Her head bowed in misery, Stacy said, “Jacob did.”
At this point Monica launched into a screaming rant. “I told you NEVER to go near that boy! How could you do this to me! Do you see what he did? He killed George!” The rest of Monica’s rant was lost as her voice shrilled beyond coherence. Peter and Brent stood back, waiting for her to wind down.
Stacy shouted back at her mother, her voice escalating. “He did not! He did not! He did not!”
“Should I pull out my taser?” Brent asked Peter, leaning close so Peter could hear him over the cacophony.
“Give them a minute.”
Monica stopped to glug down some water.
“Mrs. Munce?” Brent asked. “May we step outside for a moment? You’ll be able to see Stacy the whole time, I promise.”
They went out of the interview room. Peter could see Monica watching Stacy through the tiny window in the door. Brent would handle her.
“Detective Dourson?” Stacy asked timidly.
He looked over at her, lifted his eyebrows.
“What’s he saying to her?”
“Just getting her to calm down so we can continue our interview.”
“I wish she wasn’t here. You see how she is. It’ll be worse when we get home.”
“Do you want us to call Children’s Services?” Peter asked.
“No, she won’t hit me. She just yells, and it’ll last for hours. Normally, she wouldn't lose it in front of you. She’d be all polite and concerned. I think this has really flipped her wig. Tonight it’s going to be all ‘this is going to ruin me’ and ‘I didn’t give you all the things I never had to see you throw yourself away on that white trash.’”
“I’m sorry about that. We really have no choice. You’re only sixteen.”
“Yeah. Two more years of this shit. You see why I didn’t want George to go? He was my only defense.”
“You’re doing really well. You’re telling us the truth, and that’s important. What made you decide to be honest?”
“You’re thinking things about Jacob that aren’t true. He called me yesterday and told me. He didn’t tell you everything because he wanted to protect me. He was going to let himself get charged for something he didn’t do. I can’t let him do that.”
Monica returned to the room, followed by Brent.
“What did you say while I was gone, Stacy? You really should not have been talking while I wasn’t here.” Peter noted that Monica’s voice was octaves lower and a hundred decibels softer. He thought he detected slight hesitations that suggested she was struggling with her control.
“I told him I was being honest because if I’m not, everyone will think Jacob did something he didn’t do.”
Monica stiffened.
“Remember our bargain,” Brent said softly. He remained close to Monica.
“Please, Stacy,” Peter said, “tell us what happened, in your own words. We won’t interrupt. Do I have everyone’s permission to turn on a recorder? Mrs. Munce?”
Monica jerked a nod. Peter set up his recorder and Stacy began talking.
“Jacob and I started seeing each other last spring. I met him when I was tutoring students for the SATs. I took them early and did really well, so they asked me to help.” She turned to her mother. “I knew you didn’t approve of him, so I asked George what to do.”
Monica drew in a sharp breath and her nostrils flared. Brent gave her a repressive look before she could interrupt. Monica clenched her lips together until they were barely visible. She crossed her arms and glared back.
“George suggested that Jacob start doing some yard work at our house as a way for you to get to know him better, and maybe you’d realize that he’s better than you think. George said he was a punk when he was Jacob’s age and it was love that made him realize he didn’t want to live that way. He understood.
“I stumbled on the Kindle thing, like I told you. I was telling the truth when I said I didn't realize it was George leaving the messages. I just thought it was really cool that two old people that hadn’t seen each other since high school finally got together again and were so hot for each other. When he asked her to come to Cincinnati, the things he said made me realize it was George. Then he started talking about finding a way to be with her.
“I knew that meant leaving us, so I freaked. At first I thought, hey, most internet relationships don’t survive the face to face. It’s not real, you know? But she came, and the messages kept getting hotter.
“I thought I could mess things up and make her think he was breaking up with her, and she’d leave. He was asking her to stop by the store, so I started driving by, hoping to catch her.
“I saw her and saw what car she was driving, and I knew where she was staying because that was on the Kindle. I knew about the other phone because he told her on the Kindle when he was going to call her, and when she could call him, and the number he gave her wasn’t his regular cell number. They always arranged their calls when George was working, so I figured out he was keeping the other phone at the store.
“I picked a day when I knew they were going to meet, and the night before, I stopped by the store and stole George’s phone so he couldn’t talk to Kate. I knew he’d just figure one of the customers snuck into his office and took it. I forgot about the surveillance video being back there. If he hadn’t died, I would have been so busted.”
“What happened after that, Stacy?” Peter urged.
“The next morning, Jacob went to Kate’s motel and stuck a screwdriver in her sidewall. I wanted to make sure she couldn’t meet George. She started calling and sending texts, and I ignored them. Then I sent her a text that said not to call anymore, ever. And I went on George’s Kindle and left her a message, pretending to be him. I said I was really sorry, but I couldn’t be with her anymore, and please don’t make things any harder than they were already by contacting me, meaning him.”
