by Amy Gutman
seconds, then ripped open the packet. From inside, he pulled out 16
the stockings. They were rolled in a small black ball. Was he go-17
ing to ask her to put them on? She felt a leap of hope. If he did, 18
he’d have to untie her. She’d kick him and start to run.
19
But once he shook out the stretchy black legs, he just folded 20
them together. Grabbing one side in either hand, he pulled them 21
back and forth.
22
23
h
24
It had been hours. It had been forever. The night would never end.
25
Callie slumped at the kitchen table. Across from her, manning 26
a control panel, sat a state police technician. He’d set up equip-27
ment to trace and record incoming phone calls. Beside her, Offi-28
cer Parillo was knitting, something in pale blue yarn.
29
Upstairs, Callie heard footsteps, heavy and alien. Detective 30
Knight and two colleagues still moving through the house. She’d 31
been wearing a bathrobe when the police arrived, but they hadn’t 32
let her leave the kitchen. The jeans and sweater she was wearing 33
now had been brought to her by Parillo.
34
Again, Callie glanced at her watch. Just a few minutes had S 35
passed. The last time, it had been 3:22. Now it was 3:37.
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Callie turned to Parillo. “Why’s it taking so long? They’re just 2
children, just little kids. How far can they have gone?”
3
Parillo gave Callie a compassionate look. “They’re doing all 4
they can.”
5
“Like what?” Callie demanded. “What exactly, I mean?”
6
“They’re doing surveillance by helicopter. The state police are 7
involved. There’s an alert on the regional radio network and 8
they’ve brought in the tracking dogs. It’s great you found that re-9
cent picture of Anna. Everyone has a copy.”
10
The state police technician with the tracing equipment had an 11
air of intense focus. As he took a sip of coffee from a paper cup, 12
Callie caught his eye. “Does someone usually call?” she asked.
13
She didn’t remember his name.
14
“I can’t say anything’s usual, ma’am. Each situation’s different.”
15
“At least they’re together,” Callie murmured. “At least there 16
are two of them.” She wasn’t really talking to them. She was talk-17
ing to herself.
18
The beeper on Parillo’s belt went off. She grabbed her cell 19
phone and punched a number. “Nancy Parillo,” she said.
20
It was torture for Callie to watch her face, not able to hear 21
what was being said. Every cell in Callie’s body clamored for in-22
formation.
23
When Parillo finally hung up the phone, she didn’t say any-24
thing. She stood up from her chair and crouched by Callie, tak-25
ing hold of her hands.
26
“What?” Callie said. She felt herself start to tremble.
27
Parillo looked straight into her eyes. “Henry Creighton just got 28
home.”
29
“And Anna? What about Anna?”
30
Parillo squeezed her hands.
31
“Now, Callie, I want you to remember. We don’t know any-32
thing yet. We don’t know if Henry is telling the truth. Do you un-33
derstand what I’m saying?”
34
Callie nodded mutely. Fear bloomed in her heart.
35 S
“The first part is like what we thought. They ran away to-36 R
gether. The plan was to take a bus to Boston sometime early this 2 4 6
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morning. Now, again, I want you to remember that none of this 1
is confirmed.”
2
“Please. Just tell me.” Callie’s voice was pleading.
3
“Okay.” Parillo’s grip tightened. “Henry claims that they were 4
walking down Old Kipps Road when a car pulled up beside them.
5
Henry says the man who was driving the car snatched Anna and 6
drove off.”
7
Callie stared at Parillo. Suddenly, she was dizzy. Without warn-8
ing, her stomach heaved. She threw up on the floor.
9
Through a haze, she heard Parillo get up and go for some paper 10
towels. Then Parillo was back beside her, mopping up the mess.
11
“You shouldn’t be doing that,” Callie murmured.
12
“It’s fine,” Parillo said.
13
Upstairs, a door swung shut. Callie heard men’s voices.
14
“When does Henry say that this happened?” Callie’s voice was 15
low.
16
Parillo dumped the towels in the trash, then sat back down.
17
“He’s not sure exactly. He says they met at midnight and then 18
started to walk. I’d think it would have taken them at least an 19
hour to make it to Old Kipps Road, another half hour or so to get 20
to the Hicks Plaza mall. That’s where he says it happened. Right 21
across from there.”
