The Drowning Child

59

Ren winced when she saw Seth Fuller. ‘Ouch...’

He looked up from the sofa where he was watching television.

‘I’m just here to clear a few things up,’ said Ren.

Seth paused, then turned off the television. He struggled to sit up straighter.

‘Seth, we know that Caleb Veir was the first person to use your PlayStation. That’s what the lab came back with when they analyzed the hard drive. Did he play that with you?’

‘No!’ said Seth. ‘No way. And remember – it was Aaron’s PlayStation. As far as I know, he wasn’t even friends with Caleb.’

There was a noise behind them, and they both turned around. Shannon was standing in the doorway, looking at Ren.

‘I can explain about the PlayStation,’ she said. ‘If you’d like to talk privately?’

‘Sure,’ said Ren. She followed her into the kitchen.

‘Seth doesn’t know anything about this,’ said Shannon. ‘It was John who bought the PlayStation – for Caleb. He paid cash, so it wouldn’t have shown on his credit-card receipt. John and I bumped into each other at Target in the middle of December – we were both looking for it for our boys, but there was only one left and John got to it first. He was planning to give it to Caleb for Christmas, but because of Caleb not behaving the way he said he would, John changed his mind and gave it to me for Aaron. He didn’t know that Caleb had already found it in the garage, and had already sneaked it out to play with it. He dropped it, which is why it has a dent in the corner.’

Ren stared at her. ‘How do you know that Caleb had found it?’

‘It’s not a pleasant story. Caleb cycled out here one day. He had climbed a tree, and was just sitting there—’

‘What do you mean “just sitting there”?’

Shannon flushed. ‘I didn’t say anything to John, but that tree overlooks my bedroom window. Whether that was a coincidence or not, I don’t know.’

‘Do you think he might have suspected the affair?’ said Ren.

She shrugged. ‘I don’t think so, because he fell from the tree – I think it was the shock of seeing John arrive, pull up outside the house, and... well, I came out to greet John. It was a fairly passionate encounter. Caleb fell, banged his head. We rushed over to him, brought him inside, lay him down on the sofa, made sure he was OK. While he was there, he saw the PlayStation – he recognized the dent, so he knew it was the one he had found in the garage. He went nuts. We had to calm him down. He wanted to take it home – he said he’d tell Teddy about us. We... asked him not to. John promised to buy him one with his next pay check, and Caleb promised not to tell Teddy.’

Poor Caleb. So that was how he got the bump on his head. ‘Thanks for letting me know,’ said Ren. ‘But why didn’t you say it before?’

‘More lies for Teddy Veir to hear,’ said Shannon. ‘Not a lot for any of us to be proud of.’

‘I’m going to go back in to Seth,’ said Ren. ‘And I’d like to talk to him in private.’

Shannon nodded. ‘I’m sorry for intruding earlier. I heard “PlayStation” and I just figured something was up.’

Ren went into Seth’s room, and sat on the windowsill.

‘Everything OK?’ he said.

‘Yes,’ said Ren. Here goes. She took out the traffic-cam photo.

‘Why was your truck pictured on Richmond Road on the night Aaron died?’ she said. ‘We got this from a private camera. You told me you were here all night.’

Seth stared at the image for a while, twisting his mouth left and right. ‘I needed a drive. I wanted to clear my head.’

‘Why did your head need to be cleared?’

‘I get anxious sometimes,’ said Seth. ‘Driving helps.’

‘And does parking?’

He side-eyed her. ‘I just stopped there – there was no particular reason. It was just where I felt like stopping.’

‘Were you going to see anyone on that street?’

He frowned. ‘No, ma’am.’

‘You know the grounds of the middle school back on to that street,’ said Ren.

‘Uh... yes.’

‘And that there was a dance on there that night?’

‘Yeah, obviously,’ said Seth. ‘I dropped Aaron off at it.’ He paused. ‘Look, I went for a drive – that’s all that was, OK? I promise.’

‘I promise.’ There’s something so young about you.

She took a breath. ‘You know I’m separate from Tate PD,’ she said. ‘So anything you tell me about anyone who works there won’t go back to them, right?’

‘Really?’ said Seth.

‘Really.’ She paused. ‘What happened Monday night with Wiley?’

He shrugged. ‘It’s no big deal...’

‘It looks like a big deal from here,’ said Ren. She walked over to him and bent down. ‘And an even bigger deal close-up.’ She smiled.

‘That was about fifty bucks I owed him from a pool game,’ said Seth.

Ren returned to her seat on the windowsill. ‘Seth, I’m not sure what I’ve said or done to give you the impression that I’m stupid... but whatever it was, I apologize for misleading you. And I’m sure Pete Ruddock feels the same way about why Wiley thought that story would float.’

Seth stared at her. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Come on...’ said Ren. ‘No police officer – lieutenant – is going to beat the shit out of someone in the street over a fifty-dollar bet. This was a lot more personal than that.’

‘I’m telling you – it was about the fifty dollars. I owed it to him for months.’

‘You can change the timeframe all you like,’ said Ren, ‘but I’m still not buying it.’ She paused. ‘What were you doing in town last night?’

‘I was going to Bucky’s to play pool. I was actually going to see if Wiley was there.’

‘OK... but you were found collapsed a block from the other side of Main Street, beside your truck, which was parked outside the church car park.’

‘I couldn’t get a spot by Bucky’s.’

‘I’m trying to be a grown-up here and not roll my eyes,’ said Ren, ‘but do you know how easy it is for me to check if there were parking spaces close to Bucky’s that night? Very.’

Seth’s shoulders slumped.

‘What’s going on?’ said Ren. ‘Are you protecting Wiley? Because Wiley doesn’t need protecting. And shouldn’t be protected – he’s an officer of the law. Or are you protecting yourself?’

‘Look,’ said Seth. ‘There’s something I was going to tell you about John Veir, but I was afraid to say anything... and then, it didn’t seem to matter any more.’

‘What do you mean, it didn’t seem to matter?’

‘I want immunity.’

I want to laugh. ‘Immunity?’

‘From prosecution.’

‘For what?’ said Ren.

He shrugged. ‘Just... in case there might be something unlawful I’ve done in this story.’

Ren smiled.

‘What?’ said Seth.

‘Honey, you’ve got ten seconds.’

His eyes widened. ‘OK, OK: Merrifield was dealing in BRCI, he hooked me up with a patch – fentanyl – and I OD’d, by accident. John Veir walked in, saved my life. Merrifield was still in my cell, happy to watch me die. When he was leaving, he said to John: ‘If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I will watch you burn.’

Jesus Christ.

And I meant ten seconds to begin your story. Not to tell it in. But, hey – works for me.

‘Why did you think it didn’t matter?’ said Ren.

‘Because Merrifield was linked to John Veir anyway. I saw the news report the day after the fire. Merrifield was linked to it.’

But there’s the small matter of who was supplying Merrifield and what they may have thought of John Veir stumbling on to their little enterprise.

Jesus. Christ.