Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I t hadn’t taken much to get the four boys to come to lunch with them. Kids around that area wouldn’t miss a free meal if they could get one, plus telling their parents or bosses that they were having lunch with a deputy would get them a free pass to eat pizza. Aaron had started with Troy, the kid whose family owned the excavating company, then asked him to invite his other three friends.

They met at a local pizza place, and when the kids got there, Aaron already had five pizzas on the table, big ones, and loaded with all kinds of toppings. He also had gift bags for them from the department, filled with tee shirts, pencils, stickers with six-pointed stars like badges with “Whitley County Sheriff’s Department” emblazoned across them. There were some sunglasses with the insignias on the temples, a tin of mints with the “D.A.R.E.” logo printed across them, and a free pass for a movie at the local theater. They seemed excited about that.

When most of the pizza was gone and all the drinks were refilled, Aaron started. “I just wanted to thank you guys for your information. I sold the Chevy to somebody else who offered me more, but I appreciate you being straight with me about Mr.Skidmore.”

“Hey, happy to help. Wouldn’t want a law enforcement official to get stiffed,” Hank said, wiping his mouth.

“Yeah,” Royce added. “That would be bad.”

“It would. So I’m thinking of taking the money and buying Maisey here a very, very nice SUV. Know anybody who’s got one that you think she’d like?”

“My mom’s got a Toyota,” Nate offered.

“I was thinking something a little higher end. You know, like a Cadillac or a Lincoln,” Aaron said. Maisey’s brain whispered, Please, please, let them take the bait.

“No Cadillac, but I know somebody who’s got a Lincoln SUV. Big-ass thi… Oh, sorry, ma’am,” Troy said and blushed as he glanced over at Maisey.

She gave him a soft smile. “That’s okay.”

“So you know somebody who’s got a Lincoln?” Aaron asked.

“Yeah. Girl at school. DeenaWurth. Big Lincoln SUV.”

“Wow. Her parents must be loaded,” Maisey threw in.

The boys all laughed. “Oh, god, no,” Troy said. “They’re poor as old Job’s turkey.”

“Those things are expensive! How in the world did she do that?” Aaron asked, and Maisey crossed her fingers under the table.

“Wellllll…” Hank said slowly and glanced back and forth at his buddies, who were all doing the exact same thing. “We’ve heard rumors…”

“Yeah. Lots of rumors,” Royce added.

Aaron stared back and forth at them. “Like?”

“Like all of a sudden, she started dressing real nice and all. Nice jewelry. Lots of makeup. Nice shoes and boots. Some really sexy… Owww!” Nate yelled as his friend Troy slapped his arm.

“That’s not nice,” Troy explained.

“But it’s true! Short skirts showing her ass… butt cheeks. High-heeled boots up past her knees. Them fancy, sexy stockings that look like fishing nets. Really puttin’ on the dog,” Nate explained.

Aaron wouldn’t let it drop. “So this has been in the last couple of weeks?”

“Oh, no. This was last year. Before school got out. And she got in fights with a couple of girls because they were teasing her…” And Royce stopped.

“Teasing her about what?” Aaron pushed.

“Well, it was just a rumor. Don’t nobody know if it was true or not,” Hank added.

“What was the rumor?”

All the boys did it again―glanced back and forth at each other. And then Nate said it. “We all heard she was fu… doing it with Mr.Skidmore.”

Maisey frowned and played dumb. “Doing it?”

“Yeah, you know.” Troy glanced at Aaron. “Can I say it? In front of her?” he asked, gesturing toward Maisey. Aaron nodded. “They said she was having sex with Mr.Skidmore.”

BINGO! Maisey’s brain shrieked. “And there were rumors that he was giving her money?” she asked.

“Yeah. We heard that at first, he offered her money, but then she started blackmailing him,” Troy explained.

“And this was after he won the lottery?” Aaron asked.

“Yes, sir. I think that’s why he up and quit.”

Maisey had a sudden thought. “How did his son feel about this?”

Nate shrugged and grimaced. “He was pissed. Really, really pissed. But he didn’t say nothing. He just quit hangin’ out with everybody, quit talkin’ to everybody. We ain’t seen him since he graduated. As soon as the school year was over, they moved out there to the county, and that was that. I heard he was really mad that his dad was givin’ that girl money.”

“I heard another rumor, but I don’t know if it’s true,” Hank said.

