The Anniversary (49 page)

forensic work. If he’s married, he’s arranged his domestic life so he 18

isn’t accountable. Maybe he travels a lot for work, isn’t home that 19

much.”

20

“What about Thayer’s boyfriend?” Schute had turned to Lam-21

bert.

22

Lambert said, “He has a good reputation. I don’t know him 23

well myself. Of course, we’ve checked out his whereabouts, espe-24

cially over the weekend. He lied about where he’d be, and that 25

obviously concerned us. But without going into all the details, 26

there are extenuating circumstances. He was in New York during 27

the time in question. His alibi holds up.”

28

Pulaski was looking over a chart that Jamison had prepared.

29

“What about the anniversary notes? Any useful leads there?”

30

Jamison shook his head. “Melanie White destroyed hers. We 31

ran tests on the other two but didn’t come up with much. Staples 32

multipurpose paper, too common to be of much use. The only en-33

velope we have is the one delivered to Ms. Thayer. It’s a Staples 34

number ten white business envelope, also quite common. The S 35

flap tested negative for saliva.”

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The phone rang on a corner table. Farrell jumped up to get it.

2

He picked up, listened briefly, then said tersely, “Thanks.”

3

When he hung up, he turned to look at them, a stunned look 4

on his face.

5

“The DNA at the Kisch crime scene is a match for Lester 6

Crain.”

7

h

8

9

“Callie. I know you’re there. Please. Pick up. If you’d just —”

10

Callie grabbed the phone. “Okay. I’m here. Will you stop call-11

ing now?”

12

A long silence from the other end. Callie could hear Rick 13

breathing. “We need to talk,” he finally said.

14

“Fine. We’re talking. Are you happy?”

15

“I mean face-to-face,” he said. “I need to see you, to explain.”

16

“You lied to me,” Callie said. “That’s all I need to know.”

17

There was a beep on the line, another call. She let it go into 18

voice mail. While the calls had slowed somewhat, she was still 19

besieged by reporters.

20

“I don’t think that’s it,” Rick said. “At least not the only thing.

21

I think you’re angry because you needed me, and I wasn’t there 22

for you.”

23

Now Callie fell silent. Through the kitchen window, she saw 24

gray sky. Soon, it would start to rain.

25

“Isn’t that it?” he pressed.

26

“Look,” she said. “Will you just leave us alone? We’ve already 27

got enough to deal with. Whoever kidnapped Anna is still out 28

there. It’s just . . . it’s just too much.”

29

Another beep on the line. Didn’t reporters have lives? It was a 30

big wide world out there; there must be other stories.

31

“I don’t want to make things harder. I want to help,” Rick said.

32

There was something in his tone, an urgency, that made Callie 33

hesitate. Suddenly, his face rose up in her mind, the familiar 34

planes and angles. She wanted to reach out and touch his cheek, 35 S

but of course, he wasn’t there.

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She sat silently for several seconds, uncertain what to do. Ei-1

ther way, she’d hang up feeling she’d made the wrong choice.

2

“Okay,” she said finally. “If you want, you can come over 3

tonight, after Anna’s in bed. But only for an hour. I’m completely 4

wiped out.”

5

“So I’ll come by around nine, how’s that?”

6

“Make it ten,” said Callie.

7

She hung up the phone, feeling torn, ill at ease in her skin. She 8

had half a mind to call Rick back and tell him she’d changed her 9

mind. If she still felt this way later, that’s exactly what she’d do.

10

Remembering the call-waiting beeps, she punched in her 11

voice mail number. Most of the time, when she didn’t answer, the 12

reporters just hung up. Realists, they knew full well that she’d 13

never call them back. Occasionally, though, they left messages in 14

winning heartfelt tones, telling her that
they understood,
that 15

they wanted her to
tell her story.

16

The first message was a female reporter calling from the
Merritt
17

Gazette.
She sounded hesitant and very young, unsure of what 18

to say.

19

“Ms. Thayer, we have some information that we need to ask 20

you about. It has to do with your . . . past. With some things that 21

happened in Tennessee.”

22

There was a phone number and a name, but Callie didn’t write 23

them down. She sat there numbly, staring into space, wondering 24

how much they knew.

25

The next message was from the
Boston Globe,
a reporter named 26

Charlie Hammond. This time there were no equivocations, no 27

room left for doubt.

28

“I’m calling to get your response to a claim that you are Laura 29

Seton.”

30

31

h

32

After the task force meeting, Mike Jamison headed for the Or-33

chard Inn, a small hotel near Windham College that Lambert 34

had recommended. His room had a high four-poster bed and S 35

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white curtains at the windows. He was happy to see that it came 2

equipped with a small writing desk and lamp. He planned to rent 3

a car tomorrow and drive down to New York. Schute had offered 4

him a ride tonight, but he wanted some time alone.

5

Once he’d hung up his suit, he unzipped his black nylon laptop 6

case and removed the thin computer. He set it up on the polished 7

desk, plugged it in, and turned it on. Outside, it had started to 8

rain, a gentle pulsing rhythm. He’d opened a window, and the 9

curtains fluttered in a cool gust of breeze.

10

Waiting for the computer to boot, he thought back on the day.

