by Lori Ryan
“So, she didn’t have a boyfriend?” Zach had the sense so far that this group of girls was the popular group in school. They seemed to be a clique. When they’d gone to meet with Kate, she’d been surrounded by friends comforting her in the rec room of her dorm building. There’d been a makeshift shrine to Adrienne and Carrie outside the building, with pictures of the two girls and flowers, notes, and candles piled beneath them. Everything about Kate’s clothes and hair screamed that she was one of the in crowd. So, it surprised him to hear Adrienne didn’t have a boyfriend.
“No one steady. Honestly, she was under so much pressure from her parents to get into a good college.” As she spoke, her face crumpled again and fresh tears came. Maybe it had dawned on Kate that Adrienne wasn’t going to be going to college any longer.
“Was she doing anything new? Any new sports? New classes outside of school? A new hobby?”
A head shake was all she managed this time.
Zach glanced at Shauna. She’d been happy to jump in with questions back in Carville’s office. Now, when he wanted her to, she seemed to be happy to let him take care of the questions.
“And what about Carrie? Was she doing anything new that you know of? Did she have any new friends?”
The broken no came again. This time, Mrs. Davis pulled Kate into her, one arm circling her shoulders. “I think we’d better pick this up later, officers.”
Zach nodded but he caught the frustration and tightness in Shauna’s face. Still, he knew the counselor was right. They needed to talk to Kate when she’d calmed down. The three followed the counselor after she’d gotten a few other girls to come sit with Kate. It seemed no one was attending many classes today, but that made sense given the circumstances.
They left the dorm building to track down Liz Gordon, but didn’t make it far before yelling from the makeshift shrine drew their attention. A younger boy, probably a freshman or smaller sophomore tore down Carrie Athill’s photo before turning to the group of students looking on.
“She’s not dead. You can’t put her picture up there like she’s dead or something.” He launched himself at another student as he yelled. “She’s not dead!”
Two older boys pulled him back, one of them talking with his mouth close to the boy’s ear as he led him away from the group.
“Excuse me for a minute, officers,” the counselor said as she walked toward them. She spoke quietly to the boy then waved over another teacher. The two conferred for a minute before the counselor came back and the other teacher walked away, the boy jerking out of her grip but moving in the direction she’d led him in.
“I’m sorry. That’s Carrie Athill’s brother, Drew. He’s been insistent on coming to school throughout all of this, but I’m going to have one of the teachers contact his parents. He needs to be away from this right now,” she said, shaking her head and looking around at the campus.
It occurred to Zach she had her hands full with helping the students today. The last thing she needed was to be accompanying them to do interviews. Unfortunately, they needed to get the job done. Every second that ticked by without them finding Carrie brought the girl closer to the possibility of death. If she wasn’t already dead.
Chapter Six
Zach kept his eyes on the students around them as they followed Mrs. Davis across what they’d since discovered was the main part of the campus with classrooms, dorms, and administration buildings. She’d explained a few minutes back that there was a small private road that led to a secondary campus where additional sports fields and two hockey arenas were housed.
He still couldn’t believe they had an Olympic sized hockey rink and an NHL regulation sized one as well. He wondered just how deep the pockets of their supporters were.
“I thought classes had been cancelled for the day?” Ronan asked, nodding to a group of boys hauling hockey pads and gear over their shoulders as they headed across one field and out toward the road leading to the hockey arenas. “They didn’t cancel practice for the teams?”
Mrs. Davis smiled the kind of smile that said she didn’t expect them to understand. “Hockey is a very important sport here. We have both girls and boys varsity teams that hold one of the most competitive schedules in New England. There are also a host of scholarships and awards connected to the teams.”
Shauna frowned, her gaze following the boys. “But, it’s May. Wouldn’t the season have ended in March?”
