How did he afford that? said Ren.
Ruddock shrugged. I dont know.
What was Seth Fuller in prison for? said Ren.
Possession. Hes a former heroin addict, cleaned up his act, apparently.
Not that apparent...
He wasnt mentioned on John Veirs questionnaire as someone to consider, said Ren.
No, said Ruddock. And Veir would have known him through selling the business to his aunt too.
Whats your take on him? said Ren.
Ruddock tilted his head. On Seth Fuller? He was a very bright, creative kid until he got involved in drugs he was more a danger to himself than anyone else. That would have been my take on him... up until about five minutes ago. Weve just learned a little something about Seth Fuller: apparently, he used to pay particular attention to Caleb Veir...
10
The crowd of volunteers was moving back and forth, and at that moment, parted to reveal Seth Fuller again.
Ren watched him shift from one foot to the next, his eyes on the battered paperback in his right hand, one of the classics, folded back on itself.
What am I getting from you? And what are you reading?
Who told you about this Fuller guy and Caleb Veir? said Gary.
The owner of the comic book store in town, said Ruddock. He just called, said that on several occasions when Caleb was short a few dollars, Fuller would help him out. He also saw him buying the kid sodas and candy from the store across the street.
Did he say how Caleb reacted to this attention? said Ren. Did it seem to make him uncomfortable?
He said Caleb just seemed happy to have someone pay his way, said Ruddock.
Well, hes twelve years old and he was getting free stuff, said Ren.
Ruddock nodded. You know what its like in a situation like this everyone starts eyeing people suspiciously.
Well, we need to treat it seriously until we know otherwise, said Gary.
Ren glanced up at him. That was unnecessary. Ren looked at Ruddock.
Apologizing with my eyes.
Have you seen enough, here? said Ruddock. I wanted to let you know youre all set up inside.
There were twelve desks in the temporary office, five already occupied by agents from the FBI Portland Division, which covered the entire state of Oregon. Another desk was taken up by the CAST agent Cellular Analysis Survey Team. He had given Wiley printouts of the Veirs phone dumps; John, Teddy and Calebs cell phones, and the home phone.
Wiley was waiting for them like a student eager to please.
Mixed messages central.
Nothing jumping out at me so far, said Wiley. The last call made on Calebs cell phone on Monday morning was to his aunt, Alice Veir John Veirs sister. Veir himself made a call on Sunday morning to one of his colleagues, Rob Lockwood, a psychologist at BRCI.
Wiley also had the reports from the lab on the Veirs laptops. They read through them.
Nothing here is setting off alarm bells, said Ren. Caleb was looking up PlayStation cheats for Grand Theft Auto 5, emailing friends, posting on Facebook, checking out porn. Sure, he calls his father an asshole in a few of his emails, but thats what kids do. He hates school hes twelve years old, no surprise there.
Ruddocks phone beeped. He checked a text. The Veirs are here. Ill go meet with them.
Wiley followed him out.
Gary turned to Ren when they had left. You and me are talking to John Veir. I think you might unsettle him. I wouldnt say he likes strong women. You lead, and if his story starts smelling like bullshit, Ill go big guns, round two.
OK, but would you mind if Ruddock and I took Teddy Veir? She is so fragile: in the first interview, Im not sure she responded very well to being faced down by two men. She looked a little freaked. She could be intimidated by male authority figures, especially if shes a cowed wife.
Or she could be used to male authority figures... said Gary.
Trust me on this, said Ren. You could intimidate a woman like her without even realizing it. Ill tread lightly, and Ruddock is a familiar face, with a gentle way about him. Between us, I think we can just... she shrugged, set the right tone.
Ruddock came back and brought Gary and Ren to the interview room where John Veir was waiting, pale-faced, twitchy, tense. Ren and Gary introduced themselves.
Im sorry that were meeting under these circumstances, Mr Veir, said Ren. And I apologize for having to ask you so many questions at such a difficult time, especially ones that you may feel youve already answered.
Johns eyes flicked toward Gary.
Youre surprised the lady spoke first...
Thank you, said John, his eyes back on Ren, his pupils huge, his gaze fixed.
Jesus. Intense.
Its OK, said John. I understand. Go ahead.
Talk me through the twenty-four hours before Caleb went missing, said Ren.
John nodded. Sunday morning, me, Teddy and Caleb went to the eleven a.m. service at Tate Baptist Church on 1st Street. We came home, ate lunch together. After lunch, Teddy was in the dining room she was writing, Caleb was upstairs in his room, on his laptop or his phone, I guess. I was doing some work around the house, in the garage. It was a regular Sunday. Teddy left for Patti Elliss house at around six oclock Pattis Teddys friend, shes got cancer, so the friends are taking turns to look after her. Teddy does Sunday nights. And she had a trade show in Salem the following day. After she left, I cooked supper for me and Caleb. We ate together. Caleb went back up to his room. I was in the living room watching television.
