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My temper flared. “But I asked you if he was working for you and you denied it!”
He released a snort of disgust. “You think I was really going to tell you?”
“Yes.”
He lifted a shoulder in a half, unapologetic shrug. “I don’t tell people about my shit. I’m only telling you now because you need to know.”
“What did he do for you?”
When Malcolm didn’t answer, Hale said quietly, “He kept an eye on Ava Peterman.”
I jumped out of my chair and took a step backward. “You kidnapped her?” How had I gotten it so wrong?
“Fuck, no,” Malcolm said in disgust. “I was having him watch her.”
“For what purpose?”
He gave me a challenging glare.
“To kidnap her,” I repeated flatly.
“We didn’t trust Peterman,” Hale interjected. “We never had any intention of touching or harming her in any way. We were only trying to find out what he was up to, and she had a surprising amount of information.”
“You used a little girl.” I knew James Malcolm had a reputation for being high level on the criminal syndicate list, and you didn’t get there by playing with puppies and kittens, but for some godforsaken reason, I’d believed him when he’d said he would never hurt a child.
I started to dart for the door, but Malcolm got up and blocked my path.
“Get the fuck out of my way, Malcolm,” I said through gritted teeth.
How had I been so utterly stupid?
“I didn’t kidnap her. I didn’t use her. She needed a friend, and Eddie befriended her before I had anything to do with it.”
I shook my head in disgust. “But since he was already talking to her, Eddie might as well pump her for information about her daddy.”
He didn’t answer, but he didn’t look apologetic either.
“You used that little girl. And you let a pedophile do it.”
His face flushed with anger. “Eddie never laid a hand on her. He let her talk when no one else in her life did.”
“It was wrong! He took her into a closet!”
“I know it looks that way,” Hale said, still seated at his desk and holding up his hands, palms out. “And to be fair, we never knew they were going into his closet. We thought he was talking to her in the hall or outside at recess. When he told Skeeter last week that they’d been in the closet, he told him that had to stop immediately.”
I scrunched my face. “Skeeter?”
Hale gave Malcolm an apologetic look. “Sorry, an old nickname he’s trying to break.”
I considered pursuing it but didn’t see the point. I had more important issues to address. “What if I don’t believe you?”
Unlike his boss, Hale’s eyes were full of regret. “I can’t make you believe one way or the other, but neither one of us would ever condone him meeting with her in private, and if Malcolm had thought Johnson was molesting her, he would have killed the guy himself.” He pointed to the thumb on his desk. “And you sure as hell wouldn’t be finding any pieces of him.”
“So where’s Ava Peterman?” I asked.
“You’re the key to that question,” Malcolm said, still blocking the door. “Your little love note said you were not only cold, but so cold. Which means the Eddie/Ricky Morris angle is a dead end.”
“Or he could be trying to throw us off track,” I said.
