Blood Loss

48

Ren walked up the path to the Graces’ house, contemplating the ghosts of Dettling’s past freak-outs. It was a fleeting contemplation, not because the ghosts were few but because Ren had successfully filed them in the la-la-la-la-la file. Whatever Gary Dettling told her not to do, she would do if her gut told her otherwise. Her gut beat everything.

‘Hello, Mrs Grace,’ said Ren, holding up her badge. ‘I’m SA Ren Bryce from Safe Streets. Can I come in?’

Melissa Grace frowned. ‘Safe Streets?’

‘Yes.’ I’m afraid so.

‘But … is this about Taber?’

‘Could I please come in, Mrs Grace?’ said Ren.

Melissa swung the door back. ‘Yes, yes. Is Taber OK?’

‘It appears that your ex-husband has been the victim of an assault, but-’

‘Oh my God,’ said Melissa. ‘What happened? Is he OK?’

‘He was badly beaten,’ said Ren. ‘We don’t have all the details. But what we do know is that he was well enough to be able to drive away from the scene.’

‘He drove away?’ said Melissa. ‘But … did anyone see where he went? Did he make it to the hospital?’

‘No hospital has admitted anyone matching his description,’ said Ren.

‘But … if he was beaten …’ said Melissa. ‘If … maybe he didn’t look like himself. Or … did he get a head injury? Maybe he’s lost his memory or is passed out somewhere.’

‘According to witnesses, he did receive a head injury,’ said Ren. ‘We were hoping that maybe he had come to see you. Detectives from Denver PD have been to his apartment, and he’s not there.’

‘No,’ said Melissa. ‘No. Oh my God — I can’t believe this.’

‘Is there anywhere you can think of that he might go?’ said Ren. ‘Any family he might have gotten in contact with, any friends?’

‘I … I don’t know,’ said Melissa. ‘We’re divorced, and Taber … well, he does his own thing. I don’t know what he’s doing most of the time. I have to keep on at him to know where he is or what he’s doing … for our son’s sake, more than anything.’

Hmm. Not just for his son’s sake if your face is anything to go by.

‘Did your ex-husband mention a case that he was working on-’

‘No,’ said Melissa, shaking her head. ‘No — he worked confidentially, and he was very protective of us. So he would never have told us anything. Who did this to him?’

‘We don’t know that,’ said Ren. ‘That’s why we need to talk to him. He could be in danger.’

‘Is that a line you throw out there to get me to cooperate?’ said Melissa.

‘I’m presuming you’re already cooperating,’ said Ren.

‘I am,’ said Melissa. ‘Of course I am.’

‘Your ex-husband was seen watching the house of an eleven-year-old girl,’ said Ren.

‘If he was doing that, he was hired to do it, to protect her,’ said Melissa. There was no pause before her answer.

‘Do you know that for sure?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ she said. ‘I don’t … But I know for sure that Taber watching the house of an eleven-year-old girl could only be because of an assignment.’

‘We’ve looked into that,’ said Ren. ‘We have no evidence that he was hired to protect this girl.’

‘That doesn’t mean that that evidence doesn’t exist,’ said Melissa.

‘Is your son here?’ said Ren.

‘Yes,’ said Melissa. ‘TJ. Why do you ask?’

‘I’d like to speak with him,’ said Ren.

‘Do you have to?’ said Melissa.

‘Yes,’ said Ren.

Ren knocked on TJ Grace’s door. He didn’t respond. She told him that she was an FBI Agent and he told her she could come in. He was lying on his bed, his long hair covering his face. He pulled himself up as she walked in.

‘Mind if I sit down?’ said Ren. She pointed to the chair in front of the computer.

He shrugged. ‘Sure, go ahead.’

‘TJ — have you seen your father?’ said Ren.

Eye dart. ‘No.’

‘It’s very important that you let us know if you have, OK? Your father’s been injured, and he might need medical help.’

Or someone might want to go back and finish what they started.

TJ nodded.

‘Are you telling me that your father has not come to visit?’ said Ren.

He looked down, and nodded. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘He hasn’t been here.’

Ren glanced down at the shelf under TJ’s desk.

‘Ah, you have Wii Sports,’ she said. ‘I am a Hula Hoop champion.’

He smiled.

‘Mind if I take a look?’ she said.

‘You want to play Hula Hoop here?’ he said.

Ren smiled. ‘No — I just want to have a look at your game.’

‘But if you’ve got it already-’

Her expression was enough to get him to hand her the controls.

‘Could you switch the TV screen to the right channel?’ she said.

‘Sure,’ he said.

‘D’oh — you’ve hit the wrong button,’ said Ren. She took the control from him, and brought up the Wii Sports screen. It was paused on a wakeboarding game. There were two players’ names on the bottom: TJ and P.I.

