Spilled Blood

36

Rollie Swenson’s black hair sprouted wings as he mussed it in frustration. He slammed his office door and whirled around on Chris. ‘I told you that I didn’t want you talking to my daughter without my permission.’

Chris sat in front of Rollie’s desk. ‘I’m sorry, but Tanya came to me. She wanted to talk.’

‘She’s sixteen.’

‘I don’t care how old she is. I’m not the police. If a witness comes to me with information, I’m going to listen to her.’

One of the flaps of Rollie’s yellow shirt had come untucked, and it dangled over the bulge of his stomach. He sat down behind his desk and grabbed an oversized cup that had a straw squeezed through the hole. He sucked up a mouthful of pop. When he was done, he slammed it down, and Coke spewed upward through the straw and onto his desk. He let it drip onto the floor.

‘You’re going to get her killed,’ Rollie told him. ‘I am trying to protect her.’

‘I’m just asking questions.’

‘Don’t play games with me, Chris. I know you’re doing everything you can to save your own daughter, but I thought you’d respect me when I told you to stay away from Tanya. Instead, you took advantage of her.’

‘You lied to me, Rollie,’ Chris snapped. ‘Don’t talk about respect unless you’re prepared to be honest with me first.’

‘Okay. Fine. I lied. You’d lie, too, if you were in my shoes.’

Chris stood up. ‘I’m done here. You can talk to Michael Altman and the sheriff about all of this.’

He yanked open Rollie’s door, but before he could leave, Rollie bounced off his chair and intercepted him. The younger attorney pushed the door closed again. ‘Don’t get them involved in this. Not yet.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because I don’t know who to trust.’

Chris pointed at the empty chair. ‘Start over, Rollie.’

Rollie’s chin, which looked perpetually unshaved, was especially dark. There were circles under his eyes, and the caffeine wasn’t helping to revive him. They both sat down again.

‘Tanya told me that Ashlynn offered to get inside information about Mondamin,’ Chris said. ‘Did you meet with her?’

Rollie’s fists gripped the arms of his chair. ‘Sure, I did.’

‘When was this?’

‘Sometime last fall. November, I think.’

‘What did she tell you?’

Rollie shook his head. ‘Nothing we didn’t already know.’

‘Meaning what?’

‘Ashlynn suspected that her father was involved in a cover-up, but she didn’t have any actual evidence.’

‘Did she mention Vernon Clay?’ Chris asked.

Rollie’s eyebrows went up. ‘Yes, she did. How did you make that connection?’

‘A contact at Mondamin. Someone else that Ashlynn reached out to.’

‘Well, you know we were trying to find him. We thought he might be our smoking gun.’

‘What did Ashlynn know about him?’

‘That’s the trouble. She didn’t have any new information. She didn’t know where he was or how we could reach him. She didn’t have any details about what he might have done while he was at Mondamin. All she had was the same speculation that we had years ago. It was a dead end.’

‘So what was Ashlynn proposing?’ he asked.

Rollie took another slug of Coke and wiped his face, which had a dew of sweat. ‘She told me she could hack into Florian’s computer at home and copy his paper files. She thought she could do it at his office, too, without him finding out.’

‘What did you tell her?’

The younger attorney scowled. ‘What the hell do you think I told her? I said no. She was offering to violate civil and criminal statutes by stealing private company documents. If I’d encouraged her, I would have been disbarred, sued, and dumped in jail. I told her that if she had any specific information regarding a crime, which she didn’t, she should take it to Michael Altman, not me.’

‘How did Ashlynn react when you said no?’

‘She said she’d do it on her own. I tried to dissuade her. I told her not to go behind her father’s back or break the law by taking anything that didn’t belong to her. I also told her the truth, which is that we lost the litigation fair and square. A judge dismissed it. The scientific issues involving Mondamin and St. Croix – including Vernon Clay – were examined in detail by an outside expert who found no link between the cancer cluster and the actions of the company.’

‘Did you convince Ashlynn to stay out of it?’

‘I thought I did.’

‘Did she contact you again?’

‘Not until she called Tanya on Thursday night.’

‘What did she say when she called?’

‘You already know. Ashlynn claimed to have evidence against her father now. She didn’t say what it was.’

‘Did you talk to her yourself?’

‘No, Tanya did.’

‘Did she tell Tanya anything else?’

‘No. I don’t know what kind of proof she supposedly had.’

Chris leaned forward with his elbows on the desk and stared into Rollie’s tired eyes. ‘Why the hell didn’t you tell the police about this when Ashlynn’s body was found? Why didn’t you tell me?’

Rollie backed up in his chair, putting distance between them. He spread his hands. ‘I’m a lawyer, Chris, just like you. I share information on my terms. Not yours. Not Altman’s. Not the sheriff’s.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘I already told you. My only concern is my daughter. Before I said anything that might put her in danger, I needed to know what was really going on. Ashlynn had already been murdered. For all I knew, Tanya was next.’

‘So you withheld critical information?’

‘I wasn’t sure the information was relevant at all. The evidence was overwhelming that Olivia killed Ashlynn. The police considered it an open-and-shut case.’

‘The police didn’t know about the phone call,’ Chris said. ‘Ashlynn told Tanya she had evidence against her father the day before she was killed. Do you really think that’s a coincidence?’

Rollie shrugged. ‘I have no idea whether Ashlynn had proof of anything at all. She was a kid. Who knows whether she really found anything?’

‘If that’s true, then why are you so afraid Tanya is in danger? Did something change between that phone call on Thursday night and now?’

Rollie’s face flushed again. He pounded the desk. ‘Of course, something changed! Kirk Watson tried to assault my daughter!’

‘What makes you think that had anything to do with Ashlynn’s phone call?’

‘I know Kirk. I know what the son of a bitch is capable of, and I know he’s mixed up with Florian.’

‘So talk to the police,’ Chris said. ‘Once the facts are out, no one’s going to touch her.’

‘You don’t know that. Besides, it’s not that simple anymore.’

‘Why not?’

‘It’s not just about Kirk.’

Chris watched Rollie’s face and saw another side to his fear. ‘What happened?’

‘Someone else contacted me.’

‘Who?’

Rollie closed his eyes and squeezed his fists against his forehead. He looked torn with doubt. Finally, exhaling loudly, he opened the top drawer of his desk and removed a single sheet of paper. Chris saw the block printing and recognized it. He’d seen it before.

He thought about Michael Altman. We’ve found him.

‘This was in my mail box yesterday,’ Rollie said. He handed the paper across the desk.

TO THE ATTENTION OF

MR. ROLAND SWENSON

SAY NOTHING

SPEAK TO NO ONE

SILENCE WILL KEEP YOUR DAUGHTER ALIVE

SHE IS NOT PART OF MY PLAN

DO NOT FORCE ME TO DO

WHAT I WISH TO AVOID

MY NAME IS

AQUARIUS