Blood Loss (17 page)

Ren could hear a man raising his voice at the other end of the line: ‘
Jesus, Bob. Of course I am! For Christ’s—
’

Bob was already hanging up. He turned to Ren. ‘That was Mike. Gary’s on his way for you. You’re going to Denver Children’s Hospital.’

‘What’s going on?’ said Ren.

‘It’s Laurie Whaley. She’s alive.’

‘What?’ said Ren. ‘Denver? But … where did they find her?’

‘Kennington Asylum.’

Oh, no. No. No. No.

Gary Dettling cut thirty minutes off the ninety-minute drive to Denver. He ran with Ren through the hospital doors. The doctor came to meet them.

‘Wonderful news, isn’t it?’ she said. ‘We checked Laurie over – she suffered quite a blow to the back of her head. We patched her up. She must have blacked out – she has no recollection of what happened.’

Shit.

‘Were there any signs of a sexual assault?’ said Gary.

‘No,’ said the doctor.

‘How’s her mental state?’ said Gary.

‘Well, she’s suffered a trauma,’ said the doctor. ‘We ordered a psych consult, but … her mother is here, and she’s reluctant to put her through anything more.’

There was a commotion by the hospital doors. Ren and Gary turned around. Reporters and camera crews, now familiar faces, struggled through with their equipment.

‘I’ll take care of it,’ said Gary.

‘I’m outta here,’ said Ren.

Ren turned to the doctor. ‘Thank you, doctor. Where’s the family now?’

She directed Ren down the hallway to a private room. Ren knocked on the door. ‘Mrs Merritt? It’s Agent Bryce.’

‘Come in,’ said Cathy. She was sitting on the bed with her arm around Laurie, who was buried under the covers. Cathy looked up at Ren with a look of relief, and fear, sadness and happiness.

‘Thank you, Agent Bryce. Thank God.’

Ren smiled. ‘I’m so happy you have your daughter back.’

‘Laurie, sweetheart,’ said Cathy, ‘this is Agent Bryce, one of the people who was trying to find you. She’s with the FBI.’

‘Hey there, Laurie.’ Ren walked a little closer to the bed. ‘I’m Ren. It’s so good to meet you.’

Laurie said nothing. Her stare was desolate, two huge eyes in a face too young to be so lost.

‘You are a very brave young lady,’ said Ren.

Laurie managed a smile. ‘Thank you.’

Cathy locked eyes with Ren over Laurie’s head. There was a strange hysteria in them, as if Cathy wanted Ren to tell her that this haunting image of her eleven-year-old daughter was all in her mind, that this clearly terrified, bereft little girl, was going to be fine.

If I could wave a magic wand …

‘I won’t stay long,’ said Ren. ‘I’ll leave you guys to it. I just wanted to check in …’ She paused. ‘Laurie, do you mind if I talk to your mom for two minutes? We’ll be right outside.’

Laurie nodded.

Ren waited in the hallway.

‘Has Laurie said anything to you?’ said Ren when Cathy came out.

‘Nothing,’ said Cathy. ‘I’m trying to stay calm here, but … I’m … what happened to her? She’s like a zombie. I … what am I supposed to do? I have no idea what … Am I supposed to allow a psychiatrist to talk to her? I don’t want to do that. Is that the right decision, though? I mean …’

‘She hasn’t told you what happened that night, or where she’s been or …’

‘No,’ said Cathy. ‘Nothing. I’m just so glad to have her back, I … I … don’t want to push her.’

‘That’s understandable,’ said Ren.
Here goes.
‘Cathy, I’d like you to sit down. There’s something I need to tell you.’

‘No, no, I don’t need to sit,’ said Cathy. ‘Just tell me.’

Cathy Merritt stood, motionless, as Ren told her that around the same time Denver PD found her daughter alive, someone else was finding her ex-husband dead.

Cathy started shaking violently. She ran for the nearest garbage can, but she didn’t make it, and she threw up all over the floor.

Laurie had come to the doorway. She started to cry.

‘Go back in the room, Laurie,’ said Cathy. ‘Go back in the room.’

‘What’s wrong, mommy?’ said Laurie. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing, sweetheart, go back in the room. I’ll be with you in a little while. Mommy’s not feeling well …’

‘Why don’t we sit down,’ said Ren. ‘There’s a seat right here.’

A nurse came into the hallway. Cathy was sobbing, apologizing to her for the mess she had made. The nurse was reassuring her that it happens all the time, she had nothing to worry about.

If only she did have nothing to worry about.

