Chapter 13
Three weeks before Jamie Simmons was set to go on trial for his life, I received a call I never thought I’d get. George and Claudia Luke wanted to talk.
We met on a Saturday evening in my office. They wanted to come when no one else would be in the building. When no one might see them walk through the parking lot. And they came alone.
I waited for them in the lobby, keying them in. At my insistence, Sam had called back the deputies who normally patrolled the grounds on the weekend. Sam himself waited across the street in his own office, ready to dispatch anyone I needed at a moment’s notice.
If it was possible, George and Claudia looked as if they’d aged ten years in the last two months. Late October now, I couldn’t imagine how difficult the upcoming holiday season would be for them.
George rested a protective hand on his wife’s back as I showed them into the conference room, turning on the hall lights as we went.
“Can I get either of you anything?” I asked, then kicked myself for not thinking about starting a pot of coffee. It was late though. Almost seven thirty.
“We’re okay,” George said. “We just want to get this over with.”
They chose two chairs at the long table, putting their backs to the bookshelves. I left my notepad in my office. Silenced my phone. I wanted this meeting to feel as informal as possible given the circumstances. I took my seat opposite them.
“I appreciate you coming in,” I started. “I’m here to answer any questions you may have. I can give you some idea of what to expect once the trial starts.”
Claudia cast a nervous glance at her husband. “I don’t think we can help you.”
“I’m saying I’m here to help you, Mrs. Luke.”
“Call me Claudia. Mrs. Luke was my mother-in-law. She was …”
George put a hand over his wife’s. “My mother was a hard woman to like.”
“Okay. Claudia. I really cannot imagine how stressful this has all been for you. I can understand why you’ve been reluctant to talk to me or Detective Ritter.”
“Can you?” Claudia snapped. “We didn’t just lose our daughter, Ms. Brent. This thing … this hideous thing … I feel like I’m losing my mind. That I’m in some nightmare but I can’t wake up.”
“Shh,” George consoled his wife. “It’s going to be okay. This will be over soon.”
Claudia’s hands trembled. She reached for a tissue box at the center of the table, took one, and blew her nose.
“What we want to know is,” George said. “Do you really think our son-in-law hurt Ellie?”
His question tore through me. I could only imagine what Bennett Cutler must have told them. It was in his interest to keep them believing Jamie Simmons had been framed. Railroaded. They’d accepted him into their family. Treated him like a son.
“Yes,” I said bluntly. “Jamie Simmons stalked and murdered your daughter. He’s kept it a secret all these years. I would not take this case to trial if I didn’t think he was guilty.”
“But Detective Ritter told us,” Claudia said.
“He said my nephew was the one who did this. Dane threatened her. You don’t understand what was going on.
I brought him into our home. George and I tried to help him turn his life around.
Then he stole from us. He got violent with George. Did you know that?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“He did. George, tell her. Dane pushed him up against a wall. I thought he was going to strangle him. We threw him out. Ellie tried to warn us. She was never comfortable around Dane. Then he took my engagement ring. Stole money out of George’s wallet.
Ellie found him searching her room looking for more money.
She was the one who insisted we call the police.
Dane hurt Ellie. I know it. And I let him into our home! ”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Claudia, you did what you thought was right. You tried to help your cousin. There’s nothing wrong with any of that.
I believe you that Dane Fischer was a bad element.
But he isn’t the one who killed Ellie. Detective Ritter knew twenty years ago he didn’t have enough for probable cause to arrest Dane.
He was a lead. A person of interest. Nothing more.
But Jamie … you have to understand I’m not at liberty to discuss some of the elements of my case.
The evidence. But I assure you, I will be able to tie Jamie to Ellie’s murder. ”
I stopped short of making any promises. The Lukes were grappling with so much more than the loss of their daughter. They’d been cloaked in Jamie Simmons’s lies for twenty-two years.
“You want me to lose everything,” Claudia said. “Do you understand that?”
“I don’t. I’m not doing any of this to hurt you.”
“Hayden,” George said. “There are some things you need to understand about our granddaughter.”
“All right,” I said. Though I suspected I already knew where this was going, I decided patient, active listening would be the best way to defuse a potentially volatile situation.
“It’s our fault,” George continued. “Losing Ellie … the way we lost Ellie. It was so painful. It’s not just us missing her.
Torturing ourselves over what her last minutes on earth must have been like.
Did she call for help? Did she call for us?
She had to have. That would be normal, wouldn’t it?
You’re a mother. It would be natural for a child to cry out for her parents when they’re in pain.
When they’re frightened. That alone is enough to destroy me.
Us. But then to find out that someone we let into Ellie’s life was the one who did this to her. ”
“Only you didn’t,” I said, contradicting my intentions. “Dane Fischer didn’t do this.”
George put up a hand. “We can put that aside for now. Let’s assume that’s true.
What I’m trying to tell you about is my granddaughter.
We didn’t talk about Ellie. After Detective Ritter told us he couldn’t arrest Dane …
after we realized there would be no justice for Ellie …
we shut down. We couldn’t cope. The only way we survived was by locking that part of our life away.
Not forgetting her. Never that. But it was just too painful to talk about.
And we were losing Erin, too. That’s what you have to understand.
