The Anniversary (26 page)

locations of dozens of victims whose remains had never been 1 4 0

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found. By this point, Gage had been grasping at straws, aware 1

time was running out. The offer had been an obvious ploy to de-2

fer his execution.

3

Gage’s courting of Jamison had horrified his lawyers. She re-4

called the disbelief on Fred Irving’s face when Gage announced 5

his plans. Jamison, of course, hadn’t cared what Gage’s motives 6

were. The chance of interviewing Steven Gage was something he 7

couldn’t pass up. Once it was clear that they couldn’t stop Gage, 8

his lawyers had gone along. Irving had tapped Melanie to talk to 9

the profiler. At the time, she’d taken this assignment as proof of 10

the partners’ trust. Only later did she realize that they’d simply 11

given up.

12

In retrospect, it was hard to see how the interviews made any 13

difference. Melanie even thought that Steven had shown a level 14

of shrewdness. As the nation’s most prolific serial killer, Gage had 15

had a certain power. He’d known how tantalized Jamison would 16

be by the prospect of meeting with him. It hadn’t been illogical 17

for Gage to seek Jamison’s help, to think that the profiler might 18

do what he could to preserve his specimen.

19

Her first talk with Jamison took place over coffee at a Waffle 20

House near the prison. It was late at night, and, except for them, 21

the restaurant was nearly empty. For obvious reasons, there’d 22

been strict limits on what she was able to say. As Gage’s lawyer 23

she couldn’t discuss the obvious facts of his guilt. At the same 24

time, nothing had prevented her from listening to Jamison.

25

They’d sat there for several hours in the stiffness of the booth, 26

drinking cups of oil-black coffee under harsh fluorescent light.

27

She’d made her case for sparing Gage’s life, then listened as Jami-28

son talked.

29

Jamison had the easygoing manner of an aging college athlete.

30

There was something about him that inspired trust. You wanted 31

to confide in him. Was it something he’d learned, she’d won-32

dered, or something he’d always had? But the thing that had im-33

pressed her most was his passion for his work. She’d certainly 34

known driven men and women before. Her husband. Her class-S 35

mates and colleagues. But in Jamison she’d sensed a purity en-R 36

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tirely new to her. He wasn’t driven by money or power but by the 2

need to know.

3

They’d talked about the insanity defense and whether Steven 4

might have used it. By this time, of course, the point was moot, 5

even if he’d reconsidered. Jamison had said Gage wasn’t insane, 6

at least not legally. But she’d heard the irony in his voice and 7

pounced on the distinction.

8

“You don’t think he’s really sane,” she’d charged.

9

Jamison had shrugged. “He knew what he was doing, and he 10

knew that it was wrong. That’s your basic legal definition. No 11

question he’s well within it. But sane in any meaningful way? Not 12

to my mind, no. A lot’s been made of the fact that Gage was able 13

to control his impulses. When he was in danger of being caught, 14

he kept a low profile. After Dahlia Schuyler was killed, there 15

were no more Tennessee murders. He managed to restrain him-16

self until leaving the jurisdiction.”

17

“So what then? What are you saying?”

18

“What I’m saying is, so what? C’mon, Ms. White. You’re a 19

smart woman. What’s wrong with this picture?”

20

“I’m his lawyer, Mr. Jamison. I can’t answer that.” Even to her-21

self, she sounded priggish, but it was something that had to be 22

said.

23

“Okay, then. So let’s speak
hypothetically.
” Again, the ironic 24

tone. “A guy manages to restrain himself from this — if not un-25

controllable, let’s say
compelling
— need to murder women, to 26

have sex with their corpses and then dismember them. You hear 27

about a guy like this. Based on your personal definition, would 28

you consider him sane?”

29

“No.”

30

“What I’m saying is that the legal definition isn’t all that use-31

ful. At least not from a psychological perspective, which is where 32

my interests lie. When we ask if someone is able to
control
an im-33

pulse to kill other human beings, to my mind we’ve skipped right 34

over the most interesting questions. For normal people, these 35 S

urges don’t exist. We don’t have to control them. You and me —

36 R

most people — we have no idea what it’s like to have this drive 1 4 2

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to kill. This sort of killer is profoundly different from the rest of 1

us. To say that he could have
controlled
the impulse — it’s sort of 2

ludicrous. A way to reassure ourselves that the world is compre-3

hensible. We say, ‘He’s not insane, he’s evil. He chose to do what 4

he did.’ But the sort of choice we’re talking about isn’t the kind 5

we make. It’s the choice to resist an impulse that no normal per-6

son feels. Ultimately, I think we’ll find the explanation in some 7

sort of neural wiring. There’s all sorts of research going on point-8

ing in that direction.”

9

Melanie still remembered that talk as if it were yesterday. It 10

had been the first of several they’d had during that strange and 11

terrible time, as the weeks and days ticked away toward the exe-12

cution date.

13

Then, suddenly, it was over, and Steven Gage was dead. She 14

woke up to find the cause that had obsessed her had vanished 15

into thin air. While she’d known it would happen, tried to pre-16

pare, she couldn’t take it in. The first day, she felt utterly numb, 17

bereft of all emotion. She packed up the files, her clothing, as if 18

she were a machine. Not until she talked to Jamison did she fi-19

nally burst into tears. It was Jamison who’d spent that night with 20

her, talking and drinking whiskey.

21

The next day, she’d flown back to D.C. and found Frank with 22

Mary Beth.

