Last Seen: A gripping edge-of-your-seat thriller that you won’t be able to put down. Rick MofinaЧитать онлайн книгу.
“Until we have a clear picture of what happened,” Price said, “no one is above suspicion. You understand that, don’t you, Cal?”
He swallowed and nodded.
“And you know we have to clear you and your wife so we can cross you off our list?”
Cal nodded.
“Now.” Price sipped some coffee. “Are you okay to keep going?”
Cal thought of Faith across the hall, wondering how she was enduring.
“Cal?”
“Yes.”
Price looked at her notes. “Are you involved in, or do you have knowledge of who may be responsible for, your son’s disappearance?”
Cal shook his head. “No, I’m not involved and I don’t know who took him.”
“Do you or your wife use illegal drugs?”
“No.”
“Has Gage ever been exposed to any form of physical, sexual or emotional abuse in your home?”
Cal shook his head.
“Do you have a gambling addiction?”
“We went to Las Vegas for fun and gambled a little, that’s it.”
“Do you have any debts?”
“Just the mortgage, car payments, credit cards, like most people.”
“Who handles the finances in your household?”
“Faith. We each have separate accounts, but we have joint accounts, too, and Faith uses those to handle household finances.”
“And these separate accounts...they’re private from each other?”
“That’s right. We agreed to do things that way when we got married.”
“All right.” Price made notes, then moved on. “You’re a crime reporter with the Chicago Star-News.”
Cal nodded.
“You don’t really cover much crime here in River Ridge, or the other ‘safe’ suburbs. You cover the big stuff downtown and across the country?”
“Yes, I work near the Tribune building, and if the story’s big enough, the paper sends me wherever we need to go. Although we don’t travel as much these days—they’ve tightened budgets.”
“In your line of work, you report on a lot of dangerous people, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Your stories helped put a lot of people in prison?”
“I just report the facts.”
“This came up at the news conference, so I want to ask—can you think of anyone in your past who may have threatened you? Anyone who might want to settle a score with you? Or anything you may have done to anger someone to the point that they’d want revenge against you?”
Cal exhaled slowly as his mind raced back over his years and the stories blurred.
“People get pissed off and have said things to me.”
“What sort of things, what people?”
“Usually relatives and friends of suspects, or criminals.”
“And what did they say?”
“‘I’m going to kick your ass, you write bullshit.’ ‘Why didn’t you write the truth about such and such?’ But that’s pretty common. I mean, not everyone’s happy with what you report. But I never took any of it seriously.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s just people blowing steam—people say things. No one’s ever acted on anything.”
“So far.”
“No one so far.”
Price nodded and made notes. “You ever cross the line on your job, Cal?”
“What do you mean?”
“Break the rules, get your story wrong, really piss off a subject or burn a source, that sort of thing?”
“What’re you suggesting?”
“Not suggesting anything. Just want to know if you think there’s anyone out to get you.”
Cal steepled his fingers and touched them to his chin. “We covered this, Detective. Yes, I’ve pissed people off with my work.”
“Who, how?”
“I already told you, some people don’t like it when you write the truth about their situation. But that’s part of my job. If I thought for one second that Gage’s disappearance had any connection to my work, to anything I’d done, I’d be screaming that fact to you.”
Price took a moment to process his response.
“Okay, let’s move on. Your newspaper, the Chicago Star-News, has been bleeding staff in recent years and there’s talk online and in the business pages that more layoffs are coming—that’s got to put a lot of stress on you.”
“It makes you think about what you’re going to do if you lose your job. I’ve been with the Star-News a long time and reporting jobs are pretty hard to come by these days.”
“So there’s some stress in your home?”
“No more than anyone else in this economy.”
“What about you and Faith?”
“What about us?”
“Tell me about your relationship. How did you meet?”
Cal remembered the first time he saw Faith. She was on her phone, upset and in tears. He was immediately infatuated. After approaching her, he’d learned that her boyfriend had broken up with her and he thought, Who’d be stupid enough to break this girl’s heart? So he asked her out and they fell in love.
“We met in college.”
Price smiled. “And Gage is your only child?”
“Well, after Gage, Faith miscarried once and we never had another.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. When was that?”
“Two years after Gage was born.” Cal blinked several times.
Price made a note. “And Faith is with a public relations firm downtown?”
“Yes.”
“How would you describe Faith, Cal—is she calm or a nervous person?”
“She can be both.”
“How would you describe her intelligence?”
“Her intelligence?”
“Yes, is she a genius, a linear thinker, slow to grasp things?”
“No, she’s very intelligent, way smarter than me, graduated near the top of her class. She was in Mensa for a while.”
“Mensa? Really?” Price made notes. “Is she generally liked by others?”
“Yes.”
“Is she religious, devout?”
“She’s Catholic, goes to Mass. Well, not as much as she used to, but she’s still involved in the school and church.”
“What about you?”
“I was raised Catholic, was an altar boy, but I stopped going to church a long time ago.”
“Why? Were you abused or something?”
“Too much hypocrisy for me.”
“So you