Forty-nine more to go, baby.
Jack’s talk with Debra had run longer than planned. So long and so well, in fact, that MDPD had asked Jack to help her create the list of places that Aquinnah might be hiding with Alexander. Law enforcement was reasonably certain that she wasn’t on the road. The BOLO had turned up no sightings, and with no activity on her credit cards, she couldn’t have rented a car.
The printer continued to rumble, more pages slid into the bin, and then Jack heard a strange noise that didn’t come from the printer. It hadn’t even come from the kitchen. The printer was still humming as he stepped into the reception area.
“Hannah? Is that you?”
He heard only the usual printer noises. He checked the front door. No one was there, but he made sure it was locked. Then he went back to the kitchen. Almost half of the brief had printed. He removed the printed pages and straightened them.
Then he heard that noise again.
He hit the PAUSE button and the printer fell silent. Jack listened. Nothing. He laid the pages on the counter and again stepped into the reception area. A palm frond outside the window moved silently in the breeze. Old houses made noises, he reminded himself, and he was standing in one of Miami’s oldest. But that sound—whatever it had been—didn’t ring like the usual creaks and groans. He gave it another minute, waiting and listening.
Then he heard it again—definitely not the usual old house creaks. It was more like a thump. And it had come from upstairs. Jack stared at the ceiling, as if willing that noise to come again.
There was only silence.
Jack’s gaze swept the room, and it came to rest on the motorcycle at the foot of the stairway. Jack suddenly remembered his talk with Alexander about Neil’s old BSA.
“Why do you park it here in front of the stairs? Do you ride it up to the second floor?”
“No, no. No one goes up there anymore.”
Jack had found the front door locked upon his return. The old house, however, had an outdoor stairway. It led to the screened-in porch off the master bedroom.
“You clever little boy,” Jack said quietly.
He was reaching for his cell to dial 911 when he heard a little voice from the top of the stairs.
“Mr. Swyteck? It’s me. Alexander.”
Jack froze.
“Can we come down, please? It’s really dark up here. I’m scared.”
Jack was a push of the button away from dialing emergency, but he held steady. “Okay. Sure.”
Aquinnah’s voice followed. “Don’t call the police. Not if you want to know the truth.”
The truth. Jack wasn’t sure if she meant the truth about her having taken Alexander, or the truth about Sashi. He was willing to put down his cell phone long enough to find out.
“I won’t call the police,” said Jack.
“All right,” said Aquinnah. “We’re coming down now.”
CHAPTER 63
Alexander started down the stairs first. Aquinnah was right behind him. Jack waited at the landing, on the other side of Neil’s antique motorcycle. They moved slowly, tentatively, and were halfway down when Aquinnah told her brother to stop.
“This is far enough,” she said.
Alexander sat on the step, half-asleep and leaning against the baluster. His shoes were untied, and he was wearing jeans and a pajama top, as if they’d left their last hiding spot in a hurry. Aquinnah stood on the step behind him.
“How did you get here?” asked Jack.
“Taxi,” said Alexander, yawning.
Aquinnah was apparently smart enough to know the police were on the lookout for her car. “You should put a lock on that back staircase,” she said.
“Not much here worth stealing,” said Jack.
He’d hoped a little levity would help put her at ease, but it didn’t seem to have any effect. Jack would have liked more time to break the ice. But even if his client’s life weren’t at stake, a lot of folks were worried about her and Alexander, and law enforcement was going full tilt. Jack had to push her, get what he could, and then call the cops. “Is there something you want to tell me, Aquinnah?”
“You’ve heard so many lies.”
“So let’s clear things up.”
Aquinnah checked on Alexander. His eyes were closed, and the frightened expression had given way to the sweet dreams of a nine-year-old.
“I think he’s out,” said Jack.
Aquinnah joined her brother on the step, sitting close enough to keep him from tumbling down the stairs in his sleep. Even in her big-sister role, however, Aquinnah looked distressed. It was a touchy situation, and Jack worried that she might change her mind about sharing the truth and shut down completely.
“Why did you take your brother?” asked Jack.
She was looking straight ahead, staring over the top of Jack’s head, avoiding eye contact. “I don’t know,” she said in a hollow voice.
“There had to be a reason.”
“Because . . . I don’t want to lose him.”
“Why would you lose him?”
“Because of what happened. That night.”
Jack took a half step closer, standing right up against Neil’s old motorcycle at the base of the stairs. “You mean the night Sashi disappeared?”
She lowered her eyes until they met Jack’s. Then she nodded.
“Tell me what happened, Aquinnah.”
She took another moment, then began. “Sashi ran away.”
“When?”
“In the morning. After Mom dropped her off for school.”
“How did you find out?”
“Mom told me when I came home. I was like, ‘Again?’ She did it all the time, you know.”
So Jack had heard. “Did you look for her?”
“Mom did. She wanted me to stay home with Alexander in case Sashi came home.”
“Where was your dad?”
His questions were coming much more quickly than her answers. “Out of town,” she said.
“Did your mom find her?”
Aquinnah shook her head. “She came home.”
Jack caught his breath. “When?”
