The Drowning Child

39

Ren called Rob Lockwood, the BRCI psychologist, and agreed to meet him in a coffee shop in Salem, instead of going through the visitors’ procedure at the prison. She ordered coffee for both of them, and they sat in a quiet corner.

‘So, how long have you been treating Franklin J. Merrifield?’ said Ren.

‘For the past year or so,’ said Lockwood.

‘Were you surprised he escaped?’ said Ren.

‘Yes, actually,’ said Lockwood. ‘I mean, I knew he was unhappy with the outcome of his appeal, and he was angry and very bitter at his buddy, his accomplice, but Merrifield’s not very bright. I don’t think he would have the smarts to pull something like that off.’

‘That’s slightly different from having the desire to escape, though,’ said Ren. ‘If he got help on the inside and bought his way into someone else’s plans, or made himself indispensable for other reasons, then anything could have happened.’

‘Merrifield is a loner,’ said Lockwood. ‘I just can’t see how that would work.’

‘Were you aware of any contact between him and John Veir, outside of routine interaction?’ said Ren.

‘No.’

‘Do you think Merrifield could have had anything to do with Caleb’s disappearance?’ said Ren.

‘I don’t know,’ said Lockwood. He shrugged. ‘I wish I could give you a better answer than that.’

‘What was his reaction to losing his appeal?’ said Ren. ‘Just anger, or was there more to it? Did he have any plans to do anything further about it?’

Lockwood nodded. ‘He mentioned reaching out to a lawyer who specialized in wrongful conviction lawsuits.’

Holy. Shit. ‘Did he mention a name?’

Lockwood shook his head. ‘No.’

‘You know John Veir’s sister has quite a high-profile wrongful conviction case,’ said Ren.

‘Really?’ said Lockwood. ‘John didn’t mention that.’

‘Did Merrifield?’

‘Not to me.’

‘Was Merrifield the type to want revenge?’ said Ren.

‘Yes,’ said Lockwood. ‘Absolutely. He held grudges. That was the kind of guy he was. Small slights, big ones – it didn’t matter.’

‘I know John Veir is a friend of yours,’ said Ren. ‘I’d like to ask you about him.’

‘Sure,’ said Lockwood. ‘Go ahead.’

‘Do you think it’s likely that he could have carried out the arson attack on his own house?’ said Ren.

Lockwood’s eyes went wide. ‘John? No way. No... what makes you think that?’

‘Do you think Merrifield could have done it, whether he took Caleb or not?’

‘Well, it wasn’t exactly a wise move, considering the law enforcement and media attention around the house,’ said Lockwood, ‘so, yes – like I said, Merrifield wasn’t the smartest of men...’

‘John’s very intense,’ said Ren. ‘I get the sense that he’s suppressing a lot of anger. Am I right?’

Lockwood tilted his head. ‘John suffers from PTS, so that explains the intensity. But he’s not an angry man, not in my opinion, whether I’m speaking as a friend, colleague or psychologist. He’s very compassionate, in fact. He saw some terrible things when he was overseas.’

Ren nodded. ‘Do you know much about his relationship with Caleb?’

‘They have their ups and downs,’ said Lockwood, ‘but he adores that boy.’

‘Has there been any change in John’s behavior recently?’ said Ren.

‘No.’

‘Have you met Caleb?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Lockwood, ‘but John talks about him a lot.’

‘In what sense?’

‘Mainly positive,’ said Lockwood, ‘but he mentions the bad behavior too.’

‘Has he looked for your advice?’ said Ren.

There was a flicker of a frown on Lockwood’s face. ‘Not in the professional sense – but more like a “what can you do?” attitude. Caleb was like a teenager a little before his time. I told John to give him some responsibility, have him do volunteer work, do some odd jobs for a neighbor. It would teach him to work hard, it would give him goals, a sense of achievement. So, that’s what he did, and it seemed to help.’

‘Good idea,’ said Ren. ‘I hadn’t heard about Caleb doing that.’

Could he have crossed paths with a killer that way?

‘Why did you call John last Sunday?’ said Ren.

‘Just to chat,’ said Lockwood. ‘“How’s your weekend going...?”’

‘Did John mention Caleb?’ said Ren.

‘Just that he was there with him, that’s all.’

Ren nodded. ‘OK.’

Back at Tate PD, Ren filled Ruddock in on her conversation with Lockwood. ‘Did you know Caleb did odd jobs for someone?’

‘Yes,’ said Ruddock. ‘It’s somewhere on one of the Veirs’ questionnaires.’

‘How did I miss that?’ said Ren.

‘It was a recent addition,’ said Ruddock. ‘Neither of them had put it on the original... it came up in a later interview. Caleb had stopped working there a month before he disappeared, so the Veirs just didn’t think of it.’

‘OK,’ said Ren. ‘Let me go take a look.’

Ren went back to her desk and looked through the Veirs’ questionnaires. The woman Caleb worked for was called Rose Dennehy. She was eighty-three years old, a widow with three grown-up daughters, two of whom lived out of state, one of whom lived in Salem. Ren called Paul in the command center.

‘Did you send anyone to talk to a Rose Dennehy?’ said Ren. ‘Caleb did odd jobs for her.’

‘No,’ said Paul. ‘She wasn’t a priority.’

‘Mind if I go talk to her?’ said Ren.

‘Not at all,’ said Paul. ‘Go ahead.’