by Amy Gutman
15
“The woman who told you all this. Do you think she could 16
have staged this? That she might be using Diane’s death to get at-17
tention for herself?”
18
“That occurred to me too,” Melanie confessed. “But after talk-19
ing to her, I really don’t think so.” There was also the issue of 20
chronology, her own note arriving before Diane was killed. But 21
she wasn’t prepared to discuss that. At least not yet.
22
“Does she have any theories? Of who might be behind it?”
23
Melanie took a deep breath. “Do you remember Lester Crain?”
24
“Lester Crain? God, yes. But why . . .” His voice trailed off, and 25
she could almost hear his mind spin. “Because of that thing with 26
Gage, right?”
27
“Exactly. She has this idea that Crain might be trying to 28
avenge Gage’s death.”
29
“So this woman, did she know Gage herself?”
30
“I . . . I can’t get into that.”
31
On the other end of the phone line, she heard a sharp intake 32
of breath. “My God, Melanie, is it you?”
33
“Me?” She gave a short, dry laugh. “No. No, of course not. If it 34
was me, I’d tell you.”
S 35
“I hope so,” he said seriously. “Because the thing is . . . if this R 36
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all is for real, if it’s not a ploy, then it could be very, very serious.
2
This woman, whoever she is, could be in danger herself. Does she 3
realize this? Is she taking precautions?”
4
“I’m not sure what she’s doing. I’ll talk to her, though. Warn 5
her.”
6
“Please do that.” The heavy seriousness of his voice left 7
Melanie slightly dizzy. It was the first time she’d fully grasped the 8
potential risks she herself faced. Perhaps she’d focused on Callie’s 9
dilemma to avoid facing up to her own.
10
“Do you have any particular suggestions? For what she should 11
do, I mean?”
12
“She should go to the police,” he said promptly. “That’s what 13
she should do.”
14
“I know, but it’s complicated. There are reasons she doesn’t 15
want to do that.”
16
“Then she should be very careful. If she has the money, hire 17
private security. If not, do whatever she can to make sure her 18
house is protected. Get a good alarm system. Does she live 19
alone?”
20
Melanie hesitated. While that was the impression she’d had, 21
she realized she didn’t know. “Except for her child, I think so.”
22
“Well, let’s just hope this whole thing is a false alarm. Maybe 23
it’s a practical joke.”
24
“Right,” said Melanie. A joke. At the thought, her spirits 25
briefly lifted.
26
“So what do you think?” Jamison asked. “What do you want 27
to do?”
28
“Well . . . what if you go to the Maine police and tell them 29
that you have some potentially significant information. That 30
you’ve talked with someone in possession of a watch that might 31
have belonged to Diane. I have the watch right here. I could give 32
you the serial number. If it belongs to her, she probably has the 33
documentation somewhere. You usually need to take it in when 34
you get a watch like this serviced.”
35 S
“And if it turns out to have belonged to Diane? They’ll want to 36 R
talk to this woman.”
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“I could go back to her then. Explain that she has to talk to the 1
police. That she really doesn’t have a choice.”
2
“They could do their best to protect her. Keep her identity 3
confidential.”
4
“I’ll tell her that,” said Melanie, though she doubted that Cal-5
lie would be reassured. Callie, she had a strong feeling, wasn’t 6
used to trusting people.
7
“Okay, then. I’ll make the calls first thing tomorrow morning.
8
You want to give me the watch information?”
9
“It’s a Cartier Panther. Panther’s the model. Let’s see, there are 10
two numbers on the back — eleven-twenty and then, below 11
that, one-five-seven-four-eight-zero-CD.”
12
In the background, she heard the scratch of pen on paper.
13
“I was thinking about fingerprints,” she said. “Do you think it’s 14
worth trying to lift them?”
15
“Let’s wait on that. Let me talk to the guys in Maine first.”
16
“Sure. Okay.”
17
There was a break in the conversation, as if each of them was 18
waiting for the other to speak.
19
“So, how are you?” he asked again. “God, it’s been a long time.”
20
“Yes,” she said. “It really has. It seems like another lifetime.”
21
“Still practicing law?”
