Free A Face at the Window by Sarah Graves

to the officers all they wanted to know was had she seen anyone, and when she made it clear that she hadn't, they'd pretty much dismissed her story.
    "What about the parents?" asked one of the county deputies. "Where are they?"
    "Europe," Bob replied. "Italy. I already called the airline; they got off the plane early this morning just like they planned, right around the time we were all finishing up our breakfasts."
    "Look," Jake began impatiently again, "you don't understand. I know who did this, and—"
    "Anyway, Jody Pierce seized Tim Barnard by the collar," Bob went on, ignoring her, "hauled him out of there, put a beating on him like you wouldn't believe."
    The cops were all listening to him. "So where's Tim Barnard now?" asked the county sheriff's deputy.
    "In traction," spat Jerrilyn. "Too bad Jody didn't put him in a coma." Or worse, her tone clearly expressed.
    "And now poor Jody's got a warrant out on him for assault," she went on aggrievedly, "all because he stood up like a man and took care of his family. Which
you
guys didn't. None of you did."
    She fixed Bob in an accusing gaze. "I called, you know. She called, too. Helen did," she added to the men standing around in the motel room. "Called Bob, here, to say she was a-scared of Tim. It wasn't even the first time he'd decided to knock a girl around. Nobody ever stopped him, till Helen."
    "Now, Jerri, you know we did all we—" Bob began.
    "Sure. All you could do. Which was
nothing"
she accused him bitterly. "And now look. He's got some rotten friends of his, put them up to it from his hospital bed to take it out on poor Helen, when you couldn't even be bothered to…you couldn't even…"
    She bit her lip to try stopping the flood of tears that was finally coming. Jake got up and put her hand gently on Jerrilyn's heaving shoulder.
    "So this boyfriend, this Barnard guy, he's in the hospital. We're sure?" said one of the state guys. "He's still there? And the stepdad, where's he at?"
    "His
name"
Jerrilyn managed angrily through the tissues she clutched to her face, "is
Jody.
Not ‘the stepdad.’ "
    "Fine. That's fine, Mrs. Nevelson. We're just trying to—"
    "Pierce. And you're
not
trying!" she shouted, looking around wildly at the men. "You're just standing around with your thumbs up your butts. Why aren't you out finding the little bastards who took Helen?"
    "And Lee," Jake said quietly. Jerrilyn stopped shouting.
    "Yes
," she whispered, glancing over apologetically. "Her, too."
    "All right, then," Bob Arnold said, taking charge by his voice and his body language once more. The other men, all with more authority than he had, let him do it, too, because around here the guy who knew the territory got to plot the course, and never mind how it got written up in the reports later.
    "Let's get going on what we do know," he said. "The missing car, the girls’ descriptions, the boyfriend and
his
friends…"
    Not mentioning Jody Pierce. But it was clear that in the others’ minds he was still on the agenda, if only long enough to get him definitively off it. Once upon a time, stepfathers had come in two flavors, heroes and villains, and it was obvious from the start which kind a particular one was.
    Nowadays, though, anything might go on behind closed doors. And a guy with a warrant automatically came under suspicion.
    Bob looked around. "Anyone mind if I go up to the hospital, talk with Tim?" he asked mildly. "He knows me," Bob explained, "so I might be able to get more out of him faster than if…"
    Nods from the other men. "And Jerri," Bob went on, "I think these guys'll be done with your house pretty soon, so you can go back there for the rest of the questions if you—"
    "Wait," said Jake. No one was talking about Ozzie Campbell. Or Lee. They seemed to assume this was just about Helen. But in that case, why take Lee? "What about the phone calls I got?"
    She searched for something else, something to convince them that they shouldn't jump to conclusions. "And what