“That’s all we did. Then Dad didn’t come home, so I freaked and gave the phone to Jacob and asked him to get rid of it. I didn’t know he was going to sell it. He ran into Mr. Stryker and since he sort of knew him, Jacob figured he wouldn’t ever tell anyone where he got the phone. That’s all that happened!”
“Stacy,” Peter asked, “how did Jacob know Bill Stryker?”
“Um, not sure, exactly. Dad showed me a picture of Mr. Stryker and a picture of his truck months ago, because I was coming around the store and Carleen was having problems with him. Jacob and I were driving past the store, and I spotted him sitting in that old truck, staring at the store. I pointed him out to Jacob, and Jacob said he knew him, and he was a jerk.”
“Did you tell your dad about seeing Stryker?” Peter asked.
“Yeah, but since he was sitting outside the limits of the restraining order, there wasn’t anything anyone could do.”
“Stacy,” Brent said, “why are you so certain that’s all Jacob did? If he knew Bill Stryker, he probably knew about the crossbow. We already know he knew about Kate Onstad’s car.”
“He wouldn't do that! If he did, why would he sell Dad’s phone to the guy who owned the crossbow?”
“Because,” Brent said, “sometimes people just don’t think.”
“But why would he kill George? He liked George!”
“We don’t know, Stacy,” Peter said. “That doesn’t mean he didn’t do it.”
~ ~ ~
A visit to each school office determined that while Stacy had been in class all day on October 7, Jacob had been missing and had an unexcused absence. The secretary also informed Peter and Brent that Jacob was currently absent.
“Damn kid said he wanted a lawyer before we could ask how he knew Stryker,” Peter said. “Looks like we get to call him back in.”
“When we find him, you mean,” Brent said. “We lose him and Roller will be all over our asses.”
The school secretary had been kind enough to give them work numbers for Mr. and Mrs. Cox. Calls to Jacob’s apathetic parents revealed that they had no
idea where their son went when he was truant, and that they had given up on finding out. Mr. Cox, especially, treated the call from the police as an inevitability he had been expecting for a long time. Peter put out a BOLO for Jacob’s car.
“Looks like we’re headed back up to Balmoral,” Peter said.
“Just when I thought this day couldn’t get any more interesting,” Brent said.
Stryker was not home. Dempsey was, and he identified Jacob as someone he’d seen around Stryker’s place a number of times several months earlier. “Not recently though,” he said. He had no idea what the kid had been doing with Stryker. Peter left his card in Stryker’s door with a note to call him, which he was sure Stryker was going to ignore.
“It’s curious,” Brent said as they drove back down the hill. “Stryker knows Jacob and he gives us Jacob’s face, but not his name. Why do you suppose that is?”
“I figure Stryker was totally pissed that he wound up with that phone. He’s pissed enough at Jacob to give us his face, but he still has a thing about not being a rat, so he doesn’t tell us who he is. Or he wants to be truthful enough that witnesses will verify his story and get him off the hook. Maybe he didn’t really want us to find Jacob. Maybe Jacob knows things he doesn’t want Jacob sharing. Maybe all of the above.”
“Whatever it is that young Jacob might know, it must implicate him as well, because he sure didn’t volunteer it during our interview,” Brent said.
“Criminals.”
“You said it. You think the Widow Munce could clue us in on the Cox boy?”
“I’m sure she’d love to,” Peter said, “but she won’t without Jacob’s signed release of information. So let’s track down the parents again and find out from them what Jacob Cox has been up to that has him visiting the school counselor.”
~ ~ ~
“Hold on a minute, Asia.” Lia pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, checked the screen. She was sitting in the therapist’s office, a warm and stylish room featuring tapestried armchairs and soft throw pillows. Restful slate blue walls complemented richly hued artworks, including a small yellow, gold and green painting of Saint John’s wort. Lia had traded it to her in lieu of a portion of her fees.
“Did it ring? I didn’t hear anything,” Asia said.
“No, I just wanted to make sure I hadn’t butt-dialed Peter before I said anything. I’ve got to figure out how to stop doing that.
“The other day he told me I accidentally called him while he and Brent were waiting to talk to his captain. I was singing to the dogs and they were chiming in. Before he could switch his phone off, Brent reached over and put it on speaker. Roller’s secretary found it very amusing. She thought I sounded like the love child of Kate Bush and Tom Waits.”
Asia laughed. “That’s a compliment, isn’t it?”
“I hope so. Depends on how she feels about Tom Waits.”
“We haven’t talked in months,” Asia said. “What brought you in to see me today? Are your symptoms coming back?” Asia referred to Lia’s bout with acute stress disorder the previous year.
“Not that. It’s Peter.”
“What about Peter?”
“We’ve talked about my relationship with Peter before, my trust issues, and I’m making progress. Now Peter is talking about moving in together again, and I’m not sure I want to take that step. But I don’t want to endanger our relationship. I’m comfortable the way things are. I’ve been talking to my friends about this and it occurred to me I should discuss it with a pro.”
“I see. As I recall, your biggest issue is loss of autonomy.”
