Say You're Sorry

Lance turned on the speaker and set his phone on the table. “OK. We’re all listening.”

“I’ll email you the full report, but I wanted to give you the highlights,” Mom began. “Let’s start with Dean Voss. Mr. Voss is a veteran. He served in the army for eight years after college, including three tours in Iraq. He’s married, no kids. He was wounded twice. Four years ago, at age 30, he received an honorable discharge. He got his teaching certificate and took a job teaching history at Scarlet Falls High School. Last year, he resigned in the middle of the year.”

“Let me guess,” Sharp said. “Inappropriate relations with a student.”

“How did you know?” Mom asked.

“Because it just figures,” Sharp said in a wry voice.

Lance’s mom continued. “There were no charges filed. I had to work to get the details. The girl, Ally Somers, denied it, and apparently there wasn’t any physical evidence, just a statement from another student, Kimmie Blake, who claimed to see them kissing. But Voss resigned anyway.”

“Is there any connection between Kimmie Blake, Ally Somers, Jamie, and Tessa?” Morgan asked.

“That I don’t know,” Lance’s mom said.

“Even if the accusations were a complete fabrication, there’s no coming back from that in teaching.” Morgan shook her head. “Do we know if Voss ever had Tessa in one of his classes?”

“I can’t legally access student records,” his mom answered. “But I did find out that Voss taught American History and World Cultures to sophomores and juniors, so it’s very possible.”

“Putting that on my list of questions for the Palmers.” Morgan made a notation. “I hope they’ll talk to me without me having to subpoena them to give a deposition. I don’t want to look like a monster. I’ll ask Felicity first. She might know who Tessa’s teachers were last year.”

“She might have more info on Voss as well.” Lance nodded. “Kids know everything.”

Lance’s mom gave them Dean Voss’s last known address. “He’s only been living there since last May, and his wife filed for divorce two weeks ago.”

Could that have sent him over the edge?

“We’ll drop by Voss’s place and talk to the neighbors today,” Lance said. “What else do you have for us, Mom?”

“You asked for more information on the Barone family.” She cleared her throat. “This took some digging, but I believe Dwayne Barone is involved with a group called the WSA.”

“Well, shit.” Sharp got up and began to pace the room.

“What’s the WSA?” Morgan looked up from her file.

“The White Survival Alliance,” Lance said. Now he really didn’t want Morgan anywhere near the Barone place. “A local white supremacist group, a quasi-militia. They’re preparing for the apocalypse.”

Sharp rubbed his bald head. “A few months ago, the SFPD raided a barn behind a member’s house. It was full of raw materials for making explosives. It was also booby-trapped. Thankfully, no one was killed when it blew up.”

“Mrs. Kruger?” Morgan leaned over the speaker. “Do you know Dwayne Barone’s position in the organization?”

“Please call me Jennifer, and no,” Mom said. “I moved from the Deep Web to the Dark. There’s very little information about the WSA. They stay off the radar.”

Which explained the lack of data on the family. The Deep Web included Internet pages that couldn’t be found through search engines. Most of these existed for ordinary reasons: databases, web forums that required registration, or pages behind paywalls. Online bank accounts that required logins and passwords were an example. But the Dark Web went further. Sites on the Dark Web hid their identities and spoofed their locations using an encryption tool. Some sites hid their IP addresses behind multiple layers of encryption.

Lance got up and walked to the window. Talking about the homegrown militia group made him edgy. “The thing about the WSA is that they are very secretive about their roster. They keep their resources spread out. So if any one member is compromised, the rest of the group remain anonymous.”

“WSA aside.” Morgan tapped her pen on her notebook. “Do we really have reason to believe Robby killed Tessa? Why?”

“Unrequited love?” Sharp suggested. “What if it wasn’t Robby? What if Dwayne killed Tessa? The WSA isn’t just a white supremacist organization. They have a patriarchal, barefoot-and-pregnant philosophy toward women.”

“That explains the way Dwayne treats his wife and daughters, but we still have no link between Dwayne and Tessa. We need to find out if Tessa spent any time at the Barone house.”

“Can you keep digging, Mom?” Lance asked.

“Of course.” She sounded pleased.

“Without putting yourself in danger.” Lance worried about the WSA tracking her online inquiries.

“I know how to hide my tracks.” She chuckled. “Don’t you worry.”

But he would. The WSA was nothing to mess around with.

“One more thing,” Lance said to the phone. “Have you turned up anything else on Jamie Lewis’s family or her mother’s fiancé?”

“No,” his mom said. “Nothing unusual on the Lewises or Kevin Murdoch yet. I’ll send you the details as soon as I can. Later today or in the morning. I’m waiting on one more source.”

“Talk to you later, Mom. Love you.”

“I love you too.” She ended the call.

Lance picked up his phone. “I was really hoping for some dirt on Kevin.”

“Me too.” Morgan made more notes in her files. “I suppose there’s always the chance that he’s just a nervous person or he has some sort of medical condition that causes him to sweat excessively.”

Lance shook his head. “Kevin’s body language all but screamed pants-on-fire.”

“I know. Let’s wait until your mom is finished with her report. Then we’ll pay Kevin a visit.” She finished her paragraph. “Do you want to start with the Barones or Dean Voss today?”

“I guess we can drive by the Barones’ first.” Hopefully, Dwayne would be at work. The family had set off all Lance’s alarms since the first time he’d set foot on the property. The last thing he wanted to do was put Morgan on the WSA’s radar. “Then we can drop by Dean Voss’s apartment, peek in the windows, and talk to his neighbors. He’s safely tucked away in the psych ward, so it seems like a good day for it.”

She stood, stretched, and reached for her blazer. “I’m ready.”

“See ya, Sharp.” Lance headed for the door.

“You kids be careful.” Sharp waved them off. “I’m going to work on Jamie Lewis’s case for the morning. I plan to talk to Jamie’s best friend, Tony, and put some pressure on him. Let me know if you need me.”

“Will do.” Lance followed Morgan outside. Autumn had hit Scarlet Falls overnight. The air had turned cool, and leaves clogged the gutter.

They climbed into the Jeep.

Morgan set her giant purse at her feet. “I have a legal visit set up with Nick for tomorrow morning. He deserves an update, and I’d like to make sure he’s all right. He might have some insight on what we’ve discovered so far, especially Tessa’s pregnancy. I need to confirm that Nick didn’t know about the baby.”