Page 85 of It's One of Us
Five minutes later, Park and Olivia are miked, and watching Erica Pearl straighten her shirt and adjust the lavalier mic attached to her lapel.
“My lav’s set. Sound check, one, two, three. All’s good?”
The photojournalist nods, gives a thumbs-up. Park takes Olivia’s hand. It is cold and weak in his.
“Okay, Mr. and Mrs. Bender. We’re going to run through the whole story, and you can tell us what you know.”
“I don’t know anything,” Park says. “That’s the problem.”
“Then let’s start at the beginning. I understand the day Beverly Cooke was found, the police came to your front door with some rather shocking news.”
“Yes,” he says, and they’re off. He recounts all the things that have happened so far, of course leaving out a few particulars—the fights with Olivia, the drive by at his daughter’s house, the interrogations by the police. Lucía has coached him, and he has had time to think about what he wants to say. He frames everything in as straightforward language as he can.
He mourns with the rest of the city at Beverly Cooke’s death.
He is horrified and scared for Jillian Kemp and is praying for a quick and happy resolution.
Yes, he has been told that there is a DNA match to a biological son he wasn’t aware of.
Yes, he is cooperating with the police.
Yes, he is now aware that he has twenty-eight biological children.
No, he didn’t know about these children.
Yes, of course he wants to meet them. It will be the greatest joy of his life.
He doesn’t look at Olivia when he says this, knowing it must be a stake to her heart. Her free fist clenches in her lap.
Finding Beverly’s killer is paramount, and all he’s currently focused on.
Please, if you’re seeing this, as your father—though I know I don’t deserve that title—please come forward. We will figure this out.
And when Pearl brings up Melanie Rich, he answers the way he wished he had all those years ago.
A tragedy. An absolute tragedy. My heart goes out to her family. No one should lose a child.
The reporter is eating it up. This is gold. He knows it, she knows it. Scoop, with a capitalS.
And then it all goes sideways.
“I think we all feel your pain and understand. I so appreciate your honesty. Just one more thing before we wrap up. Is it true you were on the scene of another death, in Florida? A teenage girl drowned during your college spring break, isn’t that right?”
Olivia tenses beside him, pulls her hand away in reflex. Unprepared, Park, heart pounding, sputters. “How did you find out about that?”
He hears how badly it sounds as he says it, and Pearl, smelling meat on the grill, doesn’t let up.
“And according to police records, when you were ten, a neighborhood girl went missing. Annie Cottrell. Her parents told St. Louis police they’d seen her playing with you and your brother an hour earlier. She was never found, isn’t that right?”
Lucía strides into the den, stepping in front of the camera. “We’re done here. You’ve gone outside the scope of this interview. Thank you for your time, Erica. Because you didn’t follow the rules of our agreement, we rescind our permission to have this shown on the news.”
Erica doesn’t look incensed, only prettily confused. “Lucía, we’ve been live this whole time on the app. I told you we would be.”
Park feels the blood drain from his face. “We’re live?”
Erica Pearl’s smile is nearly Cheshire. “Of course. Still rolling,” she adds sweetly.
Olivia steps in. She is steel, and she is Valkyrie furious; Park can’t remember seeing her this angry since they were teenagers. “Then we need to discuss one more thing. A stranger has been breaking into our house. We have footage from our security cameras. A white male, wearing a dark hoodie. He has a key to our home and knows our security codes. Personal items are missing. We have been violated by these intrusions, we have been shocked by the news this week, and we will not stand idly by and have any sort of accusations, oblique or otherwise, cast our way. For you to pretend to be taping an interview yet broadcast it is not only disingenuous, you’re taking advantage of a horrible moment for our family, for our friends, and for the women of Nashville, who are all terrified right now that they might be next. I hope you’re satisfied. Now cut your camera. We’re done.”
