Keep Quiet (7 page)

“Jake, are you sure you weren’t injured in any way?”

“I’m fine, thanks.”

“Okay then. I’ll have you sign some paperwork, if that’s okay. Come with me. I have the file in the office.” Donna started walking to the front of the store, and Jake and Christopher fell into step beside her.

Christopher looked over with a smile. “How about we treat you to a cup of coffee?”

“No thanks,” Jake answered, with a twinge. Donna went to the door, yanked it open, and led them inside the store.

Christopher split off. “Okay, Jake, see you later. I gotta get back to the register. Let me know what Mike says about the car.”

“Will do, Christopher. Thanks for the assist. I owe you one.” Jake followed Donna past stacks of bound newspapers, shelves of blue antifreeze jugs, and a refrigerated case of prepared salads and hard-boiled eggs. A customer in a down jacket and sweatpants stood at the lineup of bronze plastic coffee canisters, where the air smelled of hazelnut flavoring and Lysol.

“This way,” Donna called over her shoulder, leading him around the hoagie counter, down a short hallway, and into a cramped office that contained a box of paper towels, a cluttered gray desk, and a cheap black chair. A bulletin board held shift schedules, OSHA notices, and a cluster of kids’ school pictures, next to a black metal shelf with a trio of security monitors, one of which had a red Phillies cap sitting on top.

“Go Phils,” Jake said, nervous. He hadn’t counted on the security monitors, and he could see that the one in the middle overlooked the side parking lot.

“Are you a baseball fan?” Donna fetched a manila folder from a tan file cabinet against the wall.

“Who isn’t?” Jake couldn’t stop looking at the security monitor. Its resolution was remarkably good, in full color, and he could clearly see the Audi’s far side embedded in the Dumpster. He’d caught a lucky break in that the view of the camera was on the driver’s side of the car, so it wouldn’t have picked up the dent on the passenger side when he’d pulled in. Still, he wondered if Donna had seen the accident as it occurred or if there was a digital copy or videotape.

“Here we go.” Donna set a few forms in front of him. “These say that you had an accident here and that you declined to go to the hospital. Would you sign them? We have to have it for the lawyers.”

“I understand.” Jake picked up a pen and started signing the forms, preoccupied with the security camera. He gestured to the monitor. “Look at that. My God, it looks like the car is growing out of the Dumpster.”

“It kinda does, doesn’t it?” Donna eyed the screen. “I’m sorry for you. That’s a really sweet car.”

“Thanks.” Jake flipped to the next page of forms. “That monitor is good quality. Do you get a lot of detail?”

“Yes. We have it in case we get held up, but that hasn’t happened yet. Knock wood.” Donna rapped her knuckles on her head. “I tell my mom, it’s Concord Chase. The worst thing that happens here is minors trying to buy cigarettes. Still, she hates my working the night shift. She worries.”

“That’s what parents are for, to worry about their kids.” Jake cringed inwardly. He finished signing the forms and pushed them across the desk to her. “Here we go. Do you ever watch the monitor?”

“Mostly I’m busy on the floor.”

“So you didn’t see my accident?”

“No, sorry. I just heard the noise and covered the floor while Christopher ran out.”

“Of course.” Jake let it go. He didn’t want to arouse her suspicion or provoke her into playing the video. “When do you think the police will get here? I should call my wife and give her the heads-up that I’ll need a ride later.”

“They said they had a car nearby.”

Suddenly the door opened, and Christopher stuck his head inside the office. A tall, middle-aged police officer stood behind him, and Jake’s mouth went dry. Christopher said, “Donna, look who’s here, Officer John!”

“Yo, Officer John!” Donna burst into a grin, went to the door, and threw her arms around the policeman, who hugged her back.

“Hey, good to see you, girl!” he boomed, releasing her. He had a broad smile and friendly blue eyes under a black CTPD knit cap. A silver badge gleamed from his black nylon jacket, and embroidered white block letters over his right breast, which read
MCMULLEN
.

“You, too! When did you get back?”

“Yesterday.” Officer McMullen grinned back at Donna. “I’m back in the pink and all healed up. I have rehab for a coupla weeks, but I’m good. How have you been?”

