by Amy Gutman
T H E A N N I V E R S A R Y
Martha was at her desk, typing away on something. She looked 1
up, slightly distracted, as Callie came through the door.
2
“What are we going to do about Kabuki Girl?” Callie asked, 3
once she’d shut the door.
4
Martha gave a helpless shrug. “What can we do?” she asked.
5
“Anyway, it’s just for another month. Next year, maybe we’ll do 6
better.”
7
Callie plunked herself in a chair. “Windham College. Where 8
the student rules. That should be the motto. Next year, we should 9
definitely insist that we at least get to interview.”
10
“Yeah. I guess you’re right.” Martha took a sip of coffee from a 11
blue ceramic mug. “At least she’s here,” she said mildly.
12
Callie rolled her eyes. “For once.”
13
In recent weeks, Posy’s sporadic attendance had become even 14
more erratic. An overdue paper. A sick ferret. A malfunctioning 15
alarm. At this point, Callie didn’t even bother asking why she 16
hadn’t shown up. “Just call us if you’re not coming in,” she’d said 17
tiredly. Sullenly, Posy had said she would. Then she’d skipped 18
three days.
19
“How’s she going to hold a job once she gets out of school?”
20
“Thankfully, that’s not our problem,” said Martha.
21
“I guess you’re right,” said Callie.
22
A swirl of dark hair fell over Martha’s forehead, and she shoved 23
it back absently. She had square capable artist’s hands, the nails 24
clipped short. Along with her job at Windham, she worked as a 25
ceramic artist. She’d married young, divorced, and now had two 26
teenage kids. Martha seemed to take life as it came, and Callie 27
admired that.
28
“So how’ve you been?” Martha asked after another sip of cof-29
fee. “I’ve hardly seen you this week. How was that Easter thing?”
30
Callie felt a dip in her stomach. “Fine,” she said. “Fun.”
31
“Anna doing okay?”
32
“She seems to be. No recent explosions.”
33
“And Rick?”
34
“He . . . he’s good. ” Callie struggled to convey a confidence S 35
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she was far from feeling. In fact, things with Rick were compli-2
cated. She wasn’t sure where they stood. His proposal still hung 3
over them, a floating question mark.
4
“He’s a great guy,” said Martha.
5
“Yes,” said Callie. “He is.”
6
As she met Martha’s serene blue eyes, Callie felt a twinge of 7
guilt. Why should she have Rick while Martha had no one? Cal-8
lie knew Martha was okay with it, that she didn’t need a man. At 9
the same time, she knew that her friend would be happier if she 10
had a partner. She’d answered the occasional personal ad, been 11
fixed up by friends, but except for a few amusing stories had little 12
to show for her efforts.
13
Impulsively, Callie leaned toward her. “There’s someone I 14
want you to meet.”
15
Martha raised her eyebrows, as if to say, “Shoot.”
16
“He’s a cop, a friend of Rick’s. He lives in my neighborhood.”
17
Briefly she described Tod Carver. Martha seemed interested.
18
“Rick thinks he’s still not over his ex-wife. But you have to start 19
somewhere. He has two kids, both pretty young. Is that a prob-20
lem?”
21
“Nope.”
22
Callie smiled. “Okay then. I’ll talk to him this week. I could 23
have you both to dinner.”
24
A knock on Martha’s closed door, then Posy poked her head 25
in. There was something eerie about the makeup covering the 26
fresh young face. Not for the first time, Callie wondered why she 27
did this to herself. A desperate bid for attention, or did she just 28
like how it looked?
29
“A guy named Nathan’s here to see you,” Posy said to Callie.
30
Nathan. Callie groaned to herself. She’d half forgotten their 31
plans. Nathan had called early this morning to ask if she’d have 32
lunch. She’d begged off, saying that she was too busy but finally 33
agreed to coffee.
34
“He says you’re expecting him,” Posy said.
35 S
“Thanks. I’ll be right out.”
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Posy closed, almost slammed, the door. The office reverberated.
1
“You could always say no,” Martha mouthed, as Callie stood to 2
leave.
3
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Callie whispered. “Next time, 4
definitely. Hey, are you through with the Globe?”
5
“Take it,” Martha said.
6
Callie grabbed the paper from a bookcase and went out to 7
meet Nathan.
8
He was standing next to Posy’s desk, all gangly arms and legs.
9
He shifted from one foot to the other, his eyes trained to the floor.
