by Amy Gutman
overbite, a bumpy nose, and small gray-green eyes. But she con-17
veyed an impression of energy that substituted for beauty.
18
“Sure is,” said Tod, smiling and laconic.
19
Mimi barely seemed to hear him. Her eyes had lighted on her 20
son. “I just can’t believe this is Henry’s last year.”
21
“Anna’s too,” said Callie.
22
“Oh, well,” said Mimi brightly. “I guess they have to grow up.”
23
She didn’t seem too bothered. Already, Callie sensed that she 24
was charting Henry’s future, mapping his path from Merritt Ele-25
mentary to the nation’s halls of power. Her other two kids were 26
already in college, one at Yale, one at Brown. Henry’s birth, Cal-27
lie suspected, hadn’t exactly been planned.
28
Callie glanced toward the Driscolls’ yard, where Anna was 29
sprawled with Henry. Their heads were close together as they 30
talked over who-knew-what. Henry was sort of cute, Callie 31
thought, in a gawky boy-genius way, a look that gained a sort of 32
cachet with the Harry Potter craze. He was small and slender 33
with quick bright eyes behind thick horn-rimmed glasses. Like 34
Anna, he sometimes seemed older than his age and at other times S 35
far younger. It struck Callie as a little odd that Anna’s best friend R 36
7 7
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1
was a boy, but things had changed since she was a kid and boys 2
were the source of cooties.
3
“Greetings, neighbors.” Bernie Creighton appeared, tossing a 4
casual arm around his wife.
5
Bernie exuded an air of enormous self-satisfaction. Well uphol-6
stered was the term that came to mind when Callie looked at him.
7
He was short — a bit shorter than his wife — maybe five foot six 8
or seven, barrel-chested with a neat moustache, and slightly 9
overweight. But somehow the extra pounds only added to the ef-10
fect. He gave the impression of being well fed rather than out of 11
shape.
12
“I made Bernie come today,” Mimi said. She sounded pleased 13
with herself. “We saw this video last week, where the father 14
didn’t know the daughter’s middle name. He didn’t even know 15
she had a middle name.”
16
“The Royal Tenenbaums,” said Callie. “We saw it too.”
17
“Yeah, that’s what it was. Anyway, I told Bernie that he’s going 18
to forget his kids’ first names if he doesn’t see more of them.”
19
Callie and Tod laughed politely. It didn’t seem so funny.
20
Bernie shrugged. “We’ve got a trial coming up. That’s just how 21
it is.”
22
“He’s even taken an apartment in Boston,” Mimi said.
23
“Just until after the trial.”
24
The conversation went on in this vein with Callie zoning out.
25
She heard Tod making the appropriate sounds. Yes. No. Really?
26
With the Creightons, you never had to worry about a topic of 27
conversation. Mimi and Bernie were more than happy to talk 28
about themselves.
29
Scanning the street for Rick again, Callie started at an unex-30
pected sight: her classmate Nathan Lacoste on a bike slowly ped-31
aling toward them. She hadn’t talked to him since that night 32
he’d tried to cadge an invitation for pizza. The weird one, Rick 33
had called him. What was he doing here? Quickly, Callie turned 34
away, hoping he wouldn’t see her. Maybe he was heading for the 35 S
Windham campus, just a few blocks away. But he lived on the 36 R
other side of town. She was hardly on his route.
7 8
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When she looked back up, she saw with relief that he didn’t 1
seem to be stopping. He rode his bike straight through the 2
throng, stopped at the corner, then turned.
3
“Hey there, buddy!” she heard Tod call.
4
She looked back, and there was Rick.
5
“Sorry, babe. I overslept. Forgot to set the alarm.”
6
The day got subtly brighter, as Rick leaned down to kiss her.
7
Callie took his large, warm hand and folded hers into it.
8
The festivities were winding down now, and Callie snapped a 9
last few pictures. Clusters of kids lay sprawled about, baskets piled 10
around them, happily gorging themselves on sugar in all of its 11
various forms. Chocolate rabbits and malted eggs. Marshmallow 12
chickens and jelly beans. Not one of the children that Callie 13
could see was eating a hard-boiled egg.
14
Bernie and Mimi, arm in arm, headed back toward home.
15
When Tod’s kids straggled back, the three of them left as well.
16
“You look tired,” Callie said to Rick. They were still holding 17
hands.
18
Rick shrugged. “I’m okay. Just haven’t been sleeping well.”
19
“Hungry?” Callie asked.
