Chapter 77

Officer Ormsby led us into a small room with video monitors. On one screen we saw Tracy sitting at a table next to her father. Her hands were folded in her lap. On another screen, Cammy sat with her mother. They both looked like they needed a smoke. I felt sorry for them. They looked scared, and their parents looked grim.

The chief went into Tracy’s room, plopped in a chair, and rubbed his face like he was exhausted. “Sorry to bring you down here tonight, but we have a development.”

“He confessed?” Tracy’s father said.

“No, he sure didn’t,” the chief said. “Still says he never touched your daughter.” He looked at Tracy. “Anything you want to tell me?”

Tracy frowned and shook her head.

“Since we can’t find much hard evidence linking him, we’d like you and your friend to take a polygraph. Know what that is?”

Tracy shook her head.

“A lie detector test?” her father said.

“Yeah. This guy is in big trouble, and we need the test as evidence.”

It looked to me like Tracy’s face turned pale. Her dad looked at her.

“I’ll leave you alone for a minute,” the chief said. “Think about it.”

As soon as the chief was gone, Tracy’s father said, “What’s the matter?”

Tracy started crying.

The chief then visited Cammy and her mother, pulled out the recorder, and set it on the table.

“What’s this, Officer?” Cammy’s mom said.

The chief looked at Cammy. “You want to tell her, or do you want me to?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

On the other video screen Tracy had put her head on the table and was sobbing.

“Cammy,” the chief said, “we have an innocent man in our jail, don’t we? Isn’t it time you told us the truth?”

“You don’t believe her?” Cammy’s mom said.

The chief stared at Cammy. “This is your chance. Right here. Get it out in the open.”

Cammy seemed to shrink into her chair, like the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. “I told you the truth. Why don’t you believe me?”

The chief pushed a button on the recorder, and Cammy’s voice filled the room.

Cammy’s mom turned to her, looking like she was about to explode.

Finally Cammy spoke. “Tracy and I were goofing off at school, and I knew you’d ground me for being late to babysit. When we went past the Toot Toot and saw that guy, we figured everybody would believe us. We bought the tape and tied each other up.”

I looked at Bryce. He looked as sad as I felt. Sometimes the truth makes you feel bad and good at the same time.