Blood Loss

56

Ren called Gary from her Jeep. ‘Gary, I’m on my way to Breck. Laurie Whaley was gone from the room by 9.30 p.m. Jared Labati was overheard speaking at reception, telling someone to “chill, she’ll be back”, which had to have been a reference to Laurie. He also made a reference to Spiderman, which we know has to be Leo.’

The sign for Golden flashed by. She was half an hour from Breck.

‘Jared Labati definitely knows what happened in that room,’ said Ren. ‘He was telling Shelby Royce to chill, but still, he was telling her that Laurie would be back. You wouldn’t say that if a child had been abducted. Why would he say that?’

‘Go talk to this kid with Bob,’ said Gary. ‘Do not talk to him alone.’

Jared Labati was on a day off. He was dressed in his regular clothes — oversized jeans, navy hoodie. He listened to Bob Gage tell him what they knew.

‘Why were you so relaxed about it?’ said Ren. ‘Why were you telling Shelby Royce to chill when an eleven-year-old girl went missing?’

He stared at the ground. ‘Because I didn’t think it was a big deal.’

‘HOW?’ said Ren. ‘How could you not have thought that it was a big deal?’

‘Because …’ He shrugged. ‘Because she was with family.’

You are insane. ‘She was gone, Jared! Her family were in the restaurant! She was not with her family!’

‘I meant her brother,’ said Jared. ‘Her brother, stepbrother, whatever …’

‘Her brother?’ said Ren. WTF?

She glanced at Bob.

Jared nodded. ‘All I know is what Shelby told me. He showed up at the room, he went nuts at the little girl, he pushed her and she hurt her head. He freaked out, and told Shelby to stay where she was and shut her mouth. He took his stepsister away. He said they’d be back before eleven. When they didn’t show by eleven thirty, Shelby was flipping out. The only thing she could think of to do was be naked — she knew that the dad wouldn’t come in to the room any further. It happened to her once when she was babysitting, by accident — the dad walked in when she was getting changed, and she said he ran from the room like he was on fire. So she knew that this guy would do the same. Except, he waited outside the room, then knocked and came back in when she said she was dressed. Shelby said he was looking for something in his suitcase. The miracle was he didn’t check on the kids.’

‘And when Laurie didn’t come back, Shelby just left?’ said Ren. ‘She left a three-year-old boy alone-’

‘No,’ said Jared. ‘That’s not fair. I called her when I saw the Whaleys leave the restaurant, and she waited a minute or two, so she was only out of the room, like, one minute, and she knew they’d be back.’

‘So Shelby Royce was not abducted. She ran.’

Jared nodded.

‘And you gave her somewhere to stay …’ said Ren.

His eyes went wide. ‘Uh …’

‘You gave her the keys to one of the houses on Wildcard Drive, didn’t you?’ said Ren.

He nodded again. ‘I screwed up. I know I did. I screwed up really bad. I liked Shelby. I cared about her …’

‘Did you?’ said Ren.

Jared paused. ‘I … I did. Why?’

‘Did you look for anything in return for helping Shelby out?’ said Ren.

He stared at the ground. ‘I don’t know what you mean …’

‘I think you do.’

‘I don’t.’

‘Jared. I can get a warrant for a DNA sample.’

‘She wanted to do it,’ said Jared. ‘She was the one who wanted it.’

Take a look at yourself. Inside and out. And say that again.

Ren sat in Bob’s office with Gary on speaker.

‘So, the mystery semen is a mystery no more,’ said Ren. ‘Jared Labati blackmailed Shelby Royce into oral sex.’

‘That kid gives me the creeps,’ said Bob.

‘And even worse, it’s his word against ours,’ said Ren. ‘He can keep saying it was consensual, we can keep saying it was rape, but we’ve nothing to back it up. That skeevy piece of shit will still be out there spiking drinks or whatever other fucked-up shit he wants to do.’

‘We can still get him on lying to a federal officer,’ said Gary. ‘Where was he hiding her?’

‘In number three, Wildcard Drive,’ said Bob.

‘We’ll send an ERT,’ said Gary.

‘He went back and forth to her over the weekend,’ said Ren. ‘The last time he says he saw her was Monday night while everyone was at the vigil … when he claims they had this consensual experience. He says he doesn’t know what happened after that.’

‘So,’ said Gary. ‘We know where Shelby Royce went, but where did Joshua and Laurie go? Did Joshua bring her with him and his friends? Did she want to see Shaun White too?’

‘And how did they make it back to Denver?’ said Ren.

‘We need to get Laurie and Joshua in separate rooms and find out what the hell is going on,’ said Gary.

‘I’ll call Cathy Merritt,’ said Ren.

‘Cathy, it’s Ren, did you speak with Joshua?’

‘Yes, yes, I did,’ said Cathy. ‘And I approached it calmly so he wouldn’t flip out and go silent on me. I told him he wasn’t in trouble, but he needed to let me know how he got back from Breckenridge that night. And he refused to tell me.’

Hello? And you’re OK with that? ‘Did he acknowledge he got a ride back with one of his friends?’

‘No,’ said Cathy. ‘He’s saying nothing.’

‘Did your husband speak with him?’ said Ren.

‘Yes,’ said Cathy. ‘But it’s the same thing — he won’t say anything.’

‘But, Cathy, this is a criminal investigation, he can’t just say nothing.’

‘I don’t know what else to do,’ said Cathy.

Be a parent.

Ren called Gary.

‘His parents are being obstructive. If we can’t get the truth out of Josh, I’d like to call the school, get the names of his friends, take a trip to the wonderful world of Facebook, find out which of them went to Breck that night, then stock up on some traffic cam or tunnel footage. Or both.’

‘Where was Laurie Whaley during all this?’ said Gary.

‘Not with her father, that’s for sure.’

By eight o’clock that night, Ren and Colin were sitting in the Merritts’ living room facing Dale and Cathy.

‘Is Joshua still saying nothing about who drove him back from Breckenridge that night?’ said Ren.

‘Yes,’ said Dale.

‘We have tried so hard to get a name from him,’ said Cathy. ‘But you know teenagers. They’re loyal to their friends, they won’t “rat them out”, as they see it. No matter what you threaten them with.’

‘Well,’ said Ren. ‘I tried hard too …’

Cathy frowned. ‘Pardon me?’

‘I tried hard to get the name,’ said Ren. ‘And here’s what I’ve got: ten thirty-two p.m., a car drives through the roundabout in Breckenridge — from the direction of Denver. Eleven twenty p.m., the same car drives back through the roundabout, in the direction of Denver. Then, three a.m., the same car drives through the roundabout and exits toward the Sheriff’s Office.’

Dale and Cathy said nothing.

‘So,’ said Ren. ‘My question is: what were you doing in Breckenridge between the hours of ten thirty-two and eleven twenty p.m. on Saturday, November 14? Because I know that after three a.m., you were in the Sheriff’s Office with me.’