The Sin Eater

by Lee McIntyre

  “Yeah, well, Lisa is all over that,” Wanda said. “But she doesn’t need any special motivation for that, given her — well, given her interest in justice.”

  The words hung in the air.

  “I’m sorry for what might have happened to her, but I didn’t hurt my daughter,” Adam said. “There must be a reason Emma was taken. Someone set me up.”

  “Someone set up all the rich kids? That doesn’t make any sense,” Wanda said.

  “Maybe that’s the point,” Adam replied.

  Wanda picked up a hairbrush and promptly dropped it, then watched it roll down the bank and skitter into the water. Tugg jumped up and handed it back to Wanda, who smiled and touched his arm again.

  A commotion was happening over in the pool. Someone had slipped on the rocks and was cursing a blue streak. Jed looked over.

  “Maybe the rich kids are being used to cover up what’s happening with the Indian kids,” Adam continued. “Maybe someone in the governor’s office got worried that they’d left too big a trail, so they needed a distraction.”

  “A distraction?” Tugg said. “How could more scrutiny on CPS bring anything but more publicity?”

  Adam frowned. “Sometimes publicity is good.”

  Tugg looked puzzled.

  “Look, what’s the easiest place to hide?” Adam said.

  “In a cave?” Tugg said.

  “In a crowd. If you don’t want the Indian placements to stand out, then you cover them over with a bigger story. One with lots of juice. It’s publicity 101.”

  “I think I see where this is going,” Wanda said. “The pressure changed from the Indian kids to the white kids because they needed the publicity. They wanted the attention. It shows that child abuse is everywhere, so it doesn’t look like they’re picking on the Indians.”

  “Even if they are,” Adam said. “You’ve got to admit that having a story in the papers about a murderous, child-abusing Lake Oswego dad on the run for the last few weeks has been a great way to deflect attention from the Indian story.”

  Tugg jumped in. “Meanwhile, the governor is making a fortune. He puts the Indian kids in his old foster home and covers it up by feeding us a story about abuse in rich white families.”

  “Except that I didn’t actually hurt anyone,” Adam said.

  “Yeah, except for that,” Tugg said.

  Adam looked back and forth between Tugg and Wanda. “So where can we get more answers?”

  Things looked like they had settled down over at the falls. The cursing was over and it was back to fun and games.

  “We should probably speak to Lisa Castro.” Tugg touched Wanda’s hand.

  Jed stirred in the water.

  “She won’t tell you where Emma is. She can’t.”

  Jed stood up and started walking over.

  Tugg pulled his hand back. “It’s okay, we’re just going to get on the road so we can get a good head start.”

  Jed kept walking.

  Tugg stood and turned to Wanda. “We don’t need Lisa to help us find Emma. We need her to help us find the governor.”

  Jed was up to his knees in the water, steadily moving toward shore.

  Adam stood up next to Tugg.

  Jed emerged from the water, cold and bloated. “Hey, Prospect,” he said. “Get over here for a minute.”

  Adam saw the look of concern on Wanda’s face as it crested, then fell.

  Jed took off his sunglasses. “So me and Wanda was talking on the bike. Out of earshot of the guys — how did you do that pussy trick on Crystal?”

  Chapter 63

  Lisa Castro couldn’t concentrate anymore. Her headache was so bad that she’d done the unthinkable: packed up and gone home early for the weekend. Not that she’d let herself goof off. She planned to work straight through till Monday, as usual. But not now. Not till her head cleared.

  The sun was on the other side of the sky and the light in Lisa’s home office was growing dim. With Wanda still away on vacation, Lisa would have preferred to work at home anyway. What was the point of going into the office if she was going to be alone at her desk all day? Twice the space, but half the fun. She couldn’t wait to hear some of Wanda’s wild stories when she got back next week. Did Wanda live with a CIA operative? A jewel thief? Maybe he was an actor? Wanda would never say.

