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The Anniversary

Page 16

by Amy Gutman


  curity Institution. Tennessee’s death row. A huge red sun was 32

  beating down as she frantically talked on her cell phone. How 33

  much more time? Have you heard anything? Isn’t there one more, one 34

  more, one more . . .

  S 35

  Then she was in a smoke-filled hotel room with Mark Kelly R 36

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  and Fred Irving. It was in watching the senior partners’ haggard 2

  faces that she’d realized it was over. They were still drinking cof-3

  fee, smoking cigarettes, talking strategy. But in the hard, clear 4

  eyes of the older lawyers she’d recognized the truth.

  5

  “I tried to get her to tell me what’s so important, but . . .” Tina 6

  made a helpless motion with her hands, then dropped them to 7

  her tight round belly.

  8

  “Laura Seton,” Melanie said, lingering on the words. As if by 9

  simply repeating the name, she could find an explanation.

  10

  Decisively, she got to her feet. “Okay, Tina, I’ll take it.”

  11

  A slight lift of plucked eyebrows, but Tina didn’t say anything.

  12

  She simply turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.

  13

  Melanie picked up on the phone’s first ring. “Melanie White,”

  14

  she said, sitting down behind her desk.

  15

  “Melanie? It’s . . . it’s Laura Seton. I know it’s been a long time.”

  16

  The voice caught Melanie by surprise. Husky and stronger 17

  than expected. Not at all the voice that she recalled. Or imag-18

  ined that she recalled. Not a voice that she’d ever have con-19

  nected with the Laura Seton she’d known.

  20

  In her mind’s eye, Laura was a hazy image, fading out at the 21

  edges. And it wasn’t just the passage of time; it had been that way 22

  even then. Laura had always given the impression of being 23

  slightly out of focus. As if she were being observed through a 24

  camera in need of adjustment. Perhaps it was the waves of fawn-25

  colored hair that tumbled over her face, the vague ineffectual 26

  gesture she’d make to push it back. Even now Melanie remem-27

  bered how the gesture had come to annoy her. She’d had to sup-28

  press an impulse to grab hold of Laura’s hand.

  29

  “You remember me?” the Laura, not-Laura, voice said. The 30

  words framed a question but it sounded more like a statement.

  31

  An awareness that the passage of time could never erase what 32

  they’d shared.

  33

  “Yes,” said Melanie. “Of course.”

  34

  Another wave of memories flooded over her. The heady ex-35 S

  citement of her early days as a lawyer at Watkins & Graham. She’d 36 R

  just moved to Washington, D.C., after taking the bar exam. She 1 0 6

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  had a tiny apartment in Dupont Circle, just two Metro stops from 1

  the firm. The day she was called to Mark Kelly’s office began like 2

  any other. She was working on a lengthy memorandum dealing 3

  with choice of law. Kelly, harried and intense, eyed her apprais-4

  ingly. “I’ve got a pro bono assignment for you. We’ll be handling 5

  the appeal in Steven Gage’s case.”

  6

  At the time it had seemed like an incredible coup, but of 7

  course, she’d been naive. Only years later did she understand 8

  the reason she’d been picked. Like Dahlia, she’d been raised in 9

  Nashville. Their families were even neighbors. It was almost as if 10

  Dahlia herself had been fighting for his life. None of this mat-11

  tered legally; it was a question of atmospherics. But faced with an 12

  uphill battle on appeal, they’d decided it couldn’t hurt.

  13

  In the end, though, none of it had made a difference. They’d 14

  killed him anyway. And there she’d been, a fifth-year associate, 15

  all but useless to the law firm. An expensive item on a balance 16

  sheet, hard to justify. She’d made countless courtroom appear-17

  ances, many more than other lawyers her year. But death penalty 18

  expertise was not a transferable skill, would be of scant use in the 19

  commercial cases that she’d now be expected to manage.

  20

  In retrospect, she could see that she’d been partly to blame.

  21

  She at least could have made an effort to stay on a dual track, to 22

  take some lucrative corporate cases along with her pro bono 23

  work. But at the time, the bread-and-butter cases had seemed so 24

  trivial, hardly weighing in the balance against her fight to save a 25

  man’s life. That this man had perhaps killed a hundred-plus 26

  women was something she didn’t dwell on. She’d tried to push 27

  those thoughts aside, to focus on the principle. The death 28

  penalty was barbaric. Regardless of what he’d done.

  29

  Still. More than a hundred women. The number weighed on 30

  her. By most accounts, Steven Gage was the nation’s most prolific 31

  serial killer. Ted Bundy, for all his notoriety, lagged far behind. He 32

  was thought to have killed just thirty-some women before his 33

  apprehension. Such statistics, of course, were debatable. No one 34

  knew for sure. But whatever way you looked at it, Gage’s crimes S 35

  were stunning.