“Fine, thanks.” Donna’s gaze shifted to Jake. “Mr. Buckman, Officer John just recovered from hip replacement. Don’t think it was anything cool like a gunshot wound.”

“Oh.” Jake managed a smile.

“Donna, I got a metal hip, I’m Robocop!” Officer McMullen shot back, and the others laughed, then the policeman faced Jake and extended a hand. “Sir, are you the gentleman who had the accident?”

“Yes. Jake Buckman.” Jake prayed his palm wasn’t sweaty and shook the officer’s hand. “Thanks for coming out.”

“It’s no bother, sir. First things first. I understand you declined medical treatment?”

“Yes, I’m fine, really. I want to do whatever needs to be done for you and for the insurance company, then my wife will come pick me up.”

“I’ll need to take a statement and I won’t keep you too long. Where do you live?”

“The Chetwynd development.”

“Sure, I know it, about fifteen minutes away. I’ll give you a lift home.”

“No, that’s okay. I’ll call her, I hate to put you out.” Jake hid his alarm. The last thing he wanted was to ride home with a cop, and God forbid that Ryan saw him pull up in a police cruiser.

“It’s no trouble. I’m happy to do it.”

Donna burst into laughter. “Of course he’s happy to do it! Officer John gets lonely tooling around in his copmobile, since his partner got reassigned. He’ll talk your ear off. The siren’s the only thing that shuts him up.”

“Ha! Very funny, Donna.” Officer McMullen laughed again, then motioned Jake forward in a way that was suddenly authoritative. “Come with me, sir. I’ll make an incident report, then I’ll give you a lift home. I insist.”

Chapter Eight

Jake followed Officer McMullen to his cruiser, a black-and-white muscle car with a massive chrome grille and a sleek modern lightbar on the roof.
CHETWYND POLICE,
read gold reflective letters on its jet-black door. Jake had managed not to be nervous when he’d given Officer McMullen his statement about the Dumpster accident because Donna had stayed with them, interrupting with chatter. But now that Jake was alone with the cop, he felt anxious about the ride home. He could have handled it before the news about Kathleen Lindstrom, but not now. It was as if he had too many emotions to hide.

“Mr. Buckman, there is no room for you up front. Don’t take it personally. My duty bag takes up the whole damn passenger seat. See?” Officer McMullen motioned to the front seat of the cruiser, where a gray nylon messenger bag filled the passenger seat next to a laptop mounted over the console, tilted toward the driver’s seat. A large black AK-47 was mounted upright between the two front seats, its butt down and its lethal muzzle facing up.

“I see,” Jake said, trying to get his act together.

“There’s not much room in this car, that’s the problem. We got these new Dodge Chargers with a hemi. We love ’em because they’re so fast. But they’re not that comfortable and the seats are small. Sometimes I miss the old Crown Vics.” Officer McMullen opened the back door. “Here you go, sir.”

“Thank you.” Jake climbed into the backseat, which had no cushioning, but was made of molded gray plastic and separated from the front seat by a metal barrier and a thick plastic panel, with a sliding window in the middle.

“Buckle up, sir.” Officer McMullen shut the heavy door, which made a solid sound.

“Thanks.” Jake reached for the shoulder harness, buckling himself in. He felt as if he deserved to be where he was, in the backseat of a cruiser. He should be under arrest, brought to justice to pay for the death of Kathleen Lindstrom.

“How you doing back there, sir? Could you be any less comfortable?” Officer McMullen climbed in the front seat, slammed his door closed, and buckled in his shoulder harness. He reached back and slid aside the window between the front seat and backseat, making a foot-wide opening.

“It’s fine, thanks,” Jake called back, miserably.

“Let’s roll.” Officer McMullen started the ignition, reversed out of the lot, and headed for the exit. “It’s a shame about your car.”

“It sure is.” Jake pulled out his iPhone and checked the time. It was almost nine o’clock, so Pam would be up. He prayed Ryan would still be in his room asleep, so he didn’t know about Kathleen yet.

“My brother-in-law has an Audi. They’re fast, aren’t they?”

“Yes. Excuse me, I’ll just text my wife and tell her we’re on the way.” Jake composed a text to Pam.
Had a minor fender bender. Cop giving me a ride home.

