Chapter 9 Small-Town Secrets #2
“Why do you think he might say something like that?”
He looked away. “Don’t know. He seems really out of it.”
“This isn’t the only near drowning I’ve seen lately.” I pressed onward. “You likely saw on the news that Jeff Sumner’s child nearly drowned.”
He stared into the cup of coffee he was holding. “Jeff told me.”
“From an outsider’s perspective, this is a really odd coincidence.”
“How so?”
“Well, as I’m investigating that case, I look at the backgrounds of the adults to see if there’s anything significant. And I saw in our records that you and Jeff and Quentin Sims were accused in the disappearance of a girl twenty-five years ago.”
Mark squeezed the coffee cup so tightly that liquid sloshed through the plastic lid. “That was nuts. I don’t want to think about that.”
“I have to wonder if someone else, someone connected to that girl, harbors a grudge. And that person—or people—is directing some anger at you.”
He closed his eyes. “It’s bad. It’s really bad.”
The elevator, summoned from a lower floor, began to move down.
“What happened, Mark?”
He seemed just about ready to confess something to me. He’d licked his lips and opened his mouth when the doors slid apart.
A very irritated-looking man in scrubs stared at me. He was in his fifties, with graying hair and a harsh line of a mouth. The badge on his lanyard read: ER Department Dr. Floyd.
Shit. Nick’s boss.
Floyd glowered at us and elbowed his way into the elevator. “Excuse me.”
Lister shook his head, his confession trance broken. “I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”
He exited the elevator, and I stumped after him. “But there’s—”
He turned on me in a flash of anger. “Leave me alone. This is police harassment.”
I paused, taken aback by his sudden change of mood.
He stabbed a finger at me. “You were at both drownings. How do I know that you didn’t have something to do with them?”
I blinked. “That’s not—”
“Stay away from me.”
Lister slipped away, into the lobby, practically at a run. Definitely faster than I could pursue him.
Mark Lister knew things. Jeff Sumner knew things. But neither one of them was saying anything. Jeff seemed angry. But Lister seemed scared.
But scared of what?
I found Monica’s car in the pickup area and eased into the passenger seat.
“I saw Lister flying out of there like a bat outta hell. Was that your doing?” I noticed that she’d raided the vending machines. She handed me a candy bar, and I took it gratefully.
“Almost had him spilling his guts. He knows something. He might be easier to get to than Jeff.”
“Well, we got a nice letter from Jeff’s attorney, threatening to charge us with harassment.”
“Not surprising.”
“Well, he doesn’t have a leg to stand on. CPS is involved in Mason’s case now. The social worker assigned to the case wants to know everything we find out.”
“If we’re investigating a crime, he can’t claim harassment.”
We bumped fists.
“You know what’s weird?” I said. “It will be twenty-five years since Dana disappeared this Fourth of July. And now, all of a sudden, the children of the principal suspects in that case have been harmed. It makes me think that’s not a fluke, especially given that number on the skull.”
“You think it’s a countdown?”
“Could be. I mean…what if a kid like Leah is next? Even if the girls aren’t allowed to swim, I feel like we’ve got to warn the parents.”
“Agreed.”
I called Pastor Sims. He picked up on the second ring. “Hello?”
“Pastor Sims, this is Lt. Anna Koray from the Bayern County Sheriff’s Office.”
“Hello, Lieutenant.” His voice echoed peculiarly. Maybe he was in the bathroom, which I didn’t want to imagine. “What can I do for you?”
“There’s been another near drowning in your social circle recently.”
There was a pause. “I heard about Ross.”
“Yes. I wanted to call because I’m worried about your daughter—”
“Did she do something?” He seemed awfully quick to jump to that.
“No, no. She’s done nothing wrong. It seems like a pattern is emerging, that there are peculiar near drownings associated with the children in your church. I’m concerned for Leah.”
“Leah isn’t allowed in the water. Too much temptation there. Water awakens lasciviousness in women.”
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “I mean to say that I think you should keep an eye on her, just in case something happens.”
“I always do, Lieutenant, as a concerned parent. Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s late.”
“I—”
The line went dead before I could begin to ask him about the disappearance of Dana Carson. I made a face at the phone.
“Let’s assume for a moment that these guys were indeed responsible for the disappearance of Dana Carson, and that they killed her. What doesn’t make sense to me is that they still seem to be buddies,” Monica said.
“Yeah, that’s strange,” I agreed.
“Right? Usually, when a group is involved in a homicide, they break up. One turns on the rest. Or at the very least, they disperse. It’s very odd that they’re still friends. Some strange fraternity.”
“You’d think they’d want to start fresh at a new location. Have a clean slate, start over.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I thought of Nick, and his wanting to leave this place.
Damn. Maybe Bayern County had some weird hold over all of us.