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“I don’t know. I never know. But I plan to try.”
Ivy studied Dana’s face carefully. “Why this case? There must be thousands for you to choose from.”
“I have a special hate for people who abuse, torture, and murder children,” she explained, striving for the right mix of professionalism and sympathy. And trying desperately to leave her own anguish out of it. “The number of victims in this particular case is so overwhelming, along with the fact that no one was ever arrested. As far as I can tell, there weren’t even any suspects.”
Ivy snorted. “No kidding. By the time I managed to pull myself together and understand that I had two sons who badly needed me, Linc was conducting a one-man campaign for the sheriff to bring in outside help. Any help. Anyone who could sift through the meager clues and interviews.”
Dana raised a brow. “But he didn’t? I thought maybe I’d just missed it in the reports I read.”
“You have to understand,” Ivy sighed. “Jed Nickels had been on the force for fifteen years at that time, starting as a rookie deputy. And he has deep roots here. His people go back four generations. When he was appointed sheriff, he saw this as his own little kingdom to rule. Anything from the outside was considered interference.”
“But didn’t other parents demand answers?” Dana asked, something she’d been wondering. “Weren’t they anxious to find the killer?”
Ivy’s chambray-clad shoulders lifted in a slight shrug. “Some did. Others were too busy blaming themselves and each other. And this was a closed community back then. Outsiders weren’t welcomed, and bad news didn’t breach the county limits. Jed’s word was law. If he shut down information, it stayed that way. If he chose not to call in outside help, no one questioned him, either out of respect or fear.”
The pain in the woman’s voice cut clear to Dana’s soul. Was that how her mother had felt, at least in the beginning? Later, when the initial agony passed, she’d retreated behind a wall Dana could never breach. She didn’t even remember the last time she’d been hugged or told she was loved.
She pulled herself back from the well of memories. “What can you tell me about that day?”
Ivy refilled her coffee mug, and Dana could almost see her brain sorting through the details of that day.
“We’d gone to the annual rodeo. Josh was good enough by then to compete in the junior events, and we all cheered him on.” Her gaze drifted again. “About one o’clock, Linc got hamburgers and drinks for all of us, and we went to sit at one of the picnic tables in a shaded area.”
“Lily was right there with you?”
“Of course.” There was a trace of indignation in the tone. “We were very careful about that.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply anything.” Dana wet her lips. Now came the hard questions. “What happened next?”
“Nate had to go to the bathroom, and Linc was always leery of letting the boys go to public restrooms alone. Events like the rodeo, for example, were magnets for drifters, so he got up to go with him.” Ivy rubbed her arms as if suddenly chilled. “Someone called to Josh, and when he turned around, he knocked his drink all over the table. I was busy mopping up the mess with the extra napkins. Lily was right on the bench next to me.”
“Did she see something that caught her attention?”
“Only the clown.” Ivy’s chin wobbled, and her eyes clouded with tears. She brushed at them impatiently with the back of her hand. “Josh said she saw the clown.”
The familiar cold feeling settled in Dana’s stomach. “The clown? There was a clown there?”
“Yes. Besides the ones used in the ring to distract the bulls, the rodeo committee hired clowns to entertain the kids in the picnic area. You know, keep them from getting restless. Lily was fascinated by them. One of them gave her a balloon animal he made.”
The balloon animal again.
This was one sick bastard.
Dana was certain she was on the right track. Capturing the kids’ attention with his balloon tricks made it easy to entice them away from their parents. And somehow, he managed to choose each child carefully, making himself available when the parents were distracted by other events.
“They’re a great lure for children.” Dana hoped she kept the bitterness out of her voice.
“They certainly were for Lily. Josh said, afterward, the clown motioned for her to come to him because, when I turned around, she was just…gone.” Ivy drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, obviously making a great effort to center herself again. “A four-year-old has no fear of clowns. She probably thought he was going to give her another balloon.”
Dana knew exactly how Lily felt. She’d been that child. She tried to find something to say, but Ivy seemed on a roll, and she didn’t want to stop her.
“I yelled for her.” Her voice was insistent, begging for Dana to believe her. “Josh yelled for her. By the time Linc and Nate returned, we were frantic, searching everyplace.”
Dana frowned. “No one saw where she went? Where the clown went?”
Ivy shook her head. “The picnic tables were at the edge of the rodeo area, right next to the fairgrounds. There’s a thick stand of trees and a road just beyond. It wouldn’t have been any trouble for him to snatch her up and take off with her.”
The fairgrounds again. Dana swallowed back the bile rising in her throat. She already knew the answer to the next question she asked. “Wouldn’t she have screamed?”
