“Fine. Don’t tell me. You’ll be talking to the police very soon. I’m meeting with Detective Horn to give her all the evidence I uncovered, in addition to a signed statement by the bartender that Carlos Ibarra’s credit card was used on a hotel charge the night you told police that you were camping in the mountains.”
She had no qualms about lying. She was pretty sure the police would be able to get a statement from the bartender. They could also get a warrant for the hotel guest records.
“I—I—I didn’t want to. It was just a joke, we didn’t know it was going to snow. We didn’t know he wouldn’t be there. If he’d stayed, we would have brought him back.”
“But he didn’t stay. He was scared, lonely, didn’t know you were going to return. Probably mad, too. He broke his leg, couldn’t move. We found his body yesterday. Two miles from the campsite, in the opposite direction from the entrance. He broke his leg because you and Art and Carlos left him up there alone with an inadequate sleeping bag.”
“I’m s-so sorry.” He bit his lip and stared at Jess. “Jess, I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”
“Tell that to his mother,” Max said.
“It was an accident. I didn’t want Scott to get hurt. I didn’t want to stay out all night, just a couple hours, but—”
“Was it Art’s idea? Or Carlos?”
“Art. It was his idea.”
Jess interjected, “And you didn’t have the balls to stand up to him? To tell him he was being a jerk?”
“I—I couldn’t. Art, well, I—I—,” Tom stuttered, unable to finish his thought.
Jess started to cry. “Art’s mean and spiteful and he makes you feel like anything that goes wrong is your fault. I know. Oh God, this just sucks. Scott was a good guy.”
“I will get Scott justice,” Max said. To Tom, “If you confess, the police will go easy on you. Just remember—if you continue to lie, you’ll only get yourself into deeper trouble.”
She waited until Tom left, then picked up her iPad, which was sitting on Jess’s bed. She stopped recording. “Thank you, Jess.”
“I—I didn’t believe you.”
“Yes, you did, otherwise you wouldn’t have gone out on a limb to set this up.” Max put her iPad in her bag and said, “Stay away from Art and Carlos. Tom isn’t going to be able to keep this conversation secret, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I’m okay,” Jess said.
“Art lost his temper with me when I confronted him Tuesday. He pushed me. He’s a hothead. If he has a weapon, or uses his weight to bully you—”
“I’ll stay away from him,” Jess said. “I don’t have classes tomorrow. I think I’ll go visit my mom.”
“Good idea. You have my numbers. Call me if you have any questions. And if Art harasses you, call the police.”
Jess walked Max to the door. “Thank you. I—I didn’t think anyone really cared what happened to Scott, but you do.”
Max left the dorm room and walked through the campus to where she’d parked her car. She got in and called Detective Horn. It took several minutes before she could finally get her on the phone. “Detective, Maxine Revere.”
“I remember. Chuck told me you put yourself in the middle of this investigation.”
“You mean there’s an investigation?”
“You know what I mean.”
“There’s an investigation now. I have evidence that Arthur Cowan played a prank on Scott Sheldon and left him in the mountains without any way to get back to the campus or phone for help. Carlos Ibarra and Tom Keller were complicit. They stayed in a hotel that night. I’ll bring everything to you—”
“I already talked to Chuck. There’s hardly enough evidence to counter what they’ve told us.”
“Tom Keller confirmed everything. It was Cowan’s idea and Tom went along with it because Cowan intimidated him.”
Detective Horn didn’t say anything for a long minute. “Bring me what you have,” she finally said. “I’ll see if there’s anything here. But even if the boys left Scott up on that mountain on purpose, there may not be a crime here.”
“Why the hell not?” Max said, then cringed. Being confrontational at this juncture wasn’t going to help her get in the detective’s good graces.
“I said I would look at what you have, but I’m not happy about any of this. A kid is still dead, and no one can bring him back.”
Max stared at her phone. The detective had hung up on her.
Max tossed her phone on the passenger seat and pulled out of the parking lot. She mentally wrote a few possible headlines.
POLICE REFUSE TO SEEK JUSTICE
STUDENTS WHO LEFT COLLEGE BOY TO DIE ON MOUNTAIN WALK AWAY FREE AND CLEAR
DELAY IN NOTIFYING SEARCH AND RESCUE LEADS COLLEGE BOY TO DIE OF EXPOSURE