22
Callie’s head jerked up. “But that’s . . . that’s hours ago. If they 23
met at midnight and this, this thing happens at, say, one-thirty, 24
two — that’s two hours ago. Where’s he been since then? Why’s 25
he just getting home?”
26
“I’m sure they’re asking him that.”
27
“But why are they spending time with Henry? Why isn’t every-28
one out looking for Anna and the man who kidnapped her?”
29
“The man who Henry says kidnapped her.”
30
“You . . . you don’t believe Henry?”
31
“We don’t know whether to believe him or not. That’s why 32
we’re talking to him.”
33
“But if he’s not telling the truth, then what —” Suddenly, Cal-34
lie got it. “You think Henry could have something to do with S 35
this?”
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“We don’t know anything for sure yet. We’re gathering infor-2
mation.”
3
“But why would he —” Callie stopped. Parillo didn’t know 4
Henry. She, on the other hand, did. She’d seen him with Anna 5
dozens of times, watched their interactions. She couldn’t imagine 6
Henry hurting Anna. At least not on purpose.
7
“I need to go across the street,” Callie said. “I have to talk to 8
Henry.”
9
Parillo touched her shoulder. “That’s no
t a good idea,” she 10
said. “Time is important here. The detectives know the questions 11
to ask. They need to be efficient.”
12
Callie was about to argue when something in her collapsed. At 13
this point, she didn’t trust her judgment. Maybe Parillo was right.
14
Everything was too much. She wondered if she’d survive this.
15
The desperation over Anna, the guilt over her own behavior. If 16
only she’d heard Anna out, if only she hadn’t snapped. She had 17
no doubt that their argument had sparked Anna’s flight. What-18
ever happened next, she was responsible. Just like before, only 19
worse this time because now it was her daughter.
20
Someone was at the front door, talking to the officer stationed 21
there. Seconds later, he was coming toward them through the 22
kitchen doorway. Tall. Black hair. Piercing eyes. She recognized 23
Lieutenant Lambert.
24
“Hello, Ms. Thayer. We’ve met before.”
25
“What . . . what are you doing here?”
26
“I wear several hats,” he explained. “I handle gun licenses, but 27
I’m also chief of detectives.”
28
As he spoke, he was pulling up a chair. His eyes didn’t stray 29
from her face. “When you came to see me, you had just applied 30
for a gun license for self-protection. Now your daughter’s missing.
31
Is there some connection here?”
32
Dread was moving over her like a slow-moving fog. He’s right, 33
she thought. He’s right. Everything fits together. She tried to speak, 34
but her mouth wouldn’t move; she couldn’t talk at all. It was like 35 S
some sort of strange dream where she’d suddenly been struck 36 R
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mute. But she had to tell them about Diane, about the watch and 1
the note. She had to tell them about the flowers, the roses red as 2
blood.
3
“Callie?” she heard Parillo say. “Callie, are you okay?”
4
Again, she tried to move her lips, and this time something 5
shifted.
6
“Steven Gage,” she whispered.
7
Lambert looked at her. “Steven Gage. You mean, the serial 8
killer?”
9
Callie nodded twice.
10
“Steven Gage is dead,” said Lambert. He might have been 11
talking to a child.
12
“I know he’s dead,” said Callie. “That’s . . . that’s not what I 13
mean.”
14
It was so hard to talk, so hard to explain, so hard to find the be-15
ginning. Thoughts blew through her mind like drifts of snow, 16
burying the words. All that effort for so many years, and this is 17
where it ended. Deep in her brain, she heard something. Steven 18
Gage was laughing. Then anger — rage — flared up in her. The 19
words began to flow.
20
“For four years I was Steven Gage’s girlfriend. I went by the 21
name of Laura Seton. Thayer’s my married name. I moved to 22
Merritt about seven years ago to try to start a new life. No one 23
here knows about my past. I didn’t tell anyone.
24
“Last month, on April fifth, someone left a letter at my home.
25
April fifth, that’s the date of Steven’s execution. The letter just 26
said ‘Happy Anniversary, Rosamund. I haven’t forgotten you.’
27
There wasn’t a signature. Rosamund — that was a sort of pet 28
name that Steven called me sometimes. It was a few weeks later 29
that my daughter found a watch hidden in a basket at our neigh-30
borhood Easter egg hunt. Now, I’m the one who’d hidden the bas-31
ket, but I certainly hadn’t put the watch there. Later, I discovered 32
that the watch had belonged to a writer named Diane Massey.”
