Mariah Stewart - Last Look

“Thank you, Agent Shields, for handling everything so delicately.” Judith met him in the hallway, tissues clenched in each hand. “For your sensitivity. We still don’t know what to think, what to believe, about Shannon. And the speculation is just going to be more than I can bear…”

Andrew patted her gently on the shoulder. “We’ll do everything we can to find the truth, Mrs. Randall, and to make certain you and your family hear it before anyone else does.”

“We appreciate that.” She dabbed at her eyes.

“Now, where might I find your husband?” Andrew asked.

“He’s back in his office, waiting for you,” she said. “The first door on the right.”

“Thank you.” Andrew started down the hall just as the police chief came back through the door.

“Agent Shields, about Agent Collins-” Bowden called to him.

“She’s not officially on the case,” Andrew told him truthfully.

“Could have fooled me.”

“She’s here as a special observer only. But that information doesn’t need to be shared.”

Andrew debated whether to offer more of an explanation, then decided against it. Maybe later. Right now, he wanted to get on with his questioning of Franklin while the man was still willing.

“Are the reporters leaving?” Andrew asked.

“Some have, some are taking their time,” Bowden told him. “I’ll keep an eye on them.”

“What if they come back and start asking more questions?” Judith said. “Agent Shields said you’d arrest anyone who didn’t leave…”

“And I will, Miz Randall. But let’s give ’em a few more minutes to pack up their cameras and get themselves moving. Nobody’s answering any more questions until Agent Shields is ready to call another conference, so just don’t you worry about that.”

Andrew started off for his meeting with Randall, wishing Bowden had thought of that before he’d started answering the inquiry about Dorsey. He was hoping that cat wasn’t too far out of the bag.

At the first door on the right, he stopped and knocked lightly on the half-closed door.

“Come in, Agent Shields. And close it behind you.” Franklin Randall sat behind his desk in his wheelchair. He pointed to a dark green leather club chair and said, “Sit there.”

Andrew did as Randall requested.

“Thank you for what you said out there. They all gone yet?”

“Chief Bowden is keeping an eye on the stragglers. He’s making sure the last of them leave.”

“What is it you wanted to know that you didn’t already learn from my wife, my mother, or my daughters?” Franklin said, cutting to the chase.

“I want to know what Shannon was running away from twenty-four years ago, Mr. Randall.” Andrew could be just as blunt. “You have any thoughts on that?”

“No one’s convinced me yet that my daughter ran away. Could have been she was forced.”

“The evidence doesn’t support that.”

“But twenty-four years ago the evidence supported that she’d been murdered by that Beale kid.” Franklin snorted derisively. “Enough evidence then to support a guilty verdict and a death penalty.”

“Right now, I can’t explain how that conclusion was reached, though I do have some theories. But if you look at the facts-”

“Well, which facts are the FBI looking at this time?”

“The facts Shannon gave her roommate, Mr. Randall.”

“ Shannon told this girl she ran away to become a whore?”

“She told her roommate she ran away, yes.”

“And this girl, she’s a whore, too?”

“She’s been working as a prostitute, yes, but-”

Franklin waved his hand at Andrew as if dismissing him.

“Can’t believe anything she says, then.”

“Mr. Randall, stop playing this game with me,” Andrew said calmly. “We both know Shannon ran away and I think we both know why she left and why she never came back.”

“What are you talking about?” Franklin snapped.

“I’m talking about the fact that someone had been sexually abusing your daughter. She ran away to escape further abuse.”

Franklin ’s jaw all but dropped onto his chest.

“ What ? That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.” His face went from pale to scarlet in a heartbeat. “Who would have done such a disgusting thing?”

“I was hoping you’d tell me,” Andrew replied levelly.

Franklin stared at Andrew for a very long moment before his eyes widened.

“You are not suggesting…you couldn’t possibly think that I…”

“Most abusers are members of the family, or someone well known to the family.” Andrew spoke firmly, calmly.

“No. No. The very thought of it”- Franklin shook his head-“No. No one would have…no.” He covered his mouth with a badly shaking hand. “Oh, God, no…not my little girl…no.”

“Mr. Randall, we’re fairly certain someone was abusing Shannon,” Andrew repeated. “If it wasn’t you, odds are it was someone close. Was there a family friend who maybe spent a lot of time with your family back then, who would have had access to your daughter?”

“No, no.” Franklin ’s arrogance was gone. In its place was a pain that Andrew could almost feel reaching out to him from across the desk. “There was no one. We did everything as a family back then; I don’t think any of us were hardly ever alone. And being so busy at the church-I spent every day there. We were an active church, you understand. There was something going on there every day.” Franklin ’s voice grew quiet as he seemed to look back in time. “There was hardly a day when I wasn’t there from morning through evening, working side by side with my father. That was his church, he started it in a small place over on Sunset. Built the new church back in 1980, mostly with donations from his congregation.”

“You served as assistant pastor?”

“I did. I assisted my father in every way I could. He was starting to slow down back then, you see. It was his dream-and mine-that I gradually take over for him. The plan was that someday, we’d reverse roles, and I’d be taking the lead and he’d be assisting me.” He appeared totally defeated now. “That wasn’t to be for long, as you can see.”

“Surely you could have continued to preach…?”

“I was in therapy for a very long time after my accident, Agent Shields. The church needed someone who could fully minister to the congregation. Thank God my Paula Rose was ready and able to step in and serve.”

“Did your father spend a lot of time in the company of your daughter, Mr. Randall?” Andrew asked pointedly.

“Of course he did. Shannon helped out in the office.”

“Alone?”

“Well, certainly, she sometimes-” He stopped in midsentence as Andrew’s meaning became clear. His eyes narrowed and he gripped the arms of his chair with knuckles that had gone white. “My father was a man of God, Agent Shields. I won’t have you maligning his name. He no more would have done such a thing than I would have.”

“Are you willing to take a lie detector test, Mr. Randall?” Andrew asked coolly.

“Get out of my house,” Franklin said darkly. “Get. Out. Of. My. House. ”

“I’ll be asking formally for the test.” Andrew stood. “In the meantime, if you think of anyone else I should talk to, you have my card.”

Andrew turned and left the room, and the magazine Franklin flung after him hit the doorjamb and flopped to the floor.

“Agent Shields.” Judith stood near the front door, gazing out, watching as the last of the reporters packed up and left.

“Excuse me, ma’am.” Andrew attempted to walk around her to get to the door, but she placed one hand on his arm to detain him. He held his breath. If she’d heard any of the conversation he’d just had with Franklin, she’d be unloading on him all over again.