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“I don’t know,” John-Henry said. “I think the scenario you’ve laid out is possible. Hell, Auggie, it’s actually plausible. I think a prosecutor can make this one land. But something feels off about it.”
“He won’t answer any questions,” Auggie said. “Doesn’t that tell you something?”
John-Henry shrugged.
“Theo?” Auggie asked.
It seemed like it took a long time for Theo to rouse himself, and then his eyes met Auggie’s only briefly before skating away. “I don’t know.”
“Well, who the hell is going to know, then? You’re the one who talked to him.”
“He told me he didn’t touch Leon. That much, I believe; he was…”
“Terrified?” John-Henry suggested dryly.
Theo rolled one shoulder. “But I didn’t ask about Shaniyah. I don’t know.”
“Why?”
Theo’s expression was blank.
“Why didn’t you ask him about Shaniyah?” John-Henry said. “I thought that was the whole point.”
Theo had a decent poker face, but right then his distress was clear.
“Things got out of hand,” Auggie said. “We got as much as we could out of him.” John-Henry gave Auggie an appraising look, so Auggie hurried to add, “Look, Dalton is a creep. Maybe it’s technically true that he didn’t do anything with Leon, but he still had a teenager, a former student, sleeping at his house. And I know how he was looking at that boy tonight at the theater. And his vibe is super creepy. The drugs, too—what about the drugs?”
“He must have flushed them,” John-Henry said, “or stashed them; he didn’t have them with him when Palomo brought him in for the interview.”
Auggie let out a frustrated noise. “So, what? You’re going to let him go.”
“Of course not. I told you: it’s a solid case, and for all I know, Dalton really did kill that girl. But there are things about it I don’t like. I’m hoping some of that will get cleared up as we go along. If he’s guilty, we’re going to put this case together nail by nail.”
“What about Shaniyah’s aunt and uncle?”
A yawn caught John-Henry. “Palomo’s going to inform them. She would have done it already, but they found the cardigan, and things took off. I offered, but she still wants to do the notice. It’s going to be a long night for her, especially with Gray still on leave.” He stopped another yawn with his fist.
“Did you find anything?” Auggie asked. He didn’t have to sayat the Cottonmouth Club.
John-Henry shook his head. “We checked the lot; the vehicles you described weren’t there. We tried a few other places out there—bars, clubs, anywhere those guys who attacked you might have gone. But this is a needle in a haystack situation. They could have gone anywhere. They could be holed up at home with the garage door down. We’ll pick it up tomorrow and grind it out: traffic cameras, witnesses, vehicle registrations. It won’t be fun, and it definitely won’t be fast, but at least we’ve got something to follow. We’ll track them down, and we’ll figure out the connection to the Cottonmouth Club. It’s just a matter of time.”
Auggie nodded. The jittery energy running through him seemed to have evaporated, and now his head had that unfamiliar lightness that came from exhaustion, the sense that he was detached from his body.
“I’m sorry, for the record,” John-Henry said.
Theo raised his head.
“I should have listened to you.” Frustration—and what sounded, to Auggie, like a mixture of self-recrimination and discouragement—ratcheted down John-Henry’s voice. “You told me something was wrong, you asked me to keep looking. God, I feel like a broken record. You were right.”
“John-Henry—” Auggie said, and he looked at Theo.
“This isn’t your fault,” Theo said. “She’d been dead for days—before we even knew she was missing. And Shaniyah’s aunt and uncle kept telling you everything was all right. You did listen to us, and we appreciate that. There just wasn’t anything you could do.”
“That’s what you told us,” Auggie said. “You didn’t have any options, and you were right.”
“Yeah, well.” John-Henry’s smile was only the corner of his mouth. “It fucking blows to be right sometimes.”
He walked them out of the station. The small hours were surprisingly cool, and the air smelled like the river.
