by Anna Widzisz
Why was everyone so quick to blame her? It seemed like even the smallest of incidents could send people into thinking the worst of her. Drew was no exception this time around.
“I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant. It’s just,”
He wanted to explain himself. Having seen Lynette’s reaction, there was no doubt left in him. She was innocent. No one would be this crushed by his words if they had anything to do with the murder. But before he was able to say anything more, the doors opened again and a tall man came into the teachers’ lounge looking confused as to why the girl wasn’t alone.
The man was dressed in a dress shirt and black pants. He was far from being just a police officer. Didn’t seem like that type.
Once he’d examined her, there was no way that she could go back to pretending to be traumatized like before. It was too late and that ship had sailed.
“Drew, what the hell are you doing here?” he asked.
Lynette looked shocked, her gaze shifting between the man and the boy. Did they know each other?
“Dad? What are you doing here?”
Dad? That was his father? Fucking hell!
The girl was getting herself deeper and deeper in trouble. The messages, the wedding, the murder. So why not add to the mix the only person in this school whose father was a cop? Because that was the one thing that was missing.
She sat down feeling dizzy.
“Go back to the cafeteria, son.”
The man was surprisingly calm for someone who’d just found his child in the company of a girl soon to be charged for murder.
“I’m not going anywhere. Lynette is my friend. Maybe I can help somehow.”
“You will help by leaving. I won’t ask again,” he growled, getting more frustrated.
However, it still wasn’t the kind of reaction that she would receive from her father, were the roles reversed. She would be punished harshly for that sort of disobedience.
With one last glance Drew walked out of the room and the girl found herself alone with the man.
He regarded her. “We both know that you are far from being as devastated as you pretended to be earlier. It’s probably not the first time you saw something that awful and most likely not the last time either. I have to ask you about David. One of the students pointed you as guilty when the case was still revolving around his disappearance,”
“Which is not true,” she added.
“So tell me how come you were the one to find his body?
“If I could explain it, I would,” hissed Lynette, crossing her arms.
There was a moment of silence. They were staring at each other as if waiting for their facial expressions to give away secrets. One of them was supposed to break and spill all that they’d been trying to hide from the other. Lynette didn’t need a lot of information to understand what was going on.
“You’re not a cop,” she said. “At least not a regular one. You seem committed, but surprisingly not to the murder itself. Who are you exactly?”
The man smiled. He didn’t even try to hide the truth from her and pulled out a badge. FBI agent, Mark Ryder.
“Lynette, I want to help you, but in a few minutes your father will be here and I won’t be able to do anything. You know what I want to hear from you.”
It was all that Lynette needed to get her answer. Mark Ryder was in Seattle to investigate her father, or the mafia in general. He couldn’t care less about the murder of a teenage boy. But since the daughter of the Capo was involved, it was a whole different matter. He was most likely hoping to get her to testify against Severo. She was the weak link in his eyes, the one who would break the easiest. As if she would ever do that.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. And I wish to change clothes now. If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m covered in blood. So can I take a shower somewhere and give you the clothes as evidence?” she asked, changing the subject. She was done with answering questions for the day.
Then, her father came into the room, making her angrier than Drew and Mark Ryder combined. “I knew that I shouldn’t have allowed you to go to public school,” he stated the moment he looked at her.
She left the room with the woman officer who took her to the bathroom. Strangely enough, they forgot to take her phone. She prayed that Jason would pick up right now.
When she drew the blinds, she sent a quick message to Jason telling him what had happened. Maybe he already knew, but it didn’t matter. She needed his presence. Even if only through a text. The reply was almost instant.
From Jason: Sco, don’t say anything.
Another one came.
From unknown: And just like that your father arrived in time to see his daughter’s work of art.
CHAPTER 12
Classes got canceled. All the students spent their time at school answering questions about David. But no one really believed they would be of any help. The boy had never been close to anyone. Barely talked to people. Unless to tell on someone to the teacher. It was his only input in school life.
After Drew was walked out by an officer from the PE teachers’ lounge, he didn’t go back to the canteen. Someone had decided against it in order to avoid spreading rumors and getting the students even more restless. They should be giving their statements to the police without being steered in a certain direction. And in spite of Ryder assuring them that he wouldn’t say a word, they kept him in a separate wing under strict supervision. He couldn’t see his friends and what was worse - Lynette.
He wasn’t able to stop thinking about the girl’s reaction. What if she wouldn’t forgive him for what he’d said? Even if it hadn’t been totally thought through, the words had come out of his mouth all the same. He’d heard gossip about David’s death and that Lynette had been found at the crime scene right before he’d gone to meet her. Because of that, there had been doubts in his head. Did she do it? Did she kill him? No one in their right state of mind would make up something that serious. Uncertainty had been there until he’d seen the madness in Lynette, as she was slowly realizing what she’d just witnessed. Whoever murdered David, it was not Selvaggio. Never her. That is exactly what he said to the police. More than once. But the officers had formed their own suspicions even before the investigation had been reclassified as a murder case, and they wanted to be right. No matter what.
