Alex Barclay - Harm's Reach

Isn’t that Covering Your Tracks 101?

‘We tried to contact Robert Prince,’ said Kristen, ‘but we couldn’t get hold of him because he’s away on business and isn’t taking calls. We did get in touch with Ingrid Prince who said she would fly in from New York yesterday afternoon and pick Conor up last night. We decided to terminate his stay here.’

Wow.

‘Did she come?’ said Ren.

‘She called last night to say that she was delayed,’ said Kristen. ‘She was packing up the house in Golden and said that she would come by in the morning instead. This morning. She still hasn’t showed.’

‘Do you think Conor was happy or reluctant to leave?’ said Ren.

‘I... don’t know,’ said Kristen. ‘He seemed neutral on the topic. Apathetic.’

‘He’s a smart kid,’ said Ren. ‘Don’t you think it’s strange that he didn’t make more of an effort to hide what he had done?’

‘I hadn’t thought about it,’ said Kristen. ‘I put it down to an angry outburst — hot-headed lack of thinking, more than anything.’

‘So, what happened between him and Jesse?’ said Ren.

‘That’s why I brought Kyle. Kyle, can you please come speak with Agent Bryce? Thank you.’

The boy walked over.

‘Nice to meet you,’ said Ren. ‘Can you tell me what you saw?’

‘Conor and Jesse got into a fight in the men’s room,’ said Kyle.

‘Do you know why?’ said Ren.

‘It was, like, different things. Conor was giving out to Jesse about what he did to the cemetery—’

‘What Jesse did?’ said Ren.

‘Yes,’ said Kyle.

Ren and Kristen glanced at each other. Shouldn’t it have been Jesse giving out to Conor?

‘Then Jesse was calling Conor a liar,’ said Kyle. ‘He pushed Conor, he told him he had betrayed him again, he said that’s all anyone does. He told Conor that he was fucked up, that he lied to him, he’d used him, and he’d promised he wouldn’t leave. Conor said it was none of Jesse’s damn business what he did with his life.’ He paused. ‘They were talking about a phone. Conor was going crazy about that.’

The confiscated cell phone.

‘Is there anything else you can think of?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Kyle. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Do you know where Conor might have gone?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Kyle. ‘I don’t really know Conor.’

‘OK,’ said Ren. ‘Thank you.’

‘Please wait down the hallway, Kyle,’ said Kristen.

‘I’m going to go back in to talk to Jesse,’ said Ren. ‘If you hear anything, please report to me immediately.’

‘I will,’ said Kristen.

Ren stuck her head into the interview room and called Janine to the door to quietly fill her in.

They went back in to Jesse and sat down opposite him.

‘Can I get a drink?’ he said.

‘No,’ said Ren. ‘OK, Jesse — you were overheard saying to Conor earlier that he betrayed you “again” — what did you mean by that?’

‘Just that he was leaving the ranch,’ said Jesse. ‘He’s my only friend. I need a friend right now... with my dad and everything...’

‘Were you trying to stop Conor from leaving today?’ said Ren.

‘ He attacked me ,’ said Jesse. ‘Anyone who was there saw that.’

‘And why did he do that?’ said Ren.

‘Just because I asked him about leaving,’ said Jesse. ‘He’s been acting really weird. Since you interviewed him... it was like you’d given him a really hard time or something — I don’t know. He came out of there mad.’

‘We did not give him a hard time,’ said Ren. ‘I can promise you that. Quite the opposite. We offered our condolences about his Aunt Laura. We were respectful. We were trying to gather information for our investigation, and he thanked us at the end. I’m having a hard time believing that he could have walked away from that interview angry.’

Jesse shrugged. ‘I’m just telling you what I saw. He didn’t say that you had given him a hard time — that was just my understanding of it.’

‘From now on, I need you to stick to the facts,’ said Ren. ‘Your understanding of events might not reflect the reality, OK?’

Jesse nodded.

