by Robin James
Matty shook his head. “That’s the thing, Cass. Vang stopped talking to me that last year before she left. She stopped talking to everybody. She just ... tried to turn invisible. And the rest you know. She took off the day after she finished her last exam and that was it.”
That was it. My baby sister ran away from home and never looked back. My heart churned. I saw the same thing happening to Joe across the room. My own backyard.
“She never talked about anything,” I said. I’d had these conversations with my brother a thousand times. I knew the answers. No. Vangie never said why she left. Of the three of us, I was the last to actually spend any significant time with her. She came to Chicago that summer and stayed in my apartment. Until one day I came home from work and she was just gone.
“Nope,” Matty said. “She ghosted us. She sends the occasional Christmas card. But it’s been a couple of years since the last one.”
“What about Dad?” I asked, hating bringing him up. In the five months I’d been home, I hadn’t even seen him. I didn’t think even Joe knew where he was.
Matty picked at his shoe. “Yeah,” he said. “We all know Vangie was his favorite. She could do no wrong in Pop’s eyes. Until she left just like Mom.”
“Stop it,” Joe said. “Mom didn’t leave, Matt. She died. And I don’t really feel like rehashing any of this.”
I hadn’t spoken to my father in years. Last I heard, he’d shacked up with some woman in Jackson. Matty kept in touch, though he’d never admit it. He had always needed Dad’s approval the most. In a lot of ways, his own sobriety was wrapped up in my father’s. If my father couldn’t get it together, Matty thought he was doomed to failure too.
“Matty, what?” I pressed on. My brother’s face fell.
“He talks to her, okay? I don’t know how often. But he does. I’m pretty sure if there were some kind of emergency, Dad would be able to get a hold of Vangie.”
Joe was on his feet and storming right out the front door. I dropped my head and let out a sigh. “Thanks for that,” I said and meant it. “Don’t worry about Joe. He’s just ... I’ll handle it.”
Matty smiled. “You always do, Cass.”
I squeezed Matty’s shoulder as I moved past him and followed Joe out to the dock. He immediately started skipping stones again. A sure sign he was pissed and likely to brood for a good long while.
“Joe,” I started.
He turned to me. “Don’t say it. Don’t even think it.”
“I don’t want to. God. I want to throw up. But you tell me. You were here that year. I wasn’t.”
His whole body contorted as if he’d just been socked in the gut. I realized he had. We both had. If it was true ... if there was even an inkling of a possibility … My own backyard.
When Joe straightened and turned to me, his eyes were red and his whole body shook. “Cass ... she went out for track at the end of her junior year. She was good at it. She was trying to get a scholarship.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I remember.”
“Her senior year, she wouldn’t … she wouldn’t do anything. Oh God. Did I miss it? Did that fucking animal touch her? Is that why she left?”
He reached for me—clawed at me, more like it. My heart shattered in a thousand pieces and it felt like my world fell apart. I saw my sweet little sister in my mind’s eye. Blonde. Thin with fine features. So much like our mother. A carbon copy. And she also looked a hell of a lot like Aubrey Ames.
Chapter 25
Weeks went by. Summer loosened its humid grip on southern Michigan and gave way to fall. Mid-October and the centuries-old maple and oak trees lining the lake reflected brilliant golds, lusty reds, and shimmering auburn over the calm water. We were just over two weeks out from Aubrey Ames’s November 1st trial date, and nothing but those leaves had changed.
Delphi existed in a state of suspended animation and hushed whispers. The death threats had mainly stopped and no one tried to run me off the road, but the people in town avoided me like I had leprosy. It was starting to carry over to the rest of my family. Matty hadn’t been called back to the shop. His frantic calls to the union had gone unheeded. Emma’s mother Josie had just filed for more child support and to change their custody order. One fire at a time.
The one bright spot in my life was Jeanie. The tumor in her lung had shrunk and there were no signs of it spreading. She was the one person the Aubrey Ames’s case seemed to have a positive effect on. She’d finally taken me up on my offer to move into the spare office at the top of the stairs. Though I begged her not to, she covered my rent for the remainder of the year.