  Lisa switched on the light, but immediately turned it off again. She closed her eyes, then realized it was futile. If she wasn’t going to work, why stay at her desk? The Grammaticus case wouldn’t leave her. The father was still a fugitive and the mother wouldn’t stop calling. Foolishly, Lisa had answered one of those calls. What was this business from Steve Carnap? Was he crazy? Emma was safe in a foster home out in Troutdale. Kate Grammaticus must have gotten it wrong.

  It was after five. Carnap might still be at his desk. But why bother? Lisa could check everything just as well on her computer. She switched on the light and logged on, passed the firewall, and entered Emma’s name.

  Case file terminated.

  What?

  Lisa backed up several screens and found the encrypted, password-protected page for protective custody placements and entered Emma’s file number. No names on this screen; a rare compromise with the Information Technology people so that case workers wouldn’t have to drive all the way into the office to use the database, but things would still be secure.

  Placement terminated; transfer pending.

  What? Wasn’t this the right file number?

  Lisa looked at the clock again and grabbed the phone.

  “Fulop, Mars, and Carnap. May I help you?”

  “Yes, this is Lisa Castro. I work for Child Protective Services in Multnomah County. I’m trying to reach Steve Carnap. It’s urgent.”

  “I’m sorry, he’s out of town this evening for a charity event.”

  “Can I have his cell number? Is there another way to reach him?”

  A pause this time. “No, I’m sorry. You can leave a message and I’ll send him an email.”

  Lisa left the message and hung up.

  She shut her eyes and felt the headache radiate toward her neck.

  “The hell with this,” she said aloud.

  Maybe there was a bug in the system. Maybe if she could get to the protective custody page at the office and enter Emma’s name she could bypass all the security gobbledygook.

  It had to be a mistake.

  Emma was fine.

  Lisa grabbed her keys and hurried out the door.

  Chapter 64

  After three mistakes at the security keypad outside the building, Lisa Castro just stood there on Sandy Boulevard, the last remnants of rush hour traffic whizzing by on a Friday night.

  What was with her today?

  She called the security company and gave the password, Rosebud, then reentered the passcode. This time the door opened.

  As predicted, the place was empty.

  This wouldn’t take long. She’d bet that she did the same thing on the keyboard at home as she’d just done on the keypad. Why hadn’t she tried a second time on the computer?

  Lisa plopped down at her desk and logged into her account. She confirmed the Grammaticus case file number, then tried entering both that and the name in the protective custody database.

  There it was again. Placement terminated; transfer pending.

  What did that even mean? She was the director of placement, for God’s sake, and she’d never seen that exact wording on a case file before.

  Lisa scrolled over to her emergency contact information for the protective custody placements. Troutdale was a drive. It would be better just to call.

  The sound might have been a car door slamming in the parking lot. But it sounded more like a bump against the building. Had she heard an engine? The traffic was still pretty heavy on Sandy. Probably she was imagining things.

  She heard it again.

  Bump.…ssshhhhh.…bump.

  What the hell was that?

  Then she knew what it was. Afte
r she’d called the security company, she’d forgotten to lock the front door.

  The two men weren’t wearing uniforms, but they weren’t vagrants off the street, either. She knew them.

  Oh, God. She knew them.

  Chapter 65

  “Put the phone down, please. No one’s here to hurt you.” Adam was trying to be reassuring, but the situation was every woman’s nightmare.

  But what could they do? They couldn’t have called ahead. They couldn’t have knocked. She would’ve turned them in to the cops in a fraction of a second. Hell, she looked like she was still trying to do that, with the phone in a death grip.

  “I promise we aren’t here for that,” Adam said. “We just saw Wanda.”

  Lisa Castro drew a sharp breath.

  “She’s fine,” Adam said. “We talked to her and she gave us some information that you’ll probably want to know. We’re almost at the bottom of the conspiracy behind why I got set up.”

  Lisa sat frozen in her chair.

  “You don’t believe us? It was the governor,” Adam said.

