“Mitch . . . Law or Lowe.”
“Mitchell Law,” Veldt said. “He’s a junior here.”
Decker said, “Could you get him down here now?”
Jamie said, “I’m not sure if it was serious.”
“I’d still like to talk to him.”
Veldt picked up the phone. He asked his assistant to find Law and send him over.
Decker turned to Veldt. “When was the last time her dorm card was swiped to get into the building?”
The president pinkened. “I’ll find out for you.”
“Do you have CCTV at the door of the dorm?”
“Certainly. I’ll get that for you as well.”
“I see you’ve come prepared!” Berinson snarled.
“We’re all on the same side, Mr. Berinson,” Decker said. “Has she done this before? Gone away for a few days without telling you?”
“Not three days!” Jamie answered. “Besides, I can usually reach her by phone or text. My calls are going straight to voice mail. And now her mailbox is full. I’m . . .” Her eyes teared up. “Something’s wrong!”
“I’d like to get her phone records.” Decker turned to Dad. “Do you pay for her phone?”
“Of course.”
“Can I have permission to access her phone records if I need to?”
“What do you mean, if you need to?” Jamie snapped.
“It takes a day or two to get the records once I’ve submitted a request. She may have shown up by then.”
“Oh.” Jamie looked away.
“Anything you need,” Larry Berinson said. “Just tell me where to sign.”
“I’ll get you the papers,” Decker said. “Does she text or e-mail you as well?”
Dad said, “She mostly corresponds with her mother. She only phones me when she wants money.”
“Larry!”
“It’s true. Why hide the obvious? According to Dana, we have issues. Her term, not mine. She’s difficult. But that doesn’t mean I’m not concerned.”
“I know you are, Mr. Berinson. Children can be trying, but of course you love them.” He turned to Dana’s mother. “How often would you say you speak to Dana?”
“Like I said, it isn’t daily. But she does text and she does e-mail me when she has something on her mind.”
“Like what?”
The woman sighed. “Some injustice.”
“Real or imaginary,” Dad added.
“Larry, please!”
“Sorry.” Larry held up his hand. “Sorry.”
“Many college kids find injustices in the world,” McAdams said. “It’s part of the curriculum. How to protest against authority. And I’m not being facetious.”
“You can say that again,” Dad muttered. “All this tuition for her to tell me how my views are antiquated and immoral. It seems I haven’t had an original thought in my head since she’s reached adolescence.”
“It’s part of growing up, Larry. We weren’t exactly angels when we were young.”
“I would never talk to my parents the way she talks to us.”
“What difference does that make now?”
“I’m just praying she didn’t piss off the wrong person, Jamie.”
“Excuse me,” Decker interrupted. “Mrs. Berinson, could you please give me your phone?”
“Why?”
“I’d like to copy her texts and e-mails to you.”
“If it will help, of course.” With shaking hands, she unlocked her phone and handed it to Decker.
Decker scrolled down the list. “Is [email protected] her e-mail address?”
“Yes. Her personal e-mail. She also has one at school.”
“[email protected].”
“Yes.”
“Can I have your permission to access her e-mails from her various accounts as well?”
“Don’t you need Dana’s permission?” Larry asked.
“Under these circumstances, the service providers are usually cooperative if the parents contact the police and give us permission.”
“Then of course.”
Decker gave McAdams the phone. “Detective McAdams is more tech savvy than I am.” To Tyler: “Send the correspondence to my phone and to the station house as well.”
“Okay.”
“Do you need somewhere quiet to work?”
“No, I’m fine here, thanks.”
As McAdams started scrolling down the phone, Decker said, “Mrs. Berinson, I need you to be truthful with me. Does Dana have any bad habits?”
“I’m sure she’s not perfect, but she’s never been to rehab if that’s what you’re asking.” Jamie was huffy.
“Tell me about the times she disappeared in the past?”
“She didn’t disappear!” Jamie was insistent. “She wasn’t always diligent about telling me where she went.”
Decker nodded and waited.
“It was mostly over the weekends,” Jamie told him. “From Friday night until sometime on Monday—I often wouldn’t hear from her. She always laughed, told me, ‘Ma, I’m fine. It’s college. Leave me alone.’”
“Where do you think she went over the weekends?”
“I have no idea and she never told me. But she’s never gone off like this without me being able to contact her!”
At that moment, President Veldt’s phone buzzed. He picked up the receiver. “Mitchell Law is here.”
“Thank you. Do you have a quiet place where Detective McAdams and I can talk to him privately?”
“Why not talk to him right here?” Larry demanded. “If there’s something funny going on, I want to know about it!”
“I’ll find out more one-on-one, Mr. Berinson. I’ll tell you everything I know afterward.”
Veldt spoke into the phone. “Put him in the comptroller’s office, Georgia.”
Decker said, “I’m still going to need that list of her friends and her dorm mates, Dr. Veldt.”
“Of course. And I’ll get you the CCTV tape as well as her card swipe. Let me tend to Mitchell first and I’ll get what you need while you’re talking to him.”