  R 36

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  She reminded herself that Steven Gage was far from the world 2

  record holder. There was British physician Harold Shipman, with 3

  more than two hundred victims. And Pedro “Monster of the An-4

  des” Lopez, linked to more than three hundred deaths. But the 5

  specter of such atrocities hardly minimized Steven’s. More than a 6

  hundred women. She’d struggled to comprehend it.

  7

  But all that was in the future. At the start, she’d just been 8

  thrilled. One of the first things she’d done after getting the as-9

  signment was to read Laura’s trial testimony. Laura, Steven’s 10

  longtime girlfriend, had been a devastating witness. For months 11

  she’d tracked his movements, copied phone and credit-card bills.

  12

  It was credit-card records that had linked Steven to the last place 13

  Dahlia was seen. He’d been at Donovan’s on May 7, the day she 14

  disappeared.

  15

  Melanie had pored over Laura’s words, preparing to interview 16

  her. The goal was to find a discrepancy, something that didn’t add 17

  up. She’d met with Laura a number of times, but they’d never 18

  really connected. While they’d been the same age, twenty-five 19

  when they met, they’d had little else in common.

  20

  Now, breaking out of her reverie, she realized that Laura wa
s 21

  waiting. “How are you?” she quickly asked.

  22

  “Fine. I . . . things are very different now.”

  23

  Melanie said simply, “I’m glad.” Because it was hard to imagine 24

  any changes that wouldn’t have been for the better.

  25

  “I hope you don’t mind me calling.” On its face, the question 26

  was deferential, but the tone belied the words. “I needed to talk 27

  to someone. Someone who . . . knows about my past.”

  28

  There was a pause, as if Laura were thinking. Then she spoke 29

  again.

  30

  “I go by a different name now. It’s Callie, Callie Thayer. Thayer 31

  is my ex-husband’s last name, and I just kept using it. I live in —

  32

  well, it doesn’t really matter where, but no one knows who I am.

  33

  At least, that’s what I thought. I work at a small liberal arts col-34

  lege, in alumni affairs. My life has been very quiet. I went back to 35 S

  school and I . . . But I don’t need to tell you all that. The reason 36 R

  I’m calling is this letter I got. It started with a letter. Someone left 1 0 8

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  it in my door, and I realized . . . I realized they knew. At first, I 1

  was really upset, but then I sort of calmed down. I figured that at 2

  worst it was blackmail, and it might even be a prank. You know, 3

  some kid on the Internet who managed to track me down.

  4

  “Then last Sunday we had this Easter egg hunt. It’s an annual 5

  neighborhood thing. I’d hidden one of the baskets in this drain-6

  pipe by our house. But by the time my daughter found it, someone 7

  had switched the contents. I’d filled the basket with chocolate 8

  eggs, those little ones wrapped in foil. But when my daughter 9

  found it, they’d been replaced with this pink plastic egg. When 10

  you opened the egg, twisted it open, inside there was a watch.

  11

  “Right away I knew something was wrong. I just didn’t know 12

  what. Then later, I was looking at The Vanishing Man — Diane 13

  Massey’s book — and in the picture on the back she’s wearing 14

  it — the watch my daughter found. I called her publisher’s office 15

  last week and told them they needed to find her. Then, yesterday 16

  I read the paper . . .”

  17

  The flow of words trailed off.

  18

  “Yes?” Melanie prodded. She felt both confused and wary. A 19

  letter. A watch. A plastic egg. It sounded totally crazy.

  20

  “Well, Diane was killed, you know. Last week. Up on an island 21

  in Maine.”

  22

  “Diane Massey was murdered?” Melanie sat up straighter. Sud-23

  denly, the profusion of words came sharply into focus. Briefly, she 24

  wondered if it were true. Wouldn’t she have heard? But then she’d 25

  been working around the clock. She’d barely scanned the papers.

  26

  Melanie signed on to the Internet and pulled up the New York 27

  Times website. She typed in a search for Diane Massey’s name.

  28

  Two articles popped up.

  29

  “She was strangled,” Callie said. A pause. “The killer used a 30

  black stocking.”

  31

  For a moment, Melanie’s pulse beat faster. “Have you called 32

  the police?” she asked.

  33

  “No,” said Callie. “No, I can’t.” She sounded almost fright-34

  ened.

  S 35

  “Why not?” It was the obvious question.

  R 36

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  “My daughter,” Callie said. “I . . . I don’t want her to know 2

  about this. If I went to the police, the publicity . . . I’ve kept my 3

  past a secret here. I need to keep it that way.”

