by Vicki Hinze
“After talking with him, I think it’ll be good news.” Laney hesitated then added, “Vinn’s going to have a hard time, coming back to school and facing his friends. Everyone will know about his dad cheating.”
“No, he won’t,” Dana assured Laney. “I expected that. We had an assembly yesterday. I told the students there was a good chance Vinn would be released soon. The only thing he had done wrong was to not tell the truth. He confessed because he’d misunderstood something he’d seen and heard and he thought he was protecting someone else. Now he knows the truth, has told the truth, has been told what actually happened, so everything is fine.”
“Did you tell them not to hound him about it?”
“More or less,” Dana said, loving Laney’s blunt way of hitting things head on. She so admired that about her. “I said it would be best for Vinn if others didn’t mention the incident at all. This ordeal has been really hard on him, and as Vinn’s friends and school family, we want to welcome him back and for him to be glad he is back. Not to make him uncomfortable.”
“That should work. And, let me guess, you took questions.”
“Dozens and dozens of questions, all of which I answered thoroughly without disclosing what happened or violating Vinn’s privacy.”
“Yeah, poor kid. Hard on any boy to see his family torn apart, but really hard on a mama’s boy.”
“Definitely, though he’s more bonded with his dad than I originally thought.”
“Really?”
“If he weren’t, his dad’s betrayal wouldn’t have cut him so deeply. It wasn’t just the impact on his mother that devastated Vinn, it was the impact on the family.”
“Sounds pretty healthy.”
“It is healthy. Kids should love both of their parents, and naturally, they gravitate at times to the one they perceive as the underdog in disputes.”
“This was a pretty big dispute.”
“Definitely.” Dana accepted a cup of piping-hot coffee from Pam with a whispered thank you. When she exited the office and shut the door, Dana went on. “Can you imagine how torn up he’s been?”
“No, but what I can imagine is it’s the hardest thing he’s ever faced in his life. It took a lot of guts for him to take blame. Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t the right thing to do, but looking at it through his eyes, I get why he did it.”
“When the heart and mind conflict, things get complex fast.”
“Well, I’d say everything you can do, you’ve done. I hope the council appreciates what they’ve got in you, Dana.”
“I don’t know about appreciation, but they just renewed my contract, so I’m good for at least three more years.”
“Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
“Guess we’d better get back to it,” Laney said. “See you at the press conference.”
“When is McCabe going to let Vinn out of jail?”
“As soon as the report comes in, we’ll start out-processing him. But Connie called this morning and asked us to hold off the actual release until the press conference is over. She’s concerned people around town will say hurtful things to him if they haven’t yet heard the truth.”
“Good call.” Dana wasn’t surprised by Connie’s request. She would have made it herself if she had thought of it. Of course, the kids had carried home everything shared in yesterday’s assembly, so the point was probably moot anyway. What the kids knew, most of the parents knew, provided they listened.
“Nice work on all this, Dana.”
The compliment surprised her as much as the one at girls’ night out, especially after Laney’s warning at Batter Up to stay out of her case and she would stay out of Dana’s school business. Something had shifted. Mutual respect had deepened. “Thanks.”
Dana hung up the phone then reached for her cup and resisted a palm-slap to her forehead. Friendship. That is what had changed.
Friendship and trust.
And mutual respect.
Chapter Twenty-One
By lunch, the parents had all reported in on Wade Travis. There were no reports of inappropriate conduct and all parents had been accounted for, so a relieved Dana notified Thomas Jessup.
The mayor was beyond delighted to hear the news, though Dana couldn’t be completely certain if he was more delighted that the students had been spared or that the school wouldn’t be facing lawsuits.
To his credit, he mentioned the students’ safety first, which permitted Dana to be gracious and so she shared his relief on the latter. Thomas insisted he notify the council, which was fine by her. It only annoyed her a little that she wondered: If the report had gone the other way, would he have been as eager to be the council messenger?
