Bonnie Jarvis drew several ragged breaths, then looked at her husband through eyes that were now nearly swollen shut. “Brad, I think we have to-”
Her husband folded his arms and shot daggers at her. “No, we don’t, Bonnie. They’re on a witch hunt, can’t you see? They just need to put someone in jail to get the public off their back. I refuse to help them frame my son!”
“We only need one of you to consent,” I said. Then clamped my mouth shut. Fighting with Brad Jarvis would only force Bonnie to defend her husband. Bonnie looked at her husband imploringly, but he stomped out of the room. She wrapped her arms around her waist and watched him go as tears rolled down her face. Finally, she spoke.
“I’ll show you his room.”
18
Bailey had a search team on round-the-clock standby and she called them in now as we followed Bonnie Jarvis down the hall to Logan’s room. The first thing I noticed was that it had a sliding glass door to the patio and pool area. More important, a gate on the far right side led out to the street. That kind of setup meant Logan could get up to just about anything without his parents knowing. If he were so inclined.
The mother looked around the room distractedly, her eyes darting from one end to the next, as though afraid to land on any single spot.
“Mrs. Jarvis, can you give me a list of Logan’s friends?” I asked.
“Bonnie. It’s Bonnie,” she said absently. Tears continued to leak from the edges of her eyes. She didn’t seem to notice them. “There never were very many. Logan’s been friends with Caleb Samuelson for years, though I haven’t seen him around here lately. There was a boy…Kenny…Epstein. They were good friends back in junior high, but I don’t know how close they are now.” Her mouth trembled, and she bit down hard on her bottom lip. “Evan Cutter, I remember meeting him a few months back. I’m not sure how close they are, though.”
“What about a boy named Otis Barney?” Bailey asked. “Did you ever see him here? Or did Logan ever mention him?”
“I-I’m not…” Bonnie closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “Wait, yes. Now I remember. Last year. I remember because he stayed for dinner.”
“And that’s unusual?” I asked.
Bonnie nodded. “Brad and I own a temp agency. It doesn’t leave us a lot of time for family dinners.”
“Was that the only time Otis was here?” I asked.
“As far as I know, but…”
“He might’ve been here when you weren’t around?” Bonnie nodded, her expression troubled. “You had some misgivings about him?” I asked.
“Not exactly. It was just, he had kind of a…whipped-dog look about him. As though he was expecting to get hit or caught for…something.” Her gaze shifted to the desk where a laptop sat open, its screen dark. “I asked Logan whether Otis was having problems of some kind-with other kids or at home, but he didn’t know.”
The search team arrived, and Bailey peeled off to direct them. I suggested to Bonnie that we get out of the way, and she led me back to the living room. I noticed Brad had not returned. Bonnie and I sat on the couch. “What about Kenny or Caleb or Evan?” I asked. “What was your sense of them?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary. I haven’t seen Caleb in a while. He and Logan were pretty close in junior high, so that’s when I saw more of him. But unless he’s changed a lot, there was nothing unusual about him. He was a nice kid. And Evan, he was sweet, charming even. Kenny…I only saw him once when I was on my way out the door, so I didn’t really have an impression one way or another.”
“Anyone else you can think of?” I asked. Bonnie dug around in her memory and came up with a couple more names but no details that distinguished any of them as potential suspects. I wrote them all down. “Were any of these kids here in the past few days that you know of?”
Bonnie shook her head. “But we didn’t see much of Logan in the past few days either. He’s been working to put together enough money to trick out his car, and this past week he took on extra shifts. I told him he had to keep his grades up or those extra shifts would have to go.”
“Where does he work?”
“At Cut-Rate Kicks. It’s in the mall on Topanga Canyon Boulevard.”
“So what was he going to do to his car?”
“You’d have to ask his brother about that.” Bonnie’s face broke into the nearest thing to a smile I’d seen. “Luke’s the mechanic in the family.” She shook her head in disbelief.
“You’re surprised by that?”
“I’m surprised any child of ours would be into cars-neither of us is mechanically inclined. But after Luke enlisted in the Army and got assigned to transpo, he discovered a real passion for mechanics. He’s planning to open his own gas station and repair shop.”
“Are he and Logan close?”
“As close as two brothers with eight years between them can be. When Logan was little, he worshipped Luke. And I think Luke was a pretty decent big brother, but they didn’t have much in common. How could they? When Logan was in second grade, Luke was already in high school and almost never around.” Tears began to roll down her cheeks again, and she swiped them away. “But they did seem to get closer after Luke finished his tour and came home. I think helping Logan with his car brought them together.”
I got Luke’s information and moved on. “What about girlfriends? Was Logan seeing anyone? Or did he break up with anyone recently?”
“No, there were no girlfriends. At least not that I knew of. Logan is pretty shy. But Brad might know more about that.”
“Did Logan play sports of any kind?”
A sad smile lifted the corners of her mouth. “No. They pushed him hard to play basketball in junior high. He was very tall for his age even then. But he had no interest. In basketball or any other team sport. He thought they were for ‘knuckle draggers.’”
“Any school activities?” Bonnie shook her head. “Did he have any problems in school recently? Any fights with other students? Teachers?”
“No. Logan never fought with anyone.” She frowned. “The only person I ever saw him angry with was himself. He’d get furious about messing up the littlest thing. I remember the first time, when he was eight. Me and a couple of other moms took our sons fishing. Logan accidentally dropped all his bait into the water. He stood up in the boat and screamed at himself so long and so hard I thought he was going to faint from lack of oxygen.” Bonnie bit her lower lip. “I’d never seen him act like that before. It scared me.”
“Did you ever see that happen again?”
“Yes, a couple of other times. But it was always directed at himself. Never at anyone else.”
“Did he continue to have those…outbursts when he started high school?”
“At first, but then it stopped. He did have sad spells, when he’d hole up in his room. But he’d always come out of it before too long. It didn’t seem terribly unusual. The teenage years…it’s a tough time for kids. Luke went through the same thing at that age.”
“Did Logan ever show any interest in guns?”
Bonnie’s eyes widened. “Never.” She shifted on the sofa and looked down the hall toward Logan’s room. “How much longer are they going to be in there?”
“I don’t know. I can go check-”
“Yes, please.”
We stood up, but at that moment Bailey walked in with a uniformed officer. She was carrying an evidence bag.
“Mrs. Jarvis, I’m afraid we’re going to have to search the rest of the house,” Bailey said. The uni moved in, one hand hovering near the butt of his gun. Bonnie stared at him, white-faced, then turned to Bailey. “Why?” she asked.
Bailey held up the bag. “Loose ammunition in one of Logan’s dresser drawers. It’s the same caliber and make as some of the ammunition used in the shooting.”