Page 37 of Shadow of Justice
I stopped short of making any promises. The Lukes were grappling with so much more than the loss of their daughter. They’d been cloaked in Jamie Simmons’s lies for twenty-two years.
“You want me to lose everything,” Claudia said. “Do you understand that?”
“I don’t. I’m not doing any of this to hurt you.”
“Hayden,” George said. “There are some things you need to understand about our granddaughter.”
“All right,” I said. Though I suspected I already knew where this was going, I decided patient, active listening would be the best way to defuse a potentially volatile situation.
“It’s our fault,” George continued. “Losing Ellie … thewaywe lost Ellie. It was so painful. It’s not just us missing her. Torturing ourselves over what her last minutes on earth must have been like. Did she call for help? Did she call for us? She had to have. That would be normal, wouldn’t it? You’re a mother. It would be natural for a child to cry out for her parents when they’re in pain. When they’re frightened. That alone is enough to destroy me. Us. But then to find out that someone we let into Ellie’s life was the one who did this to her.”
“Only you didn’t,” I said, contradicting my intentions. “Dane Fischer didn’t do this.”
George put up a hand. “We can put that aside for now. Let’s assume that’s true. What I’m trying to tell you about is my granddaughter. We didn’t talk about Ellie. After Detective Ritter told us he couldn’t arrest Dane … after we realized there would be no justice for Ellie … we shut down. We couldn’t cope. The only way we survived was by locking that part of our life away. Not forgetting her. Never that. But it was just too painful to talk about. And we were losing Erin, too. That’s what you have to understand. Erin was trying so hard to make everything okay for us. She was just a kid. Eighteen. That’s a tremendous burden. Erin felt like she had to be all things for us. And God help us, we let her.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
“Jamie was a friend to her,” Claudia said. “He watched out for her. For all of us. Erin grew to rely on him. He was like a big brother to her and that was such a comfort. She needed that. I think she felt comfortable talking to him about things she couldn’t say to us. Then … I don’t know. Things grew between them. Almost two years after Ellie died, Erin found out she was pregnant. I was terrified for her. She was so young. But Jamie took care of her. Jamie is the reason my family survived. Do you understand?”
“I do,” I said. “If you think I’m judging you for anything, I promise you, I’m not.”
“He couldn’t have done this,” George said. “Jamie loves us. He’s part of our family. We made a mistake not being open with Hayden about her Aunt Ellie. Her curiosity was natural. What she did about it wasn’t.”
“What is it you think she did?” I asked.
“She was sick,” Claudia spat. “Looking online at those awful pictures of poor Ellie’s body. Ellie was nothing to her. Bones. A curiosity. My granddaughter is a disturbed young girl. She needs help.”
It broke my heart to think how Hayden’s family had turned on her. Jamie Simmons’s talons were sunk so deeply into Ellie Luke’s parents. And Erin Luke had lived as his wife for twenty years. I wouldn’t say the words. It served no purpose to antagonize them. But Jamie Simmons had managed to groom and brainwash Ellie’s parents. There was no telling what he’d done to a young, grieving, vulnerable Erin Luke. She was just as much a victim as Ellie had been. That is what I would need the jury to see.
“Have you spoken to her?” I asked. “To Hayden?”
“You can’t talk to her,” Claudia said. “She won’t listen. She’s got some therapist that tells her she has to set boundaries. What do they call it, George? What she’s done?”
“No contact,” he said bitterly. “Hayden won’t engage with us.”
Good for her, I thought. I would never say it. The Lukes were victims too.
“You need to be prepared,” I said. “It’s as I’ve told you. I wouldn’t pursue a conviction against your son-in-law if I didn’t think he was guilty. I can connect him to the crime scene. I have witnesses who will testify about the inappropriate attention he paid your daughter. The lies he told.”
“You’re harassing him,” Claudia jumped in. “We know what this is. How important it is for the new sheriff to notch a conviction before the election next year.” She was parroting Bennett Cutler.
“This isn’t about that. And we didn’t seek this out. When new, credible evidence emerged, we pursued it. It has nothing to do with the timing of an election. You have my word on that.”
“Your word,” George said. “Can you understand why that doesn’t mean much to us? From where we sit, the Sheriff’s Department has done nothing to instill confidence in us.”
“Sam Cruz wasn’t the sheriff when your daughter was murdered,” I said. “And I wasn’t the prosecutor. Neither of us has any personal connection to this case. We’re only interested in getting justice for your daughter. I am telling you today, Jamie’s trial is the way to get it.”
“We’re going to lose her!” Claudia shouted. “Don’t you see that?”
“Hayden,” I asked. “She loves you. She’s hurt. But she loves you. She understands how traumatic this is for you.”
“Not Hayden,” George said quietly. “She’s talking about Erin. She’s afraid of losing Erin. This whole thing … Erin’s fragile. She always has been. Ellie used to look out for her. She mothered her as much as my wife did.”
“Then Jamie took on that role,” I said.
Squeezing his eyes shut, George Luke nodded.
“Maybe Erin’s stronger than you think,” I offered. “I know you want the truth. I know you must want to know what happened to Ellie once and for all.”
