The Anniversary
Page 41
28
The reporters have been calling all night. I’m not sure what to do.
29
I tried to call Lambert, but I couldn’t reach him so . . . I thought 30
of you. It’s just — everything is such a mess. I need some advice.”
31
“Don’t call them back,” Jamison said. “There’s nothing to be 32
gained. At this point, you don’t even know if they have enough for 33
a story. If you lay low for the time being, it might slow them down.”
34
“Slow them down,” Callie said. She sounded hopelessly bleak.
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The rain was falling harder now. Through his window, Jamison 2
could just make out a mountain’s hazy outlines.
3
“Everyone’s going to find out. Everyone will know.” She 4
sounded so miserable, so despairing. Jamison searched for words.
5
Something to convince her that she’d get through this, that it 6
wasn’t the end of the world.
7
“Maybe you’re making too much of this.” He was careful to 8
speak gently. “I know it will be hard at first, but it could also be a 9
relief. It can’t have been easy for you, keeping this kind of secret.”
10
“It wasn’t really so bad.” Her voice was dull, as if she’d given up.
11
“You still may have a day or two. At least you have some 12
warning.”
13
“You don’t think they’ll print it tomorrow?”
14
“It depends on what they’ve confirmed.”
15
“But if I don’t call them back, won’t that make them more sus-16
picious?”
17
“And if you call back, what would you say? You can’t lie about 18
something like this. That would just make it worse.”
19
As soon as he got off the phone with Callie, Jamison called 20
Lambert. He tried his private line at the station, then tried him 21
on his beeper. When he failed to get any response, he finally left 22
a message. “Tell him to call me as soon as he can.” Then, frus-23
trated, he hung up.
24
It didn’t make any sense that Lambert would be out of pocket.
25
As chief of detectives at a time like this, he should be on call 26
24-7. Small towns were different from big cities, but, hell, they 27
weren’t that different. This was a major investigation in Lambert’s 28
jurisdiction.
29
It was almost seven o’clock now, and Jamison decided to get 30
something to eat.
31
Outside, the air was moist and fragrant, almost tropical. Um-32
brella in hand, he walked a few blocks to the small town center.
33
The rain was blowing at a slant, and his clothes were wet by now.
34
He ducked into a Mexican place with a large bright red sign. At 35 S
the counter, he ordered Cajun fish tacos, then sat at a table to wait.
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Next to him, a harried young mother argued with her toddler.
1
“You liked it last time,” she was saying. The kid stuck out his chin.
2
“One-oh-nine,” the cashier called.
3
He checked his receipt; that was him.
4
He ate fast, both because he was hungry and because he 5
wanted to get back. The mom and kid reminded him of Callie 6
and the nightmare she’d gone through. He wondered exactly 7
where Callie lived. It couldn’t be too far. If he’d been here longer, 8
he’d have tried to meet her, but he just didn’t have time. Still, 9
he’d have liked to see the woman he’d once watched testify. The 10
former Laura Seton. Steven Gage’s lover.
11
It was Callie who’d first suggested Lester Crain’s involvement.
12
Yet she wouldn’t know, even now, how horribly right she’d been.
13
The decision had been made not to go public with the DNA link 14
to Crain. The last thing they needed was for Crain to know that 15
they had this evidence. If he hadn’t already fled the jurisdiction, 16
that would be all it took. There’d be some concern over public 17
safety once the truth came out. But for now, the task force mem-18
bers agreed, secrecy was paramount.
19
It seemed clear that Crain was UNSUB 2.
20
But what about UNSUB 1?
21
He finished his meal, bussed his dishes, and headed toward the 22
hotel. His thoughts moved to what Callie Thayer had said about 23
Gage’s family, the conversation reported back to him by Pulaski 24
in Maine. He’d never met the mother or brothers, but he’d seen 25
them many times. The mother nervous and overweight, flanked 26
by her hulking sons. He couldn’t remember the boys’ names now.
27
The mother’s name was Brenda. She’d gone by her second hus-28
band’s name. It started with an H, he thought.
29
Holiday. Halliburton. Hallowell . . .
30
None of them sounded right.
31
Back in his room, the message light was dark. Lambert still 32
hadn’t called.
33
Jamison was hanging up his jacket when the name finally came 34
to him: Hollworthy. Brenda Hollworthy. That was the name she’d S 35
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used. She might have moved or married again. Still, it was worth 2
a try.
3
No Nashville listing for a Brenda Hollworthy, but there was a 4
B.W. He wrote down the number, hung up, and dialed it.