  Adam could see the smallest trace of recognition pass over her face, but Lisa Castro still didn’t move.

  Tugg held his empty hands out in front of him. “Look, I’ve never hurt a woman in my life and I’m not going to start now. If you don’t believe him, don’t put the phone down, okay? Let’s call Wanda. You tell me the number and I’ll dial it on my cell phone.”

  Lisa still didn’t move.

  “Tugg, she needs to drop that phone,” Adam said.

  Lisa’s eyes flicked over to Adam. A badass biker and a deranged father. Who was more dangerous?

  “Just give her a minute,” Tugg said. “She’s deciding. What she doesn’t know is that if anything were going to happen, it already would have. I killed the landline outside before we came in. That’s why we’ve got to call Wanda on my cell phone. See?” Tugg held up his cell phone.

  It seemed to snap Lisa awake. She held the receiver for the landline up to her ear, then dropped it in horror.

  “Or we can use your cell phone, if you prefer,” Tugg said. “I’ll bet you’ve got Wanda on your contact list in there somewhere already. Can I see it?”

  As if in slow motion, Lisa reached into her bag and retrieved the cell phone, never taking her eyes off Tugg and Adam.

  “Hey, I know how this looks,” Tugg said. He took the phone gratefully. “I lost my wife to a bunch of shitbag men. I’d rather die than hurt you. We’re just here for information.” Tugg scrolled through the screens, then pushed one final button. “There you go. It’s ringing. She’s probably going 70 miles an hour.”

  Lisa took the phone warily and held it up to her ear.

  “Adam, why don’t you sit down,” Tugg said. “This will take as long as it takes.”

  Lisa finally spoke. “Hello, Wanda?”

  Chapter 66

  Lisa was still shaken up, but she looked better when she put the phone down on the desk.

  “What’d I tell you?” Tugg said.

  Lisa rubbed her forehead with the tip of her fingers and looked up at Tugg, who was still standing. “How do I know you don’t have someone holding her hostage? How do I know you didn’t threaten her?”

  “Did she sound worried?”

  “No.”

  “Well, that’s because she’s not. She out riding with her boyfriend Jed on the back of his motorcycle and they’re with a dozen other bikers. She’s safer than if she were surrounded by a ring of cops.”

  Lisa had a quizzical look on her face.

  “Oh, so you didn’t know her old man was a biker, same as me?”

  That did the trick. Adam could see something fall into place.

  “Wanda said this is all connected to the Indian tribe,” Lisa said. “I can’t believe that, but I guess it makes sense. There’s been a lot of pressure from the governor’s office about this. Then recently there was pressure about the suburban families.”

  “From where?” Adam said.

  “Same place. The governor’s office. Actually his Chief of Staff. He seems to be taking a personal interest in CPS placements these days.”

  “And why do you think that is?” Adam said.

  Lisa looked down. “I guess it always seemed weird that the Governor had such close connections with The Longlane Home. Then all those placements started coming. But I still don’t see how the two populations of kids are connected.”

  “Neither did we,” Adam said. “But maybe it’s some kind of cover-up. A distraction for the real money-maker.”

  All three looked at one another until Tugg spoke. “Look, we think we know why all this happened, but we still aren’t sure how. We don’t have any proof. And until we get that, we can’t get his daughter back.”

  “Unless you tell us where she is,” Adam said.

  Tugg glared at Adam and shook his head.

  “I can’t do that,” Lisa said.

  “You mean you won’t.”

  “Adam!” Tugg said, then swiveled his attention back to Lisa. “So do you know anything about how this might have been done? Can you get us in the same place as the Governor?”

  “Oh, God.”

  “What is it?”

  “Oh God, I just realized something.” Lisa looked shaken again. “A few weeks ago the governor pardoned someone named Richard Norwood.”

  Tugg looked lost until Adam clarified.

  “Same last name as Rachel.”

  Chapter 67

  They were all sitting down now, in swivel desk chairs facing one another.