23

If not for the collapse of her marriage, she’d have kept in touch 24

with Jamison. But at the time, she’d needed all her energies sim-25

ply to survive. Until then, her life had gone according to plan.

26

She’d had a sense of control. Then, in quick succession, came 27

three devastating blows. Gage’s execution. Her husband’s be-28

trayal. The derailment of her career.

29

“I hope you understand,” Fred Irving had said, his bald head 30

shining in the light. Behind his massive desk, he’d actually 31

seemed a little nervous. “It’s nothing personal. You did a splendid 32

job on the Gage case, but your skills are limited.”

33

She’d wanted to scream, “And whose fault is that?” Instead, 34

she’d sat there, nodding. Already, she was thinking ahead. She’d S 35

need his recommendation.

R 36

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Then came the divorce, the move to New York, the years at 2

Harwich & Young, where, thanks to her friendship with Vivian, 3

she’d managed to find a job. While she’d never forgotten Mike 4

Jamison, they’d long ago lost touch.

5

Melanie picked up the phone and dialed. He answered on the 6

second ring.

7

He didn’t say hello, just repeated her name. Something in his 8

tone, a depth of feeling, filled her with a sudden warmth.

9

“How
are
you?” he asked.

10

“I’m . . .
fine,
” she said. And then, “Not really. Actually, I have 11

a problem.”

12

“I figured as much,” he said. “What can I do to help?”

13

He was acting as if no time at all had passed, which was strange 14

but comforting.

15

“I . . . I need to talk to you. In confidence.”

16

“Of course.” He didn’t hesitate.

17

It was easy, far easier than she’d expected. She told him every-18

thing. Without identifying Laura — Callie — she ticked off the 19

relevant facts. How this woman she knew had received a letter 20

on the anniversary of Gage’s death. How weeks later, a Cartier 21

watch had been found by the woman’s daughter, left in a plastic 22

Easter egg at a neighborhood Easter egg hunt. He already knew 23

about Diane Massey’s death, had followed it in the papers. So 24

when she told him that the watch resembled Diane’s, she didn’t 25

have to explain.

26

“You think it’s the same watch,” he said. A statement, not a 27

question.

28

She tried to hedge a bit. “Of course, I really don’t know. But 29

the whole thing is troubling. It’s a lot to ask, but I was hoping . . .

30

hoping that you could help. That maybe you’d have some way of 31

finding out if Diane’s watch was missing after her death.”

32

“I have some connections in the Maine state police. I could 33

certainly talk to them. The thing is, if it’s true, they’ll be all over 34

me. They’ll want to know the source of my information. They’ll 35 S

want all the facts.”

36 R

“Right,” said Melanie. “I know that. But I was thinking —

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what if you don’t mention a watch, just act like you’re curious.

1

Like it’s some sort of personal interest linked to your crime scene 2

research. And then, if the watch was missing, well, then we go 3

from there. I’ll go back to . . . this woman, and tell her she needs 4

to come forward. I think if she really knows for sure, then she’d 5

be willing to do that. She just doesn’t want to go through the or-6

deal if it doesn’t lead anywhere.”

7

“I don’t think I could do that, Melanie.” His voice was regret-8

ful but firm. “I couldn’t lie to these guys. If I approach them, I’ve 9

got to be honest. Now, I could tell them I’m withholding certain 10

information, but if there’s anything to all this, it’s not going to 11

end there. They’ll want to talk to you. They’ll want to talk to this 12

woman. If you don’t come forward voluntarily, there’s the possi-13

bility of a subpoena.”

14

Melanie let what he’d said sink in.

15

“The woman who told you all this. Do you think she could 16

have staged this? That she might be using Diane’s death to get at-17

tention for herself?”

18

“That occurred to me too,” Melanie confessed. “But after talk-19

ing to her, I really don’t think so.” There was also the issue of 20

chronology, her own note arriving before Diane was killed. But 21

she wasn’t prepared to discuss that. At least not yet.

22

“Does she have any theories? Of who might be behind it?”

23

Melanie took a deep breath. “Do you remember Lester Crain?”

24

“Lester Crain? God, yes. But why . . .” His voice trailed off, and 25

she could almost hear his mind spin. “Because of that thing with 26

Gage, right?”

27

“Exactly. She has this idea that Crain might be trying to 28

avenge Gage’s death.”

29

“So this woman, did she know Gage herself?”

30

“I . . . I can’t get into that.”

31

On the other end of the phone line, she heard a sharp intake 32

of breath. “My God, Melanie, is it you?”

33

“Me?” She gave a short, dry laugh. “No. No, of course not. If it 34

was me, I’d tell you.”

S 35

“I hope so,” he said seriously. “Because the thing is . . . if this R 36

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all is for real, if it’s not a ploy, then it could be very, very serious.

2

This woman, whoever she is, could be in danger herself. Does she 3

realize this? Is she taking precautions?”

4

“I’m not sure what she’s doing. I’ll talk to her, though. Warn 5

her.”

6

“Please do that.” The heavy seriousness of his voice left 7

Melanie slightly dizzy. It was the first time she’d fully grasped the 8

potential risks she herself faced. Perhaps she’d focused on Callie’s 9

dilemma to avoid facing up to her own.

10

“Do you have any particular suggestions? For what she should 11

do, I mean?”

12

“She should go to the police,” he said promptly. “That’s what 13

she should do.”

14

“I know, but it’s complicated. There are reasons she doesn’t 15