Powers of Arrest (Will Borders: Cincinnati Casebook 2)

“That won’t do. I’ll only take a minute.”

After some muffles and distant, indiscernible voices, she came on the line, her voice brittle with anger.

“You’re very rude.”

She said it after she walked out of the brightly lit dining room and disappeared into some other chamber of the huge manse.

“Is John there?”

“Yes, he’s going to join us for dinner.”

“I want to talk to him now.”

“You listen to…”

“Now, Cindy. I’m in the car right in front. This is police business. Send him out here.”

It took a long time. Then the big front door opened and John walked reluctantly to the curb and climbed in. He was neatly dressed and his hair was freshly cut, but he was everything that Zack Miller was not: a little pudgy, a dusting of acne, no athletic grace in his movements. Will felt sorry for the kid, and reminded himself that John wasn’t a kid anymore. But he also knew how much the surface, how much appearances mattered at John’s age.

He started the car and drove down the street lined with fine houses, turning left on Edwards, crossing Observatory and gliding into Hyde Park Square, where Erie Avenue split around a narrow park that held a statue, fountain, flower gardens, and trees. Each side was lined with expensive shops, galleries and cafés, although it looked slightly ragged from the recession. The night was pleasant and couples strolled under period lampposts. Will had thought about taking a longer drive, maybe all over the city. But he was too tired. And he needed to get back into “bait” mode. He was running out of time. He slid the car into one of the angled parking places a few doors down from the landmark two-story fire station.

“What’s up?”

Will stared straight ahead. He didn’t want to look at John, didn’t want to notice tells that he might be lying. He said, “Where were you on Saturday night?”

“I dunno. I’d have to think about it. Chillin’, I guess.”

He was lying already. Why was he lying? Will was afraid to speculate.

“I enjoyed having a beer with you the other night,” Will said, fighting to change the tone in his voice from accusation.

“Yeah, me, too.” John’s voice was wary.

“I got the sense you wanted to tell me something,” Will said. A young family went by on the sidewalk, two little children squealing in delight. What would they grow up to be? “John, if there’s something you want to tell me, it’s really important that you do it. Understand? It will really matter if you tell me on your own, if you make the decision to come to me and tell me what you wanted to say three nights ago.”

He wanted to say something like, you can trust me, I won’t judge you. And he wanted those things to be true, but he also had the badge and, had, as the young cop said to him, powers of arrest. The inside of the car was starting to warm up but he didn’t crack a window. A noiseless expanse of time did nothing to stop the spasms in his legs. The next sound he heard was John crying. It was an ugly suppressed sobbing. The more he tried to hold it in, the worse it burst out after a few seconds. Will held back the instinct to put a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“She was…dead in there,” he finally managed. “There was blood everywhere. He’d cut her up between her legs and spread them wide open. And…she was staring at me with those dead eyes…”

“Dead in where?”

“The boat. I went over to check. She was dead…”

“Was anyone else aboard?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Try to remember!” Will knew he shouldn’t have shouted, but his ass was on the line now, too. “You said, ‘he’d cut her…’ Who cut her?”

“I don’t know. It was only a figure of expression.” John sniffled loudly. Neither of them had a Kleenex. Will usually kept a pack in the car for moments like this with the family or friends of a victim. “Nobody was on deck. I ran the flashlight into the cabin and I couldn’t see anything at first. Then I saw her, and got out. I was really scared.”

“How did you know she was dead?”

He hesitated, as if he hadn’t even considered it. “There was so much blood,” he said. “It was all over the walls, a big pool of it on the floor, and she was so white.”

“You didn’t check her pulse?”

“I was afraid to step into the blood.”