Paradise Falls

by Jacobs, Jonnie

  “He killed your daughter?” Grace felt like she’d been punched in the chest.

  “You know how devastating it is to lose a child, but to know that I was the reason she was murdered—”

  “Oh, Rayna.” Impulsively, Grace gave Rayna a hug. “How awful. I’m so sorry.”

  “Thank you.”

  “But he’s also the Paradise Falls killer, right? That’s what they said on the news.”

  “He killed Karen Holiday and Terri Lowe to taunt me.”

  “And Caitlin.” Grace couldn’t believe Rayna had forgotten Caitlin.

  “Grace, he says he didn’t kill Caitlin. We have outside corroboration that’s true. He didn’t do it.”

  Grace put a hand on the kitchen counter to steady herself. “What do you mean? How could it not be him? Are you saying you don’t know who killed Caitlin?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  Grace felt as though she’d been struck in the gut. Adam. It must have been Adam, after all. Surely the police would pursue that. And then what?

  She and Carl might have stretched resiliency to its outer limits.

  Chapter 53

  Mimi opened the door to Grace with mannered politeness, but she didn’t smile.

  “Thank you for letting me come,” Grace said.

  “I did it for Lucy. She wanted to see you.” Mimi sounded both put-out and baffled that her daughter should have any need to see Grace.

  “How’s she doing?”

  “As well as can be expected.” Mimi stepped back to allow Grace to enter. “I’m going to run a few errands while you’re here. Can you keep an eye on her?”

  “Sure.” Grace wondered if babysitting services were part of what convinced Mimi to allow Grace’s visit.

  “Don’t let the press anywhere near her.”

  “I won’t.” Did Mimi think Grace had no common sense?

  “I won’t be long. Maybe half an hour or so.”

  Lucy was on the couch in the family room. She wore jeans and a sweatshirt, and she watched TV. Her face brightened when she saw Grace. She sat up and muted the sound.

  “How are you feeling, honey?”

  “Lucky. Stupid. Scared.” Lucy’s eyes filled with tears. “It was really, really awful. I shouldn’t have let that man in but he said we had a gas leak and the whole house could blow up.”

  Grace sat next to Lucy, then leaned in to give her a hug. “Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but split-second decisions aren’t always as neat.”

  Lucy held out her hands. “My nails got totally ruined.”

  “That’s a small price to pay for being alive. As soon as you’re up to it, we’ll make a day of pampering ourselves. How does that sound?”

  “Fantastic. Mom says I have to go back to school on Monday.”

  “Of course you do, if you’re well enough.”

  Lucy twisted a strand of hair around her finger. “What do you think the kids will say about me?”

  “I think you’ll be the center of attention. A star. But you don’t have to talk to them about it if you don’t want to, Lucy. Don’t let them pressure you.”

  “It’s not just that. I’m still so scared.”

  “They’ll catch that man soon. And you know what he looks like so you won’t be fooled again. Besides, I doubt he’d come after you a second time.”

  Lucy wrapped her arms around herself, pulling the sleeves of her sweatshirt over her hands. “I’m scared about coming home to an empty house. I don’t like being here by myself.”

  “Why don’t you come to our house after school? I’m not ready to go back to work yet, so I’ll be there.”

  “But I thought Dad was moving out to be with Adam.”

  “Adam will be in the”—Grace hesitated to use the term psychiatric hospital—“treatment center for a week or so. And I’d love to have your company, even if your dad isn’t there. I’ll drive you to his place or your mom’s in the evening when they get home.”

  “If you don’t mind—”

  “Of course I don’t mind. I’d like to have you there. The house seems awfully empty.”

  A news alert flashed on the TV screen.

  “Turn it up,” Grace said, but Lucy had already reached for the remote.

  “We have breaking news out of Paradise Falls,” a reporter announced. “Authorities have taken into custody the man wanted for questioning in connection with the recent murders of three teenage girls and the abduction of another.”

  Film footage showed a handcuffed man being led by officers to a police car.

  Lucy was shaking. “That’s him, Grace. That’s him.”