However, the involvement of his father was still unclear to him. The FBI barely ever took cases like this. It was just a simple murder case of a teenage boy. Nothing that the agents had to take care of themselves. There were probably much more important matters - of national importance; concerning the security of the country or at least a mass murder or a serial killer. But there had to be a reason for it.
The school reopened around three o’clock and everyone could finally go back home. Tomorrow was supposed to be another boring day of normal classes. The students didn’t receive a free day. The only difference was that the whole east wing would be sealed off and filled with police because of the on-going investigation.
As soon as Drew was allowed out, he went to find his friends. He would have preferred to go to Lynette, but no one wanted to tell him where she was and he could hardly walk around the wing looking for her with so many officers around.
“Drew,” He heard a female voice calling him.
He turned around, hoping that it belonged to Selvaggio. But instead, there was his father’s partner, Martha Lewis, walking down the hallway towards him. She was a tall, blonde woman in her early thirties. Drew has met her a few times on several occasions, but they never talked a lot, only exchanged a few words here and there.
“Don’t forget your phone.” she added, giving him the phone, which had been taken as a safety precaution by the police.
He took it, looking curiously at the woman. “Could you tell me anything about Lynette? Where is she? Is everything okay with her?”
It was his last chance to find something out. Martha knew him, so maybe she would be more open towards sharing someth
ing with him.
“Everything is fine. Her father is now with her. But I have to warn you to stay away from the likes of her. That girl is trouble, Drew. She may not have been formally accused of anything, but that does not mean that she is not involved in it. The investigation is opened and we have every intention of finding out who killed this poor boy.”
Martha did not belong to the people he wanted to talk to about his relationship with Lynette. His friends may not know much about the girl, but the woman knew even less. For this reason, he thanked her for returning the cell, turned around and left the school.
There were many students and even some parents in front of the building. Drew could already imagine the stories they were telling themselves. He could only hope that half of them were true. But they were all waiting for exactly this kind of situation to get the confirmation they sought in regards to Lynette. In their eyes she was guilty. They didn't need any hard evidence for it. Even if she would eventually be scratched out from the list of suspects.
He immediately spotted his friends sitting on a bench in the courtyard. They were fiercely talking about something. There was no doubt what the topic of the conversation was. Unfortunately, Kendal was with them, which upset him, because she was way too involved in their group of friends for the sole purpose of finding more gossip to spread around. And truth be told, he was almost certain that the girl was the one to turn Lynette in. Even is she will deny it.
Isaac was the first to see Drew. All the students watched him as if they suspected where he’d been all along. And perhaps they really did know. They rose from the bench. Inéz hugged him so tightly that he could barely catch a breath. But after a brief moment, she hit him with all the strength she had.
“Where the hell were you? I was worried sick about you. You were with us in the cafeteria and suddenly you disappeared without telling us anything.” she seethed, glaring at the boy as if she wanted to kill him.
“You can calm down now. I’m here.”
“So where were you?” Kendal asked, ready to finally hear some exciting news.
Inéz rolled her eyes. “Kendal, go away. We do not need you to tell any more lies to people. Too many students believe everything they hear.”
She didn’t want to change the fact that she was the only girl in their group, and even more, she didn’t want Kendal to join them. Never.
“She can stay.”
Drew made his decision. If she really was the one to go to the police before, she had to hear the truth about her false suspicions.
“Really? You don’t mind?” Even Kendal herself was surprised by his words.
He nodded. “Yes. If you do not twist anything I say. If you want to spread news, then it has to be the whole story. Not just the most interesting parts, completely taken out of context.” She agreed instantly. “I went to find Lynette.”
“Are you stupid?” Francisco, as always, began by judging his choices.
He couldn’t understand his friend’s fascination with the girl. And there was no way to reason with him because Drew was unshaken in his belief that Selvaggio was innocent.
“Do not interrupt me. I didn't do anything wrong. Neither did Lynette. She found the body, but that's all. She was not charged with anything.”
“How can you be sure? Only because she told you that?”
“She didn't have to. She is probably mad at me now because I used the wrong words and it came out as if I also suspected her to be the killer. If she really had done it, she would not have behaved like that with me. The police haven’t been able to prove that she’s done anything wrong. Lynette is merely the main witness that found the body.”
Drew thought of telling them about his father's involvement in the investigation, but it would not be a wise move. Especially with Kendal.
“As a gangster's daughter, she knows how to behave in order to escape justice,” said Francisco. His sister immediately smacked him on the head. “I know you disagree with me, but can you stop hitting me?”
“It’s not about that. Lynette left school,” she whispered, staring at the main entrance.
Everyone turned at once. Lynette was walking right next to her father. Her legs were bare and she was wearing his large, black jacket. Her head was lowered and her hair was covering her face, keeping her from seeing much. But, as she was being led by the man, she didn’t have to. She shivered with every cold blow of the wind.
