Page 46 of Everyone Here Is Lying
“Can you?” She looks back at him desperately. “Can you really do that?”
The relief she so obviously feels at this makes Gully feel genuinely sorry for her, even though she’s angry that she didn’t come forward voluntarily, and sooner. It might have made all the difference.
•••
Marion Cooke isuneasy as she leaves the police station after signing her written statement. She’d parked her car on the street and now she walks that way. It’s after four o’clock, but she doesn’t want to go home yet. She decides to walk around downtown for a while, to clear her head. As she walks, glancing in shop windows, her thoughts turn to what might happen now.
Thirty-two
Nora Blanchard opens her front door just before five o’clock and feels the world tilt. It’s the detectives, Bledsoe and Gully, back again, and they look grim.
“Is your son home?” Bledsoe asks.
She wants to lie, tell them he’s out—anything to prevent what she knows is going to happen next. But Ryan is already coming down the stairs; he must have heard the knock. Or maybe he’s been watching for them out his window, expecting them.
Nora can’t speak. She feels a terrible dread. Ryan comes and stands beside her.
Bledsoe looks at Ryan and says, “The witness has come forward, the one who saw Avery get into your car on Tuesday afternoon at four thirty.” He adds, “We’re taking you into custody. You’re under arrest.” Bledsoe reads him his rights again.
Ryan turns white as the cuffs go on. He bursts out, “They’re lying!”
Nora finds her voice. “It’s not true! Who is this witness?” she cries. But they ignore her. As they take her son away, Nora calls after him, “I’m coming with you, Ryan. I’m right behind you. I’ll call Oliver. I’ll get your father. We’ll be there with you.”
•••
Gully drives, occasionallyglancing via the rearview mirror at the white-faced boy sitting handcuffed and silent in the back. Bledsoe is beside her, probably running through his mind how he’s going to conduct the interrogation. They know they can’t talk to him until his attorney, Oliver Fuller, is present. For that reason, they probably won’t get anything out of him. But Bledsoe will try to scare him, then offer him hope—offer him something to make him talk. A lot depends on what happens in the next hour or two. Gully takes a deep breath. She knows they can’t fuck this up.
The attorney wastes no time getting to the station. They are soon all seated together in the interview room—Bledsoe and Gully on one side of the table, Ryan and Oliver Fuller on the other, like before. The interview is being videotaped. The cuffs have been removed.
“This is serious, Ryan,” Bledsoe begins. “A girl is missing.” Ryan stares straight ahead, not meeting the detectives’ eyes. But he’s trembling like a leaf. “We have a credible witness who will testify that they saw Avery getting into your car at approximately four thirty on Tuesday afternoon. And no one has seen her since.” He pauses. “We know you didn’t get home until sometime between six and six thirty. What were you doing in that time?”
Gully studies Ryan Blanchard, trying to read him. Did this trembling boy do something to Avery?
“What is the name of this witness?” the attorney asks.
“You’ll find out in due course,” Bledsoe says. “But we know who it is. The witness is very credible and has been into the station this afternoon to make a written statement.”
Gully sees a flicker of concern cross the attorney’s face.
“We all know that eyewitnesses are notoriously unreliable,” the attorney says. “Have you any other evidence?”
“Not yet. But I’m sure we’ll find it.”
Bledsoe seems confident, but Gully knows that so far, they’ve found nothing in Ryan Blanchard’s house or car. No bloodstained clothing, nothing that belonged to Avery. They’ve been through all the drone footage and have seen nothing of Avery ever being with Ryan—or anyone else. They’ve got the preliminary forensics back on Ryan’s car, and come up empty. If the girl was in his car, it was probably for a short time, and he could have cleaned it afterward. There are no signs that she was assaulted or killed in that car. But he could have driven her out to the country somewhere, attacked her, murdered her, hidden her body. They have his cell phone records so they know roughly where he drove that afternoon. That rural area is being searched as they speak. But if they don’t find her, and if he doesn’t talk, it makes it bloody difficult to get the evidence they need.
“Here’s the thing, Ryan,” Bledsoe says, leaning forward and fixing his eyes on the frightened boy. “If there’s any chance that Avery is still alive, it is in your best interest to tell us where she is. Things will go much easier for you if you do.”
Ryan says, “She never got in my car, I swear.” He turns to his lawyer. “Why don’t they believe me? Why do they believe this other person? Whoever it is, is lying!”
Bledsoe continues as if the boy hadn’t spoken. “And if Averyisn’t still alive, it is still in your best interest to cut a deal. Do the decent thing and tell us where she is. Give the parents some closure.” The boy appears to be struck dumb. Bledsoe sits back in his chair again and says, “Tell us what happened, Ryan. Was it an accident? You didn’t mean to kill her, did you?”
“Stop!” the boy screams. He raises his hands to cover his ears.
The attorney studies Ryan briefly and says, “I’d like a moment with my client.”
•••
After a few minutes,the attorney beckons them back in. Gully reenters the interview room with Bledsoe and looks at the boy in the chair. He’s obviously been crying, and she allows herself to hope. Perhaps he’s ready to talk. Maybe they can end this.
