‘Do you really think that’s all it was?’
‘I do. The county and state epidemiologists all told the people of St. Croix that there was no cancer cluster. When they went ahead with a lawsuit, we bent over backwards to be fair. We made no objections when the judge wanted to appoint an independent special master to conduct an analysis prior to ruling on summary judgment. It was intrusive and inconvenient, but we agreed. This wasn’t a biased expert hired by one side or another. Our counsel agreed with the selection, and so did Rollie Swenson. The expert analyzed groundwater, soil, and air samples; she reviewed blood samples from the victims; we invited her inside Mondamin to do a nearly limitless review of our records and lab findings. Her conclusion was that causation could not be proved and almost certainly did not exist. I’m truly sorry that the people of St. Croix couldn’t accept that simple reality and have instead pursued a violent vendetta against me, this company, and the town of Barron.’
Before Chris could reply, Florian’s face reddened, and he added, ‘On a personal level, I also have to tell you that I am furious that your ex-wife has made me into a monster in the eyes of the public. She fanned the flames around here. In my mind, Hannah is as guilty of Ashlynn’s murder as Olivia. If I could, I would ask Michael Altman to charge them both.’
Chris knew he was on sensitive ground. Florian and Ashlynn. Rollie and Tanya. Himself and Olivia. They were all fathers trying to protect their daughters. For Florian, it was too late. He’d failed. Underneath the hardness of the man’s exterior, the loss was eating him up.
‘I do understand,’ Chris said.
Florian looked toward the river, obviously frustrated with himself for letting his temper sneak through his shell. ‘Yes, well, there I go, doing the same thing that the people of St. Croix did. Seeking revenge for my loss.’
‘Can you tell me about Ashlynn?’ he asked.
Florian smiled for the first time. ‘She was a jewel.’
‘She was a beautiful girl,’ Chris agreed, admiring the painting.
‘Yes, she was. Athletic. Beautiful. She had a marvelous heart. I was proud of her values. She was planning to apply to some of the top colleges in the fall. East coast, west coast. She was going to take a trip with Julia to visit them this summer.’
‘I imagine it was hard for her sometimes,’ Chris said.
‘How so?’
‘Having money in a small town.’
‘Not really. Ashlynn never flaunted her wealth, and honestly, she didn’t have much money of her own. We didn’t give her a blank check. The Mustang for her sixteenth birthday, that was about the only grand gesture I ever made.’
‘How did Ashlynn feel about the feud between the towns?’
‘She hated it,’ Florian replied. ‘I’m sure she was angry that so much of the venom was directed at me, but on a religious level, she was simply distressed by the violence.’
‘Wasn’t she dating one of the boys who were behind the feud?’ he asked.
‘Who?’
‘Kirk Watson.’
Florian’s face darkened. ‘Nonsense. Ashlynn never dated Kirk. I would never have allowed it.’
Chris felt as if he had tiptoed onto an unexploded mine. ‘Is it possible she didn’t tell you? Parents are sometimes the last to know.’
‘It never happened,’ Florian insisted.
‘Okay. I’m sorry. I got some bad information.’ Chris made a mental note to find out what was really going on between Ashlynn and Kirk.
‘Do you know who she was dating?’ Chris continued.
‘I don’t believe she was serious about anyone.’
‘What about friends?’
Florian hesitated. ‘Ashlynn could be a bit of a loner. I felt bad about that.’
Chris didn’t push Florian. It was obvious that the man didn’t really know his daughter well at all. Like a lot of busy fathers, he couldn’t say what was going on in Ashlynn’s head, or her heart, or her life. Chris felt the same way about Olivia. He wondered if Florian’s wife had greater insights into her daughter.
‘Can you think of anyone who had a grudge against Ashlynn?’ he asked.
‘No, of course not.’
‘You mentioned environmental extremists.’
‘So?’
‘I was wondering if you had received any threats from those groups against your family.’
