The Anniversary (44 page)

thing. She stood up from her chair and crouched by Callie, tak-25

ing hold of her hands.

26

“What?” Callie said. She felt herself start to tremble.

27

Parillo looked straight into her eyes. “Henry Creighton just got 28

home.”

29

“And Anna? What about Anna?”

30

Parillo squeezed her hands.

31

“Now, Callie, I want you to remember. We don’t know any-32

thing yet. We don’t know if Henry is telling the truth. Do you un-33

derstand what I’m saying?”

34

Callie nodded mutely. Fear bloomed in her heart.

35 S

“The first part is like what we thought. They ran away to-36 R

gether. The plan was to take a bus to Boston sometime early this 2 4 6

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morning. Now, again, I want you to remember that none of this 1

is confirmed.”

2

“Please. Just tell me.” Callie’s voice was pleading.

3

“Okay.” Parillo’s grip tightened. “Henry claims that they were 4

walking down Old Kipps Road when a car pulled up beside them.

5

Henry says the man who was driving the car snatched Anna and 6

drove off.”

7

Callie stared at Parillo. Suddenly, she was dizzy. Without warn-8

ing, her stomach heaved. She threw up on the floor.

9

Through a haze, she heard Parillo get up and go for some paper 10

towels. Then Parillo was back beside her, mopping up the mess.

11

“You shouldn’t be doing that,” Callie murmured.

12

“It’s fine,” Parillo said.

13

Upstairs, a door swung shut. Callie heard men’s voices.

14

“When does Henry say that this happened?” Callie’s voice was 15

low.

16

Parillo dumped the towels in the trash, then sat back down.

17

“He’s not sure exactly. He says they met at midnight and then 18

started to walk. I’d think it would have taken them at least an 19

hour to make it to Old Kipps Road, another half hour or so to get 20

to the Hicks Plaza mall. That’s where he says it happened. Right 21

across from there.”

22

Callie’s head jerked up. “But that’s . . . that’s
hours
ago. If they 23

met at midnight and this, this
thing
happens at, say, one-thirty, 24

two — that’s two hours ago. Where’s he been since then? Why’s 25

he just getting home?”

26

“I’m sure they’re asking him that.”

27

“But why are they spending time with Henry? Why isn’t every-28

one out looking for Anna and the man who kidnapped her?”

29

“The man who Henry
says
kidnapped her.”

30

“You . . . you don’t believe Henry?”

31

“We don’t know whether to believe him or not. That’s why 32

we’re talking to him.”

33

“But if he’s not telling the truth, then what —” Suddenly, Cal-34

lie got it. “You think
Henry
could have something to do with S 35

this?”

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“We don’t know anything for sure yet. We’re gathering infor-2

mation.”

3

“But why would he —” Callie stopped. Parillo didn’t know 4

Henry. She, on the other hand, did. She’d seen him with Anna 5

dozens of times, watched their interactions. She couldn’t imagine 6

Henry hurting Anna. At least not on purpose.

7

“I need to go across the street,” Callie said. “I have to talk to 8

Henry.”

9

Parillo touched her shoulder. “That’s not a good idea,” she 10

said. “Time is important here. The detectives know the questions 11

to ask. They need to be efficient.”

12

Callie was about to argue when something in her collapsed. At 13

this point, she didn’t trust her judgment. Maybe Parillo was right.

14

Everything was too much. She wondered if she’d survive this.

15

The desperation over Anna, the guilt over her own behavior. If 16

only she’d heard Anna out, if only she hadn’t snapped. She had 17

no doubt that their argument had sparked Anna’s flight. What-18

ever happened next, she was responsible. Just like before, only 19

worse this time because now it was
her
daughter.

20

Someone was at the front door, talking to the officer stationed 21

there. Seconds later, he was coming toward them through the 22

kitchen doorway. Tall. Black hair. Piercing eyes. She recognized 23

Lieutenant Lambert.

24

“Hello, Ms. Thayer. We’ve met before.”

25

“What . . . what are you doing here?”

26

“I wear several hats,” he explained. “I handle gun licenses, but 27

I’m also chief of detectives.”

28

As he spoke, he was pulling up a chair. His eyes didn’t stray 29

from her face. “When you came to see me, you had just applied 30

for a gun license for self-protection. Now your daughter’s missing.

31

Is there some connection here?”

32

Dread was moving over her like a slow-moving fog.
He’s right,
33

she thought.
He’s right. Everything fits together.
She tried to speak, 34

but her mouth wouldn’t move; she couldn’t talk at all. It was like 35 S

some sort of strange dream where she’d suddenly been struck 36 R

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mute. But she had to tell them about Diane, about the watch and 1

the note. She had to tell them about the flowers, the roses red as 2

blood.

3

“Callie?” she heard Parillo say. “Callie, are you okay?”

4

Again, she tried to move her lips, and this time something 5

shifted.

6

“Steven Gage,” she whispered.

7

Lambert looked at her. “Steven Gage. You mean, the serial 8

killer?”

9

Callie nodded twice.

10

“Steven Gage is dead,” said Lambert. He might have been 11

talking to a child.

12

“I know he’s dead,” said Callie. “That’s . . . that’s not what I 13

mean.”

14

It was so hard to talk, so hard to explain, so hard to find the be-15

ginning. Thoughts blew through her mind like drifts of snow, 16

burying the words. All that effort for so many years, and this is 17

where it ended. Deep in her brain, she heard something. Steven 18

Gage was laughing. Then anger —
rage
— flared up in her. The 19

words began to flow.