Zach remembered that Shauna came from a boisterous Irish family with four brothers and wondered if they either played or watched hockey. He should know the answer to that. Or, at the very least, he should know her brothers’ names. A little more about her family than that they were Irish and her mom and dad owned a pub. Sadly, that had been all he’d found out about them when they were together. Most of their “dates” had been hopping into bed or stripping down wherever they were that was handy. Any talk had taken place lying naked in the sheets after they’d had sex. And that had usually been cut short when he rolled her under him to start again.
The counselor nodded. “They train all through the school year. It’s a serious sport here. All our sports are, but hockey is a big deal. Several of our board members are big supporters of the hockey team. Geoff Edwards spearheaded the fundraising for the update of the hockey facility four years ago. He’s pretty passionate about the project.”
“Geoff Edwards?” Zach and Ronan exchanged a look. “Adrienne’s uncle?”
Mrs. Davis nodded at Zach. “That’s right. I’m sure he’s devastated by this loss. He was close to Adrienne.”
Zach wondered why Adrienne’s uncle hadn’t mentioned his connection to the school. “So, Mr. Edwards is a board member?”
“Mm hm. One of our most generous and active. He’s been on the board for years.” She seemed thoughtful for a minute. “In fact, he also helped enlist several of our other board members. It’s not always easy to get the kind of commitment from people that we need, but he has a knack for talking people into it.”
“Why is Geoff a board member and not Adrienne’s mother or father?” Zach didn’t have a clue how these things worked, but didn’t it make more sense for a student’s parents to want to be involved in their school?
Mrs. Davis didn’t seem to think anything of it as she continued to lead them across the lawn and up the front steps of a building with the words Geiger Library on a plaque by the entrance. “Alumni make up a fair portion of our board of directors. Geoff and Camden Edwards are both alumni. Camden is a donor, but he’s just not as outgoing as his brother.”
Zach could see Shauna watching him and he realized she hadn’t been there for the interview with Adrienne’s uncle. She had no idea who he was or why he and Ronan had honed in on his connection to the school. He’d have to fill her in on it later, though. For now, they were walking into a bright open room that wasn’t at all like what he’d expected for the school library. Somehow, he’d thought they would enter a dark room with packed shelves and dusty old books.
This room held tables at the center and stacks of books, but there were also couches and armchairs. There were USB ports and outlets built into the center of each table and the room looked like it was set up for technology as much as it was for books.
Mrs. Davis beelined for a girl at the back of the room sitting in front of a laptop at one of the tables.
“Liz,” she said in a low murmur. “These detectives are here to talk to you about Adrienne Edwards. Mr. Carville asked that I sit with you during the interview.” She didn’t say anything about the fact Liz’s parents weren’t there for her, but the sentiment seemed to hang in the air.
The girl looked up, a crease in her brow at first, but she shrugged and began shutting down her laptop. Somehow, Zach didn’t think the kids at this school would rebel when told by an adult what to do, but maybe he just had an overly-rosy idea of the student body. They were, after all, high schoolers. Didn’t they all rebel at some point?
After Liz shoved her laptop into a messenger
bag and hung it across her body, Mrs. Davis led them all to one of several small rooms that lined one wall. The rooms reminded Zach of the interview room at the station in terms of size and the lack of furnishings other than table and chairs. This room was brighter, though. He supposed they were for quiet study or maybe for small study groups of students to meet.
Liz dropped her bag on the table and slumped into a chair. “Sooo, why do you need to talk to me?” Her look said they were stupid for singling her out and Zach was reminded of how good teenagers could be at looking at adults like they didn’t have half a brain rolling around in their skulls. Naomi had given him that look on more than one occasion.
Zach didn’t miss the counselor’s tight smile, but he jumped in, a shoulder shrug of his own as he took a seat across from Liz. “Mr. Carville gave us a list of Adrienne’s close friends.”
This earned him a dropped jaw and then a snort. “Adrienne and I haven’t been close for years. Our families are friends. My mom and Adrienne’s mom are close and we live up the street from Carrie and all that, but I…” She looked around the room at each of them. “I just don’t think I can help you at all.”