Cathy went to the ladies room. Ren waited for her outside, but could hear the most terrible, wracking sobs, then the faucet running.

Cathy emerged moments later, as if all the emotion she had toward her dead ex-husband had been laid to rest in the previous five minutes.

‘What the hell has he done?’ she said to Ren. ‘What the hell will this do to our daughter? Is this what he wanted all along? Was this the overnight visit he wanted all along? Was this why?’

Ren arrived back in Breckenridge and talked through the grim hospital encounter with Bob on the drive to Blue River. They pulled up outside Cal and Connie Royce’s pristine little ranch house.

‘If it’s any consolation,’ said Bob, ‘apparently young Owens had a very good cry along with them.’

‘Gary fed him to the lions,’ said Ren. ‘Was this his first notification? Telling the parents of a missing sixteen-year-old that their only daughter was found naked and shot?’

‘Toughen him up,’ said Bob. ‘In fact, no it wasn’t his first. I think he told a little old lady that her cat had made it down out of a tree in the worst way possible.’

‘Sniper?’

Bob laughed.

‘I guess there had to be some tempering,’ said Ren. ‘Gary slash Owens.’

They got out of the car.

Cal Royce stood up from shoveling snow.

‘You’ve got to keep going …’ he said as they walked toward him.

‘You sure do,’ said Bob. He shook Cal’s hand. ‘How are you holding up?’

‘Not good,’ said Cal. ‘Not good at all. Not even as well as can be expected.’

‘It’s a very tough time,’ said Bob. ‘You remember Agent Bryce.’ He turned to Ren.

‘I do,’ said Cal, shaking her hand.

‘I am so sorry for your loss,’ said Ren.

‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘Thank you for everything you did. Is there something in particular I can help you with?’

‘We’d like to take a look around the house, and at Shelby’s room if that’s OK,’ said Ren. ‘We’d like to piece together a few things.’

‘Go ahead,’ said Cal, ‘you can do whatever you like, anything that helps.’ He walked up the path, and let them into the house.

‘I’m right out here, if you need me,’ he said. ‘Connie’s inside, she’s just laying on the sofa, won’t talk to no-one, won’t accept visitors. You can go up ahead.’

An hour into the search, Ren found an oversized bag stuffed into a laundry bag and wedged in the bottom of another laundry bag that was filled with Cal Royce’s dirty clothes. Ren took it out, and laid it on the bed. She unzipped it. A red-and-white cheerleading uniform was folded neatly on top. She pulled it out. It wasn’t a regular cheerleader uniform: the top was a tiny racer-back bra-top, the skirt was extra short, and the matching panties were not quite complete. Ren laid them out on the bed. She pulled out the next outfit. It was a tiny sailor suit, with cutaways at the sides, and other places, places that meant that neither of these costumes were for a regular costume party.

Ren looked into the bag to see the rest. It was filled with lingerie: red, black, stockings, suspenders, lace, satin, rubber.

Sixteen years old …

Ren called Bob in to the bedroom. ‘How did nobody find this?’ said Ren. ‘It was tucked away like Russian dolls in the laundry room. Size 2, so they’re not Connie’s. They’ve got to be Shelby’s. And, unless Shelby was planning on getting arrested for indecent exposure, these little numbers were for private viewing only. And there are more.’

As she opened the bag wider, a sweet smell wafted out. She stared into the bag. ‘You know something,’ she said, ‘I stumbled on a TV show for teens recently – regular day-time scheduling, and the nanny in it caught the fifteen-year-old daughter watching porn, because the guy she liked had a previous girlfriend who was “really experienced” and she didn’t want to let him down when they had sex for the first time. So … yup, things are different these days. But … this … this is like a stripper’s bag.’

‘Surely, our pretty little cheerleader wasn’t a stripper …’ said Bob.

‘I hope not,’ said Ren. ‘Bob – maybe it’s just us. I mean, is this just a teenage girl’s bag for a night at her boyfriend’s house? I know I always hid my … things … from my mother when I was younger.’

Bob raised an eyebrow.

‘Not
these
kind of things,’ said Ren. ‘When I say things, I mean any underwear that was not white and one hundred percent cotton.’

Bob smiled.

‘One of the Royces obviously found this bag,’ said Ren. ‘And I’m guessing it was Connie.’

‘We need to go talk to her,’ said Bob. ‘Do you think Shelby ever even brought this bag out of the house?’

‘It’s a very cool bag,’ said Ren. ‘I wouldn’t just use this as storage if I were her.’

Ren turned the bag sideways. ‘I didn’t see this bit,’ she said. She unzipped a section at the bottom of the bag that was meant for laundry. She reached in and pulled out the contents. Bob looked down, then they both locked eyes.

