Page 38

“Well, your dad’s a bit too late if he’s thinking of defending mine. For one thing, Derrek’s dead. For another, he’s every bit as guilty as people think he is. Now, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but that’s about all I care to say about that man.”

“I’m not here on behalf of my dad,” I said. “But I know a little something about living in the shadow of a legend. I know it’s not the same as what you must have experienced. But anyway, my client is actually Geneva Bell. Does that name mean anything to you?”

Boone’s face became unreadable.

“Boone?” Raven popped her head into his office. “Your one o’clock called. She’ll be here a little early.”

Boone’s eyes flicked to hers over my shoulder. I glanced at a photo on the wall above Boone’s head. He was standing on a beach with the sunset behind him. He wore rolled-up khaki pants and a light-blue button-down shirt, open at the collar. He had his arms wrapped around a woman as she kissed his cheek. I realized Raven was the woman in the photo. She wasn’t just a designer who worked for him. She was at least his girlfriend. Maybe his wife.

“It’s okay,” Boone said to her. “I’ll be finished with Ms. Gale soon. Would you mind shutting the door when you leave?”

I turned and saw Raven give him a hard look. Boone must have mouthed something to her. I watched Raven’s eyes go wide in an unspoken protest. But she backed out and shut the door as he asked.

“Yes,” he said. “I know who Geneva Bell is. I’m just surprised. Why would one of Derrek’s victims need a private investigator?”

Derrek. He would not refer to him as his dad. I could understand that.

“I hope you can respect that there are certain confidences I have to keep for my clients. But in this case, Ms. Bell has reason to believe there may be more to the story about what happened to her at Deadwater Lake. Or at the very least, there are certain memories she’s trying to explore. Call it closure, if you will.”

“How could you or she possibly think I could help with that? I’ll tell you what I’ve told every reporter or internet ghoul who’s asked me these questions. Derrek and I weren’t close. My mom kicked him out when I was eleven. Ten years before those girls were killed. I had no relationship with him after that. I was closer to my grandfather than I was to his son. In fact, that’s the only reason I kept my last name. Because it was Grandpa Charlie’s first. And his father’s before that.”

Boone was specific in his recollection and his father’s timeline. Though he’d tried to distance himself from his father as a person, he clearly took an interest in his actions.

“Look, that you’ve given me even this much of your time, I appreciate it. I wish there were some other way or some other lead I could follow. Believe me, I’m still looking. But it’s important for my investigation to try to find out who your dad ... who Derrek ... was associating with in those final years. Did you visit him? Did he reach out to you? Maybe when he escaped custody. If he had called ...”

“I would have immediately called the cops. They put me under surveillance. I was a junior in college. Do you understand what that did to me? I had armed police officers following me around campus. They monitored my phone calls. My social media. They didn’t believe me that I would have been the last person Derrek would have reached out to. I would have turned him in if he showed up. I don’t think you understand how awful this has all been.”

Boone opened his laptop and typed something in. Disgust filled his face as he turned the laptop toward me. He’d pulled up an online shopping site. I was looking at Halloween masks.

“Is that …” I was horrified. This particular site had a whole page dedicated to ghoulish masks in the likeness of infamous serial killers. John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and the Adonis Killer, Derrek Sidney.

“For a while, people would approach me on the street wearing those things. I had a stalker for a while. I tried to get a protection order but the court wouldn’t grant it because it wasn’t considered a credible threat.”

“I’m so sorry. I really don’t mean to add to your distress over this. I’m really just trying to help my client. Can I ask you about Derrek’s personal effects?” I asked. “You were his next of kin. What happened to Derrek’s belongings? His house? The contents of it?”

“None of that could help either. You don’t think the FBI pored over every single thing Derrek ever touched?”

“You didn’t answer my question. What happened to it?”

Boone clenched his jaw. Still though, no answer.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t help you.”

“Will you at least think about it? Listen. Someone is harassing Geneva Bell. Someone she believes knew your father or what happened out at Deadwater Lake intimately.”

“It’s some crackpot. I get those all the time. I’m sorry that’s happening to her. Truly.”

“I’m not so sure,” I said. “Whoever this is knows details they shouldn’t. Things Geneva never told anyone about her experience that night. I knew it was a long shot coming here. But as I said, I’m running out of places to look.”

“Look somewhere else!” Raven burst in. Clearly, the walls were thinner than I realized.

“Raven ...”

“No,” she said. “This has gone on long enough. Ms. Gale, you have no idea the hell this man has been through. He’s had to rebuild his life more than once because of his genetic bad luck. We are not interested in risking this association again. Please leave.”

I could respect her protectiveness over the man she loved, if he was that. At the same time, I felt certain Boone was about to cooperate.

“I’m sorry for what happened to Geneva Bell,” Boone said. “I hope she’s okay. You can please tell her that. I deeply regret what that man put her through.”