The Anniversary (22 page)

after many false starts, her life was coming together. Steven was working
4

as a paralegal, and soon he’d go to law school. She’d support him while he
5

studied, and then they’d have a family. She imagined their future, a home
6

of their own, beautiful, perfect children. This dream had to be preserved
7

at all costs. Truth was the casualty.

8

Over the years, she’d struggled valiantly to accept her lover’s stories,
9

done her best to accept his incredible tales at face value. The bloody shirt?

10

Steven could explain. He’d used it as a bandage, wrapped it around an in-11

jured driver at the scene of a car accident. Never mind that he’d never
12

mentioned this before, was vague about time and location. Laura swal-13

lowed the story whole. Or told herself she did. He needed the mask and
14

gloves, he’d claimed, because of his allergies. He’d planned to take the
15

knives to be sharpened. The bones were from fried chicken.

16

17

Melanie realized she was shaking her head, slowly, back and 18

forth. It was Laura’s failure to come forward that had left Gage 19

free to kill. How many lives might have been saved if Laura had 20

acknowledged the truth. Certainly Dahlia Schuyler’s. And maybe 21

many more.
How could you not know?
That had always been her 22

question. Because of this, she’d never fully trusted anything 23

Laura said. In her meetings with Laura, she’d done her best to 24

hide this skepticism. But despite her best efforts, she’d always sus-25

pected that Laura sensed her feelings.

26

Still holding the book, Melanie went to the couch. As she set-27

tled into its cushioned depths, she stared out into the night.

28

Hindsight is always twenty-twenty,
her father used to say. For the 29

first time, she tried to look at events as Laura might have seen 30

them. Laura had needed love. Steven had offered it.
Just like you
31

needed Frank. It’s really just the same.
Like Laura, she’d seen what 32

she’d chosen to see, pushed the rest aside.

33

She thought of how easily she’d accepted Frank’s self-serving 34

explanations. So he’d been married twice before. He just hadn’t S 35

R 36

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A M Y G U T M A N

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found the right woman. His first wife hadn’t had a sense of self.

2

She’d looked to him for that. He’d loved her, he said, he really 3

had, but you couldn’t live that way. Next he’d swung to the other 4

extreme, married a hard-core careerist. She hadn’t been capable 5

of intimacy. He’d been unbearably lonely. After these seductive 6

confessions, he’d gaze into Melanie’s eyes. With her, he’d say, 7

he’d finally found the love he’d always longed for.

8

In fairness, she’d only been twenty-six, still a work in progress.

9

Frank had been fifty-two, powerful, well connected. He’d gone 10

all out to dazzle her and, predictably, she’d been dazzled. For the 11

first year or so of the marriage, everything had been fine. Im-12

mersed in her work on the Gage appeal, she’d barely noticed the 13

shift, that Frank was coming home later and later, making more 14

out-of-town trips. In the ensuing months, he’d left countless 15

clues, but she’d refused to see them. Only when she’d found him 16

with another woman did she finally face the truth.

17

She closed Diane’s book and put it on the coffee table. She still 18

hadn’t figured out what to do about Laura’s phone call.

19

Happy Anniversary, Melanie.
The words rose up in her mind.

20

Were the notes connected to Diane’s murder? Was Laura right 21

about that? If only she hadn’t destroyed hers. She’d have liked to 22

study it now. Again, she reminded herself that Laura might be ly-23

ing. Laura herself could have sent the letter, dropped it off at the 24

firm. As for the watch, if it even existed, Laura could have 25

planted it. She’d certainly offered no proof on the phone that the 26

watch had belonged to Diane.

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But why would Laura go to such trouble? Melanie had to think.

28

Was it possible Laura had come to crave her former notoriety?

29

Could she have written the note in an effort to capture attention, 30

viewing Diane’s murder as a chance to regain the media spot-31

light? During the trial, Laura had briefly been a reluctant celebrity, 32

her trial testimony raptly followed by people all over the world.

33

The public’s hunger for information had seemed insatiable. What 34

was it like to share your life with a psychopathic killer? Through 35 S

it all, Laura had refused to give a single interview, insisting 36 R

that she wanted nothing to do with the media feeding frenzy.

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But if Laura had really felt so strongly, why had she talked to 1

Diane? Why had she given the interviews that appeared in
The
2

Vanishing Man
?

3

Mulling this over, Melanie stood and headed for the kitchen.

4

She shouldn’t be drinking on an empty stomach, but she still 5

didn’t feel like eating. She poured herself another glass from the 6

cold, beaded bottle, admiring the golden glow as it cascaded into 7

the crystal. Paul, something of a connoisseur, disparaged her 8

fondness for white wine. The reds, he said, were more complex.

9

Melanie didn’t care. She had no interest in complexity, in her life 10

or in her wine.

11

On the way back to the living room, Melanie tripped on a rug.

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She held the glass aloft, managing not to spill. Funny, she didn’t 13

feel the least bit drunk, but at this point, she must be. Still, her 14

mind seemed clear as glass, her thoughts unencumbered. If any-15

thing, the alcohol was helping her, clarifying her logic.

16

That’s what alcoholics think. You really need to be careful.