“Do you have any idea who Adrienne might have been dating, or any other friends of hers we should talk to?” Zach asked. He wanted to figure out if she really knew as little as she said. She was hard to read. She wasn’t quite like the other girls. She was what he supposed people meant when they said someone was awkward. She was tall and thin, and even an unpracticed eye like his could see she stood out as less fashionable, less into hair and makeup.
Despite that, she didn’t appear to lack confidence. It was a strange mix.
“No.” She didn’t expand on her answer, so he waited her out to see if she’d add more.
It took a minute, but she did. “We don’t really hang out with the same crowd. They were cheerleaders. They spent a lot of time with the hockey team.” Another of those shrugs. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m on the debate team.” She smirked and he guessed she was trying to say Adrienne and Carrie weren’t debate team material. Zach always listened to his gut, though, and there was something she wasn’t saying.
“How about a boyfriend? Did you see her around campus with any particular guy?”
That got a response. She looked away.
“Liz? What is it?” Zach heard Shauna ask behind him. She was taking the gentle cop role, offering to be Liz’s friend. “It’s really important that you tell us anything you know, but nothing you say has to leave this room for now. We can keep it between us.”
Liz looked at Mrs. Davis, who’d taken the seat next to her, and Zach wasn’t so sure the counselor’s presence was making this better. They didn’t have a choice, though. The school would probably fight them if they tried to interview her alone. They had to let her stay. “Adrienne and Carrie, well, that whole group really, they aren’t exclusive.”
“Do you mean that they were sleeping around?” Shauna asked carefully, and Zach was glad not to have to ask the question. He knew if he turned around he’d find Ronan busy taking notes with a bland look on his face. His partner was dammed good at pretending nothing fazed him, but in reality, the man was probably wishing he could slink out of the room.
Liz just shrugged.
“Liz?” Shauna spoke again as Zach looked away himself. It would probably have been better all together if he and Ronan left the room, but he clamped his mouth shut and tried to make the girl as comfortable as she could be with four adults grilling her in a small room.
It was several minutes before she spoke. “The hockey team has a, um, scoring system. I don’t even know if Carrie and the other girls know it. I heard the guys talking about it once.”
“Where was this?” Shauna asked.
“My house backs up to Sawyer’s house. His parents built him this clubhouse at the back of their property. It runs right up against the woods that divide our land.” She spoke as though they owned some kind of estate, but Zach realized that might be true. They probably did live on estates.
Shauna’s brow creased. “Like a treehouse?”
The duh look was back from Liz. “No. Like an actual house. I mean, there aren’t bedrooms. Just a rec room and stuff, a pool table, TV. There’s a bathroom and a little kitchen area. The guys hang out there. I think Sawyer even crashes out there sometimes instead of staying at his house.”
Mrs. Davies looked almost pained. “Jonathan’s parents can be a bit, uh …” She didn’t finish the sentence, as if she didn’t know what word might properly describe them.
“Jonathan?” Shauna asked.
“The kids call him Sawyer. Jonathan Michael Sawyer. He’s the captain of the hockey team,” Mrs. Davis clarified.
“So, you heard the guys talking about their scoring system in the clubhouse one day? Are you friends with Sawyer?” Shauna asked Liz.
Liz rolled her eyes. “No. I’m not friends with the hockey team. But I was down that way in my yard one day and I heard the guys talking about it. They post scores for each of the girls or something in a Facebook group. That’s all I know.”
Zach made a mental note to tell his brother to check Naomi’s social media accounts to be damned sure she wasn’t involved in any sexual scorecard groups. But how the hell would they know if boys in her school were posting scores for her? The thought of it had his jaw clenching and he mentally began counting in his head. Maybe if he counted to five hundred, he could calm the anger ripping through him.
Chapter Seven
“Are you shitting me?”
Shauna didn’t blame Zach for the response. She was thinking the same thing as Stephanie Kass, head of New Haven Police Departments computer forensics team, spoke.
