‘I don’t know what you’re talking—’
‘Oh my God!’ said Shannon. ‘Don’t make this worse. But you need to tell me why. You need to tell me why, because I’ve been wracking my brains here, trying to work out why the man who’s supposed to love me, or have loved me – or may never have loved me, let’s face it – would give this fucked-up drug to the only family I’ve got left in the world. And I have no clue why you would do that, John. No fucking clue. I’m losing my mind here, trying to figure it all out.’ She paused. ‘The only conclusion I can come to is that you wanted Seth dead – but why? Why? You looked out for Seth in prison. You like Seth—’
‘I do like him!’ said John. ‘I did not want him dead! I was trying to help him with his pain. After the assault—’
‘But you know the risks,’ said Shannon. ‘I’m just not processing this. You hate drugs! You hate even having to take your prescription drugs. You watched him almost die in his cell, you saved his life. What changed? Why did you want to kill my baby? Why?’
‘I... didn’t think he would die,’ said John. ‘I didn’t want him to die—’
‘You’re lying!’ said Shannon. ‘You’re still fucking lying.’ She walked up to him and slapped him hard across the face. ‘Tell. Me. The. Truth.’
John Veir was pale. ‘I... I’m sorry.’
‘Sorry?’ screamed Shannon. ‘Sorry? What have I ever done to you? You loved me! I loved you! Why did you do this? Tell me!’
‘I... I... can’t,’ said John.
Shannon reached into the back of her waistband and pulled out Seth’s gun. ‘Yes, John. Yes, you can.’
The door opened and they both spun around.
71
Ren’s heart was pounding.
The anger at Aaron Fuller for having his PlayStation, the anger at his father for giving it away, the anger at his mother – why? – the drowning in the koi pond, quitting the job at Rose Dennehy’s... I know what you fucking did, John Veir. You found Rose Dennehy’s phone wherever Caleb had hidden it. You knew it wasn’t his, so you went through it to see who it belonged to – and you found the video he’d made.
Ren’s stomach turned at the thought that Caleb Veir recorded what he did to little Luke Monroe.
Selfies, videos – that’s what kids do.
Oh, God. He’s just a kid.
A damaged one. An abused one.
You saw Luke Monroe, his little neck gripped, his head pushed into the pond.
And that was the moment your world fell apart. You knew what your son done, who your son was. Your twelve-year-old son was a killer.
You were horrified. But you love your son. You knew what Jimmy Lyle did to him. You always knew he was damaged. You just didn’t know how badly. But you love your son. You felt responsible, because you went off to war and you left him behind, and you left your wife behind, and they fell apart. You love your son. More than he will ever understand. Because that’s not something he can understand. Even though you thought, you hoped, he could.
Did you confront him? Did you look into those angry black eyes and ask him why he did it? Was that when you locked him in his bedroom? He’d have been crazed at this point – he hated you. He knew you knew his secret. He just didn’t know what you were going to do about it. He thought maybe you were going to call the police, that he’d end up in prison. He figured you wanted to get rid of him anyway, that you never liked him. There was no way he could make it out his bedroom window on the second floor, it was too high. So he kicked at the door, he kicked and he kicked and he kicked.
You couldn’t let him go to prison, could you? So you ran through your options and you chose to save him. You would have him disappear, let everyone think he was another tragic young victim – that way no one would ever suspect him of being a killer. Meanwhile you would get him somewhere he could have the help he needed, and eventually you would bring him home, cured. You believed that that was possible.
You just didn’t realize what a mess you would make.
So you called your sister and asked her to help you save him. She was only three and a half hours away. You were lucky.
Why, though, why did she help you? Isn’t she honorable? Doesn’t she believe in justice? She is so desperately earnest to save Anthony Boyd Lorden, to right that wrong, why would she jeopardize everything she’d fought for to save a child killer, even if he was a child himself, even if he was her own nephew? How did you talk her into getting involved?
Weren’t you lucky Alice agreed – and that she was only three and a half hours away.
And weren’t you lucky that Merrifield escaped the day before? He was the perfect person to pin this on. There was a history there, with you, with Seth. So easy to blame him for Caleb’s disappearance.
Weren’t you lucky?
Lots of luck.
Ren’s heart started to pound.
Oh my God: this was planned, it had to have been. You didn’t just find the phone and confront him and then everything magically fell into place. You knew weeks ago that on Monday, March 6, Alice would be in Portland on a speaking engagement. She would be close by. And Teddy wouldn’t be home. And you planned everything around that.
But what about Merrifield? You knew he was dealing. You knew that Lockwood was bringing drugs into BRCI via his sister, Serena. So you worked that into your plan: you approached Lockwood and blackmailed him into helping Merrifield escape. After all, who would suspect the good, kindly, nerdy therapist?
For some unknown reason, Alice agrees to help. She knows not to drive her own car – she borrows Paula Leon’s. She drives that car into Lister Creek Rest Area where you transfer Caleb from the trunk of your car into hers... But how did you persuade him to go along with all this?
How come he didn’t fight you off? Fight her off? Or was he willing to leave Tate behind him? Had you told him enough stories about prison and inmates to terrify him? Did he trust you, was he willing to go along with your plan, spend the next few years in some facility where they could cure people like him?
No. You drugged him. That’s what you did. Your wife’s Xanax. Caleb had no clue what was going on. You gave him a spiked drink, and he was knocked out for the entire ride.
And Alice Veir, I know what you did. You drove back to your hotel and... what? How did you move Caleb? He woke up. He woke up, and you told him what was happening. And maybe he resisted, maybe not, but you parked beside your rental that evening, transferred him into the trunk, returned the keys to the innocent Paula Leon. Then you drove the four-hour journey home.
You arrived at your house in darkness. You have no close neighbors, anyway. You could enter unseen. Days pass – Caleb resents you, you resent him. Or maybe you loved spending time together. I’m guessing the former.
Then you get a phone call from your brother, he’s freaking out, the police are getting closer, they’re asking too many questions, he’s running out of stories, his lies are catching up. Then John Veir’s final panic, the desperation to find another suspect: this time someone who wouldn’t talk, his last-ditch attempt to frame someone was Seth Fuller: he nearly killed Seth Fuller to cover up Caleb’s crimes.