Loose Ends (11 page)

The fine bone china slipped from his hand, crashed against the coffee table and broke. The Senator’s face was pale and he was visibly shaken.

Well, if that’s acting, he’s good
, Mary thought.

Susan Ryerson had been able to lower her cup to the saucer, although her hand shook. She sat still for a few moments and then belatedly placed her hand on top of her husband’s. He automatically turned his hand over and squeezed. Susan’s hand stayed woodenly motionless.

“How did you…,” he paused for a moment, closing his eyes. When he spoke, his voice was slightly hoarse, “Are you sure?”

Mary nodded. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“Did she get the chance to share that news with you, Senator?” Mary questioned.

He shook his head, “No. No. I never knew…”

“Mrs. Ryerson, did you by chance know of Renee’s pregnancy?”

Susan pulled her hand away from her husband’s and clasped them together tightly. Her eyes narrowed and she said, “Do you think I would have hired you if I had known?”

No, she wouldn’t have hired me,
Mary thought.
She would not have been willing to expose her husband’s position, their position, to public scandal.

Susan turned to her husband. “How could you have been so stupid? She was only a child herself.”

Joseph shook his head and turned to his wife. “I was foolish. I was careless. And I was enamored with the idea that a cute, young woman would be attracted to me.”

Then he turned to Mary, “But I didn’t know about the...,” he paused, “...the baby. We were supposed to meet that night, but when I got there she was floating on top of the pool.”

“Susan, you never answered my question. Did you know about the pregnancy?” Mary said, “I need you to answer me.”

“No, I did not know that Renee Peterson was pregnant,” she said, “Although, as I mentioned to you earlier, I did suspect that my husband was having an affair with her.”

Joseph looked surprised. “You knew?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I was your wife, didn’t you think I’d know?” she replied.

The Senator looked down at the floor for a few moments. He lifted his head and sought his wife’s eyes. “I was so stupid,” he said, “Thank you for staying with me.”

She hesitantly smiled back at him, “Well, you’ve made it worth it.”

He reached over, took her hand and enveloped it in both of his. This time, the clasp was returned.

“I love you, you know.”

Susan smiled, her eyes tearing slightly. “Yes, I know.”

Mary knew politicians were used to being in the public eye. She also knew politicians were used to putting up a good façade in the midst of turmoil. Could she believe the emotion she had just witnessed or was it merely for her benefit?

“Senator, Susan, was there anyone else who might have spoken with Renee that evening?” she asked, “Anyone who might have learned her secret and thought she was a liability to your political future?”

“Renee didn’t confide in the other members of my staff because she didn’t want to accidentally expose our relationship,” Joseph said, “She didn’t want to jeopardize my campaign.

“Besides,” he added, “I don’t believe that anyone on my staff would have the ability to commit murder. They are all good people.”

“Well, begging your pardon, Senator,” Mary said, “But one of those good people, either someone from your staff or one of your supporters, did murder Renee Peterson on the night of your party.”

Joseph was taken aback for a moment. He nodded, “You’re right, of course, it’s just hard to believe.”

“Can you tell me anything about Renee before she came to work for you?” Mary asked, “Anything about her family life or her previous work experience?”

An hour later Mary had more data, but she knew she was no closer to finding Renee’s murderer than she was that morning. She hadn’t ruled out the senator, he had plenty of motive, especially if he had, indeed, known about the pregnancy. She hadn’t ruled out Susan either - she could have worked with her husband to murder Renee in order to clear the way for their political careers. No one was in the clear yet and Mary was not going to stop until she found out who killed Renee Peterson.

Mary wondered if the Freeport Republic had issued a restraining order against her, but, she figured that if she hadn’t seen it, it didn’t exist. Ignorance is bliss. She took a deep breath and strolled through the newsroom with false bravado, tapped on Jerry’s glass wall and walked in.

“Hi, Jerry,” she said, making herself comfortable in the chair in front of his desk.

“What’cha want, O’Reilly?” he growled, his head studying the computer screen. “I’m on deadline.”

Mary smiled. That was Jerry’s usual greeting, so perhaps he didn’t know about the warrant.