‘No, nothing like that. I’m a target. Mondamin is a target. No one has ever come after Ashlynn or Julia.’
‘What about this person who calls himself Aquarius?’
‘What about him?’
‘His notes seem personal. They’re directed at you. I was wondering if you had any idea who he is or why he’s making threats against you.’
Florian shook his head. ‘None at all.’
‘Did Ashlynn ever talk to you or your wife about anyone who was making her uncomfortable? Anyone who was following her?’
‘No, of course not. I see where you’re going with this, Chris. You want to use this mystery man – this Aquarius – as an alternate suspect. He killed my daughter to get back at me.’
‘It’s not impossible.’
‘It’s a desperate lawyer’s trick. No one will believe it.’
‘I realize you don’t want to hear this, Florian, but I don’t believe Olivia killed Ashlynn. Not by accident. Not on purpose. She didn’t do it. I also don’t believe someone stumbled onto your daughter in that ghost town. Either they knew she was there, or they followed her.’
‘You can make up stories for a jury,’ Florian snapped, ‘but don’t do it with me.’
‘Where was Ashlynn coming from on Friday night?’
‘What?’
‘If someone followed her, they had to know where she was. She told Olivia and Tanya she’d been driving all day. The principal at her school said she’d been gone from school for three days. Where was she? What was she doing?’
Florian was silent. Chris tried to decipher in the man’s face whether he didn’t know, or whether he didn’t want to say where his daughter had spent those days. Either way, he wasn’t going to answer. Florian stood up, and his face was flushed and angry.
‘No one followed Ashlynn,’ he told Chris. ‘Not Aquarius. Not anyone. She was alone that night. Then your daughter found her and killed her. That’s the whole story. You can pretend all you want, but that’s what happened.’
11
Chris sat in one of the Adirondack chairs on the porch outside Hannah’s house. It was dark, but the twin post lights on either side of the front steps cast shadows onto the lawn. He sipped a glass of cheap red wine. On the quiet street, he saw a glint of a match inside a light blue Thunderbird, and smoke blew out from the driver’s window. The man inside was a retired cop in his mid-fifties from Granite Falls, which was another of the nearby towns built on the banks of the Spirit River. Chris had hired him to do overnight security.
The porch door banged as Hannah joined him. She studied the car, too, with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face.
‘I don’t really like being watched, even by someone trying to protect me,’ she told him.
Chris didn’t argue. Hannah knew it was the right thing to do, but her world was black and white. If it offended her values, she railed against it.
‘He’ll circle the house three or four times an hour,’ Chris said.
‘Other than that, he’ll be in his car. You won’t know he’s there.’
‘Does he have a gun?’
‘Yes.’
‘I hate guns,’ Hannah said.
His ex-wife sat down beside him. She kicked off her flip-flops, leaving her tiny feet bare. She wore cargo shorts and a loose-fitting T-shirt over her skinny chest. With the sun down, it was cooler outside, but she didn’t act cold. He saw the dust of rice flour on her arms; she’d been baking bread. He could smell it in the oven through the open front door. Rain drizzled off the porch roof, splattering on the wooden steps.
He took another drink of wine. Hannah had sparkli
ng grape juice in a plastic champagne glass. Her eyes were focused beyond the reach of the porch lights, into the darkness of the trees hugging the river.
‘I love a warm spring,’ she murmured. ‘No bugs yet. I’m always swatting mosquitoes when I’m out here in the summer.’
‘It’s a beautiful spot.’
‘It must drive you crazy,’ she said.
‘Why?’
‘No hustle bustle. No Starbucks. No deals closing on Christmas Eve.’
‘Once, Hannah. That happened once.’
‘Once was too many, Chris.’
He didn’t want to debate their lives again. ‘You’re right. I made mistakes.’
She looked surprised. ‘So did I.’
‘You’re a local hero,’ he said, changing the subject. ‘Good for you. People love you here.’
