Adam suspected the promise was more for him than for Isenberg and he wanted to kiss Meredith for making it, but kept his nod brusquely professional. ‘Follow me, please.’
The young men started to stand when he returned, looking ready to bombard him with questions, but Adam gestured them to stay where they were. ‘Mr Baird, you asked about the woman your friend tried to shoot. Here she is.’ He stepped aside so that Meredith could come through the door. Isenberg brought up the rear and closed the door behind her. ‘This is Dr Fallon. Dr Fallon, Shane Baird and Kyle Davis.’
‘I’m so sorry for your loss,’ Meredith said gently.
Shane came to his feet unsteadily and Adam got between him and Meredith. ‘Mr Baird, please sit down.’
‘I need . . .’ Shane closed his eyes, weariness etched deep into his young face. ‘I need to see her face. Please.’
‘He had to take his contacts out,’ Kyle explained. ‘He wasn’t able to get his glasses from his apartment before we left.’
Meredith took a few steps closer to the table, Adam staying no more than a step behind her. She leaned in much closer than Adam wanted and he had to bite back a growl.
‘I don’t know you,’ she said softly to Shane. ‘Do you know me?’
His gaze moved an inch at a time, cataloguing her face. ‘No. You’re not the one.’ He dropped into his chair and buried his face in his hands. ‘God.’
Meredith pulled out a chair and sat down across from the two. ‘Who were you hoping I’d be, Mr Baird?’
Hands remaining in place over his face, he shook his head. ‘I didn’t hope you’d be. I was afraid you’d be. Why did Andy try to kill you?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I’d never seen him before.’
Kyle looked suspicious. ‘What kind of doctor are you?’
‘I’m a child psychologist. I work with kids and teenagers. But I’d never met Andy before. I would have remembered him.’ Her sigh was almost silent. ‘I remember them all.’
‘Then why did he pull a gun on you?’ Shane demanded brokenly. ‘It doesn’t make sense. I can’t even think anymore.’
‘I think you’re tired,’ Meredith murmured soothingly. ‘And so am I. I will tell you the same thing I told the police. I do not believe your friend intended to hurt me. I think he was there against his will.’
Shane’s hands dropped to the table, his expression one of abject misery. ‘You told them that?’
‘Of course.’ She tentatively reached across the table, tilting her head, asking for permission to touch. Shane nodded and she covered his hands with her own. ‘Your friend’s last words were to tell me to run. I think he was a good person who was being forced. And now, here you are, and you know something that could maybe help Detective Kimble catch who did this. You have no reason to trust me, but I hope you’ll trust Detective Kimble and Lieutenant Isenberg with what you know. I want the person who hurt Andy to pay.’
Shane’s head fell forward slowly, his forehead resting on one of Meredith’s hands. ‘Somebody came looking for me tonight,’ he whispered.
Adam took the seat next to Meredith. ‘Who?’ he asked, watching Isenberg take a guard position behind the two young men.
‘I don’t know,’ Shane mumbled. ‘Kyle?’
Kyle rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘I work the desk at the dorm. Tonight, Saturday night I mean, this guy came in, pretending to be a friend of Shane’s. Asked for his room. I told him that he didn’t live there anymore – which he doesn’t. He moved into an apartment in August. This guy got mad and mean and insistent. I pressed the panic button, which calls campus police. The guy left, but warned me to “be smart.”’
‘Did you tell the police what happened?’ Adam asked.
‘Yes. It was all caught on security camera, anyway. I called Shane, to warn him that some guy was looking for him.’
‘Can you describe this guy?’ Isenberg asked.
‘Huge,’ Kyle said with a shudder. ‘Dark hair. His face was . . . odd. Tight, like he’d had plastic surgery or something. I told all of this to the campus cops. The camera is brand new so they got a clear view of his face and what he was saying.’
‘So what happened when you called Shane?’ Adam asked.
‘He said he needed to go to Cincinnati, that the guy who died was his friend. He’d just looked it up online and saw the news. I texted my girlfriend and arranged to borrow her car. It’s newer than mine and has better tires.’
With her free hand, Meredith stroked Shane’s hair and Adam felt the hard slam of jealousy. Stupid, he told himself. Put that shit away. She’s keeping him calm.
Just like she keeps me calm.
‘Shane, how did you know Andy?’ she asked.
Shane’s reply was muffled. ‘From foster care.’
Meredith’s shoulders stiffened almost imperceptibly. Bracing herself, Adam thought. ‘I see,’ she murmured. ‘All right. How did you know to look up Cincinnati?’
Shane lifted his head, staring at her helplessly. ‘Andy was a good person.’
‘I know,’ she said simply.
‘But once, he did something . . . necessary.’
Kyle hadn’t heard this story, it was obvious. His gaze was fixed on his friend. ‘What did he do, Shane?’ Kyle asked him sharply.
Shane blew out a breath. ‘He killed someone. The foster father.’
‘Why?’ Meredith asked, so gently it made Adam’s chest hurt.
‘Andy was protecting Linnie. The bastard was bigger than us and he tried . . .’ Another shuddered exhale. ‘He did things. To Linnie. Over and over and over.’
‘He raped Linnie,’ Meredith said, giving the crime a name when Shane could not.
Tears filled Shane’s eyes and he nodded. ‘She didn’t tell us at first. She was afraid that Andy would . . . do exactly what he did. But Andy heard them. Heard Linnie crying. Caught the bastard hurting her. And Andy made it stop. But she was so—’ His voice cracked. ‘Ashamed. And broken. After that she was broken.’ He blinked, sending the tears down his face. ‘I never should have left them. I should have stayed.’
Meredith squeezed the fist she still held. ‘What happened today was not your fault, Shane, any more than it was mine. Let’s figure this out so we can make the bastard who did it pay.’
He blinked and nodded. ‘Okay,’ he said hoarsely. ‘The police came looking for Andy. Back then. We’d just graduated from high school, the three of us.’
‘You lived in the same foster home?’ Meredith asked.
Shane nodded. ‘We had a pact. We’d always be there for each other. But I left.’
‘Andy was proud of you,’ Adam said quietly. ‘He told a guy where he worked that you were going to make it. He was happy about that. He didn’t blame you.’
Shane choked on a sob. ‘That makes it worse.’
Kyle squeezed Shane’s shoulder. ‘What happened when the police came looking for Andy back then?’
‘He wasn’t Andy then. He was Jason Coltrain. He changed his name when he and Linnie ended up in Cincinnati. They hitchhiked. I gave them all the money I had saved up, but Andy used it to buy a new ID. Linnie called me, told me they’d caught a ride with a trucker and that they were okay. That Jason was now Andy and he’d got into college here.’
‘Was he charged with the murder of the foster father?’ Adam asked.
‘No. He was arrested, but never charged. Because . . .’ Shane dropped his gaze to Meredith’s hand covering his. He shook his head and said no more.
‘Because you lied for him?’ Adam asked.
Shane lifted his gaze and started to answer, but Kyle interrupted him. ‘Don’t say anything about that, man.’ He skewered Adam with a glare of his own. ‘I’m pre-law. He’s going to lawyer up if you ask questions like that.’
Pre-law, Adam thought wearily. Of course he is.
But they really didn’t need a verbal confession at this point. Shane looked so miserably guilty that the answer was obvious. Meredith patted his hand. ‘So when people came looking for you, you assumed it was because Andy was in trouble again?’
Shane nodded. ‘He hadn’t answered any of my phone calls for months. Neither had Linnie.’ He frowned. ‘I need to find her.’