Memory Man

Bogart said, “Don’t try to spin this into something positive. Mr. Evers. The statute of limitations might have run out on the rape and assault, but if you try to obstruct justice, I’ll have your ass in a prison cell faster than you can take another puff on that cigarette.”

Evers stared at him for a moment and then hurried on with his story. “Well, I guess things got outta hand. She fought back real hard. So they had to, well, beat her up some. I guess one of ’em hit her so hard they thought they’d killed her. She was unconscious and bleeding and everything. And Giles told me she stopped breathing. So they got a little scared and they threw her in the Dumpster behind the school and then they all took off. But she come to and dragged herself outta there. She went to the cops and reported it. Like I said, the chief was my old buddy, owed me for things in the past. Called me. Her parents knew, of course. She told ’em. I scraped every dime I could get my hands on to keep it quiet.” His face turned into a mask of fury. “The Wyatts sucked me dry. The bastards.”

“Is that the way you saw it?” asked Bogart. “A negotiation?”

“It’s the way they saw it. Look around. I live in this shitpile now. Wife long dead. It killed her. She knew. Killed her dead. Took every penny I got. Sold every property I had, all my assets, gone. The damn Wyatts probably built some mansion somewhere, hell, I don’t know. And they were the ones brought that freak into this world. And I live here after busting my hump for sixty years. This is all I got to show for it.” He looked around. “My fridge is twenty years old. Haven’t had a new car in forever. One out there don’t even run.”

“Well, I’m sure it’s been painful for you,” said Bogart dryly.

Decker said, “But why do anything? Why pay any money? It was they-said, she-said. The whole town was against her. The cops could have gotten rid of the evidence. Protecting their own. And the chief was your buddy. The Wyatts suckered you.”

Evers puffed on his cigarette and shook his head resignedly. “No sir, they weren’t bluffing. They had evidence.”

“How?” asked Bogart.

“Before Belinda Wyatt went home she walked herself on over to the damn hospital and they did a rape and assault kit. No question she’d been raped and beat up bad. Had my boy’s evidence on it. And everybody else’s. DNA, blood, and skin under her fingernails, all that shit. Dead to rights. Then, like I said, Belinda told her parents what happened.”

“But they didn’t call the cops,” said Decker.

“No, they knew the lay of the land in Mercy. The Everses were at the top. Everybody else, not so much. No one here woulda given a damn, but the Wyatts played it smart. Had to hand it to them. They threatened to turn everything over to the state police, the FBI even. Well, I had to do something.” He finished his cigarette and stared over at Decker. “Couldn’t let my only son go down over messing up some piece of trash.”

Decker said, “I thought you were of the mind to live and let live? The Lord makes ’em in lots of different ways? What will be will be?”

Evers looked at him cagily. “Yeah, well, the Lord wasn’t going to get my boy off a rape charge if we let it get outside’a Mercy, was he?”

“What were the circumstances of your son’s disappearance?” asked Decker.

“Pretty damn simple. Went out drinking one night and never came back.”

“Is he married, have any kids?”

“Divorced. Wife’s gone and took the kids. Got his ass kicked off the police force. He lived here with me.”

Well, that’s some justice, thought Decker.

“Why all this interest now?” Evers wanted to know.

“Have you received anything that seemed off, weird, inexplicable?” asked Decker, ignoring the old man’s question.

Evers thought for a moment. “Well, there’s that one thing.”

“What thing?” said Decker quickly.

“Hell, I’ll go fetch it.” The old man struggled up and was gone for a minute.

Bogart looked at Decker. “Well, this explains why Wyatt is doing what she’s doing. Revenge. She picked Mansfield because of what happened to her at the high school here.”

Lancaster added, “And she picked her victims the same way. Mirrored the people who nearly killed her. Six football players, the coach, and the assistant principal.”

Jamison looked at Decker. “But it still doesn’t explain why she came after you.”

Decker stared back at her. “No, it doesn’t.”

Evers returned with a single piece of paper. “Somebody slipped this under my door a few months back. Never could make heads nor tails of it.”

He handed it to Decker. The others gathered around to look at it.

It was a printout of a Web page. Its title was “Justice Denied.” Underneath was a list of names, and next to each was a crime: murder, rape, assault, kidnapping.

At the bottom of the page there was a declaration. “Each of these crimes was committed by a man in a police uniform. And every single one was covered up. But we will not forget. Justice will not be denied.”