Children’s picture books. The dual roles of Shelby Royce.

‘There’s our answer,’ said Bob.

‘In this kind of bag,’ said Ren, ‘well that’s just a whole pile of wrong.’

Connie Royce sat on the edge of the sofa, shattered, not looking at the bag beside her.

‘I found it at the back of her wardrobe on Saturday night,’ she said. ‘I was going to ask her about it when she got back, but …’ Tears welled in her eyes. ‘And after everything that happened, I just … they were very private things, I didn’t want you to think badly of her. She’s a good girl. I didn’t want to think that her underwear … or whatever you would call these … was relevant.’

Ren laid a hand on Connie’s arm. ‘I understand why you kept this from us,’ said Ren. ‘But you really need to be honest. You need to tell us everything – no matter how bad it might sound to you. Nobody here is going to think ill of Shelby. We don’t judge anyone, we couldn’t do our jobs if we were in the business of judging people. Everyone we’ve spoken to says such lovely things about Shelby, she seems to have been a very special young lady. That’s all that matters.’

‘Thank you,’ said Connie. She held a tissue up to her nose. ‘Thank you. I … I was Shelby’s age when I met Cal … I was young. But we fell in love. That man out there is the love of my life. I’ve had a wonderful life, I don’t regret a thing … I didn’t regret a thing. But I still wanted Shelby to do more, to go out and see the world …’

‘Can I ask, did you have a reason for looking in Shelby’s wardrobe on Saturday night?’ said Ren.

‘For cigarettes,’ said Connie. ‘I know she smokes. Cal was at work, and I wanted to sneak a cigarette. I haven’t smoked in years …’

‘Was there anything else going on with Shelby that you can think of?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Connie.

‘You said in your interview that Shelby didn’t have a boyfriend,’ Ren said. ‘Are you sure about that?’

‘As sure as any mother can be with a girl that age,’ said Connie.

‘Did you have any suspicions that she might?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Connie.

‘What did you think when you saw the bag?’ said Ren.

‘I thought, well, me and Shelby are going to have to sit down and have a talk.’

‘OK, we’re going to take this bag away for now,’ said Ren. ‘We’ll return it when we’re done.’

‘Saturday night,’ said Connie, ‘I was looking at my daughter, thinking how cute she is, with the ponytail elastic thing wrapped around her wrist, and I knew she’s going to twist her hair into a high knot later, and wrap it in that thing, and there’ll be little wispy bits spiking out the top, and she’ll be reading stories to whoever’s kids she’s looking after. And a couple of hours later, I find this bag. I’m just … so confused. And then she’s gone. She’s gone. And here I am with a bag of … this. And she’s gone.’

‘These are just clothes,’ said Ren. ‘Remember that. They don’t change a thing about your relationship with Shelby.’

‘Secrets change relationships,’ said Connie. ‘Secrets do.’

Bob and Ren walked into the command center and laid Shelby Royce’s bag on the table at the top of the room.

‘This is Shelby Royce’s,’ said Ren.

Everyone went over to it.

‘Yikes,’ said Cliff.

‘Gloves please, people,’ said Bob, eyeing his men.

‘There are kids’ picture books in the compartment underneath it,’ said Ren.

‘What was going on with her?’ said Gary.

‘We don’t know,’ said Ren. ‘Her mom had found it in the back of Shelby’s wardrobe on Saturday night and hid it in a bag in a laundry bag in a laundry bag. She didn’t want us to be affected by it, to think badly of Shelby, which is understandable. I wish I wasn’t thinking about the “whore” poster right now.’

‘We all are,’ said Gary.

‘But what was she doing with all this?’ said Robbie.

‘Thanks for directing that my way,’ said Ren.

Robbie blushed. ‘Sorry … I … just …’

‘I’m kidding,’ said Ren. ‘She could have been wearing it for someone in particular, she could have been photographing herself, videoing herself, doing stuff on line, or … selling herself …’

‘A lot of visitors come to Breck,’ said Gary. ‘If she had links in a hotel … she could make herself available.’

‘That creepy Labati kid could be lining men up for her,’ said Ren. ‘When he’s not too busy trying to line himself up for her.’

‘She didn’t have the bag with her on Saturday night,’ said Robbie. ‘Does that mean she had no plans in that sense? Could Mark Whaley have expected she would, and got mad at that? Maybe he had been here before and we just didn’t know.’

‘We have to get these high school kids to talk,’ said Gary. ‘I think I’ll go with an unorthodox maneuver …’