Page 83 of This is Why We Lied

Will shook his head with something like disgust. “He’s two years younger than me. The McAlpines must’ve aged him down.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s not as easy to do now because everything’s digitized, but back then, not every kid showed up with a valid birth certificate. Foster parents could petition the court to change a kid’s age. If the kid was shitty, they’d age him up so he’d be out of the system sooner. If he was easy, or if he was receiving enhanced benefits, then they would age him down so the money kept rolling in.”

Faith felt sick to her stomach. “What’s an enhanced benefit?”

“More problems, more money. Maybe the kid’s got emotional issues or he’s experienced sexual assault and needs therapy, which means you’ve got to drive him to appointments and maybe he’s more of a handful at home, so the state gives you more money for your trouble.”

“Jesus Christ.” Faith couldn’t keep the catch out of her voice. She had no idea whether any of this had happened to Will. Just the thought of it made her incredibly sad. “So Dave was a troubled kid?”

“He was sexually assaulted by a PE teacher in elementary school. It lasted a few years.” Will shrugged it off, but the violation was horrifying. “He’ll try to use it for pity. Let him talk, but just be aware that he knows what it’s like to be helpless, and he grew up to be the type of man who beat his wife for years and eventually raped and murdered her.”

Faith could hear the anger in his voice. He really hated this guy. “Does Amanda know that you know Dave?”

Will’s jaw clenched, which was his way of saying yes. It also went a long way toward explaining why Amanda had driven two hours to get here. And why she wanted Will as far away from this case as possible.

For Faith’s part, she had more questions. “Dave’s a grown man. Why did he stay up here with the McAlpines if they exploited his troubled childhood for money?”

Will shrugged again. “Before he ran away, Dave had a suicide attempt that landed him a psych hold. Once you’re in a facility, it’s hard to get out. On the facility side, there’s a money incentive to keep the kid in treatment. On the kid side, you feel really angry and suicidal because you’re locked down in a psych ward, which kind of wags the dog. They kept Dave locked up for six months. He was back at the home less than a week before he bolted. The McAlpines had their problems, but I can see where he felt like they saved him. He definitely would’ve been sent back to Atlanta without the adoption.”

Faith stored all of this away in her heart so she could cry about it later. “A thirteen-year-old boy knows he’s not eleven. The judge would’ve asked him.”

“I told you he’s sneaky,” Will said. “Dave was always lying about stupid things. Stealing people’s stuff or breaking it because he was jealous you had something he didn’t. He was one of those kids who always kept a running tally. Like, you got an extra handful of tater tots at lunch so I should get an extra handful at dinner.”

Faith knew the type. She also knew how hard it was for Will to talk about his childhood. “Tater tots are delicious.”

“I’m really hungry.”

Faith rooted around in her purse for a candy bar. “I take it you want something with nuts?”

Will grinned as she handed him a Snickers bar. “By the way, Sara wasn’t a hundred percent on Dave being the murderer.”

This was new information. “Okay. But you are?”

“I absolutely am. But Sara’s gut is usually pretty good. So.” Will ripped open the wrapper with his teeth. “The last witness to see Mercy before she died had her outside cottage seven around 10:30.”

Faith found her notebook and pen. “Talk me through the timeline.”

Will had already shoved half the Snickers bar into his mouth. He chewed twice, then swallowed, then said, “Sara and I were at the lake. I looked at my watch before I got in. It was 11:06. I’d guess it was around 11:30 that we heard the first scream.”

“More like a howl?”

“Correct,” Will said. “We couldn’t tell which direction it came from, but we thought probably the compound. That’s where the house and most of the cottages are. Sara and I walked together for a bit, then we split up so I could take a more direct route. I ran through the forest. Then I stopped because I thought it was stupid, right? We heard a howl in the mountains and we ran into the woods. I decided to go find Sara. That’s when I heard the second scream. I’d ballpark the time between the howl and the first scream at around ten minutes.”

Faith started writing again. “Mercy screamed a word—help.”

“Right. Then she screamed please. There was a much shorter gap between the second and third scream, maybe a second or two. But it was clear they both came from the direction of the bachelor cottages by the lake.”

“Bachelor cottages.” Faith noted the name. “Is that where you were swimming?”

“No, we were at the opposite end. It’s called the Shallows. The lake is really big. You need to get the map. The Shallows is on one end and the bachelor cottages are on the other. The compound is high above both, so basically I went up one side of a hill, then down the other side.”

Faith really needed to see that map. “How long after the second and third scream did it take you to reach Mercy?”

Will shook his head and shrugged. “It’s hard to say. I was amped up, surrounded by trees in the middle of the night, trying not to face plant. I wasn’t paying attention to time. Maybe another ten minutes?”

“How long does it take to get from the compound to the bachelor cottages?”

---