Stolen in the Night

by MacDonald, Patricia

  Julie straightened up, hands on her ample hips. “You’re joking. How could they?”

  “It was no joke,” Tess assured her.

  Julie shook her head. “Everybody in town is so busy being outraged about the test results. They don’t seem to remember what a creep Lazarus really was.”

  “He was, wasn’t he?” Tess said, craving a little reassurance.

  Julie nodded. “Oh, completely. The boys used to trail after him and try to provoke him but we girls just avoided him. I think the only job he ever had was working for Nelson. You know, his stepfather. Nobody else would have him. Nelson worked as the caretaker at the Whitman farm and Lazarus used to help him out. Although I don’t think he was much good at it because Nelson was always mad at him.”

  Julie frowned, recalling events from long ago.

  “He came to my father’s garage sometimes. Nelson had a beat-up old truck he used for work and Lazarus used to bring it in for repairs and service. I remember that truck because Lazarus used to drive it up on Lookout Ridge where we kids all went parking. He’d drive up there by himself with the headlights turned off and stare and, you know…do other things.” Julie shuddered, unwilling to name his onanistic acts. “He didn’t have a friend in the world.”

  “Well, he seems to have some now,” said Tess.

  Julie sniffed. “It’s just because his cousin’s the new police chief…”

  “That’s what Jake told me,” said Tess.

  “But don’t kid yourself. Rusty was ashamed to be related to him even back then. Rusty used to work for Nelson from time to time, but he was the first in line when it came to making fun of Lazarus.”

  “Hey, look who I found,” said Jake, entering the kitchen with wet hair and clean clothes and Erny under his arm. He opened the refrigerator door and reached in for a beer. Then he looked at Erny. “You want one?”

  “Jake, for heaven’s sakes,” said Julie.

  “It’s a joke,” said Jake.

  “I don’t drink,” Erny said gravely.

  “Good for you,” said Julie.

  “Don’t listen to her,” said Jake. “What have you been up to?”

  Erny shrugged. “Not too much. Hey, Uncle Jake, are you going to take me for a ride in your truck?”

  “Honey, don’t bother Uncle Jake,” said Tess.

  “No. It’s no bother. I’ve been looking forward to riding around in the mountains with this guy. How about tomorrow? I’ll come get you at your grandmother’s. How’s that?”

  Erny’s eyes lit up and he looked at Tess. “Is it okay?”

  “Mmmm,” said Tess absently.

  “Okay. Cool,” said Erny.

  “Okay. You’re on,” said Jake.

  “Can Leo come?”

  “Sure. Why not?” said Jake.

  “Thanks, Uncle Jake.”

  “Okay. Go on, now. Watch the tube till it’s time for dinner. I want to talk to your mother.”

  Jake twisted off his bottlecap and tossed it in the trash as Erny ducked back into the living room. Then Jake turned to Tess. “What’s the matter, Tess? You look kind of shaky.”

  “I am,” said Tess.

  “How come?” said Jake.

  “They’re being harrassed,” said Julie.

  “By who?” Jake demanded.

  “Malcontents,” said Dawn. “That’s all it is. People with nothing better to do.”

  Tess sighed. “I don’t know. There are a lot of angry people around this town. I ran into Nelson and Edith Abbott today. I thought she would try to gouge my eyes out, but actually he was a lot nastier to me than she was. The very picture of righteous indignation.”

  “Nelson?” Jake asked. “Jesus, he’s full of crap. Nelson resented every penny that his wife spent defending Lazarus. He’d tell anyone who’d listen how worthless his stepson was. Well, you heard him when he came to the inn the other day.”

  “He’s changed his tune,” said Dawn. “I guess he had to, or Edith would throw him out of the house.”

  “I don’t like that man,” Tess said. “I get a very creepy…feeling from him.”

  Jake drained the beer bottle he was holding, opened the refrigerator door, and reached in for another. “Nelson’s one of those guys who feels like he got the short end of the stick. Thinks the world never really appreciated him. But don’t worry about him. He’s harmless.”

  “I suppose,” said Tess.

