The Anniversary
Page 25
Casey. For a moment, she couldn’t seem to move, but she had to 2
get away. She looked at her watch, put her hand to her mouth, 3
then looked up, as if distracted. “I had no idea it was so late. I’ve 4
got to get on with dinner.”
5
6
By the time the dinner guests filed out, it was almost ten o’clock.
7
Anna, who’d been across the street with Henry, had come home an 8
hour ago. As Callie closed and locked the door, fatigue settled over 9
her. She let the muscles of her face relax, the fixed smile fall away.
10
Silently, Rick reached for her, gathered her in his arms. She rested 11
there a few long moments, then stepped back to look at him.
12
“So how d’you think it went?” she asked.
13
“Everything was perfect.”
14
“It was a little disjointed, I thought. Bernie and that guy he 15
brought sort of kept to themselves.”
16
Rick smiled. “As did Tod and Martha.”
17
Callie mustered a smile in response, though even that took 18
some effort. Behind her forehead, beneath her skull, she felt a 19
sort of pulsing. Not a headache exactly, but something that might 20
become one. “I was wondering if you’d noticed. Surprised?”
21
Rick shrugged. “I still don’t think it will go anywhere.”
22
“He wants us all to go contra dancing.”
23
Now he was surprised.
24
“Dancing? Tod?” Rick started to laugh.
25
“No, really. That’s what he said.”
26
Rick shook his head. “I’ll believe it when I see it. Hey, want 27
some help cleaning up?”
28
The living room was littered with crumpled napkins and the 29
pale ends of melting drinks. They piled up the sticky glasses and 30
plates and carried them to the kitchen. As she dumped dregs of 31
wine down the drain, Callie caught an astringent whiff. Quickly, 32
she squeezed out a glob of detergent and rinsed off the glass.
33
They cleared the dining room table, then loaded the dish-34
washer, Rick rinsing the glasses and plates while Callie arranged S 35
them inside. Something seemed to be bothering her, tugging at R 36
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her mind. She realized it was Bernie’s colleague, John Casey, that 2
offhand comment he’d made.
3
“Do you think I have an accent?” Callie asked.
4
“What?” Rick handed her a plate.
5
Callie put it in the dishwasher. “A southern accent. Do you 6
think I have one? Is it something you’ve ever noticed?”
7
Rick shook his head. “No. I don’t think so. At least not that I 8
remember.”
9
“Not that you remember? What does that mean?”
10
“Maybe when I met you, I might have noticed that you didn’t 11
sound like you’re from around here. But I don’t know if that was 12
your voice or just . . . how you are.”
13
“Oh.” It wasn’t a very satisfying answer, but she didn’t know 14
what else to say.
15
“Cal, why are you so upset? I mean, who cares? So he guessed 16
that you lived in Tennessee. Why’s that a big deal?”
17
“I’m not upset,” Callie said. “I just don’t see how he knew.”
18
“Well, he’s from down there himself. Maybe he’s more sensi-19
tive to it.”
20
“Yeah. I guess. Maybe.” Callie slammed the dishwasher shut 21
and started the wash cycle. As much as she’d wanted to be alone 22
with Rick, she now wanted him to leave.
23
The telephone rang.
24
Welcoming the interruption, Callie crossed the room.
25
“May I speak to Callie Thayer?” The voice was male and unfa-26
miliar.
27
“Speaking.”
28
“This is Mike Jamison calling.”
29
Mike Jamison. It took just a second or two for Callie to make 30
the connection. The former FBI profiler whom Melanie had 31
planned to call. Anger rushed up in Callie, a sort of emotional 32
flash flood. Was it really too much to ask for Melanie to have 33
warned her?
34
Conscious of Rick’s eyes on her, Callie tried to keep her voice 35 S
even. “I’m afraid this isn’t a good time. Could I call you back to-36 R
morrow?”
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“I’m afraid not, Ms. Thayer. I’m calling to tell you that 1
Melanie White was attacked in her apartment last night. She’s in 2
the hospital now.”
3
The breath rushed out of her body, and for a moment she 4
couldn’t think. In her mind’s eye, she saw Melanie’s face, the 5
clear ice-blue eyes. “But I just saw her,” Callie whispered.
6
“On Sunday,” he said.
7
“Yes. That’s right.”
