Cruel Comfort (Evan Buckley Thrillers Book 1) by Harper James Page A
Authors: Harper James
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to stop him. ' Even
though we didn't have the benefit of you guiding us along, showing us how
to do our jobs. Oh, and the benefit of ten years worth of hindsight, of
course.'
Evan ignored Faulkner's sarcasm. He
was surprised Faulkner didn't ask him to leave. It probably wouldn't be long,
so he needed to keep pressing him.
'You must have had a prime suspect.'
'We did. Based on Carl Hendricks'
statement...'
'Who's Carl Hendricks?'
'The bus driver. Based on his
statement which we believed to be accurate, it appeared that Daniel disappeared
on the campus.'
Evan was struck by the inconsistency
of what Faulkner was saying. He was about to say something but Faulkner held up
his hand to stop him.
'Don't worry, it hasn't escaped me
that if we believed the father was responsible, then Hendricks' statement must
be inaccurate. He really was picking his nose and didn't see the boy walk past.
But at the time - and remember, no hindsight allowed' - he wagged his finger in
mock admonishment - 'we had no reason to think it wasn't true. So we
concentrated on looking inside the campus. The most likely candidate seemed to
be his teacher, Ray Clements. Like I said before, Daniel wasn't the most
popular kid in his class, but he got on well with Clements. It turns out the
kid would hang around sometimes and Clements would give him a ride home. He'd
drop him off a couple of blocks away so his mother wouldn't find out. Which
also meant nobody else really knew it was going on.'
'Did he have an alibi?'
'Nothing we were able to check. He
said he went for a drive that afternoon because it was such a beautiful day. He
showed us a receipt for gas, but there's nothing to say you can't fill up with
a kid hogtied in the trunk.'
'But nothing came of it?'
'No. We leaned on him pretty hard,
especially after he admitted giving the kid a ride in his car. We pulled the
car apart and searched his house, but there wasn't anything. His wife was
furious. You should have seen her. I bet he really got it in the neck after
we'd gone.' Faulkner smiled to himself at the memory. 'We also took away his
computer and found a load of porn on it.'
'Kiddie porn?'
'No, just the normal stuff. And you
don't have to worry that we missed some secret internet portal; we do have some
bright people who know what they're doing.'
'So, it doesn't exactly single him
out as public enemy number one.'
'No.' He smiled again. 'Mind you, if
you were married to his wife, you'd look at a lot of porn.'
'Not what you'd call a looker?'
'Maybe if you're a male Hippo.
Anyway, I feel pretty confident we didn't miss anything there.'
'What about the bus driver? Did he
have an alibi?'
'What, apart from driving a busload
of screaming brats home?'
'What about afterwards?'
Faulkner laughed. There was genuine
amusement in it this time.
'What?'
'He went to a strip joint. Different
strokes for different folks, eh? The teacher goes for a drive in the summer
sunshine, and the bus driver goes to some dingy basement to gawp at saggy tits.
It takes all sorts.'
'They remembered him?'
'Apparently he was one of their best
perv...I mean customers. It must have been payday that day, because he paid for
a number of private dances with the same girl. I use the word loosely - she was
old enough to be my mother.'
'Could he have paid her to say he
was with her?'
'Of course he could. And the FBI
killed JFK.'
'It's possible,' Evan said
defensively.
'Probable impossibilities are to be
preferred to improbable possibilities. Do you know who said that?'
'No.' It sounded more like a tongue
twister to Evan than a quotation.
'Look it up on the internet when you
get bored with the porn. Now, are we done here, or do you have any more How
the hell did I miss that questions for me?'
They weren't likely to get any
further forward. Evan could see why they'd been happy to pin it on the boy's
father in absentia, but it didn't make his task any easier. He got up to go and
stopped to look at the wall of framed
though we didn't have the benefit of you guiding us along, showing us how
to do our jobs. Oh, and the benefit of ten years worth of hindsight, of
course.'
Evan ignored Faulkner's sarcasm. He
was surprised Faulkner didn't ask him to leave. It probably wouldn't be long,
so he needed to keep pressing him.
'You must have had a prime suspect.'
'We did. Based on Carl Hendricks'
statement...'
'Who's Carl Hendricks?'
'The bus driver. Based on his
statement which we believed to be accurate, it appeared that Daniel disappeared
on the campus.'
Evan was struck by the inconsistency
of what Faulkner was saying. He was about to say something but Faulkner held up
his hand to stop him.
'Don't worry, it hasn't escaped me
that if we believed the father was responsible, then Hendricks' statement must
be inaccurate. He really was picking his nose and didn't see the boy walk past.
But at the time - and remember, no hindsight allowed' - he wagged his finger in
mock admonishment - 'we had no reason to think it wasn't true. So we
concentrated on looking inside the campus. The most likely candidate seemed to
be his teacher, Ray Clements. Like I said before, Daniel wasn't the most
popular kid in his class, but he got on well with Clements. It turns out the
kid would hang around sometimes and Clements would give him a ride home. He'd
drop him off a couple of blocks away so his mother wouldn't find out. Which
also meant nobody else really knew it was going on.'
'Did he have an alibi?'
'Nothing we were able to check. He
said he went for a drive that afternoon because it was such a beautiful day. He
showed us a receipt for gas, but there's nothing to say you can't fill up with
a kid hogtied in the trunk.'
'But nothing came of it?'
'No. We leaned on him pretty hard,
especially after he admitted giving the kid a ride in his car. We pulled the
car apart and searched his house, but there wasn't anything. His wife was
furious. You should have seen her. I bet he really got it in the neck after
we'd gone.' Faulkner smiled to himself at the memory. 'We also took away his
computer and found a load of porn on it.'
'Kiddie porn?'
'No, just the normal stuff. And you
don't have to worry that we missed some secret internet portal; we do have some
bright people who know what they're doing.'
'So, it doesn't exactly single him
out as public enemy number one.'
'No.' He smiled again. 'Mind you, if
you were married to his wife, you'd look at a lot of porn.'
'Not what you'd call a looker?'
'Maybe if you're a male Hippo.
Anyway, I feel pretty confident we didn't miss anything there.'
'What about the bus driver? Did he
have an alibi?'
'What, apart from driving a busload
of screaming brats home?'
'What about afterwards?'
Faulkner laughed. There was genuine
amusement in it this time.
'What?'
'He went to a strip joint. Different
strokes for different folks, eh? The teacher goes for a drive in the summer
sunshine, and the bus driver goes to some dingy basement to gawp at saggy tits.
It takes all sorts.'
'They remembered him?'
'Apparently he was one of their best
perv...I mean customers. It must have been payday that day, because he paid for
a number of private dances with the same girl. I use the word loosely - she was
old enough to be my mother.'
'Could he have paid her to say he
was with her?'
'Of course he could. And the FBI
killed JFK.'
'It's possible,' Evan said
defensively.
'Probable impossibilities are to be
preferred to improbable possibilities. Do you know who said that?'
'No.' It sounded more like a tongue
twister to Evan than a quotation.
'Look it up on the internet when you
get bored with the porn. Now, are we done here, or do you have any more How
the hell did I miss that questions for me?'
They weren't likely to get any
further forward. Evan could see why they'd been happy to pin it on the boy's
father in absentia, but it didn't make his task any easier. He got up to go and
stopped to look at the wall of framed
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