by Amy Gutman
27
Anna wasn’t there.
28
“Anna?” Callie called softly. And then more loudly. “Anna?”
29
Maybe she’d gone downstairs. Maybe she’d woken up hungry, 30
wanted something to eat.
31
Callie bounded down the stairs, taking two steps at a time.
32
“Anna?” she called again, as she flipped on the light in the 33
kitchen. The familiar room jumped out at her, but Anna wasn’t 34
down here either.
35 S
Callie raced through the house, calling Anna’s name. A hole 36 R
was growing in her chest, deep and black and wide. This can’t be 2 3 8
2nd PASS PAGES
13713_01_i-vi_001-344_r4jn.qxd 4/21/03 8:03 AM Page 239
T H E A N N I V E R S A R Y
happening, she told herself. There has to be some mistake. She ran 1
back upstairs to Anna’s room and rubbed her arms across the 2
empty bed, threw open the closet door and pushed aside rows of 3
clothes. On hands and knees, she looked under the bed: some 4
books, a jigsaw puzzle. Standing up, she pressed her hands to her 5
mouth.
6
Think, Callie, think.
7
She ran downstairs to the basement and scanned the concrete 8
room. But, thank God, there was nothing unusual, no sign of 9
anything wrong. Shelves lined with paint cans and storage boxes.
10
A laundry basket filled with sheets. Crossing the floor to the fur-11
nace room, Callie flung open the door. No sign of Anna there ei-12
ther. She headed back upstairs.
13
She didn’t know the number for the police department and 14
had to look it up. Her fingers felt large and clumsy, barely a part 15
of her. Twice she punched in the wrong number and had to start 16
again.
17
When she finally managed to dial correctly, the phone rang 18
twice.
19
A male voice answered. “Merritt Police Department.”
20
Something clicked inside her.
21
Anna was really gone.
22
She began to shake uncontrollably. “My daughter, she . . .
23
she’s missing.”
24
25
h
26
There was a bus to Boston at four in the morning. They were go-27
ing to be on it. By the time their parents started looking for them, 28
they’d already be gone. “But what if they call the bus station?”
29
Anna had asked Henry. Henry had said it wasn’t a problem. No 30
one would be awake.
31
But first they had to get to the bus. That was the first step. So 32
far, they’d been walking about half an hour. Anna’s feet were get-33
ting sore.
34
“How much farther is it?” she asked Henry.
S 35
Henry shrugged. “A couple of miles.”
R 36
2 3 9
2nd PASS PAGES
13713_01_i-vi_001-344_r4jn.qxd 4/21/03 8:03 AM Page 240
A M Y G U T M A N
1
Anna didn’t say anything. It sounded pretty far.
2
It was strange to be out so late at night, when everything in 3
town was quiet. Walking through the center of Merritt, they 4
hadn’t passed a single car. The stores were dark and shut tight.
5
The sky was full of stars. The yellow cat that lived in the book-6
store slept in the plate-glass window. His name was Sebastian, 7
and looking at him, Anna felt a little sad. “Good-bye, Sebastian,”
8
she whispered. Softly, so Henry wouldn’t hear.
9
Now they were walking down Old Kipps Road, the street with 10
the shopping malls. They walked past Staples and Wal-Mart, to-11
ward the Stop & Shop. In her backpack, Anna had two peanut 12
butter sandwiches, two apples, three oranges, and some Oreos.
13
She also had two changes of clothes and fifty-seven dollars. Henry 14
had ninety-four dollars. With all that money, they could get to 15
the city, buy some food, go to the movies. Henry said there were 16
places to sleep for kids who ran away. Anna thought they’d have 17
to call your parents, but Henry said they wouldn’t.
18
She might have asked more questions if she’d really cared that 19
much. But the thing was, she didn’t want to run away forever, just 20
long enough to make a point. Long enough for her mom to see 21
that she was really, really mad. For Henry, it was different. He 22
wanted to leave for good. That was because his parents never, 23
ever listened to him. All they cared about were his grades, about 24
how smart he was. For her, it was more complicated because her 25
mom used to care. Back when it was just the two of them, before 26
she met Rick.
27
Just thinking about Rick Evans gave Anna a queasy feeling.
28
But even a couple of months ago, things hadn’t been so bad.
29
She’d hated it that Rick was there, but at least her mom had been 30
happy. Since Easter, though, things had changed, and she’d 31
started acting crazy. Like tonight, when she’d just barged in and 32
said that Anna had to go to Indianapolis. If it hadn’t been for 33
that, well, maybe she’d have stayed. Even though Henry had 34
been bugging her, she hadn’t made up her mind. But the idea that 35 S
she could be sent away — that had been the last straw. Her 36 R
mother wanted her gone? Fine. She’d take care of that herself.