Then there was Vangie. The last number she gave me was no longer in service.
Matty was now staying at my place a few nights a week. He was as worried about me as I was about him. The good news was Katy and Emma had mended fences and she and Joe moved back home.
I took a bite out of one of the donuts on the table and kissed my brother on the head. “You gonna be here when I get home from work today?” It was a passive-aggressive question, I knew. I’d been on Matty’s ass for a couple of weeks about finding a temporary job. The plant couldn’t stall him forever, but the more idle he was, the more likely he’d start drinking again.
“Maybe,” Matty answered. “I’ll let you know. Don’t worry about me for dinner. I might go out.”
I grabbed my messenger bag and pulled my keys off the hook. “Whatevs. Can you take a look at the pontoon though? It was running rough the other day. Joe said he thinks the spark plugs need switching out.”
Matty shook his head in disgust. “They just need a good cleaning. He thinks the answer to everything is buying new.”
I nearly choked on my donut. Matty sounded exactly like our dad just then. I gave him a weak thumbs up and headed out the door. I had a strategy session planned with Jeanie this morning on the Ames opening statement. I made it halfway to the office when she called.
“Change of plans,” she said, barking her words out. “You need to head over to the jail.”
Shit. My heart raced as I did my mental family roll call. Matty was at the house. Whatever trouble my father may have gotten into, he was far out of Woodbridge County. At least I thought. That just left Joe unaccounted for.
“Ah God, Jeanie.”
“Relax,” she said. “I mean, don’t relax, but this is a new pile of shit. Not an old one. It’s Dan Ames. He’s been charged with assault.”
My head spun. “What now?”
“He’s asking for you. It’s a mess. Word is he followed Kevin Sydney home last night and beat the shit out of him in front of his house. In front of witnesses.”
I bounced my skull off the headrest. I put my blinker on and made a hard right. “Is he talking? Good lord. Maybe I don’t want to know. I can’t seem to keep the Ames family’s mouths shut to save their lives.”
“Right,” Jeanie said. “That’s why you need to be over there. You can sort out the ethics shit later. Just make sure he does a better job exercising his rights than his daughter did.”
“Got it,” I said, pulling into an empty spot right in front of the jail. A car screeched into a turn behind me. My heart flipped, but it was a black SUV, not an old pickup. I watched the driver parallel park along the curb behind me. The driver wasn’t wearing a varsity jacket. Far from it. He had slicked-back blond hair, mirrored sunglasses, and wore a dark suit that straightened through his massive shoulders.
“Well, hello, asshole,” I whispered. He didn’t look my way as I got out of the car and headed for the jail. Whoever he was, I’d have to deal with him later. After getting through security, I headed up to the detective bureau where they were holding Dan Ames.
Sergeant Ramos was working the desk again. His face fell when he saw me.
“Don’t tell me,” he sighed.
“I know, I missed you too, Ramos. We can save the small talk though. You got my guy down there?”
“Your guy?” Ramos asked. “You’re a real glutton for punish
ment, Leary.”
Ramos gestured to one of the uniformed officers. She gave me a curt smile and led me down to the interrogation rooms. Dan Ames was in the third one on the left, cuffed and seated at a conference table. He’d sobered up, but barely. His shirt was torn at the collar and he had scratch marks over his neck and chest.
“Don’t suppose that was a werewolf attack, huh?” I said. Dan looked up. His shoulders sagged with relief when he saw me and his eyes filled with tears. Shit. Whatever happened last night, the harsh light of morning had already filled him with remorse.
“Take your time,” the officer said as she nodded to Dan and started to shut the door behind her.
I sat down opposite Dan and crossed my arms on the table. I had about thirty seconds to look over the charging document. Misdemeanor assault. He could do up to ninety days.
“Did you tell them anything?” I asked.