10
As Callie approached, his head jerked up, and color flooded his 11
face.
12
“Hi, Callie.” He seemed on edge, more so than usual.
13
Callie made a quick decision.
14
“Nathan, I’m really swamped today. I don’t have time to go 15
out. If you want, we can have a cup of coffee here. Then I’ve got 16
to get back to work.”
17
At first she thought he was going to object, but he seemed to 18
think better of it.
19
“Okay,” he said, with an awkward shrug. “Let’s just stay here 20
then.”
21
As she handed Nathan a mug of coffee, Callie noticed Posy 22
watching. In the place of her usual bored detachment was an al-23
most avid interest. For an instant, Callie wondered what Posy 24
was thinking. Then Nathan started to talk.
25
They carried their coffee into Callie’s office. She didn’t close 26
the door. Directing Nathan to the visitor’s chair, she sat behind 27
her desk.
28
“Did you miss me?” Nathan asked, once they’d settled in. He 29
was looking at her intensely, an odd smile on his face.
30
“Miss you?” Callie said lightly. “I didn’t know you were gone.”
31
His smile turned petulant. “I was sick. I had the flu. Didn’t you 32
see that I wasn’t in class? I usual
ly sit with you.”
33
“I’m glad you’re better,” Callie said.
34
Nathan didn’t answer. Now he was looking around the room, S 35
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as if preoccupied. “I saw this great video the other night, this Nazi 2
propaganda film. Incredible pictures of Nazis kissing babies. Lots 3
of stuff like that.”
4
Callie stared at him. Had he always been this creepy? When 5
they first met, she’d thought he was strange but sweet. Now he 6
just seemed strange.
7
“That doesn’t sound like it’s up my alley,” Callie finally said.
8
Ten minutes later, when they said good-bye, Callie felt a vast 9
relief. She stood in the doorway of the office suite until he turned 10
the corner.
11
As Callie headed back to her office, Posy asked, “Who was 12
that guy?”
13
“He’s a junior,” Callie said. “His name’s Nathan Lacoste.”
14
“How do you know him?”
15
“He’s in one of my classes. What’s with all the questions?”
16
Posy was blushing now. “Nothing,” she mumbled, ducking her 17
head. “I was just wondering.” Beneath the thick layer of white 18
pancake, her face was a mottled pink.
19
Posy was interested in Nathan! Callie almost laughed. Nathan 20
and Kabuki Girl. What a perfect pair. At least it was something 21
to keep in mind if Nathan showed up again. Who knew? Maybe 22
it would even work. Maybe they’d be good for each other.
23
Back at her desk, Callie launched into the next stack of ques-24
tionnaires.
25
26
After graduation, I moved to New York, where I worked as a paralegal 27
at Cravath, Swaine & Moore . . .
28
29
God, it was all too tedious. She grabbed the newspaper she’d 30
snagged from Martha and skimmed the front-page headlines. She 31
wouldn’t mind seeing a movie this weekend, though not the one 32
Nathan had mentioned. She flipped through the newspaper’s sec-33
tions, searching for the listings.
34
Diane Massey
35 S
The name jumped from the page. For an instant, she thought 36 R
she’d imagined it, but another part of her knew. Blood rushed to 1 0 2
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Callie’s head. Her heart began to race. Deep inside her, a voice 1
was saying, This is what you’ve been waiting for.
2
For a moment, the name seemed to float, unattached to anything 3
else. Then, slowly, her focus widened, and she could read the sur-4
rounding words. MYSTERY DEEPENS IN CRIME WRITER’S
5
DEATH. And beneath the boldface headline, in smaller type: 6
diane massey led quiet life in final days on island.
7
She read through the article quickly once, then again more 8
slowly.
9
It obviously wasn’t the first report, maybe not even the second.
10
It wasn’t until the end that the facts of the crime were recapped.
11
Diane had gone to the island for quiet, to finish work on a book.
12
It appeared that she’d been ambushed during her daily afternoon 13
run. As of yet, no suspects had been publicly identified. The 14
cause of death was blunt force trauma, and Diane had also been 15
strangled. When her body was discovered, a black nylon stocking 16
was twisted around her throat.
17
Callie’s eyes froze on the printed words.
18
A black nylon stocking.
19
In a haze, she lurched up from her chair and into Martha’s of-20
fice. She wasn’t feeling well, she said. Maybe a touch of the flu.