‘TJ, can I check out your Miis?’ Miis were characters designed by players: you chose their features, hair, body shape, even their birthday. You could clone yourself and use that, or you could choose a different player every time you played.

‘Did you make this Mii?’ said Ren. ‘The one called P.I.?’

‘Yeah … I make all the Miis.’

‘I’m guessing it’s your dad. It looks really like him,’ said Ren.

TJ nodded. His face was grim.

‘Based on experience,’ said Ren, ‘your friends are not going to choose your father as their Mii when they’re going wakeboarding …’ said Ren. ‘Unless your father is a world-champion wakeboarder.’

He half-smiled.

Ren looked back at the screen. ‘Looks like you were whuppin’ him.’

‘I always whup him,’ said TJ.

‘What time was he here?’ said Ren.

TJ’s shoulders slumped. ‘About eleven thirty. Mom doesn’t know. She was at the gym. Don’t tell her he was here. She’d kill me.’

‘Was he badly injured?’ said Ren.

‘He had patched himself up,’ said TJ, ‘but he didn’t look too good. I asked him was he OK, and what happened, but he just told me not to worry.’

‘Did he mention that it was anything to do with a case he was working on?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said TJ, ‘he never tells us anything about his cases.’

‘OK,’ said Ren. ‘I can’t stress how important it is for you to tell me the truth, TJ. I’m going to have to tell your mom about this, you know that.’

TJ nodded.

Ren glanced to another desk, where a small blue laptop was half-closed.

She popped it open. She looked to her right. It was attached to a printer. She called up the last document it had printed. An airline ticket. For Newark, New Jersey. Leaving that night.

‘He never said anything to me,’ said TJ.

‘If your father gets in touch with you again, can you please ask him to call me?’ She handed him her card.

‘You’re from Safe Streets?’ said TJ, reading the card. His face changed. ‘He hates you guys. There’s no way he’s ever going to call you.’

‘Please,’ said Ren. ‘This is not about Safe Streets, it’s about your dad. I wasn’t with Safe Streets when your dad was. He’ll know that.’

‘Is your boss that Gary guy?’ said TJ.

Ren nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘Dad hates his guts,’ said TJ. ‘I know that much.’

Ren went back down to Melissa Grace. TJ followed her.

‘Safety in numbers,’ he said.

Ren smiled.

‘Mrs Grace, TJ thought he was doing the right thing by not saying anything, but he just told me that his father came by here when you were at the gym today, and spent some time with TJ. Physically, TJ thinks he patched himself up OK, but there are no guarantees. Here’s my card, I’ve given one to TJ too. Please call me if you know anything more.’

‘You’ll understand if I’m wary about anything to do with Safe Streets,’ said Melissa.

‘I don’t know the facts about your ex-husband’s time there,’ said Ren. ‘It was before I started. What I do know is that he may be in danger right now.’

‘Could this not have been a random assault?’ said Melissa.

‘I don’t believe that it was,’ said Ren. ‘And that’s all I can say right now.’

Ren walked down the path and got into the Jeep. She saw TJ coming out the front door and walking toward her.

‘Hey,’ he said.

Ren rolled down the window. ‘Hey, there.’

‘Is that your dog?’ He put his face up to the back window.

‘Yes,’ said Ren. ‘That’s Misty.’

‘I saw her head popping up,’ he said. ‘Can I pet her?’

‘Sure you can. Go ahead.’ Ren lowered the back window.

TJ reached into the back seat. Misty pushed her face toward him and he petted her gently.

‘She’s a beautiful dog,’ said TJ.

‘She is,’ said Ren.

‘Mom won’t allow dogs in the house,’ said TJ.

‘Well, I had to wait until I moved out of home to get Misty,’ said Ren.

He smiled. ‘Then I don’t feel so bad.’

Ren started the engine. ‘Well, OK, I better go-’

‘Um, I heard mom and dad talking,’ said TJ. ‘It was, like, years ago. And … all I know is that they don’t really know why dad was fired. I mean, they know why, but they just don’t know how.’

‘How?’ said Ren.

TJ shrugged. ‘I think that Gary guy found something out, but mom and dad didn’t know how he could have done that.’

‘OK …’ said Ren.

‘Well, OK,’ said TJ, ‘I gotta go.’ He nodded. ‘Thank you.’ His hand briefly rested on Ren’s arm, as he pulled it past her.

Ren drove away from the house. Taber Grace Jr. was a sweet kid. She thought of him trotting down the path after her, and his hand on her arm, not in a weird way, just a small, kind gesture.

Ren glanced back at Misty.

‘Misty, he seems like a good kid to me … what do you think?’

And he has brought me the closest I have come to finding out what the hell happened with Taber Grace.