Page 70 of Her Final Hours
He nodded and continued. “Yeah, but not before they took a DNA sample from me to confirm that I hadn’t… touched her.” Callie nodded as he continued. “They spoke with the company that manufactures the tracking device, and they confirmed that no one except them could change the data, and if I had gone in a different direction like what was alleged, it would have recorded it. Instead, it shows me stopping at the location I said, going to the bank with her, then on to her home, then leaving.”
“That’s what we have in the files.” She swiped the screen. “From what I heard, your problems didn’t end there.”
“No. One of my stepdaughters leaked a photo to the press. People started saying I looked like the composite and had previously owned a blue truck.”
Callie looked down. “That wasn’t in the files.”
“Of course it wasn’t. It was a rumor. False. I never owned a blue truck. I never even had a truck. I drove a white Toyota sedan back then. Anyway, the cops managed to trace back the source from the media to my then-wife’s daughters. They didn’t like me from the moment I moved in. The whole abduction of that girl and my likeness to the composite just set it all in motion. I’m saying I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But people didn’t see it that way. Folks paid more attention to the newspaper article about me being accused of sexual assault and having a likeness to the person seen at the Scott abduction site than to the article that followed, clearing me of all charges.”
“So the admitted you didn’t do it?” McKenzie asked.
“Oh no. She still thought she had been assaulted. I have no idea why. I mean, maybe I do know. What with all the lack of attention she was getting at home. However, she couldn’t argue with the evidence. No proof could corroborate the timeline or location of where the alleged assault occurred. I mean, look, I wasn’t the only one that was pulled in. There were two other taxi drivers out that night. They were then pulled in to be sure because the girl had been drinking.” He frowned. “But you should have all of this information already?”
Callie continued, “We do. I mean, some of it.”
“Huh,” he muttered. “Let me guess, the accusing evidence mysteriously disappeared.”
“There was a flood.”
“Ah, mother nature. There is always someone else to blame with the cops, isn’t it?”
“It was a long time ago.”
“For you. Not for me. I’m still living in the aftermath. And anyway, what is this all about? Have they finally gotten a lead about the missing Scott girl? And why are you on my doorstep?”
“Like we said, we just needed to fill in a few blanks.”
“As long as those blanks don’t involve targeting me, I’m fine with that,” he said. “Excuse me while I get some coffee,” he added, rising and leaving the room. As soon as he was gone, McKenzie was all over her.
“Fill in a few blanks?” he said in a hushed voice. “I thought you said that Sutherland was eyeing this guy as a potential person of interest for the Jane Doe case. What’s all this talk about filling in the blanks?”
“McKenzie, I don’t know how evidence from old cases is held down in the Big Apple, but this county has had multiple sheriffs, and the last one, who was convicted of corruption, tossed out a lot of case files and evidence in storage. What little we have from the missing girl cases is a mishmash of what State kept hold of and what we’ve been able to dig up. Visiting previous persons of interest is us giving this case our due diligence.”
“And bywe, you mean you and Sutherland?”
Her eyebrows rose, a smile tugging at her lips.
McKenzie leaned toward her and, in a calm voice, said, “I saw a young deputy bleed to death. This isn’t a game; you aren’t the lead detective, and I don’t appreciate being kept out of the loop.” With that said, he got up and charged out. Callie sat there momentarily before rising; she almost bumped into Mitchell on the way out.
“You’re leaving?”
“We’ll have to continue this another time. Something has come up. We’ll be in touch. Thank you,” she said as she exited,closing the door that McKenzie had left wide open. Callie heard Mitchell say there wouldn’t be another time.
“McKenzie! Hey!” Callie hollered in the wind. “Hold up.”
He turned, giving her an icy glare.
“What are you doing? We’re not done.”
“I am.”
She shifted from one foot to the next, the cold biting her cheeks.
“Listen, I’m sorry. I should have told you. I thought he already had.”
She expected some sarcastic remark, but he just got in the passenger side as she slipped behind the cruiser’s wheel. “You know, the office has a psychologist on hand. If you need to talk to someone about what you saw.”
He scoffed. “Don’t patronize me, Thorne. Now let’s go!” he said, not taking his eyes off the house. Callie stuck the gear stick in drive and eased into the dangerous whiteout.
