleena’s bronze face turned beet red. She nodded slowly, lowered her head.
“Give me your keys.” I extended my hand toward Michael, who hesitated. My eyes narrowed. “It wasn’t a request.”
He gulped and handed it over.
I nodded in Lou’s direction. “Y’all stand next to Detective Baker while I pull up the boat.”
Michael and Faleena did as instructed.
“Where are you taking us?” Faleena asked.
“Down to the sheriff’s office,” I called over my shoulder. “I’ve got a lot of questions for both of you.”
CHAPTER 16
One hour later…
Lou and I had wolfed down a burger and fries while driving to the Chateau Parish Sheriff’s Office. We had offered to buy food for Michael and Faleena, who were sitting in the back seat of my Tahoe, but neither kid was in the mood to eat. Faleena had begun to cry when she realized something was wrong with Rose. I didn’t tell her that her friend was missing—I wanted to find out what she knew before I told her what was really going on—and I think she was fearing the worst.
Lou had left his unmarked cruiser at the boat launch, along with Michael’s truck and boat, and he rode with me just in case the kids caused problems on the drive to his office.
While Lou led them to separate interview rooms, I took a minute to call Susan and update her on our progress.
“Do you think they took Rose out on the water and killed her?” Susan asked.
I nearly dropped my phone. The thought hadn’t crossed my mind before Susan mentioned it, but I now realized it didn’t fall out of the realm of possibilities. “God, I sure hope not. But if they did, I’m sure Faleena will spill it. She’s been crying since we left the boat launch.”
Before heading for the interview room, I asked about the investigation out at Francis Fitch’s house.
“They’re wrapping it up,” Susan said. “Other than child porn, they didn’t find evidence of criminal activity. All of the images they found so far were from the internet, but they’re going to have to do a dump on the computers and his other electronic devices before they can say for sure. Jennifer Duval said she’d put a rush on the forensic examination for ‘old times’ sake,’ but it’ll still take a few days.”
“How’s the cleanup on the highway going?”
“Melvin just cleared the roadway and I went out to the nursing home to personally notify Francis’ mother. The sister showed up and promised to sue the ‘piss out of us’ when this is all over. She claims we were harassing her brother.” Susan grunted. “I wouldn’t repeat what I said to her in polite company, and I sure hope our baby didn’t understand any of it. It wasn’t pretty—or nice.”
I started to tell her goodbye, but she stopped me. “Look, I wasn’t going to say anything and I might just be feeling cranky, but this Jennifer Duval person is getting under my skin.”
“What’d she do?”
“When I stopped by the house to see how things were going, she proceeded to start telling Melvin about a case you and she worked when y’all were partners. She talked about how much chemistry there was between y’all and how y’all could read each others’ thoughts and—”
“That’s all bullshit, Sue.” I squeezed my phone in frustration. “There was nothing between us when we worked together. No chemistry, no reading of each others’ minds—none of that shit. I’m so sorry they sent her. In the future, I won’t be asking them for help at a crime scene. I can have a talk with her if you like.”
“Look, I can handle myself—and her,” Susan said. “I wasn’t telling you all of this for you to take some sort of action. I just wanted to warn you before I shoved the heel of my boot through her sternum.”
I chuckled involuntarily, snorting as I did so. “Okay, Love. Do whatever you have to do.”
She laughed, too, and I was relieved. While I didn’t care what she did to Jennifer, I certainly didn’t want her to be bothered by something that had happened years ago. Jennifer was ancient history and her existence—or lack thereof—had no impact on my life, one way or the other.
“Well, I’ve got to go interview Michael and Faleena,” I said. “Be safe.”
“You, too.” She ended the call and I headed for the interview room, wondering what secrets the two teenagers might possess. Did they hold the key to locating Rose? Or were they just two more dead ends like Francis?
CHAPTER 17
“So, how do you know Rose?” I asked Michael when Lou and I were seated across from him in the interview room.
“I…I don’t really know her.” Michael shifted in his seat. “I saw her around school a few times, but she was younger than me and my friends, so we didn’t travel in the same circles, if you know what I mean.”
“As I understand it, you’re no longer in school. Is that correct?”
He nodded. “They wanted to expel me for fighting, so I quit. It
wasn’t fair. The other dude jumped me in the hallway. I was only defending myself.”
