The Absence of Screams: A Thriller

by Ben Follows

  “Be my guest,” she said, crossing and uncrossing her arms.

  O’Reilly stood and gathered her materials. She and Cockerton left the interview room. Detective Peters was waiting outside.

  “Shembly lawyered up,” he said. “The lawyer, Kenneth Jameson, is in there talking to Charles now.”

  “Don’t worry,” she said with a wide grin to Cockerton. “Calling in my favor with ballistics wasn’t the only call I made.”

  48

  They knocked on the door to the interview room and stepped inside.

  Jameson was sitting beside Charles, whispering something in his ear. He looked up at the two detectives and straightened out his tie.

  “My client would like to retract everything he has said,” said Jameson.

  O’Reilly took her seat and draped her jacket over the back of the chair. “He hasn’t given us much so far.”

  “Regardless,” said Jameson, “He is using his constitutional right to remain silent and will not be forced to speak.”

  Cockerton took up his spot on the wall, leaning back with arms crossed.

  “That’s fine,” said O’Reilly. “I can talk for the both of us.”

  Charles shifted in his seat and glanced at Jameson, who shook his head.

  “On the way over here,” said O’Reilly, “I made a phone call to General Henry Thompson. Does that name mean anything to you?”

  Charles was about to speak, but Jameson interjected. “My client elects not to respond.”

  “Well,” said O’Reilly, grinning, "Thompson is the General in charge of McKinley Military Base a few miles outside Harper’s Mill. Recently, they had a speaker there by the name of Marcus Devereaux. Does that name mean anything to you?”

  Charles glanced at his lawyer, who repeated that his client declined to respond.

  “Well,” said O’Reilly, “A few days ago General Thompson made a phone call to the Harper’s Mill Police Department, inquiring about your wife's murder. The officer who took the call informed him that Devereaux was not a suspect. However, Todd Anderson claimed that Devereaux was the real killer. It seemed impossible, based on Devereaux being paralyzed. I wanted to check all avenues of investigation, so I called up the General earlier today. He gave me an interesting story about Devereaux. He told me that Devereaux confessed to the killing of Tatiana Shembly and explained that Danielle was his daughter. Marcus claimed to have only been recently paralyzed. The General discarded the idea as ridiculous at the time, but I’m not sure it is. Do you have anything to say about that?”

  Charles wiped the sweat from his brow.

  “Don’t say anything,” said Jameson.

  O'Reilly leaned in. "How about when I tell you that Marcus Devereaux never arrived where he was scheduled to be today?"

  "My client chooses not to respond," said Jameson.

  “Here’s what I think happened,” said O’Reilly, leaning back in her seat. “I think you kidnapped Danielle from the Devereaux’s eleven years ago. I think Devereaux found her a few days ago and wanted to take her back. Jamie and Danielle fled. Danielle found out the truth somehow, and ran away from you. She's meeting up somewhere with Devereaux, her real father, right now. Am I close?”

  “Don’t say a thing.” Jameson was holding his clients shoulder.

  Charles rubbed his eyes. A sheen of sweat covered his brow.

  “I’m sure there’s an explanation that clears this up," said O'Reilly. "Come on, let’s hear it.”

  “Don’t say a thing," said Jameson.

  Charles looked at the floor.

  O’Reilly leaned over the table. “Every moment we waste is another moment Danielle could disappear forever. We can prove you kidnapped a nine-year-old girl and murdered her mother. You think you would get to keep your other kids? You want Arthur and Addison to end up in foster care?"

  "Detective," said Jameson, "you are dangerously close to coercion. I've warned you about this before."

  "Get off your high horse, Kenneth," snarled O'Reilly.

  Cockerton stepped forward from the wall, as though to stop O'Reilly from jumping across the table at the lawyer.

  “No," said Charles, interjecting.

  Everything froze and looked at Charles.

  “What was that?” said O'Reilly.

  “Don’t take my children," said Charles.

  “Tell me what happened, Charles.”

  “Charles,” said Jameson, “you don’t have to say anything."