2 4 0
2nd PASS PAGES
13713_01_i-vi_001-344_r4jn.qxd 4/21/03 8:03 AM Page 241
T H E A N N I V E R S A R Y
A stone caught in Anna’s tennis shoe, and she reached down 1
to get it out. As she did, a car wheeled around the corner, and 2
lights flashed in her eyes. Henry had already jumped back. “Get 3
out of the light,” he hissed.
4
But Anna had one foot in the air, her canvas shoe in her hand.
5
As the car slowed down, she started to move, but something held 6
her back. She realized that a part of her was hoping that someone 7
had found them. Now that they were really running away, it all 8
seemed a little scary. With every step away from home, she felt 9
more and more doubtful. That was why she kept standing there.
10
She wanted someone to find them.
11
The driver stopped the car just a few yards away. He was lean-12
ing across the front seat, opening the passenger door. It was 13
spring, but he was wearing winter clothes, a ski hat and a scarf.
14
He had a beard, a bushy one, like someone in a cartoon.
15
He said something then, real soft, but Anna couldn’t hear him.
16
She stepped up a little closer, not sure what she wanted to do.
17
Henry wasn’t where she could see; he was probably hiding now.
18
He was going
to be mad that she’d messed up everything. But 19
right now, she just didn’t care. She wanted to be back home.
20
The driver was sliding across the seat, getting out of the car. As 21
he moved closer, Anna stepped back. Suddenly, she was afraid.
22
Why wasn’t he talking to her? And why did he look so weird?
23
Then, without warning, he lunged toward her, grabbing hold of 24
her jacket. But before he got a firm grip on her, Anna tore away.
25
She started to run — hard, fast — faster than ever before. Her 26
feet pounded the pavement, and she started screaming, “Help!”
27
Strong arms grabbed her, picked her up, swooped her into the 28
air. Squirming, fighting, she looked for Henry. A piece of cloth 29
covered her face. It was wet and smelled bad. She tried to push 30
it away. But she couldn’t get her hands to move, and then she 31
didn’t care.
32
33
h
34
“When did you last see your daughter?”
S 35
The detective was wearing a black T-shirt that showed his R 36
2 4 1
2nd PASS PAGES
13713_01_i-vi_001-344_r4jn.qxd 4/21/03 8:03 AM Page 242
A M Y G U T M A N
1
muscled arms. On his left bicep he had a tattoo, a long, winding 2
vine with flowers. He’d explained to Callie that he’d just been 3
pulled off an undercover job. Still, his appearance only added to 4
her sense of dislocation.
5
“It must have been around nine o’clock. Anna was in bed. But 6
how could anyone have gotten in? Her room’s on the second 7
floor.”
8
Anguished, Callie looked at him, twisting her hands in her lap.
9
“So far, we don’t see any sign that someone broke into the 10
house. Do you think your daughter might have run away?”
11
Callie stared at him. “I guess . . . I guess it’s possible.” It hadn’t 12
even occurred to her, but maybe he was right. “We had a sort of 13
argument about visiting her grandparents this summer. She 14
didn’t want to go. I told her it wasn’t her choice.”
15
“You know, despite all the publicity, kidnappings are still quite 16
rare.”
17
For the first time since Anna had disappeared, Callie felt a ray 18
of hope. Maybe Anna had left on her own. They’d find her and 19
bring her back.
20
Across from her sat the detective, whose name was Jeffrey 21
Knight. Next to him was a policewoman, the first officer to ar-22
rive. Officer Parillo — that was her name — wore a standard 23
blue uniform. She had short, dark hair, an athletic build, and was 24
probably in her twenties.
25
“So she was pretty upset?” asked Knight.
26
“Yes,” Callie said.
27
“What did she say exactly?”
28
“Just that she didn’t want to go. She said I couldn’t make her.”
29
“Has she ever run away before? Or threatened to run away?”
30
Callie shook her head. “No. She never has.”
31
“What sort of relationship do you have?”
32
“It . . . it used to be better. This year has been difficult. I started 33
dating someone this fall — Rick Evans, you probably know him.”
34
“Sure. We both know Rick.” A flicker of surprise in Knight’s 35 S
voice, a subtle change of tone.
36 R
2 4 2
2nd PASS PAGES
13713_01_i-vi_001-344_r4jn.qxd 4/21/03 8:03 AM Page 243
T H E A N N I V E R S A R Y
“Rick’s out of town,” Callie said. “His father’s been quite ill.”
1
She wasn’t sure why she said this, and Knight didn’t respond.
