The Anniversary (33 page)

someone new. The fear that she’d anticipated was strangely ab-34

sent, though. Instead, she had a feeling of almost reckless exhila-35 S

ration.

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Callie took a deep breath.

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“I’m sure you both know about Steven Gage.”

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“Sure,” said Pulaski. “The serial killer. Diane Massey wrote a 3

book about him.”

4

Callie nodded. “I . . . I was one of the main sources for that 5

book. For several years, I was Steven Gage’s girlfriend. During 6

that time, I was known as Laura Seton.”

7

The room was absolutely silent. The air seemed electric.

8

“There’s more too,” Callie said. “On the fifth of April — about 9

ten days before my daughter found the watch — I received a 10

note. No postmark. It was stuck in my front door. A single sheet 11

of white paper, typed, not signed. It said ‘Happy Anniversary. I 12

haven’t forgotten you.’ ”

13

The detectives traded glances, a quick shift of the eyes.

14

“What?” Callie said.

15

“We have the note,” Farkess said. “Jamison sent up a copy along 16

with Diane’s watch. He thought we might want to look at it.”

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A sudden spark of insight. “Diane. Did she get a note too?”

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Neither of the detectives answered. Instantly, Callie knew she 19

was right.

20

“I’m afraid we can’t discuss that,” Pulaski finally said. “Like 21

what you’re telling us today. The details of the investigation have 22

to be kept confidential.”

23

“I see,” Callie said. It didn’t exactly seem fair, but she didn’t 24

have much leverage. “Melanie White — the woman who was at-25

tacked in New York — she was one of Steven’s lawyers. She 26

helped represent him on appeal. Right until the very end.”

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Again, the two detectives nodded, but they didn’t seem sur-28

prised.

29

“So that makes three of us,” Callie said. Now she was thinking 30

out loud. “Three women, all of us connected to Steven. Someone 31

killed Diane. Someone tried to kill Melanie.”

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Pulaski squarely met her eyes. “I suppose I don’t have to tell 33

you that you need to take precautions.”

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Callie bit her lip and nodded.

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“Let’s think about motive,” said Pulaski. “Do you have any idea 2

why someone might be doing this? Any idea at all of who might 3

be responsible?”

4

“Well, I guess it’s pretty clear that what’s happening is some-5

how linked to Steven. All three of us are women. All three of us 6

knew him. The other thing that we have in common is that all of 7

us betrayed him. At least, that’s how he would have seen it.

8

That’s how he
did
see it. I testified against him at trial, star wit-9

ness for the prosecution. And Melanie, while she tried to help 10

him, she didn’t manage to save him. Diane’s book, well, you must 11

have read it. Steven comes off badly. He wanted to be seen as this 12

brilliant guy. Diane didn’t buy it. She was the first — the only —

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writer to question his intelligence. She dug up Steven’s grades 14

and test scores, showed how they were only average. I’m sure that 15

infuriated him. He despised mediocrity.”

16

Pulaski thought a moment, stroking his chin with a hand. On 17

the fourth finger of his left hand, Callie saw a thick gold ring. “So 18

you think it’s about revenge?”

19

“Yes,” Callie said. “I do.”

20

“Any idea who would have done these things?”

21

“Well . . . I keep thinking of Lester Crain. You know who he is?”

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Pulaski and Farkess nodded. Again, Callie saw that her specu-23

lations weren’t any surprise. Melanie must have told Jamison, 24

who’d passed them on to these guys.

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“Any other thoughts?” Pulaski asked. “Aside from Crain, I 26

mean?”

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Callie studied Pulaski. “You don’t think it’s him,” she said.

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“Without getting too far into the details, I’d say it’s pretty un-29

likely. Sexual psychopaths follow certain patterns. Ms. Massey’s 30

murder, the attack on Ms. White — they don’t conform to 31

Crain’s.”

32

As Pulaski spoke, it hit Callie that this wasn’t what she’d 33

wanted to hear. At least with Crain she’d had something con-34

crete, an anchor for her fear. Now, set free of its object, the fear 35 S

was everywhere.
If not Crain, then who?

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“There’s Steven’s family,” she said slowly. “They stuck with 1 8 4

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him ’til the end. He had two brothers, both younger. Drake and 1

Lou were their names. Last I knew, both of them were still living 2

in Nashville. Drake was in construction. Lou did something with 3

computers.”

4

“Their last name was Gage as well?” That was Farkess talking.

5

For a time, he’d been a silent presence, quietly jotting notes.

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“They’re half brothers,” Callie said. “Their last name was Holl-7

worthy. Steven’s father left when he was small, then his mother 8

remarried.”

9

“Anyone else?” Pulaski asked.

10

“Well, there’s his mother, Brenda. She was high-strung. Unsta-11

ble. Totally relied on her husband and sons, could hardly func-12

tion on her own. When Steven was a kid she tried to kill herself.

13

I don’t think he ever forgave her. He found her in the bathroom, 14

barely breathing, blood everywhere. I can’t imagine her planning 15

this, though, let alone doing it. Although . . . I guess people do 16

change. And he was her son, after all.”

17

“She also lived in Nashville?”

18

“Last I knew. But that was years ago.” Callie gave a humorless 19

laugh. “I certainly haven’t kept in touch.”

20

A rustling sound as Farkess turned a page in his small spiral 21

notebook.

22

Callie realized her mouth was dry. She sipped from her glass of 23

water.

