The Anniversary
Page 33
was still one digit she couldn’t make out. Either a nine or five.
35 S
She tried it first with a five, let the phone ring five or six times.
36 R
She was just about to hang up, when a groggy voice answered.
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“H’llo?”
1
“Melanie?”
2
“Uh-huh.”
3
“This is Callie. Calling you back.”
4
“Oh . . . Hi, Callie.” She sounded dazed. “I called you.”
5
Was it a statement or a question? Callie wasn’t sure.
6
“That’s right,” Callie said gently. “You left me a message on my 7
answering machine. I’ve been wanting to talk to you, to find out 8
how you’re feeling.”
9
“I . . . something happened to me. I was in the hospital.”
10
“I . . . I know,” said Callie. “I’m so terribly sorry.”
11
“I’m sorry too,” said Melanie. She still seemed confused, but 12
her voice was stronger now, as if her mind had grabbed hold of 13
something that she really wanted to say. “I just didn’t know any 14
better. I was young, but that’s not really an excuse. I was just . . .
15
confused and I didn’t understand, but, but . . . I’m sorry.”
16
What was she talking about? “You don’t have anything to be 17
sorry for,” said Callie. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
18
“No, no, no. I did. But I didn’t mean to, I didn’t, I didn’t —”
19
“Shhhhh,” said Callie. She was slightly alarmed by Melanie’s 20
agitation.
21
But Melanie wasn’t listening. She’d started to talk again, her 22
words, normally so precise, both halting and profuse.
23
“I thought I was better than you. That I could never ever be 24
like you. I thought it was your fault with Steven, that you should 25
have figured out what . . .”
26
Callie felt knocked off balance, as if she’d lost her breath. But 27
at some level hadn’t she known all along how Melanie felt? She’d 28
always been attuned to these reactions. After all, they mirrored 29
her own.
30
“You’re right. I should have known. You were right about 31
that.”
32
“But sometimes you just . . . don’t. When I fell in love with 33
Frank, I thought it was perfect. I thought he really loved me. And 34
he was so . . . so sure — about everything. He always knew what S 35
to do. But the thing is, he was never really there.”
R 36
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Callie’s heart seemed to twist. She remembered that feeling.
2
The Vanishing Man. It still struck her, the irony of that name.
3
It had started with some tabloid paper, she didn’t remember 4
which, then spread like wildfire through the press: TV, radio, 5
print. The witnesses who’d last seen his victims often recalled a 6
man. But except for a sense that he was good-looking, they 7
couldn’t really describe him. Or rather, whatever descriptions 8
they gave never seemed to match. Some said his hair was blond; 9
others said it was brown. He was five foot seven, at least six feet, 10
well over six three. They’d glimpsed him only briefly. He was 11
there, then gone.
12
Then there was the other meaning, far more personal. All 13
those nights she’d waited alone, afraid she was losing him, afraid 14
that one day he’d slip away, leave and never come back. She’d 15
suspected then that he was having an affair, even confronted 16
him. But he hadn’t been sleeping with other women. He’d just 17
been killing them.
18
And yet, still, she’d loved him. She couldn’t let him go.
19
The day he’d been sentenced to death, she’d wanted to tell 20
him that. She’d sat in the gallery willing him to turn and look at 21
her. She’d wanted him to know that he wasn’t alone, that she 22
hadn’t abandoned him.
23
“You know ten-b-five? The securities fraud law thing?” Mel-24
anie’s voice was dreamy now, as if her mind was drifting.
25
“No, I don’t think so.”
26
“Well, there’s this . . . this . . . thing. ” Melanie seemed to be 27
searching for words. “It’s . . . it’s a law, and it makes it so you have 28
a duty to disclose information if it’s material. That’s the word: mate-29
rial. ” Callie could hear the satisfaction in her voice as she managed 30
to come up with the term. “It’s not enough if you just don’t lie. You 31
have to come forward and give information in order to clarify. To 32
make sure that other things you said aren’t . . . aren’t misleading.”
33
“Mmmm,” said Callie.
34
“I think it should be like that when people say they’re in love.”
35 S
“Be like what?” Callie said.
36 R
“Where it’s not enough if you just don’t lie. That’s not telling 2 2 6
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all the truth. When I found Frank with Mary Beth, he said I 1
should have asked. He said that he’d never lied to me. As if that 2
made a difference.”