Dan shook his head. “Didn’t have to. About ten of that asshole’s neighbors saw the whole thing. I couldn’t help it, Cass. That fucking smug fucker. He knew. I know he knew. How many girls did that monster get his hands on? He groomed them. Every year he had his pick. For how long?”
I let out a sigh. “Dan, this isn’t helping Aubrey.”
“I wanted to kill him. God. She knew I wanted to kill him. I should have. Do you know how many nights I lay awake fantasizing about it? Coach D. Saint. Hero.”
I put my hand over Dan’s. “Dan, this is sticky for me. You need a lawyer. You did a good thing asking for one. But it can’t be me. Not as long as I’m representing Aubrey. Whatever happened between you and Kevin Sydney is wrapped up in what’s going on with her. There’s a conflict of interest. I can figure out whether they’re going to release you or try to hold you over for bail. But you’re going to need somebody else to appear on your behalf. I don’t know how deep a pile of shit you’ve stepped in. A lot of it depends on your record. Do you have one?”
Dan shrugged. “I got into some trouble when I was a kid. Underage drinking. That sort of thing.”
“Anything since you turned eighteen?”
“No. Speeding tickets, yeah. I got into a fender bender a couple of years ago and they cited me. I’ve done what I can. You know? I tried to live my life right. Diane and I weren’t in love. Aubrey wasn’t planned, but I did the right thing by her. I love her mother now. I’ve worked my ass off and put a roof over her head. We teach the kids how to work hard. Get good grades. They’ve done it all. They’re smart. But none of it mattered. That fucking bastard. He did things to her. I should have known. Why didn’t I see it? I left it to her mother. Teenage girls are moody. She used to laugh. She stopped doing that. Not even a smile. Then, her grades went to shit.”
Dan tore at his hair. My heart cracked for him. At the core of it, I was sitting across from a man who was trying to do the very best for his family. The only similarity between him and my own father was our zip code and the side of the lake we lived on. And yet, here he was with the world crashing down around him.
“He knew,” Dan said. “I know it in my heart. That fucking Sydney knew what was going on. Aubrey said that son of a bitch Drazdowski told her he’d bury her. He knew no one would ever believe her if she squealed on him. So he kept doing that shit to her over and over. I can’t get it out of my head. I can’t stop imagining his fucking hands all over her and everything else. She’s my baby. And now she’s going to rot in jail for the rest of her life because I couldn’t protect her.”
“Dan,” I said. “This isn’t your fault.”
“The hell it’s not! You want to know what one of the worst parts is? The thing that guts me?”
I braced for it.
“Of course she thought I killed that fucker. Any father would. Except I didn’t. I’ll take that to my grave. I could have done a thousand things differently. Why didn’t I go to Eric? He’s a cop. My friend. He would have known what to do, maybe. You have to let me confess to it. Let me undo this now.”
“No. No more lies. That’s the one thing you can’t do.”
He let out a bitter laugh. “I should have stayed home that night. I should have at least stayed home that night. But no, I had to go to fucking Mickey’s where everybody in the goddamn town saw me, including Eric Wray and even one of your brothers, I think. Scotty had me on his damn security tapes. I was drunk while my little girl was out there trying to deal with her own monster.”
That was the rub. Of everyone in town, Dan Ames had the most airtight alibi of anyone. I saw his heart as he sat across from me. If it weren’t for the crowd at Mickey’s, I had no doubt in my mind he would have taken the fall for Aubrey just like she tried to do for him. It was the worst irony of all.
“Dan, I’m sorry. I really am. I wish I had a magic wand I could wave and make this all go away. But you have to stop beating yourself up over this. No matter what happens, you have to be the strong one. For Aubrey. For Sean and Diane. You being in jail does them no good. With any luck, whoever you do get to represent you will keep that from happening. I promise, I’ll try to hook you up with someone great.”
“She’s going to prison, isn’t she?” Dan’s eyes cut into me. He was a desperate father hanging on by a thread. It would have been easy to tell him pretty things. But it wouldn’t do any of us any good.
“If the jury believes Aubrey’s confession ...”
