Page 40 of Break Away
“What’d your mom do?”
“Turned to me calm as you please and askedwhat had happened. I told her. He denied it, but Mom was havingnone of it. I thought she was going to grab a knife herself andfinish him off.”
“Did she call the cops?”
“Yeah, she did. He stormed out of the house,saying he was done with us, that we were all a bunch offreaks.”
“Did you press charges?”
“Tried to. But it was his word against mine.The cops didn’t believe me.”
“Fuck that. Did they at least look into hispast to see if there were other allegations against him?”
“No. Remember what I said about the blueline? You see, he was a cop too.”
“With the Hangman PD?”
“No. We lived outside the city limits so thesheriff’s department had jurisdiction and they responded to thecall. He worked for them.”
“What’s his name?”
She didn’t know why even now she wanted tohold back. “Paul Clauson. His name is Paul Clauson.”
Levi wrote the name on the pad in front ofhim, underlining it several times. It struck Zoey that he wasleft-handed. That had never registered before. “So Clauson wasnever charged.”
“No. That night, Mom took all his stuff anddumped it on the street in front of our house. She was so angrywith herself that she’d trusted him, and had allowed him into ourhome, let him near her children.”
“Did he come back? Bother you any?”
“He harassed us some. He’d drive by the housein his sheriff’s cruiser, going slow, or show up at school events.He pulled Mom over one night when she was driving home from workand scared her to death. Nothing happened, but it could have.That’s when she decided we had to leave town.”
“She should have filed a complaint.”
“She did. The sheriff’s departmentinvestigated. I think they must have found other misconduct, enoughat least that even they couldn’t completely ignore it. As far as Iknow, he was never charged or punished, but he resigned. By thenwe’d moved to Fresno.”
“Son of a bitch. Is he still in thearea?”
“Last I heard he’d been hired by a policedepartment in Colorado and had moved somewhere near Denver.”
Levi made more notes on the pad. “Have youhad any contact with him since then?” When she shook her head, hesaid, “I’m going to locate him, find out where he is now. Not thathe needs to live here for the cyber-bullying, but if the post isrelated to the vandalism at your place and the hit-and-run, andhe’s not in the area, then it’s not likely he’ll be our guy.”
“Okay.” Now that she was done, she was gladshe’d told Levi. A little of the weight she’d carried lifted, andshe found she didn’t really care if Levi investigated Paul Clauson.She’d been a kid, and he was an asshole, and maybe a pedophile. Sheneeded to let go of the embarrassment and the shame.
With the interview finally over, Levi walkedZoey to her car in the police parking lot. A breeze had picked upthat helped to cool the warm afternoon.
“I appreciate you coming in. This isimportant.”
She gave a short laugh. “I know what I saidabout the hit-and-run, Levi, about not wanting to prosecute if itwas truly an accident. But after these latest instances, I’mfeeling more than a little nervous. I want to know who’s behindthem.”
He ran a hand down her bare arm. “Like I saidlast night, call me any time, no matter when, even if you think I’mbusy.”
She hated the feeling of vulnerabilitybrought on by the harassment, which put her in the position ofhaving to rely on others for protection. “Okay.”
“Brad wants to know if Thursday works for thesecurity company to install an alarm system. He wants cameras.They’ll be doing your place and mine.”
Zoey chewed on her bottom lip while sheconsidered the logistics. “I’ll take Lucy with me to work, but Idon’t want to leave my doors unlocked so the alarm crew can getin.”
“You won’t need to. Brad will give them akey.”