3
“Steven lied to me,” said Callie. She couldn’t help herself.
4
“That’s what I mean!” Melanie said. She was getting excited 5
again. “It’s the same thing. It’s all the same thing! They say some-6
thing. They don’t say something. It’s all still the same.”
7
Listening to Melanie, Callie thought that this couldn’t be 8
good for her.
9
“Honey,” Callie said, surprising herself with the endearment.
10
“I think I should let you go now. You should get some rest.”
11
Melanie didn’t seem to hear her. “They said I was too thin, but 12
I wasn’t. You don’t need to eat so much. I’ve read a lot about it.
13
I’m not a . . . an anorexic.”
14
A click, and the pieces fell into place, why Melanie had looked 15
so haggard.
16
A beep on the line. Call-waiting. Callie thought of Rick.
17
“Melanie,” Callie said softly. “Can I call you back a little later?”
18
“Okay,” said Melanie. She sounded sleepy, like she was starting 19
to fade. The excitement of the past few minutes seemed to have 20
exhausted her.
21
But before hanging up, there was still one quest
ion that Callie 22
had to ask. “The man who attacked you. When he came to the 23
door, did he bring you flowers?”
24
“He brought me roses,” Melanie said. “That’s what they told me.”
25
26
After hanging up, Callie checked caller ID. The call that had 27
come in showed a 413 exchange. Rick’s cell phone? Before lis-28
tening to the voice mail message, she went to the sink for a glass 29
of water. Looking out the window, she drank it down fast.
30
Knowing that the flowers were roses made everything simpler.
31
The connection she’d suspected was there. Everything was 32
linked. Melanie’s attack was somehow tied to what had been 33
happening to her. Now that she knew this for sure, she’d call 34
Mike Jamison. Tell him about the roses, both hers and Melanie’s.
S 35
In a way it was a relief, this resolution of doubt.
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1
As she’d guessed, the phone message was from Rick. She 2
quickly called him back. The moment she heard him say hello, 3
the anger flared again.
4
“What the hell were you doing, talking to Lambert about me?”
5
He didn’t answer right away, but when he did, she could tell 6
that he was angry too.
7
“You know what? I don’t really care if you’re mad. You have no 8
business with a gun, Callie. You don’t know how to use one.”
9
Had she expected him to apologize? She really wasn’t sure. But 10
one thing she hadn’t expected was an anger that matched her 11
own. She’d never seen this side of him before. He’d always been 12
so patient.
13
“I took the class,” Callie said. She could feel the tension in her 14
jaw.
15
“Oh. Great. So you have, what? Three, four hours’ experience 16
at a firing range? That’s just great. That’s perfect.”
17
His sarcasm was the last straw; the words flooded out. “Would 18
you just leave me alone? Just leave me alone! This has nothing to 19
do with you.”
20
A long silence followed.
21
“Okay,” Rick said. And then, with an edge, “Nice knowing 22
you.”
23
A click, and the phone went dead.
24
For a time, she just sat there, the receiver still in her hand.
25
She’d heard the finality in his voice, knew that it was over. Rick 26
had been a part of her life. Now he was gone. Around her every-27
thing looked the same. Light flooded the kitchen. She kept ex-28
pecting the pain to start, but a numbness had settled in. She 29
wasn’t angry. She wasn’t upset. She didn’t feel anything.
30
What next? she asked herself.
31
She knew that she should call Jamison, tell him about the 32
roses. But she suddenly felt so terribly tired that she could barely 33
move. Thank God, she had at least another few hours before 34
Anna got home. Upstairs, she fell into her unmade bed, kicking 35 S
off her shoes. She thought about taking off her sweater and jeans 36 R
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but felt too tired to make the effort. Besides, she was only going 1
to rest a while. She wasn’t going to sleep.
2
The next thing she knew, there was a dim ringing. It seemed to 3
go on and on. Disoriented, she sat up in bed and reached for her 4
alarm clock. But the noise wasn’t coming from beside her bed. It 5
was coming from downstairs. The doorbell, that’s what it was, she 6
thought.
7
Callie stumbled up.
8
The hallway was dark. Callie flipped on a light and hurried 9
down the stairs. During the time she’d slept, the sun had set. She 10
must have slept for hours.