“Don’t tell him what’s going on yet,” Decker said.
“I won’t.” Veldt turned to the parents. “Feel free to call me. I’m here for you.”
Mr. Berinson snorted. Jamie said, “What do we do in the meantime?”
“If you could give me a list of any of her friends—old or new—that would be a starting point.” Decker gave her a piece of paper from his notebook and a pencil. “After that, just hang tight. Where did you two travel in from?”
“The Boston area,” Dad said.
“Are you staying here overnight?”
“We’re staying here until we get some answers!”
“I understand. Are you staying at the Inn of the Five Colleges?”
“Yes.”
“Then I suggest you go back to the hotel. There’s nothing further for you to do right now except make out that list. I promise to give you updates. And you can call me anytime you want. Hopefully this will be resolved positively and very soon.”
Again, tears leaked from Jamie’s eyes. “That would be nice.” A pause. “When do I get my phone back?”
“I’ll bring it over personally when we’re done with it.” Decker tapped McAdams’s shoulder. The kid had been deep in e-mail concentration. “Mitchell Law is here.”
McAdams looked up. “Okay. Stay here and do this or . . .”
Decker said, “No, come with me.”
Veldt came back in. “My secretary will show you where he is.”
“Thank you.” Decker shook hands with the parents. “I’ll be in touch.”
Waiting in the receptionist’s office, they stood and watched Georgia speak in hushed tones over the phone. She gave them a two-minute sign with her fingers.
“Anything?” Decker whispered to McAdams.
“Mom’s last communication with her daughter was a text the day before she allegedly went missing. It s
aid . . . ah, here it is. Can’t come this weekend, Mom. Other plans.” He looked up. “Is the ‘other plans’ sitting in the comptroller’s office?”
“Who knows? I’m sure he’ll make a point of telling us it wasn’t serious. That’s usually what they do when a girlfriend is missing.”
“Let me take the lead on this one, boss. It’s to your advantage to have a young guy go toe-to-toe with Mr. Boyfriend.”
“Sure, go ahead. I’ll feel free to jump in as needed.”
“A jump is acceptable. Just don’t pole-vault over me. I do have an ego, but then again, don’t we all.”
Chapter 22
In college surveys, Morse McKinley always places within the top three spots for the best-looking undergraduate guys, and Mitchell Law was probably one of the reasons for the five-star rating. He was tall, well built, with regular features, thick dark hair, and eyebrows arching over probing blue eyes. He wore a brown cable-knit sweater over a blue-and-white plaid sports shirt and faded jeans. His knapsack rested at the side of his chair. He looked up from his phone when Decker and McAdams came in, but quickly returned his attention back to his cell. Without asking, McAdams took it from his hands and placed it in his pocket.
“Hey.” Law frowned. “You can’t do that.”
“I just did.” McAdams pulled up a chair and sat opposite, so close that their knees almost touched. “I’ll give it back. I just want your undivided attention for a few minutes. We’re the police by the way. The city police, not the school police.”
“If you call this a city.”
“Yeah, we are pretty nonessential except once in a blue moon. Today the moon is azure, my friend. A girl is missing: your girlfriend to be exact.”
Law took his time before speaking. “I need to correct a couple of misconceptions.”
“Please.”
“One, I don’t know anything about a missing girl. And two, I don’t have a girlfriend. I have steady hookups . . . as in plural. Who are you referring to?”
“Dana Berinson.”
Mitchell’s face became a question mark. “She’s missing?”
“No one has seen or heard from her in way too many days.”
“Since like . . .”
“When was the last time you saw her?” When Law glanced at Decker, McAdams said, “Don’t look at him, Mitch, look at me. Tell me what’s going on.”
“I don’t know what’s going on.”
“When was the last time you saw Dana Berinson?”
“I think it was at a party.”
“When was the party?”
“Last Thursday night.”
“Where?”
“Morse McKinley.”
“Please don’t make me pull teeth. Where at Morse McKinley?”
“Beecher Hall—third-floor common room. It was the usual Thursday-night thing. I didn’t even come with her.”
“Who’d you come with?”
“I didn’t bring a girl. Why limit your options?”
“So you went stag?”
“I knew just about everyone there. After a few years here, that’s not unusual. It’s a small college.”
“I’m going to need names, Mitch.”
“Of who saw me there?”
“Yes.”
“How many do you want?”
“I’ll take as many as you want to give me.”
“Sure. Can I have my phone back?”
“Eventually. Did you talk to Dana at the party?”
“Yeah, sure. Of course.”
“What’d you talk about?”
“Nothing much.”
“What constitutes nothing much?” When Law wasn’t forthcoming, McAdams said, “Mitch, if you’re honest, it’ll go a long way.”
He shrugged. “As the party started winding down, we were both a little hammered. I asked her if she wanted to come back to my dorm and continue the party there.”
“And she said?”
“She said no.” He looked down. “I was surprised, actually. She rarely said no to me.”
“So then what did you do?”
