by Vicki Hinze
Thomas stiffened. “I never considered that.”
“If it were going to happen, surely it would have already.”
“So how did you find out about Travis?”
“I exercised a policy never before used and had Pam access his school-issued laptop for personal files. It was in his viewing history.”
“But no files on his computer.”
“No.”
“So Pam compiled the information and you didn’t see it?”
“I haven’t seen it yet,” Dana said. “I’ll have to see it today in case he sues to keep his job.”
“He wouldn’t dare.” Thomas’s stern expression knit the skin between his eyes.
“I don’t think so either.”
“Spare yourself then.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
She wouldn’t do it. She wouldn’t tell Thomas Wade’s suspicion that one of her students might have been trafficked. “According to Wade, those sites come and go quickly. We need proof of what is there now.”
“I’m sorry, Dana.”
“Me, too.” She sighed. “He was a good history teacher.”
Her phone signaled an incoming message. “I should get that. Could be Pam sending me the draft of our email to the parents.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
She pulled out her phone and checked the message. It was a text from Laney. Vinn’s parents agreed. Lawyer has signed off for you to speak with him. 6:30 tomorrow morning.
Dana messaged back: Be there. Six-thirty was a lot earlier than she’d intended, but after the marathon she’d had to run to gain permission to talk with Vinn, she’d be willing to go in at midnight. She dropped her phone back into her purse. “Sorry about that.”
“No problem.” His expression sobered. “I just hope we don’t end up neck-deep in lawsuits by any parents. “Are you sure there’s been no inappropriate behavior with the kids?”
Asking the question embarrassed Thomas deeply. Considering his own history with Connie, Dana understood that. “Travis said there wasn’t, and he seemed sincere. We’ve had no complaints, and Pam said the sites he’d visited were for adults only, though saying some females on them weren’t underage might be walking a thin line.” She was going to have to tell Thomas, after all. “One girl on one of his ‘favorite’ sites, he thought he recognized.”
“Oh, God.” Thomas’s face contorted in horror. “From here?”
Dana empathized with that reaction. Her own had been about the same. “He wasn’t sure about her, but if so, I’m afraid she is,” Dana said. “One of Quinten and Katherine Windermere’s exchange students.”
“Which one?” Thomas asked. “They’ve had dozens over the years.”
“Josie Rodriguez.”
“Who?”
That he didn’t remember her wasn’t surprising. She’d been enrolled for such a short period of time. “She worked part-time for Sylvia, and left without notice.” Dana tugged at his memory. “Family emergency.”
“Ah, yes. I recall.” He frowned and lifted a hand. “You said Travis thought he recognized her. If he wasn’t sure, maybe he was wrong.”
“Maybe.” Another loss? She couldn’t take it. No, no, she couldn’t afford to think that way. Vinn was in jeopardy. His whole future. For her, right now, all efforts had to be on straightening this out with Vinn and getting him out of jail and back in school.
“Dana, look now or you’re going to miss it.” Thomas motioned toward the sun.
Dana emptied her mind and looked out over the water at the sunset. “Gorgeous.” It was amazing, shimmering soft pinks and peaches on the water.
When the sun slipped below the horizon, Thomas let out a low groan. “For years, it’s been so peaceful here. Now, we seem to have a lot of family emergencies.”
Family emergencies, crises, a murder. The worst part was, Dana feared, they were due for far more.
Chapter Fifteen
Wednesday, October 10
Dana arrived at the police station fifteen minutes early. Chilled to the bone in a lightweight black sweater and rust-colored silk blouse and slacks, she had stopped by The Grind and picked up coffee for herself and Laney certain that, barring an emergency, McCabe wouldn’t be at the office this early in the morning.
Her nose numb, and no doubt red, she entered the station and saw Laney waiting for her, her long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. “I thought you could use a break from the usual sludge.”
Laney looked delighted. “Thanks.” She took the cup, then nodded toward the hallway leading to the interview room. “I woke Vinn early so he’d have time to clean up before you got here.”