  “No,” Charles said, raising his head and meeting O'Reilly's eyes. “We need to save Danielle.”

  Cockerton grinned.

  O'Reilly leaned back. "Tell me what happened on that night eleven years ago.”

  “You don’t understand," said Charles

  “I don't understand what?"

  Charles sighed. “I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I hadn’t stopped her. She was the worst person I ever knew.”

  O’Reilly frowned. “Who are you talking about?”

  Charles took a long deep breath. “I'm talking about Cassandra Deveraux.”

  49

  O’Reilly stared at him, trying to recalibrate what she knew with the new information. “Explain.”

  Jameson put a hand on Charles’s shoulder. “It’s not too late to be quiet.”

  Charles pushed off the hand. “I need to say this. It’s about Danielle." He looked up at O'Reilly. "I want immunity for my family."

  She shook her head. "I can't promise that without knowing the story."

  "Okay," he said, smiling. "It was worth trying. I'll tell you everything, but you have to promise that you will do everything in your power to save Danielle."

  O'Reilly nodded. "I promise."

  Charles looked up at Cockerton. "And you?"

  "I speak for both of us," said O'Reilly.

  "Is that true?" said Charles to Cockerton.

  "Yes," said O'Reilly.

  Cockerton fidgeted for a moment then nodded.

  Charles leaned forward. "I'm trying to think where to start. I've never told this story."

  "How did the kidnapping take place?"

  "You have to understand," said Charles, "we did this out of the goodness of our hearts. Anyone else in our position would have done the same."

  O'Reilly nodded and crossed her arms.

  "Where do you think I should start?"

  "When did you first meet Danielle?"

  Charles nodded. "I suppose that's as good a place to start as any. Tatiana was working at an after-school daycare. Danielle started going there. At first, Tatiana thought Danielle was just anti-social. She would sit in a corner with her nose in a book all day. Most kids like that end up being ignored. They aren't causing any ruckus or commotion, so they don't get attention. Tatiana tried to pay closer attention to the quiet kids for that reason. She took a personal interest in Danielle and started reading Dr. Seuss to her. She made some progress, and Danielle began trusting her. Then Tatiana discovered the scars."

  O'Reilly raised an eyebrow. "Scars?"

  Charles nodded. "Can I get some water?"

  Cockerton left the room and returned with a bottle of water, which Charles sipped and placed on the table.

  "Danielle's back was covered in scars," Charles continued. "I didn't see them until after the kidnapping. They were horrific. They were intentionally put in an area that wouldn't be seen."

  "Did she call the police?" said O'Reilly.

  "Of course she called the police," said Charles. "You think we just went straight to kidnapping her?" He paused and took a deep breath. "We went to the police. The officer was shocked, and promised to take care of it. The next day, Cassandra Devereaux showed up, threatening Tatiana and saying that if she ever tried anything like that ever again, Cassandra would kill her."

  O'Reilly frowned. "Cassandra still had Danielle with her?"

  Charles nodded. "We got in contact with the officer. He explained that someone had overruled their attempt to bring in child services. Over the next few we
eks, as new scars appeared, we started trying to go to news outlets or bringing attention to it, but no matter what happened, someone powerful was stopping us."

  "Did you ever find out who it was?"

  Charles nodded. "Cassandra's father was a State Senator with some pretty lofty connections. He died about ten years back."

  O'Reilly made a note to look into the senator. "Go on."

  "We had exhausted all our options. I wanted Tatiana to drop it. I didn't care enough to risk my entire life for this girl I didn't know. Tatiana felt differently."

  "Tatiana changed your mind?"

  "Be careful," said Jameson. He had taken a seat beside Charles. "We're almost at the point of no return."

  Charles shook his head and shook off Jameson's hand. "I have to do this. You'll save Danielle, right?"

  O'Reilly nodded. "I promised."

  Charles put his hands together under his chin. "We got in contact with Jamie because we needed help. I hadn't spoken to her in a few years on account of her time behind bars."

