Easy Innocence

Chapter 21

TOMMY CASHIAN was poised, smart, and seemed to have the kind of sensibility you'd expect from a budding musician. But why did that make him too good for Sara? A person says that when they're feeling shame. Or guilt. Or insecurity. And while teenagers are, by nature, insecure, Georgia didn't have that impression of Sara. In fact, she'd come away with idea that, with the exception of too much curiosity perhaps, the girl was pretty sensible.

What was she missing? Georgia mulled it over as she went back to her car. Did it have something to do with quitting her job at the bookstore? She didn't think so-kids don't care that much about a minimum wage job. They might care about what replaced that job, though, and Sara had been doing something when she told her parents she was still working.

As she passed an alley, she slowed. Two dark forms lurked in the shadows beside a dumpster. A burst of orange flame flared briefly, followed by the familiar scent of weed. She picked up her pace. During the hazing two years ago, parents brought the beer to the Forest Preserve. They rationalized it, claiming kids would have brought it anyway, and at least it wasn't cocaine. And they wondered why their kids had no respect for authority.

She got in the Toyota and headed back to her apartment. None of this-the beer, Sara quitting her job, her abbreviated relationship with Cash-had been in the police reports. She could write off one, even two omissions to sloppy work-and Robby was sloppy. But all of it? Georgia couldn't help wondering if the skimpy police reports might-just might-have something to do with the fact that the daughter of the State's Attorney prosecuting the case was in the Forest Preserve at the time of the murder.

Protection was a natural response when your child faced unwanted scrutiny. It was also important when you were a rising political star. The fact that his daughter was present when a hazing-and a murder-went down could be a major embarrassment for one of the top law enforcement officers in Cook County. Cam Jordan had given Jeff Ramsey a golden opportunity to protect his daughter-and himself. But was it convenience or cover-up? One was politics as usual; the other could blow the lid off Cook County government.

As she searched for a place to park, Georgia decided that despite Tommy Cashian's smooth defense, she couldn't ignore Monica Ramsey's presence in the Forest Preserve. The girl might not have had anything to do with Sara Long's murder, but the cop in her said not to make assumptions. Kids knew how to gin the system and manipulate others. What if there was a vengeful side to Monica? What if she'd hidden her fury over Cash's relationship with Sara? There was only Cash's word they left the Forest Preserve together. What if Monica picked up a bat and went back to the clearing alone, determined to teach Sara a lesson? Or encouraged someone else to do it? What if Cash himself was involved more than he'd let on?

Then again, the murder just might have been the result of a hazing that spun out of control. Kids half-looped. seniors wanting to flex their muscles. Beer and baseball bats at the scene. What if all of them: Monica, Cash, even Lauren, Claire, and Heather had a hand in Sara's death? Wasn't she supposed to have read some book in high school about boys on an island who turned into barbarians and killed a kid? Lord of The Flies, she thought.

Or maybe she was overreaching. Maybe Cam Jordan did kill Sara Long in some type of insane frenzy, and she was just too unwilling or stubborn to admit it. As she snagged a parking spot, feeling lucky to have found one on a Friday night, she realized she had more digging to do.

She locked the car and started down the block. A raw, biting chill hung in the air, and leaves tumbled around the cars, almost raining down. The changing of the seasons always touched her with melancholy. Something to do with passage of time, she supposed. She hurried up the walk to her building. She pulled opened the door to the vestibule, anticipating a rush of warmth. Instead, she was knocked back, gagging, by a stench so thick it was palpable.