Aaron perked up. “What’s that?”

“I heard he took her for an abortion this summer. But I don’t know if that’s true. May just be what some of the girls was sayin’. They’re all so jealous. Not of her screwing old Mr.Skidmore. They’re jealous of her clothes and her car and all that stuff.” Hank stopped, then tipped his head to one side, lifted his eyebrows, and set his lips in a line before he spoke. “You know, I ain’t no detective or nothin’, and I ain’t the smartest cookie in the drawer, but I think if’n I was her and I got knocked up, I’d want that baby so I could get child support from him. Make him give her a big, nice house and plenty of money to raise it. So I kinda think that was made up. I don’t think she had no abortion.”

Smartest cookie in the drawer. Well, there’s a mangled euphemism if ever I heard one , Maisey thought. But she had to believe Hank was right about that. Girls got pregnant by boys all the time to trap the guy and make him stay with her. It didn’t usually work long-term, but it did short-term, and it netted them child support until the kid was eighteen. Around there, that was the poor girl’s version of winning the lottery.

“Wow. Well, I hate to hear that about that girl. That’s not good,” Aaron said, shaking his head convincingly.

“No. It’s not. I feel sorry for her,” Maisey threw in.

“Yeah, well, if you seen old Mr.Skidmore, you’d really feel sorry for her! Having his old, wrinkled di… Um, you know, having sex with him,” Troy said, finishing with a mumble.

“Well, at least he didn’t get my Chevy. Wouldn’t want any of their sexy funk on the seats,” Aaron said with a forced laugh.

“In the car? Hell, I heard they did it all over the place! At his house, at her house with her brothers and sister there, at the school in the locker rooms and the bathrooms. All over the damn place,” Royce said again.

“Makes you want to spray everything down with disinfectant before you sit down, huh?” Maisey asked with a laugh.

“You know it!” Nate crowed, and they all laughed.

But it was no laughing matter. And if Maisey was right, she knew exactly what had happened to VictoriaHunt.

“Where are we going?” Maisey asked once they were in the car and Aaron turned in the opposite direction from her office.

“We’re going to talk to DeenaWurth.”

“At the school?”

He shot a side-eye at her. “You got a better idea?”

Maisey shrugged. “Guess not.”

He pulled his cruiser into the parking lot. “Got your paperwork with you?”

“Yeah. How are we going to do this?”

“We’re going to tell them we need to talk to her in the course of a murder investigation. If they want her mother there, they can call and ask her to come, but I’ll only wait so long. You’re there, and you’re the mother’s proxy through the state, so you’re there in her best interest. Before we go in, I’ll call and get SheriffMcEvers’ blessing.”

All Carly said was, “How the hell did you manage to figure all this out?”

“I’ll let Maisey tell you sometime soon. Right now, I’m pretty sure we know what happened, but we’ve got to find out for sure.”

“This is a murder investigation. Listen to me. You stay out of it. If you go in there with guns blazing, they’ll lawyer up in a heartbeat. Let Maisey go in and talk to her under the guise of finding out she may have been abused. If she does that and the girl admits it, then we’ll move forward.”

Aaron glanced at Maisey before he said, “Yeah, okay. Will do.”

“And I’m going to want an explanation before long. Right now, just get her to admit to the sex and we’ll go from there.”

“Roger, sheriff. Thanks.” He turned and looked at Maisey. “Okay. The ball is in your court. Here’s what you do. Get her to admit to the sex. And get her to say Victoria knew about it. That’s all we need.”

She took a deep breath and blew it out. “Okay. Here I go.” The parking lot was full, being the middle of a school day, but there was no better time to do it.

The school resource officer met her just inside the door. “Good afternoon. Can I help you?”

Maisey pulled out her I.D. “I’m MaiseyFriedman and I work for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Child Protective Services. I have reason to believe that there’s a child here who’s been sexually abused, and it’s my job to investigate that and report it.”

“Yes, ma’am. Let me―”

“Maisey!” Ophelia’s voice rang out in the massive foyer. “Good to see you again! I’ve got this, Burt,” she told the SRO. “Whatcha doin’ back here?”

“I need to speak with DeenaWurth. I have reason to believe she’s been sexually assaulted.”

“Oh, my. I’ll get Mrs.Albright and―”

“Because she’s a minor, no one can sit in on my meeting with her. I’m sure you understand.”

