If She Hid

The older woman led them alongside the bullpen, down the same hallway Barnes had led them down earlier. She opened the door to the second room on the right. It looked pretty much the same as the one they had met Officer Foster in earlier in the day. There was an old scarred desk with one chair parked on either side.

“Sit down,” DeMarco said, giving Jeremy a light push in the direction of the table.

Jeremy did as he was asked, not resisting at all. When his butt was in the seat, he folded his handcuffed hands in front of him and stared at them.

“What was the relationship between you and Mercy Fuller like?” Kate asked.

“I barely knew her.”

“I saw a picture in your bedroom that says otherwise.”

“What would you say if I told you she was that…well, that friendly to most guys?”

“I’d say that’s a pretty daring accusation to point at someone. Especially in a town like this one, about a girl who just lost both of her parents.”

Jeremy sighed and gave a shrug. His nonchalance was aggravating Kate but she did her best to remain professional.

“I told you…I don’t know anything about that family.”

“You’re lying,” Kate said. “And here’s the thing. You can keep lying, but this is a small town, kid. I can unwrap your lie pretty easily. And if I do find out you’re lying to me, then we’ll start digging into the drugs. Maybe find some of the people your not-so-bright brother has listed in that black notebook under his bed. Maybe tell them that you told us where to find the book.”

Jeremy’s eyes widened at this thought and he started to shift in his seat. Kate also wondered if there might be a card to play in terms of his older brother. She wondered which of the two might crack under pressure first.

But apparently, she was not going to have to go that route. She could practically see the moment when Jeremy Branch decided that his own self-preservation was the most important thing.

“Fine, I know her. But we weren’t like dating or anything. We just hooked up every now and then.”

“So it was a sexual relationship?”

“Yes. And that’s about all it was.”

“Did you not care that she was fifteen?”

“I kind of did. I figured I’d just break it off with her when I turned eighteen. So I wouldn’t get in trouble, you know?”

“When was the last time you saw her?” DeMarco asked.

“Maybe a week or so ago.”

“Did she come to your place?”

“Yes. We had this sort of blueprint. When she wanted to come over, she’d text me and I’d pick her up over on Waterlick Road. She’d tell her folks she was going to a friend’s house and I’d pick her up and we’d go back to my place.”

“How long had this been going on?” Kate asked.

“Four or five months. But look, I know it sounds dirty or whatever, but I really don’t know her all that well. It was just sex. That’s all. I was her first…and she was sort of curious, you know? She wasn’t like sex crazy or anything, but we met up a lot.”

“I thought you said she was friendly with most guys,” DeMarco said.

His only response to this apparent lie in an attempt to save face was a shrug.

“What about her parents?” Kate asked. “What can you tell me about them?”

“Nothing. I knew who her dad was, you know? I mean, it’s a small town. You sort of know everyone. Plus, she always used to joke that if her dad found out we were fu—having sex,” he said, apparently not finding it appropriate to drop other terminology in front of two female agents, “he’d kill me.”

“And did you believe her?”

“I don’t know. But I guess. A guy never really wants to think about the father of the girl he’s sleeping with finding out. I didn’t know what to think about her parents. I mean, she hated them. Like loathed them, you know?”

“She did?”

“Based on the way she talked about them, yeah I think so. If I can…”

He stopped here and seemed to think about something for a minute. He then looked at Kate and DeMarco as if he were trying to figure out his boundaries.

“What is it?” Kate asked.

“Look. Yeah, it was messed it up that we slept with each other like twenty times or so and I didn’t know her all that well. But I always thought it was sort of weird to hear her talk about her parents like that.”

“Like what?”

Before he could answer, there was a knock on the door. Sheriff Barnes opened it and poked his head inside. There was a quick look exchanged between Barnes and Jeremy, making Kate think this was probably not the first time Jeremy had spent time in this room.

“Jeremy Branch?” he asked. “What the hell is he doing here?”

“You want to tell him or should we?” DeMarco asked. She gave Jeremy a few seconds and when he did not start talking, she brought Barnes up to speed. “He was sleeping with Mercy Fuller…as recently as last week. He was just telling us how he found it strange that Mercy would speak so negatively about her parents. How she hated them.”

“Sleeping with her?” Barnes asked. “Damn, son…how old are you?”

“Seventeen. I don’t turn eighteen for another month.”

“Go on,” Kate said, redirecting him back toward the point. “Tell us what kind of stuff Mercy would say about her parents.”

“Just how they never let her do anything. How they didn’t trust her. I think she had some really bad beef with her mother because I know there were at least two or three times where she said something like ‘I just want to kill that bitch.’ She hated her mom.”

“Did she ever talk about the relationship between her parents?” Kate asked.

“No. She rarely talked about them. She’d vent for a while, get sort of mad, and then that’s usually when we’d have sex. I just…I don’t know. I never thought she’d actually do it.”

“Do what?” Barnes asked.

Jeremy then looked up at them as if they had missed the entire point. “Seriously? Look…like I said. She seems sort of innocent, aside from being sort of a nympho, but if you’re looking for her parents’ killer…find her. I guarantee you Mercy killed her parents and then just split town.”

CHAPTER SIX

So far, no one had actually taken the seat on the opposite side of the desk; Kate, DeMarco, and Barnes were all still standing. But when Jeremy made such a bold statement, Sheriff Barnes walked slowly to the chair and sat down directly across from the teenager. There was a mixture of sadness and fury in his eyes as he pointed an accusatory finger in Jeremy’s face.

“I’ve been sheriff in this town for sixteen years. I knew Wendy and Alvin Fuller quite well. And as far as I know, Mercy Fuller was a stand-up young woman. Certainly not a trouble-making piece of shit like you. So if you’re going to sit here and make such an accusation, I suggest you have a damn good story to back it up.”