I didn’t get to finish my sentence. Dan let out a choked sound, reminding me of a wounded animal. In many ways, that’s what he was.
“She knows,” he said. “God help her, she knows. She’s been so fucking brave through all of this. She’s been preparing herself for it. Withdrawing even more. Giving up. Cass, I’m worried she’s going to kill herself.”
My heart twisted. “One thing at a time, Dan. You keep your mouth shut in here. This is not over. Do you hear me? I plan to fight like hell for your daughter and every girl in her place. We’re going to get the truth out.”
Tears spilled down his cheeks. “Except it won’t matter for my daughter.”
“It’ll matter to her,” I said. “And you’re right. She is brave. So you have to pull yourself together and be there for her. Can you do that?”
He gritted his teeth but nodded. “Okay,” I said. “Now let me go do my job.”
I just prayed it would be enough.
Chapter 26
November 1st fell on a Monday. A cold snap hit overnight and Delphi woke to a dusting of snow that covered everything. This was southern Michigan though. It could be eighty degrees by midweek.
As I pulled into a parking space a block from the courthouse, my blood started to hum. My fingers tingled as I gripped the steering wheel. I knew my case law cold. I knew every nook and cranny of the case the state was about to put on. I knew my opponent’s strengths and how to exploit his weaknesses. And I had never in my life tried a case I wasn’t supposed to win. Until today.
That doesn’t mean I haven’t lost. I have just one thing to say to any lawyer who tells you he’s never lost a case. Tell him he hasn’t tried enough of them. Witnesses go south. Judges fixate on things you don’t expect. And juries are unpredictable. No matter how strong your case or how prepared you are, any one of those things can flip a case against you. As I readied myself to walk into that courtroom and fight for Aubrey Ames’s future, I felt like we were upside down from the get-go.
A crowd had formed on the sidewalk on the opposite corner of the courthouse. The sheriff’s office sent a dozen deputies to keep them back. Still, I was greeted to catcalls, hate speech, and picket signs bearing Coach D’s smiling face and a list of his state championships. Within the crowd was a sea of green varsity jackets worn by new graduates and those closer to my age. The Fighting Shamrocks had come out in force. There was a good chance one of them had tried to run me off the road last month.
They brought Aubrey and her family in through a service entrance. Two more deputies had been assigned to ensure her safety as she came through. I made myself a sort of decoy. Everyone expec
ted my client to walk in with me.
I ignored the crowd as they booed and called me gutter trash, a whore, a bottom feeder, and a dozen things even worse. I saw that same shiny black SUV parked parallel to the courthouse again. Its driver talked into his cell phone and his eyes followed me as I made my way up the courthouse steps.
Jeanie was already there. She waited for me on the wooden bench just past the metal detectors. Her color was good and she dressed smartly in a navy-blue suit jacket and white linen pants. She looked hearty; her cheeks flushed with excitement and her eyes narrowed with determination as she saw me approach.
“Ready, boss?” She smiled.
I rolled my eyes. “Cut it, Jeanie. Like you’d ever take orders from me.”
“Orders? No. Helpful suggestions? And you didn’t answer my question. You ready for this?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Have you seen Aubrey yet?”
“She’s already in the courtroom,” Jeanie answered. “Her dad’s with her. Her mom is a no-show.”
I frowned. “That’s not great, Jeanie. I made it pretty clear we need a united family front. The jury is going to be watching every second.”
“I know. I’ve got a text into Miranda. She’s going to go over there and see if she can drag Diane here after lunch. With any luck, we’ll have her seated before we get to opening statements.”
“I guess it’ll have to do,” I said. I didn’t like this one bit. Optics mattered. The jury needed to see Aubrey’s adoring parents and their anguish over her fate for every possible second.
We headed into courtroom number two. Aubrey had taken her seat at the defense table to the left of the courtroom as we faced the bench. Jack LaForge leaned casually over one of the gallery pews, talking to the bailiff from another courtroom. He had a team assembled. Two assistant prosecutors, a paralegal, a couple of interns. The county had put every available resource behind him.
