Here and Gone(27)

Mitchell pointed at the shackles on Audra’s wrists. ‘Officer, I don’t think those are necessary, do you?’

The patrolman looked to Showalter, who nodded. He left his position at the door, taking a key from his pocket as he approached the table, unlocked the bracelets, let them clatter on the tabletop.

‘Are those the clothes you were wearing when you were arrested yesterday?’ Mitchell asked, pointing with her pen.

‘Yes,’ Audra said.

Mitchell closed her eyes and sighed. She opened them again and said, ‘They should have been removed as evidence. Once we’re done here, we’ll get you something else to wear. Now, shall we start?’

‘Okay,’ Audra said.

Mitchell smiled. ‘Comfortable? Would you like some water?’

Audra shook her head.

‘Mrs Kinney … Audra … may I call you Audra?’

Audra nodded.

Mitchell took a breath, smiled, and asked, ‘Audra, what did you do with your children?’

Audra’s head went light and full of sparks. She gripped the edge of the table to steady herself. Her mouth opened and closed, no words to fall from it.

‘Audra, where are they?’

Stay calm, she thought. Reason with her. Explain.

Still gripping the table, Audra took a long deep breath, filled her lungs. ‘They took them.’

‘Who took them?’

‘The sheriff,’ Audra said, her voice rising. She waved her hand at the wall as if Whiteside was on the other side, ear pressed to the cinderblock. ‘And the deputy, the woman, I don’t remember her name.’

‘Do you mean Sheriff Whiteside and Deputy Collins?’

‘Yes, Collins, that’s her.’ Audra became aware of the brittle edge to her voice, breathed again, tried to smooth it. ‘Deputy Collins took Sean and Louise away while I was in the sheriff’s car waiting for the tow truck.’

‘Is that right?’

‘Yes, that’s right. They took them.’

‘I see.’ Mitchell gave her a small, kind smile. ‘Thing is, Audra, Sheriff Whiteside doesn’t remember it like that. He told me this morning that there were no children in the car when he pulled you over.’

‘He’s lying,’ Audra said, her nails digging into her palm.

‘And Deputy Collins says she was nowhere near the County Road when you were stopped. She drove over there to assist Sheriff Whiteside in searching you.’

‘She’s lying too. Don’t you see that?’

‘I also spoke very briefly with a Mr Emmet Calhoun just about thirty minutes ago, and he tells me there were no children around when he towed the car. He thought it odd at the time, because of the booster seat and various bits and pieces he saw in there. He said it was just you in the back of Sheriff Whiteside’s cruiser.’

‘But he came after,’ Audra said, loud enough to make Showalter wince. ‘Of course he didn’t see them, he didn’t get there till after my children had been taken.’

Mitchell laid her hands flat on the table, spread her fingers, like smoothing a sheet. ‘Audra, I need you to calm down. I need you to try to do that for me, okay? I can’t help you unless you’re calm.’

‘I’m calm,’ Audra said, lowering her voice. ‘I’m calm. But I want my children back. They took them. Why aren’t you out looking for them?’

Showalter spoke for the first time. ‘We’ve had a helicopter up in the air since first light, searching from here down to Scottsdale. My colleagues are liaising with police and sheriff’s departments in neighboring counties, getting search parties together. Don’t worry, Mrs Kinney, whatever you did with those kids, we’re going to find them.’

Audra slapped the table with her palm. ‘I didn’t do anything with them. Whiteside and Collins have them, for Christ’s sake, why won’t you listen?’

Mitchell held her gaze for a moment, before turning it to the iPad that lay on the table in front of her. She entered a passcode, illuminating the screen.

‘Audra, I need to show you something.’

Audra sat back in the chair, fear tightening her chest.

Mitchell said, ‘Agents from the Phoenix field office have given your car a preliminary search before it goes to the CID pound for a more detailed analysis. They took a few pictures. Do you recognize this?’

She pulled up an image, turned the iPad so Audra could see it. A striped T-shirt. Sean’s. A reddish-brown stain on the front.

‘Wait, no—’

Mitchell swiped a finger across the screen, replacing that image with another. ‘And this?’

The interior of Audra’s car, the rear footwells, the back of the passenger seat, the passenger-side rear door. With the tip of her pen, Mitchell indicated several points across the image.

‘I’d say those look like bloodstains. What do you think?’

Audra shook her head. ‘No, it’s Sean, he gets nosebleeds. He had one day before yesterday. I had to pull over and get him cleaned up. I wiped around the car, but I couldn’t do it properly, there was no time, it was getting dark.’

Mitchell swiped again. Another image.

Audra said, ‘Oh God.’

‘Audra, tell me what you see in this picture.’

‘Louise’s jeans,’ Audra said. Fresh tears came as she began to quiver. ‘Oh God. And her underpants.’