Until Dark - Mariah Stewart [14]
She turned to address Max.
“I’m sure that the description you gave was as truthful as possible. But it’s my understanding that you were given catalogs of photographs so that you could pick out features that looked right to you.”
Max nodded. “The police had big books with faces in them. They told me to look at the faces and then they asked me, did his nose look like this? Or this?”
“And police artists often work that way.” Not wanting to give the impression that she was critical of someone else’s efforts, or worse, that she was questioning Max’s veracity, Kendra smiled reassuringly at the child.
“But in order to refine the sketch, we’ll need to have you tell us about that night, Max. No books this time.”
“Okay,” Max nodded.
“Now, according to the police report, you were across the street in front of the video store when you first saw Ms. Garvey speaking with a man.” Adam took over, hoping to re-create the scene so that Max might be better able to describe to Kendra exactly what he saw.
“Well, I was across the street when I saw Ms. Garvey talking to him, but I was crossing the street when she went into the store.”
Kendra sat back in order to permit Adam to take over the questioning about the actual events of that evening.
“You were crossing the street from where, Max?”
“From the corner next to Fanning’s, the sporting goods place, to the video store on the opposite corner.” He glanced at his mother, then said somewhat sheepishly, “I’d forgotten to return a movie that my brother and I had rented. I wanted to get it back before my mom got home.”
“The boys have been habitually late returning their movies,” Mrs. Spinelli explained, “so the new rule is that they have to pay late fines from their allowance.”
“Do you remember what you did after you left the house, Max?” Adam took a seat across the table from Max.
“Sure. I rode my bike right down Fourth Street and crossed Main right there at the corner where Fanning’s is. Usually you can drop the tape right into a box outside the video store, but the box was full and I had to go inside. I parked my bike and went into the store and put the video on the counter.”
“So how long do you think you were inside the store?”
Max shrugged. “Just a couple of minutes.”
“When Ms. Smith and I drove into Deal this morning, we walked around town a little. I noticed that there’s a parking lot behind Fanning’s store. Did you pass the parking lot on your way down Fourth Street that night, Max?” Adam leaned back in his chair, a casual gesture that lent an air of informality to the session, as if he and Max were just old friends talking it over.
“Sure.”
“Did you notice if there were any cars parked there that night? Any cars that you recognized?”
“Ms. Garvey’s car was there, and Mr. Fanning’s car.”
“What kind of car does Mr. Fanning have?”
“A red Corvette.” Max grinned. “It’s hot.”
“Were those the only cars parked there that night?”
“No, there was a van in the lot. I remember because it was parked over toward the back, and it sort of blocked Mr. Fanning’s car. I had to look around it to see the Corvette.”
“I guess when you go past Fanning’s, you gotta see that ’vette.” Adam nodded, man to man.
“Right. It’s the only one around. You always look at it.”
“So there was a van in the lot blocking your view of the ’vette, so you looked around the lot a little to see if the ’vette was there.”
“Right.”
“And where was the Garvey car?”
“On the other side of the van.”
“What kind of van was it, did you happen to notice?”
“Nah. It was just a van.”
“So, you don’t know if it was new or old? Or the color . . . ?”
“It was sorta like . . .” Max appeared to be giving consideration to the van for the first time. “Sorta like . . . like Mrs. Alcort’s van.”
Max turned to look at his mother. “You know, the dark greenish blue one.”
“What kind of van does Mrs. Alcort drive?”
“I think it’s a Dodge,” Mrs. Spinelli replied.
“Max,” Kendra asked, “tell me what you saw when you looked across the street after you came out of the video store.”
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