‘Why was Conor talking about the cell phone?’ said Ren. ‘I’m presuming that was the one we got today from Kristen Faule.’

Jesse went very still. ‘Yes. He wanted to use it, but I told him I didn’t have it any more. I had let him borrow it a few times before. The Saturday before his aunt was killed, I heard him talking to her about Robert Prince, about fraud, about Robert probably going to jail, about how it was Conor’s chance to leave the ranch, to start a new life...’

‘So you did think he was planning to leave,’ said Ren.

‘Yes,’ said Jesse, ‘but I swear to God, I didn’t do anything...’

‘Did you see his Aunt Laura as the person who would take him away from you?’ said Ren.

Jesse frowned. ‘No. It sounded like Conor wanted to leave. It didn’t sound like anyone was forcing him.’

‘You burned the journal two days later, you burned the photos of Conor — are you sure that wasn’t because you were mad at him?’ said Ren.

‘No — he was leaving, he said he didn’t need the photos any more,’ said Jesse.

‘Why did Conor run away today?’ said Ren.

Jesse shrugged. ‘Because of what he did to me, how he would be in trouble because of the grave... and I guess he doesn’t want to go back to the Princes.’

Janine’s phone started to vibrate. She took it out. She leaned in to Ren and whispered. ‘It’s a New York number... I think it’s Carolina Vescovi. I’m going to step outside.’

‘Sure, go ahead,’ said Ren.

She took out her phone and texted Everett.

Boy at ranch lent phone to Conor Gorman, says he heard him talking about Robert Prince and fraud — Kohler processing phone records. Any updates? Also, where is RP? Anything on flight records?

Ren turned back to Jesse. ‘I need you to think where Conor might have gone.’

‘Conor could go anywhere,’ said Jesse. ‘He doesn’t give a... he doesn’t care.’

‘OK,’ said Ren, ‘tell me the rest. You fought in the restroom...’

‘Yes,’ said Jesse. ‘And then we were out in the hallway... and out by the stables.’

‘And then what happened?’ said Ren.

Her phone beeped with a text from Everett.

On the case. Will call pleasantly.

‘We shouted at each other a little more,’ said Jesse, ‘and that’s when he punched me in the face. He split the skin. He stormed off. I couldn’t see. There was blood pouring into my eye.’

‘Jesse — did Conor say he was annoyed at you for tidying the cemetery?’ said Ren.

‘Yes, but I don’t know what it had to do with him. I mean, he trashed it — he’s the one people should be mad at. I don’t get it.’

Then it hit her. Tidying it up was the issue. When Jesse tidied up, he uncovered the headstones, including the one that revealed Delores Ward’s secret. For Conor to have gone and broken that exact headstone is a little too coincidental, meaning that Conor knows Delores Ward... and perhaps he owed her a favor or was expecting one in return. But why? What could a woman like Delores Ward have done for Conor Gorman?

Outside in the hallway, Janine picked up the call from Carolina Vescovi.

‘I’m sorry for getting off the phone so abruptly,’ said Carolina.

‘That’s OK,’ said Janine. ‘Is everything all right?’

‘I... I... guess I never believed that people could bury a memory like this,’ said Carolina. ‘But... but I had,’ she said. ‘That woman in the photograph. She was... I was eight years old. I remember I was in the restaurant, we used to live above it. I was supposed to be in my room, but I had snuck down and I was playing in the coat check. I was sitting on the floor underneath where the coats were hanging down from the rail. And... a man came over to me and he started talking to me. He crouched down, told me how pretty I was. I remember him reaching out, rubbing my cheek. It was horrible. I was terrified. And then, this beautiful face appeared. This face right here in front of me. Viggi Leinster. But she looked as terrified as I was. And she put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. I remember her beautiful red nails and how her knuckles turned white. She said to him, “Come on, now, honey. Our table is ready.” He looked really angry. When he was out of the way, this woman reached out, took my hand and pulled me up to standing.