by D. A. Brown
“They looked like the same, but in those photos, Gracie was naked.” He looked at Sophia, eyes brimming with tears. “I swear to you, I never took any photos of her naked.”
“Does your Dad still have that computer?”
“The police took it away, but I think he got it back.” He wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “I’m sure he still has it.”
He had the computer all right. Returned to him with best wishes from Marcus Burton.
“How about photoshop? Anything like that on the laptop?”
Barrett stopped crying. “Yeah, he does. But…”
“Who else uses that computer?”
“No one really. It’s sort of the one anyone could use.”
“What about your mother? Does she use it?”
“She has her own computer. Why are you asking me about my mother?”
Jess and Grace were having what looked like a very animated, if one way, conversation.
“It’s my job to ask the questions.”
“My mom is seriously clueless. She and my dad rarely see each other. He’s either at work or out at his various clubs or charity events. I know he blamed my mother for Gracie’s condition. You know she’s autistic, right?”
“Yes.”
“So she’s pretty much incapable of communicating like you and me. I know you wanted to interview her early on in the case, but my mom was afraid to tell you about her autism and also afraid of how it would impact Gracie.”
“Barrett, did your dad ever take your sister with him when he went out at night?”
“Sometimes.”
“And do you know where he went?”
“He told me and my mom that he was taking her to see a specialist, someone who might be able to help her with the autism. I thought it was a little weird that he only saw the therapist during evening hours, but he said this guy was doing him a professional favor. My mom and dad fought about it all the time.”
“Fought about what?”
“About taking her to a specialist. My mom didn’t want Grace having some kind of breakthrough without being there, I guess.”
“She could have gone with your father.”
He looked up at Sophia. “You think he was taking her somewhere and letting those fucking assholes take photos of her?”
“I don’t know, Barrett. We have to get that computer from your father. Are you sure he still has it?”
“I think so. My mom was on it the other day.”
Sophia weighed her options. If she asked Barrett to go back to the house and take the computer, he’d be acting as an agent of the state, and it might look to a judge as though she was trying to seize evidence without a warrant. She supposed it would be okay if he simply took the computer into his room and hid it under his bed.
“Stay here for a minute.”
She sat next to Jess. Grace poked at Jess’s phone, staring intently at the colors filling the screen.
“What do you think about Barrett trying to get the old man’s computer and holding it until we can get a search warrant? Unless he knows what he’s doing, and he was able to completely scrub it, that computer may still have evidence on it.”
“You’re probably on thin ice, Sophia.”
“Don’t you think we have enough to get another warrant and seize the laptop? It seems to me that Barrett can testify that he saw his photos on the laptop and if he can identify them as being the same ones he saw online, minus the naked factor, it could implicate Stewart Halifax, right?” Sophia said.
“And guess what the Dad’s going to say? He didn’t post those photos, his son did. He can say that his teenage son was experiencing some misguided sexual confusion and took advantage of his sister. Both of them had access to the computer, right?”
“Barrett had talked about meeting some guy online when he’d stumbled upon the photos. He claimed it was an accident. What if we could lure that guy into meeting with Barrett?”
The barista leaned over the table next to them to retrieve a cup. Sophia stopped talking until he walked away.
“I’m going to call George and run this by him. Keep her busy, will you?” Sophia motioned to Barrett.
“Why don’t you hang out here with your sister. I need to make a call.”
Barrett pulled out a chair and sat down. Grace pushed the phone across the table to him.
“Pretty colors, Gracie.”
Sophia walked outside. The sun was between clouds, its rays reflecting off the windows of the Starbucks. Sophia pulled out her sunglasses.
She dialed George Anderson.
“I have an interesting question for you.”
“Go ahead. I’m all ears.”
“First off, is virtual child pornography illegal?”
“Generally, no. The court has gone back and forth on the issue. It’s constantly evolving because computer aided animation is so realistic. But if the ‘children’ aren’t real people, it’s hard to get a conviction.”
“What if the face is based on a real person but the rest of the body is not? Or at least it’s animated with the help of a computer?”
“There was plenty of real child porn on the servers at that house.”
“Barrett took photos of his sister with his phone. She was in her underwear. I think his father took the photos, uploaded them to the server and provided his sick fucking friends with virtual porn.”
“I can almost guarantee that he’s erased everything on that lap top. However, unless he’s a really sophisticated computer nerd, those deleted files are still hidden on the hard drive. I could recover them with forensic software.”
“I’m going to need your expertise to try and lure whoever is out there into a meeting with Barrett Halifax. But, we won’t actually use Barrett. We’ll use you. You guys do this all the time, right?”
“Sure, that’s no problem. However, given all the media attention this case has gotten, it’s not likely that any of these guys are still lurking in the same rooms.
George exhaled deeply. “Look, Sophia, there are thousand and thousands of these guys out there. You’re not going to get them all. Keep it simple. Let’s concentrate on what we have. Setting up another drop will be far too complicated. They’re not going to fall for it.”