The question did linger on her mind during lunch. Finally, she concluded that Thomas was Thomas and all about image and appearances. It had been drilled into him down to the nucleotides in his DNA, and she could either accept it and press on or resent it and press on. Considering it healthier, she chose acceptance.
Most of the afternoon, she watched the clock, eager for the press conference. Finally, five o’clock arrived and she gathered her handbag and tote, then left school and headed down the cobblestone street toward City Hall.
Main Street was crowded. Half of Shutter Lake seemed to be gathering. Residents, and a lot of press. Even more press than had showed up at the first presser about Sylvia Cole’s death.
Dana scanned the crowd and spotted Julia, waving her over. On the way to her and Ana, Dana saw cameras and call-letter logos from Grass Valley, Sacramento, and even one from Lake Tahoe in Nevada. That broadened interest by the media concerned her, but what she didn’t see concerned her even more.
Not one student stood in the crowd to support Vinn.
“Where are all the munchkins?” Julia asked her.
Ana stood on the far side of Julia and leaned in to hear Dana’s answer.
“I don’t know,” Dana said. “Everyone seemed all right after assembly, and they acted normal all day. I honestly thought they would be here for him.” She couldn’t hide her disappointment.
“Kids react to things in weird ways, Dana. You know that.” Ana lifted a shoulder. “Not to change the subject, but I looked into that matter we discussed at my office.”
“What matter?” Julia asked swiveling the clasp on her bracelet at her wrist.
“Josie Rodriguez,” Dana whispered, then asked Ana, “Did you find anything?”
“Nada. Zip. It’s like she never existed.”
Dana’s disappointment doubled. No kids here for Vinn. No news on Josie. Aside from the parental reports on Wade Travis, today had been a bust. But when Vinn walked through those doors, things were going to get a lot better. Glorious. “I bombed out, too,” Dana told Ana.
“Let me guess. You discovered Viva Venezuela is no more,” Julia said, her chunky stone necklace catching the sunlight.
“You’ve started looking at this, too?” Dana was surprised. Julia hadn’t said a word.
“We made a pact and you asked me to, right?”
She nodded. But when she had asked, Julia hadn’t wholeheartedly agreed. She’d left a high-profile job to get away from investigative journalism, though clearly she’d been good at it. The woman had a fistful of Gerald Loeb Awards and Pulitzer nominations. “Have you found anything?”
“Not a thing, which tells me something is very wrong.” She lifted her spread fingers and wagged them. “My spidey-senses are on full-alert.”
Ana frowned. “What are spidey-senses?”
“Spiderman senses,” Dana translated, then shrugged. “The students use the term all the time.”
“Ah.” Ana nodded. “I’m surprised it hasn’t come up at the clinic, but then I only see the little ones when they feel cruddy and we’re focused on the physical.”
“Ask them what their spidey-senses say is wrong. You might be pleasantly surprised at their answers.” Dana asked Julia. “But you’ll keep looking?”
“Isn’t Laney l
ooking into this now?” Julia dipped her sunglasses down on her nose and locked her gaze with Dana’s.
“She is, but Laney’s got to focus on Sylvia’s murder.” Dana lowered her voice so only they could hear. “We’ve got a killer loose, Julia. Of course that has to be her top priority.”
“True.” Julia waited.
She had an intense habit of doing that. Letting the silence stretch until you cracked and filled it. Even knowing what and why she was doing it, the tactic remained effective. “I know you don’t like investigative work anymore, but Ana and I have done all we know to do. It wasn’t enough. We’re lost, Julia, and we need your help.” Dana caught her up on all she had done, and Ana filled Julia in on her efforts, then Dana added, “At girls’ night out, you mentioned an FBI friend who might look into…that other matter.” Dana didn’t want to say the Windermere’s names aloud in this crowded group. “Maybe you could ask him for help. I think Vivian’s situation is kind of their domain, isn’t it?”
“Actually, it is. But they usually get requests from local authorities. Law enforcement can be kind of…territorial.”