“Oh, yes. Okay. I’ll just clear it with Mr.Snow.”

Maisey nodded. “I’ll be glad to talk to him.”

After her previous conversation with the vice-principal, he told her he was sure she was probably right and cleared her to sit with Deena. He showed Maisey to the conference room, then went to pull Deena from class. As she sat there, Maisey got out a large legal pad and a few pencils, but she also turned on the recorder on her phone and placed it gently in her lap. In a couple of minutes, the door opened and a tall, lanky teenage girl stepped in, decked out like a street walker. Maisey stood. “Deena?”

“Uh, yeah. Who are you?”

“I’m your social worker, MaiseyFriedman. Could we talk for a minute? Please?”

The teenager shrugged. “Yeah, sure. I guess.”

Maisey pointed to a chair and waited until Deena sat. “I don’t know if she told you or not, but I visited with your mom the other day.”

Deena looked confused. “No. I didn’t know that.”

“I’m very concerned about something.” She’d been observing Deena. “Is that an Apple watch you’re wearing?”

“Yeah.”

“Does it have a phone line connected to it?”

“Uh, yeah. Why else would I have it?”

“I was at your house. You have a very, very large TV there. But I looked around the house, and you guys don’t have that kind of money. How did you get that TV?”

“Why would you want to know? What difference does it make? We didn’t steal it or nothin’.”

“It makes a lot of difference if you got these things in a way that’s not right.” She didn’t want to use the term “legal.” She wasn’t an attorney, and that would just scare the girl. “There are a lot of things I don’t know much about, but I do know shoes. And those shoes weren’t cheap. They look like Manolos.”

“They are.”

Maisey pretended to be looking through notes. “You have a car, right?”

“SUV.”

“What kind is it?”

“I dunno. Something big.”

“Is it a Toyota?”

“Hell no, it ain’t no Toyota! It’s a Lincoln!”

“Is it old?”

“No. It ain’t brand new, but it’s newer. Just like a year old.”

“I could understand if you have a thirty-six inch TV and a fake Apple watch and a Chevy. But these are all really expensive items, Deena. How did you manage to get all of this stuff?”

The young woman shrugged. “What can I say? My boyfriend is really, really generous.”

“Who’s your boyfriend?”

Her brow furrowed and she stared at Maisey. “I don’t have to tell you nothin’.”

“We can talk about it here, or the sheriff’s department can come and take you to the station to ask you. Or they can go talk to your mom and―”

“No! Fuck it. My boyfriend’s name is Vince.”

“Vince what?” Come on. We’re so close , Maisey’s mind whispered.

“Vince Skidmore.”

AND THERE IT IS! Time to pick him up , Maisey’s brain screamed. She texted Aaron immediately.

She just admitted it’s VinceSkidmore.

The dots wiggled.

On my way now. Don’t let her use the phone or she might alert him.

Maisey sent back a thumbs up emoji just as Deena touched the screen of her phone. “Deena, I’m going to have to ask you to end that call. Right now. Law enforcement is already at the Skidmore house, and I don’t want you implicated in his problems.”

“You’re arresting him? Why? He didn’t do nothin’!”

“Honey, he’s been having sex with you. Am I right?”

“It was conceptual!” Deena shrieked.

Our educational system fails yet another kid , Maisey told herself. “It can’t be consensual. You’re underage, and he was your teacher.”

“He weren’t my teacher. I weren’t in his class.”

“He was a teacher here at the school, so that means he was an authority figure. And that’s a crime, honey.” The girl looked like she was going to cry. “I need to know… Did anybody else know about this?”

“Me. Vince.”

“What about Colin?”

“I dunno.”

“Anybody else.”

She nodded and quietly said, “That pageant lady.”

“Victoria Hunt?”

Deena nodded again. “Yeah. She seen us coming out of the girls’ bathroom when she was here talkin’ ’bout pageants. But Vince told me not to worry about her, that she weren’t gonna talk. And then she died.”

“No, Deena. She was murdered.”

Deena’s eyes went wide. “No. No, that can’t be. Vince didn’t do that. He wouldn’t.”

“Then who did?”

“I dunno! I want my mama! I don’t wanna talk to you no more! You’re ruinin’ everythin’!” Those words rang in Maisey’s ears, virtually word for word what the killer said to Victoria. But it hadn’t been a girl. Who was it? She knew she couldn’t let Deena out of her sight until Aaron let her know that Vince was in custody. “You hear me? I want my mama.”

