‘I did not hurt my children,’ Audra said.
The clamor grew once more, and she raised her hands to quiet them.
‘Sean and Louise were with me, a little hot and tired, but they were safe with me when I was pulled over just outside of town two days ago.’
She pointed across the street. Whiteside’s lips thinned.
‘That man, Sheriff Whiteside, pulled me over. He told me my car was overloaded. Then he looked in the trunk and found a bag of marijuana. The bag wasn’t mine. He planted it there so he could arrest me. My children were in my car while he searched and handcuffed me. He radioed Deputy Collins to come get Sean and Louise. I asked him where she was taking them, and all he said was, “Somewhere safe”. Deputy Collins drove away with them in the back of her car. That was the last time I saw my children.’
The microphones jockeyed in front of her mouth. A chorus of questions. Audra ignored them all.
‘When Sheriff Whiteside brought me back to the jail, I asked for my kids. He said I had no children with me. He’s been lying ever since, him and Deputy Collins. I’ve told this to everybody, the state police, the FBI, everyone, and nobody believes me. They didn’t even tell you people, the press, what I said. But I’m telling you now. My children are out there somewhere, they’re alive, and that man knows where they are.’
She pointed at Whiteside once more, and he moved away from the front of the diner, along the sidewalk toward the station.
‘Go ask him,’ Audra said. ‘See what he’ll tell you.’
Some of the reporters split off, headed in Whiteside’s direction. He quickened his pace to a jog, looking nowhere but at the front entrance of the station.
‘That’s all I have to say.’
She turned to the door, her back to the hail of questions. Inside, she barred the door behind her. She watched through the glass as the rest of the reporters set off toward Whiteside. Then she walked into the dim shadows of the hallway.
Mrs Gerber waited in the doorway to the kitchen, almost hidden by the stairs, watching her.
‘You just bought yourself a whole load of trouble,’ she said.
Audra didn’t answer as she mounted the stairs and climbed.
‘You know what I think of Ronnie Whiteside,’ Mrs Gerber said, coming to the first step. ‘But Mary Collins. She’s a nice girl. Are you sure about her?’
Audra paused on the turn and said, ‘Yes, I’m sure.’
‘You think you know a person. Do you still want that coffee and cake?’
‘Yes, please,’ Audra said. ‘Can you make it for two? I have a guest.’
‘A guest? I don’t allow visitors in the rooms. Who’ve you got up there?’
Audra thought about it for a moment before saying, ‘I’m not sure.’
She made her way up to the second floor and back to her room. Danny waited there, still sitting where she’d left him.
‘Well?’ he asked.
‘Well, I told them,’ Audra said. ‘We’ll see if it shakes anything loose.’
Danny got to his feet, his hand delving into the thigh pocket of his cargo pants. ‘I’m guessing they kept your phone. Here.’
He tossed a cheap-looking cell onto the bed.
‘It’s prepaid,’ he said. ‘One number in the contacts list. Mine. You call me straight away if anything happens. I’ll keep my phone switched on. You do the same.’
Audra lifted the cell, flipped it open. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’
‘All right. I should get out of here now.’
‘Wait,’ Audra said, surprised at her own eagerness for this stranger to stay. She realized she’d been alone since her children were taken, and she didn’t want to be alone again. Not yet, anyway. ‘The landlady, Mrs Gerber, she’s bringing up some coffee. And cake.’
Danny shrugged and sat down. ‘Well, if there’s cake …’
32
ALL EYES TURNED to Whiteside as he entered the station. The state cops, the FBI, all stared at him. Including Special Agent Mitchell, who marched toward him from the rear of the room.
‘Well, I guess everyone heard that,’ he said. ‘Doesn’t change anything. Woman’s crazy, is all.’
‘It changes a lot,’ Mitchell said.
‘You know she’s talking nonsense, right? Maybe she believes it herself, but it’s all bullshit. You can’t take it seriously.’
‘I’m taking everything seriously.’ Mitchell folded her arms across her chest. ‘I have since I got here. And I’m not ruling anything out right now.’
‘Come on, then,’ he said, stepping in close. ‘Arrest me. Interrogate me. Hook me up to a goddamn polygraph machine. I’ll take everything you got. Your people searched Collins’ car, right?’
‘That’s correct,’ Mitchell said.
‘And did they find a trace of those children ever being there? No? It was clean, wasn’t it?’
‘It was very clean,’ Mitchell said. ‘We found nothing but a few traces of bleach, like it had been scrubbed out.’
‘How about my cruiser?’ Whiteside said, letting his voice harden. ‘You want to search that too? Or maybe my house? I got a cellar. You want to look in there?’
‘That won’t be necessary,’ Mitchell said, turning away. ‘For now.’
‘Release the pictures,’ he said.
Mitchell stopped. ‘What?’
‘The T-shirt and the jeans. With the blood on them. Release those to the press, let them know they were found in her car. That’ll put this to rest.’
‘I’ll think about it,’ Mitchell said. ‘Is that all?’
‘Yeah, that’s all.’
Whiteside scanned the room as Mitchell walked away, dared anyone to look at him now. They all made themselves busy with their maps and their laptop computers.
‘Anyone got something they want to talk to me about?’ he asked, his voice booming.
Not a one of them looked up.
‘Didn’t think so,’ he said.
He went to the side door, hit the push bar, and stepped out onto the ramp. A dry want at the back of his throat. Not for a drink. He craved one of Collins’ cigarettes, imagined the heat of the smoke in his chest.
As if summoned by the thought, his cruiser pulled into the parking lot. Collins had been using it while the feds searched hers. She drove to the rear of the lot to find an empty space, the rest taken up by the state cops and the FBI vehicles. He descended the shallow ramp and walked in her direction, met her halfway.
‘You hear the news?’ he asked.
Collins looked over his shoulder, made sure no one else was in earshot. ‘Some of it. What do we do?’
‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘The press still think she’s crazy. They still want to see her burn. I might be able to encourage them a little.’
‘How?’
‘Let me worry about that.’
‘Maybe …’
She stood there, her mouth opening and closing, an idea too fearful to reach her tongue.
‘What?’ Whiteside asked. ‘Just say it.’
‘Maybe there’s a way out. Maybe it’s not too late.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘We tell her she can have her kids back if she swears not to implicate us. We find them out wandering somewhere, we’ll be heroes, so long as they keep their mouths shut. There’s the half-million reward the father put up. It’s not as much as we wanted, but it’s not nothing.’
He grabbed Collins’ upper arm, squeezed hard. ‘Stop it. You think like that, you’ll finish us both. Just hold your nerve. We do the exchange tomorrow, then it’s over. All right?’
Her eyes brimmed as she nodded. ‘All right.’
‘Good,’ he said. ‘Now pull yourself together. One more day, that’s all.’
Whiteside turned to walk away, but Collins spoke again.
‘The girl’s sick,’ she said.
‘Sick how?’
‘She’s got a fever, a rattle in her chest, sleeping a lot.’
‘What about the boy?’
‘He’s fine. It’s just her.’
‘Shit,’ Whiteside said. He put his hands on his hips and stared at the hills as he thought. ‘You have medicine at your house, right? For your boy.’
‘Some,’ Collins said.
‘Any antibiotics? Penicillin, Amoxicillin? Anything like that?’
‘Amoxicillin,’ Collins said. ‘I need to keep it on hand in case Mikey gets an infection.’
‘Okay, give her some of that. Bring it out this evening if you can. Give her a double dose to get her started.’