The Anniversary (15 page)

school beau, Larry Peters. Thinking of Tod she was reminded of 33

how happy he’d seemed today.

34

“It must be hard on him, having his kids so far away.”

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“It is,” Rick said. He didn’t elaborate.

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Callie spread mustard on a slice of bread. “Why’d he move way 2

up here when they’re down in Virginia?”

3

“I think he wanted to start over. He lived in the area when he 4

was a kid.”

5

“I could see how he’d want to come back. Still, he must be 6

lonely.” Callie gave Rick a covert glance. “I’ve been thinking 7

about fixing up Martha and Tod.”

8

“Martha?”

9

“You know, I work with her. She got divorced a while back.”

10

“The one with the fuzzy hair?”

11

“It’s not
fuzzy,
it’s curly. Women pay lots of money for hair like 12

that.”

13

“Well, I’m glad you’re not one of them.”

14

“Is that the problem? You don’t think she’s pretty enough?”

15

“Honey, that’s not it.”

16

“So what’s the problem, then?”

17

Rick shrugged. “If you want to, give it a shot. I just don’t think 18

he’ll go for it.”

19

“Well, there’s no harm in asking. We could have them over for 20

dinner or something. It wouldn’t have to be a real date.”

21

From the living room, she heard Anna. “Wow!”

22

“What is it?” Callie called.

23

A beaming Anna appeared in the doorway, something clutched 24

in her hand.

25

“This watch is so cool!”

26

A watch? Callie walked toward her. “Let me see,” she said.

27

Looking at her mother warily, Anna opened her hand.

28

The watch had an intricate golden bracelet. On its face was 29

the word
Cartier.

30

Callie took the watch from Anna and balanced it in her hand.

31

She had little experience with fine jewelry, but this seemed like 32

the real thing. She’d once owned a knock-off watch, a two-tone 33

fake Rolex. Its flimsy metal components had felt nothing like 34

this.

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“Where did you find this?” Callie asked.

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Anna gave her a baffled look. “It was in the plastic egg, in the 1

Easter basket. The one you put in the drainpipe.”

2

“Where’s the basket?” Callie’s voice was level, but she felt a stir 3

of alarm. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she knew that 4

she didn’t like it.

5

Anna shrugged. “I don’t know. In the living room, I guess.”

6

“What’s up?” Rick turned toward them.

7

There was no point in trying to hide the facts. “A watch,” Cal-8

lie said. “Anna found a watch in an Easter basket.”

9

Rick had drifted over to the counter, where he surveyed the 10

abandoned makings of their meal. “What do you say I finish up 11

the sandwiches?”

12

“That would be great. Thanks.”

13

She was already on her way to the living room, where she 14

found the basket with its yellow ribbon. Plastic green grass was 15

scattered around, like so much exploded stuffing. On the floor lay 16

the pieces of a hollow pink egg. Callie picked them up, looked at 17

them, snapped the halves together. She remembered eggs like 18

this from when she was a kid, but she hadn’t seen one in years.

19

She took the plastic egg back to the kitchen, where Anna was 20

slumped in a chair. “The watch, it was in here?”

21

Silently, Anna nodded. “Mom, just give it back to me. I’m the 22

one who found it.”

23

“Honey, it’s a mistake. I didn’t put it there.”

24

“Well, it’s still
mine,
” Anna said. There was an edge of defiance 25

to her voice now. “Someone left it in a basket, and I’m the one 26

who found it.”

27

Callie shook her head. “It may belong to someone. We have to 28

find out who.”

29

“But Mom, it’s not
fair.
I found it.”

30

Anna looked like she might cry. “Okay.
Fine.
” She shoved 31

back the chair so hard it almost fell and ran out of the room.

32

Callie stared at the watch.

33

Upstairs, she heard Anna’s door slam shut. So much for the 34

perfect day.

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“Let me see,” said Rick.

2

Wordlessly, Callie showed him the watch. Rick looked at it.

3

“You really think this is the real thing?” he asked.

4

“Why? You don’t?”

5

Rick shrugged. “It just doesn’t seem very likely. Why would 6

someone hide a Cartier watch? It’s probably just a fake someone 7

found when they were cleaning out their house or something.”

8

Callie had to stop herself from launching into explanations.

9

How she was the one who’d filled this basket, and she hadn’t put 10

a watch inside. But before she spoke, she realized that this would 11

only make things worse. It would only lead to further questions, 12

and then what would she say? If she convinced Rick that the 13

watch was authentic, he’d want to take it to the station. And 14

she — she wanted to keep hold of it. For what she couldn’t say.

15

She reached out and took the watch from Rick. The time was 16

12:10. She dropped it into a pocket.

17

“You’re probably right,” she said.