  “Maybe we should turn this off.”

  “No. I want to see it.”

  Grace put her arm around Lucy and they watched in silence while the reporter delivered what turned out to be a cursory account of events leading up to the capture. Earl’s truck had been spotted at a fast-food restaurant near the Idaho boarder. Local authorities, responding to a statewide alert of law enforcement personnel, had apprehended the suspect without incident.

  “He can’t hurt me now,” Lucy declared.

  “That’s right. You’re safe.”

  Lucy got up from the couch and turned off the TV. “You want some ice cream?”

  “Sure.” Grace followed Lucy into the kitchen.

  “You must be glad they got him too, Grace. Does it help, knowing that the man who killed Caitlin was caught?”

  Grace bit her lip. “If it really was him.”

  “Of course it was! They said so on the news.”

  “That doesn’t make it so, Lucy. And it doesn’t mean anything until he’s convicted.”

  “But he will be, won’t he?” Lucy collapsed into one of the kitchen chairs. “He can’t murder three girls and get away with it.”

  “I’m not saying he’s innocent, but Detective Goodwin told me he has an alibi for the night Caitlin disappeared.”

  “Alibi!” She spat the word out with disdain. “Like anyone’s going to believe him.”

  “There are witnesses. Reliable witnesses.”

  “But it has to be him!” As she grew increasingly agitated, Lucy’s face flushed and her feet bounced against the floor.

  “Maybe it was,” Grace said, trying to placate Lucy. “The police will sort it all out.”

  “Caitlin’s backpack was right there in the Dumpster. He wanted people to see that she was just like Karen Holiday. He was like proud to be a serial killer or something.”

  “According to what Detective Godwin says, it wasn’t the same Dumpster.”

  “Close enough. The other one was probably full. Or maybe there were people around.”

  “Could be.” Grace was tempted to remind Lucy that Earl couldn’t have taken Caitlin if he was elsewhere at the time, which seemed to be the case. But the poor child was traumatized from her ordeal and desperate to believe that the only boogeyman out there was safely locked away. Grace would have liked to think that herself.

  Eager to change the subject, she opened the freezer. “Which will it be? Toasted almond or chocolate chip?”

  “Can I have some of both?”

  “Sure.”

  Lucy got the bowls down from the cupboard. “Besides,” she said, “Caitlin’s wallet still had twenty-three dollars in it. There was money in Karen Holiday’s wallet, too. I remember reading that in the paper and wondering why he hadn’t taken the cash. Most bad guys would.”

  Although she could think of any number of reasons a killer might not take cash from his victim’s wallet, Grace said, “Good point.”

  She took a very small bowl of toasted almond for herself, only eating to keep Lucy company, and sat down at the table opposite Lucy.

  “Anyway, I’m glad it’s over,” Lucy said. “Thank you for coming to see me today.”

  “You don’t have to thank me. I wanted to see you. I’ve been worried about you.”

  As she rinsed the bowls in the sink, her mind hit a pothole. How had Lucy known there was money in
Caitlin’s wallet? Twenty-three dollars, she’d said. The precise amount.

  Had Grace mentioned it at some point? No, she was sure she hadn’t. She’d forgotten all about that detail since it hardly seemed important.

  She stacked the bowls and spoons in the dishwasher. A hollow, unsettled feeling swelled inside her. Had Adam told Lucy about killing Caitlin?

  The sweet aftertaste of the ice cream mixed with the bile that rose in Grace’s throat.

  Lucy was still seated at the table, reading the newspaper comics. “Lucy, how did you know how much money was in Caitlin’s wallet?” Grace asked.

  Lucy looked as though she’d been stung by a bee. “It must have been in the news.”

  “No, it wasn’t.”

  “Just a guess, then. I must have made it up.”

  “Twenty-three is an odd number to pull out of thin air.”

  “Maybe Caitlin told me. Yeah, I remember now. I wanted to borrow some money and she said she only had twenty-three dollars in her wallet.”

  A plausible explanation rendered unbelievable by its delivery.