11

The DNA was convincing proof that Crain had killed the Kisch 12

girl. The discovery had astonished him, as it had everyone in the 13

room. Until today, if he’d had to place a bet, he’d have said that 14

Crain was dead. A killer like Crain never just stopped, that al-15

most went without saying, and he knew of not a single unsolved 16

crime with Crain’s signature. Steven Gage had been a master at 17

concealing his victims’ bodies. Could he have imparted those 18

skills to Crain on Tennessee’s death row?

19

And yet, if that was the explanation, something had gone 20

wrong. The attempt to conceal Kisch’s body had been at best per-21

functory. Even without the search for Anna Thayer, she’d have 22

been found soon enough. There was also the question of linkage, 23

still unresolved. If there were, as he thought, two UNSUBs, how 24

were they connected? If Lester Crain hadn’t killed Diane, why 25

had he been on Blue Peek Island?

26

The questions circled around in his mind. He played out sce-27

narios. He was conscious of that familiar stirring that came on 28

the brink of insight. By all accounts, Lester Crain had been ob-29

sessed with Gage. What if Crain had gone to the island after 30

learning about Massey? Maybe he’d read about Diane’s murder, 31

the black stocking ligature. Intrigued by the obvious links to 32

Gage, he’d been drawn to the crime scene. And then, once he 33

got there, something in him had snapped. Diane’s murder could 34

have been the stressor that pushed Crain over the edge. The grip 35 S

he’d had on his murderous drives had dissolved in the excite-36 R

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ment. Then from Maine he’d traveled to Merritt, where he’d tor-1

tured and killed Posy Kisch.

2

He decided to type up his notes. Sometimes the act of review-3

ing the facts gave birth to new ideas. But first, he reminded him-4

self, he should check his office voice mail. He’d cleared his 5

schedule as best he could, but there was always that random 6

phone call.

7

Two messages. Damn.

8

It was a relief when he heard the hearty voice of his poker 9

buddy Joe Carnowski. They were planning a trip to Atlantic 10

City; did he want to come along? A beep and then another voice.

11

It was Callie Thayer.

12

Her voice was so soft that he could hardly hear, but he could 13

tell she was upset. She asked him to call as soon as he could. She 14

left her number twice.

15

Her phone rang four times, then he got voice mail. He left his 16

name and number. But before he could even get back to his desk, 17

his cell phone started to ring.

18

“I’m sorry.” Callie was whispering. “I have to screen my calls.”

19

He was having trouble hearing her. “Could you talk a little 20

louder?”

21

“Okay.” The voice was a fraction stronger. “But I don’t want 22

my daughter to hear me.”

23

A pause.

24

“I guess you know who I am by now.”

25

“Yes,” he said. “I do.”

26

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you at first. I just . . . wasn’t ready. But 27

now, well, the press has found out. That’s why I’m calling you.

28

The reporters have been calling all night. I’m not sure what to do.

29

I tried to call Lambert, but I couldn’t reach him so . . . I thought 30

of you. It’s just — everything is such a mess. I need some advice.”

31

“Don’t call them back,” Jamison said. “There’s nothing to be 32

gained. At this point, you don’t even know if they have enough for 33

a story. If you lay low for the time being, it might slow them down.”

34

“Slow them down,” Callie said. She sounded hopelessly bleak.

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The rain was falling harder now. Through his window, Jamison 2

could just make out a mountain’s hazy outlines.

3

“Everyone’s going to find out. Everyone will know.” She 4

sounded so miserable, so despairing. Jamison searched for words.

5

Something to convince her that she’d get through this, that it 6

wasn’t the end of the world.

7

“Maybe you’re making too much of this.” He was careful to 8

speak gently. “I know it will be hard at first, but it could also be a 9

relief. It can’t have been easy for you, keeping this kind of secret.”

10

“It wasn’t really so bad.” Her voice was dull, as if she’d given up.

11

“You still may have a day or two. At least you have some 12

warning.”

13

“You don’t think they’ll print it tomorrow?”

14

“It depends on what they’ve confirmed.”

15

“But if I don’t call them back, won’t that make them more sus-16

picious?”

17

“And if you call back, what would you say? You can’t lie about 18

something like this. That would just make it worse.”

19

As soon as he got off the phone with Callie, Jamison called 20

Lambert. He tried his private line at the station, then tried him 21

on his beeper. When he failed to get any response, he finally left 22

a message. “Tell him to call me as soon as he can.” Then, frus-23

trated, he hung up.

24

It didn’t make any sense that Lambert would be out of pocket.

25

As chief of detectives at a time like this, he should be on call 26

24-7. Small towns were different from big cities, but, hell, they 27

weren’t
that
different. This was a major investigation in Lambert’s 28

jurisdiction.

29

It was almost seven o’clock now, and Jamison decided to get 30

something to eat.

31

Outside, the air was moist and fragrant, almost tropical. Um-32

brella in hand, he walked a few blocks to the small town center.

33

The rain was blowing at a slant, and his clothes were wet by now.

34

He ducked into a Mexican place with a large bright red sign. At 35 S

the counter, he ordered Cajun fish tacos, then sat at a table to wait.

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Next to him, a harried young mother argued with her toddler.

1

“You liked it last time,” she was saying. The kid stuck out his chin.

2

“One-oh-nine,” the cashier called.

3