18

h

19

20

It was a little before nine on May 7 when 20-year-old Dahlia Schuyler
21

jumped into her white Saab, a birthday present from her parents, and
22

made the short trip to Donovan’s Bar & Grill, where she’d planned to
23

meet friends for a quick drink. The pretty blonde Vanderbilt junior had
24

originally begged off, saying that she had to study for an organic chemistry
25

exam, but finally let herself be persuaded. “We told her that you’re only
26

young once,” recalled sorority sister Cindy Meyers. “She would rather
27

have stayed home, but she didn’t want to disappoint us. That was what
28

Dahlia was like. She always put her friends before herself. I know this
29

sounds like a cliché, but everyone just loved Dahlia.”

30

Those words are echoed again and again by Dahlia Schuyler’s friends
31

and family. By all accounts, the vivacious pre-med had lived a charmed
32

life. The daughter of a wealthy Nashville real estate developer and his so-33

cially active wife, she had enjoyed a privileged childhood. She attended
34

Harpeth Hall, a private girls’ school, and was always near the top of her
35 S

class. Her classmates recall her as a popular girl, always at the center of a
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circle of friends, and her academic success was balanced with a healthy
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range of interests. For many years, her first love was horseback riding,
1

and she rode whenever she could — on weekends, after school, and dur-2

ing the summers — taking ribbons in many competitions. As a young girl,
3

Dahlia hoped to become a veterinarian. She also loved children, and by the
4

time she arrived at Vanderbilt, she’d decided to become a pediatrician, a
5

dream that would stay with her for the rest of her short life.

6

By that spring, Dahlia was deservedly pleased with her life. With a 3.8

7

G.P.A. and stellar faculty recommendations, Dahlia knew she had a good
8

shot at being accepted at virtually any of the nation’s top medical schools.

9

And if the spring had been a little rocky — just six weeks earlier, she’d
10

broken up with her boyfriend of two years — she had the loving support of
11

family and friends and a bright and promising future. “We all knew that
12

Dahlia had been a little down,” said sorority sister Meyers. “But she never
13

wanted to talk about herself. Dahlia’s reaction to feeling blue was to focus
14

on other people. You’d start out asking how she was and then end up talk-15

ing about yourself. She was a very strong person, very mature. With a lot
16

of people, it’s like they expect to be happy all the time, but Dahlia accepted
17

the bad with the good and just tried to focus on the positive.”

18

In light of these words, it’s perhaps not surprising that the last thing
19

Dahlia did before heading off to join her friends was place a call to her
20

younger brother. The siblings were just two years apart, and they had al-21

ways been close. But while Dahlia had sailed through life, 18-year-old
22

Tucker had always struggled. Since graduating from high school the previ-23

ous year, he’d been floundering, picking up a series of low-paying jobs in
24

Nashville restaurants and spending, Dahlia thought, far too much time
25

alone. “She sort of felt guilty about Tucker,” said Meyers. “Like it made
26

it harder for him that she was doing so good. Like she was this perfect crea-27

ture and he was this total failure.” On this particular night, Tucker had
28

sounded especially troubled, and Dahlia invited him to join her and her
29

friends.

30

Donovan’s is a dark, old-fashioned sort of place, popular with newspa-31

per reporters and local politicians as well as college students. That night, it
32

was doing a brisk business. Dahlia quickly found her friends. Cindy Mey-33

ers and Sharon Adams had arrived an hour or so earlier and were now on
34

their second round of frozen margaritas. After sitting down with the two
S 35

young women, Dahlia tried to flag down a waiter but failed to get his at-R 36

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tention. She decided to go to the bar for her Diet Coke. She was feeling
2

tired, she told her friends, but wanted to wait for Tucker.

3

It was almost twenty minutes later when Cindy and Sharon, immersed
4

in conversation about an end-of-year dance, realized that Dahlia hadn’t
5

come back. “When I looked over at the bar, I saw she was talking to this
6

guy,” Cindy Meyers said. “It looked like they’d been talking for a while. I
7

remember feeling glad because she hadn’t been too interested in anyone
8

since she broke up with Jim. I was thinking this might be a good sign.

9

Dahlia was sitting on a bar stool and the guy was leaning toward her. I al-10

most went over to say something, but I didn’t want to interrupt. I guess
11

Sharon and I went back to talking and then we’d finished our drinks and
12

Dahlia was still talking to the same guy. Anyway, we were fixing to leave,
13

so I finally just walked over, but as I got closer, he whispered something to
14

her and kind of slipped away. I told her we were going home, but she said
15

she was going to stay. Tucker still hadn’t got there, and she was waiting for
16

him. That was what she said. But also, I could tell she wanted to keep
17

talking to the guy she’d been talking to. She said his name was Steven.”

18

It was just after ten when Cindy and Sharon headed back to the Van-19

derbilt campus.

20

By eleven o’clock, when her brother showed up, Dahlia Schuyler was
21

gone . . .

22

23

Callie put down the book and leaned back against her bed-24

room wall, legs loosely extended before her, bare feet splayed.

25

She picked up the watch from the floor beside her and closely ex-26

amined it. For a fleeting moment, she wondered if maybe she was 27

going crazy. Could she have put the watch in Anna’s basket and 28

then somehow forgotten? She’d actually have preferred that sce-29