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“Who else?” Pulaski asked. “Any other names come to mind?”

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“I don’t know. I guess all the groupies — there were a lot of 26

them. They wrote him letters, came to the trial. I don’t know 27

where you’d get the names. Maybe someone saved the mail. It 28

was bizarre, you know? During the trial, these women threw 29

themselves at him. They proposed to him, sent him presents.

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One woman, I don’t remember her name, knitted him a sweater.

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I always wondered if they thought he wasn’t guilty, or if they just 32

didn’t care.”

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“What about friends?” Pulaski asked.

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Callie gave a crooked smile. “Steven didn’t really have friends.

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Except for me, that is. He said that he was too busy. Which, in R 36

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light of everything that came out later, I guess was probably true.

2

It’s funny, I always thought it was strange that he wasn’t more 3

successful at work. I mean, here was this smart, intense guy who 4

couldn’t seem to get things done. He had this paralegal job, and 5

he always seemed to be behind. I told him he had to stop being 6

such a perfectionist. I figured that was the problem. But that 7

wasn’t it at all. The whole time he had another job that to him 8

was far more important. It must have taken incredible focus to 9

murder all those women. To kill them and get away with it for all 10

the years that he did.”

11

12

By four-thirty, Callie was on the road again, heading back toward 13

Merritt. She felt utterly depleted, hardly able to drive. Briefly, she 14

considered finding a motel and going right to sleep. But she still 15

had a couple of hours of daylight. She flipped on cruise control.

16

She’d been driving for half an hour or so before she realized 17

that the streets seemed unfamiliar. She saw a shopping center. A 18

hospital. Had she passed by these before? It was possible, of 19

course. She’d been preoccupied. But it was equally likely that 20

she’d made a wrong turn back when she’d left the barracks. She 21

caught the names of cities on signs, but they didn’t mean any-22

thing. Augusta. Bangor. Lewiston. She didn’t know their loca-23

tions. As she looked for a spot to turn off the road, her skin began 24

to prickle. BLUE PEEK ISLAND / CARTWRIGHT ISLAND

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FERRY. The arrow pointed straight ahead.

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Callie’s heart was pounding. Her foot moved to the brake. Un-27

til now Blue Peek Island had seemed unreal, a fantasy more than 28

a place. But now, here she was — practically, almost, there. At 29

first, the sign’s appearance struck her as amazing. One of those 30

impossible accidents that almost have to mean something. But a 31

moment later, she realized that it wasn’t so strange after all. It 32

made sense that the investigators would be somewhere near the 33

island.

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She was driving close to the water now, through a vaguely in-35 S

dustrial landscape. She saw a smokestack in the distance, corru-36 R

gated metal buildings. The sky was gray and sultry, with seagulls 1 8 6

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swooping down. Then, on the right-hand side of the road, she 1

saw the ferry landing. A low white building steps from the harbor, 2

the huge docking structure.

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She didn’t feel as if she had a choice. She turned into the park-4

ing lot.

5

Down here, close to the water, the air whipped against her 6

face. She heard boat riggings snap in the breeze, a mournful dis-7

tant clanging, the raucous cry of seagulls circling overhead. The 8

water spread out in front of her, green-black rather than blue. On 9

the building, a streaming electronic display announced arrivals 10

and departures.

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CARTWRIGHT ISLAND 8:15 . . . 11:15 AM . . . 2:15 . . .

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5:15 PM

13

BLUE PEEK ISLAND 8 . . . 10 AM . . . 2 . . . 4 PM

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Callie looked at her watch: 4:20 p.m. Even if she’d wanted to 15

go, she’d missed the last boat out. Not that she would have made 16

the trip, she hastily told herself. She’d done what she came to 17

Maine to do. Now she had to get home.

18

She stood there another few aimless moments, then walked 19

back to the car, climbed in, and pulled out her road atlas to figure 20

out where she was. It took just a couple of minutes to see that she 21

needed to turn around. She flipped the key in the ignition and 22

drove back toward the road. Before pulling out into traffic, she 23

looked from side to side. It was then that she saw the Old Gran-24

ite Inn, just across the street. At first she thought it was a large 25

stone house; then she saw the sign.

26

There was a break in the flow of traffic, but Callie didn’t pull 27

out. She hesitated in the parking lot, uncertain what to do.

28

Maybe they won’t have vacancies.

29

It wouldn’t hurt to check.

30

You have to stay someplace.

31

Why not just ask?

32

A tall man with glasses answered the door, a black cat in his 33

arms. Another cat rubbed against his leg, peering up from below.

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“Do you have any rooms tonight?” Callie asked.

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“As a matter of fact we do.”

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Tuesday, May 2

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A . M . A huge swooshing of water as the ferry pulled away.

2

Callie leaned against the railing on the top deck, wind whipping 3

through her hair. For the first time since arriving in Maine, she 4

smelled the acrid sea.

5

They passed a long granite breakwater with a lighthouse at 6

its tip. Callie’s thoughts flashed to Diane, trying to picture her 7

here. The Diane she saw in her mind’s eye was the young woman 8

she’d known. She tried to imagine what the years had done to 9

that fiercely intelligent face. Diane would have aged well. She 10

had no doubt about that. The high cheekbones, the fine, straight 11

nose — these would have stayed the same.

12

When Callie thought of Diane now, it was hard to know what 13

she felt. Beyond the horror of what had happened, her feelings 14