“Josie is officially a missing person and a minor,” Dana said. “That puts her case in the federal domain already. Maybe he could give the agent assigned to it a little nudge.” Didn’t hurt to ask. If Dana didn’t ask, Julia wouldn’t ask him, and it wouldn’t get done.
Julia chewed on her inner cheek. “Just so we’re clear. Neither of you is sure the girl you haven’t seen in the video is even the same girl who is missing. But if she is the same girl, then you both think she’s been trafficked.”
“Sounds weak, but that’s right,” Ana said.
Dana nodded.
Julia continued. “You want me to locate the missing girl, get her back and to identify who trafficked her…even if it was someone in Shutter Lake. Is that right?”
Ana groaned. “It likely was someone from here. That’s the only way the events we know have occurred make sense.”
A killer and a human trafficker in America’s perfect town? Chills swept through Dana. She stiffened. “We want the truth. Find the truth, Julia, please. Whatever it is and wherever they are. I hope it’s not someone in Shutter Lake.” Good grief! “But if it is, it is. We’ll deal with it.”
“All right then.” Julia inched her glasses back up on the bridge of her nose. “For the record, I’m going to think twice about making any future pacts with you guys. When you need help, you really need help.”
“Sorry, but thank you.” Dana squeezed Julia’s arm.
She sniffed again. “You know I left that life behind and came here to get away from it, right?”
“You mentioned it,” Ana said.
“We all left lives behind and came here to get away from something,” Dana reminded her. “But whether or not Vivian is Josie, she’s a slave right now and, unless we help her, she’s going to stay a slave until…”
“Stop.” Julia lifted a hand. Her bracelet slid up her forearm. “I get the picture. Slave. Drugs. Dead. I’ve seen it too many times.”
And she’d hoped never to see it again. “Look,” Dana said. “I know Josie’s ordeal is an entirely different case, and we have no proof of anything beyond her being missing and Travis maybe spotting her, but I believe all of this could somehow be connected to Sylvia’s murder.”
“Sylvia would never permit a woman or a girl to be trafficked, Dana.”
“Julia’s right,” Ana said. “No woman, but especially not one who worked for her. No way. Sylvia bent over backward, trying to help them get better lives. She empowered women.”
“I know all that,” Dana told them. “But I’ve got this feeling.” She rubbed a hand over her stomach. “I can’t shake it.”
“Spidey-senses.” Julia’s eyes gleamed interest. The war between what she should do and what she wanted to do raged in her and the battle played out across her face.
“Friends help friends,” Ana reminded her.
Julia responded with a frown. “Okay, I said I’d help and I will. I’ll do what I can—but only because no woman should be a slave, and because you two will owe me one. A big one.”
Ana winked. “Dana’s the Keeper of Secrets around here, and she actually does keep them.” Ana snagged her sleeve on her lab-coat button, and worked to release it. “I’ve asked her at least a dozen times what happened that you left your job. She knows but won’t say a word.”
“How do you know she knows?” Julia narrowed a fierce gaze on Ana.
“It’s in her eyes when I ask. But she won’t say a thing.” Ana looked peeved. “You should tell me yourself.”
“I’m sure your imagination is far more intriguing than the truth,” Julia said.
Dana smiled. “Thanks for helping Josie, Julia.”
“I’ll try. Doesn’t mean I’ll be successful,” she warned Dana. “These cases don’t usually settle out well. You understand what I’m saying, right?“
Slave. Drugs. Dead. “I do.”
Skepticism crossed her face. “Is Travis’s alibi airtight?”
“Supposedly.” That was as far as Dana could go because it was all she knew. Laney hadn’t revealed more.
“Understood. I’ll dig deeper tonight then.” Julia nodded. “But right now, I’m going to celebrate Vinn getting his life back. Too many kids mess up and never get a second chance.”
Ana sniffed. “They don’t have Dana fighting for them.”
Dana appreciated the support, but with no kids showing up here today to support Vinn, she stood on shaky ground with herself. Why hadn’t they come?
