The Drowning Child

28

Back at Tate PD, Ren filled the team in on the Veirs and Shannon Fuller.

‘I’ve asked both the Veirs to come in later,’ said Ren. ‘After I spoke with Shannon, I went back in to ask them for a photo with the sleeping bag in it. Teddy was in pretty bad shape. We need to know more about her mental health from her doctors. The episode with Caleb as a baby, particularly as he was only a week old, would suggest post-partum psychosis to me. Does that make someone susceptible to future psychotic episodes? I don’t know.’

‘I can try speaking with her doctor,’ said Ruddock.

‘Is she taking any meds?’ said Ren.

‘Xanax for anxiety,’ said Ruddock.

‘I was thinking,’ said Ren, ‘if there was an affair between John Veir and Shannon Fuller, that brings up the possibility of blackmail. Not everyone would know that his wife already knows about it. If someone thought they could blackmail John Veir...’ She paused. ‘What about Merrifield? Could he have wanted John Veir’s help to escape? And something went wrong...’

‘How would Merrifield know that John Veir was having an affair?’ said Wiley.

Ren thought about it. ‘Seth Fuller? He’s a common denominator.’

‘And there’s Seth’s “interest” in Caleb,’ said Ruddock. ‘Plus, if Seth has Caleb’s trust, too, that could make it easy for him to lure Caleb somewhere.’

‘What is the word on Merrifield?’ said Ren.

‘No leads,’ said Ruddock. ‘It’s like he vanished into thin air.’

‘Another thing occurred to me after talking to Shannon Fuller,’ said Ren. ‘She mentioned running into John Veir at Lister Creek rest area. I’m wondering if it’s somewhere he stops regularly. Did anyone call in video from the store there for Monday?

‘I can do that,’ said Wiley.

Why do I not trust anything you do?

‘He may not have gone inside the store,’ said Ren. ‘I think he went into the gas station for our benefit, hoping we would assume he wouldn’t make a second stop on the way to work.’

‘We’ll put a piece in the Marion County Gazette and the Salem Journal about items we want the public to look out for,’ said Ruddock. ‘We’ll include photos of the sleeping bag, the clothes Caleb was wearing, the suitcase, his school knapsack...’

‘We also got a photo of John and Teddy Veir standing in their driveway – maybe their cars will jog someone’s memory,’ said Wiley.

Ren nodded. ‘We also need to see if we can establish a connection between Aaron and Caleb – maybe there’s something we’ve missed.’

‘Plus,’ said Paul, ‘if this bruise was caused by him falling or someone striking him, most of his final hours were spent at the middle school dance – we need to check if anything happened there.’

‘I can go back and talk to Caleb’s teacher,’ said Sylvie. ‘Make it clear to teachers and parents that if they have information, it’s crucial they speak up, that they won’t get in trouble.’

A young officer stuck his head in the door. ‘The Veirs are here, Chief.’

Ren turned to Ruddock. ‘Can you and I take John?’

Ruddock nodded.

Gary said, ‘Wiley – how about you and I speak with the mom?’

John Veir looked like he had been crying.

I don’t know what to feel about you. I have no idea who you are.

‘John,’ said Ren, ‘can you talk us through what happened with Teddy and Caleb?’

‘I was in Iraq when Caleb was born,’ said John. ‘Teddy got post-partum psychosis when Caleb was only a week old. I got a call from her friend, Patti, saying that Teddy had to be hospitalized. Patti said she would take care of Caleb, that she’d move into our house, so he was in familiar surroundings and he would be comfortable. Patti’s a really kind lady.’ He paused. ‘She didn’t tell me at the time what had happened at the creek. She didn’t want to distress me while I was so far away, but she did tell me as soon as I got back. I went and spoke with Teddy’s doctors. We figured it was best not to tell her what happened.’

‘So Teddy was hospitalized...’ said Ren.

‘Yes, and put on medication,’ said John. ‘She was in and out of psychiatric care for several years after that. And I was redeployed at different points during that time. But what happened that day was a one-off event, the doctors explained everything – that’s not who Teddy was.’

‘I understand,’ said Ren.

‘I can’t believe that Shannon connected that with what happened to Aaron – I thought she’d have more compassion.’

‘Well, it’s safe to say that Shannon isn’t exactly thinking straight herself at the moment,’ said Ren. ‘Her entire world has been turned upside down. She’s suffered a tragedy – she probably thought it couldn’t get any worse than losing her only child, and then she finds out yes, yes it could.’

John nodded. ‘I guess so.’

Ren looked at her notes from Sylvie Ross’s interviews. ‘John, we heard that there’s been some tension between Teddy and Caleb recently. Neither you nor Teddy mentioned that to us when we spoke with you before. Were you unaware of that?’

John shrugged. ‘No – not really. It just seemed like a hurtful thing to say in the middle of all this, when she is so devastated. To be honest, I didn’t think it was relevant. I know Teddy wouldn’t hurt a fly. And none of this has anything to do with me and Shannon. Besides, I don’t believe Caleb would have run away from home. I know that for absolute sure.’ He started to cry.

This is a shitshow.