  "You needed her because you were planning something criminal?" O'Reilly tapped her pen on her notepad.

  Charles swallowed. "I suppose that's true."

  O'Reilly raised an eyebrow. "You don't see it that way?"

  "I just don't think about it that way. Criminal makes it sound bad."

  "You kidnapped a nine-year-old girl. It is bad."

  Charles looked down at the table. "I know," he said. He took a gulp of water.

  "With Jamie's help," he continued, "we set up a kidnapping, and a new life we could subsequently move to. I was against it until the end. I didn't want to uproot my whole life and move out here to Harper's Mill. Not that there's anything wrong with Harper's Mill."

  O'Reilly nodded. "Not much happens here."

  "Exactly." Charles took a sip of water. "Tatiana had always wanted to move to New York City or somewhere like that. We were doing the opposite. Anyway, we watched the Devereaux house for almost a month. Danielle would come home. Cassandra would drink extensively, then she would attack Danielle. It was the same thing every night."

  "Marcus Devereaux wasn't there?"

  Charles shook his head. "Tatiana heard from Danielle that her father was at war, but we didn't have any details. He was never there, so we assumed he wouldn't be an issue."

  "What happened the night of the kidnapping?"

  Charles took a deep breath. "Jamie and I broke into the house through an unlocked back door. Tatiana stayed outside as the getaway driver. Cassandra was asleep on the living room couch. We went upstairs. Danielle was still awake, reading under the covers. She was scared at first, but when we mentioned Tatiana, she was eager to come with us. I picked her up and she hugged me tight. I could feel her fear. She would have done anything to get away from Cassandra."

  "Where does Marcus come into this?" said O'Reilly.

  Charles held up a hand. "I'm getting there. This was the point where things started going south. We went downstairs with Danielle. We had to sneak past Cassandra. She wasn't drunk like she normally was. She had only had a few drinks, and woke up when we walked past. She saw us holding Danielle and screamed. We heard someone running down the stairs."

  "Marcus?"

  Charles nodded. "He was home for the weekend before shipping out to Afghanistan, although we know that until we saw a video of him speaking at a university. Marcus came downstairs with a baseball bat in his hand. He saw what was happening and threatened us. Then it went downhill."

  "Downhill further?"

  Charles nodded and took a sip of water. "I'm trying to think of the best way to tell this next part." He tapped his fingers along the top of the table and looked at the ceiling. He swallowed and looked back at O'Reilly. "Jamie had given me a handgun. Marcus came toward me and I panicked. I fired three shots. One hit Marcus and two hit Cassandra. My ears were ringing. Jamie screamed at me. I didn't hear the words, but I got the point. We turned and ran for the door. We made it to the car and Tatiana drove away. I remember Danielle staring out the window as we passed by the front of their house, as though the nightmare was finally over. We passed a few cops on our way to Harper's Mill, but none of them stopped us."

  O'Reilly made a few notes, putting a question mark beside the part of the story in which Charles was the one who fired the shots. The rest meshed with Marcus's version of events relatively well.

  "Thank you very much for this," she said. "When did you find out Cassandra Devereaux had died from the gunshot wounds?"

  Charles swallowed. "We read the newspaper and watched the news a lot over the next week, after we had arrived in Harper's Mill. We followed the whole case. We saw Marcus's plea to return his daughter. We never would have done it. Danielle was happy. She was free. I could never have returned her to that demonic woman."

  "You are admitting that you shot and killed Cassandra Devereaux?"

  Charles swallowed and looked around the room.

  "Careful," said Jameson. "You've said enough."

  "I don't want to answer that," said Charles, staring at his hands.

  "In that case, I have two more questions," said O'Reilly.

  "What?" said Charles.

  O'Reilly checked her notes. "You were the one carrying Danielle out of her bedroom, right?"

  Charles frowned and shook his head. "No, Jamie carried her out."

  She flipped through her notes. "You said that you felt her fear when you held her."

  Jameson stood. "My client declines to answer."