33
“The woman who was murdered in Maine?”
34
“Yes. That’s right. She’d written a book about Steven. I . . . I S 35
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helped her write it. And before Diane was killed, I think that she 2
got a letter too. And then just the other day, I got home and 3
found a box of roses. Just lying there on my front porch. Steven 4
used to send me roses.”
5
She was trying so very hard to be clear, but everything was 6
jumbled. She couldn’t seem to get the story straight, to tell the 7
events in order. Lambert was eyeing her warily, not saying much.
8
As she watched his face, she had a sense that he might not even 9
believe her.
10
“Look,” she said urgently. “I know it sounds crazy, but there are 11
people who know I’m telling you the truth. A man named Mike 12
Jamison. He used to be with the FBI. Or call the Maine state po-13
lice. I’ve talked to them as well. But please, you have to find 14
Anna first. Please. You have to find her.”
15
“Mike Jamison,” Lambert said thoughtfully. “The FBI profiler?”
16
Wiping her eyes, Callie nodded. The tears just kept coming.
17
“You have a way to get in touch with him?”
18
“Yes. Yes, I think so.”
19
Callie rummaged through her purse until she found her Filo-20
fax. She flipped to the J’s, where, as she recalled, she’d penciled in 21
Jamison’s number. She read it off to Lambert. Parillo wrote it 22
down.
23
“Call Sheenan. Tell him to follow up on that,” Lambert in-24
structed Parillo.
25
Parillo headed to the hallway, pulling out her cell phone.
26
“This note, the watch — do you have any thoughts about who 27
might have left them?”
28
Callie looked at the table. “I . . . I don’t know.”
29
Lambert gave her a sharp-eyed look. “No idea at all?”
30
She didn’t want to say it, didn’t want to think it. The fear was 31
overpowering. But she knew she had to tell him. She didn’t have 32
a choice. “I keep thinking of Lester Crain,” she said, still staring 33
down. “Jamison says that it couldn’t be him. The Maine police 34
agree. But he’s the one I keep thinking of. I can’t get him out of 35 S
my mind.”
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She waited for Lambert to fall in line, to tell her it couldn’t be 1
Crain. Instead, he paused, thinking.
2
“Lester Crain. That’s the guy who escaped from prison? Down 3
in T
ennessee.”
4
Wrapping her arms around her stomach, Callie doubled over.
5
Anna’s face floated through her mind. She heard her calling, 6
“Mommy!” She started to rock back and forth, trying to ease the 7
pain.
8
Parillo came back into the room. Callie heard her say, “What 9
happened?”
10
“Okay, now, Ms. Thayer. Take a deep breath. It’s going to be 11
okay.” There was a gentleness in Lambert’s voice that Callie 12
hadn’t heard before. But she felt like she was drowning and 13
couldn’t get up for air. She could see Lambert, see Parillo, off in 14
some other world. She wanted to reach out, to talk to them, but 15
a tide kept pulling her back.
16
She wasn’t sure how long it took for the feeling to recede. She 17
forced herself to start talking again, to say what they needed to 18
know.
19
“Lester Crain and Steven were on death row together. Steven 20
had taught himself criminal law, and he helped out the other in-21
mates. After he helped Crain get a new trial, Crain held a press 22
conference. He said —” Callie stopped for a moment, then the 23
words came out in a rush. “He promised that he’d pay Steven 24
back, find a way to thank him.”
25
When she’d finished, her whole body sagged. She began to sob.
26
“But why would he take Anna? Why? What did she do to him?”
27
Lambert’s voice was soothing. “There’s nothing that you’ve 28
told me so far to convince me that he did. This is just a theory, 29
Ms. Thayer. There’s no evidence for it.”
30
“But . . . but there’s more. The women who’ve been targeted —
31
me, Diane, and another woman, a lawyer in New York — all of us 32
let Steven down. Betrayed him in a way.”
33
“So you think Crain is . . . trying to avenge his death?”
34
Somehow, when Lambert said it, the idea did sound far-S 35
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fetched. But it wasn’t like they had other suspects. Or any other 2
theories.
3
Despairing, Callie looked at Lambert. “Please, go help them 4
find her. Don’t stay here with me.”
5
“Ms. Thayer, we’re doing everything we can. And remember, 6
we don’t even know for sure that Anna was really kidnapped.
7