What were you watching? said Ren.
Uh... well, I was watching a box set, said John. I think Breaking Bad? Whichever one is in the machine. He didnt take his eyes off her as he spoke.
Hmm.
I was dozing off, said John.
Did you see Caleb again did you check on him before you went to bed? said Ren.
John frowned. Of course I did. He was fine.
How were things between you and Caleb in general? said Ren. Weve had reports of raised voices in the house...
Sunday night? No way, said John.
Not specifically Sunday night... said Ren.
Well, not on Sunday, and not on Monday, said John. Caleb and I were good. He paused. Let me correct that, sorry I did shout up at Caleb several times on Monday morning, because he was dragging his heels, and his oatmeal was going cold.
Did he respond to you? said Ren. Did he hurry up?
He was already leaving his room, said John.
Did you drive Caleb to school often? said Ren.
When I was working the late shift, yes, said John. Otherwise, it was his mom. Or he walked.
It takes what fifteen minutes? said Gary.
Yes, said John. A lot of the kids around here walk it. There are usually some parents too. Its... safe.
But Caleb was running late on Monday, said Ren.
Yes.
Why didnt you drive him? said Ren. Your shift wasnt until later that day.
He wanted to walk, said John. And to be honest, I wanted him to take responsibility for being late. Im always trying to teach him that choices have consequences.
Did you argue at all, have a disagreement about anything that morning? said Ren.
No, said John. I told you. Nothing like that. Hands up, I admit Im strict on the boy, and, yes, I do raise my voice. I know thats not the done thing these days, but children need discipline. Without discipline... He trailed off as his voice cracked. There were tears in his eyes.
Whoa. Did you discipline him too much? Did it go too far?
Look, I didnt do anything to my son, said John. I know you look at parents very closely in these situations, but I swear to God, I did not harm my son. Its the last thing in the world I would do. And my wife... shes an angel.
Fuck, that seemed genuine.
11
Ren looked through Caleb Veirs cell phone records.
John, she said, there was a call made from Calebs cell phone to your sister, Alice, at seven thirty a.m. yesterday. Did you know about that?
John shook his head. No, I did not.
Those giant pupils. Sign of deception...
Do you know why Caleb would have called your sister? said Ren. And so early in the morning?
I have no idea, said John.
Are they close? said Ren.
They get along, said John. They dont see each other a lot, but when they do, yeah, absolutely, theyre close.
I have cell phone records here going back three months and this was the first time he had ever called her, said Ren.
From his cell phone, maybe, said John, but he has spoken to her on the home phone when Ive called her.
What would they talk about? said Ren. Was your sister someone Caleb would open up to?
Honestly, I didnt pay attention to what they talked about, said John. I was just glad they were talking.
Mondays call was ten minutes long, said Ren.
Honestly, I dont know what that would have been about.
The call was deleted from the call list on his phone, said Ren. Why would Caleb have wanted to hide that?
I dont know, said John. Maybe he was planning a surprise for me or his mom and didnt want us to know hed called Alice? He paused. Oh, hold on... I forgot about this Alice is working on a wrongful conviction case thats getting a lot of attention. Caleb had mentioned her coming in to talk to his class on one of her visits here. Knowing Caleb, he was probably supposed to have someone organized for Monday, and he ended up calling Alice at the last minute.
Did Caleb have a particular interest in the law? said Ren. Or was there something about this case?
It might just have been that Alice had been on television, said John. You know kids...
Ren nodded. Hold on a second... Havent you talked to her yet? Told her that Calebs missing?
No, no, said John. I didnt want to bother her with it. She would worry. And she might drive down here for no reason. If he showed up after all that, it would be pretty embarrassing. Shes very busy.
Embarrassing? Busy? What the what now? Well, its been a while at this stage, said Ren, so wed like to talk to her about this phone call from Caleb, at the very least.
Eye-dart. Sure, I can call her.
Let me take care of that, said Ren. Weve got her number here.
John waited for the next question. Ren held eye contact long enough for his jaw to twitch, long enough that he was the first to avert his eyes.
Whats going on here?
Have you taken a look around the house, noticed anything missing that belonged to Caleb? said Ren.
He shook his head. No. Not that I can think of.
Id like to talk to you about the escaped inmate, Franklin J. Merrifield, said Gary.
What? said John. Why? I wasnt even there when that happened.
Did you know Merrifield? said Gary.
Yes, I knew him, but not well, said John. Ive never had any trouble with him nothing.
When you heard Merrifield had escaped, were you surprised? said Gary.