20

“For four years I was Steven Gage’s girlfriend. I went by the 21

name of Laura Seton. Thayer’s my married name. I moved to 22

Merritt about seven years ago to try to start a new life. No one 23

here knows about my past. I didn’t tell anyone.

24

“Last month, on April fifth, someone left a letter at my home.

25

April fifth, that’s the date of Steven’s execution. The letter just 26

said ‘Happy Anniversary, Rosamund. I haven’t forgotten you.’

27

There wasn’t a signature. Rosamund — that was a sort of pet 28

name that Steven called me sometimes. It was a few weeks later 29

that my daughter found a watch hidden in a basket at our neigh-30

borhood Easter egg hunt. Now, I’m the one who’d hidden the bas-31

ket, but I certainly hadn’t put the watch there. Later, I discovered 32

that the watch had belonged to a writer named Diane Massey.”

33

“The woman who was murdered in Maine?”

34

“Yes. That’s right. She’d written a book about Steven. I . . . I S 35

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helped her write it. And before Diane was killed, I think that she 2

got a letter too. And then just the other day, I got home and 3

found a box of roses. Just lying there on my front porch. Steven 4

used to send me roses.”

5

She was trying so very hard to be clear, but everything was 6

jumbled. She couldn’t seem to get the story straight, to tell the 7

events in order. Lambert was eyeing her warily, not saying much.

8

As she watched his face, she had a sense that he might not even 9

believe her.

10

“Look,” she said urgently. “I know it sounds crazy, but there are 11

people who know I’m telling you the truth. A man named Mike 12

Jamison. He used to be with the FBI. Or call the Maine state po-13

lice. I’ve talked to them as well. But please, you have to find 14

Anna first. Please. You have to find her.”

15

“Mike Jamison,” Lambert said thoughtfully. “The FBI profiler?”

16

Wiping her eyes, Callie nodded. The tears just kept coming.

17

“You have a way to get in touch with him?”

18

“Yes. Yes, I think so.”

19

Callie rummaged through her purse until she found her Filo-20

fax. She flipped to the
J
’s, where, as she recalled, she’d penciled in 21

Jamison’s number. She read it off to Lambert. Parillo wrote it 22

down.

23

“Call Sheenan. Tell him to follow up on that,” Lambert in-24

structed Parillo.

25

Parillo headed to the hallway, pulling out her cell phone.

26

“This note, the watch — do you have any thoughts about who 27

might have left them?”

28

Callie looked at the table. “I . . . I don’t know.”

29

Lambert gave her a sharp-eyed look. “No idea at all?”

30

She didn’t want to say it, didn’t want to
think
it. The fear was 31

overpowering. But she knew she had to tell him. She didn’t have 32

a choice. “I keep thinking of Lester Crain,” she said, still staring 33

down. “Jamison says that it couldn’t be him. The Maine police 34

agree. But he’s the one I keep thinking of. I can’t get him out of 35 S

my mind.”

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She waited for Lambert to fall in line, to tell her it couldn’t be 1

Crain. Instead, he paused, thinking.

2

“Lester Crain. That’s the guy who escaped from prison? Down 3

in Tennessee.”

4

Wrapping her arms around her stomach, Callie doubled over.

5

Anna’s face floated through her mind. She heard her calling, 6

“Mommy!” She started to rock back and forth, trying to ease the 7

pain.

8

Parillo came back into the room. Callie heard her say, “What 9

happened?”

10

“Okay, now, Ms. Thayer. Take a deep breath. It’s going to be 11

okay.” There was a gentleness in Lambert’s voice that Callie 12

hadn’t heard before. But she felt like she was drowning and 13

couldn’t get up for air. She could see Lambert, see Parillo, off in 14

some other world. She wanted to reach out, to talk to them, but 15

a tide kept pulling her back.

16

She wasn’t sure how long it took for the feeling to recede. She 17

forced herself to start talking again, to say what they needed to 18

know.

19

“Lester Crain and Steven were on death row together. Steven 20

had taught himself criminal law, and he helped out the other in-21

mates. After he helped Crain get a new trial, Crain held a press 22

conference. He said —” Callie stopped for a moment, then the 23

words came out in a rush. “He promised that he’d pay Steven 24

back, find a way to thank him.”

25

When she’d finished, her whole body sagged. She began to sob.

26

“But why would he take Anna?
Why?
What did she do to him?”

27

Lambert’s voice was soothing. “There’s nothing that you’ve 28

told me so far to convince me that he did. This is just a theory, 29

Ms. Thayer. There’s no evidence for it.”

30

“But . . . but there’s more. The women who’ve been targeted —

31

me, Diane, and another woman, a lawyer in New York — all of us 32

let Steven down. Betrayed him in a way.”

33

“So you think Crain is . . . trying to avenge his death?”

34

Somehow, when Lambert said it, the idea did sound far-S 35

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fetched. But it wasn’t like they had other suspects. Or any other 2

theories.

3

Despairing, Callie looked at Lambert. “Please, go help them 4

find her. Don’t stay here with me.”

5

“Ms. Thayer, we’re doing everything we can. And remember, 6

we don’t even know for sure that Anna was really kidnapped.

7

The detectives are still talking to Henry, checking out his story.

8

She could even be hiding somewhere. We still just don’t know.”

9

“You think so?” Callie’s heart leapt. She had a sudden thought.