Unraveling

by Owen Thomas

  “And now?”

  “And now all of this shit is back and hungry for penance. He’s probably never been at a greater risk of relapse than right now. That’s why I think he needs some serious professional help.”

  “You told him that?”

  “Yeah. That’s in the works. But in the meantime, I told him that he had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take the first step on the long road of forgiveness. I told him that all of those telephone hang-ups meant that Brittany was trying to get on the same road. That she wanted to be forgiven for the false accusation. I told him that he needed to take the first step by helping her.”

  “How?”

  “This is where it gets interesting. I told him that I needed him to call Carmen Denoffrio, and introduce himself as Agent Kline of the CIA. We put together a whole script so he wouldn’t forget. I told him to explain that he has been out of the country, but that he was in New York and was coming to Columbus and that he needs to know how to reach Brittany. His sources tell him she is in trouble. He’s been calling all of her friends. That sort of thing.”

  “Oh, come on. Carmen was going to fall for that?”

  “‘Course not. She’d smell a trap. So I told Desmond that when Carmen either refused to give him Brittany’s number, or claimed not to have any idea where Brittany was, to tell Carmen that if she ever comes into contact with Brittany, to give her his number – which was important because Brittany obviously already knows Desmond’s number.”

  “So Brittany would know this was real.”

  “Right.”

  “But… she’d know that Desmond was lying to Carmen about the CIA thing.”

  “Doesn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was for Brittany to know that her father wanted to connect. Desmond would ask Carmen to tell Brittany that he would meet her anytime, anywhere. I figured that if we could deliver that message, Brittany was desperate enough that the rest would fall into place. I was betting on all of those hang-ups.”

  “Geez, Cait. You’re a little scary, you know that?”

  She shrugs.

  “So it worked?”

  “It worked. But there were a few other things we worked into the script that I think were crucial. First, I had him say that he was stalling his boss on another assignment and he did not know how much longer he would be reachable. I didn’t want Carmen wasting any time. Second, Desmond told Carmen to ask Brittany if she still has her pink violin.”

  “Her what?” I prop myself up on an elbow.

  Cait smiles up at me.

  “A little plastic toy with a fake bow and a light inside. Turn it on and guess what it played.”

  It takes me only three seconds. “Mozart. It played Mozart.”

  “You’re not quite as dull as you pretend.”

  “So her dad did give her a violin. Just not the violin.”

  “It was an early Christmas gift that Desmond thought Chuck wouldn’t know anything about.”

  “What else?”

  “The third thing was to explain that he could not help Brittany if MaryAnn, Chuck North or any local law enforcement found out that he was trying to help her.”

  “Smart.”

  “We needed her to know that he was not aligned with the enemy and that he was prepared to help them even if drugs were involved. We wanted to make it look as if he wanted his involvement to be off the police radar.”

  “You really thought this through.”

  “And finally, we decided that he needed to tell Carmen to tell Brittany that she should pick someplace open to meet, so that she can verify that he is who he says he is and that he has come alone. That he would sit and wait for her to approach him. If she got cold feet, she could just back out and not show. That was the script.”

  “Christ. Who wrote it, Tom Clancy?”

  “Funny. We were pretty pleased with ourselves.”

  “And it actually worked.”

  “It actually worked. He made the call. Carmen played dumb just like we thought, but she must have called Brittany immediately. Desmond’s phone rang an hour later.”

  “It was Brittany?”

  “It was Carmen. She set up a meet the next morning.”

  “Where?”

  “The zoo.”

  “The zoo?”

  “Yeah. At the Safari Café. You know, near the lions.”

  “Okay.”

  “Desmond hung up and called me with the update and then went straight to the airport. I picked him up, thin as a rail and shaking like a leaf, and took him to the airport Radisson. Next morning I took him to the zoo.”

  “You went with him?”

  “I waited in the parking lot. I didn’t want to spook her. I made good use of my time putting things into motion.”