11
She flicked on the outdoor light and peered through the peep-12
hole. Anna was standing on the front porch, along with Mimi 13
and Henry Creighton. Mimi was holding a cell phone, punching 14
in a number.
15
Callie turned the lock.
16
“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t hear you. I guess I fell asleep.”
17
She looked at Anna. “Hi, sweetie. You have fun today?”
18
Anna was holding a green stuffed bear and a plastic bag of cot-19
ton candy. She had a look of happy satiety, cheeks pink, hair in 20
tangles.
21
“It was so cool!” Anna said.
22
“It really was,” said Henry.
23
Callie turned to Mimi. “Would you like to come in?”
24
“Well, maybe for just a minute.”
25
The kids shot past their mothers, heading for the den.
26
“I’ll make some tea,” said Callie, motioning Mimi toward the 27
kitchen.
28
Callie felt groggy and slightly sticky in her sleep-rumpled 29
sweater and pants. Mimi was her usual sleek self in a navy twin-30
set and slacks. Gold earrings. Gucci loafers. A small leather bag.
31
Callie couldn’t imagine wearing this ensemble to an amusement 32
park. But then, she couldn’t exactly imagine wearing it anywhere.
33
Sitting at the kitchen table, Mimi examined a fingernail. “Do 34
you have something herbal?” she asked Callie.
S 35
R 36
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“Chamomile?”
2
“That’ll do.”
3
Waiting for the water to boil, Callie leaned against the 4
counter. “So, how’d you survive the day?” she asked.
5
“They were fine,” said Mimi. Still studying her manicure, she 6
seemed preoccupied.
7
“Thanks again for taking them.”
8
“Mmmm. Not a problem.”
9
This time when the conversation lagged, Callie let it go.
10
From the den down the hall she heard the sounds of a heated 11
Nintendo battle. Into one cup, Callie dropped a chamomile bag, 12
into another, China Black. The kettle began to whistle. Callie 13
turned off the gas. She poured out water and carried the mugs to 14
the kitchen table.
15
The silence was leaden now. Stirring her tea, Callie racked her 16
mind for something to fill the void. Then it struck her that this 17
was an opening, a chance to ask Mimi what she might have seen.
18
Mimi was in and out all day and right across the s
treet.
19
She worked to keep her tone light, just mentioning a minor in-20
convenience.
21
“Have you had any trouble with deliveries lately?” That was 22
neutral enough.
23
“Deliveries?” Mimi looked at her as if she didn’t know the word.
24
“Some books I ordered never arrived. I mean they arrived —
25
that’s what the company said — but I never got them. And then, 26
a couple of days ago, I got some flowers I hadn’t ordered.”
27
Mimi gave a brittle smile. “Secret admirer?”
28
Callie tried to smile back. “No, I think it was just a mistake.”
29
“Well, who cares?” said Mimi. “I hope you enjoyed them. God, 30
I can’t remember the last time that Bernie sent me flowers.”
31
“You haven’t had any problems? Or noticed anything odd?
32
Anyone hanging around the neighborhood who doesn’t seem to 33
belong?”
34
Mimi shrugged and took a sip of tea. When she put down her 35 S
cup it splashed, and she dabbed at the table with a napkin.
36 R
“Bernie’s having an affair.” Mimi’s eyes were bright.
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Callie almost choked on her tea. “Are . . . are you sure?” she 1
said. “You two seem so happy.”
2
Mimi gave a tight smile. “Seem,” she said. “Seem. The fact is 3
my husband doesn’t care about anyone but himself. Well, if he 4
thinks I’m going to ignore this, he’s in for a surprise.”
5
Callie wished Mimi would just stop talking. This was embar-6
rassing. She was sure that after some time had passed, regret 7
would settle in. All the same, she felt the faint stirrings of some-8
thing like sympathy. The disclosure was so out of character. How 9
unhappy Mimi must be. She tried to think of something to say, 10
something comforting. But before she could even attempt a re-11
sponse, Mimi was standing up.
12
“We should get home,” she said briskly. “Thanks for the cup of 13
tea.”
14
Suddenly, it was like the previous exchange had never taken 15
place. Mimi was smoothing down her hair, picking up her purse.
16
Callie’s head was spinning as she too stood up.
17
“I’m glad you could stop by,” she said to Mimi. “And thanks 18
again for today.”