“While Mom was out looking for her. It was getting dark.” She swallowed so hard that Jack noticed even from where he was standing. “She said she was raped.”
Jack checked his anticipation. They were getting to the heart of Dylan Reeves’ case. “By whom?”
“Some man in the park.”
If it was Dylan Reeves, he deserved to be in prison—but the wrong man was on death row. Jack had to be careful not to pressure her; he couldn’t afford to lose her. “I know for a fact that Sashi didn’t call the police to report it,” said Jack.
“No. She said no one would believe her.”
“You didn’t call, either.”
“No,” she said, and her voice began to quake. “I told her she was right. No one would believe her. I didn’t believe her.”
“You told her that?”
Her eyes welled, and Aquinnah started to tremble. “I said, ‘You’re a liar, Sashi!’”
Jack could see there was more to come, but Aquinnah was no longer looking at him, and she delivered the rest as if she were in another place, another time. “‘You ran away, you know you’re in trouble, and you think that making up this story about being raped will make everyone feel sorry for you. But it’s not going to work this time. You’ve used up all your chances. Dad’s gonna send you back to Russia!’”
It took a moment for Jack to form the next question. “Was your dad really going to do that?”
“I don’t know,” she said, sniffling back tears. “But that’s what I told her.”
“What did Sashi do?”
“She went berserk, like she always did. She was screaming and yelling, and I told her that all the lying was finally catching up with her.” Aquinnah lowered her voice and directed her answer toward the empty steps below her. “She said she was going to kill herself.”
“Did you believ
e her?”
“She’d said that before. To her dance instructor. To Mom and me. This time, I . . .”
“You what?”
Another long pause, and a deep sigh followed. “My mother never slept. Never. Mostly because of all the worrying she did about Sashi. The doctor gave her a prescription. So I . . .”
“Go on. You . . .”
“I went to the medicine cabinet. I got the pills. I went back to Sashi’s room.”
She stopped, as if she couldn’t bear to think of it, much less say it.
“Was Sashi there?” asked Jack.
Aquinnah nodded. “She was on her bed. I threw the container of pills at her and said, ‘Here! Go ahead. Kill yourself! Do us all a favor!’”
The sudden shouting made Alexander stir. Then he settled back to sleep on the step.
“Did she?” asked Jack.
Aquinnah didn’t answer. She leaned closer to her little brother, sobbing.
“Aquinnah, this is important. Did Sashi kill herself ?”
Her silence said it all. Jack’s heart was pounding, and he was suddenly glad that they had not yet filed that motion—Dylan Reeves’ last chance with the courts. “Does your mother know any of this?”
“We never told her.”
“We?”
“I never told her. I never told either one of my parents.”
“But how could they not know? What happened to Sashi’s body?”
She closed her eyes, then opened them. “The Everglades.”
Florida’s “river of grass.” Over seven hundred square miles of tropical wetlands. Between the man-eating predators and the advanced rate of decomposition, the Everglades were quite possibly the world’s most unforgiving repository of missing persons. “By yourself ?”
She nodded.
Jack struggled to visualize it. “How did you get her downstairs and into the car? She probably weighed as much as you do.”
She didn’t answer.
“Aquinnah, did someone help you?”
She still didn’t answer, but another possibility came to Jack’s mind.
“Or was your sister half out of it from the pills, but still conscious enough to walk to the car with your help?”
Aquinnah hugged her brother so hard that he woke for a moment, and then he fell back asleep. “I think I’ve said enough,” said Aquinnah.
“This is important,” said Jack.
“Call the police, Mr. Swyteck. It’s time for my brother to go home.”
There were questions still unanswered and points that needed clarification. But there were also a worried mother and father who deserved to know that their children were safe.
Jack reached for his cell, then thought better of calling 911. All he needed was a rogue cop to bust down the door, mistake Jack for a child abductor, and pump six slugs into his chest for “resisting arrest”—a needless risk when he had an FBI agent on speed dial.
“I’m dialing,” he told Aquinnah. “While we’re waiting, I want you to come down here and write down everything you told me. Will you do that?”
Aquinnah didn’t answer. Andie’s voice was in Jack’s ear. “Honey, where are you?”
“Hold on one sec, okay?” He held the phone away from him, looking straight at Aquinnah. “Please. Will you do that for me?”
He could still hear Andie’s voice a foot away. “Jack, who are you talking to?”
Aquinnah was staring blankly over Jack’s head again, silent.
“Aquinnah, please.”
“Jack, are you with Aquinnah? Jack?”
Aquinnah was more vacant than ever.
Jack spoke into the phone. “Andie, I’m at the Freedom Institute with Aquinnah and Alexander. They’re both safe. Come right now.”
CHAPTER 64
Jack put Debra in his office. Alexander was bundled in her arms as they rocked gently in Neil’s old rocking chair.
“I’ll need to debrief the boy,” said Detective Perez. He was standing in the doorway to Jack’s office.
“Give them a minute,” said Jack.
The detective glanced in the direction of the mother with her son. “All right. A minute.”
