Foster stares at me as if I’ve asked for a ride to Saturn. “No, you cannot. We’re doing you a courtesy right now by keeping this off the books, but if you don’t answer our questions, we’re going to have to bring you in.”
“Excuse me?” Maggie says sharply. “My niece is under no obligation to speak to you. This isn’t an interrogation.”
“Not yet,” he says, and it’s so ominous it makes my hands shake.
The room suddenly feels freezing. I pull my sleeves all the way down and stick my hands inside them.
“Ryan, you must realize what this looks like.” Kulpa’s tone is gentler than his partner’s. I can’t believe they’re pulling the good cop, bad cop routine on me. “Your father’s note implies that you have knowledge of his crimes.”
My aunt gasps. “Are you peopleinsane? Ryan had nothing to do with Gabriel’s crimes. She was achild!”
I’m speechless. I share her sentiments entirely. Are they out of their minds?
The agents press their lips together at Maggie’s tongue-lashing. “Come on,” Foster pushes. “You must know something, Ryan. Think back. Was there anything—a place on the property? Somewhere you vacationed?”
“We dug up that property pretty hard, back in the day,” Kulpa says in his good cop voice. “But is there somewhere special you two used to go?”
“Just the woods,” I answer helplessly. “That’s where we hung up the birdhouses. Either that or we’d be in the meadow.”
“Where else?” Kulpa asks. “You went on vacations, right?”
“I don’t think so. My mom didn’t have a lot of time off. She was always at the hospital.”
“Exactly,” snaps Foster. “And while your mother was nursing people back to health, your father was taking their lives—”
“Gentlemen, stop,” Maggie snaps back. “You’re upsetting her. She doesn’t know anything about it.”
“Ryan.” Foster leans in closer to me, ignoring my aunt entirely. He has that rigid, no-nonsense look like he’s trying too hard to be tough. “You know what your father’s note tells me? It tells me you know where the remains of his victims are.”
“You mean this note?” I hold up the envelope, and my handshakes violently. “Thisnote written by a psychotic killer who refers to his victims as birds? Who somehow convinced himself that he loved them and was taking care of them by killing them? You trust the words ofthisman?”
Foster remains unconvinced. “That line:Make sure they are never disturbed.” He quotes from the letter. He’s memorized the damn thing. “He couldn’t have made it clearer that you know something, Ryan.”
“I don’t know anything,” I insist, my eyes stinging with unshed tears. “I was just a kid—”
“A kid, right,” he cuts in. “The ‘innocent child’ defense only gets you so far. You mean to tell me he wrote that note specifically to you, and you don’t have a single idea what he meant? No hint where he might have buried those women?”
My vision blurs again as I struggle to stay calm. “I don’t know anything. My dad was…I didn’t even know about him until he was arrested.”
Foster scoffs. “He groomed you, didn’t he? Made you his little accomplice?”
“That’s enough,” warns Kulpa. He places a hand on Foster’s shoulder, but the younger agent shrugs it off, his gaze still burning into mine.
“You’re protecting him,” he accuses. “Maybe he made you swear to keep his secrets, maybe he trained you to hide the evidence. You could even be facing charges for—”
“I didn’t do anything!” My voice cracks, echoing in the office. “I didn’t know what he did, and I don’t know where those bodies are—”
“Stop talking, Ryan,” Maggie tells me. A warning. She stands, her face thunderous. “We’re done here, gentlemen.”
“Mrs.Shipley,” Kulpa starts, but she slices a hand through the air to silence him.
“No. If you truly believe my niece is guilty of something, arrest her. But if you have any decency, let her be. She’s answered enough questions for tonight.”
Foster’s jaw tightens, but Kulpa gives a resigned nod.
“Let’s go,” Maggie says, pulling me to my feet. She grabs her purse, along with the manila envelope containing my father’s letter.
I’m numb as she steers me out of the room. The hallway swims before me, but her touch feels solid, grounding. Outside by the car, she lets go and opens the truck door for me.