  “What does that mean? What things?”

  “Well at that point, I knew we had something solid against Chuck; something we could use against him. And, like I said, I had a hunch we also had something we could use against Shepp. So I sat there in the zoo parking lot and started to put things together. I needed to find out how Shepp reacted to the suggestion that he was dealing drugs in the school. If I was right, then I needed Shepp to get himself a lawyer. And fast.”

  “So that’s when you called Shepp.”

  “Right there under the hippo sign at the Columbus Zoo. So that takes about fifteen, twenty minutes. About an hour later, here they come. Desmond and Brittany, walking through the gate. Not exactly arm and arm, but together.”

  “How was she? How did she look?”

  “Okay. Alive. Not covered in cuts and bruises. Sniffling and crying. Puffy. Mascara smeared under her eyes. She was very wary of me at first. I think she was afraid it was all a set up. It was like she was ready to leap out of the van at every stoplight.”

  “Been there.”

  “Yeah. I thought of you. But she kept her seatbelt on and the doors closed. It was awkward as hell between the two of them. Desmond kept trying to connect and she kept shutting down. Then, whenever he stopped trying she would say something or ask me a question. We all went to lunch and she eased up some. We’re all cool now. She wants her dad to buy my van for her. She thinks it’s way rad.”

  I look over at the vanbulance sitting in the driveway.

  “It is way rad. What are you asking?”

  She looks at me, annoyed.

  “That’s my ride. Thas’ my whip, bitch. That’s the Mercy Mobile.”

  “Okay, okay. Settle down.”

  “Sell my van. What’s wrong with you?”

  “What happened next?”

  “We spent more time at McDonalds than I ever want to spend again talking about … about things.”

  “Things.”

  “All kinds of things. Mostly just talking. They were each kind of getting used to the idea of being related. Of being a father and having a father. It’s going to take a while. They used me to help take the edge off. Most of it was really pretty boring. I kept hoping my phone would ring and that it would be Shepp’s lawyer.”

  “Did she open up?”

  “I learned a lot about some things.”

  “Like what?”

  “The night the you went to Billy Rocks, Shepp drove Brittany home.”

  “Shepp did? Fuck. I just can’t believe…”

  “She says nothing happened. He’s never touched her. He was upset at your reaction that night, when you left, and he got nervous. He wanted the girls out of there. He wanted to be able to tell you the next day that he made them leave. He made Carmen get in her car and he took Brittany with him because he didn’t trust that they would go home if he left them together.”

  “Oh, now suddenly he’s concerned about them.”

  “He asked her about the pot. She said Shepp didn’t know anything about the ecstasy or the coke. Those came from a different source. She lied to him and said that her purse was in Carmen’s car. She told him that was why she wanted to ride home with Carmen.”

  “Carmen? I had her purse. Why didn’t
she tell him the truth?”

  “She didn’t say and I didn’t ask, but I think she was protecting you.”

  “Right. I doubt that.”

  “I don’t. You were innocent, and I think she really did like you. That, and I think she did not want Richie to find out she had lost it all. She was afraid that, at best, she would be cut out of the game and that at worst she would have Richie breathing down her neck, which happened anyway.”

  “He found out? Richie did?”

  “Shepp must have reported back. Sounds like Richie got in touch with Carmen. Carmen, not knowing what was going on, told him the truth. She didn’t have the purse. So the jig was up.”

  “And Brittany went into hiding.”

  “Yeah, but not for that reason. She took off before she had reason to fear Richie.”

  “When?”

  “That night.”

  “Why?”

  “She said that when got home Chuck was there watching t.v. and playing on his laptop. MaryAnn had the night shift. Chuck gave Brittany shit for coming in so late and for looking like a teenage hooker. He told her to go change and to clean herself up. So she went upstairs to her room and called her boyfriend.”

  “Her boyfriend… DJ?!”

