The majority of the other sleuthing sites were running with the Delaney narrative, but she was still reluctant to give him too much oxygen. Delaney was elaborating now, saying that he picked up Teddy on the outskirts of Michigan, mistook him for a girl. Said Teddy was wearing the pink dress when he encountered him. Said he couldn’t remember much after that, except ‘God told him to do it’. There was no explanation for why he chose the outskirts of a reserve in Millar Town as a dumpsite. All of these details could have been extrapolated from any number of #JusticeForTeddyRyan threads. It wasn’t proof of anything other than a desire for attention.
But then there was no concrete evidence backing up her latest Boy in the Dress update–a transcript of the audio clip Shaun had sent through, the names redacted. Going against her better instincts, she’d enabled the comment function and it was already being picked to pieces and questioned:
Marlborowoman: You call this proof? What’s going on? This site used to be TRUSTWORTHY
Vladtheromantic: Nice. So Missing-Linc is into victim blaming now?
Bobbiecowell: You think it’s false? Fair enough. But remember that it works both ways. There’s no concrete proof Teddy Ryan IS guilty of abuse either. No other victims have come forward.
Good old Bobbiecowell. He’d been a rock. Vlad and Marlborowoman’s comments didn’t strictly flaunt the guidelines, but she removed them anyway. So sue me. Scott’s chair sat empty in silent accusation. He hadn’t been back. Kelly had been messaging her, but hadn’t mentioned anything about their bust up. She missed him; missed Mommydearest.
Delete, delete, delete.
A pop, and the left-hand monitor screen gave up the ghost. She smacked it hard enough to make it wobble, bruising her palm, stared at herself reflected in its lifeless face. The darkness waved a tentacle in her direction, she could easily flump on the desk and howl. Couldn’t–wouldn’t. She should get out of here; hadn’t seen the sky for days now. And how long had it been since she’d exercised? She’d do both now–run through her pressure relief, then continue the work Kelly began restoring the sculptures. She went so far as to pick up the long-neglected tension bands she was supposed to use every day to stretch her tendons, before straying back to the inbox flashing on the remaining screen. With perfect timing, as if in punishment for ignoring her resolve, her nemesis arrived with one of its ‘RE: Eliza Guzman’ grenades. The message was brief: ‘dead women tell no tales LOL’. There was another attachment.
The Skype tone slapped her out of it. There was only one person who contacted her via Skype. Saved by the bell.
‘Finally. Where the hell have you been, Ellie?’
‘I’m so sorry I’ve been gone for so long. It was the shock of it. I just… I just couldn’t deal. Not when I’ve got boys, not when… But listen, I’ve got so much to tell you.’
‘Well don’t keep me in suspense.’
‘I’ve found the dress.’
‘What?’
‘I went to see Sandy’s widow. She gave it to me.’
‘Holy. Fuck.’ For once Ellie didn’t upbraid her for cursing. ‘I went there before only I didn’t tell you because I knew you thought it was a bad idea and in any case she said she didn’t have anything and then I went back and she gave it to me.’
‘Did you give it to the cops?’
‘Not yet. I promised Mrs Jensen I’d keep her out of it. I’ve been… I’ve been sitting on it, I guess you’d say. Trying to decide what to do, only now we know that Teddy wasn’t a… you know, a pervert, well, that’s why I’m calling you.’
‘The cops need it, Ellie. They can test for DNA. See if Delaney’s story holds water.’
‘It doesn’t hold water. The dress is stained with all kinds of things but I unpicked the hem and there was a line of red right in the crease. That ever happened to you when you washed stuff?’
‘No.’ Then she got the implication. ‘You’re saying it was originally red? You sure about this?’
‘I’m not sure. It’s not definite. The cops never mentioned it was red, and nor did Eric. If Sandy knew that I’m sure Eric would have told me. Delaney said the dress the boy was wearing was pink, didn’t he?’
Chris flipped to one of the bookmarked articles. ‘He did.’
‘Then it can’t be him. It has to be a false confession. And everyone we’ve spoken to, JT, Teddy’s friends, the people we can actually verify who knew him said that he wasn’t into drag. Why would he be hitching through Michigan wearing a dress? I mean, it was winter.’
‘Good point.’
‘All this time we’ve been looking for a pink dress. This could change everything.’
‘Have you told Aqualung or Bobbie?’
‘Only person who knows is Noah.’
‘Thought you and Aqualung were working on this together?’
‘We were. I couldn’t… I swore to Sandy’s widow I wouldn’t get her involved.’
‘Have you heard from him though?’
‘I thought you and him were friends?’
‘Yeah. Chased him away.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I’m a bitch that’s why.’
‘Have you apologised to him?’
‘You should do that.’
‘Thanks, Mom.’
‘Welcome.’
Her eye strayed back to the attachment. Not today, Satan. She deleted it without opening it.
‘Chris? You still there?’
‘Yeah. Just…’
‘What?’
‘Someone’s been sending borderline abusive messages about my mom to the site. You told anyone about her being on there?’
‘Oh… oh that’s just awful. You asked me not to say anything. I haven’t even told Noah. Or Aqualung, or Bobbie. Who do you think it is?’
‘Someone I kicked off the site. I accused Mommydearest of doing it.’
‘Mommydearest? Seriously?’
‘Yeah. Something that was said in the messages rang a bell. I was wrong. Poor guy. He must hate me.’
‘You apologised to him too?’
‘He’s blocked me.’
‘Do you want me to talk to him? Say that you were stressed out?’
‘No. It’s on me. I’ll deal with it.’
And she would. Talking about the messages was taking the power out of them. What was wrong with her that she’d let this fester for so long?
‘Is there anything I can do?’
‘It’s fine. I can handle it. Okay. So you need to take this to the cops. You can do it anonymously.’
‘How? They’ve got CCTV. They’ll know it was me. I promised, Chris.’
‘Post it?’
‘Can they trace that too?’
‘Yeah, maybe. Can you ask that guy Eric to do it? See if he can find a way to keep Mrs Jensen out of it?’
‘Okay. Then you got to let them handle it.’
‘I will.’
‘And maybe keep this to yourself for now?’
‘Of course. You don’t have to tell me that.’
‘And Ellie?’
‘What?’
‘You’re fucking amazing, you know that, right?’
Rainbowbrite: Hi sorry I’ve been so quiet. I have some news
Bobbiecowell: Hey! I’ve been real worried about you. We got a LOT to catch up on!! What are your thoughts on the confession???????
Rainbowbrite: He’s lying
Bobbiecowell: How do you know?
Rainbowbrite: Because the dress isn’t pink, it’s red