20
“Now that you mention it.”
21
Anna bounced into view. She was wearing jeans and a yellow 22
shirt that picked up the gold in her hair.
23
“I like the light blue eggs best,” said Anna. “They’re like 24
robins’ eggs but bigger.”
25
Callie and Rick headed inside, Anna trailing behind them.
26
In the kitchen, Callie pulled out bread, mustard, leftover 27
chicken, and lettuce.
28
“So how’s your boyfriend?” Rick teased, as he took plates from 29
the cupboard.
30
Callie rolled her eyes. “C’mon Rick. That was twenty years 31
ago.” Rick always ribbed her about Tod’s resemblance to her high 32
school beau, Larry Peters. Thinking of Tod she was reminded of 33
how happy he’d seemed today.
34
“It must be hard on him, having his kids so far away.”
S 35
“It is,” Rick said. He didn’t elaborate.
R 36
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Callie spread mustard on a slice of bread. “Why’d he move way 2
up here when they’re down in Virginia?”
3
“I think he wanted to start over. He lived in the area when he 4
was a kid.”
5
“I could see how he’d want to come back. Still, he must be 6
lonely.” Callie gave Rick a covert glance. “I’ve been thinking 7
about fixing up Martha and Tod.”
8
“Martha?”
<
br /> 9
“You know, I work with her. She got divorced a while back.”
10
“The one with the fuzzy hair?”
11
“It’s not fuzzy, it’s curly. Women pay lots of money for hair like 12
that.”
13
“Well, I’m glad you’re not one of them.”
14
“Is that the problem? You don’t think she’s pretty enough?”
15
“Honey, that’s not it.”
16
“So what’s the problem, then?”
17
Rick shrugged. “If you want to, give it a shot. I just don’t think 18
he’ll go for it.”
19
“Well, there’s no harm in asking. We could have them over for 20
dinner or something. It wouldn’t have to be a real date.”
21
From the living room, she heard Anna. “Wow!”
22
“What is it?” Callie called.
23
A beaming Anna appeared in the doorway, something clutched 24
in her hand.
25
“This watch is so cool!”
26
A watch? Callie walked toward her. “Let me see,” she said.
27
Looking at her mother warily, Anna opened her hand.
28
The watch had an intricate golden bracelet. On its face was 29
the word Cartier.
30
Callie took the watch from Anna and balanced it in her hand.
31
She had little experience with fine jewelry, but this seemed like 32
the real thing. She’d once owned a knock-off watch, a two-tone 33
fake Rolex. Its flimsy metal components had felt nothing like 34
this.
35 S
“Where did you find this?” Callie asked.
36 R
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Anna gave her a baffled look. “It was in the plastic egg, in the 1
Easter basket. The one you put in the drainpipe.”
2
“Where’s the basket?” Callie’s voice was level, but she felt a stir 3
of alarm. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she knew that 4
she didn’t like it.
5
Anna shrugged. “I don’t know. In the living room, I guess.”
6
“What’s up?” Rick turned toward them.
7
There was no point in trying to hide the facts. “A watch,” Cal-8
lie said. “Anna found a watch in an Easter basket.”
9
Rick had drifted over to the counter, where he surveyed the 10
abandoned makings of their meal. “What do you say I finish up 11
the sandwiches?”
12
“That would be great. Thanks.”
13
She was already on her way to the living room, where she 14
found the basket with its yellow ribbon. Plastic green grass was 15
scattered around, like so much exploded stuffing. On the floor lay 16
the pieces of a hollow pink egg. Callie picked them up, looked at 17
them, snapped the halves together. She remembered eggs like 18
this from when she was a kid, but she hadn’t seen one in years.
19
She took the plastic egg back to the kitchen, where Anna was 20
slumped in a chair. “The watch, it was in here?”
21
Silently, Anna nodded. “Mom, just give it back to me. I’m the 22
one who found it.”
23
“Honey, it’s a mistake. I didn’t put it there.”
24
“Well, it’s still mine, ” Anna said. There was an edge of defiance 25
to her voice now. “Someone left it in a basket, and I’m the one 26
who found it.”
27
Callie shook her head. “It may belong to someone. We have to 28
find out who.”
29
“But Mom, it’s not fair. I found it.”
30
Anna looked like she might cry. “Okay. Fine. ” She shoved 31
back the chair so hard it almost fell and ran out of the room.
32
Callie stared at the watch.
33
Upstairs, she heard Anna’s door slam shut. So much for the 34
perfect day.
