Page 94 of Silent Bones

“She was seventeen. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She made a mistake. You discipline, you correct, you move on.”

Noah held his stare. “Unless you’re the commander of the DEC and capable of covering up cases. Making problems go away.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes you do. You knew if that information came out about your daughter, you could be fined. Or sued. Or hell, maybe buried.”

The temperature in the room dipped. Callie’s arms were crossed again, her face locked in place.

Bill smiled. Thin. Professional. “Are we here to relitigate a closed incident or talk about your current case?”

“Both, because they’re connected,” Noah said. “And you know it.”

For a moment, there was nothing but the faint hum of the wall heater.

Then Bill leaned forward slightly, voice still calm.

“I don’t think you understand who you’re accusing, Mr. Sutherland. My daughter was a scared kid who admitted to a bad decision. She didn’t cause that landslide. In fact, none of those teens did. It was a natural event.”

“I didn’t say they did,” Noah said. “But something happened there, and if your office buried that fact — if you protected her, or let someone else take the fall — then this thing we’re chasing now? It started a year ago. At Wallface. In the dirt and the silence.”

Bill’s knuckles whitened on the arms of his chair. “You're not going to find what you think you're looking for. Trust me on that.”

“I stopped trusting silence,” Noah said. He stood. “That’s how this town got sick in the first place. So tell me the truth.”

“I think we are done here,” Bill said.

Noah nodded. He rose and turned toward the door but paused when he saw Callie still seated. She hadn’t moved an inch.

Her eyes were still on Bill. Her voice, when it came, was soft. “Why didn’t you have her tell the truth?”

“She did. To me. She told me what happened.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Bill didn’t answer, so Callie continued, “Look, all that matters to us is finding out who killed those teens. That’s all. The pastis in the past. Nothing can be done about that but if you think you are protecting your daughter by staying quiet on last year’s incident, you are mistaken. It didn’t protect the other teens,” Callie said.

That landed with Bill, but he deflected it. “Well then our I should consider myself lucky that you care so much, that you posted an officer outside our house to watch over Avery.” He smiled. “If you don’t mind, please close the door on your way out.”

Callie stood slowly.

They left without another word.

Outside, the air smelled like pine sap and distant woodsmoke. Callie lit a cigarette with shaking fingers. Her first in years, by the way she coughed on the inhale.

Noah didn’t say a word. He knew she was wrestling with Jake and all manner of other personal issues. They stood like that for a long moment, two people trying to unspool a knot that had wrapped around more than just a case.

“He’s fucking with us,” she said.

“They all are,” he replied.

Noah’s phone buzzed.

He answered.

McKenzie’s voice was tight, almost breathless.

“Noah, we’ve got a problem.”