Goes to the lake. Lots of cars and people, couple of fire trucks. He speaks to the police chief he spoke to on the phone. “No trace of her so far. We ordered some hounds and a helicopter in. When it gets dark we’ll try best as we can with searchlights and bullhorns, but I think by nine or ten we’ll have covered every foot of these woods. That woman Lita was still here. She’s in her car. It’s not the Opel. Hers was parked along the main road and she said she walked in, so we let her go out and bring it to the lot. Your Opel wasn’t here when we got here, so it could have been anyone’s — another visitor, but in his own private spot — and not seeing any commotion yet, just drove away. We put a call out on it with the plate number you gave. That Miss Reinekin—” “That’s it, that’s the name.” “Well, she said you attacked her real bad, and showed the bruises to prove it, and that she had nothing to do either with the girl or provoking you to threatening her life. That it’s all in your head, she said, which is why she stayed — to tell us. Or that you did something previously to the girl and are trying to put the blame on her. Because you came to the lake alone, swam alone and when you came out of the water you went straight up to her and asked where’s your daughter. She’s from near Hartford, only here for a long weekend. Friends she’s staying with are with her now. They’re very respectable summer people, been coming up for years and before then the parents and grandparents of the man, and they say the woman’s as truthful and right-minded as anyone they know. That she comes from a good family, well brought up and educated, never hurt anyone, and is a teacher engaged to a governor’s assistant; the woman friend’s known her since childhood. Just hearing all this and talking to Miss Reinekin, she doesn’t seem like a child molester or kidnapper, but that’s not for me to judge.” “Let me speak to her.” “If you don’t mind someone taking down what you two say; and also no rough stuff from you, words or force.” “Take down anything, and don’t worry.”
They go to the woman’s car. She’s in the back seat sitting between a man and woman, has a sweater on now, pants, glasses. “This is the man—” “She didn’t wear glasses before,” Howard says. “She only uses them for distance,” the man says. “Let her speak. Can’t she speak? Why isn’t she speaking?” “She can speak but I chose then to speak for her. She’s emotionally shaken. That rock over her head didn’t help any.” “I didn’t hit her with it.” “Held it over. Three inches away, if not two.” “And strangling her,” his wife says. “Strangling her, and nearly breaking her arm. She doesn’t have to answer any more of your asinine charges or be talked threateningly to. She can even be demanding you be locked up and then suing you if she wants.” “Gentlemen, let me continue,” the chief says. “For the record, Miss Reinekin, this is the man you said accused you of doing something terrible to his daughter and then—” “If I hurt her, who wouldn’t for his daughter? She’s lucky I didn’t do worse.” “Anyway, I had nothing to do with it,” she says. “But if this girl truly is missing—” “She’s missing,” the chief says. “We spoke to his wife. There’s an older daughter, same description and age he gave, who’s not home or anywhere to be seen. The whole county’s out looking for her by now.” “Then I’m sorry. It has to be the worst possible thing for the mother. But I’ve told everything I know of it. And Mr. Kaden here — he’s not a lawyer but he knows something about it — has advised me not to talk about it further except in front of a lawyer. But a girl’s missing, we all pray she’s safe—” “Oh shit, just listen to her,” Howard says, “—and I’ll answer any more questions you have if it’ll help find her. First, yes, he is the man who did all the things I said he did. I still don’t know why. We hadn’t said a word or even looked at the same time to one another till he came out of the water, though I did notice him go in and then swimming. Mostly the crawl but occasionally the breaststroke and once the butterfly stroke—” “I did no such stroke. I don’t know how.” “Well, it looked like the butterfly stroke by someone not that good at it, all that splashing and arm-flopping. But after he came out—” “He accused you and grabbed your arm and so on?” the chief says. Nods. “Nothing new to add?” Shakes her head. “Then you ought to go home, rest — we have your statement and now your identification of Mr. Tetch — and well go on with our search as though the girl were lost in the woods and no doubt contact you later.” “You going to let her go just like that?” “It’s been more than ‘just that,’ Mr. Tetch.” “And I didn’t say Olivia was lost in the woods. I said it’s one of the main possibilities. I don’t know where she is. She can be in that freaking water. She can be under a rock or down a well. This one knows though.” “You said I may go, officer? It’s been, as you can see, too much of an afternoon for me and I don’t want to say now what I really think about him.” “Do you have any evidence for what you don’t want to say?” the chief says. “I definitely suggest you don’t say anything, Lita,” Kaden says. “If there’s an inquest or trial or anything like that—” “You fucking liars, with your inquests and trials,” Howard says. “You fucking murderer and kidnapper,” he says to her. “Or you’re all murderers or kidnappers. Now where is she already? Where the goddamn fuck is she?” and tries opening the door, Kaden pulls it shut and locks it while his wife rolls up the window and Lita screams and covers her eyes. Howard bangs on the window, is led away by the chief and made to sit on the grass.
