‘We want to find her too,’ Adam said, then met Meredith’s questioning eyes. She was asking permission to tell Shane what Andy had said. Adam nodded.
Shane’s frown grew sharper at their exchange. ‘What? What’s happened to Linnie?’
‘We don’t know,’ Adam said truthfully. ‘Do you know her last name?’
‘Holmes,’ Shane said without hesitation. ‘Linnea Holmes. What happened?’
‘I told you that Andy didn’t want to hurt me,’ Meredith said. ‘I was calming him down, getting him to drop the gun, and he said “He’ll kill her.”’
Shane’s eyes closed, his body sagging once more. ‘He had to mean Linnie. She was it for him. He wanted to marry her, but he was too shy to tell her. And then she was . . . raped.’ He spat the word. ‘As if we hadn’t all been through enough hell. We just wanted to make it to eighteen so we could be free. But that happened and Linnie was so broken then that Andy was afraid to tell her how he felt. Afraid she’d run away if she knew what he really wanted. She probably would have.’
‘Andy took care of her, according to his boss,’ Adam told Shane. ‘Used his meal credit from the pizza place where he worked to take food to her.’
Shane’s shoulders shook in a sob he couldn’t hold back. ‘That was Andy. I told you he was a good guy. He’d do anything for you. Go hungry so you could eat. Be cold because he gave you the coat off his fucking back. Goddammit.’ He dropped his forehead back to Meredith’s hand and she stroked his hair again. His hands moved, and suddenly he was clutching one of Meredith’s hands with both of his, shuddering as she continued the gentle stroking of his hair with the other. ‘He was good and they killed him.’
‘I know,’ she whispered. ‘I’m so sorry.’
Adam lifted his eyes to meet Isenberg’s. ‘At least we can start looking for Linnie.’
Isenberg nodded. ‘I’ll put Bishop and Novak on the search.’
Shane looked up, his eyes red and swollen, tears still flowing. ‘Where is she?’
‘We heard she was a student. That’s all we know. Honest,’ Adam added when neither Shane nor Kyle looked convinced. ‘Andy never gave his boss or coworkers many details about her.’
Shane nodded slowly. ‘Yeah. That sounds about right.’
Good. At least he was gaining the kid’s trust. Adam wondered if Shane was even aware that he held Meredith’s hand so tightly. It had to be uncomfortable for Meredith, maybe even hurting her. But she hadn’t flinched, so Adam didn’t make an issue of it. ‘Where was the foster home and when did the rape and murder occur?’ he asked.
Hate flickered in Shane’s wet eyes, his hands clenching reflexively on Meredith’s. ‘Indianapolis,’ he spat. ‘It will be three years on June twentieth. The rapist was Cody Walton.’
‘If Andy wasn’t charged for the crime, was someone else?’ Isenberg asked.
Shane nodded. ‘The fucker’s wife,’ he said with grim satisfaction. Meredith opened her mouth, then closed it purposefully. But Shane saw and his lip curled. ‘You’re worried that I’m not sorry that an innocent woman went to jail. I’m not. The day that the cops took Andy away in cuffs, she turned on Linnie. Blamed Linnie for “seducing her husband.”’ The young man’s mouth twisted in bitter rage. ‘But she knew. She knew what her husband had done. Over and over again. She looked the other way. Over and over again. She told the social worker that the girls were liars and troublemakers and the social worker believed her. As soon as the cops left with Andy, she was on the phone with the social worker, telling lies about Linnie, but that wasn’t enough. She came after Linnie with a frying pan. Tried to hit her. Tried to beat her. I heard Linnie scream and ran upstairs to see why. One of the other kids was with me and we both saw Linnie cowering in a corner, trying to protect her head. We saw the bitch beating her. I gave the other kid my phone, told him to record everything and he did while I pulled the bitch off Linnie. Andy—’ Shane cut himself off, shaking his head. ‘Her bastard husband had been killed by a blow to the head with a frying pan, so when the cops saw the footage, they assumed she’d killed her husband in a rage because he was cheating. We had her on tape accusing Linnie of being a whore and seducing him.’ He shrugged, his expressive face grown stone cold. ‘Dots connected.’
Adam couldn’t – wouldn’t – blame the boy for lying to the police to save his friend. He couldn’t verbally endorse it, but he wouldn’t speak up to condemn it either. He couldn’t stay silent, not forever anyway, but clearing that crime wasn’t his priority at the moment. ‘Do the Indianapolis police still have the video?’
Another cold shrug. ‘I assume so. His wife got fifteen years, because all the kids came forward with all the stories they’d been too scared to tell. Linnie had a broken arm and a concussion from the bitch’s attack.’
Shane’s expression had gone cold when he started the story and now it stayed that way. The personality change was noteworthy, Adam thought. Didn’t mean any of what the boy said was a lie, but he had not escaped his youth undamaged, that was for damn sure.
In fact, the kid reminded Adam of himself and wasn’t that a kick in the head.
‘Anything else?’ Shane asked, his chin lifting, his eyes narrowing slightly. But he still held Meredith’s hands like a lifeline.
‘I have a question,’ Meredith said. ‘Who did you think I was?’
The stone-cold rage on his face receded, enough that he again looked like the young man he’d been when Adam had first entered the room. ‘I was afraid you were Bethany Row, the social worker,’ Shane admitted. ‘I saw your photo online, but it was grainy. I couldn’t see your face, but she had red hair like yours. Looked a little like you too. We hated her. She was the only person – other than the foster bitch – that Andy would have tried to kill, and Walton’s wife is still in jail.’ Fear flickered through his eyes. ‘I think. Can you make sure?’
‘I promise I will make sure,’ Adam said levelly. ‘Do you have any photos of Linnie? We can get one from Indy’s children’s services, but if you have one, that would let us start searching sooner.’
Finally releasing Meredith’s hand, Shane pulled his phone from his pocket and found a photo, new tears filling his eyes. ‘The three of us,’ he said hoarsely, showing them a photo of three young people arm-in-arm, smiling. ‘This was before. You know. Before Linnie was hurt. I need to find her. She might be hurt. Or cold . . .’ His voice broke.
‘Let the police search,’ Meredith said softly. ‘They know this town. If they can’t find her at the colleges, they know all the places she might hide. You need to rest.’
Kyle looked worried. ‘I don’t know where we can go. We don’t know anyone here and we used all our cash for gas.’ He twisted in his chair to look back at Isenberg. ‘Haven’t you heard anything about Tiff? It’s not like her to not answer my texts.’
‘I’ll call Chicago PD again right now,’ Isenberg said. ‘We’ll also find you a safe place to sleep. Stay here for a little while and we’ll be back. Detective? Dr Fallon?’
Meredith pushed away from the table, but gave Shane’s messy hair one last stroke. ‘Do you have anyone back in Chicago to help you?’
‘Me,’ Kyle declared and Meredith smiled at him.
‘You’re a great friend, but I was talking about a counselor.’
‘The school has resources. He can see the shrink there.’ Kyle waved the question away. ‘Please, please, go find out about Tiff,’ he begged.
Meredith stood up. ‘Of course. We can talk more later.’
Shane gripped Meredith’s hand as she stepped away, but once again there was no danger. Just a kid, grateful for her kindness. ‘Thank you,’ Shane said gruffly. ‘For telling me about Andy and for believing he was good.’
She gave Shane’s hand a final squeeze before following Adam and Isenberg out of the room. When the three of them were in the hall, a safe distance from the interview room, Meredith turned to Isenberg, ignoring Adam.
Just as you asked her to, he told himself, shoving back his irritation.
‘You got news from Chicago?’ Meredith asked Isenberg.