“Okay. I’ll see what I can do.” She had to proceed carefully, so she dialed the number for the sheriff’s department and the desk sergeant answered. “Hey, Pete, this is Maisey. I need to talk to Carly.”

“Uh, okay. Hang on.”

In a few seconds, she heard someone pick up. “Maisey?”

“Yeah, hey, Carly, can you do me a favor? I’m at the school with a client, and she wants her mom to come down here. I know you’re busy with the baby and all, but can you go get her and bring her here? I’d really appreciate it.”

“Okay. Tell me her name and address like I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“Yeah. Her name is NoraWurth. Her address is… Honey, can you tell me your address?”

“Yeah.” Deena rattled off the address, and Maisey knew Carly could hear it.

“Okay. I’m on my way. Aaron is almost to the Skidmore’s house. You doing okay?”

“Yeah. Fine.”

“You owe me an explanation for all of this.”

“And you’ll get it. I know you didn’t mean for me to keep it. I’ll give it back.”

A low chuckle rolled from the phone. “You’re a little too good at this. I’m a bit worried.”

“Thanks for doing this. See you in a bit.” She hit END on the phone’s screen and smiled. “That was my friend, Carly. Your mom will be here in a little bit.” Then she made a decision to ask the girl nothing specific about what had happened. She’d leave that for the detectives and a time when Deena had an attorney. Nora was going to need one too if she knew about it all.

They were just chatting about school when her text tone went off, and Maisey checked the screen. It was a smiley face emoji from Aaron. He had Skidmore in custody.

Another ten minutes went by, and then there was a huge ruckus and NoraWurth appeared in the hallway, Carly right behind her. “What the hell is going on here?” she screamed when she stepped into the room. Mr.Snow appeared in the doorway and stood there with Carly, their shoulders filling the door frame. “Why the hell am I here?”

“Your daughter has told me that she’s been sexually assaulted by one of the teachers here at the high school.”

“I did not say that!” Deena shrieked. “It was conceptual!”

“She ain’t done nothin’ wrong! Why you call me down here?”

Deena glared at Maisey. “I thought your friend was bringing her down here.”

“SheriffMcEvers is my friend.” Maisey turned to Nora. “Ms.Wurth, did you know that Deena was in a relationship with VinceSkidmore.”

“How’d you know his last name?” Deena barked.

“Well, yeah. What the fuck was I s’posed to do about it? She’s seventeen. She can do whatever she wants. I ain’t got no say.”

“You do. You’re her mother, her legal guardian. You’re supposed to protect her from sexual predators. Did you know where that TV of yours came from?”

“Course I did! And the car too! If we need somethin’, she calls Vince and he gives it to us. What’s wrong with that?”

Maisey looked to Carly. “Where are the other kids?”

“I left DeputyCarlisle with them. Called your boss. It’s being handled.”

“Good enough.”

Carly stepped up to the Wurth woman. “Turn around and put your hands behind your back.”

“I ain’t done nothin’! She’s the fuckin’ whore!”

Carly grabbed the woman’s arm, spun her facing away, and whipped out her cuffs. “NoraWurth, you’re under arrest for neglect of a minor, promoting human trafficking, unlawful transaction with a minor, endangering the welfare of a minor, failure to report child abuse, with more charges pending. You have the right to…” Carly was still reading Nora her Miranda rights as they made their way out of the building.

Deena was sitting there, her jaw hanging. “What the… What did you just do? That’s my mom! Where am I supposed to go now?”

“We’re making arrangements for you and your siblings right now. Deena, letting you have a sexual relationship with someone that much older than you and saying nothing, and profiting from it, is illegal. I have to ask you something. Did Vince kill MissHunt?”

“The pageant lady? No. He did not.”

I’m getting kinda tired of this , Maisey’s brain muttered. “So who did, Deena?”

“I don’t know! But it weren’t Vince! He didn’t kill nobody!”

“Did he say anything about MissHunt?”

Deena sat there for a bit, a conflicted look on her face, before she finally said, “He said we didn’t have to worry ’bout her no more.”

Maybe Vince didn’t kill Victoria, but he sure as hell knew who did. And she had a sneaking suspicion she knew who it was. But first, she had to put on that coat one more time.