The Night Stalker_ A Novel of Suspense - James Swain [21]
Cheeks returned with a paper cup filled with water. Vonell sipped the water, then spoke. “Teen Angel said the child had a special relationship with his abductor. He called it a bond of trust. He said that without that bond, the abduction could not have taken place.”
“You mean a prior relationship?” I said.
“Yes. He said the abductor was someone the boy had contact with on a regular basis.”
“A friend,” I said.
“That’s correct. I believe that’s everything,” Vonell said.
“If I wanted to contact Teen Angel, how would I find him?” I asked.
Vonell glanced over his shoulder at his attorney. The attorney gave him a nod that said it was okay to rat out his chat room buddy. Vonell resumed looking at me.
“Teen Angel works at a local theme park in security,” he said.
I rose from my chair and acted like I was done. I had one more question, and I knew that it had to be said at exactly the right time. I waited until Vonell had let his guard down, then pounced.
“Was Teen Angel involved in Sampson Grimes’s kidnapping?” I asked.
Vonell started to answer, then clamped his mouth shut.
“Yes or no?” I asked.
Vonell dropped his eyes to the floor.
“Answer me or the deal’s off,” I said.
His head snapped up. “But Detective Cheeks said—”
“To hell with what Detective Cheeks said. Yes or no?”
Sexual predators had a code of silence they rarely broke. But Vonell knew I’d make good on my threat. He let a moment pass, then replied.
“I believe he was,” he said.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Do you believe me now?” I asked.
Cheeks stood over the sink in the men’s washroom, dousing his face with cold water. Lifting his gaze, he looked at me in the mirror. “Teen Angel might have helped kidnap the Grimes kid. Or he might be a closet pedophile who sits at his computer and fantasizes with other pedophiles about stealing kids. There are a lot of guys around who do that, you know.”
“Not Teen Angel,” I said. “He’s helped with abductions before.”
“You know that for a fact?”
“Yes. Teen Angel helped a guy named Ray Hicks abduct a little girl from an elementary school in Ocala. It was as clean as anything I’ve ever seen. I saw the e-mails Teen Angel sent Hicks. They spelled the whole thing out.”
“You’re saying this guy is a pro.”
“A pro’s pro.”
Cheeks patted his face with a paper towel. He was one of the few guys I knew who could clean himself up and not look any better. “How do we find him?”
“Vonell said he works in security for a local theme park,” I said. “Call the parks, and tell them you have evidence that a pervert is working for them. They’ll cooperate once they hear that.”
“You think so?”
“It always worked for me,” I said.
Vonell’s lawyer was waiting for us in the hallway. He’d written up an agreement on a legal pad that he shoved into Cheeks’s face along with a pen.
“My client is being arraigned this afternoon,” he said. “I need you to sign this statement stating that the charges against Vonell are being dropped from molestation with a minor to indecent exposure. You said you’d do this. It was part of our agreement.”
Cheeks took the pen and scribbled his name on the bottom. The lawyer stuck the pen in his pocket, and started to walk away.
“Can I see that?” I asked.
The lawyer handed me the agreement. I read it quickly, and saw how he’d painted Vonell into some harmless middle-aged guy who occasionally showed off his dick in public. Vonell had been arrested for molesting a teenager, a crime that would leave a deep psychological scar on his victim for the rest of her life. Somehow he’d forgotten to mention that, and I shredded the agreement before his disbelieving eyes.
“Get lost,” I said.
The lawyer followed us up the stairs, cursing his head off. When he didn’t stop, the sergeant on duty in the reception area escorted him out of the building.
I followed Cheeks to his office on