Alex Barclay - The Drowning Child

The guy from the Internet café had taken out a Sharpie, was writing in a notebook. Jimmy was hit with the smell of the ink. The image of his father replaced the image of the kids and he felt a surge of rage. The surface of the water in his mind was broken not by them, but by his daddy’s powerful, muscular form. The pool was no longer a pretty garden pool in the Miami sun, but the middle school pool with its stench of chlorine and its freezing tiles.

Every morning at 7 a.m. his daddy did one hundred laps. Jimmy would watch him from the bench, alongside whatever boys or girls were there because they didn’t do as they were told in the previous day’s class.

When Jimmy’s father was finished, he would rise like a god from the water, walk to where he laid his perfectly folded towel, dry himself off. Sometimes, one of the lady teachers would find a reason to come in, to ask his father a question or to talk to one of the kids, but Jimmy knew they were there to catch sight of his daddy, free now, single again, available.

Jimmy remembered the pretty little Mexican girl from his class, how she would sit on the bench in her red swimsuit, wrapped in a pretty pink towel with a giant swan printed on the back. He remembered her and how she would shiver, even when she hadn’t been in the water, even when she was dry.

Ren arrived at Tate PD, gathered the CARD team, and Ruddock, and filled them in on the previous night at The Crow Bar. She avoided eye contact with Gary, but when she gave him a quick glance, she could see fire in his eyes.

Yes, I was up late... working. While you were up late... banging your side-piece.

Fight, fight, fight!

Ruddock was checking the door, checking the clock.

No sign of Wiley .

Ren turned to Ruddock. ‘Could there be something going on between Shannon Fuller and John Veir?’

‘Could be,’ said Ruddock, ‘but I haven’t heard anything.’

Wiley walked in, gave a nod, and sat down on the edge of a desk with his arms crossed. He stank of alcohol. His eyes were almost swollen shut, his face bright red. Ruddock struggled to bury his fury.

Everyone loving their staff today.

Ren turned to Wiley. ‘We’re talking about Shannon Fuller possibly having an affair with John Veir—’

‘Yeah, it’s a possibility,’ said Wiley. The words were scraping his throat as they came out. He coughed into his hand a few times. ‘Pardon me. What makes you think there’s an affair going on?’

This will not go down well. ‘Shannon’s eyes lit up when I mentioned his name.’

Wiley snorted.

Fuck you.

‘Her number wasn’t on his cell records,’ said Wiley.

‘Maybe they don’t communicate that way,’ said Ren. ‘Maybe they’ve other phones. Or maybe they did have a thing, but it’s over.’

‘Do you think it matters to the investigation?’ said Ruddock.

‘Well, there are many ways it could if the wrong people found out about it,’ said Ren. ‘Blackmail, revenge... what if they were threatened, refused to cooperate, and, instead, Caleb was snatched? Let’s find out first if anything was happening, go from there.’

Wiley looked skeptical, and was searching for support in Ruddock’s face.

Can’t you feel the heat of his anger?

The group broke up. Ren went to the ladies’ room, then to the kitchen. She paused in the doorway. Paul Louderback was standing with his back to her, talking on his cell phone.

‘I’m sorry, sweetheart,’ Paul was saying into the phone, ‘but I’m with Mom on this. I know.’ He turned to Ren and smiled, half-rolled his eyes.

‘I’ll leave you—’ Ren mouthed.

Paul shook his head and pointed her toward the coffee machine.

He kept talking into the phone. ‘I’m sorry, OK? I’ve got to go. I know. I love you. And don’t forget – weekend after next... I miss you too. Bye. Bye.’

‘How are the girls?’ said Ren.

Paul shrugged. ‘They’re getting there—’

Wiley came into the kitchen, nodded, and went to the fridge. He pulled out a Tupperware container and popped the lid. The smell of onions filled the kitchen.

My faaavorite.

Ren made an apologetic face at Paul and left.

At her desk, Ren pulled an artists’ pad from her briefcase. She opened a new page. At the center, she drew a circle and wrote Lake Verny. She drew lines coming out of it, wrote names, drew lines between them.

Hmm.

Paul walked over to her with a mug of coffee.

‘Seeing that you fled,’ he said, putting it down on the desk beside her.

‘Yes – onions. Sorry,’ said Ren. ‘Thank you.’

‘Oh, I know,’ said Paul. He looked down at the page.

‘Check this out,’ said Ren. ‘All roads lead to Lake Verny. There is some serious intertwining between the Veirs and the Fullers: John Veir, corrections officer in the same prison as former inmate, Seth Fuller, who is a nephew of Shannon Fuller, who he sold his bar to, and who lost her son in a drowning accident six weeks ago. Seth Fuller, who was also the man seen paying extra attention to Caleb Veir...’ She paused. ‘Also, that sparkle in her eye still...’

‘Go on...’ said Paul.

‘Then you have a guy – Clyde Brimmer – who drinks there all the time and is fired right after he carries out the autopsy on Aaron Fuller.’ She lowered her voice. ‘And Wiley seems to have a major problem with him – he wrestled him out of here during the press conference.’

Paul’s eyes widened. ‘You think Wiley...’

Ren shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’

‘You mentioned there was something about Seth Fuller you couldn’t put your finger on,’ said Paul.

Ren nodded. She turned to him. Her eyes were level with his belt. She got a flashback to the last time Paul Louderback was standing over her. She looked up. They locked eyes.

Annnd you’re thinking the exact same thing.

The door opened and they both flinched as Sylvie walked in. She faltered in her stride when she saw them, but quickly recovered.

Fuuuck.

Paul Louderback took a step back.

Idiot.

‘So,’ said Sylvie, ‘I spoke with Caleb’s teacher and yes – he had an assignment to bring in an adult in his life with an interesting job to talk to the class, but his turn wasn’t coming up any time soon. He had already mentioned Alice Veir, though, because his teacher had seen her on a news program about wrongful convictions a few weeks ago, and asked Caleb the next day if they were related, because of the last name, and he said he was.’

‘I’m sure Alice told me she was going there next month,’ said Ren. ‘Maybe she and Caleb got their wires crossed.’

‘I also asked the teacher what kind of boy Caleb is,’ said Sylvie. ‘She said it was her first year teaching him, so she couldn’t speak for what he was like before that. She said he’s a little difficult, but aren’t all twelve-year-old boys? She gets the impression that Caleb feels misunderstood. He has a couple of close friends, but he doesn’t mix well with most of the other boys in the class – apparently, he can be quite withdrawn. When I asked her if he could be drawn to older kids if he wasn’t mixing well with kids his own age, she said she didn’t know of any specifics, but he definitely looks up to the older kids. She also says he always seems a little angry, but that she felt his parents care very much for him. She said they come to all the parent-teacher meetings together, they seem on top of things. Caleb and his mom are very close. The teacher had heard Caleb was kind of sickly as a kid, and Teddy would drop everything to look after him.’

Munchausen’s. Munchausen’s.