Mariah Stewart - Hard Truth

“That’s not much to go on.”

“Agreed. But it’s more than we’ve got on anyone else. Besides, he was around the night Jason disappeared.”

“He was home by then.”

“Was he? We have only his word for that. Remember, his mother was away that night. Jason had been home for a while, first arguing, then talking with his mother, before he went out that door into the yard. Billie’s already told us that. Fritz would’ve had plenty of time to ride his bike out to the Eagans’.”

“But why would he have done that? What would his motive have been?”

“I guess we’ll have to ask Fritz. In the meantime, let’s have Mitch run a trace, find out where Fritz has been going a couple of days every month over the past few years, and see if any bodies have popped up in his path.”

“I don’t see it.” She shook her head. “Fritz is just too gentle a soul, T.J. I don’t think he has an aggressive bone in his body.”

“That’s what some people said about John Wayne Gacy. And Ted Bundy.” He took his phone from his pocket and speed-dialed Mitch’s number. “If I learned one thing all those years I was with the Bureau, it’s that there’s no way of telling what goes on inside the head of another human being. The person who looks craziest might be harmless, and the person you least suspect might be a monster who is capable of things you can’t even begin to imagine.”

“A monster?” she said softly. “Where did that come from?”

He watched the light change, then made a left onto the two-lane road that would take them back to Callen.

“T.J.?” She reached over and touched his arm. “Where did the monster thing come from?”

“From long ago.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He drove in silence for almost a mile before replying.

“Not today.” He stared at the road straight ahead. “Maybe some other time, but not today…”

Mitch was sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch, feet crossed at the ankle and resting on the railing, when T.J. and Lorna returned to the farm.

“Hope you don’t mind,” he called to Lorna after she’d gotten out of the car, “but I needed a little downtime to think a few things over.”

“I don’t mind at all.” She smiled. “ Mi rocker es su rocker.”

“Muchas gracias,” Mitch said. “Now, Dawson, tell me why, with all the super-duper spy equipment that I know you’ve purchased over the years, you need the FBI to get telephone information for you.”

“I sold it all when I sold the business.”

“You sold all your toys?” Mitch’s eyebrows rose.

“Every last one of them.”

“That’s too bad.” Mitch shook his head. “And damned poor planning on your part.”

“Hey, I was retiring and the buyer made an offer, lock, stock, and barrel. My partner said to sell it all, so we did.” T.J. stood on the grass with his arms folded over his chest. “Are you going to tell me what you came up with?”

“A name, dates. A phone number. The usual.”

“Are you going to make me beg?”

“Nah.” Mitch opened the briefcase that sat at his feet and handed T.J. a folder. “Name, Claude Raymond Fleming.”

He looked at Lorna. “That name ring a bell?”

“No.” She shook her head.

“Claude Raymond lives on Michigan ’s Upper Peninsula. I have someone checking him out as we speak.”

“Maybe it’s just a coincidence?” Lorna frowned. “Maybe the call had nothing to do with Melinda after all. I guess that would have been too good to be true.”

“We’ll see what turns up. According to the records, it’s a number Danielle hadn’t called in the past four years, so that right there makes me curious. That she’d be dialing even as you’re leaving. Seems as if she was telling someone something they needed to know right away, doesn’t it?” Mitch turned to T.J. “So how’d it go with you today, Dawson?”

“It went.” T.J. sat on the top step and leaned against the support pillar.

Lorna unlocked the front door. “I’ll be back out in a few. I want to see if I have a message from any of my clients.”

“Take your time,” T.J. told her. “I expect we’ll still be here when you’re finished.”

“You learn anything from… which one did you see today?” Mitch asked.

“Dustin Lafferty. The one who drove Jason home the night he disappeared. About the only thing I learned was that he admitted he lied about having seen Jason go into the house that night.”

“Why would he have lied about that?”

“Seems he thought it would make him look important. He wanted people to think he knew something no one else knew.”

Mitch nodded. “I hate it when that happens.”

“And he also told us that Fritz Keeler is gay.”

“Well, there’s something.” Mitch stopped rocking. “Gay victims, a gay perp could make sense. Local guy, just like we thought. Maybe I should have a chat with him. Tell me, what do your instincts say?”

T.J. shrugged. “I don’t have any.”

“That’s bullshit, Dawson.”

“Let’s just look at the facts as we know them, okay, and leave it at that.”

“In that case, I’d say it’s time for me to bring in Fritz.”

“Then do it.”

“You don’t think it’s him,” Mitch said flatly. “I can tell by the look on your face. Will you please tell me what you’re thinking?”

“I’m thinking that it’s one of three guys-Fritz, Mike, or Dustin. I’m thinking maybe you should run a trace on all three of them, see if there are any priors of any sort. But you should see if there are any registered sex offenders in the area. See if there are any other viable suspects.”

“I’ve done all that. I’ve run traces on everyone remotely connected to Jason Eagan, including the chief of police, who, you might be interested in knowing, at one time had a clandestine relationship with Dustin Lafferty’s mother. It ended a few years ago, but I thought I’d pass that on. None of the others have arrests for any sex crimes-not even a peeper among them-but Mike Keeler has had a few assault charges against him. Never convicted, charges were always dropped. Mostly bar fights. Walker also told me Mike had been stopped a few times for driving without a license before he turned sixteen, but it was no big deal. Apparently all the boys around here did that.”

“Dustin said Mike had an aggressive streak.”

Mitch lowered his feet and leaned forward in the chair to face T.J. “Knowing what you know about the players you’ve been talking to, I want your gut reaction, T.J. I need it. You may not trust yourself anymore, but I still do.”

“That’s real nice of you, Mitch,” T.J said drily. “Nice try.”

“Will you knock it off?” Mitch’s jaw tightened. “You gonna carry that cross for the rest of your life? Everyone makes mistakes.”

“Everyone’s mistakes don’t cost innocent people their lives,” T.J. snapped.

“Sometimes they do. Look, I admit, what happened in Georgia, that was horrendous. No getting around it. And I can understand why you would want to walk away, why you’d never want to put yourself in that position again. I might look at things that way myself, for a while. But it wasn’t your fault, what happened. It was Teddy Kershaw’s fault those people died. I think you’ve repented for his sins long enough, don’t you?”

“Ask those kids in Georgia whose mothers Kershaw killed, the husbands who lost their wives. The parents who will never see their daughters again.” T.J.’s eyes clouded. “Ask them if they think I should be let off the hook.”

“You have to let it go, buddy.” Mitch shook his head. “You just have to let it go.”