“I know you’re right. I just can’t wrap my brain around this shit.”
“One foot in front of the other for now, Detective.”
Sophia hung up and went back inside. Jess stood up and nodded for Sophia to follow her to the back. Business had picked up and people were waiting for tables.
“Barrett just told me his father beat him up last night.” Jess said. “We have to get these two kids out of the house. And you mentioned that there’s another child too, right?”
“The kid brother, George. I’m not sure I trust Ginny Halifax to side with the kids on this one. She’s going to be a real problem for us. I don’t think there’s any amount of evidence that’s going to convince her that her husband is involved in something this horrible. We’re going to have to come up with a Plan B.” Sophia glanced over at Barrett and Grace.
Jess tapped the tabletop. “What if we created some ruse and convinced Stuart Halifax that his children and wife were in danger. Make him think that we don’t have all the bad guys in custody yet. Hell, we can tell him that one of the suspects made threats to kill his family. He’s doctor, so he’s not likely to cancel a bunch of appointments and lose all that money.”
“Great. And he can keep working while we keep an eye on the kids.” Sophia said.
“Maybe it can buy us some time. In the meantime, we can arrange for the kids to stay at a hotel and we’ll put a uniform outside the door. If his Dad did this to him, we can’t in good conscience leave them with that bastard.”
“We can give it a try. I’m thinking Halifax is laying low, being on his best behavior. We’re way too close for comfort.”
Sophia walked over and sat down next to Barrett.
“I have an idea about how we can make this whole situation be
tter Barrett. But I’m going to need your help.”
“Okay.” His eyes were puffy and wet.
“We’re going to try and get you, your brother and sister and your mom separated from your dad.”
“He’s never going to let you do that.”
“Well, we’re going to try and see if we can convince your dad that the family is in danger. It’s not the truth mind you, but it may be enough for him to let us take you into protective custody. That will give us enough time to try and figure out whether or not he’s involved.”
Barrett looked at Grace. “I know he’s involved. I just feel it in my gut. I want this whole thing to be over, and I want my sister to be okay.”
“We want that too, Barrett. But it’s going to take a little more work before we can be sure. Do you have somewhere you can go for the afternoon?”
“I’m supposed to pick up George from school today. I could take them to a movie or something.”
“Perfect. Keep your cell phone on. I’ll call you when I know whether this is going to work.” Sophia put her hand on Barrett’s shoulder. “And if we can’t convince him to let us take you into protective custody, I want you to call 911 if he even looks at you funny. Do you understand?”
“I’m not afraid for me.”
“I know, Barrett.”
Sophia and Jess walked Barrett and Grace out of the coffee shop. Barrett took his little sister’s hand as the two of them walked away. A fine drizzle had started to descend on the city, and as the two kids rounded the corner, Grace looked back and waved. Her blond curls bounced on the back of the collar of her coat.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The phone rang three times.
“Dr. Halifax, this is Detective Benedetti.”
“What do you want, Detective?”
“Look, I don’t have very much time. We have reason to believe your family might be in danger.”
“From whom?”
“We don’t believe we have all of the suspects related to your daughter’s case in custody. There is a concern for her safety.”
“Detective, I can protect my children. In fact, we’re all here in the living room about to play a board game.”
He was lying. There was complete silence in the background.
“I’m not handing my children over to the police. Not now, not ever. And I think you of all people should understand my commitment to my family.”
“Sir, I saw your son today.” This was a desperate move and she knew it.
“Then you saw what happened to him.”
“Yes.”
“What exactly did Barrett tell you?”
“He told me you hit him.”
Halifax laughed. “Is that so?”
“I can arrest you right now for assaulting your son.”
“You’re right detective, you could. But I didn’t assault Barrett. I just got home from a conference in Dallas two hours ago. I can refer you to a very nice TSA agent who practically gave me a cavity search over some medical supplies I had in my carry-on. Would you like his number, because his supervisor will be hearing from my lawyer in the morning.”
It would be easy enough for her to check his alibi and he knew it.
“Barrett took a beating on the soccer field yesterday. Face planted as a matter of fact. The boy’s lucky he still has his teeth. Well, at least that’s the story he told me this afternoon when I called him from Dallas.”
“I’ll be more than happy to call TSA but in the meantime, we still need for Grace to come in for an interview with a specialist.”
“Detective, I think I’m done accommodating you.”
The phone went dead.
Jess stood over her. “Did he just hang up on you?”
“Yep.”
“I say we go hook him on the assault.”
“We can’t. He didn’t do it.”
“What? You saw Barrett’s face.”
“Barrett lied to me. But those injuries didn’t come from a fall in a soccer game. They were caused by a fist.”
Jess walked around the cubicle. “For what reason? Why would he tell you his father hit him?”
“I have no idea.”
Sophia looked at Jess and rubbed her temples. She was exhausted. The strain of the past few months was sprinting quickly up on her. She felt as though she was losing control of her case, her partner, and her life.
