Страница 46 из 58
The sheriff forced a thick fist into his front pocket and unfolded his handkerchief. “I need a damn cigarette, that’s what I need,” he said, red-faced, wiping the sweat from the sides of his big head. “If I’m go
Haley followed the men in.
Chapter 57
JUST HOURS AFTER the news broke about the missing girl, the media descended on Grand Trespass in a way it hadn’t when Tiffany disappeared. Camera vans, reporters, men with maps and radios congregated at public meeting places. Sarah Greene’s parents were driven into Lafayette in Sheriff Hebert’s police cruiser to make their tearful statements on television, then quickly driven out again, back to Truro. The sheriff told the community to keep an eye out, lock their doors and watch their children extra closely.
Two FBI agents, Special Agent Denise Jones and Special Agent Leon Adashek, were called in from the New Orleans bureau to work with the local law on the case. The agents showed up at all of the residents’ homes for statements, made certain the woods were combed thoroughly and Grand Trespass Bayou was dragged.
The two were working the case much differently than Guitreaux had. They weren’t interested in wasting any time. They were out to find someone and quick, no matter what it took. And they seemed particularly interested in one Grand Trespass local.
Haley, Erica and Austin were on the clock and Chris was reading the Daily Advocate at the counter on Wednesday when the two FBI agents showed up. They both sat at the counter and ordered pastries and coffees.
Erica found the female agent, Jones, riveting. She looked pulled together and polished in her starched khakis and a lavender polo shirt. A thick black belt with a gun holster was cinched against her small waist. She was forty-something and very beautiful. She was another woman who reminded her of her mother. Calm, cool, collected, self-possessed with a type of toughness that was uncommon in most women—at least the ones Erica had known.
Odd as it was, Jones even reminded Erica a little of Pamela. Though her father’s live-in was simple and uneducated, she, too, had an air of self possession. She knew who she was, something that puzzled Erica.
“How long did you say you’ve lived in these parts, Chris?” Jones asked, bringing her cup to her lips and blowing on the steaming coffee.
“Twenty years, ma’am,” Chris said, looking up from his newspaper. One eye was fixed on Jones, the lazy one on the front door of the diner.
Jones nodded.
“In a small town like this, you’re bound to know nearly everyone. Isn’t that right?” Agent Adashek asked.
Erica saw the muscles in Chris’s face constrict. He shot a quick glance at the portrait of his dead daughter. “That ain’t so,” he said, his weary eyes focusing again on the agent. “Like I’ve told you before, several times actually, people ‘round here are scattered. Spread out. We go to other towns to do our shopping mostly. Just cuz you own land in Grand Trespass don’t mean that you know all the other town folk.”
“You saying you don’t know many people here, Chris?” Jones asked, feigning surprise.
Chris scratched his head. “Yore puttin’ words in my mouth. Of course I know people. Didn’t say I didn’t.”
“Well, that’s what it sounded like you said,” Jones said.
Chris gazed out at the family of four who were seated closest to them. A boy in a WWE t-shirt was picking apart a ham and cheese sandwich while a smaller boy in a NASCAR shirt was pleading with his mother for another milk shake.
Haley shuffled toward them with customers’ orders, her face blank. She pushed open the door to the kitchen trailer and disappeared in the back.
Jones interjected. “Okay, well let’s try this, how well did you know Tiffany Perron?” she asked Chris.
His shoulders sagged and his voice was as low as a whisper. “How many times are you goin’ to ask me the same dang questions? Seems as though you think I have somethin’ to hide and I don’t.”
Jones smiled. And when she spoke it wasn’t a whisper. “Nothing? You call a record for peeping in i
Chris’s face went red. He stole a quick glance at Erica to see if she was listening. Then he looked down at his hands.
Erica was listening. . . intently. . . and she knew she should busy herself somewhere else in the diner, but she wasn’t about to go anywhere. Chris? Peeping? She pretended to wipe down the counter.
“How about Sarah Greene?” Adashek asked.
“I don’t know nothin’ about a girl named Sarah Greene.”
Jones flashed a photo of Sarah, and Chris looked away. “You already showed me that. Look, Tiffany Perron worked for me. She came in, she worked, and she went home. That was it. This Sarah Greene? I haven’t a clue who the girl is.”
Jones spoke this time. “Would you say the rumors are true? That you had a crush on Tiffany Perron?”
Chris’s grip tightened on the paper. “The kid was nineteen for God’s sake.”
“And that you were a little too touchy-feely with her? Probably creeped her out?”
Erica’s eyes narrowed. Chris was touchy-feely alright, but he was like that with everyone, including men. It was just his way of being personable. And yes, it was a little creepy if you were like her and didn’t like to be touched, but he didn’t mean any harm.
And him having a crush on Tiffany? What man who knew her didn’t at some point in time? Did that make every man a suspect?
“I don’t know what yore talkin’ about,” Chris snapped.
The door to the trailer opened and Haley walked back in. She smiled tiredly at the group and poured herself a cup of coffee.
The sun had become harsh outside and its rays coursed through the diner. Chris scooted his stool back loudly and got up to adjust the blinds.
“You’ve got some scrapes on your forearms,” Adashek called to Chris. “You like the woods? Spend much time in them?”
Chris’s snakeskin boots clicked against the tile as he went to the front doors. He flipped the sign on the door that read Open to read Closed. Then he turned to face the agents.
“I don’t appreciate this line of questioning. Especially in public. . . and in my place of business with my employees in earshot. There has to be a law against this shit,” he spat, anger flashing in his eyes. “I’ve been an upstanding member of this community for years now,” he barked, a ray of sun bouncing off the side of his crimson face.
The family stopped eating.
“Upstanding?” laughed Adashek, the edges of his lips curled into a grin. “So peeping is considered upstanding in this town?”
Chris’s eyes flickered. “Someone’s probably out there killin’ girls but the law keeps hasslin’ me. Have I made mistakes in the past? Yes sir, I have. But I’ve paid for them. Yore wastin’ your time here tryin’ to drag my name through the mud.” He pointed in the direction of Main Street. “Wastin’ precious time that you could be using tryin’ to find out what’s happenin’ out there.”
Chris’s neck was as red as a crawfish, and with his face creased the way it was, he looked about ten years older than he actually was.
His eyes landed on Haley and Erica. “We’re closin’ early for the day. I’ll have Kim come out to help close up, so after these customers are done, you gals can go on home. But business as usual tomorrow.” His eyes went back to the agents. “And if you two are through, I’m leavin’.” He waited for a response but got none. “So, am I excused?”
“Have a good day,” Adashek said, pleasantly. “If we have more questions, we’ll just swing by.”
***
“HOW LONG AGO did they leave?” Detective Guitreaux asked, his voice too even not to be perturbed. Erica could tell from the first time she’d seen Guitreaux with the FBI agents that he wasn’t crazy about the fact they were there. However, his face was now a blank slate, no emotion registering across his features. He looked as political, hard-to-read, and inept as always.