  “That’s not what my dad said about Nelson Abbott,” Julie corrected her husband. “He said that Nelson was a real bastard. He used to beat Lazarus within an inch of his life. There was testimony about that at the trial. Some people thought Lazarus shouldn’t get the death penalty because Nelson abused him so bad…”

  “Poor little Lazarus,” said Jake in a singsong voice. “Whupped by his mean old stepfather. If you ask me, Nelson didn’t hit him enough.”

  Suddenly there was a loud knock from the direction of the living room.

  “Aunt Julie,” Erny cried. “Somebody’s at the door.”

  Julie frowned at Jake. “Who’s that? Are you expecting anyone?”

  “No,” said Jake grimly. “I’ll get rid of them.” He disappeared into the living room.

  “Could it be reporters?” Tess said wearily. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize,” said Julie. “You’ve got nothing to apologize for.”

  “That’s what Chief Fuller said. Just before he implied that it was all my fault,” said Tess.

  Jake reappeared in the doorway to the kitchen. “Tess. I’m sorry. You’d better come out here. It’s the cops.”

  “The cops? What now?” said Tess. She looked helplessly at Dawn and Julie. Then she followed Jake out into the living room. Erny was huddled in the corner of the sofa, staring at the two burly police officers who were taking up a large amount of space in the small living room. Their buzz-cut hair, holstered weapons, and somber uniforms looked completely out of place in Julie’s flowery, pastel decor.

  “Tess DeGraff?” the younger officer asked.

  Tess nodded.

  “Chief Bosworth sent us. He wants to speak to you down at the police station.”

  “Now?” said Julie. “We’re just about to sit down to dinner.”

  “Sorry, ma’am,” said the older, taller officer. “He wants to see Miss DeGraff right away.”

  “What for?” asked Jake.

  “About the Lazarus Abbott case.”

  “Wait a minute, wait a minute,” said Jake. “I know this is big news, but let’s remember—it happened twenty-odd years ago. What’s the hurry? Why can’t she come in tomorrow?”

  “Chief wants to see her tonight,” said the younger officer.

  “Tasker,” said Jake in a friendly voice to the older officer. “You know me. We’ve known each other for years. At least to say hello. My sister has been through a lot. What’s the big rush here? You’re treating my sister like a criminal.”

  The younger officer bristled, but Officer Tasker put a restraining hand on his arm and spoke to Jake in a confiding tone, gazing from Jake to Tess. “There’s a lot of pressure coming from the public and the chief is short on answers. The chief was hoping they’d find the real perp when they ran the DNA results through the CODIS database. But they didn’t get a match.”

  “What the hell’s the CODIS database?” said Jake.

  “The FBI has DNA records for every sexual pervert who was ever arrested. But we got the results and our perp wasn’t in there. So the chief is picking up the pace a little bit. Miss DeGraff, would you mind?”

  Tess did mind. She minded very much. But she did not want to start an argument in front of Erny. “Can I take my own car at least?”

  “We’d prefer you come with us. Someone will bring you home afterwards.”

  Tess shook her head. “Fine,” Tess said bitterly. “I’ll get my coat.”

  Tasker tugged discreetly at the sleeve of the other officer. “We’ll wait for you outside.”

  “We’ll go with you, Tess,”
said Dawn as the officers went out the front door and closed it behind them.

  “No, stay here and have dinner. I’ll be all right,” said Tess, picking up her jacket and putting it on.

  “Ma, why are you going with the cops? Are you going to go to jail?” Erny cried.

  “No, of course she’s not,” Julie said in a soothing tone.

  “That Bosworth is a bastard,” said Jake. “I never liked him. Even when he was a kid he was mean. Remember that, Julie?”

  Erny looked up worriedly at his mother. “Why do you have to go, Ma?”

  Dawn patted his hand absently. “It’s nothing, dear. It’s all right,” she said.

  Erny jerked his hand away from Dawn angrily. “No, it’s not,” he shouted. The cat, alarmed, leapt from Erny’s lap. “They were cops. They’re making my mother go with them. That is bad. Stop saying it isn’t.”