Jared tapped furiously on Ed's computer, trying every possible combination of words, letters, or dates to hack his password. Ed would be home soon and there’d be hell to pay. He was pretty sure that his mother had taken Ed to task for being such an asshole. But then again, Sherry Poppins had changed drastically since marrying Ed and Jared was feeling less like her precious little boy and more of an interloper.
The slow mechanical whir of the garage door opening startled Jared. Ed drove a piece of shit Honda Accord with a flow master muffler, and as it rumbled into the garage, Jared thought how easy it would be to trap Ed in the garage with the car running. Except no one would ever believe Ed would kill himself. He was a human cockroach.
Jared quickly backed out of the computer’s browser and cleared the recent history. If Ed noticed it was taking longer to access his porn sites and decided to check the browsing history, he’d see that someone had cleared his cache. Jared cursed himself for being so careless but it was too late. He slammed the computer shut, grabbed his backpack and sprinted up the stairs to his room.
Jared gently closed the door to his room. It was a wreck, worse than usual. Someone had tossed it. Clothes were hanging out of drawers and his closet had been emptied into the middle of the room. His mattress lay halfway off of the box spring.
Dropping his backpack on the floor, he stood near the heater vent and listened for Ed. He reached into his dresser, and pulled out a small baggie of pot secured behind a heap of unfolded underwear, and shoved it into his backpack. Shutting the drawer, he scanned the room.
Footsteps paused outside his door. Jared quickly flipped the lock.
“I know you're in there, you fucker.”
“Leave me alone.”
“Listen here, you little shit. You've got your mother so pissed about our little dust up the other night, she won't even give me a hand job.”
“Jesus Christ.”
Jared grabbed his backpack and secured it to his back with both straps. He stood on the other side of the mattress to give himself a buffer. He looked out the window. It was a twenty foot drop, not one he’d survive without some broken bones. Ed slammed his shoulder against the door. It blew open and Ed flew into the room.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?"
Ed looked huge. His eyes were wide, his mouth was open, revealing yellow teeth. Both hands were clenched in front of him. Jared steadied himself for a blow.
"Take off that fucking stupid little pussy backpack and fight me like a man."
“If you hit me, you know my mom will go ballistic. Just get the fuck out of my room and leave me alone."
"If you think your mother’s gonna side with you over me, you’ve got another thing coming.”
Jared inched back toward the window.
“She would have before you poisoned her, turned her into a worthless whore.”
Ed bobbed like a prizefighter. He clenched and unclenched his hands, staring at Jared as if to dare him to make a move. He slowly inched around the mattress.
“You've been nothing but trouble since the fucking day you were born. I'm the best thing that's ever happened to her."
“You’re the worst thing to happen to this family. Fucking loser.”
Ed lurched forward, swinging madly. Jared ducked. He hurled himself over the mattress and through the doorway, grabbing what remained of the door and slamming it behind him. Ed flung open the door and surged after Jared as he took the stairs three at a time. When he hit the landing, he lunged for the front door but Ed grabbed his backpack and pulled him backwards, slamming him into the hardwood floor.
"I
told you you're not leaving this house.” Ed pushed up his sleeves. Sweat covered his face and soaked his shirt. He was panting.
Jared scrambled to his feet and surveyed the living room. It was full of his mom's books, dirty plates and a few empty beer bottles. On the floor underneath the living room window was Ed’s collection of garden gnomes, lined up according to size, tallest to shortest.
Jared lunged for the line of gnomes and grabbed the largest one. He turned towards Ed and held the heavy clay figurine over his head.
“Put that down. It’s priceless.”
“Back the fuck up or I’ll bust it.”
“Don’t, don’t.”
Ed ran at Jared, reaching out to grab the gnome. Jared raised the gnome over his head, slamming it into Ed's skull as he crashed toward him. Jared dodged him like a toreador, and Ed fell forward into the fireplace façade, knocking over the gold plated fireplace tools. He slumped to the floor, his lower body resting against the fireplace grate.
Jared dropped the figurine. His heart raced.
There was a large gash on Ed's head where the gnome had landed, and his eyes were half open. His head rested awkwardly on the floor. Sitting on the couch, Jared waited warily for Ed to get up. He glanced at the telephone. Ed’s body twitched.
He felt nothing.
Jared slipped into the dining room and unhooked Ed’s computer. He pulled a cell phone out of Ed’s pocket and put it in his own.
Wiping his face and mouth with the back of his coat, he walked out the front door.
Petra’s house was out of the question. His mother would call as soon as she couldn’t reach him on his cell. He couldn’t ride the bus all night – the transit cops would kick him off eventually.
In between the street lights, it was dark. A car crept down the street and pulled into the driveway next door. Jared broke into a jog.
When he got to the bus stop, he dialed up Adrian. A hoarse and barely audible voice answered the phone.
“Adrian, it’s J.”
“What’s up little man? What the fuck time is it?”
“Sorry it’s late. Hey, I got into it with the nazi and I need a place to crash. Can I come by?”
“Hey, bro, normally I’d say yeah but I got some company tonight. You feel me?”