“That, and the financial issues. And I know it’s selfish, but I like having my place exactly the way I want it.”
“How much time are you and Peter spending with each other?”
“I see him at least twice a week. He usually stays over.”
“How do you feel when he’s gone? Do you miss him?”
“Not when I’m working. Sometimes at night I miss him. Cuddling with Honey and Chewy isn’t quite the same.”
“Are there any other reasons for you to set limits on your relationship with him?”
“I haven’t talked about this with anyone before, but I like knowing when I’m going to see him and when I’m not going to see him. It frees me up to go about my life.
“When I was living with Tom, everything had to include him. If he wasn’t there, I wound up waiting for him and wondering when he was going to get home. And if I wanted to do something and he didn’t want to, then I never got to do it. I had less room in my head for making art.
“I know part of it was him being a jerk, but part of it was me getting wrapped up in the relationship and not setting limits. I’m not sure if I can set those boundaries if I get that close to Peter. What we have right now is so good. I don’t want to screw it up.”
“I see,” Asia responded. “I’ve thought about this a lot, what it means to be single and to be married, looked at it from the outside and the inside. It’s a huge issue for many people.
“No person is ever really single, not a healthy person, anyway. We all need others to survive: physically, emotionally and spiritually. As a longtime, single person, you’ve built up a community of support. Your dog park friends provide you with human contact, even during those periods when you are totally immersed in your work and think you’re shutting the world out.
“A mistake many couples make is to believe that their partner is all they need. When they do that, they start closing themselves off to other relationships. They may even take on a ‘you and me against the world’ mentality. Then they begin to expect things from each other that the other person just doesn’t have the capacity to give. No one person can be all things to another human being.
“I think, on some level, you’re aware of this, above and beyond your intimacy issues. It’s critical that you build a definition of intimacy that has a place for community. Your community, Peter’s community, and the community you share.
“Does Peter have friends of his own?”
“He’s got Brent,” Lia said. “He likes Jim and Jose at the park, but they’ve never done anything together away from the park. They’ve got a softball team at the station and he plays.”
“What does he do on his days off?”
“If we’re not doing something together, he mostly watches sports on TV.”
“Normally I would be concerned about him spending all his personal time vegging out. However, Peter has a very demanding job and he’s interacting with people much of the time. It’s quite possible that he needs time to himself to regenerate.
“Whereas you spend your working hours alone and need stimulation and social engagement when you’re not working. It’s a fundamental difference. In many couples, it would be a major source of conflict. In your case, your needs may be complimentary. Peter might need private space as much as you need your autonomy.”
“It’s not just that. He’s also very protective. I find it a bit stifling.”
“Protective, how?”
“He’s concerned that something will happen to me again. He gave me a kubotan for my birthday.” Lia fished her keys out of her pocket and handed them to Asia. “It’s got pepper spray, too.”
Asia examined the rose-colored tube. “I’ve seen these before. This is designed for police duty. How do you feel about having it?”
“I’m thinking it’s his way of protecting me when he’s not there, so he doesn’t worry about me so much. He also signed me up for self-defense classes.”
“That may be so, but how do you feel about it?”
“Kinda warm and fuzzy, in an odd way.”
“Has Peter ever attempted to limit who your friends were or your contact with them?”
“There was last year. He didn’t want me being around anyone alone.”
“Are you referring to the ‘Bucky’ situation?”
“Yes, back then.”
“How do you feel about that in retrospect?”
“Does he still try to restrict your friendships?”
“No, why?”
“Sometimes controlling behavior is misinterpreted as ‘protective’ and it winds up isolating a woman from her other relationships. It’s one of the first signs of an abuser.”
“Oh, no, nothing like that. He wants me to keep the screen door locked if I have the front door open, park near streetlights at night, stuff like that.
“He’s unhappy about me associating with this woman, Kate, but that’s because she’s connected with a murder he’s investigating. She’s a person of interest. Someone stashed evidence in her car. He says he doesn’t want me near someone who has drawn the attention of a murderer.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“He has a point. I like Kate, and I can't help running into her since she’s staying with my best customer. But I’m willing to take precautions.”
“Does Peter get angry when he knows you’re seeing her?”
“He’ll sigh, but he lets it go.”
“Sounds like you think his concern is reasonable. Is that correct?”
“Pretty much.”
“Does he ever suggest that you don’t need to work so much and that he would like to take care of you?”
“No, huh-uh.”
“How would you feel about it if he did?”
“I wouldn’t like it. My art isn’t just about money, it’s my life. Anyone who loves me should understand that. Why do you ask?”
“I haven’t talked to you in a long time, so I don’t know how things have been going with Peter. This is another one of those red-flags for an abusive partner. Sometimes the offer is perfectly generous, but other times it’s a way for a man to make a woman totally dependent on him, so he can gain control.”
“No, it’s nothing like that.”
“Okay. I just had to make sure.”
“You’re scaring me a bit. Peter is not abusive or controlling. He’s just old-fashioned and he’s a cop.”
Maximum Security (A Dog Park Mystery) Page 20