and those things were things that would make her laugh and then fall in love.
Chap. 58
The thing Raccoon actually said was, “Were you sleeping with David Grey?”
“No.”
“Did you ever sleep with David Grey?”
“Yes.”
Raccoon’s heart fell a bit. “When?”
“A long time ago.”
“How long?”
“Before he met Daphne .”
“ Monica , how do you feel about Daphne ?”
“She’s fine, I guess.”
Silence.
“She’s just a kid. She’s still a little girl.”
“Do you feel like she stole David from you?”
Monica started to tear up a bit. “Maybe. Not really. We were never, we never dated, we were never together.”
“What was David and Daphne ’s relationship like?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean what was it like? Were they happy?”
It took Monica a minute to answer. She thought, bit her lip. She said, “I think marriage is hard. It sounds hard. People who are married have a hard time sometimes making things work. It changes things.”
“Did David ever talk to you about divorce?”
“Yes. But he stopped.”
“Stopped?”
“A couple of weeks ago, he stopped . He said things had changed. ”
“Changed how? ”
“Just changed. He said things had changed.”
“So they weren’t getting divorced.”
“A couple weeks ago, maybe even just ten days ago. He just said everything was better.”
Chap. 59
Raccoon opened the door to the recording room. Owl swiveled around and looked up at him.
“What do you think?” Raccoon asked.
“Let her go,” Owl said. “We’ve got nothing.”
Chap. 60
Only seven men were in the meeting room at the station that night. It was only dinnertime, but they all looked tired, and hungry, and sick of everything. Atrex and Samuelson from the bureau. Jefferson and Mateo from surveillance. Only one patrolman, Officer Viggio, the same young officer who had tracked down The Matrix and Scoot H. Johnson.
On the whiteboard, Owl wrote: Press conference.
Sweep.
Daphne and David.
Daphne’s phone.
T hen Owl said, “This case is dying, men. We’ve got no body, no evidence and right now we only have two suspects. Three days in. We have nothing we didn’t hav e when we started.”
He looked around. Hoping someone would contradict him, say something he hadn’t thought of before.
Silence.
He went on. “ So tomorrow we’re going to have a press conference to ask for the public’s help. Hopefully, we’ll get some tips out of that. Hopefully, we’ll get some heat, some additional time with you all. I know you all have other cases stacking up.”
He looked at Atrex and Samuelson and they nodded back. “Yeah, we’ re getting pulled on to other stuff. Probably as early as tomorrow.”
“Well, we’ll see. Maybe we can get you back for a couple days. We’ve asked for more men and we keep getting less. So, uh, just be at the press conference if you can be. The PIO has it set up downstairs on the steps. Maybe the mayor will come. I don’t know.”
He looked at the board and pointed at the word, “Sweep.”
“It’s done Owl. They shut it down this afternoon. Everybody got pulled back in. If the body is out there, we’re not going to find it.”
Owl looked at the floor and imagined some day, two months from now, a couple of 10-year-olds playing in a ditch, stumbling across a tiny body, covered in seaweed, the flesh pee ling away, the bugs everywhere.
He tried to blot out the image and failed.
He had to go on.
He pointed at the next item on the whiteboard. “ Daphne and David. They didn’t like being parents. They were unhappy, thinking about divorce, fighting all the time. Then they decide to kill the kid. Things get better. They fall back in love. They smother her in her, her fucking crib. They smother her in her crib and David goes and buries the body somewhere too good for us to find, Daphne fucks up the house, they have a drink and call 911. Yes?”
He looked around the room. N othing but n odding
Chap. 58
The thing Raccoon actually said was, “Were you sleeping with David Grey?”
“No.”
“Did you ever sleep with David Grey?”
“Yes.”
Raccoon’s heart fell a bit. “When?”
“A long time ago.”
“How long?”
“Before he met Daphne .”
“ Monica , how do you feel about Daphne ?”
“She’s fine, I guess.”
Silence.
“She’s just a kid. She’s still a little girl.”
“Do you feel like she stole David from you?”
Monica started to tear up a bit. “Maybe. Not really. We were never, we never dated, we were never together.”
“What was David and Daphne ’s relationship like?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean what was it like? Were they happy?”
It took Monica a minute to answer. She thought, bit her lip. She said, “I think marriage is hard. It sounds hard. People who are married have a hard time sometimes making things work. It changes things.”
“Did David ever talk to you about divorce?”
“Yes. But he stopped.”
“Stopped?”
“A couple of weeks ago, he stopped . He said things had changed. ”
“Changed how? ”
“Just changed. He said things had changed.”
“So they weren’t getting divorced.”
“A couple weeks ago, maybe even just ten days ago. He just said everything was better.”
Chap. 59
Raccoon opened the door to the recording room. Owl swiveled around and looked up at him.
“What do you think?” Raccoon asked.
“Let her go,” Owl said. “We’ve got nothing.”
Chap. 60
Only seven men were in the meeting room at the station that night. It was only dinnertime, but they all looked tired, and hungry, and sick of everything. Atrex and Samuelson from the bureau. Jefferson and Mateo from surveillance. Only one patrolman, Officer Viggio, the same young officer who had tracked down The Matrix and Scoot H. Johnson.
On the whiteboard, Owl wrote: Press conference.
Sweep.
Daphne and David.
Daphne’s phone.
T hen Owl said, “This case is dying, men. We’ve got no body, no evidence and right now we only have two suspects. Three days in. We have nothing we didn’t hav e when we started.”
He looked around. Hoping someone would contradict him, say something he hadn’t thought of before.
Silence.
He went on. “ So tomorrow we’re going to have a press conference to ask for the public’s help. Hopefully, we’ll get some tips out of that. Hopefully, we’ll get some heat, some additional time with you all. I know you all have other cases stacking up.”
He looked at Atrex and Samuelson and they nodded back. “Yeah, we’ re getting pulled on to other stuff. Probably as early as tomorrow.”
“Well, we’ll see. Maybe we can get you back for a couple days. We’ve asked for more men and we keep getting less. So, uh, just be at the press conference if you can be. The PIO has it set up downstairs on the steps. Maybe the mayor will come. I don’t know.”
He looked at the board and pointed at the word, “Sweep.”
“It’s done Owl. They shut it down this afternoon. Everybody got pulled back in. If the body is out there, we’re not going to find it.”
Owl looked at the floor and imagined some day, two months from now, a couple of 10-year-olds playing in a ditch, stumbling across a tiny body, covered in seaweed, the flesh pee ling away, the bugs everywhere.
He tried to blot out the image and failed.
He had to go on.
He pointed at the next item on the whiteboard. “ Daphne and David. They didn’t like being parents. They were unhappy, thinking about divorce, fighting all the time. Then they decide to kill the kid. Things get better. They fall back in love. They smother her in her, her fucking crib. They smother her in her crib and David goes and buries the body somewhere too good for us to find, Daphne fucks up the house, they have a drink and call 911. Yes?”
He looked around the room. N othing but n odding
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