8
“You’re a . . . a friend of hers?”
9
There was just a shadow of a pause.
10
“That’s right,” Callie said again.
11
Rick was at her side, touching her arm, concerned. She knew 12
that he could tell from her voice that the call had brought bad 13
news. With effort, she collected her thoughts, tried to decide 14
what to do.
15
“I need a few minutes,” she finally said. “I’ll call you right back, 16
okay?”
17
She scribbled down a number. When she hung up the phone, 18
she turned to Rick. “I have to be alone now.”
19
He looked at her intently. “Who was that on the phone?”
20
Callie stared at the ground. The churning noise of the dish-21
washer seemed to fill the room. Somewhere in the distance, she 22
heard Rick let out a sigh.
23
“Callie, what’s going on? For weeks now you’ve been . . . I 24
don’t know. Something strange has been happening.”
25
“You’re right,” she said, still looking down. “But I . . . it’s com-26
plicated.”
27
“Is it something about me?” he asked. “Something about us, I 28
mean?”
29
Callie gave a short, quick laugh, then pressed a hand to her 30
face. Her skin felt dry and very hot, as if she had a fever. “Oh, 31
God,” she said. “No. No, it’s nothing like that.”
32
He took a step closer, then hesitated, as if afraid to approach 33
her. “So what is it then? What aren’t you telling me?”
>
34
It was like she was trapped inside a bubble, and he was on the S 35
outside. She could hear what he was saying, but he didn’t have R 36
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the power to touch her. In her hand, she clutched the piece of pa-2
per with Jamison’s phone number.
3
“I’m sorry, but you have to go now.”
4
Rick stared at her another few moments, then silently turned 5
away.
6
She heard him get his coat from the closet, the rustle as he 7
pulled it on. Without saying another word, he shut the door be-8
hind him.
9
His footsteps echoed on the pavement.
10
She heard his car door slam.
11
A roar of the engine, a squeal of tires, as he pulled away from 12
the curb. He must be very angry, she thought. But right now that 13
didn’t matter.
14
Back in the kitchen, she picked up the phone, paused, then 15
put it down. She needed to clear her mind a bit before calling 16
Jamison back. It could just be a coincidence. The thought brought 17
a ray of hope. Maybe the attack was a random thing. Or maybe it 18
was personal. A violent boyfriend. An angry client. Nothing to 19
do with Steven.
20
What did Jamison know? That was another question. What 21
did he know about the watch and note? Did he know who she 22
really was?
23
The watch. The note.
24
Callie froze. She’d left them with Melanie. She wondered 25
where they were right now. Had Melanie’s attacker found them?
26
She punched in Jamison’s number. He answered on the first 27
ring.
28
Their greetings were brief, perfunctory, then Jamison ran 29
through the facts. How Melanie’s attacker had come disguised as 30
a florist’s deliveryman. How the law firm had sent someone look-31
ing for her when she didn’t show up at work.
32
“It happened around one this morning, but they didn’t find her 33
until nine or so. She didn’t show up at an early meeting. They 34
couldn’t reach her on the phone. So the law firm sent a paralegal 35 S
over to look for her. In one way she was lucky. Right after the at-36 R
tacker went up, she got a delivery of Chinese food. When the de-1 7 0
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livery guy knocked on the door, he must have scared the attacker.
1
It looks like the attacker fled when the Chinese food guy went 2
back downstairs.”
3
“How is she?” Callie asked. “What did he do to her?”
4
“She was hit with some sort of blunt object, a glancing blow to 5
the side of the head. When they found her, she was unconscious, 6
and they rushed her into surgery. She had what they call a sub-7
dural hematoma — that’s a bleeding in the brain. The bleed was 8
pushing against the brain, compressing the brain tissue.”
9
“Surgery,” Callie said faintly. “Is she . . . will she be okay?”
10
“At this point, we don’t know. She’s still in intensive care. She 11
was conscious for a few hours after the operation. That’s when 12
she told me to call you. Then, well, she had a relapse. She’s in a 13
coma now.”
14
“My God,” said Callie. “I’m so, so sorry.” She realized that she 15
was crying. A tear rolled silently down one cheek. She wiped it 16
away with a hand.
17
“The flowers that the guy who attacked her brought, do you 18
know what kind they were?”
19
“I don’t know,” said Jamison. “Any special reason you’re ask-20
ing?”