  O'Reilly found the page in her notebook. "Did you put her down before you shot and killed Cassandra Devereaux? Was that before or after you shot Marcus Devereaux?"

  Jameson stood and put an arm in front of Charles. "My client declines to answer."

  "I suppose it would be difficult," said O'Reilly. "Danielle would be so terrified she wouldn't want to let go. It would be tough to get shots off."

  Charles had turned white.

  "My client declines to answer," said Jameson.

  O'Reilly leaned over the table. "How did you shoot a gun while holding a terrified nine-year-old girl?"

  "I'd like some time alone with my client," said Jameson.

  "Just one more question," said O'Reilly.

  "This is over," said Jameson.

  "Who were you before?" said O'Reilly. "You weren't the Shembly's before, were you? It's interesting that Jamie's arrest records from before the kidnapping are still in her file, isn't it? I don't think she did as good a job creating a new identity as you think she did."

  Charles looked up at her, his eyes wide.

  "Get out," said Jameson, "or I'm suing this entire police department."

  O'Reilly smiled. "Of course. Let us know when you're ready to continue talking. Maybe we can iron out the inconsistencies in Charles's story."

  She stood and left the room. Cockerton followed.

  "I have an idea," said O'Reilly once the door closed behind them.

  She walked over to Detective Peters.

  He looked up. "Emily, what can I do for you?"

  "I want you to write up a confession for Charles Shembly. Make two versions. One version should say he killed Cassandra Devereaux. The other version will say Jamie did it."

  Peters frowned. "I don't understand."

  O'Reilly placed her notes on his desk. "It's all there."

  She turned and walked to the interview room which held Jamie. At the door, she glanced back.

  Cockerton was a few steps behind. His hands were jammed into his pockets.

  "Come on," said O'Reilly. "Take this seriously."

  Cockerton made it to the door a few moments later. He nodded and they stepped inside.

  O'Reilly cleared her throat and took her seat across from Jamie Kessington, who was picking food out of her teeth.

  "Charles just confessed everything," said O'Reilly.

  50

  Jamie looked at her. "He did, did he?"

  "He did. We know about the attack on the Devereaux's, and abou
t how you kidnapped Danielle."

  "Charles doesn't know what he's talking about," said Jamie. "Do I still have something in my teeth?"

  She smiled at O'Reilly.

  "You got it," said O'Reilly. "My only issue with the story is that Charles claims to have carried Danielle from the house, and that he was the one who shot Cassandra and Marcus Devereaux."

  Jamie shrugged. "If that what he says, that must be what happened."

  "He was carrying her and shooting at the same time, according to him. It seems implausible. I think he was carrying Danielle and you shot the Devereaux's."

  Jamie looked at her. "Is that what you think?"

  "It is.

  Jamie shrugged. "You're free to believe that."

  "You realize what will happen?"

  Jamie crossed her legs. "I'm sure you'll tell me."

  O'Reilly leaned on the table. "Charles will go to prison for murder. He'll possibly get a life sentence. You'll go to prison for kidnapping. Do you want Charles to spend the rest of his life in prison? Do you think he'd survive that?"

  "I'm sure the justice system will prevail, as infallible as it is." Jamie grinned, revealing the piece of lettuce still lodged in her teeth.

  O'Reilly stood. "We're formally charging you with kidnapping, forging government documents, and assault."

  Jamie shrugged. "If you say so."

  O'Reilly took a deep breath. "Don't you care at all about Danielle?"

  Jamie grinned. "You'll save her. It's your job. You have to."

  "There's nothing else you want to say?"

  "There is not," said Jamie.

  "Officers will be here in a moment to take you to a holding cell."

  Jamie smiled. "Sounds like a party."

  O'Reilly glared at her for a moment and exited the room. Cockerton followed.

  Peters was waiting outside, holding a sheet of paper which he handed to O'Reilly.

  "Charles signed the confession which stated he was the killer."

  "Fuck." O'Reilly ran a hand through her hair and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fine, leave it on my desk. We'll find a way to make this work."