  “So I must have been targeted specifically,” Adam said. “This wasn’t about the other suburban families.”

  “Maybe,” Lisa said. “We had a couple of other abuse reports from suburban nannies in the last few months. It seems weird, but when you think about it, it makes sense. Rich people don’t use daycare.”

  “What happened to the other families?” Adam said.

  “They all got their kids back,” Lisa answered. “There wasn’t anything to the claims.”

  “Until they got to me. Why?”

  “Think about it,” Tugg said. “How many rich guys are there in Lake Oswego with a prior abuse allegation — even if it was false — who turned out to have a twenty-year-old criminal complaint pending? They were looking for a zebra. They only needed one.”

  “So when Rachel died and I took off, they had their story,” Adam said.

  Even Lisa Castro nodded.

  Adam looked at Tugg. “So you didn’t kill Rachel, then. They did.”

  Tugg’s eyes narrowed and he leaned in close to Adam. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

  Lisa looked awful. “I played a role in this.”

  “You were set up,” Adam said. “Same as me.”

  “I should have seen it coming. All those calls from the Governor’s office. I knew it, but I didn’t see it.”

  Adam rolled his chair over to Lisa and put his hand out. Miraculously, she took it.

  “All you can do now is try to make this right,” Adam said. “Help us find the governor.”

  Lisa held Adam’s hand a little longer. “How can I do that?”

  “You said he calls you?”

  “His chief of staff calls me. He texts me. He emails. Here, look.” Lisa picked up her cell phone and hit a few buttons. “He just sent me this message yesterday. It’s even got a picture of him with the governor at some sort of ribbon-cutting.” She held it out so they could see it.

  “Can I see your cell phone, please?” Adam said.

  She handed it over and stared at him.

  “I am so sorry for what happened to you.”

  Adam fiddled with the screen, without looking up.

  “Where is my daughter? Is she safe?”

  Adam was lost in a bevy of code.

  “I don’t know.”

  He looked up.

  “What do you mean, you don’t know? You don’t know if she’s safe, or you don’t know where she is?
”

  The phone sat forgotten in his hand.

  “I’m sorry, I mean I don’t know anything anymore. The computer showed something screwy. That’s why I came back to the office. I was just about to call her placement when you guys came in.”

  “Check now!”

  Lisa reached for the landline, then remembered it was dead.

  “Tugg,” Adam said, suddenly remembering the cell phone. “Look at this. It looks like the Governor’s chief of staff is up at Timberline Lodge right now.”

  “How in the world do you know that?” Tugg said.

  “The picture he sent has a microtag on it. It’s right there in the frame, if you know how to find it. Once you put that in GPS it can tell you the location of the person who sent the picture, if his cell phone is on.”

  “You mean where he was when he sent the picture?” Lisa said.

  “No, where he is now.”

  Lisa looked like she was thinking the same thing as Tugg.

  All those pictures on Facebook.

  “If Peter’s there, then the governor is probably with him,” Lisa said.

  Adam punched a few more buttons on the cell phone. “I just checked the Governor’s website and it says he’s got a fundraiser tonight. That must be up at Timberline Lodge.”

  “We can be there in 90 minutes,” Tugg said. “If you think you can find third gear this time.”

  “Why aren’t you calling about my daughter?”

  “This phone is dead. Remember? You killed it?”

  Adam handed Lisa back her cell phone and stood.

  Then he stopped.

  “You think I’m going to call the cops, after what I just heard?” Lisa’s eyes were soft. “Go. I’ll find Emma. And I’ll call your wife too.”

  “Scratch that last part,” Tugg said, heading for the door. “I guarantee they’ve got the line bugged.”

  Lisa looked puzzled. “The Governor?”

  “The cops,” Tugg said, turning back. “We may have convinced you, but this guy is still a wanted man.”

  Adam hadn’t moved. He was staring at Lisa. “Call about Emma first.”