S 35
R 36
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“Let me see,” said Rick.
2
Wordlessly, Callie showed him the watch. Rick looked at it.
3
“You really think this is the real thing?” he asked.
4
“Why? You don’t?”
5
Rick shrugged. “It just doesn’t seem very likely. Why would 6
someone hide a Cartier watch? It’s probably just a fake someone 7
found when they were cleaning out their house or something.”
8
Callie had to stop herself from launching into explanations.
9
How she was the one who’d filled this basket, and she hadn’t put 10
a watch inside. But before she spoke, she realized that this would 11
only make things worse. It would only lead to further questions, 12
and then what would she say? If she convinced Rick that the 13
watch was authentic, he’d want to take it to the station. And 14
she — she wanted to keep hold of it. For what she couldn’t say.
15
She reached out and took the watch from Rick. The time was 16
12:10. She dropped it into a pocket.
17
“You’re probably right,” she said.
18
h
19
20
It was a little before nine on May 7 when 20-year-old Dahlia Schuyler 21
jumped into her white Saab, a birthday present from her parents, and 22
made the short trip to Donovan’s Bar & Grill, where she’d planned to 23
meet friends for a quick drink. The pretty blonde Vanderbilt junior had 24
originally begged off, saying that she had to study for an organic chemistry 25
exam, but finally let herself be persuaded. “We told her that you’re only 26
young once,” recalled sorority sister Cindy Meyers. “She would rather 27
have stayed home, but she didn’t want to disappoint us. That was what 28
Dahlia was like. She always put her friends before herself. I know this 29
sounds like a cliché, but everyone just loved Dahlia.”
30
Those words are echoed again and again by Dahlia Schuyler’s friends 31
and family. By all accounts, the vivacious pre-med had lived a charmed 32
life. The daughter of a wealthy Nashville real estate developer and his so-33
cially active wife, she had enjoyed a privileged childhood. She attended 34
Harpeth Hall, a private girls’ school, and was always near the top of her 35 S
class. Her classmates recall her as a popular girl, always at the center of a 36 R
circle of friends, and her academic success was balanced with a healthy 8 2
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range of interests. For many years, her first love was horseback riding, 1
/> and she rode whenever she could — on weekends, after school, and dur-2
ing the summers — taking ribbons in many competitions. As a young girl, 3
Dahlia hoped to become a veterinarian. She also loved children, and by the 4
time she arrived at Vanderbilt, she’d decided to become a pediatrician, a 5
dream that would stay with her for the rest of her short life.
6
By that spring, Dahlia was deservedly pleased with her life. With a 3.8
7
G.P.A. and stellar faculty recommendations, Dahlia knew she had a good 8
shot at being accepted at virtually any of the nation’s top medical schools.
9
And if the spring had been a little rocky — just six weeks earlier, she’d 10
broken up with her boyfriend of two years — she had the loving support of 11
family and friends and a bright and promising future. “We all knew that 12
Dahlia had been a little down,” said sorority sister Meyers. “But she never 13
wanted to talk about herself. Dahlia’s reaction to feeling blue was to focus 14
on other people. You’d start out asking how she was and then end up talk-15
ing about yourself. She was a very strong person, very mature. With a lot 16
of people, it’s like they expect to be happy all the time, but Dahlia accepted 17
the bad with the good and just tried to focus on the positive.”
18
In light of these words, it’s perhaps not surprising that the last thing 19
Dahlia did before heading off to join her friends was place a call to her 20
younger brother. The siblings were just two years apart, and they had al-21
ways been close. But while Dahlia had sailed through life, 18-year-old 22
Tucker had always struggled. Since graduating from high school the previ-23
ous year, he’d been floundering, picking up a series of low-paying jobs in 24
Nashville restaurants and spending, Dahlia thought, far too much time 25
alone. “She sort of felt guilty about Tucker,” said Meyers. “Like it made 26
it harder for him that she was doing so good. Like she was this perfect crea-27
ture and he was this total failure.” On this particular night, Tucker had 28
sounded especially troubled, and Dahlia invited him to join her and her 29
friends.
30
Donovan’s is a dark, old-fashioned sort of place, popular with newspa-31
per reporters and local politicians as well as college students. That night, it 32
was doing a brisk business. Dahlia quickly found her friends. Cindy Mey-33
ers and Sharon Adams had arrived an hour or so earlier and were now on 34
their second round of frozen margaritas. After sitting down with the two S 35