22
“I’m at a firm in New York now. Harwich and Young.”
23
“Sure. I’ve heard of it.”
24
“I’m actually up for partner soon. Things are looking pretty 25
good.”
26
“Congratulations.”
27
“Well, we’ll see. And you? How’ve you been?”
28
“Let’s see. I guess it’s been about three years since I left the Bu-29
reau. I took a year off after that. I needed to spend some time with 30
my kids. Get my life together. I started this new gig last year. Cor-31
porate security. Employee background checks. Psychological as-32
sessments. After September eleventh, the industry exploded.
33
It’s . . . different from what I did at the Bureau, but I’m not sure 34
that’s a bad thing.”
S 35
“And your wife? How’s she doing?”
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“She’s . . . well, she’s fine, but we’re not together anymore. We 2
split up about four years ago. Mainly my fault, I think.”
3
“I’m so sorry,” said Melanie.
4
“It was for the best,” he said. “It was hard for the kids at first, 5
but I think they’re doing okay now. Both of them were already in 6
college. That made it easier.”
7
“I got divorced too,” Melanie said. “At just about the same 8
time.” She
didn’t mention her engagement. She didn’t mention 9
Paul.
10
“Ah, Melanie. That’s tough.”
11
“No kids, though,” she said. “And we weren’t together so 12
long.”
13
“Still. It’s never easy.”
14
“No,” she said. “It’s not.”
15
A pause.
16
“You know,” he said. “I’m in New York a fair bit. It would be 17
great to get together.”
18
As he spoke, she realized that she’d been waiting. “I’d like 19
that,” she said.
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Tuesday, April 25
Th e Windham College cafeteria had embarked on a some-1
what unsettling series of meals with themes. Some of them were 2
pleasant enough, mildly appealing diversions: Cajun Day. Choco-3
late Madness. Veg-Stravaganza. But on other days, Callie had to 4
wonder what drugs they had in the kitchen. Today, for example, 5
had a carnival theme, complete with carousel music. The sound 6
screeched out tunelessly from somebody’s old boom box.
7
Callie slid her tray past the steam tray, Martha trailing behind 8
her. Foot-long hot dogs and hot pretzels. A lurid vat of yellow 9
popcorn.
10
Callie turned to Martha. “Salad bar?” she asked.
11
Martha wrinkled her nose. “Absolutely,” she said.
12
They found two chairs at the end of a table in the crowded din-13
ing room. As she speared a leaf of lettuce, Callie thought about 14
Thursday’s party. She’d broached the subject with Tod last week, 15
and he’d happily accepted. She hadn’t described it as a fix-up, 16
just an informal dinner. Along with Martha and Tod, she’d de-17
cided to invite the Creightons. Anna spent so much time at their 18
house, she really owed Mimi and Bernie. Besides, this way Anna 19
could stay with Henry Creighton and his sitter.
20
Callie looked at her watch. “I’ve got to shop for the party this 21
afternoon. The rest of this week is crazy.”
22
“Are you sure I can’t bring anything?”
23
“Nope. I’ve got everything in hand.”
24
“What are you going to wear?” asked Martha.
25
“Oh, it’s totally casual. I may wear a skirt but just because I’ll S 26
be more comfortable.”
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Looking at Martha, her pretty, worn face, Callie felt a need to 2
caution her. “Look, I really don’t know what the deal is with Tod.
3
Rick thinks he’s still hung up on his ex-wife, so I’m not sure he’s 4
available. But he’s a really nice guy. I thought it was worth a shot.”
5
Martha pushed back a wave of hair. It was wavy, not fuzzy, 6
whatever Rick might say. “Believe me,” Martha said, “I’m not ex-7
pecting a thing.”
8
“It’ll be fun,” Callie said. “And anyway, who knows?”
9
Martha had started to smile at something over Callie’s shoul-10
der. “Don’t look now, but right behind you, Kabuki Girl and 11
Nathan are having lunch. From the looks of it, she’s talking his 12
ear off. But he doesn’t seem to mind.”
13
“You know, I thought something might be going on. When he 14
stopped by the office the other day, she really seemed interested.”