21
“No, I just . . . I don’t know.” Callie realized that she was shak-22
ing. Thoughts whirled through her mind. “What did Melanie tell 23
you about me? Why did she ask you to call me?”
24
“She kept repeating several names. Yours was one of them.
25
Your number was in her book. The rest I figured out myself.”
26
“The rest?”
27
“She told me about the watch and letter, that a woman she 28
knew had received them. She didn’t give me a name. But you’re 29
that woman, right?”
30
Callie swallowed hard. “Where are they?” she asked. “Did he 31
find them? That watch and the letter, I mean.”
32
“Luckily, no. They’re in the hands of authorities now. The 33
Maine state police will want to talk to you about them. And 34
about the Massey case.”
S 35
“The watch —”
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“It belonged to Diane. We’ve already checked that out.
2
Melanie was going to tell you. Apparently, she didn’t have a 3
chance.”
4
Too late Callie thought that she shouldn’t have been so open, 5
shouldn’t have been so quick to admit her connection to the let-6
ter and watch. Until then, Jamison was going on suspicion. Now 7
he knew for sure. At the same time, she had a helpless feeling.
8
What did it really matter? Even if she’d kept her mouth shut, it 9
was only a matter of time.
10
“Both Diane and Melanie had ties to Steven Gage. Is that also 11
true for you?”
12
She could tell that he was feeling his way, like a blind man in 13
a strange room. His instincts were good. He was sensitive. But he 14
didn’t have the facts.
15
“I don’t mean to be rude,” said Callie. “But I’m not going to 16
answer that.”
17
“Fair enough,” he said. “You don’t have to tell me. But you do 18
need to tell the police, Ms. Thayer. There’s a killer out there.”
19
“But how do you know that I can help? How do you know it’s 20
connected?”
21
A pause.
22
“I don’t know,” Jamison said finally. “But I intend to find out.
23
And I hope you’ll do whatever you can to help with this investi-24
gation.”
25
“I . . . of course, I will. But I’m not sure —”
26
Before she could discover what she’d meant to say, Jamison 27
cut in.
28
“Melanie told me that you have a child, that you’re worried 29
about privacy. I have children too. I understand your concerns.
30
But even if you’re willing to risk your own li
fe, other people are 31
involved. If you’d gone to the police in the first place, this thing 32
might not have happened.”
33
“We can’t know that,” Callie said. But the words had hit their 34
target. She’d put Melanie in harm’s way, and then she’d tied her 35 S
hands. She was the one responsible. Just like before.
36 R
Just like before.
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Remorse washed over her.
1
“I’ll talk to the police,” said Callie. “I’ll do whatever I can. Will 2
they . . . do you think they can keep it confidential, the fact that 3
I’m involved?”
4
“I’m sure they’ll do whatever they can to work with you on 5
that.”
6
“Do you have a phone number?”
7
“In Maine, you need to talk with Jack Pulaski. He’s with the 8
state police.” Callie took down the name and number as Jamison 9
read them off.
10
“The police in New York and Maine — are they working to-11
gether on this?”
12
“Not yet,” Jamison said. “It takes a while for multijurisdic-13
tional investigations to get up and running. The links have to be 14
established, and this thing with Melanie just happened. But 15
soon, I hope, they’ll be collaborating. You can help with that.
16
You provide a link between Diane and Melanie.”
17
Upstairs, Callie heard the toilet flush. Anna was awake.
18
“I’ll call first thing tomorrow,” she promised.
19
“Good,” Jamison said. “In the meantime, I hope you won’t 20
mind if I pass on your name and number.” She heard the words as 21
a warning. If she didn’t step forward herself, they’d come after her.
22
Anna appeared in the doorway, her face crumpled and pink, 23
mouth turned down at the edges in an expression of accusation.
24
“You woke me up,” she said.
25
Callie raised a hand to signal she’d be just a moment. “I guess 26
that’s it,” she said.
27
“For now. And Ms. Thayer — please be careful.”
28
After she’d hung up the phone, Callie pulled Anna into her 29
arms, rubbed her nose against the silky hair. “Sorry, sweetie,” she 30
said.
31
“What’s wrong? Is something wrong?” Anna was waking up 32
now.
33
Callie forced a smile. “Not a thing. Let’s get you back to bed.”