  “What aren’t you telling me, Lucy?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You were the last person to see Caitlin. Did you see her leave school with someone? Do you know what happened to her?”

  Lucy pushed back from the table. “No.”

  “Were you with her? Was Adam? What happened?”

  “Nothing. I don’t know anything.” The color had drained from Lucy’s face. Her gaze darted around the room.

  Grace moved closer. “Lucy, this is important. Tell me what you saw.”

  “Caitlin should never have taken that shortcut by the river! Everyone says it’s dangerous.”

  “You saw her head toward the river? Why didn’t you say something before?”

  Lucy’s hand flew to her mouth and she rushed from the table.

  The obvious slammed against Grace and knocked the air from her lungs. The signs that had led her to believe Adam had harmed Caitlin pointed just as convincingly to Lucy.

  Not the photos, maybe, but certainly the more damning evidence of the Garfield towels in the Dumpster and Caitlin’s necklace hidden in Mimi’s basement. Adam had sounded believable when he insisted to Grace that he had no idea how the necklace got there.

  Was it possible that Grace had implicated the wrong one of Carl’s children?

  She caught up with Lucy at the door to the hallway and blocked her way. “It was you, wasn’t it? Not Adam, but you. What did you do to Caitlin?”

  “I didn’t mean it. I really didn’t. It was an accident.”

  “Didn’t mean what?” Grace shouted. “What was an accident?”

  “I foll-followed her,” Lucy sobbed. “I thought she might be meet-meeting Adam.”

  “Adam? Why would she be meeting Adam?”

  “I don’t know. He was, like, interested in her. And Caitlin teased him. I mean, like flirting. Not always but sometimes. I just wanted to see what was going on.”

  “Was she meeting Adam?”

  “No. She was taking the shortcut home. But she saw me and we started arguing.” Lucy’s tears were accompanied by great gulping hiccups. “I didn’t mean it. I just meant to push her a little. I was mad.”

  Time stood still and sped up all at once. Grace saw Caitlin and Lucy on the riverbank, the air wet with mist, the sky gray and darkening—a tableau larger than life, looming like a giant neon billboard in her brain. Caitlin on solid ground. Caitlin plunging into the raging river far below.

  “Oh, God. You pushed her into the river!”

  “I didn’t mean to. I told you. It was an accident.”

  In her rage, Grace shoved Lucy. Not hard, but Lucy staggered, caught a heel on the corner molding, and collapsed into the stove. The sugar bowl crashed to the floor and shattered.

  “Why didn’t you go for help?”

  “It wouldn’t have made any difference.”

  “You don’t know that! You might have saved her life.”

  Lucy’s mouth trembled as she cowered near the stove.

  “You let me worry about her. I didn’t know what had happened. How could you do such a thing? How could you!”

  Grace fought waves of nausea as she reached for the kitchen phone.

  “What are you doing?” Lucy screamed.

  “Calling the police.”

  “No one’s going to believe you. Not now. First you go after Adam, and now me. They’ll think you’re a nut case. Like my mom says, a bitter, spiteful, dried-up old prune.”

  Grace punched the phone keys.

  “It was an accident but I was happy to see her go,” Lucy wailed. “I hated her. Miss perfect. She never had to move from house to house. And she lived with my dad all the time. I only got three fucking days a week! It was so unfair!”

  Lucy collapsed onto the floor. She pounded her fists and sobbed.

  Grace made no move to comfort her.

  Chapter 54

  Grace stopped inside the entrance to Carl’s study. If he’d heard her come in, he didn’t acknowledge it. The room was dark but the light from the hallway cast a shaft of illumination that fell on Carl’s back. Seated at his desk, he faced away from her, his head in his hands, his elbows resting on the desktop. An open bottle of whisky sat next to an almost empty glass.

  “Carl?” Grace moved closer and laid a hand on his shoulder. She hadn’t heard him crying but could now feel sobs shake his body.

  Carl had been holed up in the tiny room for hours. Grace understood his desire to be left alone. She felt the same way. After all, what was there either one of them could say? About to retreat, she withdrew her hand.