Lou had called the school while I was on the phone with Susan and he glanced down at his notes from the conversation with the principal. “You are correct—the ‘dude’ did jump you,” Lou said. “However, you stomped the shit out of him while he was unconscious on the ground. Broke three ribs. The only reason you weren’t arrested was because the school resource officer would’ve had to arrest the other kid, and his parents insisted on not filing charges against you. Isn’t that right?”
Michael nodded his head slowly. “So? I did what I had to do. He started it.”
“Look,” I said, leaning forward on the desk, “I don’t have a lot of time. I need you to cut the crap and give it to me straight. Tell me again how you know Rose, but this time, I want you to be completely honest.”
“I already told you. Other than seeing her at school, I don’t know the girl.”
“Right, you did tell me that already. Do you mind if I see your phone?”
He hesitated. “Why?”
“I just want to see if you’re telling the truth. If you don’t know her, then you didn’t text her dozens of times between five-o-eight and six-fifty-four yesterday morning. If you don’t know her, then you didn’t call her phone eight times right around seven-thirty yesterday morning. If you don’t know her, then you won’t mind me searching your phone.”
Michael stammered for a few seconds. Finally, he managed to utter, “I…I didn’t talk to her at seven-thirty. I don’t even know her number, so how could I even call her? Go ahead, ask me right now. I couldn’t even tell you the first three digits of her number.”
I sighed as I dug in the file I’d brought with me. After pulling out a copy of Rose’s cell phone activity, I turned it so Michael could see. I used my index finger to point out his cell phone number.
“If what you’re saying is true, then that’s not your number.” I made a big show of removing my own cell phone from my pocket and unlocking the screen. “And if that’s not your number, then your phone won’t ring when I call it.”
I kept my eyes on Michael while I used my thumb to dial his number. The color drained from his face and he squirmed in his seat like he was going to wet his pants. I paused with my thumb over the call button.
“Any last words?” I asked.
He gulped audibly, but shook his head. “I…I don’t know her.”
“Suit yourself.” I hit the button. Almost instantly, a loud buzzing sound reverberated from the metal chair Michael was sitting on. He quickly dropped his hand to his pocket and made a frantic attempt at shutting it off. His fingers couldn’t find the button fast enough and—as though he thought it was a bomb about to go off—he began begging me to make it stop.
I ended the call and placed my phone on the desk. “Well, would you like to modify your story?”
“I…I really don’t know her.” Michael’s shoulders drooped momentarily, but then there was a subtle shift in his eyes and he straightened. “It was Faleena. She asked to use my phone, so I let her. She must’ve called Rose. You know, she’s my girlfriend, so I don’t ask any questions when she wants to use my stuff. I just figured her phone was dead and that she wanted to call her mom or something. I had no idea she was calling Rose. I mean, it’s cool that she did, but I just didn’t realize it, is all.”
I nodded, glanced at Lou. It was time to turn the heat up on this kid. “Okay then, so you admit to letting Faleena use your phone to call Rose?”
Michael’s expression was suspicious. “I already told you I didn’t know who she was calling.”
“Right, but you did let her use your phone, she did call Rose from it, and you were with her when she made the call. Isn’t that correct?”
“Um, I guess so, but I didn’t know she was calling Rose.”
“Okay, I’m going to give you a little test. I’ll start by asking you a series of small questions and I only want you to answer yes or no. Next, I’ll ask you some big questions, and, again, I only want you answering yes or no. The only rule is that you have to tell the truth.” I paused, and raised an eyebrow. “Well, are you ready?”
He swallowed hard. “I guess so.”
“Let’s get started then. Okay, did you ever steal from your employer?”
“No.”
“Did you ever kiss Rose Murdock?”
“No.”
“Did you meet Rose Murdock near a cemetery south of where she lives?”
“No.”
“Did you text Rose Murdock yesterday morning?”
“No.”
“Did you call Rose Murdock’s cell phone yesterday morning?”
“No.”
“Do you regret killing Rose Murdock?”
“No.” Michael immediately threw himself back in the metal chair, nearly falling to the ground. His face was ashen and his bottom jaw hanging low. “Wait a minute! You confused me! That was a trick!”
CHAPTER 18
“Rose is dead?” Michael’s voice was so low it was barely above a whisper.