21
Martha’s expressions of concern seemed to come from far away.
22
At the same time, sensations in her own body seemed strangely 23
magnified. She could feel the blood flowing through her veins, 24
the skin clinging to bone. Every cell of her being seemed to vi-25
brate at lightning speed.
26
Callie walked the seven blocks home barely paying attention.
27
A Volkswagen bug screeched to a halt as she crossed against the 28
light. Through the windshield, she glimpsed the shaken driver, 29
her eyes two small moons. Vaguely, Callie realized that she could 30
have been hit, but this fact barely registered. What am I going to 31
do? she thought. What am I going to do? She couldn’t handle this 32
alone anymore, that much was clear. But where could she turn for 33
help? Whom could she talk to? It had to be someone who knew 34
her history. Someone she could trust.
S 35
Then, as Callie unlocked the front door, a face flashed from R 36
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the past. She ran quickly through her mental checklist. A match 2
on every score. Smart and incisive, knew the past, and one added 3
draw: For professional reasons she’d be bound to keep any secrets 4
she was told.
5
For the first time since she’d seen the paper, Callie’s mind 6
cleared a bit. Inside, she bounded up the stairs and went straight 7
to her room. She still had her old address books, stuffed in a jum-8
bled desk drawer. She dug out the black one with the vinyl cover 9
and flipped to the W’s.
10
“Ms. White is no longer employed with the firm.”
11
Callie’s heart sank. “Do you know where I could reach her?”
12
A pause. “I’ll transfer you.”
13
It took some time, but she finally got a forwarding phone num-14
ber. As soon as she hung up the phone, she picked up and dialed 15
again.
16
“Harwich and Young,” a voice said.
17
Callie’s heart was pounding. “I’m calling for Melanie White,”
18
she said.
19
A click and then a ringing.
20
“Melanie White’s office.” An impersonal female voice.
21
Callie clutched the phone. The moment seemed unreal. “I . . .
22
I need to . . . ,” she began. “May I speak with Melanie?”
23
Callie was sitting on the side of her bed, leaning slightly for-24
ward. She’d twisted one leg around the other, and they both felt 25
slightly numb.
26
“I’m sorry, but Ms. White is in a meeting now. Would you like 27
to leave a message?”
28
“Just
. . . just that Callie Thayer called. It’s important that I 29
speak with her.”
30
Half an hour later, Callie tried again.
31
“Please,” she said. “This is urgent.”
32
“If I could tell Ms. White what this is about —”
33
Callie sensed an edge of annoyance.
34
“No,” she said. “I’m sorry. It’s . . . it’s personal.”
35 S
After she’d hung up again, Callie slumped back on her pillows.
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She lay there for another twenty minutes, barely moving at all.
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She felt totally exhausted, as if she’d been up for days. She had an 1
urge to pull back the covers, to climb under them and sleep. But 2
another part of her was wide awake and knew what she had to do.
3
Still lying flat on her back, she picked up the phone. She didn’t 4
have to look at the number. She had it memorized.
5
“Ms. White’s office.” The same cool voice.
6
In an instant, the past flashed through Callie’s mind, the path 7
that had brought her here. It was like she was standing at the 8
edge of a cliff, poised, about to leap. She didn’t want to take that 9
step, but she didn’t have a choice. She took a deep breath, closed 10
her eyes.
11
“Please tell her this is Laura Seton.”
12
13
h
14
“Laura Seton?”
15
Melanie White looked up from the floor where, crouched amid 16
a sea of boxes and papers, she was spot-checking the production 17
work of a team of junior associates. Outside the sky was a brilliant 18
blue, but Melanie hardly noticed. The documents still had to be 19
photocopied and shipped out by midnight.
20
“It’s the same woman, I’m sure. The one who’s been calling all 21
morning.” Tina Dryer was small, just five foot one, and very, very 22
pregnant. Her pursed lips signaled disapproval of this waste of 23
Melanie’s time.
24
“I . . .” Melanie stared at Tina, caught totally off guard. The 25
facts of the Connor Pharmaceuticals case collided with the past, 26
thoughts of market share and dominance giving way to a sharp 27
nostalgia.
28
Far below, horns blared and tires screeched, but Melanie didn’t 29
hear them. She was back in Nashville in a rented Ford Escort, 30
driving out I-40 toward the prison. The Riverbend Maximum Se-31