  Erny’s sharp words were like a slap in Tess’s face, a stinging wake-up call. Tess looked at her son, who was glaring back at them all.

  “Erny,” she cried. She tried to reach for her son’s shoulder, but he twisted himself away from her.

  “If you go to jail, what happens to me?” he demanded. “Who’s gonna take care of me?”

  For a moment, Tess was silent, shaken by his angry cry. Then she said, “Erny, I’m not going to jail. Don’t even say that.”

  Erny met her gaze defiantly. “Why not? My real mom did,” he said.

  He rarely mentioned his biological mother or the chaos of his life with her. He often said that he didn’t remember her, but he knew the story of her demise all too well. His words pained her, but Tess did her best to conceal it. “It’s not going to happen,” she said. “Because I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Erny slumped down on the sofa, his arms crossed over his chest. He muttered something unintelligible.

  “What was that?” said Tess sternly. “I didn’t hear you.”

  Erny looked up at her defiantly, his chin trembling. “You did do something wrong. You told the cops that guy Lazarus was guilty. And that was a lie. Wasn’t it?”

  CHAPTER 10

  Despite the fact that he had summoned her, Rusty Bosworth kept Tess waiting for about twenty minutes. She sat in the wooden office chair outside the frosted-glass-windowed wall of his office and waited. She could hear the murmur of a voice, rising and falling, inside his office. She presumed that he was talking on the phone, for there were long lapses in the conversation during which there was silence, but she could not make out the content of the conversation.

  While she sat there, tapping her toe anxiously, Tess looked around the old station house. It looked very much as it had twenty years earlier when she had been brought here, wrapped in a blanket, and set down, shivering, on a green leather chair in front of the chief’s desk. She could still picture Chief Fuller’s worried eyes as he gently questioned her and feel the warmth of her father’s hand, clutching hers, as she explained all that had happened, describing the man who had stolen her sister in the night.

  God, I hope he doesn’t still have that green leather chair, she thought. She was afraid she would pass out, or burst out crying, if she had to sit in that chair again. Just the thought of it brought every horrible memory rushing back to her.

  Just as she was reassuring herself that she could face it, that she was tougher than that, the office door opened and Rusty Bosworth stepped out, clutching a wad of papers in his meaty fist. Tess stood up, expecting to be invited inside.

  Bosworth’s mustache twitched, and he looked at her with cold, assessing eyes. “Let’s go down the hall,” he said.

  Without waiting for a reply, he began to lumber down the corridor. Tess picked up her bag and followed in his wake. His bulky frame took up most of the hallway and his large head seemed to graze the bottom of the light fixtures. When he reached a door that had “Interrogation Room” printed on the frosted glass, he opened it and gestured for her to go inside.

  “Interrogation?” Tess said.

  Bosworth’s small eyes betrayed no expression. “Means questioning,” he said.

  Tess took a deep breath. “No kidding,” she muttered as she went inside.

  “Have a seat,” said Rusty, pointing to a wooden ladderback chair on the far side of a battered oak table. Tess walked around the table and sat down. The small room was bare. There was a white plastic carafe on the table and a stack of paper cups. In a nod to the new, a videocamera was mounted in the corner of the room. As Tess looked at it, a red light went on, indicating that it was running.

  “Thirsty?” the chief asked.

  Tess shook her head.

  The police chief cleared his throat. His florid complexion and his rust-colored hair and mustache seemed to flame in the dun-colored room. “All right, Miss DeGraff, let me explain the situation to you.”

  I think I understand the situation, Tess wanted to say, but she restrained herself.

  “I know you’re probably wondering why you’re here,” said Chief Bosworth. “When those DNA results came back yesterday, it became obvious that a mistake had been made somewhere along the line. Now, it seems to me that there are two possibilities. Only you can tell us which one applies. Either you were mistaken in your identification of Lazarus Abbott…”

  “I was not mistaken,” Tess insisted.

  Bosworth continued as if she had not spoken. “Or you were deliberately lying.”

  “Deliberately lying?” Tess cried. “I was nine years old. Why would I lie about such a thing?”

