Chief Jenkins: You need more convincing, huh, Clay?
Montgomery: (no answer)
Hunter frowned as he came across more lines that had been blacked out—and doubted those changes had anything to do with correcting a mistake.
Officer Grimsman: Where did you go that night?
Montgomery: (breathing hard—no answer)
Officer Grimsman: I’m talking to you, Clay, and I can promise you it’s going to get real ugly if you don’t start cooperatin’. Do you hear me? Real ugly. And not just for you. For your mom and your younger sisters.
Montgomery: Leave them alone!
Officer Grimsman: Where did you go?
Montgomery: Corinne’s house.
Officer Grimsman: What?
Montgomery: (louder) Corinne Rasmussen’s house.
Officer Grimsman: What happened while you were there?
Montgomery: Nothing. We just hung out. Ask Corinne or Jeremy. They’ll tell you the same thing.
Officer Grimsman: When did you return?
Montgomery: About nine o’clock.
Officer Grimsman: That early?
Montgomery: It was a school night. And I was hoping to beat my mother home.
Officer Grimsman: Did you?
Montgomery: No.
Officer Grimsman: She was there when you arrived?
Montgomery: Yes.
Officer Grimsman: Was she angry with you?
Montgomery: What do you think?
Chief Jenkins: (holding subject’s arms back)
So Montgomery couldn’t strike was written in the margin, but Hunter suspected Clay wasn’t the one swinging his fists.
Chief Jenkins: Officer Grimsman is not the person answering questions here.
Montgomery: (head hanging down) Of course she was angry with me. I’d disobeyed her.
Officer Grimsman: Were you punished?
Montgomery: She said I’d be punished when my stepfather got home.
Officer Grimsman: But he wasn’t home yet.
Montgomery: How many times do I have to say it?
Several lines had been blacked out right below that.
Officer Grimsman: Wasn’t anyone beginning to worry about him?
Montgomery: (answer difficult to decipher)
Officer Grimsman: Clay?
Montgomery: No. We figured…he got hung up at the church. He sometimes…had meetings that…ran late. (shakes off Chief Jenkins)
Hunter frowned while shuffling through the papers. So the chief had restrained Clay that whole time? Or had he been holding Clay for Grimsman to convince?
Whatever had happened, the next line didn’t follow.
Chief Jenkins: What about you?
Montgomery: I don’t have any secrets.
Officer Grimsman: Did he punish you when he got home? Is that what happened, Clay? Did things get a little out of hand? You can tell us, you know. It would be better for you, for your mother, too, if you’d tell us.
Montgomery: He never came home.
Chief Jenkins: Yet you didn’t call the police.
Montgomery: Why would we call you ass**les?
Another dark line made Hunter suspect some more information had been cut from the transcript. Disgusted to think they’d beaten a sixteen-year-old boy, Hunter shook his head.
Chief Jenkins: This time with respect.
Montgomery: We went to bed, thinking he’d come in eventually.
Chief Jenkins: Your mother didn’t wait up for him?
Montgomery: I don’t think so.
Officer Grimsman: What did she do?
Montgomery: Far as I know, she put his dinner in the fridge and went to bed.
Chief Jenkins: That sounds pretty indifferent, considering he was later than she expected.
Montgomery: Was she was supposed to cry that his dinner was getting cold?
Officer Grimsman: It doesn’t bother you that he could be dead, son?
Montgomery: It bothers me that I’ve been here for eight hours.
Officer Grimsman: Sorry to put you out, but a man’s life could be in jeopardy. Or is that man already dead?
Montgomery: How should I know? He’s probably fine. Nothing ever happens here in Happy Valley, right? And he’s a preacher. Who would hurt a preacher?
Chief Jenkins: That’s what we’d like to know.
Montgomery: I’m guessing he’s tired of this piece-of-shit town and—
More black marks.
Officer Grimsman: Didn’t your mother get worried, try to reach him? Montgomery: Don’t know. Officer Grimsman: You went to bed?
Montgomery: That’s what I said. Mrs. Lederman is taking it all down right over there. If you’re confused, just have her read it back to you.
Officer Grimsman: You son of a—
More black marks.
Chief Jenkins: Did you go right to sleep?
Montgomery: (nods once)
Officer Grimsman: You weren’t agitated or upset about your impending punishment?
Montgomery: I wasn’t in any hurry to meet up with it.
Officer Grimsman: What type of punishment were you expecting?
Montgomery: To be grounded.
Really? Hunter wondered. Somehow Clay’s answer didn’t ring true.
Officer Grimsman: Had he grounded you before?
Montgomery: Yes.
Officer Grimsman: For what?
Montgomery: The usual.
Officer Grimsman: Spell it out.
Montgomery: He caught me behind the barn with my hand up a girl’s shirt—
Officer Grimsman: Whose?
Montgomery: I won’t say.
Officer Grimsman: It better not be my daughter.
Montgomery: You’ll never know.
Officer Grimsman: You little prick—
More document tampering. Hunter was positive of it. The marks on the paper, the cadence and timing of the questions…It all hinted at physical interference. If Hunter had his guess, Clay had sustained quite a beating that night. But Clay didn’t break down and promise Grimsman it hadn’t been his daughter he’d been feeling up. Hunter had to smile about that.
The phone rang. Lowering the document he was reading, Hunter rocked back and reached for the receiver.
Unable to sleep and not wanting to disturb Allie, Clay slipped quietly out of bed and went to his study, where he hoped to get caught up on paperwork. He preferred to spend his time outdoors or in the barn, restoring his antique cars, so he sometimes let the office work languish. But he couldn’t put it off any longer. He had bills to pay and bookkeeping to do in preparation for tax time.
He picked up the day’s mail, which Whitney had placed on his desk. She loved running out to visit the mailbox, felt important carrying in the parcels and letters that arrived. She usually collected all the junk mail she could, which she liked to play with. But it didn’t appear that she’d scavenged anything today. There were a couple of credit card offers and a catalog from an office supply store that she would normally have taken. Allie must not have gone through the mail, either, he decided. Nothing had been opened.