Chapter Five #3
Loud music pulled Emmy out of her thoughts. Drake was making a four-point turn to leave the scene.
“Boss.” Cole jogged over. “Two more doorbell camera files came in. I can—”
“Get in the cruiser.” Emmy climbed behind the wheel. Cole got in beside her. She didn’t speak until they were back on the two-lane heading into town. “Mandy’s friends. Was there one she was closer to than the others?”
“She called Talia Wilkinson her best friend in one of her videos.” Cole took out his phone, scrolled through his notes. “The Wilkinsons live on Roanoke. Her mom’s North Falls people.”
“Put your seat belt on.”
Cole did as he was told, keeping his mouth shut while Emmy took a hard left onto the back roads that ran behind Taybee’s farm.
She knew that he had questions. Her son was green, but he was not stupid.
The closer they got to town, the more tension she felt radiating from his side of the vehicle.
He shifted in his seat. Pulled at his seat belt.
She bit her tongue to keep from telling him to stop fidgeting.
She needed to think about Mandy’s best friend.
Sixteen-year-old girls tended to tell each other everything.
If Mandy had been groomed by an older man, then her best friend would know, and that same best friend might be able to offer up some details: Did Mandy ever meet Woody anywhere other than the house?
Were there any photographs of the two of them together?
A chance that a CCTV camera might have caught them?
Did Woody ever give Mandy money? Buy her jewelry?
Give her a burner phone? How did they communicate?
Did Mandy ever confide that Woody had hurt her?
That she was scared? Did either girl keep a journal where they talked about the illicit relationship?
Emmy might not be able to arrest Woody off the murder just yet, but she sure as hell could arrest him for the statutory rape of a minor.
Cole said, “It’s the blue house on the left.”
Emmy pulled over to the curb. They were in downtown North Falls, three blocks from the police station. She took a deep breath to help focus her thoughts as she got out of the car. She caught Cole looking around the neighborhood. He had a wistful expression on his face.
The first eleven years of his life had been spent living in a similar cottage four streets over.
Emmy had inherited the house from her grandmother.
She’d been in the process of restoring it bit by bit until her divorce from Jonah had forced her to sell.
He’d used his part of the proceeds to buy a seedy bar on the outskirts of town.
Emmy had taken full custody of Cole and moved them in with her parents so she could build up her savings, which is a thing that never happened because Cole had kept needing things like healthcare, braces, and food.
He adjusted his duty vest. “You spent an awful long time talking to a witness who said he didn’t see anything.”
Emmy climbed the stairs to the front of the house. She gave the door three hard raps, then stepped back and waited.
The woman who greeted them was about Emmy’s height, but with a short, choppy haircut and round glasses. “Sheriff?”
Emmy said, “Ms. Wilkinson—”
“Valerie,” she interrupted. “Is Mandy okay?”
“She’s still in surgery. I think all we can do right now is keep her in our prayers.”
“My only prayer is that whoever did this gets worse than the death penalty.”
Emmy figured the death penalty was pretty bad. “Is Talia home?”
The woman chewed her bottom lip. She was clearly torn between a desire to help and the natural need to protect her child. “I read the horrible stories online about Bill. Is it true that he abused Allison? Do you think he hurt Mandy?”
Emmy said, “Valerie, I know this is difficult, but your daughter could have important information about the man who did this.”
She was clearly still conflicted, but she opened the door anyway. “Talia’s lying down in her room. I’ll go get her.”
Cole closed the door behind them with a soft click.
They both looked around. The house was compact, the living room giving way to the tiny dining room that led to a galley kitchen that shot down the side of one of the three bedrooms. The layout matched her grandmother’s bungalow, but the explosion of colors would’ve set Nana’s hair on fire.
Orange walls. Overstuffed white marshmallow chairs and a couch in stripes of blue ticking.
Red and yellow rag rugs had been laid over a purple painted floor.
Emmy tried not to think about all the hours she’d spent on her hands and knees scraping white paint off her grandmother’s kitchen hardwoods only to have Jonah drop an entire bottle of red wine that had stained the wood like a crime scene.
Cole said, “I loved our old house.”
Emmy tried to ignore the wistful tone in her son’s voice.
“I’m sorry, Sheriff Clifton.” Valerie had her arm wrapped around her daughter’s waist as she led her up the narrow hallway. Talia was slim, with long dark hair and high cheekbones. “She’s still a bit out of it.”
Emmy could tell the girl had been drugged.
She could also see why. Talia’s face was swollen from crying.
