Page 95
‘You know.’
Mary looked away, unsure what to say.
‘Mom,’ Otis said. ‘This is bullshit. Tell the truth. Is this linked to the letters? And the photos?’
Mary closed her eyes.
‘I don’t know,’ she said, after a long pause. ‘That’s the truth, Otis. And Sally. But I think there’s a fair chance it is.’
Sally gave a low wail. ‘Someone killed our dog?’ she said. ‘What the fuck?’
Mary did not think this was the moment for a lecture on language; besides, she agreed with her daughter’s sentiment.
‘Are we safe here?’ Otis said. The question hung between them all.
Ryan answered.
‘I think so,’ he said. He looked at his watch. ‘For now, the best thing to do is go to school. We can figure out what – if anything – we need to do later. Your mom and I need to discuss this with the police.’ He looked at Mary. ‘Make sense?’
Mary nodded. Nothing made sense, really, but this was as good as it was going to get.
Gray Turner arrived an hour later. Mary was standing at the kitchen window and saw his car come down the street. She opened the door and gestured to him to come inside.
‘Coffee?’ Ryan said.
He shook his head. ‘I had one already this morning. These days if I have too much I’m in and out of the bathroom like a toddler.’
Ryan poured two. He handed one to Mary, then sat down opposite Gray.
‘You want to walk me through what happened?’ Gray said.
Ryan explained it all; how Wally’s barking had woken him, how he had come downstairs, struggled with the intruder, who had fled into the night. He pointed at Wally.
‘And then I saw Wally. He had just killed him.’
Gray shook his head. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘This is horrendous.’ He paused. ‘The description I got was quite vague. Five ten, five eleven, wearing a dark hoodie. Which explains why it took me an hour to get here.’
‘What does?’ Mary said.
‘I went somewhere on the way. Five ten, five eleven, wearing a hoodie. Could be lots of people, but it happens to fit Dylan Therriault.’
‘It’s not him,’ Mary said. ‘Or Trent, my neighbour. It’s Ben Cox. I can explain—’
A shadow crossed Gray’s face. ‘I’m not sure it is.’
‘Why?’ Mary said. ‘Why not?’
‘We traced bicyclefreak,’ Gray said. ‘Turned out it was easy enough for the tech guys.’
‘And?’ Ryan said. ‘Was it Ben Cox?’
‘No.’ Gray looked from Ryan to Mary. ‘It was Dylan.’
A Terrible Mistake
‘Are you sure?’ Mary said.
‘You look disappointed,’ Gray said, his face creasing in confusion.