“I need to talk to you about Renee Peterson,” she said, scooting the chair forward. Jerry didn’t budge.

“Never heard of her,” was his curt reply.

“Aw, come on, Jerry,” Mary said, “You worked with her on Senator Ryerson’s campaign. Remember?”

Jerry looked up from the screen and at Mary.

“The gal who drowned?” he asked. “Little Renee?”

Mary nodded. “Yeah, that’s the one.”

“Sure, I remember her. Cute gal. She was from around here wasn’t she?” Jerry said, leaning back in his chair. “I always thought she had a crush on the Senator. Too bad about the drowning.”

“So, do you think that she and the Senator,” Mary asked, lifting one eyebrow suggestively. “You know...”

“Are you kidding?” Jerry asked. “Have you seen the doll he’s married to? No, didn’t happen. Besides, he wasn’t that kind of guy.”

So much for reporter’s intuition
, Mary thought.

“So, what was your job during the campaign?” Mary asked.

“Why are you asking so many questions?” Jerry asked, his beefy hands placed flat on his desk as he leaned towards her. “Is there some sleazy rag paying you money to dig something up on the Senator just before he goes for the big run?”

“More like someone is paying me to make sure there’s nothing to dig up,” she said.

“Oh, so you’re one of the good guys?”

Mary smiled. “Always, Jerry. Always.”

“Okay, well, then I’ll answer your question,” Jerry replied, sitting back in his chair. “I did all of the media stuff – press releases, setting up press conferences, schmoozing with the reporters – that kind of stuff.”

“So, did you go to all of his press conferences?”

Jerry shook his head. “No, I just set them up,” he said, “The Senator could handle the press when he was on the road. Besides, someone needed to handle stuff at headquarters in case something came up.”

“Do you remember the night Renee died?” Mary asked.

Jerry paused for a moment, remembering back. “Yeah, I remember, although, I was a little buzzed,” he laughed regretfully. “Some people celebrate with champagne. For me...”

He mimicked taking a drag and smiled. “It was my relaxant of choice.”

Mary could not picture Jerry - slightly obese, fiftyish and balding – as a stoner. She shook her head to get rid of the mental image.

“Okay, so you were flying a little,” Mary said, “What do you remember?”

“I remember the Senator’s speech,” he said, “I remember Renee, Mike and me standing at the back of the ballroom, near the patio doors, giving the Senator the thumbs up on his speech.

“Then Renee says she’s gonna take a walk,” he said, shaking his head. “You know, maybe if I hadn’t been high, I could have saved her.”

“So, Renee goes outside,” Mary prompted.

“Yeah, and I follow her out,” Jerry said, “We talk for a minute on the patio and then she walks out by the gardens and I go the other way, behind the garage to celebrate a little more.”

“Did anyone celebrate with you?” Mary asked.

“No, I kept that stuff to myself,” he said, “I didn’t want it to reflect badly on the Senator.”

“How long were you away from the party?”

Jerry shrugged. “The next thing I remember is the Senator running through the gardens, he’s got Renee is his arms and he’s yelling for an ambulance.

“A real shame,” he added. “She was such a nice girl.”

“Sounds like she was. Thanks, Jerry,” Mary said, “This is going to help.”

“Hey, anytime,” he said cordially.

Just then, a reporter walked past his office and his smile became the usual growl. “Yeah, O’Reilly, next time remember that some of us have deadlines,” he yelled. “Next time make an appointment.”

Mary smiled and winked. “Yes, sir, I’ll remember. I promise.”

Jerry looked around first, and when the coast was clear winked back.

He felt like a stalker. There was no reason for him to be sitting in his cruiser outside Mary’s house. No reason except a thinly veiled threat from his boss.

Bradley wondered how much digging the Mayor had done and who he had spoken to. He knew that his old boss would not have offered anything but praise for the work Bradley had done while he worked for him. But that had been seven years ago and during the last year Bradley had worked on the force, he had taken so many personal days, he might as well have been AWOL.

He could recall that summer day over eight years ago with perfect clarity. He was driving his patrol unit on his usual route when the call came in. Forced entry. Shots fired. He was on alert immediately, but when dispatch listed his address, he was like a man possessed.