  “The very same.”

  “Who is he?”

  “Don’t really know. He’s not a student. I get the sense that he is affiliated with Richie. My guess is that she got the ecstasy and the coke from him. Could be wrong. But she’s not giving D.J. up for anyone.”

  “True love, huh?”

  “Oh baby. Like a house afire. She had expected to meet him at Billy Rocks, but he never showed. I don’t know why. So they arranged a late-night pick up at the end of her street at 2 a.m.”

  “She was going to try to sneak out under Chuck’s nose?”

  “She expected Chuck to go home before then. She said he usually does once she goes to bed. She was just going to wait him out. So she made her plans with DJ and wrote some in her diary. We did a good thirty minutes on MaryAnn revoking all computer privileges. That and snooping through her telephone. Sounds like world war three. I think she used the diary to memorialize her secret rebellion. Anyway, so she stuffed the diary back under the mattress and then she went off to take a shower.”

  There is something in the way she says it. I know what’s coming. “Oh no.”

  “Oh yes. They have a mirror in the shower, so she could see behind her. The curtain was open a crack. Chuck had slipped open the door and was using his phone to video. She said she was too terrified to turn around. She acted like she had no idea he was there. Didn’t turn the water off until she was sure he was gone. She wrapped herself in a towel and made it to her room. She was about to close the door but she said she got a weird feeling that he was in her closet. She thinks now that maybe she was just freaked out from the shower and imagining things. But she was rattled at the time. So she grabbed some clothes off the floor and went back into the bathroom and locked the door and got dressed. When she came out she could hear him downstairs. So she went back to her room and stuffed some things into a backpack and then screwed up her courage and went downstairs and tried to act normal. They watched some t.v. She said he was working on his laptop the whole time, not paying any attention to her or the television. She said she noticed his cell phone was on the couch next to him. Connected to the laptop.”

  “Fucking pervert.”

  “She waited until he left to use the bathroom. She grabbed the laptop and the phone, stuffed them in her backpack and got the hell out. She called DJ on the run and told him to pick her up. He did. She’s been living with him ever since.”

  “DJ. I’ll be damned.”

  “So yeah, true love. She’s determined to move away with him, but neither of them have any money. If DJ was ever on Richie’s org chart, he’s not any more.”

  “So they’ve been on the lam until they can pay Richie back.”

  “Right.”

  “Does she know Richie?”

  “Never met him. She wouldn’t say how they communicated or how she got the dope or paid up the proceeds. Could be Shepp. Could be DJ. Probably a combination of both. Shepp is about to be under a lot of pressure. Ten-to-one he flips on Richie. And DJ if he’s involved.”

  “Meanwhile, she’s sticking with him.”

  “Ahh love.” Cait smiles and clutches my arm in mock desperation. “Ain’t it grand?”

  “Is this how Bonnie and Clyde started?”

  We laugh and pick at the grass and watch a woman jog by pushing a souped-up stroller. I put up a hand and she nods back.

  “How’s Desmond taking his daughter’s choices?”

  “Like he’s one to judge. He kept his fucking mouth shut. Fatherly rescue is one thing. Fatherly advice? Fatherly judgment? Not so welcome. Not right now. She was testing him, I think. And I think he passed.”

  “So she’s got the phone? Chuck’s phone?”

  “And the laptop. It’s lousy with child porn. She says it’s disgusting. She says neither of them can look at it. And there are lots of pictures of her. Lots. Going back years. You wanna to rethink the search of your home and your car?”

  It’s like she has slapped me in the face. All I can do for a good ten seconds is stare at her. My house, behind me. My car, in the driveway. I look at them both and back to her. She is waiting for me to put it together.

  “He was looking for the computer. The phone. He tossed her room. Found the diary. He thought I was DJ. He thought… holy shit… he thought she was hiding that stuff with me for safe keeping. In case he found her. He hasn’t been worried about Brittany. He’s been worried about what Brittany knows. What she has.”