“Sorry you had to come in early.”
“No problem.” Laney leaned against the front desk. “I need to remind you that I can’t speak to Vinn. His parents and attorney approved for you to speak to him as his psychologist, but I can’t speak to him about the case or anything related without them being present.”
Because he was a minor. “I understand.”
“I’ll take you back then.” Laney set off across the open expanse and headed down the hallway.
Dana followed and entered through the door Laney held open. Its hinges creaked. “Vinn, Dr. Perkins is here to see you.”
Dana smiled and then walked past Laney and entered. Vinn sat in one of four chairs at a small square table, his back to the wall. Dana set down her things, hearing the door close behind her. “Hi, Vinn.”
“Dr. Perkins.” He dipped his chin, his cheeks ruddy and his brown hair neatly combed. “Thank you for coming to see me.”
“It took a while to get the approval, or I would have been here sooner.”
His hazel eyes seemed clouded. He was glad to see her, but embarrassed at the circumstances. That, she totally understood. Vinn wasn’t the image conscious type Thomas was, but he was well aware of the importance of reputation. “I’m not sure why you’re here,” he said.
Dana held her smile. She had to work at it. “I’m here because I thought you probably needed someone to talk to about all this.”
“Mom and my dad come see me every day.”
“Are you able to talk freely to them?”
He shrugged.
“I know you’re innocent, Vinn,” Dana said softly. “I know it, so you don’t need to pretend with me that you killed Sylvia. We can just talk. I’m not here as your principal. I’m here as your psychologist.”
That sparked his interest. “Medical privilege?”
She nodded.
“Okay.” He thought it over. “Okay, then. We can talk.” Hunched over the table, he straightened. “This is good.”
She hoped so. “So let’s start with you telling me why you confessed to this crime you didn’t commit.”
“I did do it.” He lifted a defiant chin so like Thomas’s.
Her smile faded and she let him see how serious she was in a level look. “We’re not going to get very far if you lie to me.”
“I’m…not.”
Dana scooted closer to the table, took a sip from her coffee, and set the cup back on the tabletop. “I know you’re lying, Vinn, and I don’t appreciate it.”
“I’m sorry you’re upset, Dr. Perkins. I guess I let you down, too.”
She squeezed her hands, lacing her fingers. “I’m going to say this once, and only once, so you hear and listen to me.” She waited until he looked her in the eye. “I said, I know you’re innocent. Why you’re claiming you killed Sylvia, I don’t know. But you didn’t do it.”
He grunted. “How do you know that?”
“Because I know you.”
“I did it, okay?” Agitated, he set out to prove his guilt to her. “I went over there and…and I did it.”
“You didn’t.” Dana calmly sipped from her cup, wishing they could skip this part of confrontation and denial, but it was a necessary step to getting beyond it.
For the next thirty minutes, they argued back and forth, him professing
his guilt and her declaring his innocence. And she was certain of it. Could she prove it? Not really. Not yet. But no doubt lingered in her. His defense was so staunch, his conviction and determination to be blamed so severe…and not one single detail. An entire description of the murder, and not one single detail.
Vinn hadn’t been there at the time of the murder. He couldn’t tell her what he didn’t know, which meant he had to be covering for someone very important to him. One of his parents? Kristina? Someone else he felt a deep desire to protect?
Finally, Dana saw the signs he was ready to progress and shifted tactics. “It doesn’t matter how many times you say you did this, or what words you use, or how loud your voice gets, Vinn. None of that changes the facts.”
“You hear me but you are not listening.” He lifted a hand and let it fall onto the table. “Don’t you always say we need to hear and listen? Didn’t you tell me that a little while ago? Well, so do you.”
“I hear your every word, and I will listen, when you start telling me the truth.”
He glared across the table at her.
Checking her watch, she went on. “I know where you were that night, Vinn.”
“What?”
