And Then She Was Gone(99)
Detective Clark looked down at the GPS as though it were a pipe bomb. When he looked up at Jack, the grin Jack expected was not on his face.
“Wait here.” Clark walked over to a man in a suit. Jack thought he recognized the man from the night Jay was arrested. The two spoke briefly, then Clark handed him the GPS and came back to Jack.
“Come with me.” Clark motioned for two uniformed officers to follow him, then led Jack and Two Point down the hall toward the interrogation rooms.
Jack wasn’t eager to go back inside those rooms. “Can we talk in your office?” he asked.
“You.” Clark pointed at Two Point. “In there.” He motioned for one of the cops to accompany Two Point into a room. “Make sure you pat him down,” he added.
Then Clark walked to the next interrogation room and held the door open for Jack.
“I’ll take that as a no,” Jack mumbled as he entered the room.
“Up against the wall,” Clark said calmly.
“What for?”
“Just do it.”
Jack assumed the position. Clark patted him down, then gestured for Jack to sit in the chair.
“Start right after you left me.” Clark’s words popped with clarity.
Jack was confused. Detective Clark’s face was turning crimson, and the vein at his temple throbbed. He thought Clark was going to be so happy that he’d solved the case that Clark would file a motion to have an official Jack Stratton Day. The last thing he’d expected was for Clark to look as if he was about to explode.
“I got home. My dad picked me up after you called him, and he gave me a long lecture. Then Tommy called. He’d heard Jay was in the hospital and he wanted to confess.”
“And he offered you the GPS as proof?”
“No. I was asking how he found Stacy’s wallet—”
“Jay Martin stole Stacy’s wallet.”
“No he didn’t. Tommy found it. At the hill right near where I found her body. The thirteenth bench. It was in the handbag. Tommy took the wallet and threw the handbag into the woods. Robyn, the homeless lady, found it when she went to the bathroom.”
“How’d Tommy get the GPS?”
“Tommy’s been stealing from cars around Hamilton Park. He stole from one that night. The way I figure it, Michael Shaw rented a car in Schenectady and drove back to Fairfield. He only used the hotel as an alibi. So he parks and waits in the woods to kill his wife. Tommy comes along and boosts the GPS from the rental car.” Jack leaned back in the chair, crossed his arms and legs, and grinned. “Proof.”
Clark’s vein continued to throb. “Wait here,” he said. He and the policeman left.
It took Jack a second to realize why the cop didn’t wait with him this time. He was eighteen and no longer a minor.
Jack waited.
And waited.
After at least half an hour of waiting, he tried the door. It was locked.
Jack pounded on the door until a policeman opened it up.
“Where’s Detective Clark?”
“He’ll be back when he gets back. Keep it down or we’ll have to come in and restrain you.”
“Restrain me?”
“Yes.”
“You said, ‘when he gets back’? Did he leave? Like leave the station?”
“Just wait,” the cop said gruffly. He shut and relocked the door.
Jack went back to the table and sat down. He didn’t know what Clark was up to, but he did trust him. He folded his arms on the table and laid his head down.
The door to the interview room opened.
Jack sat up and rubbed his eyes.
Vargas strutted in with a look of disgust on his face. A uniformed policeman followed him. The policeman stood against the door while Vargas walked over to the table and set down the evidence bag with the GPS inside it.
“Nice try, Stratton. It didn’t work.”
“Did you try to plug it in?” Jack asked, confused. “It was filled with water, but you can check the memory card or something, right?”
“I’m not talking about that,” Vargas snapped. “You do think I’m stupid, don’t you? I’m talking about your ruse.”
“My ruse?”
“You think slapping a fake sticker on this GPS and a false confession is going to screw up my case? It won’t.”
Now Jack was completely confused. “Fake sticker?”
“Clark believed you, you know. He drove all the way out to Schenectady. He checked with Liberty Car Rental and had them pull all the car rental records. Not only did Michael Shaw not rent a car, but they’re not missing any GPSs.”
Jack stared blankly at the table. His heart went so cold his chest hurt. “I don’t understand.”
Vargas put one hand on the table and leaned down so he could put his face right near Jack’s.