  “How can this be happening?” Carl’s voice was strained, not much more than a whisper. “How could everything go so wrong?”

  Because Lucy is a monster, Grace thought. But even as she silently gave voice to the accusation, she knew it wasn’t entirely true.

  “I was so happy,” Carl said, his voice shaky. “Genuinely happy, sitting on top of the world. When we were at dinner that night at the inn, before Jake’s call about Caitlin, I remember looking at you and thinking ‘How can I be so lucky?’ I had three great kids and a wife who loved me as much as I loved her. A wife who saw the best in me and made me want to be even better.”

  “I felt the same way.”

  Carl raised his head and turned so that he half faced her. In the shadows his eyes and cheeks looked hollow.

  “When Caitlin disappeared, I was frantic.”

  “I know you were.” Grace remembered how grateful she’d been for Carl’s support.

  “There was nothing I could do to make it better. I felt like I’d reached bottom.”

  Grace’s heart ached for Carl. She couldn’t imagine the anguish he was feeling. But she couldn’t forgive him either. Although what she needed to forgive him for, she couldn’t say.

  Carl shuddered. “And now it hurts so much. All of it. Lucy is my daughter. No matter what. I’m appalled by what she did, but at the same time I can’t help loving her. I’m scared for her, Grace. A part of me still wants to protect her.”

  “Of course.” Grace thought the romantic poets had it wrong. It was parental love that was complex and painful. That was the stuff of real tragedy.

  “Do you hate me, Grace?”

  “I don’t know what I feel,” she said honestly. There were so many conflicting emotions inside her they swirled into a muddy despair.

  “I haven’t stopped loving you.”

  “I still love you, too.”

  “But it’s not enough, is it?”

  “Not right now, no.” And she couldn’t imagine that it ever would be, for either of them.

  Carl pulled himself to his feet. “Can I hold you for a moment?”

  Grace opened her arms for a quick, awkward hug. But once locked in the familiar warmth of Carl’s embrace, she had trouble pulling away.

  He released her with a weighty sigh that broke into a sob. “How do I go on af
ter this? How?” He covered his face with his hands.

  Grace touched his arm gently, then backed out of the room and closed the door, leaving Carl once again in the dark of his own hell.

  Chapter 55

  Adam picked up a dart and sent it flying toward the target on the wall. It hit a fraction to the left of the bull’s-eye.

  “You’re a natural,” Dr. Passant said with a hearty laugh. “Tough competition for an old man like me.” He took aim and his own dart landed not much farther from center than Adam’s.

  Dr. Passant, or Hugh, as some of his other patients called him, reminded Adam of a trimmed down Santa Claus. He had a white beard and cherry red cheeks, and although Adam had never heard him actually utter the words “ho-ho-ho,” it sounded like something the doctor might say. Adam liked Dr. Passant. In fact, he liked living in this loony bin. He was in no hurry to return to the outside world. Especially now, when things had gone from bad to worse.

  “How was your visit with your dad?” Dr. Passant asked.

  “Okay.”

  His father had come twice in the last few days. The first time to tell him about Lucy. And again this morning, just to visit, as he put it. But looking at him, Adam decided his father needed psychiatric help more than he did. Adam was familiar with the phrase “shell of his former self,” but he’d never really understood what it meant until he’d seen his dad.

  “Did you talk to him about how hurt you were that he doubted you?”

  “He’s got bigger worries than me right now.” It stung that his dad had suspected him of harming Caitlin, but he felt sorry for him, too. It was a funny thing, feeling bad for your father.

  “Don’t diminish yourself, Adam. You are as important as anyone else.”

  “Yeah, whatever.”

  There was a stretch of silence while Dr. Passant twirled a dart between his fingers. Finally he asked, “What are you feeling about your sister? About what happened?”

  Without aiming, Adam threw another dart, barely making the outer edges of the target. “I don’t know.”

  “Talking about it will help, Adam.”

  “What’s to talk about? I haven’t even spoken to her.”