All of those years of training had him automatically calling in to the operator, letting her know that he was responding to the crime scene. He didn’t even remember driving to his house. He only remembered pulling up to the curb and dashing from his unit through the open front door.

His Chief had beat him to the scene and had to physically restrain him in the front hall. “You go rushing through there, messing things up, you ain’t helping no one,” he had whispered harshly. “Now, you tell me when you got yourself together and then we can proceed.”

It took Bradley only a few moments to gain control. “Where’s Jeannine?” he asked.

The chief shook his head. “She ain’t here,” he said, “We got an APB out on her already. No blood. No specific sign of struggle, but the place has been tossed.”

Bradley looked around. Really looked for the first time. It was as if a tornado had ripped through the inside of his house. Furniture was upturned, pictures were off the walls, books and knickknacks strewn across the room and drawers pulled out and dumped.

“You working undercover on anything right now?” his chief asked. “Someone mad at you?”

Bradley shook his head. “Nothing. Nothing that I can think of.”

“Yeah, well, you probably ain’t thinking too straight right now anyway,” his Chief said, “Give us a minute, then I’ll have one of the guys walk you through the house and you can tell us if anything’s missing.”

“Other than my wife,” Bradley said through clenched teeth.

The Chief nodded. “Yeah, other than Jeannine.”

Bradley couldn’t believe she was gone. She had to be in the house. She had to be fine. This had to be a big mistake. They just weren’t looking in the right places.

“Chief, I can’t stand here,” he said, “I’ve got to...”

“Williams,” the Chief called to another officer. “I want you to let Alden search through the house. Give him any assistance he needs.”

Bradley nodded to the Chief. “Thanks.”

Each room was more damaged than the last. Whoever had done this to his house went about it in a systematic and purely destructive manner. He checked all of the places he thought she might have hidden – closets, crawl spaces, attic and even the garage and the shed. There was no sign of his wife. Then he went back and checked them all a second time.

“Alden, come here,” the Chief had called when Bradley was going back a third time. “I gotta talk to you for a moment.”

Fearing the worst, Bradley rushed to his side. “Have you heard...”

The Chief shook his head. “No, no, nothing like that,” he said, “I got a question for you. You and Jeannine, was everything, you know, okay between the two of you?”

Bradley was astonished. “You think that I...”

“No, no,” the chief stopped him at once. “You know, sometimes wives get tired of being married to the job. You know. Could Jeannine have just decided that it was time for her to just disappear? Could she have done this?”

He immediately remembered just a week prior looking at the monitor at the doctor’s office, watching the baby that was growing inside Jeannine. She was beaming as she lovingly stroked her expanding belly. “She’s gorgeous,” she whispered tearfully.

He had leaned over and placed a kiss on her forehead. “Looks just like her mom,” he had said softly, awed by the image on the screen. “She’s so active.”

Jeannine had laughed. “Yeah, just wait until she’s two.”

Overcome with joy, he felt like he was going to burst.

Bradley shook his head. “No. No way,” he said firmly. “She is, we both are, excited about the baby. We found out last week we’re having a girl. Jeannine bought pink paint. I’m supposed to paint the nursery this weekend. No, no way did she leave me.”

In the months and years that followed, Bradley wondered about his answer time and time again.
Was he wrong? Was she tired of him? Was there another man? Was she living somewhere else, raising their daughter with another man?

The Chief allowed him to participate in the investigation. But after a year, when all of the leads had dried up, Bradley had taken a leave of absence and followed up every insignificant piece of data. He traveled all across the country; checking morgues and hospitals for any pregnant Jane Does, searching vital statistic records for baby girls born at the time that his daughter would have been born, reading newspapers, interviewing other police forces, and spending hours online looking for something, anything that could help him find his wife and his daughter.

Eighteen months ago, he finally stopped and took a good look at his life. He had lost his home, his savings, his job, his friends and very nearly lost his mind. And he was no closer to solving the mystery than he had been six and a half years ago. One thing he knew for sure, he needed a new start. He couldn’t go back and live in the town where it all had happened.