Lita drives off with Mrs. Kaden, Kaden drives behind them in Lita’s car. Mazda, NXH 107, dark red, Connecticut. Search goes on for hours. He calls Denise every half hour from a police car. Last call she says friends have come and gone and been very kind but she needs to be with him. He’s given his and Olivia’s beach things and goes home. She puts some dinner on the table for him, weeps, checks the baby, weeps, says she has to control herself so she can think straight while there’s still a chance Olivia can be found, says she doesn’t understand any of it. “Now go over it, once more, maybe there’s something we missed.” He goes over it thoroughly. She says “How can anything like this happen to her?” “Nothing has — I’m sure she’s alive and we’ll find her — but how can anyone do anything like that to her? How come they don’t press that woman more? How can her friends protect her like that when they must know she’s lying? The police should give her a lie detector test. They should have done it immediately. Or get a hypnotist to work on her — drugs, even, to draw out the truth — if she’s crazy or has a mental or physical disorder where she can’t remember things and one of those means would get her to say where Olivia is or what she did with her. What about where she’s staying? Maybe the Kadens are involved. Some kind of satanic cult or just selling beautiful children or a ring for whatever kind of devious or moneymaking purpose — but in a basement there or some place. Am I thinking straight or is all this part of my own growing craziness?” He says no, it’s valid, “We have to try everything that’s reasonable or possible,” calls the police station, hoping it would relay the call to the chief’s car, is told to call him at home. “The search has been called off, the chief says. “We’ll resume it early tomorrow if you want.” “I want.” “Not even the dogs could turn up anything. They smelled blood but nothing human. They started digging up the ruins of an old cabin. That cabin must be three hundred years old. Nobody even knew an earlier settlement had been there—” “I’m not interested. Listen, my wife and I think you should give Miss Reinekin a lie detector test, and immediately. Or just get a hypnotist to hypnotize the truth out of her, or some serums or drugs to do it.” “No can do. She’s got to be suspected of a crime first and then agree to the test or drugs or hypnotism, and she’s not.” “Then what do you say to going to the Kadens’ house where she’s at? Anybody think of that? Olivia could be there. A satanic cult, let’s say. Maybe they sell babies or slightly older children or are into all sorts of ugly things. The respectability and old-family stuff and all that lawyer-knowledge and holier-than-thou protest shit could be some kind of cover — some ruse.” “Again, it wouldn’t be a bad idea if anyone in the state or county police departments believed that, but we don’t. The Kadens would have to be suspects too and they’re anything but that. We put out queries on them and Miss Reinekin and they’re as clean as they come. Try to listen to me now, Mr. Tetch — don’t make trouble. We know how you both feel and our hearts go out to you as if she were our own child, but you don’t want to be jailed at a time when your wife and other girl need you so much. A state’s attorney and detectives will be out to see you tomorrow morning. Please be there. Then if you want to come where we’ll be searching, you’ll be more than welcome.” “I’ve complete confidence in all your and your people’s abilities, so of course I’ll do what you say.”