The Drowning Child. Alex Barclay

       10

      The crowd of volunteers was moving back and forth, and at that moment, parted to reveal Seth Fuller again.

      Ren watched him shift from one foot to the next, his eyes on the battered paperback in his right hand, one of the classics, folded back on itself.

       What am I getting from you? And what are you reading?

      ‘Who told you about this Fuller guy and Caleb Veir?’ said Gary.

      ‘The owner of the comic book store in town,’ said Ruddock. ‘He just called, said that on several occasions when Caleb was short a few dollars, Fuller would help him out. He also saw him buying the kid sodas and candy from the store across the street.’

      ‘Did he say how Caleb reacted to this attention?’ said Ren. ‘Did it seem to make him uncomfortable?’

      ‘He said Caleb just seemed happy to have someone pay his way,’ said Ruddock.

      ‘Well, he’s twelve years old and he was getting free stuff,’ said Ren.

      Ruddock nodded. ‘You know what it’s like in a situation like this – everyone starts eyeing people suspiciously.’

      ‘Well, we need to treat it seriously until we know otherwise,’ said Gary.

      Ren glanced up at him. That was unnecessary. Ren looked at Ruddock.

       Apologizing with my eyes.

      ‘Have you seen enough, here?’ said Ruddock. ‘I wanted to let you know you’re all set up inside.’

      There were twelve desks in the temporary office, five already occupied by agents from the FBI Portland Division, which covered the entire state of Oregon. Another desk was taken up by the CAST agent – Cellular Analysis Survey Team. He had given Wiley printouts of the Veirs’ phone dumps; John, Teddy and Caleb’s cell phones, and the home phone.

      Wiley was waiting for them like a student eager to please.

       Mixed messages central.

      ‘Nothing jumping out at me so far,’ said Wiley. ‘The last call made on Caleb’s cell phone on Monday morning was to his aunt, Alice Veir – John Veir’s sister. Veir himself made a call on Sunday morning to one of his colleagues, Rob Lockwood, a psychologist at BRCI.’

      Wiley also had the reports from the lab on the Veirs’ laptops. They read through them.

      ‘Nothing here is setting off alarm bells,’ said Ren. ‘Caleb was looking up PlayStation cheats for Grand Theft Auto 5, emailing friends, posting on Facebook, checking out porn. Sure, he calls his father an asshole in a few of his emails, but that’s what kids do. He hates school – he’s twelve years old, no surprise there.’

      Ruddock’s phone beeped. He checked a text. ‘The Veirs are here. I’ll go meet with them.’

      Wiley followed him out.

      Gary turned to Ren when they had left. ‘You and me are talking to John Veir. I think you might unsettle him. I wouldn’t say he likes strong women. You lead, and if his story starts smelling like bullshit, I’ll go big guns, round two.’

      ‘OK, but would you mind if Ruddock and I took Teddy Veir? She is so fragile: in the first interview, I’m not sure she responded very well to being faced down by two men. She looked a little freaked. She could be intimidated by male authority figures, especially if she’s a cowed wife.’

      ‘Or she could be used to male authority figures …’ said Gary.

      ‘Trust me on this,’ said Ren. ‘You could intimidate a woman like her without even realizing it. I’ll tread lightly, and Ruddock is a familiar face, with a gentle way about him. Between us, I think we can just …’ she shrugged, ‘set the right tone.’

      Ruddock came back and brought Gary and Ren to the interview room where John Veir was waiting, pale-faced, twitchy, tense. Ren and Gary introduced themselves.

      ‘I’m sorry that we’re meeting under these circumstances, Mr Veir,’ said Ren. ‘And I apologize for having to ask you so many questions at such a difficult time, especially ones that you may feel you’ve already answered.’

      John’s eyes flicked toward Gary.

       You’re surprised the lady spoke first …

      ‘Thank you,’ said John, his eyes back on Ren, his pupils huge, his gaze fixed.

       Jesus. Intense.

      ‘It’s OK,’ said John. ‘I understand. Go ahead.’

      ‘Talk me through the twenty-four hours before Caleb went missing,’ said Ren.

      John nodded. ‘Sunday morning, me, Teddy and Caleb went to the eleven a.m. service at Tate Baptist Church on 1st Street. We came home, ate lunch together. After lunch, Teddy was in the dining room – she was writing, Caleb was upstairs in his room, on his laptop or his phone, I guess. I was doing some work around the house, in the garage. It was a regular Sunday. Teddy left for Patti Ellis’s house at around six o’clock – Patti’s Teddy’s friend, she’s got cancer, so the friends are taking turns to look after her. Teddy does Sunday nights. And she had a trade show in Salem the following day. After she left, I cooked supper for me and Caleb. We ate together. Caleb went back up to his room. I was in the living room watching television.’

      ‘What were you watching?’ said Ren.

      ‘Uh … well, I was watching a box set,’ said John. ‘I think Breaking Bad? Whichever one is in the machine.’ He didn’t take his eyes off her as he spoke.

       Hmm.

      ‘I was dozing off,’ said John.

      ‘Did you see Caleb again – did you check on him before you went to bed?’ said Ren.

      John frowned. ‘Of course I did. He was fine.’

      ‘How were things between you and Caleb in general?’ said Ren. ‘We’ve had reports of raised voices in the house …’

      ‘Sunday night? No way,’ said John.

      ‘Not specifically Sunday night …’ said Ren.

      ‘Well, not on Sunday, and not on Monday,’ said John. ‘Caleb and I were good.’ He paused. ‘Let me correct that, sorry – I did shout up at Caleb several times on Monday morning, because he was dragging his heels, and his oatmeal was going cold.’

      ‘Did he respond to you?’ said Ren. ‘Did he hurry up?’

      ‘He was already leaving his room,’ said John.

      ‘Did you drive Caleb to school often?’ said Ren.

      ‘When I was working the late shift, yes,’ said John. ‘Otherwise, it was his mom. Or he walked.’

      ‘It takes what – fifteen minutes?’ said Gary.

      ‘Yes,’ said John. ‘A lot of the kids around here walk it. There are usually some parents too. It’s … safe.’

      ‘But Caleb was running late on Monday,’ said Ren.

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘Why didn’t you drive him?’ said Ren. ‘Your shift wasn’t until later that day.’

      ‘He wanted to walk,’ said John. ‘And to be honest, I wanted him to take responsibility for being late. I’m always trying to teach him that choices