Again Evan was glad Noelle was on his team. She sliced through things to see the heart of the matter. He took out his phone and snooped around for a quiet corner, ending up down the hall in a nook with three vending machines. He dialed Shannon Steward and eyed a bag of Lay’s Classic Potato Chips in a machine. A weakness of his.
Shannon answered, and Evan identified himself.
“What can I do for you, Detective?”
“I have a quick question. Did you know Ken visited Jerry Chiavo in prison?”
There was a long silence. “What?” she finally asked. “Ken did that? When?”
“Two weeks ago. I saw his name on the visitor log. He only visited the one time.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. I’m a bit shocked because I know he hates—hated the guy. I can’t think of why he’d go see him. Especially such a recent visit.”
“Does it fall within the time frame of when you’d noticed Ken had been distant?”
“Well, yes, it does. I imagine the prison visit wasn’t a pleasant one. It could have affected him, but he was almost impossible to reach for quite a while. I have a hard time believing one talk with the asshole would affect him for that length of time.”
“You’re insistent that he hated Jerry. Why do you say that?”
“From years of hearing Ken blame the asshole for what he did to Rowan. And her brother. You know how he felt about her. Very protective.”
“Ken never spoke of a need to confront Jerry about what he did?”
“Not that I can think of.”
“Would you say he discussed Jerry too much? Considering it was someone he’d never met?”
Shannon paused before answering. “Well . . . I don’t know. Finding Rowan in the woods with a broken leg was a big event in Ken’s life. Almost life changing, I’d say—although I didn’t know him back then. Ken found a lot of missing people, but maybe because he was young when he found her, it may have left a bigger impression on him. His anger about that little girl’s situation was all channeled at Jerry Chiavo after he was arrested. Rightfully so.”
“From what I’ve read, the entire public was angry.”
“It was a big deal around here. Did you ask Jerry why Ken was there?”
“Not yet. I found out after my visit. I’ll line up a phone call and ask.”
“Let me know if you get an honest answer.”
“I doubt I’ll get one. But I’d like to hear what he says about it.”
Evan ended the call, made some quick notes, and sent an email to request a phone call with Jerry Chiavo.
Then he bought the potato chips.
34
The day after we hid the Ford, Liam took me to a house in town late in the evening.
That night didn’t go as planned.
It was to be a reconnaissance mission, he said. Simply study the lay of the land around a certain home, but a drunken man showed up and broke a window. I heard the drunk call a woman a whore and yell that she would pay for how she’d ruined him. His words slurred as he stumbled around the outside of the house, shouting that she didn’t deserve the boy.
I waited in the street near the truck but heard him clearly. The garage started to open, and I got in the truck and turned it on, ready to leave. Liam sprinted across the street a moment later, breathing heavily and saying we needed to leave now.
He said the drunk man put a wrench in things because the woman would now be on alert for anything strange near her home.
He said he might have to come up with a different plan.
Liam never tells me details, so I didn’t care if he had to make a new plan. On the ride home he was angry the other man caused a problem, and he ranted about it for hours.
I didn’t know why we were there. But now I think I know.
The boy.
The drunk man had shouted about a boy.
In the truck on the way home from hiding the Ford, Liam had said we needed someone young to train.
He had been outside that house to make a plan to take the boy.
Another boy.
And he expected me to go along with it.
The same way he went along when Jerry took young children.
Victims for their extreme cruelty. To humiliate. To hurt.
Maybe to kill.
And now Liam wants to start the cycle again.
I can’t treat another person the way he treated me. I don’t care if they put me in prison, I won’t torture someone. I try not to think of his threats to kill my family.
I need to figure out how to get away from him, but it’s not easy. He is always with me. If he’s not with me, I’m usually in the box. I’ve thought about escaping at night. I know how to get to the main road from here, but he’s said an alarm will go off if I open the door or windows at night.
He might have lied about that too.
I’ve considered leaving while we work at a residential job. That might be easiest. If he sends me to the truck to get a tool, I’ll keep on going.
I know the computer could probably tell me where my family is, but I’ve never been allowed to touch it. He has a phone that could probably find them too, but it has a password. And I don’t know how to use it. He never lets me look at it.
I’ve stayed for a long time because I had nowhere else to go. But now I do. My family won’t turn me away, even though they haven’t seen me in . . . I don’t know how many years it’s been. He says I’m in my thirties, but I don’t trust him. I don’t feel thirty.
I tried to leave once before. It didn’t go well.
35
Rowan couldn’t believe it, and she scanned Evan’s eyes, hoping it was a joke. “Are you sure?” she asked. He had asked her to stop by his office.
Evan was grim. “Positive. Adam was processed and then released. The jail is already overcrowded, and all Adam did was break a window.”
“You just interviewed him this morning at the hospital, and he’s out already? He threatened Ivy!”
“I know. Believe me, I know what a shit he is. They know he violated the restraining order, but—”
“A piece of paper isn’t going to stop bullets,” snapped Rowan. “Last time he threatened her, he said he had a gun. And who knows what he wants with West. He’ll take him away just to upset Ivy.”
“I don’t think he’ll hurt his son.”
Rage ran through Rowan. “Angry parents kill their children. We’ve both seen it happen. And someone always admits, ‘I didn’t think he’d really do it.’ Has Ivy been notified?”
“Yes.”
“I should call her.”
“Tell her to check into a hotel for a while. At least until I get a security system installed on her home.”
“She’s a working mom,” Rowan exclaimed. “It is not fair that she must spend money on a hotel to avoid the man who is making her life hell. She’s done everything right—the restraining order and trying to live her own life. He’s the one causing problems, and I know he’ll continue. He tried to get into Ivy’s house last night and do who knows what and walked away scot-free.”
“He still has to appear before a judge.”
Rowan didn’t care. The man was free after the scare he’d given everyone. “He’ll try again. Next time he’ll kidnap West or hurt Ivy. I know this guy. Once he has an idea in his head, he’ll stop at nothing—especially if it involves hurting Ivy somehow.”
“You’re preaching to the choir.” His tone was calm, patience in his eyes as he let her vent.
Rowan spun around and paced, trying to calm her infuriated thoughts. She knew it wasn’t Evan’s fault. She had attacked the messenger. He appeared unruffled, but she knew he was angry about the situation too. He was the opposite of her ex, who would spout off and yell about anything that annoyed him.
Evan didn’t yell. She liked that. She never feared what would come out of his mouth or wondered what she should have done differently to keep him calm.
How did I marry that guy?
Evan’s eyes were nicer too. A dark brown that projected intelligence and kindness. When he was deep in an investigation, they would assess and analyze. Never accuse.
She felt safe with him. Not that she needed protection. But it meant she could be herself and relax.
Rowan took a couple of deep breaths. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. You have every reason to be angry.”
“I didn’t need to attack you about it.”