  “What she can prove.”

  I collapse backwards into the grass, replaying everything I thought I knew in light of a new reality. History reinterpreted. We never really know what we think we know.

  “And she still has it? The computer. The phone.”

  “How many times do I have to say it, Dave. Yeah. She’s got the phone. She’s got the computer. They’re at DJ’s place, or wherever they’ve been living. If I’m right that DJ is hiding out from Richie, then he’s probably not living at home. Anyway, the phone and the laptop are stashed someplace safe. I hope.”

  “I just can’t even believe this, Cait. This is… this is incredible. What did you do?”

  “I had Brittany call DJ and tell him to bring the phone and the laptop to McDonalds.”

  “You’ve got them?”

  “No. She’s not that stupid. I had to promise that I would not lay a hand on them. She sees them as her ace in the hole. Desmond and I worked on her until she was convinced that the plan really amounted to extra insurance for her. I think she really wanted to trust Desmond too. That helped. I mean, she could give a shit about me.”

  “What was the plan? Did he show?”

  “He did show, although I never saw him. He called when he was near. We had to trust Brittany to leave the restaurant, meet DJ, get the stuff and come back. That was a long twenty minutes. But it was our turn to trust her.”

  “She came back.”

  “She did. Carrying a violin case.”

  “No way.”

  “Yep.”

  “She was keeping the laptop and the phone…”

  Cait is nodding.

  “So when Chuck was looking for the violin…”

  “Chuck was using the violin as lame excuse to justify the search. He had no idea that what he was actually looking for was actually inside the violin case. You ended up in accidental possession of the violin, but not the case.”

  “What happened? What did you do?”

  “I took a picture. Several pictures.”

  “Of what?”

  Cait rolls on her side and stuffs her hand in to her pocket, extracting her cell. I watch her scroll through photos. She hands it to me.

  “That’s probably the best of the lot.”

  The Golden Arches are in the background. In the foreground,
sitting on a white plastic picnic table are a thin balding man in a clean but rumpled blue denim shirt and black jeans. Next to him is Brittany Kline. They are smiling awkwardly, shoulders barely touching. It is a reunion portrait a long time in the making.

  Brittany’s hands are stretched forward. In her left, pinched between thumb and forefinger, is a cell phone. In her right hand, middle finger extended towards the camera, is a laptop computer.

  “Brilliant.” It’s all I can say.

  “Hardly. It was the best I could do under the circumstances.”

  “Brilliant.” I hand the phone back to her and she stuffs it back in her pocket.

  “We said our goodbyes. Brittany left with her violin case to join DJ parked somewhere nearby. She and Desmond hugged. I wanted to take a picture but I didn’t want to be obnoxious. I took Desmond back to his hotel.”

  “Are they … I mean is that it? He’s going back to Buffalo?”

  “Eventually. He’s staying close by for now. They agreed to meet the next day at the zoo. Just the two of them. They’ve got a lot of talking to do. He also promised to see my counselor friend.”

  “You’ve got a lot friends, Cait.”

  “Yeah. I do.”

  “So then that left just you.”

  “That left just me waiting for a phone call.”

  “From?”

  “Glenda Laveau, as it turned out. Kinda funny. I had no idea she’d end up being Shepp’s lawyer. It’s not like I knew her or anything, but you’d told me about her so when she told me her name it kind of took me by surprise. I thought for a second that maybe you had gotten involved somehow.”

  “Fat chance. I was a mushroom to the end. Feed me shit and keep me in the dark.”

  She pats my arm but ignores the self-pity.

  “It makes sense in retrospect. Shepp had already gone to that firm when he first got the subpoena to testify. Whoever he saw over there told him he didn’t need representation. Then when I called him and scared the crap out of him he went back. He obviously told someone that the person who had called him was a friend of David Johns. Connections are made. Voila. Glenda is on the case.”