“I know you met Kristina.”
“Oh, man.” The color leaked from his face. “That was after,” he insisted, thinking fast.
“Vinn,” Dana dropped her tone to just above whisper, where he had to really focus and strain to hear her. “You couldn’t have been at Sylvia’s at the time of the murder. You were at the other end of the street, meeting with Kristina. Everyone thought you two were just friends, but you’re not. It’s more than that.”
He shut his eyes, slumped in his seat.
“What I want to know is why you’re ruining your life, saying you killed Sylvia when you didn’t.”
His eyelids snapped back and anger flooded his face. “She needed killing.”
The ferocity in his tone surprised Dana. It shouldn’t have. To confess to murder required strong and intense emotions for non-psychopaths. And Vinn certainly wasn’t a psychopath. “Did she hurt you or someone you love?”
His jaw tightened and his lips went flat, pressed together hard.
“I know you were angry with Sylvia, and I know you two had harsh words. Why did your feelings for Sylvia change? You had such respect for her when you did your project.”
“That was about her business, not about her,” he insisted. “Respect her? I hate her—and she is the reason things changed. Not me.”
“No doubt.” Dana observed him carefully. His body language, his tone, his mood. “Mr. Travis told me just today that you were his star student.”
“Was.” Bitterness seeped from him, spilling into the air between them. “Not anymore.”
Reality had set in. He was in a bad situation here, and that remark proved any illusions he had of getting out of this unscathed had crashed. “I guess you heard Mr. Travis is no longer with us.”
“I figured it out,” Vinn said. “I heard Deputy Chief Holt on the phone. It’s quiet in here. Her voice carries.”
“I see.”
“So is it true?” he asked her.
Good. Engaging outside of himself. “Is what true?”
“Is he saying he killed Sylvia?”
And that was a telling question. Dana tilted her head. “Vinn, if you had killed Sylvia, you wouldn’t have to ask me that question.”
He stood up, clenched his hands into fists at his sides. “I did kill her. I’m tired of telling you that.”
“Fine.” Dana stood up. “Show me how you killed her.”
“I am not choking you, Dr. Perkins. I won’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“I won’t do it!” He shouted.
Laney stood on the other side of the window at Dana’s back. Making sure things didn’t get out of hand. Uneasy at seeing them both standing, she knocked and quickly opened the door. “Everything okay in here?”
“We’re fine, Laney.” An idea occurred to her, and Dana ran with it. “Would you come in here, please?”
From the door, Laney addressed only Dana. “Dr. Perkins, I explicitly explained that I can’t speak to your patient about his situation or case without parental permission or authorization from his attorney.”
“I know.” Dana reached for her handbag and fished out her phone, then started recording a video and positioned the camera where it showed all three of them. “Vinn,” Dana said. “May I video this—to prove that Deputy Chief Holt has in no way violated her orders.”
“Yeah.”
Dana gave the time and date, and named those present in the room, stated the purpose of the video was to prove there was no unauthorized interaction during the meeting. “Deputy Chief Holt, will you come and stand right here, please?” She motioned Laney in the direct path of the camera.
Laney wordlessly stood in position.
“Both Vinn and I are aware you can’t speak to him without consent because he’s a minor. You don’t need to speak at all. I just need a mannequin, if you will, and you’re available. Is that okay with you?”
Skeptical, Laney nodded. Dana smiled, then asked Vinn. “Did you see Deputy Chief Holt nod?”
“I did.” Vinn sounded as skeptical as Laney looked.
“Good. Now,” Dana said, “I’ve asked Vinn to demonstrate the way he choked Sylvia. He wouldn’t choke me—“
“You’re the principal, Dr. Perkins,” Vinn cut in. “I can’t do that.”
“I know, Vinn, and it’s fine.” Dana smiled to reassure him. “Deputy Chief Holt, would you stand still please and pretend you are Sylvia?”
Surprise and maybe a little respect flashed through Laney’s eyes, and again she nodded.
