What Janie Saw(45)

                Finally, Nathan hung up the phone. His mood had gone from annoyed to testy. “I spoke to the woman we arrested. She admitted to knowing Derek, but not a Chad or Chris.”

                “It’s as if they are ghosts,” Justin said.

                “Speaking of people who personally knew Derek,” Rafe said, “when were you going to tell me about Justin’s connection to Derek?”

                “I wasn’t going to,” Nathan admitted. “I was thinking you’d get to read it in a report stamped SOLVED.”

                The testiness gone, Nathan suddenly looked tired.

                “Anything else you’re withholding?” Rafe asked.

                “Just how mad I am about drugs in my town and police evidence going missing,” Nathan said, unhappily. “I mentioned that I was at a meth bust on Friday. A landlord decided to stop by his rural rental property for a surprise visit. When the tenant took a shot at him, he called us. We found their meth lab. The renters were a man, his girlfriend and their two children, ages one and two. We took both children to the hospital. The one-year-old has respiratory problems.”

                Rafe felt the burn begin.

                Justin said something under his breath before saying, “You’d be talking about the Tanners. I’ve been to their place. They’re small fry. The bust is probably the best thing to happen to them because it might be a wake-up call.”

                “Their children should be the wake-up call,” Nathan snarled. “They’re making drugs where their children breathe! I didn’t call you back right away, Rafe, because besides the respiratory problems, the one-year-old also had a few broken ribs and a long burn on his arm.”

                Rafe watched as Janie’s eyes teared up. She’d not had much of a childhood, either.

                “For the past two days,” Nathan said soberly, “those two toddlers were my priority. I just don’t understand those people. Family is the most important thing.”

                Rafe agreed.

                “But then again,” Nathan continued, “the love of family didn’t keep my ex-wife from doing anything and everything she could to secure her next fix.”

                He seemed to get a hold of himself and refocused on the case. Nathan showed Rafe what his cops had been doing, who’d they’d spoken to and where they’d been. Rafe read the reports on the campus police officers. None had criminal records; all were ex-police. Janie was once again scanning photos and going over her re-creation of Derek’s art book to see what she could add, change, delete.

                “He’d included the license numbers on the car, but I just can’t remember them,” she mourned. “I mean, he had so many details.”

                She’d redrawn the pages three times in fifteen minutes. With each likeness, she grew more and more frustrated. Finally, Rafe held out his hand to help her up from the chair. “You’ve done enough tonight. Let’s get you home. Tomorrow’s a new day.”

                She took her purse from beside Nathan’s desk and slowly draped it over her shoulder. They said goodbye to Nathan. Justin had already left with his pretend buddies, all cursing at the top of their lungs about the Adobe Hills Police Department.

                As Rafe bid good-night to the desk sergeant and held the door open for Janie, he relaxed a bit. The lobby was silent. “I’m not sure I needed to be a part of all that,” Janie said after Rafe escorted her back to his car and after she’d climbed in, took his place behind the wheel.