Latent Danger (On the Line #2)(29)

Despite the difference in appearance, the girls stood close, as though gathering strength from one another.

“Kate, Liz,” Shauna said, “what is it?”

Kate bit her lip and Zach could see her chin tremble. He didn’t think she was faking it.

Liz spoke for Kate. “Kate needs to tell you guys some things about...um...” she looked around but the lobby of the police station was empty, save for a single man sprawled in a chair on the other side of the space. His headphones and closed eyes said he wasn’t paying any attention to them. “About Sawyer.”

Zach nodded. “Come on up, girls. Does the school know you’re here?” It was after school hours, but Zach wanted to find out how they’d gotten here and who knew they were here.

“I drove us over,” Liz said.

The ride in the elevator was tight, but Zach kept the conversation going. “Kate, are your parents back in town?”

“Yes,” she said. “Do we need to tell them I’m here?”

“We can if you want to, but it’s not necessary,” Zach added. They stepped out of the elevator and he gestured down the hall to an empty room. Ronan tilted his head to the bullpen, silently letting Zach know he would leave Shauna and Zach to the interview.

“I don’t want them to know I’m here,” Kate said quickly.

Shauna nodded and they all sat in a room with couches and a water cooler. It was designed for interviewing witnesses they wanted to set at ease rather than intimidate. “We don’t need to tell them,” Shauna repeated.

Kate and Liz weren’t suspects in the case, and they weren’t in custody. At seventeen, there was no requirement that they have fifteen minutes alone with a parent, guardian, or an adult present when they talked to the detectives.

They sat and Zach tried to keep his expression and tone open. “What is it you want to talk to us about?” He didn’t say “tell us,” because he had a feeling if anything so much as hinted that Kate was about to tattle on someone, they might not have her here long.

Kate looked down and then glanced at Liz who nodded to her. Shauna slid into the seat across from Kate while Zach took a step back.

“You can talk to us, Kate. It’s all right.” Shauna said the words, then waited, not pressing too hard.

“I think Carrie went to see Sawyer the day she was killed.”

Zach schooled his features. Unfortunately, she wasn’t telling them anything they didn’t already suspect. So far, what she’d said didn’t do anything to clear up his concerns that Sawyer wasn’t the killer. Based on what she was saying, Sawyer could very well be guilty of raping Carrie if he drugged her, but not killing her.

Still, anything they could do to firm up the rape allegations could be helpful. He needed to remind himself of that and be patient.

“What makes you think that?” Shauna said.

Kate proceeded to tell them that Carrie wanted to lose her virginity, cheeks flaring hot red as she said it. According to Kate, Carrie knew what Sawyer had done to Hillary and she planned to put herself alone with him in the clubhouse to lose her virginity without having to stress over it.

Zach sat stunned. He thought he’d heard it all, but what the hell had that girl been thinking? It was crazy.

Then again, he knew how much a teenage girl could struggle with confidence and peer pressure. No, he shook his head. He still couldn’t wrap his head around it.

Kate began to cry and within seconds, it had gone from a trickle, to full blown sobs.

“I...” her voice hitched, “I...I...should” she stopped trying when it became clear she couldn’t get the words out.

Liz spoke instead. “She didn’t tell the police when Carrie went missing because she thought Carrie was trying to get away from her parents for a bit. She thought she was just crashing in Sawyer’s clubhouse for a bit.”

“She...never...” Kate tried again.

Shauna reached a hand out to touch the girl’s knee. “Take a deep breath, Kate. Good, good, that’s it. Now another one, slow and steady. Deep breaths.” Shauna crooned the words, slow and steady.

Kate’s crying slowed and the panicked breaths she’d been sucking in moments before calmed to a steadier rate.

Kate tried again, and this time, the words came out. They weren’t steady, but she was able to speak. “She never felt like she could breathe since her dad ran for Senator, you know? She felt trapped with everyone watching everything she did. I thought she was just trying to get away from that for a while.”

Zach did something he didn’t often do. “Kate, it wouldn’t have mattered if you told the police.”

Shauna looked back at him, but she didn’t seem to be chastising him for sharing details of the case with the girls, so he continued. He didn’t want to scare the girls or give them too much information, but he did want to make sure this girl didn’t carry that burden. It was one thing to want her to be honest with them from here-on-out, but he didn’t think she needed to carry the guilt that would come from thinking she’d gotten her friend killed.

“Carrie was killed before the police were called in, Kate. So, even though it’s important for you to share everything you know with us to help us catch her killer, don’t think that anything you did or didn’t tell us could have saved her, okay?”