The news item was about eight Italians who were arrested on charges that they used the Internet to traffic in child pornography, with most of the children coming from Russia. The material, ordered over the Internet, cost anywhere from $300 to $6,000, with the images being burned on CD-ROM. The more horrific the sexual acts the customer wanted, the more costly the price tag. The most gruesome products were coded "Necros Pedo," in which children were tortured and raped until they died.
"Jesus,* Brad said. He couldn't take it anymore, but he had to find more information, as disturbing as it was. He clicked on another link and read on.
The story in question was in direct relation to the Italian case, this one involving a British man belonging to the same international ring. British police reported that Italian detectives, after a lengthy investigation, raided 600 homes and had evidence against 500 people ranging from businessmen to public employees. Many of the suspects were married and had children of their own. One suspect, accused of producing child pornography, was found with a client list that included people from America, England, Germany, and Italy.
Finally tired of the research, and depressed by the subject matter, he turned off his Internet connection, then shut down the computer. He sat in front of the computer, his mind running a mile a minute, everything clicking into place.
Lisa and I are in danger no matter what we do, Brad thought. They know where we live, they'll be able to find us. We've got to get the hell out of here.
Brad rose to his feet and headed to the master bedroom to wake Lisa up.
The only thing Lisa could think of as Detective Orr sat in front of her in the living room was that Brad had betrayed her. After pleading with him not to tell anybody what she'd done, he had gone ahead and done it anyway.
Lisa clutched a tear-sodden handkerchief in her hands and refused to meet Detective Orr's gaze as the detective sat in the chair opposite her. Brad was sitting in another chair, she had shot him a menacing look when he tried to sit on the couch with her, so he'd retreated to give her space. And with Brad in the room, there was no way she could deny the truth to Detective Orr. Brad would simply say, "You didn't deny it to me last night, Lisa. Tell Detective Orr what you told me."
The bastard.
Detective On listened calmly as she told him the harrowing account of what really happened. She thought he would be incredibly angry with her. Instead he listened to her calmly, taking notes as she told her story. When she broke down briefly, he waited till she composed herself, then urged her gently to continue. He was never condescending or accusatory, even when she exclaimed that she had been responsible for the deaths of Mandy and her mother. Then she started crying again because she couldn't remember the name of Mandy's mother.
Brad's friend Billy Grecko was present during the questioning. He hovered near the doorway to the kitchen, dressed in a pair of black slacks, a white shirt, and a black tie that was loose around the collar. When she was finished, she looked up at Detective Orr briefly, then looked back down at-the floor again in shame. "I'm sorry I lied to you the first time," she said, her voice barely audible. "1 was just so scared." "
Detective On closed his notebook, then looked up at Brad and William. Then he looked back at Lisa. "I'll be frank with you, Lisa. I didn't believe your original story one bit. I've heard too many stories like that, and they're all the results of drug binges. That's why I kept hounding your husband, asking him if you had a substance-abuse problem. He kept denying it. I thought that either he was blind to it or that you really didn't have a problem and something else had happened that you were trying to cover up. I knew I would get the truth eventually."
1'm sorry," Lisa said. She wondered if the police had picked up anybody matching the descriptions she had given in her original confession.
"Lot's of times, somebody will go on a drug binge and be gone for days at a time," Detective Orr explained. "They'll turn up eventually. Either the police find them or they turn up somewhere disoriented. And to hide what they've been up to, they'll claim they were kidnapped and beaten up or that they were robbed and had been lying unconscious somewhere. It's hard to get them to admit otherwise, especially if drugs aren't found on their person or their vehicle. We do some preliminary investigation, but if nothing pans out and no serious laws were broken, we usually chalk it up to what I've just described and it isn't pursued further."
"Do you believe me?" Lisa asked.
Detective Orr looked open and frank as he thought about it. "1 guess I have to. It sounds horrible, but… it's certainly more plausible than your first story."
"Will you be charging Ms. Miller for making a false criminal statement to the police?" Billy Grecko asked.
"No" Detective Orr replaced his notebook in his coat pocket. "No need to do that. I should, I've got a perfectly legal right to arrest her for providing false information, but…
"You're going to try to catch these guys, right?" This from Brad, who had been sitting in the chair opposite Detective Orr, fidgeting nervously.
Detective Orr looked up at William and Brad. 'I'd like her to make another statement downtown," he said. "Something more in depth. 'then, yes, I'd like to start an investigation"
"What do we need to do?" William asked.
"Well, I guess we should go to the station," Detective Orr said, rising to his feet.
And with that, they left the house and went to the sta tion. Lisa didn't even have time to shower or do her hair. She simply washed her face, brushed her teeth, applied deodorant, brushed her hair a little bit, changed into fresh clothes, and they were off. She said nothing to Brad on the drive to the Orange County Sheriff's Department, still angry at him for betraying her secret, and scared more than ever for what might happen to them should Al and Tim and Animal find out she'd told the authorities.
Twenty-two
When Lisa Miller was questioned a second time, it was with Detective Orr and his partner, Detective Hank Sanchez. William Grecko was present. Brad waited outside, in the lobby.
It all seemed so monotonous to Lisa. The detectives took her down the same path she had led them two weeks ago, starting with her and Brad leaving home jor the drive to Cambria. Only this time she told them about meeting up with the homeless woman and her baby, Amanda. She finally remembered the woman's name, too. "Her name was Alicia," she said. "She didn't tell me her last name." She gave the detectives a description, willing herself not to cry. Then she continued her narrative. When she got to the confrontation on the highway and Brad's arrest, the detectives asked her to describe Caleb Smith. "He was about five eight, big belly-pear-shaped, I guess you could say. His hair was sandy-colored and thinning, and he was wearing glasses and had a thick, bushy beard."
When she told them about the kidnapping she was expecting to break down again, but for some reason she didn't. She had relived the abduction a million times and now it only made her mad. She told them about the conversation she had with Caleb, how he told her he was going to have her killed in a snuff film."l had never heard of such things before," she said, feeling herself start to cry but forcing herself to stay calm. "I couldn't believe what was happening."
Then she told them about Debbie Martinez. Detective Sanchez asked her several poignant questions. "Debbie was beautiful," Lisa said, now starting to cry. "She was so beautiful and… what he… what he did to her!" She broke down sobbing, trying to erase the memories of the sounds Debbie had made as Animal tortured and raped her.