Glancing to the doors of City Hall, she spotted McCabe coming outside and then down the steps. He made his way to the podium and mic. Thomas positioned himself beside McCabe, wearing black and an understated tie. Formal and serious.
“Laney should be out here,” Ana whispered. “It’s her case.”
Laney hated the attention and likely had coerced McCabe into doing it.
“If she wanted to be here, she would,” Julia said. “You know Laney.”
Dana agreed. McCabe cleared his throat, and she listened, giving him her full attention.
“Afternoon, everyone.” McCabe introduced himself and the mayor for those unfamiliar, then set out the protocol of comments and then questions. “As you probably know by now, new evidence has come to light that proves the minor in custody who previously confessed to the murder of Sylvia Cole is innocent. We’re processing his release as we speak.”
“Why did Vinn Bradshaw confess?” a reporter shouted.
McCabe pointed at the man. “Shutter Lake is a small community, and while most know the minor’s identity, hear me on this. You print any minor’s name and we’re going to have a problem.”
“Why did he confess?” The contrite man repeated his question.
“Kids are kids.” McCabe brushed past the question and said, “Next?”
An anchor from Grass Valley asked, “Did Wade Travis kill Sylvia Cole, Chief?”
McCabe took the question in stride. “Mr. Travis has an alibi.”
Zion Cole pushed through to the front of the crowd, squared off at McCabe. “If it wasn’t Vinn or Travis, then who killed my daughter?”
“We don’t know yet, Mr. Cole,” McCabe said. “But every avenue that can be explored is being explored. You have our word on that.”
Zion’s face contorted. “You need to light a fire under this investigation.” He pivoted a glare between McCabe and Thomas. “Ramp it up.”
“We’ve never ramped down,” McCabe admitted. “We knew early on the minor in custody wasn’t the killer. Dr. Perkins has been helping us sort through some confusion that was going on.”
“Is Vinn all right?” A mother Dana recognized raised then lowered her hand, calling the question.
McCabe sighed at hearing Vinn’s name. Dana had to withhold the same reaction. At least it wasn’t Heidi Udall this time. She’d be really upset with herself for doing that again. Since Sylvia’s murder, Heidi had
been much nicer. Death could do that. Make a person self-reflect and re-examine their own lives. Dana hoped the changes in Heidi stuck.
“The minor is fine.” McCabe assured the woman.
Zion charged the podium. “My daughter is dead. She’s never going to be fine again. I want her killer found.”
“We all do,” McCabe said, exhibiting exaggerated patience. “And we are making progress on the case.”
“Forget your progress. I demand results.” His eyes widened. “I’m upping the reward.” Zion elevated his voice and held up two fingers. “Two million dollars to anyone whose information leads to an arrest and conviction of the person who killed my daughter.”
McCabe briefly squeezed his eyes shut. Dana didn’t have to wonder why. Everyone in a five-hundred mile radius would be muddying up his investigation, trying to collect the reward. Julia’s groan proved she realized that, too.
“Dana, look,” Ana said, then nodded to the edge of the gathered group. “Look.”
All of the children walked toward them, carrying signs that read: “Release Vinn.”
Adults parted, making way for the students. They moved between the adults, staying together, heading toward the steps of City Hall.
When they clustered at the foot of the steps, they began to chant. “Release Vinn! Release Vinn! Release Vinn!”
Dana glanced at McCabe. “We’re done,” he told Thomas Jessup.
Thomas smiled. “I’d say you better get the boy out here before they go in and get him.”
McCabe went back inside. A few minutes later he and Laney held open the doors. Flanked by his parents, Vinn stepped outside.
The students began cheering. “We knew you didn’t do it, Vinn.”
Kristina stood in the front row. Her smile lit up the crowd and would have had it been pitch dark outside. “Dr. Perkins said from the start you were innocent.”
“She was right.” Vinn smiled.
Julia elbowed Dana. “Remember that. You don't hear kids say an adult is right often.”