Page 5 of Shadow of Justice
“Erin Simmons,” she said. “Erin Luke Simmons. Ellie was her older sister. They were three years apart.”
The door opened behind me. Sam walked in first followed by Gus. Hayden straightened upon seeing him. Gus could have that effect on people. He had a gruff appearance and a constant scowl. It took a while to get past all of that with him. When you did—if you were one of the lucky few Gus Ritter allowed close to him—he was one of the kindest, most loyal people I knew.
Sam introduced Gus and Hayden. Gus took the seat Sam had occupied. Sam and I moved to the other end of the table.
“I’ve brought Gus up to speed with what you told us so far,” Sam said.
“Okay,” she said.
“Ms. Simmons,” Gus said. “Do you mind if we record the rest of this conversation?”
“No,” she said. “Actually, I would prefer it. I know who you are, Detective Ritter.”
“You do?” he said.
“Yes. This was your case. You’re the one who worked on my Aunt Ellie’s murder all those years ago. Do you remember it?”
Gus did something I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him do. He flinched.
“Yes,” he answered. “Ellie Luke was my case.”
“Then I think I have as many questions for you as you have for me,” Hayden said.
“I’ll do my best to answer them,” Gus said. “But your aunt’s case is still open. Some things I won’t be able to discuss. You’re okay with that?”
“I’m not okay with any of this. If I had some kind of time machine, I might just want to erase the last two months. That would be easiest. But … then I think about living in that house with them. And I can’t breathe.”
“Hayden, I asked you before,” I said. “Are you saying you don’t feel safe in your home?”
“No,” she said. “Nobody wants to hurt me. Not physically. But I don’t know what they’re going to do when they find out what I told you people.”
“One step at a time,” Gus said. “What’s going on, Hayden?”
“Tell them,” she said. “Tell them what happened to Ellie Luke, Detective Ritter.”
“We don’t have all the answers,” he said. “But Ellie was last seen at the home of one of her patients. She worked an eleven to seven a.m. shift. Sometime after she left, something happened to her. She never made it home. Her mother … I guess your grandmother … reported her missing just before noon the next day. She just vanished. No trace. Nobody seemed to know anything. Then, a few months later, her remains were found in the woods by a hunter. There wasn’t much to go on there. But it was determined she died of blunt force trauma to the back of her head.”
Gus’s words were cold, clinical. But I knew him well enough to know he was leaving a lot out.
“I was telling Sheriff Cruz and Ms. Brent. For half my life, I didn’t even know Ellie Luke existed. I thought my mom was an only child.”
“Your mom,” Gus said. “Your mom is Erin Luke?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Go on.”
“I was always told not to bring it up. My dad would say it made my mom too sad. My mom would say the same thing about her parents. You just don’t talk about Ellie. It’s too painful. Too hard. I just have so many questions. What happened? Why couldn’t you find out who killed her? Who was she? So finally, a few months ago, I started looking for answers online. It didn’t take long before I stumbled on this forum. All these people, amateur sleuths. They had sub-forums talking about different unsolved murders in the state. I found one dedicated to my aunt. It was so strange. Strangers knew more about her than I did.”
“What was the name of the forum?” Gus asked.
“CCTS. Cold Case Truth Sleuths. I will admit. I got a little obsessed. But it felt like it was the only way I could talk about my aunt. It felt like these people cared more about her and what happened to her than her own family did. I know that’s not fair. I know it’s just painful for my mom and grandparents. This thing ripped them all apart. And it answered so many questions about how they are. Why my grandma has been so sad. Why she stares off into space sometimes and won’t talk. Why my grandpa ended up in AA. Why my mom is such a people pleaser and so nervous all the time.”
“That had to be really hard to grow up around,” I said. “It’s natural you would have questions.”
“But they had answers. The people on CCTS. They knew everything about Ellie. That she was a nursing student. She worked nights doing home health care. She had friends. Got straight As. Was a cheerleader. They knew the details of her murder. How she was found months later, nothing but bones. How she was posed under a tree. Morbid stuff. Some of these online sleuths had pictures of my family I’d never seen before.”
“What kind of pictures?” Gus asked.