‘Some do, and some hate me. We got picketed when we started handing out condoms last year.’
‘How are your finances holding up at the Center?’
‘We pay the bills month to month and pray we get a check from the state or a grant when we need it. It’s touch and go.’
‘I tried to help,’ he said. ‘You sent the checks back.’
‘I don’t want your money, Chris.’
‘It was just money. No strings attached.’
‘There’s no such thing.’
He wondered why she was afraid of his help. ‘I wasn’t trying to buy my way back into your life,’ he told her, but he knew he was lying to both of them. ‘Oh, hell, maybe I was.’
Hannah was quiet. ‘The truth?’
‘Sure.’
‘I was a little scared of letting you back in.’
He thought that he might as well say it. It was as good a time as any. ‘You cut my heart out when you left, Hannah. I’ve been dead ever since.’
His ex-wife closed her eyes. She started to speak, and then she stopped. When she opened her eyes again, she brushed away tears. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘It’s been three years, but it still hurts to think that you stopped loving me.’
Hannah looked genuinely upset to hear him say those words. ‘Chris, that is not true. That was never true.’
‘Then why?’
She put her glass down and swung sideways on the chair. She leaned forward, her hands lightly on his thigh. ‘I wanted something else out of life. I wanted this.’
‘What is this?’ he asked, because he really didn’t know.
‘This is a place where I matter.’
‘You mattered to me.’
‘I know you think so, but I’d become an afterthought to you. Olivia, too. You thought you were working for us, but you were working for yourself. It’s not sports or sex for men like you. It’s the code. Accomplishment. Success. Duty.’
‘Those are bad things?’
‘If you forget why you’re doing it, yes.’ She went to the edge of the porch, where she gripped the railing. The town of St. Croix was framed behind her in the dotted lights of the houses. ‘Do you know why I love being here? It’s not because it’s an easier way of life. It’s harder. It takes more self-reliance. There’s no safety net. But you know what, Chris? We’ve got our priorities straight. Relationships matter here. God matters. Time matters. I’m not just a mouse running in a Habitrail.’
‘Is that how you felt with me?’ he asked. ‘Really?’
She didn’t look at him. ‘Sometimes.’
‘You know that’s the last thing I ever wanted.’
Hannah turned around. He realized they were both older; they’d both walked through fire and learned that burn marks don’t heal. They just toughen into scars, like permanent reminders. ‘I don’t blame you, Chris. If anything, I blame myself for what happened between us. Here I am, talking about relationships, and I walked away from the one that meant the most to me. I’m not proud of that. I’ve obviously screwed up with Olivia, too.’
‘Not true.’
‘I can’t get her to open up to me. I’ve watched her drift further and further away. Now look at where she is. She’s sixteen, and her life may be over.’
She was giving him a chance to move to safer ground, and he took it. It was easier to talk about Olivia than to reopen the locked room where they kept their pasts. ‘Her life isn’t over, but I can’t help her unless I know what she’s hiding.’
‘You’re looking at the wrong woman. I’m the last person she’d tell if she had secrets.’
‘Then who?’
Hannah shook her head sadly. ‘I don’t know. She’s a closed book.’
‘Tanya Swenson said there was something personal going on between Ashlynn and Olivia. Do you know what it could be?’
‘I don’t.’
‘Did Olivia ever talk about Ashlynn?’
‘Not in front of me. Not unless it was about Mondamin.’
Chris was frustrated. ‘Something strange was going on with Ashlynn, too,’ he said. ‘She was missing for three days before Friday. Either Florian didn’t know why, or he was covering for her.’
Hannah turned away.
‘What is it?’ Chris asked.
‘Nothing.’
Chris pushed himself out of the chair. On the street, he saw the retired policeman climb out of his Thunderbird. The man checked the gun in his shoulder holster and wandered onto the lawn to patrol the perimeter of the house. He was built like the trunk of an oak tree, weathered and tough. Chris nodded at him, and he waited silently while the ex-cop disappeared between the rear of the house and the bank of the river.