15
Callie tried to steal a covert glance, but she wasn’t fast enough.
16
At the exact moment she turned her head, Nathan looked up.
17
Even at the distance, she saw him flush, then he was on his feet, 18
picking up his tray of food, moving toward their table.
19
Watching Nathan’s retreating back, Posy glared at Callie.
20
“Damn,” Callie muttered. “Why did I have to look?”
21
Then Nathan was in front of them. “Okay if I join you?” Be-22
neath the pink flush of his face, the skin was dry and flaking. The 23
plate on his cafeteria tray held two foot-long hot dogs.
24
Martha looked helplessly at Callie.
25
Callie balled up her napkin and tossed it onto her tray. “Actu-26
ally, we’re finishing up. We were just about to leave.”
27
If Nathan hadn’t shown up, she might have stuck around for 28
coffee. As it was, Callie decided she might as well get moving.
29
Tomorrow would be hectic. She had a lot to do. Rick had some 30
sort of training that would take him to Springfield for the night.
31
The trip would keep him from helping out with their usual 32
Wednesday pizza.
33
She decided to drive out to Atkins Farms to pick up food for 34
the party. The upscale indoor farmers’ market would have every-35 S
thing she needed.
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As she turned off Route 9 onto 47, the mountains rose up around 1
her, cradling her in the restfulness of their ancient rocky hold.
2
The landscape never failed to calm her. It was what had brought 3
her here. Before then, she’d been so completely lost, living with 4
Kevin outside Indianapolis. It was during that time, after Anna 5
was born, that she’d started to think about finishing school. She’d 6
discovered Windham’s Abbott Scholars program at a local col-7
lege placement office. But academics weren’t the main attrac-8
tion, at least not initially. What had captivated her at the start 9
was a campus photograph. The brochure showed Windham’s red-10
brick buildings nestled against the mountains. Instantly she’d 11
been transfixed, had thought, I could be happy there.
12
The Atkins Farms parking lot, jammed on weekends, was half 13
empty today. Callie quickly found a parking space and headed for 14
the long, low building. Inside, she took a sensual delight in the 15
jewel-like mounds of produce. Red tomatoes. Purple eggplants.
16
Dark, leafy greens. She grabbed a shopping cart and reached for 17
her list. First stop, the meat counter. She’d decided to cook a pork 18
roast, easy and always good. The menu was wintry for this time of 19
year, but nights were still quite col
d. She’d serve the roast with 20
spinach, spiced onions, and red potatoes.
21
In less than an hour, she was finished.
22
She put her bags in the back of her Subaru and headed back to 23
Merritt, munching on a cider donut as she listened to NPR. Traf-24
fic was picking up now, as the early shift headed home. By the 25
time she pulled into the driveway, it was almost three o’clock.
26
She saw it on the porch, a white florist’s box. Instantly, she 27
thought of Rick with an upwelling of warmth. He knew that 28
she’d been stressed lately, and there’d been some tension between 29
them. Her hesitation over his proposal. Anxiety over Anna. But 30
as usual, Rick was reaching out, trying to bridge the gap. Looping 31
the grocery bags over one arm, she reached down and picked up 32
the box.
33
Sun poured through the windows as she stepped into the 34
kitchen. She put down the bags on the counter, then turned to S 35
open the box. Carefully, she peeled off the gold seals that held R 36
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the top in place. She took off the cover, looked at the flowers, 2
and instantly went numb.
3
Roses. Red roses.
4
She felt a mounting panic.
5
The scent floated up in a cloying cloud, everywhere at once.
6
She was hot, cold, dizzy. Her heart raced in her chest. As if from 7
a distance, she watched herself slowly back away. When she 8
reached the other side of the room, she stood there, silent, help-9
less. And still she could smell the flowers, their violent, deep per-10
fume. She wanted to scream, to break something, but she couldn’t 11
seem to move. All she could do was stare, aghast, at the box of 12
long-stemmed flowers. He knew how much she hated roses.
13
What had he been thinking?
14
What had he been thinking?
15
And then, skin prickling, she realized.
16
The roses weren’t from Rick.
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Wednesday, April 26