  Rusty waited impassively. “I don’t know. I’m asking you that.”

  Tess shook her head. “Lying? That’s ridiculous.”

  The chief stared at her with steely eyes.

  Tess looked at him impatiently. “Is that your theory? That I was lying?” Tess shook her head. “That makes no sense.”

  “Let me just give you a ‘what if,’” said the chief, glancing down at the sheaf of notes that he had placed on the table. “What if, say, someone you knew entered the tent that night.”

  “Someone I knew!” Tess exclaimed. “The tent was slit down the side by an intruder with a knife.”

  “Well, if someone wanted to make it appear that it was an intruder…”

  Tess looked at him and shook her head. “What?”

  “You were just a child at the time. What if someone you loved…someone you were accustomed to obey, told you to say that the tent had been slit by an intruder…”

  “What are you talking about?” Tess demanded.

  Chief Bosworth cleared his throat. “I’m trying to consider every possibility.”

  “You’ve lost me,” said Tess.

  Chief Bosworth raised his voice and hardened his tone. “We need to clear this matter up, Miss DeGraff. And if you have been…protecting someone all these years, it’s time to admit it.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Tess.

  “The truth can’t hurt him anymore, Miss DeGraff. He’s beyond all that now.”

  “Hurt who?” said Tess.

  Rusty Bosworth cleared his throat. “You may think that we are just small-town cops. But let me tell you, I’ve seen more than my share of the unsavory. The downright repellent…I know perfectly well that sometimes parents…fathers, in particular…have unnatural appetites…”

  Tess’s eyes widened and she jerked back in her chair as if his words had slapped her face. “My father? You are accusing my father?”

  “I’m not accusing anyone,” he said. “I’m asking you to tell the truth.”

  Tess shook her head. “No. I don’t have to listen to this. That is the most disgusting—”

  Rusty Bosworth leaned toward her. “More disgusting than putting an innocent man to death?”

  “You keep your filthy accusations to yourself!” she said.

  Rusty Bosworth stood up and slammed his hands, palms down, on the table. “Listen, Miss DeGraff, this police force is under attack. We are taking the blame for your mistake and I’ve had
enough of it. Now, I intend to explore all the options this time around. Including the possibility that you lied to cover up your father’s crime.”

  For a moment Tess was too outraged to even form a sentence. Finally she took a deep breath and said, “My father was a wonderful man whose life was destroyed by what your cousin, Lazarus Abbott, did…”

  Rusty’s eyes narrowed. “No need for you to remind me of my relationship to the victim,” he said.

  “The victim?” she cried.

  “As you have pointed out, the victim of this miscarriage of justice was my cousin. But I think I can still be objective. You, on the other hand, were an impressionable child when all this happened. Now, I want to make this clear. You were a little girl. A good little girl. If someone told you not to tell…someone you cared for…like your father…”

  Tess put her hands up. “All right, that’s it. That’s enough. You can say that until you’re blue in the face. It won’t make it true. It was not my father.”

  “Your brother, Jake, perhaps?”

  “My brother Jake was at a dance in town that night,” Tess snapped. “You know that. Every kid in Stone Hill was there.”

  “I’m aware of your brother’s alibi,” said Bosworth.

  “Alibi!” Tess yelped.

  “But your father had no such alibi. Perhaps he was lying awake while his exhausted wife slept. Lying there wondering if he could coerce one daughter into cooperation. And the other into silence.”

  Outraged, Tess glared at the chief. “Not in a million years. The only person who coerced me into being silent was Lazarus Abbott.”

  “That is not possible, Miss DeGraff,” Rusty Bosworth said coolly. “Everybody knows that now. You have to stop saying that.”

  Tess felt her outrage ebbing, being replaced by confusion.

  “Now, either you mistook someone else for Lazarus or you were lying,” he said. “Which was it?”

  Tess stared back at him. “I didn’t lie. But…I…don’t know…I can’t explain it.”

  “Can’t or won’t?” he persisted.

  Tess shook her head.

  “If you lied about it, that’s perjury, Miss DeGraff. That’s a felony. It’s called a delinquent act and you can still be arrested for it.”