“Yup. It’s pretty common, sadly.” Stephanie turned in her chair to face them. “There are codes that seem to be pretty steady across most schools. Let’s see,” she said as she looked up and began ticking off abbreviations, “CBF for Can’t Be Fucked.”
Zach let out a low growl.
Stephanie and Shauna gave him a look, but Stephanie kept going. “The number eight is for oral sex, 2C is Quick to Cum.”
Zach took out his phone and started texting and Shauna finally did the math. His niece would be seventeen or eighteen and finishing up high school. Holy hell, this case had to be hard on him in more ways than one. Sure, listening to the sexual escapades of teenagers would get him cranked like no other conversation, but she thought back to the crime scene of Adrienne Edwards. Jesus, that had to be a major kick to the gut to him looking at that girl and what had been done to her.
Shauna didn’t know how the detectives who had kids did their jobs. It was hard enough for her some days, but if she had to picture her own child or a niece or nephew in place of some of the victims they saw—that would add a whole new level to a case.
Shauna almost laughed at the look on Stephanie’s face as she watched Zach furiously texting. Ronan put a hand on his partner’s shoulder. “Steph, any chance you could print out a guide for us? I have a feeling we’re going to need it.”
“Sure, you bet.” She swiveled in her chair and began to click through folders as Shauna spoke to Ronan. Zach pinched the bridge of his nose and counted under his breath. She wondered if counting was his way of calming his temper.
“We need to talk to that hockey team,” she said. “And I say we haul them and their parents in here. Let them see how serious this is instead of going to them on campus.”
“Agreed,” Ronan said. Zach continued to count but nodded his head.
They exited Stephanie’s office and moved toward the bullpen, but hadn’t gotten far when Zach’s phone buzzed. He looked at the screen.
“Doc Kane is ready for us,” he said grimly. Once again, Shauna was struck by the nature of the case. Zach now had to walk into the medical examiner’s suite and see a girl who would likely bring up thoughts of his niece lying dead on a slab.
Christ, she didn’t envy him.
Chapter Eight
The drive to the medical examiner’s office was long enough for Zach to get his anger under control. He’d been shocked listening to the description of teenage boys getting into girls’ pants just to brag with the other guys about how far they’d gotten.
But shit, had he been that bad as a kid? Maybe it only seemed worse because they were able to share pics of the girls to Facebook groups with codes and scoring and shit nowadays. He sounded like an old man as the words back in my day ran through his mind.
He shook his head, thinking back. No, it wasn’t just the technology. He wouldn’t have rated girls and assigned codes to them. He and his friends didn’t make a game out of trying to get a girl into bed just because they knew she wanted to hold onto her virginity. He’d been an asshole at times, but there were limits. He’d never had sex with a woman who didn’t want him, and he never coerced and cajoled to get that consent.
They walked into the medical examiner’s suite and he shoved aside his feelings as he looked at Adrienne’s body covered to her shoulders by a sheet. He couldn’t let his emotions get the better of him right now. Stopping this killer needed to take all his focus.
“Mary Kane,” Dr. Kane said as she stuck her hand out for Shauna to shake. “You must be the detective the state sent to work with our boys.”
“Shauna O’Rourke.” Shauna grinned as she pumped the doctor’s hand. “Your boys?”
Dr. Kane shrugged and returned the smile, but turned almost immediately to her table. She was never one to waste a lot of time chatting.
“Cause of death was, as we suspected, manual strangulation. I trust you saw the images of the marks on the back of the vic’s neck?” She rolled Adrienne slightly and showed Shauna the mark on Adrienne’s neck. Shauna bent and looked at the twisting bruise where they speculated the killer might have used a tool to screw the rope, before moving aside to let Zach and Ronan do the same.
Dr. Kane continued, voice businesslike, but there was a somber edge to it. “I’ve taken oral and vaginal swabs. Semen was present in both. No signs of assault, but I did find evidence of gamma-hydroxybutyrate in her system.” She glanced up at the group. “GHB.”
