“I don’t get why Asher Mayfield didn’t lose custody after he was charged with multiple crimes, though.”
“It seemed like he was good at disappearing when things got hot,” Sam said.
They stepped out into the chilly April air and were greeted by Vernon, who held the back door of the SUV for her. She was happy to see him after such a difficult day.
“Heard about the Ahern girl. How’re you doing?”
“Terrible, but I’m determined to see her parents on the way home.”
“Do you have to do that?”
“I feel compelled.”
“Let’s get it done, then.”
When they were on the way to the Aherns’ home, Sam called Tristan McCaffery, the juvenile parole officer.
“McCaffery.”
“It’s Lieutenant Holland with the MPD.”
“I heard you found Brecken Mayfield.”
“We did, and I have questions.”
“I’m sure you do.”
“First and foremost, we’re wondering how Brecken remained in his father’s custody when both of them were committing multiple crimes and the son wasn’t attending school.”
“We brought CPS in multiple times. The kid refused to be relocated. He was physically and verbally abusive to anyone and everyone who tried to take him from his father. After the last time we tried to get CPS involved, the Mayfields took off. We had officers trying to find them, but their trail went cold. Eventually, we quit actively looking for them because we had so many other cases to deal with. The disappearance was reported to the court and school district, and warrants were issued for them.”
“Would you be surprised to learn they were living just off Connecticut Avenue, and that’s where they held two young boys hostage and used their phones to lure a young girl to her death?”
After a long pause, McCaffery said, “I’m not surprised.”
“I hate to be a pain in your ass, but you do realize there’ll be fallout over this, right? Brecken was in our system, but we lost track of him and stopped looking for him.”
“I’ve known for a long time that kid could be the one who ends my career prematurely.”
“And yet, no alarm was sounded. No one said, ‘Hey, we’ve got a pretty dangerous kid on the loose in this city and people need to be aware’?”
“He’s a juvenile. We don’t put them on blast.”
“Who was responsible for the father?”
“That’d be the adult division. I can give you the number for their director.”
“Thank you.” Sam wrote down the name and number he recited.
“Can you tell me what Brecken will be charged with?”
“First degree murder and sexual assault, to start.”
“Jesus.”
“Take care, Mr. McCaffery.” She closed the phone, feeling outraged. “They don’t put dangerous juveniles on blast, you see.”
“I caught the gist,” Freddie said. “And he’s right. Juvenile criminals are protected by the system.”