Red lines criss-crossed through the whites of her eyes.
She looked incredibly young and vulnerable, which summed up every sixteen-year-old child.
The violence at Allison’s house had been a life-altering trauma.
Even if Mandy survived, things would never be the same.
Talia was clearly struggling with this fact.
There was so much pain in her expression that Emmy felt guilty for intruding.
Still, she tried, “Talia, do you mind answering some questions for me?”
Talia sniffed. She waited for her mother to nod before giving an answer. “Yes, ma’am.”
Emmy perched on one of the marshmallow chairs. Cole stood with his back to the front door. Valerie hesitated before leading her daughter to the couch. She rested a protective hand over Talia’s, then nodded for Emmy to begin.
“I’m so sorry about what happened today. I know Mandy is your friend. I want you to know that there was nothing that happened today that’s your fault. Or Mandy’s. It’s nobody’s fault except the bad man who did it.”
Talia wiped her nose with the back of her hand. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks. “Is she going to be all right?”
“I don’t know,” Emmy admitted, because lying wouldn’t help build trust. “The reason I’m here talking to you is I need to know a little bit more about Mandy’s life, and I’m hoping you can help fill in some blanks. Okay?”
Talia nodded.
“A lot of times, when you’re friends with somebody, you make promises to keep secrets, but I need you to know that there’s nothing you can tell me about Mandy that’s going to get her into trouble. Right now, we all need to work together to do everything we can to help her. Does that make sense?”
Talia glanced at her mother before nodding at Emmy.
“Can you tell me about the last time you saw Mandy?”
Talia wiped her nose again. Cole handed her his handkerchief. She looked startled, as if she hadn’t noticed he was there until now. Emmy nodded for her son to move to the other side of the room.
“She was—” Talia wiped her nose with the handkerchief. “She was with me yesterday. We went to her house to hang out and study.”
“How did you get there?”
“On our bikes.”
Emmy knew that kids cut through the back roads from town. She had done it herself as a kid. “Do you usually go to Mandy’s house after school?”
Valerie jumped in. “They’re here most days. I work from home on Mondays and Fridays, so they always go to Allison’s on those afternoons. She’s never home. They have the place to themselves.”
Emmy caught the subtle dig at Allison’s parenting. “Mandy, was Bill at the house yesterday?”
“No ma’am, he’s always at work.”
“Thank God,” Valerie muttered.
“Talia.” Emmy put emphasis on the name, trying to get Valerie to back off. “I need you to think through the last few weeks, not just yesterday. Was Mandy acting differently?”
Talia looked down at her hands. She started folding the handkerchief into a tight square. “She was happy ’cause her mom made Bill move out and Mrs. Vickery was gonna get a divorce and they were both gonna move away.”
Valerie looked shocked. “Allison was leaving Bill?”
Talia nodded and shrugged at the same time.
Emmy asked, “Did Mandy say where they were going to move to?”
Talia shrugged a shoulder. “Just away.”
“Can you tell me a little bit about Mandy’s life?” Emmy could see the confusion in the girl’s eyes. “Did she get an allowance?”
“Yes, ma’am. Allison gave her a hundred dollars a month.”
“Did Mandy save her money or spend it?”
Talia’s shoulder went up in a shrug. “We bought stuff at the outlet mall sometimes or we went to the Good Dollar for candy.”
“Did Mandy have a phone?”
“She had her mom’s old iPhone, but it wasn’t new or anything.”
“And that’s the only phone she had?”
Talia nodded.
“Does Mandy have a boyfriend?”
Talia shook her head. “No, ma’am. She likes Denny Wright, but he’s a senior and he already dates a cheerleader and he’s never even talked to her.”
“Did she used to date somebody?”
“No, ma’am, not really. We hung out with boys but nothing serious.”
Emmy knew about those crushes. “Did Mandy tell you anyone was bothering her lately? Maybe in the past few weeks?”
“No, ma’am.”
“What about two days ago? Were you with Mandy after school on Thursday?”
“No, ma’am. She went home early ’cause she had bad cramps.” Emmy knew that was the day both Coach Bell and Drake Saddler had seen Woody at the house with Mandy. “Did she tell you that anyone was at the house?”
“No, ma’am. She said she went home and slept.”
“Did Mandy ever skip school?”
Talia glanced at her mother, then looked down at the hand-kerchief again. “Sometimes.”
Valerie asked, “Did you skip with her?”
Talia shrugged and shook her head. “Not really.”