“Okay.” Dana double-checked the camera. “Perfect. Okay, Vinn. Show me.”
His face flushed. “I can’t do that.”
“Why not?” Dana asked.
“I don’t want to.” Vinn shook his head.
“There are times in life when we all must do things we don’t want to do, Vinn. This is one of them.” She used her best school teacher’s voice. Kids tended to respond to it innately. “Show me.”
Resigned, he let out a sigh that slumped his shoulders. He stepped around the edge of the table, came up behind Laney, and then lifted his hands. He circled her, but didn’t make contact between his curled fingers and her throat. “Like this.”
Laney’s eyes stretched wide.
“All right.” Dana’s gaze clashed with Laney’s. “Thank you. You can sit back down now, Vinn.” She tipped her head toward Laney. “Thank you, Deputy Chief Holt. You can go now. That’s all I needed to see.”
Laney left and closed the door behind her.
Dana reached over and turned off the recorder, placed the phone back in her handbag.
Vinn stared at her. “So now what?”
“Now, I have to get to school.” She checked her watch—7:45. “But I’ll be back this afternoon.” Gathering her tote and cup, she looked up at Vinn. “Between now and then I want you to think.”
Puzzled, his forehead wrinkled. “About what?”
Dana faced her student squarely, put a bite in her tone. “About whether or not you’re going to continue to confess to a crime you didn’t commit to protect someone else who is guilty and willing to ruin your life to keep their secret.”
Vinn’s jaw dropped loose.
He hadn’t expected that. “I want you to think about this, too.” She paused and took the heat out of her voice. “What kind of person would let you be blamed for a murder you didn’t commit? Is that someone you should protect?”
He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out.
Dana held up a hand. “Just think about what I said, okay?” She stared, waiting for his nod. When she got it, she walked out and closed the door behind her.
At the mouth of the hallway, Laney motioned to Officer Seth Trask. “He’s ready to go back to his cell, Seth.” When he passed and en
tered the interview room door, Laney spoke to Dana. “My office.” She led the way.
When they were in her small office, Laney closed the door and sat down.
Dana remained standing. She really needed to get to school. “He didn’t do it.”
“I know. But how did you know?” Laney grimaced. “McCabe and I have repeatedly asked Vinn to show us how he strangled Sylvia. He wouldn’t do it.”
“He was afraid he wouldn’t do it right and you’d know the truth.”
“So why did he do it for you?” Laney asked.
“He told you. I’m his principal. An authority figure he has been trained for years to obey. Kids don’t get to tell the principal no. So he did what kids do.” Dana stepped closer. “You agree now that he’s innocent.”
“It’s not enough, but it helps a lot,” Laney admitted. “I shouldn’t say anymore.”
“You don’t have to,” Dana told her. “Sylvia wasn’t strangled from behind.”
“How do you know that?”
“I saw it in your eyes—when he stood behind you and reached for your throat. You were shocked.”
“Can’t dispute you there.”
“Sylvia was strangled face-to-face,” Dana deduced. “Someone she knew well and she trusted. Had to be for her to let them get that close.” Pausing, Dana gauged Laney’s reaction. She couldn’t confirm or deny, but they both knew no sign was a huge sign. Dana was right, and some secrets meant to be kept had to be told. A killer was still on the loose in Shutter Lake, and she or he could kill again. “Wade Travis and the mayor…Sylvia was blackmailing them,” Dana said. “Maybe others, too.”
“Interesting.”
She knew. It was in her eyes, and as much of a confirmation as Dana was going to get. “Neither of them did it, in my opinion.”
“About Venezuela,” Laney said. “I talked with Sylvia’s parents. Both Zion and Yolanda separately.”
“So have I,” Dana admitted. “Sylvia had mentioned taking an extended vacation to Venezuela to them. Her father opposed it. Her mother thought it was long past time Sylvia took a vacation. She said she’d not been on one since opening Sparkle.”