17

But that was one problem she didn’t have. She rarely drank at 18

all. She didn’t like the out-of-control sensation that alcohol usu-19

ally gave her. Laura had been an alcoholic, though she’d stopped 20

drinking by the time they met. Perhaps that was part of the rea-21

son she’d always seemed so raw. As if her skin were literally thin-22

ner than that of a normal person.

23

Melanie took a long sip of wine. Something was bothering her.

24

The scenario she’d come up with. What was wrong with it? As 25

she sank down on the couch again, she realized what it was. The 26

time frame, that was the problem. The chronology didn’t work.

27

According to the
Times,
Diane’s body hadn’t been found until 28

Tuesday. It would have taken another day at least for the news to 29

hit the papers. Yet the letter had arrived at her office almost two 30

weeks before then. It was dated April 5, and she’d received it the 31

following day. Again, that was almost two weeks before Laura 32

could have known.

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Unless, that is, Laura herself had been involved in the murder.

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Laura Seton a murderess? Now that was really a stretch. Laura S 35

had been unstable, but she’d never shown signs of violence.

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Laura was the classic female depressive, all anger turned fiercely 2

inward. At least, that’s how she’d been before, at the time 3

Melanie had known her. In the intervening years, could she have 4

changed so much? Then Melanie thought of the voice on the 5

phone, so surprisingly strong. If Laura’s voice could change so 6

dramatically, might her temperament have changed as well?

7

There was still the question of motive, though. That took an-8

other few seconds.

9

She thinks that Diane’s book ruined her life. She did it for revenge.

10

Disconcerted by the thought, Melanie put down her wine 11

glass. Laura had been angry about the book, Melanie remem-12

bered that now. She seemed to think that Diane had broken 13

some sort of unspoken agreement. The reaction was hardly sur-14

prising in light of how she’d come off. But if Laura had killed 15

Diane for revenge, then why call Melanie? Why take a step that 16

could only increase the risk that she’d be caught?

17

Even that, though, Melanie decided, could be explained in 18

terms of psychology. Killers often volunteered to help solve their 19

victims’ murders. Often, they stayed bizarrely close to the scene 20

of the crimes they’d committed. That was the reason that inves-21

tigators photographed crowds at crime scenes. Amazingly often 22

the killer was there, lurking on the sidelines. Perhaps Laura’s call 23

was something like that, a variation on a theme.

24

Laura.
Laura’s call. With a start, Melanie realized that she’d ac-25

cepted this too without question. But how could she know that 26

the woman who’d called was really Laura Seton? Laura’s voice had 27

been breathy, her sentences full of false starts. Again, she thought 28

of the caller’s voice, the core of confidence. She’d noted the dif-29

ference right away but hadn’t made the logical leap. Perhaps the 30

caller hadn’t sounded like Laura because she was someone else.

31

Tucking her legs beneath her, Melanie finished her wine. But 32

the warm glow she’d felt earlier continued to dissipate. The phone 33

rang. Melanie’s body tightened. She let the machine pick up.

34

“Hi, sweetie. You there? Hello?” Paul’s disembodied voice 35 S

echoed through the room. “Guess you must have gone to bed 36 R

early. Talk tomorrow. Love you.”

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Love you.

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The words drifted in the empty air. Briefly here, then gone.

2

But do I love you? Do I love you?

3

The words danced in her mind.

4

When she’d heard the phone, she’d instantly assumed that it 5

must be Laura. Laura or whoever the woman was who’d called 6

her at work today. Her number was listed, after all, easily avail-7

able. The fact that the caller hadn’t tried her at home was slightly 8

reassuring. Or maybe she just had the sense to know that Melanie 9

wouldn’t pick up.

10

Melanie lay back on the cushions, staring up at the ceiling. The 11

fog from the wine had come over her slowly but now it was thick-12

ening. She felt as if she’d been here for hours, but she’d yet to find 13

her answer. She kept coming back to the fact that she needed more 14

information. She’d thought about going to the police herself, re-15

porting the note she’d gotten. But like Laura — or the woman 16

who claimed to be Laura — she too wanted this kept quiet.

17

She had no intention of becoming fuel for some lurid tabloid 18

story, especially not with partnership elections coming up next 19

month. Harwich & Young was an old-school firm, circumspect 20

in the extreme. A whiff of scandal might tip the balance. She 21

wouldn’t let that happen. Her career had already been derailed 22

once because of Steven Gage. She’d been lucky to get a second 23

chance. She couldn’t screw it up.

24

You need to talk to her again. You need to see her in person.

25

At first the thought surprised her, but it made a sort of sense.

26

By insisting on a face-to-face meeting, she’d force her caller’s 27

hand. If it turned out that the caller wasn’t Laura, she might sim-28

ply disappear. And if the woman
was
Laura? What would happen 29

then? Melanie tried to think it through, to weigh the pros and 30

cons. Would a face-to-face meeting further complicate an already 31

messy situation? Of course it was a possibility, but she didn’t have 32

much choice. At least this time she’d be prepared. She’d have to 33

take the risk.

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S 35

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Sunday, April 23

I

1

t was a three-hour drive from Merritt to Manhattan, less if you 2

drove fast. Callie had planned to leave earlier, but she’d lingered 3

over breakfast with Anna. They’d made blueberry pancakes and 4

fresh-squeezed orange juice. By the time she dropped off Anna at 5

the Creightons’, it was after nine o’clock.