“What do you mean? I didn’t give a shit. There were plenty of fish in the sea.”
“You just said the party was winding down,” Decker said.
“Still enough girls to reel in a big one.” A smirk. “It didn’t take long.”
“We’ll need a name,” McAdams said.
“No problem. Babette Froiden.”
“Dana’s mother was under the impression that you two were an item.”
“I dunno what Dana told her mom, but I’m not an item with anyone.”
“And that was the last time you saw her?” McAdams said.
“That I can remember, yes.” He grew serious. “Has something bad happened and you’re not telling me?”
“Everything is under investigation,” Decker said. “Did Dana have any worrisome habits?”
“She was up for whatever, you know.”
“No, I don’t know. Tell me.”
“The usual.”
“Which is?” McAdams asked.
Law exhaled. “She smoked a lot of weed, but that isn’t exactly crises calling, right? I’ve seen her do pills . . . coke . . . molly.”
“How often?”
“Often enough.”
McAdams said, “Who’d she buy from?”
“Usually she brought her own stash.”
“She had her own stash?”
“Yep, and she usually brought enough for sharing. It made her very popular.” A pause. “Do you think she ODed somewhere?”
“Is that what you think?” Decker asked.
“I dunno. You’re the professionals.”
McAdams said, “Where’d she get her goodies, Mitch?”
“I told you I don’t know.”
“What if I were to tell you that I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t care if you believe me or not, the answer is still the same. I don’t know where she got her shit.”
“If she wasn’t missing, I wouldn’t care,” McAdams said. “But she is. Any information would be helpful.”
Law just shrugged.
Decker said, “Are we going at this the wrong way, Mitch?”
The young man looked up. “What do you mean?”
“Was she the supplier who sold the shit?”
“Maybe . . . on occasion.”
“Well, that’s not good for long-term survival,” Decker said.
McAdams said, “You have to start naming names, Mitchell.”
“I don’t know any names.” He started squirming.
“I know you don’t want to rat anyone out. I respect that. But you are talking to the police. People are going to assume stuff, so you might as well be honest with us.”
“I don’t know where Dana bought her shit.” He shook his head. “That’s God’s honest truth.” Another pause. “It probably wasn’t local.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Last year, she was always disappearing over the weekend. When she came back, she had a pharmacy with her. It made her very popular, like I said.”
“It also makes you a target,” Decker said.
“Maybe. But it’s not hard to find shit. If one source doesn’t have it, there’s always someone else.”
“You said Dana disappeared over the weekend. Any idea where?”
“Nope.”
“Do better than that, Mitchell,” McAdams said. “At least make a show of thinking about the question.”
“I don’t know where she went. Like I said, we weren’t an item.”
“And she did this every weekend?”
“Usually. But she always was back on Monday with her bag of stuff.”
“So it wasn’t unusual for her to go off for the weekend.”
“Nope.”
McAdams looked at Decker who said, “Again where do you think she went?”
“You can keeping asking, you’ll get the same answer. I don’t know.”
“Take a guess.�
�� McAdams took out the kid’s phone but held it firmly. “We need some help, Mitchell. Would I find it on your phone?”
“You know it’s against the law to go through my phone without my permission. I could get you in big trouble.”
“You don’t think I thought about that before I took your phone?” Luckily the cell was still unlocked. McAdams began to scroll down his most recent calls. “I’m in Harvard Law. There are a lot of loopholes in search and seizure, did you know that?” He kept scrolling. “Christ, you do get a lot of action.”
“Look, I’d help you if I could, but I don’t know anything.”
“Where do you think Dana Berinson went over the weekend?” McAdams tossed him back his phone. “Think, kiddo. It’s why your parents are paying 60K in tuition at this vaunted institution.”
Law pocketed the phone. “This is just a guess, okay.”
“Got it.”
“If she didn’t get her shit locally, she had to go elsewhere to buy. So I would assume that she went either north or south to get her stuff.”
“North or south as in . . .”
“The big cities. Boston or New York. Since she was from Boston, I’m thinking that if I was you, I might wanna look there first.”
As they were walking back from the president’s office, McAdams said, “What do you think?”
“Great interview.”
“Thanks. What do you think about Law?”
“I believe him.”
“Suppose theoretically I really did scroll down his phone.”
“As long as it’s theoretical.”
“Suppose, theoretically, there were no phone calls or texts between Dana and him over the weekend. That would support your conclusion. On the other hand, it could mean that he knew she was already dead. If that was the case, he’d delete everything between them.”
“I don’t know, Harvard. She didn’t swipe her card on Thursday night. Now, it could be that someone let her in. If that’s the case, we should pick it up on CCTV. Or it could be she didn’t go with Law because she had somewhere else to go. Maybe her roommate can help us out with a time frame.”
“The roommate that she didn’t like.”
“She could still tell us if she went to sleep in her bed.” Decker fingered the list given to him by President Veldt. “We know people in the Boston and New York areas. I can certainly give them a call to find out if any bodies have been discovered. Beyond that, there isn’t a lot we can do in the big cities.”
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