2
“Did you hear anything?” Knight asked her. “Any sounds from 3
Anna’s room?”
4
Again, Callie shook her head. “No, nothing,” she said. “But I 5
had my Walkman on. I was listening to music.”
6
From upstairs, Callie heard the footsteps and voices of two 7
more detectives. She wondered what they’d found so far. She 8
wanted to be up there with them.
9
Her eyes drifted around the kitchen, barely focusing. The dry-10
ing dishes. The clean counters. The knives in the wooden block.
11
The most dangerous room in the house. That’s what Rick had called 12
it. Suddenly, she missed him desperately. She wanted him here 13
with her.
14
“Who are your daughter’s closest friends? Is there someone she 15
might have talked to?”
16
Of course. Why hadn’t she thought of that? “Henry Creighton,”
17
she said. “If Anna talked to anyone, it would be him. He lives 18
right across the street.”
19
“D’you have the number?” Knight asked.
20
“Right there. Beside the phone.”
21
Knight pulled out a cell phone.
22
“You can use ours,” said Callie.
23
“Thanks, but I’d rather not. I don’t want to disturb the scene.”
24
The scene. Knight’s offhand use of the word sent a chill 25
through Callie. For an instant, she saw her house, her home, 26
through completely different eyes.
27
Knight had already punched in the number and was waiting 28
for someone to answer. After what seemed like forever, he finally 29
started to talk.
30
“Ma’am, I’m sorry to disturb you, but I’m calling from the Mer-31
ritt Police Department. . . . What? . . . No, it’s not about your 32
husband. It’s about your neighbor, Callie Thayer. Her little girl is 33
missing. I know it’s late, but we need to talk to your son.”
34
Another pause.
S 35
R 36
2 4 3
2nd PASS PAGES
13713_01_i-vi_001-344_r4jn.qxd 4/21/03 8:03 AM Page 244
A M Y G U T M A N
1
“We’ll be right over. . . . Yes, of course I will.”
2
When he hung up, he looked at Callie. “That was the mother.”
3
“Mimi.”
4
“She said to tell you to stay calm, that everything will be okay.”
5
Easy for her to say. “Listen,” — Callie was talking fast, thoughts 6
racing through her mind — “there are some things I have to tell 7
you. They might be relevant. Someone has been threatening me.
8
Well, not threatening exactly. Oh, this is complicated, but —”
9
The phone rang suddenly, sharply. Callie’s heart leapt. “Oh, 10
my God, maybe it’s Anna. Maybe she’s —”
11
But before she could reach the phone, Knight had picked up.
12
For the first time, Callie noticed that he was wearing plastic 13
gloves.
14
“Is it Anna?” Callie demanded, her eyes glued to the detec-15
tive’s face.
16
Knight didn’t seem to hear her.
17
From where she sat, Callie heard frantic speech from the other 18
end of the line.
19
“Who is it?” Callie asked. “Please. I have to know.”
20
Knight raised his hand, as if to push her back.
21
“We’ll be right over,” he said, and then hung up the phone.
22
“What is it? What happened?” Callie asked. Her heart tore 23
through her chest.
24
Standing up, Knight looked at her. “Henry’s missing too.”
25
h
26
27
When Anna woke up, everything was dark. She didn’t know 28
where she was. She’d been running away with Henry, and then 29
something bad had happened. All she wanted now was to go 30
home, to be back with her mother.
31
Where was she, anyway? She tried to sit up, but she couldn’t 32
move. Her hands and feet were tied together. Now she was really 33
scared.
34
She tried to yell, to scream loud, but something was stuffed in 35 S
her mouth.
36 R
Rolling her head from side to side, she tried to see around her.
2 4 4
2nd PASS PAGES
13713_01_i-vi_001-344_r4jn.qxd 4/21/03 8:03 AM Page 245
T H E A N N I V E R S A R Y
Slowly, her eyes grew used to the dark, and shapes started coming 1
clear. She was lying on a mattress on the floor. The floor was 2
made of concrete. There were piles of boxes off to one side. She 3
saw a washer and dryer. A basement. That’s where she was. She 4
was in somebody’s basement.
5
She heard something, a squeaking sound, a door swinging open.
6
A slice of light fell across her face. Anna squinted toward it.
7
Then she heard the sound of footsteps moving down the stairs.
8
The sound seemed to go on forever, coming closer and closer. Fi-9
nally, there was a different sound, as feet landed on the floor. But 10
still they were moving closer, and then she saw two legs. She 11
rolled her head back a little farther, looked up into a face. It was 12
him. The man with the beard. She felt herself start to shake.
13
When he crouched down beside her, she saw that he held a 14
package of panty hose. He worked with the seal for a couple of 15