She raised her head and her eyes fell on Drew. She paused, staring at the boy, which didn’t escape her father’s attention. He rolled his eyes, grabbed her arm and practically dragged her into the car. A moment later, the black Range Rover drove off and disappeared from view.
§ § §
Waiting for his father to get back from work, Drew sat on the couch in the living room, searching the internet for any news on David’s murder. There were several articles, but all lacked any specific information. As if the investigation was scrupulously protected against any press leaks, which was not normal. All magazines had numerous ways of getting a hold of police documents.
The last few days had been extremely chaotic. He couldn't wrap his head around it all. Especially because each situation had one common element - they happened to Lynette. He knew that the girl wasn’t what people thought her to be.
For a sixteen-year-old girl, she was strange. True, her behavior was not normal most of the time. Even the way she spoke and thought was not something that others could easily replicate. Every word, every move, she made was thought through. He didn’t know anyone else who was as cautious as she was.
Lynette had a secret. Maybe even more than one. That much was obvious. Mystery was her forte so getting something out of her didn’t count as an easy task. But it was one that Drew wanted to do with all of his heart. Not just because of curiosity, but also because, in his eyes, the girl needed someone who didn’t count her out since the very beginning.
Recalling every moment of today, he decided to look for answers. Browsing through the internet, he found several articles. They were mostly about her father, who’d financed a new company, attended the opening of an Italian restaurant and gave money to a foundation that raised money for research on spinal cord injuries. Nothing particularly related to the man’s daughter. Drew had already figured out that her dad must have been a very wealthy businessman. But there was one article that interested him. It was about the disappearance of Sofia Selvaggio - Lynette’s mom. Apparently, she’d left her family and fled the country. There would be nothing interesting about it, if not for the date when it happened. A few days before he’d met Lynette in the park. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Lynette might have found out that her mother left that day. That’s why she’d been so out of it.
At half-past nine Mark Ryder came back home, looking as if he didn’t have any strength left after the long and hard day at work. Beginnings of any investigation were always the worst. Gathering evidence at the crime scene, interrogating students, David’s parents and his relatives were far from interesting but highly necessary.
The man went into the kitchen to greet his wife and then walked to the living room. He sat on the couch next to his son, closing his eyes for a moment. The only thing he dreamed of was to eat something and go to sleep with the hope that the next day would be a bit easier.
“Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. I just need to heat it up,” said Erin, following her husband.
She smiled with adoration clear in her eyes.
Drew’s parents had got divorced when he was just nine years old. The boy used to live with his mother, only seeing his father on the weekends, until he’d had to move to Seattle for one of his cases. Mark put his life back together here. He met Erin and married her. Soon after, the woman got pregnant and, nine months later, little Sophie appeared. It meant that Drew had two families from that moment on. He traveled between New Orleans and Seattle. It didn’t bother him one bit because his parents still talked to each other, and besides, he liked his mother’s boyfriend Adam
, just as he liked Erin. And when Sophie was born she became his whole world, and he felt responsible for her, just like any older brother should.
But New Orleans had never been a home to Drew. He lived there only because of his mother. He didn’t want to leave her as he was all she had at one point. However, after a while, she got the opportunity to go to Paris for work and Drew decided to move in with his father. The last thing he needed was to start a life in a completely different country, where he didn’t even know the language. He got used to Seattle, made friends, and preferred to live in Washington state rather than move overseas to France.
Because of that, he got more opportunities to spend time with Mark. Not only on Christmas or during the extreme vacations that they went on each year. They both loved adrenaline. For this reason, they’d traveled to different countries and tried exhilarating, unconventional things. They swam with sharks in South Africa, bungee jumped in unusual places such as Macau, China. They were very close and the divorce hadn’t changed that.
However, no trip had ever filled Mark with worry about his son, the way today’s situation had. When he’d seen him that close to the crime scene with Lynette Selvaggio, his heart had stopped. He had no idea that Drew was friends with the girl and it was the worst news he’d ever got.
Mark Ryder knew about the mafia presence in Seattle. For this specific reason, he’d been transferred to Seattle in the first place. No matter what he’d told his son. He’d been investigating Severo Selvaggio from the very beginning. He’d wanted to find irrefutable evidence that would put him in prison for life. But the man was smart. Even if they found something, it was never enough for the Capo to be arrested for long. The lawyers would get him out very quickly, and if he ever found out that the FBI was building a case against him, he would be even more cautious. It appeared close to impossible to bring the man to justice.
When he’d learned about the death of David Rodson and the accusations against Lynette, he considered it as the opportunity he’d been waiting for all along. Severo's daughter had always been protected, so it was almost impossible to talk to her alone. However, even after the possibility appeared, he had to change tactics. He hadn’t expected the teenager to be observant and intelligent enough to figure out exactly who he was. More than once he’d been able to catch a glimpse of the girl and see that she didn’t look particularly happy with her life. Therefore, there was a chance that she would want to change it, and knowing that someone could help her might be the final nudge she needed to finally do it.