Erin was trying so hard to make everything okay for us.
She was just a kid. Eighteen. That’s a tremendous burden.
Erin felt like she had to be all things for us. And God help us, we let her.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
“Jamie was a friend to her,” Claudia said.
“He watched out for her. For all of us. Erin grew to rely on him. He was like a big brother to her and that was such a comfort. She needed that. I think she felt comfortable talking to him about things she couldn’t say to us.
Then … I don’t know. Things grew between them.
Almost two years after Ellie died, Erin found out she was pregnant.
I was terrified for her. She was so young.
But Jamie took care of her. Jamie is the reason my family survived. Do you understand?”
“I do,” I said. “If you think I’m judging you for anything, I promise you, I’m not.”
“He couldn’t have done this,” George said. “Jamie loves us. He’s part of our family. We made a mistake not being open with Hayden about her Aunt Ellie. Her curiosity was natural. What she did about it wasn’t.”
“What is it you think she did?” I asked.
“She was sick,” Claudia spat. “Looking online at those awful pictures of poor Ellie’s body. Ellie was nothing to her. Bones. A curiosity. My granddaughter is a disturbed young girl. She needs help.”
It broke my heart to think how Hayden’s family had turned on her.
Jamie Simmons’s talons were sunk so deeply into Ellie Luke’s parents.
And Erin Luke had lived as his wife for twenty years.
I wouldn’t say the words. It served no purpose to antagonize them.
But Jamie Simmons had managed to groom and brainwash Ellie’s parents.
There was no telling what he’d done to a young, grieving, vulnerable Erin Luke.
She was just as much a victim as Ellie had been.
That is what I would need the jury to see.
“Have you spoken to her?” I asked. “To Hayden?”
“You can’t talk to her,” Claudia said. “She won’t listen. She’s got some therapist that tells her she has to set boundaries. What do they call it, George? What she’s done?”
“No contact,” he said bitterly. “Hayden won’t engage with us.”
Good for her, I thought. I would never say it. The Lukes were victims too.
“You need to be prepared,” I said. “It’s as I’ve told you. I wouldn’t pursue a conviction against your son-in-law if I didn’t think he was guilty. I can connect him to the crime scene. I have witnesses who will testify about the inappropriate attention he paid your daughter. The lies he told.”
“You’re harassing him,” Claudia jumped in. “We know what this is. How important it is for the new sheriff to notch a conviction before the election next year.” She was parroting Bennett Cutler.
“This isn’t about that. And we didn’t seek this out. When new, credible evidence emerged, we pursued it. It has nothing to do with the timing of an election. You have my word on that.”
“Your word,” George said. “Can you understand why that doesn’t mean much to us? From where we sit, the Sheriff’s Department has done nothing to instill confidence in us.”
“Sam Cruz wasn’t the sheriff when your daughter was murdered,” I said. “And I wasn’t the prosecutor. Neither of us has any personal connection to this case. We’re only interested in getting justice for your daughter. I am telling you today, Jamie’s trial is the way to get it.”
“We’re going to lose her!” Claudia shouted. “Don’t you see that?”
“Hayden,” I asked. “She loves you. She’s hurt. But she loves you. She understands how traumatic this is for you.”
“Not Hayden,” George said quietly. “She’s talking about Erin. She’s afraid of losing Erin. This whole thing … Erin’s fragile. She always has been. Ellie used to look out for her. She mothered her as much as my wife did.”
“Then Jamie took on that role,” I said.
Squeezing his eyes shut, George Luke nodded.
“Maybe Erin’s stronger than you think,” I offered. “I know you want the truth. I know you must want to know what happened to Ellie once and for all.”
“Truth,” George spat. “Seems to me the truth is whatever someone twists it to be.”
That sounded like Jamie Simmons talking. Lord, he really had done a number on this family. No wonder Hayden had been so terrified. No wonder she decided to confront Sam and me out in the open in a public place.
“No,” I said. “The truth is what the physical evidence in this case revealed. Jamie Simmons murdered Ellie. I’m so sorry for that.
And even more sorry for what he’s done to your family since then.
It’s hard to accept. Of course it is. But I am telling you.
We have the right man. We know what happened to Ellie. ”
“How could you?” Claudia said. “All you have is assumptions. You know what Mr. Cutler says? He says Hayden knew exactly what they found at Ellie’s crime scene.
It’s all online. She knew what she’d need to make it look like her father was some kind of monster.
The internet is the devil. It’s taken my granddaughter away from me. ”
This was going nowhere. Claudia and George Luke wrapped themselves in Jamie Simmons’s lies for protection.
The truth was far too awful for them to accept.
I could only hope the jury could see through it.
And that Hayden Simmons could hold up to Bennett Cutler’s withering cross-examination. I could hear it in my mind.
Cutler would try to demonize Hayden on the stand. He would sever whatever thin ties she had to her family. She would be the villain. The whack job. If she wasn’t strong enough to withstand the onslaught … Jamie Simmons might just get away with murder.
Claudia and George Luke stood abruptly, ending our meeting. I didn’t try to stop them. There was no point. There was only one thing left to do. I had to prepare Hayden Simmons for the brutal attack headed her way. And all she’d done was tell the truth.