“You tell me.” I could tell the kid was genuinely shocked. If Rose was dead—and I was hoping against hope that she wasn’t—Michael knew nothing about it.
“I…I…she was fine the last time I talked to her.”
“So, you did talk to her.”
“I mean, I might have. I think so. I’d have to think about it to be sure. You’re confusing me right now.”
I stabbed at the desk with my finger. “Look, son, I can’t confuse the truth, and you’ve told a number of small lies today. If you lie small, you’ll lie big. If you stick to these small lies, I won’t believe you when you say you didn’t hurt Rose. So, let’s start from the top again—did you ever kiss Rose?”
Michael slouched in his chair, as though the fight had faded from his body. Without looking at me, he nodded his head.
“How many times have you met her near the cemetery south of her house?”
He shrugged.
“Damn it, Michael, don’t you start playing games with me!”
“No, I’m not playing games.” He shook his head from side to side. “I just don’t remember how many times I met her there. Five, ten, maybe fifteen times. I know it was a lot.”
“Okay, tell me about yesterday morning,” I said. “What were y’all texting about?”
“Well, I was asking if she could go to Orange Beach with us, but she said her mom didn’t let her. She asked if I wanted to hang out around town instead, but I told her I really wanted to go to the beach. She got mad at me for not wanting to stay with her and she told me she didn’t love me anymore.” Michael shook his head. “I couldn’t believe she would say that. I asked her if it meant she was breaking up with me, but she wouldn’t answer. After a while of waiting for her to text me back, I started calling her, but she ignored my calls.”
The kid stopped talking. He just sat there staring at the top of the desk. I asked him how long he had been two-timing Rose with Faleena, but he immediately shook his head.
“I never cheated on Rose. No, sir. She broke up with me. I was a free man when I started seeing Faleena.”
“When did that happen?”
“When did what happen?”
“When did you start seeing Faleena?”
“Well, I called her yesterday and told her Rose broke up with me. She told me I shouldn’t be messing with Rose anyway, and that I needed someone my own age—someone mature enough to handle an adult relationship.”
I wanted to laugh out loud, but didn’t. “Go on, what led to y’all being on the water today?”
“I told her there weren’t any girls my age who liked me. That’s when she said she’d been having a crush on me all through high school.” He shrugged. “That’s about it. I told her about my grandpa’s camp and asked her if she wanted to spend the night out there. She said yeah, so we went.”
I leaned back in my chair and studied Michael Odom. The kid seemed to be telling the truth. Of
course, looks could be deceiving, and I knew I’d have to keep my eyes on him.
“Do you mind if I have a look at your phone?” I asked. “Just to verify everything you’ve told me.”
He nodded and fished it out of his back pocket. Once he unlocked the screen, he slid it across the table. I took the phone and turned it so Lou could see, then began scrolling through the text messages between him and Rose. I also checked the call log, and everything checked out.
Next, I located text messages between him and Faleena, and we read those. True to his word, the messages didn’t start until after Rose broke up with him. I checked the call logs, and there were no calls between him and Faleena prior to the break-up text message from Rose.
I glanced at Lou, who shrugged. “Looks like he’s telling the truth.”
“I am,” Michael said. “I swear it.”
“Why’d you lie at first?” I wanted to know.
“I…I was scared. Rose is younger than me, so I figured I could get in trouble for dating her.”
“When’s your birthday?”
He cocked his head to the side, unsure of where I was going with it. “Um, I turned eighteen in November. That’s when I was finally able to quit school and start working fulltime.”
I waved my hand dismissively. “Legally, you’re safe. Rose will be seventeen next week. However, I don’t think you’re safe from her mom.”
“Oh, I already know that.” Michael shivered a little. “I heard about her. She scares me.”
Nodding my understanding, I gathered up my file and turned to Lou. “Let’s go see what Faleena has to say.”
CHAPTER 19
5:30 p.m.
Cool Ridge Public Boat Launch
I watched as Lou Baker’s unmarked detective car drove away from the boat launch, followed by Michael Odom’s truck and boat trailer. Lou had done great detective work in locating Michael Odom’s vehicle, and I had been very optimistic that the discovery would lead us to Rose Murdock. But now, standing in that empty parking lot with the sun setting on thirty-four hours of Rose being gone, I was starting to fear the worst.