"He volunteered," said Mac.
Tabler was shaking his head.
"He's twelve years old. No judge will accept it," Tabler said. "However, I have no objection to reading my client's account of the murder of his family."
Shelton looked past Tabler at Mac, arms folded, sitting across from him. Their eyes met. Kyle Shelton looked away.
Jacob cleared his throat and in a shaking voice read the account he had signed. It was within a few words of being exactly what Jacob had said earlier. Essentially, Jacob recounted hearing noises and a scream. He ran into his sister's room where he saw Kyle Shelton stab his sister and then his mother. Jacob was frozen in horror. Then his father, wearing briefs and a white T-shirt, came into the room and ran toward Shelton, who stabbed him many times. He knew he would get Jacob next. Jacob ran, got his bike and rode away, heading for the woods next to the road. He realized that he was covered with blood. He took off all his clothes and ran naked back to the house through the woods and through backyards. When he got back, Shelton's car was gone. Jacob had gone to the murder scene, saw his family dead and with great difficulty put his mother and sister respectfully on the bed. His father was too big to lift or pull. Then Jacob had heard something- the downstairs door? Had Kyle Shelton come back for him? Jacob ran to his room and groped his familiar way to the closet and climbed up to his private place. He had stayed there for two nights. Then Mac had come with the dog.
"Shelton?" asked Mac.
"What the boy says is the way it happened," he said.
"You have questions, I assume," said Tabler.
"We've got lots of them," said Mac. "I'll start with Jacob."
He moved from the wall, uncrossed his arms and moved toward the table. Jacob raised his right hand as if he were in school.
"Yes?" said Mac.
"How is Rufus? I'd like to see him again," said the boy.
"Who is Rufus?" asked a confused Tabler.
"A dog," said Jacob. "He found my private place."
"I'll see what I can do about you paying Rufus a visit," Mac said.
Mac looked at Jacob and went on.
"I'm going to make some statements and then give you a chance to respond."
"Response will depend on your questions," said Tabler.
Mac nodded and asked his first question.
"Your father had a badly bruised bone in his right forearm. Medical examiner says it happened on the night of the murders. Any idea of how it was broken?"
Jacob shrugged and said, "I don't know."
"Your father was right-handed, right?"
"Yes," said Jacob, looking at Mac as he had been told to do. He had been told not to look at Kyle.
"Would you take off your shoes and socks please?" asked Mac.
"Why?" asked Tabler.
Mac looked at Kyle, who knew exactly why Mac was asking.
"Your client claims to have gone barefoot and naked through the woods for a mile two days ago," said Mac. "I have dated photographs that show the bottoms of his feet with no cuts, bumps or bruises."
"I'd like to see those photographs," said Tabler.
Mac handed the lawyer five eight-by-ten photos of the bottoms of the boy's feet.
"For the record, I'll ask again that your client take off his shoes and socks."
Tabler put down the photos and nodded to the boy to do what he was being asked. When he finished taking off his socks and shoes, Jacob lifted one foot at a time. Tabler and Mac looked. Kyle stared at the wall.
"Your client didn't walk home," said Mac. "He never left his house. Mr. Shelton set up the evidence in the woods to make it look as if Jacob had taken his bike, pedaled down the road, went to the clearing, and left his damaged bike and his clothes there where we could find them."
"How can you conclude that?" asked Tabler.
"From the evidence, particularly a leaf from a linden tree and a crushed caterpillar found in Jacob's room," said Mac, looking at Shelton. "The tree and the caterpillar came from the area where Jacob's bike and clothes were found. We can get leaves from those trees and determine which one the leaf I picked up came from. Since Jacob never left home, the most likely person to have stepped on the leaf is Kyle Shelton. Your turn to take off your shoes, Kyle."
The game was almost over.
"We'll test them for traces of blood from the victims and the dead caterpillar," Mac continued. "If we find traces of the caterpillar, we can match it to the dead one I found on the leaf."
Kyle took off his shoes and handed them to Mac, who placed them on the table.
"Kyle, you want a lawyer now?" asked Mac.
"I suggest you do that," said Tabler.
Kyle shook his head "no."
"Then we go on," said Mac. "We got some of your clothes and did a spectrographic collection of your scent and Jacob's. I got a department dog that specializes in human scent, and let him take his time. Your scent was all over the clearing in the woods. There wasn't the slightest trace of Jacob's scent except on the clothing you left. Then I took the dog to check the Vorhees house. Your scent showed up in the upstairs hallway, on the stairway, in the kitchen, in Becky Vorhees' room and in Jacob's room, but not all over the room, just on a straight line to the closet. You want to tell me why you were in Jacob's room?"
"No," said Kyle, glancing at Jacob and touching the boy's shoulder.
"Okay," said Mac. "I will. Rufus confirmed what I thought. You helped Jacob hide. Why?"
"I was afraid," said Jacob, shaking.
"Jacob," Tabler warned.
"That the police would say I murdered my family," said the boy.
"No," said Mac. "I think Kyle had a plan, not a very good one, too complicated, too many places to find holes full of evidence, too little time to take care of all the holes."
"Detective," Tabler said, looking at Jacob. "My client is through answering questions."
"We checked your father's background," said Mac. "Found out why you've moved so much."
"No more questions," said Tabler.
"I didn't ask a question," said Mac. "I made a statement of fact. The next one is even more important." Mac pulled a photograph of the vase from the box and held it up. Jacob began to cry. Shelton put an arm around him.
"There was a bruise on your father's arm," said Mac. "His right arm. It was sufficient to make him drop whatever he was holding and shatter the vase that he was hit with. Your father was the one with the knife. When you came into your sister's bedroom, she and your mother had already been killed by your father. You grabbed the vase, hit him, took the knife when he dropped it and stabbed him."
Tabler rose and said, "We're leaving."
"No," said Jacob. "We told you what happened."
"The knife wounds on your mother and sister were all approximately the same depth, made by someone considerably stronger than you. The ones on your mother and sister were straight in. The wounds on your father weren't deep and were at an upward angle. They were made by someone much smaller than he was."
"It was me," said Kyle.
"You didn't kill anyone," said Mac.
"I killed many," Kyle said.
"In Iraq," Mac said.
"He's had enough," said Kyle, looking at Jacob, who had taken off his glasses, placed them on the table and leaned against him, his eyes closed and sobbing.
Mac nodded and said to the lawyer, "You should take him in the other room now. A detective will show you where you can have some privacy with your client."
"My client…" Tabler began, suddenly sorry that he was involved in this whole mess.
"… didn't commit any crime except not coming forward as a witness to murder," said Mac. "He killed his father in self-defense. I doubt if a family court judge will do anything but order that he get therapy. I'll recommend it."
"Come with me," Tabler said to Jacob.
The boy continued to cling to Shelton, who handed the boy his glasses and gently urged him out of his chair and toward the lawyer. Jacob put on his glasses and let Tabler guide him out of the room.
"Howard Vorhees came to his daughter's room with a kitchen knife," said Mac. "He came for a sexual attack, threatened her with death. She fought, screamed. He killed her. Jacob heard the noise, ran in just behind his mother. Howard Vorhees killed his wife. That's when Jacob picked up the vase, hit his father's arm, dropped the vase, picked up the knife and stabbed his father."