MDPD had arrived first on the scene, and, given the responding officer’s obvious level of testosterone, Jack was glad that he’d phoned Andie. If Andie hadn’t spun things the right way to law enforcement, Jack would have likely ended up facedown on the floor with a boot pressing on his neck. Perez arrived two minutes after the first MDPD squad car, followed by Andie and another FBI agent.
“I’ll check on Aquinnah,” said Perez.
Jack went with him. Aquinnah was in the kitchen with Andie and FBI Agent Foster. Her father entered through the front door as Jack was crossing the reception area. Nicole Thompson was with him.
“Where’s Aquinnah?” Gavin asked, his voice filled with urgency.
Jack pointed. “She’s with the FBI. Alexander’s in my office with his mother.”
Gavin and Nicole went straight to the kitchen. Jack followed.
“I’m her father,” Gavin said as he entered.
The conversation stopped cold. Aquinnah was seated on one side of the table; the agents were on the other, nearest the refrigerator. They all looked in Gavin’s direction.
“You need to stop whatever it is you’re doing with my daughter,” said Gavin.
“Your daughter is twenty years old,” said Andie.
“I’m still her father.”
“She’s an adult.”
“All the more reason she needs a lawyer. Nicole represents her.”
Andie glanced at Aquinnah, and Jack could see from the expression on her face how the mention of “a lawyer” changed the equation. “Aquinnah, is this your lawyer?”
Aquinnah hesitated, as if not sure what to say.
Gavin stepped closer to the table. “Nicole will represent her until she can get her own criminal defense lawyer.”
Andie asked again: “Is this your lawyer?”
She looked at Jack, then at her father.
“Aquinnah, just say yes,” said Gavin.
“Yes.”
“No more questions,” said Nicole.
“Hold on a second,” said Jack. “I have a client who is scheduled to die for a murder he didn’t commit. I need Aquinnah’s help.”
“I’m sorry,” said Nicole. “I’m here to help Aquinnah help herself.”
“She told me that Sashi committed suicide.”
“We’re not going to get into the substance of anything, and I’m not sure how she would know that anyway.”
“Aquinnah gave her the pills. She told me.”
“Then obviously she needs a lawyer,” said Nicole. “You of all people should appreciate that, Mr. Swyteck.”
“Don’t play this game, Nicole. My client needs her help.”
“I’m not saying you won’t get help. But it won’t be tonight. When is the execution date?”
“Tuesday.”
“That’s an eternity.”
Jack bit back his anger, trying not to snap at her. “You’re right, Nicole. At this stage, every minute is an eternity.”
Gavin gave his daughter a stern look. “Let’s go, Aquinnah.”
Aquinnah rose, making eye contact with no one as she walked around the table toward her father.
“We’ll be in touch,” said Nicole.
Jack and Andie exchanged glances, and she didn’t have to say a word to him: Jack knew that the FBI had to let her go. Nicole and Aquinnah went straight to the door. Gavin told them that he would meet them in the car and went into Jack’s office.
“Let’s go, Debra. We all need to leave.”
Jack walked up behind Gavin so that he could see Debra, and so that she could see him. “They want to talk to Alexander,” said Debra.
“No,” said Gavin. “This is something you and I need to talk about and agree on.”
Jack tried a more reasonable tone. “Gavin, this is not the time to circle the wagons. I think we all want
to know the truth.”
“Stay out of this,” said Gavin. “Debra, don’t be bullied into doing something we’ll all regret. Let’s go someplace we can talk.”
She struggled to get out of the chair. Alexander was almost too big to carry, and he grumbled with sleepiness as she settled him onto his feet.
“Time to go, big boy,” she said in a sweet voice.
Debra took him by the hand and led him across the room. Gavin took Alexander’s other hand as they approached, speeding him and his mother along to the front door.
“Debra, you have a say in this,” said Jack. “We need to talk to Alexander.”
Gavin pulled the door open and stopped. “Debra, for the last time: I’m not asking you to do this for me. Do what’s best for the children. It can wait till the morning.”
Debra grimaced, her expression pained. “I’ll call you, Jack. I promise.”
They hurried out the door, and it closed with an empty thud.
Around one-thirty Jack said good night to Andie and good morning to Hannah. His wife was headed out the door, and his partner was returning. The rest of the Freedom team was on its way.
“We have a lot of work to do,” said Jack.
He’d filled her in during the phone call, and Hannah had already divided labor in her head. “I’ll get Brian to research newly discovered evidence. Eve and I can rewrite the motion.”
“Good. I’ll work on an affidavit from Aquinnah.”
“Do you think Nicole will let her sign it?”
“The first step is to convince her that throwing a jar of sleeping pills at someone is not a crime, even if Sashi was threatening to commit suicide.”
“Are we sure it’s not a crime? Maybe we should get Brian to research that, too.”
“I got a better idea.”
Jack went to his office. Hannah followed. Jack didn’t know Barbara Carmichael’s home phone number, but 411 had it. Never had he heard of the state of Florida joining in a death-row inmate’s emergency motion to stay an execution, but under these circumstances it seemed worth a shot. He dialed. On the fifth ring, she answered. She’d obviously been sound asleep.
“Good Lord, Swyteck. This had better be a real emergency.”
Gone Again Page 32