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“Even as a grown man, I was too scared to pick up the phone and open up all that baggage. That’s the way I see it. What happened that morning was out of my control.”
Brent cleared his throat. “Trey has decided not to go back. And you should know that Vince and Valkyrie had started seeing each other shortly after Valkyrie ended things with Aaron Deming sometime during the winter of 2001 before the murders. Valkyrie offered Vince the escape hatch to another country. I’m not sure what he planned to do without Valkyrie arranging to get him out of the States, giving him a nice, picturesque countryside estate where he could hide and build a new life, not just for himself but for Elliott and Trey, too. Valkyrie was the major reason Vince was able to get away clean.”
“Completely under the radar,” Lucien grunted. “And all the while, his mother knew everything.”
Beckett reached for a bottle of water on the pub table and unscrewed the cap. “Have you found Aaron Deming yet? Because he’s part of this.”
Brent shook his head. “I have people working on it. He probably has a new identity with a new social security number. My guess is he’s living somewhere in Europe. We’ll find him—eventually. He’ll surface at some point. What’s Chad been up to?”
Lucien joined Beckett at the pub table. “Other than making life miserable for everyone around him and acting like the lord of the manor, it pretty much went down like we thought. Pollock puts the blame for Anna’s murder squarely on Matthew, who isn’t around to tell us anything. We did discover that Matthew Pollock wore size thirteen shoes. He was probably the shooter.”
“Matt Pollock was most definitely the shooter,” Brent announced. “Trey ID’d him. Trey is our star witness.”
“I can’t begin to describe how I feel about learning what happened that morning,” Trey said in a voice barely audible. “I didn’t know this whole thing revolved around Elliott’s parents getting murdered until Brent told me. Elliott never spoke of it, not once. I suppose he was too young to comprehend it. Vince certainly never brought it up. But I’m sure Elliott must’ve seen something that scared the bejesus out of him. He was that terrified when he ran into my arms that morning. And then I saw the guy holding the gun at the other end of the driveway. He was probably six feet tall, weighed one-seventy with brown hair and a scruffy, unshaven face. He yelled at this other man—Vince sitting in a white van—to go after the kid. That’s when I knew we were in trouble. I got out of there as fast as possible. But I couldn’t hold Elliott and pedal my bike. So I eventually dropped the bike near the woods. I was hauling this screaming toddler, running as fast as I could, not covering much ground. It didn’t take long for Vince to catch up to us.”
“There’s more to what you remember, isn’t there?” Brogan remarked, looking into Trey’s tormented eyes.
Trey nodded. “I could see the desperation on Vince’s face. Even now, it gives me the chills. He intended to take Elliott no matter what I did to stop him. That’s when he shoved me. And when I tried to fight back, he punched me so hard that I fell backward and hit something hard, like a rock.”
Brent sent a quick look around the room. “Yeah. You heard right. That’s a different take than Vince’s version.”
“I remember getting slugged,” Trey pointed out. “I had a busted lip, a black eye, and got my head bashed enough to give me a concussion. That’s why I’m here, why I came back. I couldn’t look at Vince anymore, knowing he was part of the plot to kill those people. He had to know what was going to happen that morning. I believe he knew. Putting me through university doesn’t justify kidnapping me, ripping me away from the life I’d known. Elliott’s a different story. Elliott wants to stand by his father. I get that. He decided he didn’t want anything more to do with me if I intended to return to California. I tried to explain that I hadn’t seen my own father in more than twenty years. But he refused to see my point of view. After spending that much time with Elliott, who was like a brother, he didn’t think twice about pushing me away. So here I am. Once again, without family.”
“Not for long,” Brogan stated. “As soon as Rivkin picks up Chad Pollock and we get him off the premises, your parents will want to see you.”
“How should we break it to them?” Trey wondered. “I don’t want them to have a heart attack or something. And they might be mad that I didn’t contact them over the years.”
“Stop it,” Brogan cautioned. “Your parents will be thrilled to know you’re alive, to have you back. They won’t focus on such things. They still live in the same house with pictures of you all over the place.”
For the first time, Trey got tears in his eyes.
“Would you like to listen to the podcast they did to get the case reopened?” Jade offered. “Come with me. We’ll find a quiet nook where we can listen to it without getting interrupted. It’ll give you the perspective on their mindset today. Then you can hear for yourself how they handled your disappearance.”
“I’d like that. Thanks.” Trey looked around at the faces in the room. “I am so grateful to all of you for getting me back here. I’m a little overwhelmed.”
“That’s okay,” Lucien said. “Giving up was never an option.”
The reunion turnedinto a party, an old-fashioned celebration to ensure Trey felt like he was back in the fold. Nothing could replace the time lost. But there was hope in the air as Brogan watched Trey relax around his parents.
“To see Gerald and Susan’s reaction was worth all the trouble,” Brogan relayed to Lucien.
“We’ll get better at this,” Lucien promised her.
Beckett slapped him on the back. “I think you guys are pretty good at it now. Who else could get a result like this, dealing with such an old case? Even Brent was pleased. And that doesn’t happen very often.”
“Told you so,” Jade added, seeing the constant smiles on Susan’s face. “What in the world would make anyone want to go along with murder to uproot a child’s entire life?”
“Maybe it’s like it is with money,” Brogan surmised. “Greed knows no bounds. Vince puts his greed for his son first. I understand wanting his child. I get that. But he could’ve taken Anna to court to fight for custody. He didn’t need to resort to murder. He could’ve told someone what Chad and Matthew planned to do. But he didn’t. He sat by—literally out in that van—and let it happen. And it’s unforgivable to drag an innocent boy into the mix. All he had to do was leave Trey in the woods for someone to find.”
Kelly carried a tray of champagne glasses filled with the bubbly and handed them off, one by one. “Fear of getting caught was the motivator. Do you suppose he’ll ever face justice?”
Birk sipped the French wine and made a face. “It may take years to get him out of South Africa. With the kind of money he has at his disposal, the Reschers will be lucky to live long enough to see him in court.”
“Trey might,” Lucien pointed out. “But my guess is Vince Jarreau will take a sweet plea deal within a year. Any bets?”
“That sounds about right,” Beckett agreed. “Money and privilege are hard to overcome. How many times have Gerald and Susan thanked you this evening?”
Brogan sputtered with laughter. “About a dozen. Just look how happy they are.” She turned to Jade. “Suggesting he listen to your podcast seemed like the icebreaker he needed to stop worrying. It was brilliant.”
