Missing Pieces(44)

Jack: Not at my house. Near our house. Down the lane. On the highway. The bus picks up a bunch of kids there in the morning and drops us off after school. We walk the rest of the way home.

Gilmore: What kids?

Jack: Like Brad Dahl and Terry Oswald.

Gilmore: That all? Anyone else?

Jack: Amy and Mattie Yoder. Maybe more.

Gilmore: Let me know if I got this down right, Jack. Brad Dahl, Terry Oswald, Amy and Mattie?

Jack: Yeah, but not Amy. She’s at 4-H. (Inaudible, sound of crying.) Does Amy know? Where’s my dad?

Gilmore: You said there might have been more?

Jack: Younger kids. I don’t know all their names.

Gilmore: The bus dropped you all off at three. At the bottom of your lane?

Jack: Yes.

Gilmore: I want you to think really hard before you answer my next question.

Jack: Okay.

Gilmore: What time did you get home today?

Sarah’s stomach clenched and she leaned over so that her nose was nearly touching her knees. She could feel it coming. Jack was going to describe what he found when he came home that terrible day.

Gilmore: What time?

Jack: (Inaudible.) Two. I got home at two.

Again, Jack’s voice broke and she heard the sound of sniffling.

Gilmore: You called the police at 3:05, Jack. You got home at two. What were you doing between 2:00 and 3:05? No lying here, Jack. How did you get home?

Jack: My cousin. I cut school. Dean picked me up. He brought me home in his dad’s truck.

Gilmore: Then what?

Jack: I went inside.

Gilmore: By yourself?

Jack: Yes. Dean left. I went inside. I ate a piece of cake, drank some milk.

Gilmore: Then what, Jack. I don’t want you to leave one thing out.

Jack: I had to pee, so I was going to go upstairs to the bathroom, but Grey was sitting by the cellar door.

Gilmore: Grey is your dog?

Jack: Yes. My mom always makes him go outside when no one is home, so I thought that was kinda weird. I tried to get him to go outside, but he wouldn’t get up. He just sat there by the door, shaking and whimpering.

There was a long pause, just the soft whirring of the tape threading through the recorder. Gilmore was no longer pushing for Jack to answer; he was just waiting to see what Jack would say next. Sarah pressed the back of her hand to her mouth, mentally shouting at Jack to go back, to not open the basement door, but she knew he would. In a matter of seconds, fifteen-year-old Jack would speak the words he hadn’t been able to in the thirty years since.

Jack: I opened the door. Grey ran down the steps. It was too dark to see, so I turned on the light. I called for her. I called, “Mom.” But she didn’t answer.

Here Jack’s voice became strangled, difficult to understand.

Jack: I went down the steps. (Inaudible.)

Gilmore: I know this is hard, Jack, but it’s important that you tell me exactly what you saw.

Jack: She was lying on the ground. On her back. (Sound of crying.) I kept saying, “Mom, Mom.” But she didn’t answer. (Inaudible.) I walked closer to her. A towel was over her eyes. There was blood and her head looked funny. I knew then. She was dead. (Sound of crying.)

Gilmore: Almost done now, Jack. Almost done. That was at what time?

Jack (shouting): I don’t know. I don’t know! My mom was f*cking dead. I didn’t look at the clock! You... (Inaudible, sound of crying.)

Gilmore: Dean let you off at your house at two. You ate a snack. How long did it take?

Jack: I don’t know, five minutes, ten, maybe.

Gilmore: You go downstairs at 2:10 and find your mother. Sound right?

Jack: Yes.

Gilmore: Jack, look at me. Look at me.

Any fatherly tone that Gilmore had conveyed earlier had dissipated.

Gilmore: You didn’t call the sheriff’s department for another fifty-five minutes. What were you doing?

Jack: I don’t know.

Gilmore: Jack.

Jack (shouting): I don’t know!

Gilmore: Did you try to revive your mother?

Jack: No.

Gilmore: Did you touch her?

Jack: No!

Gilmore: There was a bloody handprint on the cellar door. Was it yours? Did you touch her?

Jack: I don’t remember.

Gilmore: What are we going to find when we fingerprint you, Jack? Will your prints match the prints on the door?

Jack: (Inaudible.)

Gilmore: I can’t hear you, Jack.

Jack (shouting): I don’t know! I don’t know! (Sound of crying.)

Gilmore: What were you doing from 2:10 until you called the sheriff at 3:05?

Jack: I threw up. I threw up. (Inaudible.) Okay? She was dead! I threw up and I locked myself in the bathroom. (Sound of crying.)

Gilmore: (Inaudible.) Okay, Jack. We’re done for now. Shhh. It’s okay. We’re done. We’re done. (Sound of crying.)

After a moment Sarah wiped her eyes and ejected the cassette from the player and tucked it in the file folder. Her eyes fell on the transcript that accompanied the tape and to a note scrawled in pen across the bottom of the first page. Reinterview Jack Tierney. Inconsistencies in story. Reports of frequent arguments with mother. Number-one suspect.





11

SARAH RIPPED THE headphones from her ears and tossed them on the passenger’s-side seat. Jack was considered a top suspect in the death of his mother? Why hadn’t he told her? Of course he would have some kind of excuse as to why he hadn’t mentioned it: the person who finds the body is always the first suspect, law enforcement always looks at the family first, the deputy didn’t like me.