“I’ll finish school here. I’ve applied to West Point.” There was pride in his voice.
“Good for you.” Robert nodded. “How well did you know Calvin? What do you know about him and his relationship with his family?”
Brody answered first. “He showed up with James, he talked big, but Calvin didn’t have a job, so he didn’t contribute much.”
“Did that make you a little upset with him or James?”
“No. James paid the way for both of them. If we ordered pizza, James paid.”
“Michael, how did you feel about Calvin tagging along on all your parties?”
He shrugged. “I was okay with it. He was fun.”
Robert leaned back in his chair and looked at the four men across from him. “Do you think that Calvin had anything to do with his family’s disappearance?” He held up his hand, “The younger men to answer, please.”
Brody and Michael looked at each other. Brody spoke first, “I don’t know think he could kill them. I know he hated his parents, he was always saying that he wished they were dead.” Michael nodded at the last part.
Robert turned to Michael. “Any idea who Calvin might have talked to if he wanted to do this?”
“No. In the last year or so, before he left for the East Coast, we met up for parties, but we didn’t hang with him or James on a regular basis. We were told Cavin went into the service, and that was it. We didn’t see him again.” Neither of the boys looked at each other. Their answers sounded memorized, or perhaps none of Robert’s questions warranted a lie, so they were telling the truth to that point. Robert looked down at his notes. What was he missing?
“You didn’t see him when he came home on leave last fall?” Robert spoke, half-looking at the paper hiding behind the folder.
“I didn’t,” Brody answered. “I was in class, so I missed the party they had for him.”
“Who had the party?”
“David Fenton, I think.” Brody gave Michael a slight glance. Michael shrugged.
“You didn’t go either?” Robert tapped his pen on the legal pad, while he looked at Michael.
“Yeah, I went. It wasn’t much, just a bunch of guys and their girlfriends sitting around.
“Where was the party?”
“At David’s house.”
“Thank you for coming down here. I know I took up your time, but everything helps in cases like this.”
The young men across the table stood.
“One more thing. Did you ever meet any of Calvin’s family?” Robert slipped the question in casually, as if it were an afterthought.
Brody shook his head, but Michael nodded.
“You met the Stevens family? When?”
“When we moved Calvin’s stuff out of the house. The mother and sisters watched us. His dad sat in the living room watching everything we took out.”
“And Calvin didn’t bring his sister to the party?” He looked at the boys for their reactions. Brody stood with his back to Robert, facing his father.
Michael stopped moving, to stand still for a second or two, then resumed the action. He shrugged one shoulder. “I didn’t notice.”
“So, she could have been there, you just didn’t notice if she was.” Robert remained seated but leaned over the table with his eyes on Michael.
Michael tried to make it sound as if the question were ridiculous. “I suppose. Why would a guy bring his dopey little sister with him?”
“I don’t know.” Robert paused, and then continued. “Maybe he had to babysit. No, not that, he wasn’t in the house anymore. Maybe he was asked to bring her by someone at the party?”
Michael turned toward his father and began to move toward the door. “You’ll have to ask all the others who were there.”
“Are we done?” Brody’s dad ushered his son to the door.
Robert nodded. He let the two men go. Mr. Ramsay followed them.
Gerald Williams waited until the others left the room. “Why did you need to know this? They met the family, but that has nothing to do with their disappearance. I hope this is the last time we have to come down here.”
“I hope, for their sake, it is too,” Robert returned.
“What possible reason would you have to call them back?” Gerald rested the tips of his fingers on the table, using them to support his weight.
“That’s what we intend to find out.” Robert arranged his papers before speaking. “This is a bizarre case. We have thousands of leads, but there is nothing that we can pinpoint to the reason or motive in the disappearance of this family. We want to explore all leads.”
“What would these boys have to do with the disappearance of the family?” Mr. Williams persisted.
“Let’s just hypothesize for a moment, off the record.” Robert pressed the stop button on the recorder. “What if, one or all of the boys witnessed some altercation between Calvin and his parents? What if they knew of some reason Calvin would want his parents dead? Maybe he got drunk one night and spouted off how he could commit the perfect crime? Who knows? I am just exploring every avenue. If your son knows anything that can help us, I’d appreciate a call from him. Right now, I am not ruling out any possible suspects. You know well enough that any time people have contact with a victim or victims, we want to know it. Not that it’s going to tell us anything, but it rules out possibilities.”
Mr. Williams nodded. “I’ll ask those questions myself. I don’t want my son involved in anything that’s going to interfere with his education. I want him cleared of any connection to this group and this family. He has excellent grades and a recommendation from two senators to get into West Point.” Gerald leaned across the table. His eyes were even with Robert, as they stood only a couple of feet apart. “Nothing is going to stand in the way of my son’s getting that appointment. Do you hear me? Nothing.” He straightened.
“If he has anything to do with the disappearance of the Stevens family or any remote connection that can lead me to their killer, I will not let up on this.” Robert’s low even voice left no doubt they were at a standoff. There were in Robert’s territory. “I suggest you question your son a little more about what he knows and get back to me.” Gerald strode out the door.
Robert knew, without a doubt that Brody Williams would not be hanging around that group of boys anymore, if he still was.
Robert watched Walter Comstock and Royal Kaeding, followed by their lawyers follow Nate into the interrogation room.
These boys knew their way around authority figures. Walter was dressed in gray slacks, a blue shirt, and a dark blue blazer. Royal wore a similar style with a different color jacket. They entered the room as if it were their own home and sat down without being asked. They ignored the lawyers who accompanied them. They didn’t move when he asked an officer to bring in a couple of extra chairs for the lawyers. Their arrogance left a foul smell in Robert’s nose.
Robert asked and received the same answers to the questions he’d put to the others. He questioned Royal, “Did you have parties at your parents’ home? ”
“Sometimes. I have lots of friends.”
“Who came to your parties?”
“Who were you referring to specifically?” That edge of snobbery grated on Robert’s nerves.
“I’ll get to that later. Where do your parents live?”
My parents have a house in the Gorge and one in West Hills.”
“Which place did your friends like to go to the most?”
Royal paused at the question. “I guess the Gorge.”
“A cabin?” He prompted Royal as if he didn’t know.