“So you’re saying— Then who was at the creek? And why didn’t the police—”

“I don’t know. But Charlotte said she had friends, important people who could help her get away.”

“Who were these friends?”

Judy Adler reached over and stopped the video. “We talked to some of Charlotte’s friends. Charlotte had a bit of a secret life. Older boys, drugs. She’d told one friend she’d been assaulted, and she was afraid.”

Keller gave Judy a skeptical glance. “There was a trial, blood work. Her body was positively identified.”

Ira Adler snapped his fingers and pointed at Keller. “Exactly. And guess who contacted us saying he had something that would blow up what everybody thought about the case. Involving the blood work.”

Keller shook her head.

“Ron Sampson.”

“The cop who interrogated Danny Pine?”

“We were scheduled to meet, and then…”

“He killed himself,” Keller said.

Ira tilted his head to the side, held Keller’s stare like maybe Sampson hadn’t killed himself.

It was all too much. Too many conspiracies. Too many leaps. And Keller was starting to think the Adlers had been drinking the Kool-Aid.

“Charlotte’s father moved to North Dakota,” Ira added. “We’ve asked him for access to her things, to let us exhume the body for a DNA test, but he’s refused to speak with us.”

What a surprise. The guy they were accusing of being a child molester didn’t want to cooperate. Keller glanced at the computer screen again. In one of the windows she saw a familiar face: Noah Brawn.

Judy Adler followed Keller’s gaze, and said, “We interviewed him again. We’re hoping that the climax of our film will be a pardon, but we’ll see.”

Keller gestured to the computer. “May I?” she asked.

Judy nodded, and Keller clicked on the window with Brawn’s handsome face.

The interview started with Judy’s voice off-screen: “Do you think with all the attention on Danny Pine, Charlotte got forgotten?”

“Absolutely not. I certainly never forgot her. But we won’t get justice for her if the wrong man is in prison. We won’t get justice until the truth comes out.…”

Judy stopped the video. “You get the idea. More of the same from last time: the Smasher, the U.P., blah, blah, blah. We’ll see if he puts his money where his mouth is on the pardon.”

“You don’t think he’ll pardon Danny now that he’s governor?”

“Acting governor,” Judy said. “He only got the job because the former governor was a crook and had a taste for young girls. I suspect Brawn will tread lightly until he’s actually voted into the office. Have you been following the scandal?”

“Loosely.”

“The former governor is a real sleaze. And his henchman, what’s his name, Ira?”

“Flanagan. Neal Flanagan,” her husband replied.