“Good call.” Officer McMullen cruised ahead, talking idly over his shoulder. “I’m married twenty-six years. My wife likes it when she knows what’s going on. Women, they like to know things.”

“Right.” Jake added,
See you soon.
He hit
SEND
and held the phone. He looked out the window at the passing scenery, his heart aching.

“Kind of a busy morning, this one. Everybody’s over at a scene on Pike Road, a hit-and-run. That’s where I was when the property-damage call came in, for you. My supervisor told me to go.”

Oh God.
Jake kept his expression calm, so he didn’t look suspicious in the rearview mirror. He hadn’t anticipated that McMullen would’ve been at the scene, but Pike Road and the Wawa were both in Whiteland Township, which was small. It wasn’t unlikely that the cop who came to the Wawa would also have been on Pike Road.

“I’ll tell you this, it wasn’t pretty.” Officer McMullen slowed the cruiser to a stop at a red light. “The victim was a high-school kid, a jogger. Female.”

“What a shame.” Jake swallowed hard, feeling a wave of regret so powerful he almost confessed. Then it could all be over. He would be punished, he would pay. But so would Ryan.

“They were gathering evidence when I left. No suspects yet, in case you were wondering.”

Jake should have been wondering, but he was still thinking about Kathleen. He flashed on her bloodied face, for the umpteenth time.

“We got a crack team on the case. We call in a team of accident-reconstruction officers who are specially trained to investigate a hit-and-run. We share them. We don’t have the payroll to justify them, or the need, but we borrow them from Pikeland Township.”

Jake nodded, but Officer McMullen didn’t require encouragement to keep talking.

“They’re crackerjack, five full-fledged accident-reconstruction specialists. Most of our guys were active-duty law enforcement, so they have a lot of experience too. We call it the total station.”

“I see.” Jake had to get it together. As anguished as he felt about Kathleen, it worried him to think of how expert the police could be. He felt his gut wrench, caught between feeling guilty and not wanting to get caught, for Ryan’s sake.

“They go out there with equipment, like surveyor’s equipment with the scope, and they triangulate the scene. They measure everything. They look for skidmarks, any damage, any trace evidence or other physical evidence, like pieces of the headlamp or any part that came off the car.” Officer McMullen kept his eyes on the road, and they looked flinty in the glare from the bright gray sky. “They collect that evidence, log it in, and bag it, and they can run down exactly what car it was, make and model, the whole nine.”

Jake’s phone signaled an incoming text, and he looked down. It was Pam, saying,
Oh no, are you okay?

“It’s all up-to-the-minute technology, those guys are something else. They come back and upload all the data into the computer and they can completely rebuild the accident. They can tell you exactly how it happened.”

Jake texted back,
I’m fine, don’t worry. Go to the gym if you want to. Don’t wait for me.

“This poor kid was knocked out of her shoes, her sneakers. Most pedestrians who get hit, they get knocked out of their shoes. I bagged her sneaker myself.”

Jake couldn’t hide the revulsion he felt inside and he didn’t try. He was the lowest form of life on the planet.

“A few months ago, I worked a scene, this is kind of gory, but we got body parts, like the skull. We put that in these cans, looks just like a regular paint can, gallon size. That’s for evidence that can decompose. We get all the evidence we can and we comb the area for debris. You never know what’ll pay off.”

Jake’s phone signaled a text. Pam replied,
Not going to the gym. Ryan’s sick.

“And that’s only the beginning. We knock on doors, we ask the neighbors what did you see.”

Jake guessed Ryan must have found out that their victim was his classmate. He texted quickly,
what’s the matter?

“Plus normally we can usually get good tapes from the cameras on the street, like the red-light cameras and such. They’re usually a real help.”

Jake felt panic tightening his chest. He hadn’t thought that street cameras or red-light cameras could have spotted them the night of the accident, and evidently, Ryan was awake and talking to Pam.

“Unfortunately, we got no red-light cameras on Pike Road. There’s nothing on that street. You know where else we get good evidence, usually?” Officer McMullen glanced in the rearview, waiting for an answer.

“No, where?” Jake asked, lightly. The text alert sounded on his phone, and Pam responded,
God only knows. Ttyl.