  4

  “How old is your daughter?” Melanie asked.

  5

  “Ten,” Callie answered.

  6

  It didn’t make sense, Melanie thought, not to go to the police. She 7

  was about to argue with Laura, but then she stopped herself. Before 8

  embarking on this line of discussion, she wanted more information.

  9

  “What makes you think that the watch was Diane’s?” As she 10

  spoke, Melanie realized that this was far from the only thing in 11

  doubt. The only facts she knew for sure were those she’d read on 12

  the Times website. Laura had been telling the truth when she said 13

  Diane was murdered. As for the Easter basket story, the verdict 14

  was still out.

  15

  “It’s exactly the same as in the picture. But it’s not just the 16

  watch. It’s everything. The timing. The letter I got.”

  17

  “And this letter, what did it say?”

  18

  “Didn’t I tell you that?” Callie sounded dazed.

  19

  “No, you just told me that you got a letter. That someone left 20

  it at your door.”

  21

  “It said ‘Happy Anniversary, Rosamund. I haven’t forgotten 22

  you.’ Rosamund — that’s what Steven used to call me. This stu-23

  pid joke we had. Because I loved red roses. He used to buy them 24

  for me.”

  25

  Melanie had reached for her calendar to check tomorrow’s 26

  schedule. Now her hand dropped to the desk. “Happy Anniver-27

  sary?”

  28

  “Right. That was the message. It was dated April fifth.”

  29

  “April fifth,” Melanie repeated. The room felt suddenly cold.

  30

  “The date of the execution.” Callie’s voice was flat.

  31

  In a flash, it all came clear. She thought of Frank’s bemused de-32

  nials when she blamed him for the letter. Her ex-husband had 33

  been telling the truth. He hadn’t sent the note.

  34

  Melanie’s head was spinning now. She had to get off the phone.

  35 S

  “I’m terribly sorry, but I have a meeting. Could I get back to 36 R

  you this afternoon?”

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  “When?” Callie asked.

  1

  “Later. Before the end of the day.”

  2

  “I . . . well, okay.” Callie was reluctant to let things drop, but 3

  she didn’t have an option.

  4

  Melanie had almost put down the phone when she thought of 5

  one last question.

  6

  “Laura?”

  7

  “Yes.”

  8

  She was still there.

  9

  “Why did you call me?”

  10

  Callie hesitated. “Well . . . I knew that I could trust your judg-11

  ment. And then, there was the privilege.”

  12

  “The privilege?
” Melanie didn’t follow.

  13

  “I knew that whatever I told you, you had to keep it confiden-14

  tial.”

  15

  Melanie’s body tensed. The attorney-client privilege, that’s 16

  what Laura meant. The sacred rule prohibiting disclosure of a 17

  client’s secrets. But Laura wasn’t her client, was she? She’d called 18

  up out of the blue. With a sinking feeling, Melanie saw she was in 19

  much deeper than she’d realized.

  20

  21

  The Harwich & Young library was on the sixty-third floor. It was 22

  the realm of junior associates, and Melanie had rarely been there.

  23

  When she arrived at the firm four-plus years ago, she’d already 24

  been fairly senior, handing out research assignments herself rather 25

  than slogging through them. It was a little after seven by the time 26

  she got there, and darkness had already fallen. Far below, the 27

  teeming city was a sparkling sea of lights, visual compensation for 28

  the tedium of the junior associate’s life.

  29

  “Need some help?” A night-shift librarian looked up from her 30

  terminal.

  31

  Melanie smiled at the owl-like woman. “No, thanks,” she said.

  32

  The reading room was a hushed enclave of polished mahogany.

  33

  Desk lamps burned in the private carrels, where several young 34

  lawyers worked. A fresh-faced blonde in a gray pantsuit had S 35

  kicked off a Gucci pump. She was avidly reading and taking R 36

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  notes, jouncing a manicured foot. Melanie had a disconcerting 2

  sense of looking at her younger self. She had a sudden impulse to 3

  warn her, to say, It’s not too late. The thought took her by surprise, 4

  and she wondered where it had come from. After all, she loved 5

  her job. Her job wasn’t the problem.

  6

  Cutting her eyes away, Melanie entered the stacks. As she 7

  roamed the aisles, scanning the shelves, she felt conspicuous.

  8

  She sensed the younger lawyers looking at her, wondering why 9

  she was here. She could have done the research on her office PC, 10

  paid for the Westlaw research. But then there would have been a 11

  record, something she didn’t want.

  12

  She finally located the CPLR, a compilation of New York laws.

  13

  She found the volume she needed and took it to a carrel. She 14

 

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