“My son was broken that night. The boy he loved was killed, and the girl he adored as his own sister died as well. And it was reported as a car accident. He completely withdrew from the world after that night. I struggle to even get him to come here for the holidays now. Although he came to visit recently due to a personal matter.”
I want to pry, but doubt he’d tell us why Jacob came to visit.
“Why didn’t you tell us about Victoria and Marcus if you knew?” I ask instead.
“Because you would have went after my son, of course. He was the closest to them, other than the Barnes boy. But a NFL football star is less likely to be a suspect.”
Just telling us his son was paralyzed would have been good enough. But it’s like he almost doesn’t want to say that.
“You don’t even mind giving us that information, do you?” Donny asks him.
“That I wanted to keep my son safe from corrupt bureaucrats cleaning up a mess they helped make? Not at all. There was no obstruction of justice, considering this story was squashed by one of your own when my son tried to tell it. My silence in no way interfered with your investigation of this Scarlet Slayer.”
“Only it did,” I tell him.
He looks just like Jacob, only an older version of him. Dark hair barely dusted by time, and fine wrinkles that almost look intentional.
“How is that, SSA Bennett?”
“The unsub we’re looking for is working off a list of the rapists involved that night.”
I see the surprise in his eyes. He’s genuinely caught off guard by that admission.
“What can you tell us about Robert Evans? And this time, hold nothing back.”
He clears his throat, probably not used to being surprised.
“Robert Evans was a brilliant man with no ambition to be more than a janitor. The pay was good enough, and he enjoyed the hours because it gave him more time with his kids.”
He sighs long and hard.
“I worked too much. Jacob spent more time there than he did at home. I never even knew he was in love with Marcus until years after the boy’s death. He told me everything one night, broke down right there on that couch, told me how much he hated the whole town. Then he felt like he was being punished when he was put in a wheelchair.”
He’s telling us about Jacob and not Robert, speaking of his shortcomings. That’s the tell of a regretful father I’ve heard too often in cases where they’ve lost a child. Never a case where the son is still alive.
“Robert was a simple man, who never caused problems. But he painted himself an easy target for the sheriff who just wanted someone to pay for his daughter’s death. Didn’t matter if he was innocent. Didn’t matter if he had an alibi. Nothing mattered except one man’s revenge. Robert Evans was the most unlucky soul I ever knew.”
“Why do you say that?” Donny asks, though it should be obvious.
“He lost the love of his life to two rich drunks. Both her parents and his parents had passed already, leaving him with no help to care for his kids. He lost his life because of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And his kids were murdered for crimes he never committed. Don’t see how you can get unluckier than that.”
Donny clears his throat and loosens his tie. Every time we hear more about the Evans family, we become a little more invested. It’s probably the most heartbreaking shit I’ve heard.
“What happened after the trial?”
“The trial that shouldn’t have happened in a town as small as Delaney Grove?” he asks bitterly. “A trial that shouldn’t have happened with a biased judge ruling? Do you realize he could have gotten an appeal with little effort?”
We both nod, deciding to hold our silence as he reins in his temper.
“I don’t know what they did to him. All I know is he sure as hell didn’t hang himself. He’d already had Hannah Monroe contact him, offering to take his case on appeal and wave her fee. She was going to ruin Delaney Grove.”
“What happened to her?” I ask.
“She’s still a hotshot in Manhattan. After he was dead, she moved on, as the sharks in that city tend to do.”
I pick my phone up, and I press play on the recording I made.
“Hush, little baby,” are the first words that play aloud. It’s the same recording from the speakers that took forever to shut up.