‘What’s going on, Hannah?’ he repeated. ‘I don’t need you keeping secrets from me, too.’
‘Please, Chris, I can’t talk about this.’
‘Do you not understand what’s happening here? Olivia is facing first-degree murder charges.’
‘Believe me, I understand.’
‘Then talk to me.’
‘I’m telling you, I have no idea what Tanya meant. As far as I know, Olivia thought Ashlynn was the enemy. There was no relationship between them.’
‘You know something,’ Chris persisted. ‘What secret could possibly be so important when Olivia’s life is at stake?’
Hannah folded her arms together and breathed heavily. She looked to be in physical pain, and maybe she was. Maybe it was the cancer. He softened and put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Are you all right?’
She spoke so quietly that he could barely hear her. ‘When a girl comes to me, I take an oath to uphold her privacy.’
‘When a girl comes to you? What are you talking about?’ Then he understood. ‘Oh, son of a bitch. Ashlynn.’
Hannah said nothing.
‘Ashlynn came to you at the Center, didn’t she? What was happening to her?’
‘I can’t say anything.’
‘Hannah, please,’ Chris pressed her. ‘Whatever was going on in her life, it could be the reason she was killed.’
‘I won’t betray her trust.’
‘You’re betraying her trust by staying silent,’ Chris insisted. ‘Ashlynn has no privacy anymore. She’s dead. Someone shot her in the head. She’s been cut up by a pathologist. They put her on a slab for an autopsy. She has no secrets.’
‘An autopsy?’
‘Of course.’
Hannah cupped her hands in front of her mouth. ‘They know.’
‘Know what?’
He waited for her to answer, but as the question hung in the air, he realized he already knew the truth. Three days. She’d been gone for three days. Alone. Depressed. He thought about what Maxine Valma had said. I saw her crying. If you told me she committed suicide, I wouldn’t have been surprised. He knew why a seventeen-year-old girl would go to see Hannah. Why Hannah would do almost anything to protect the girl’s confidences.
Because she was pregnant. And because she’d made the decision not to be pregnant anymore.
‘Where did you send her?’ he asked softly.
Hannah stared at him, stricken. He saw in her face what
it was like to be in her office every day. To hear the stories. To feel the pain. ‘There’s a doctor I know in Nebraska,’ she said.
‘She’s discreet and professional. Ashlynn didn’t want her parents to know about it. She didn’t want to go to court to get permission.’
‘Who’s the doctor?’
She shook her head. ‘I can’t say. She’s operating outside the law, ignoring parental notifications. She could be in mortal danger if people knew what she was doing. If they make her stop, some desperate girls will have no options. I won’t allow it.’
‘Who else knew?’ he asked.
‘As far as I know, nobody. Me and Ashlynn. That’s all.’
‘Olivia?’
‘I don’t see how.’
‘Who was the father?’
‘Ashlynn didn’t say. I don’t think he knew.’
‘Did she say if it was consensual?’
‘She didn’t mention rape. I didn’t pursue the circumstances, but I don’t think that’s what happened.’
‘Olivia knows more than she’s telling us,’ Chris said. ‘I don’t know if it’s about the pregnancy or the abortion, but something else is going on here, and I want to know what it is.’
‘She won’t open up to me.’
‘Maybe she’ll open up to both of us.’
‘I wish that were true,’ Hannah said, ‘but you’re better off talking to her alone.’
‘You can read her better than me,’ he said.
‘She’s just like you. Come with me.’
Instinctively, he did what he’d always done in the past. He reached out to take Hannah’s hand.
That had been a ritual of their marriage. They would sit on the porch overlooking the lake. Talk. Laugh. Cry sometimes. When it was time to go inside, he would hold out his palm, and she would take it, and they would head upstairs hand in hand. There was a sacredness about the gesture that they both recognized. To hold hands was to be in love.
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