Mariah Stewart - Hard Truth

“Let’s start with Melinda Eagan,” T.J. said, jumping right into the questioning. “You were around the night she went missing, from what I understand.”

“That’s right. I stopped at Matt Conrad’s on my way home from school.”

“Do you remember what time that was?”

“Must have been around six. It was already getting dark out.”

“You were just on your way home from school at six?”

“Detention.” Dustin smiled. “I got a lot of that back in those days. I know you’ll find this hard to believe, Agent Dawson…”

“Please, it’s T.J. I’m not-”

“… but I used to have a problem with my mouth. Just couldn’t keep it shut.”

“Really.” T.J. stared at him.

“God’s truth. Anyway, since I was already late getting home, I stopped at Matt’s to see what the guys were doing. See if I could bum a smoke.”

“Who was there when you arrived at Matt’s?”

“Oh, let’s see. Matt, of course. Fritz Keeler and his younger brother, Mike. They were getting ready to leave, but then Jason came back and asked if anyone had seen his sister, and none of us had, so he asked if we’d help look for her. So, sure, we did. We went all through that field. Didn’t find her, though. Not that night, not any night.”

“Did you look for her after that night?”

“Not really. She was just gone.”

“Any thoughts on what might have happened to her?”

“Not a clue.”

“Are you sure both Keeler boys were there when you arrived?”

“Absolutely. They were getting ready to leave.”

“Let’s jump ahead a few weeks, to the night Jason disappeared.”

“Night he was murdered, you mean.”

“We don’t have any proof that he was killed that night.”

“Hey, there’s no way anyone would have held him for a day or something, and then killed him. Someone like Jason, if you’re going to kill him, you’re going to have to kill him fast. He was one tough mother.” He glanced at Lorna. “Sorry, Lorna. He was one tough guy.”

“You were all drinking beer at your house.”

“We started out at my house, later on that night we went out to White Marsh Park.”

“You, Matt, Fritz, Jason, Mike.” T.J. ticked off the names.

“Mike?” Dustin frowned. “I don’t remember that Mike was there, but maybe.”

He thought for another minute before saying, “I don’t remember about that.”

“You drank for a while and then drove everyone home.”

“Right. I was the only one with a license that year. I think Fritz might have already been sixteen. With Mr. Keeler being dead, Fritz could’ve gotten a hardship license, but his mother wouldn’t let him get his license right away.” He rolled his eyes. “What a piece of work she was. A miracle either of them turned out normal. If you think Fritz is normal, that is.”

Lorna spoke up for the first time. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know.” Dustin paused while his receptionist came in with a pitcher of iced tea and three glasses. The room fell very silent while she poured and distributed the drinks.

“Anything else?” she asked Dustin.

“Not right now, thanks,” he told her. After she closed the door behind her, he said to Lorna, “Well, you know that Fritz is gay, right? I mean, everyone in Callen knows that, right?”

“No, I didn’t know.”

“Not that I care,” Dustin was quick to assure her. “ ‘Course, back then, when we were kids, none of us had any idea. But everyone knows how his mother bullied him and Mike. It never seemed to affect Mike so much, he was always such a man’s man, you know? Aggressive, cocky. Big football star, wrestler. Bigger personality. He played in college, you know that? Over at West Chester. Then he got hurt-back injury? Shoulder? Don’t remember. Anyway, he couldn’t play anymore and he dropped out, married Sarah. Guess the rest is history, right?”

“But you think he wasn’t there that night at your house?” T.J. tried to steer the conversation back on course.

“I think I would remember if he had been, but I just don’t. Sorry.”

“The police report says that after you dropped Jason off at home, you saw him go into the house, heard his mother yelling at him.”

“I guess, if that’s what it says.” Dustin picked up his glass and drank.

“Well, did you see him go into the house?” T.J. pressed.

“I must have. Otherwise, why would I say…?” Dustin took another drink, then set the glass on the desk. “All right, I saw him go up to the house. I saw him go around to the porch as I was pulling away. That’s all I really saw.”

“The statement you gave to the police says otherwise,” T.J. reminded him.

“I don’t remember exactly what I told the police.” His face began to flush.

“Want me to remind you?”

Dustin shook his head. “No. I guess I must have exaggerated a little bit, maybe said I saw more than I did.”

“Why would you do that?” Lorna asked.

“I don’t know. I guess…” He shrugged. “I guess because it made me look important, you know? Like I was there or something. I can’t explain it now. I was just a kid then. I never thought it would matter much.”

He paused, then asked, “Does it matter much?”

“Only to make me wonder if you lied about anything else,” T.J. told him.

“No, I swear. Everything else is the truth.” Dustin looked from Lorna to T.J.

“Did it ever occur to you to go back to the police and change your statement?” Lorna asked.

“A couple of times I thought about it, but it didn’t seem to matter. Jason never came back. After awhile people stopped talking about it. We all just figured he’d run away, maybe the sister, too.” Dustin shrugged. “That’s what I woulda done, if I’d had a mother like that. I’d have run away and never looked back.”

“So what do you think?” Lorna said when they were back in the car, T.J. driving.

“I think Dustin reminds me of all the worst used-car salesmen I’ve ever known.”

Lorna nodded. “It’s the hair. Not a good look.”

T.J. laughed and drove out of the parking lot and stopped at the light.

“It wasn’t a complete waste of time, though. We came away with two possible suspects,” he said.

“We did?” She frowned. “What suspects?”

“The Keeler boys.”

“How do you figure?”

“Let’s start with Mike. He’s not telling the truth about where he was the night Jason disappeared. We’ve had three versions now, and two of them say he wasn’t out with the other guys. But he tells the story as if he were. Why? Maybe because he doesn’t want us to know where he really was that night.”

“Maybe Fritz and Dustin just don’t remember it clearly. It was a long time ago, and they were drinking.”

“They seem to remember the other details well enough. And I’m not sure I understand where Mike was when Melinda went missing. He says he was at Matt’s the whole time, but no one’s backing him up.”

“Again, it was a long time ago.”

“True, but that night turned out to be an event. Something important happened. A child disappeared, they all took part in the search. You remember things like that. My grandmother has days when she can’t remember the name of her next-door neighbor, but she can tell you in detail where she was and what she was doing the day President Kennedy was shot. People tend to remember the dramatic times, Lorna. Their friend’s younger sister disappearing was such a moment.”

“What about Fritz?”

“Well, let’s take a look at him. According to Dustin, everyone in Callen knows he’s gay-except you, apparently-and we’ve confirmed that at least three of the nine missing boys were.”