5
“The Lord Jesus will rise again. Have you accepted him as your 6
savior?” A woman’s voice on the answering machine, a husky 7
southern drawl. Too many cigarettes and cocktails before God 8
came on the scene. “I can’t take your call now. But leave me a 9
message an’ I’ll call you back.”
10
He couldn’t remember hearing Brenda speak, wouldn’t recog-11
nize her voice. He’d never have placed her as a born-again type, 12
but of course, that had been before. Before her child was con-13
victed of murder. Before he was put to death. Maybe she, like so 14
many others, had found solace in religion.
15
He hung up without leaving a message. He’d try again later.
16
There was one more call he wanted to make before it got too 17
late. Tomorrow he was driving down to New York to visit Melanie.
18
She’d been released from the hospital but was still sleeping a lot.
19
> He wanted to get hold of her before she went to bed.
20
He picked up his cell phone and speed-dialed her number.
21
“Hello?” She sounded hesitant, uncertain what to expect.
22
“Melanie. It’s Mike. How’re you feeling today?”
23
“Pretty good.” She seemed to relax, now that she knew who he 24
was. “I mean, better, I guess. It’s slow. The recovery, I mean.”
25
“So I figure I can be in the city tomorrow by around ten or so.”
26
“That’s . . . could we make it a little later? I have some things 27
to take care of.”
28
“Okay. Sure. When’s good for you?”
29
“Eleven?”
30
“Sure. You’ve got it.”
31
“Mike, I’m sorry to cut you off, but a . . . a friend is coming up.
32
The doorman just called to tell me.”
33
“Okay, then. Well, I’ll let you go. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
34
He hung up with a nagging sense that something wasn’t right.
35 S
For all the doctors’ reassurances, she didn’t sound like herself.
36 R
This visitor she’d mentioned, that bothered him too. Suddenly, 2 8 2
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he felt a flash of fear. So what if it was someone she knew? Maybe 1
she’d known the killer. When he’d questioned her, she seemed con-2
fident that she’d never seen him before. But what if she’d been 3
mistaken? What if she’d been confused?
4
He couldn’t stop himself. In five minutes, he called back.
5
“Sorry to bother you again, but I misplaced your address,” he 6
lied.
7
“Not a problem,” Melanie said. And recited the street number.
8
“You . . . are you okay?” he asked.
9
“Sure. I’m fine.” She sounded surprised. After all, he’d just 10
talked to her. Why shouldn’t she be fine?
11
Feeling a little foolish, Jamison hung up. Still, Melanie stuck 12
in his mind like a tune he couldn’t forget. He’d felt oddly close to 13
her during the time he’d spent at her hospital bedside. As if he 14
were just where he should be, a feeling he’d almost forgotten.
15
He’d had it so often during those years at the Bureau, working on 16
the profile study, during the weeks he’d met with Steven Gage 17
just before the execution. He wondered if that was part of it, his 18
attachment to Melanie, as if she were a sort of talisman bringing 19
back the past.
20
Outside, the rain was still coming down. He could hear it, but 21
he couldn’t see it. It had still been light when he left for dinner.
22
Now the sky was dark. He’d try Brenda Hollworthy one more 23
time, and then he’d take a shower.
24
“Hello?” It was same rough voice he’d heard before, but live 25
now, not recorded.
26
“Is this Mrs. Hollworthy?”
27
“Who is this?”
28
“My name is Mike Jamison. We met . . . a long time ago.”
29
“What’d you say your name was, son?”
30
“Mike. Mike Jamison. We met . . . in Tennessee.”
31
“You that boy from the FBI?”
32
“I . . . I used to be.” His heart was beating faster now; he could 33
feel the adrenaline surge. The past flooded over him. Steven 34
Gage’s mother.
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Before she could hang up on him, he rushed to fill the silence.
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“It’s been a long time,” he said.
2
“Sure has,” she said flatly. He half expected her to hang up 3
then, but she stayed on the phone, waiting.
4
“I was hoping you could answer some questions for me about a 5
woman named Diane Massey. You probably remember the book 6
she wrote —”
7
Brenda Hollworthy cut in. “You know, the Lord says that we 8
should forgive, and God knows I try. Every night I pray for the 9
strength to forgive, but some things are just beyond us. You have 10
any children, Mr. Jamison?”
11
A pause.
12
“Yes. I do.”
13
“How many?”
14
“Two.”
15
“Boys or girls?”
16
“One of each.”
17
“I used to have three sons. Now I’ve got two. That’s some-18
thing you never get over. You should’ve done something, Mr.
19
Jamison. You should’ve done something to save him. The Lord 20
doesn’t mean for men to kill each other. Two wrongs don’t make 21
a right.”
22
Her voice was emptied of emotion, as if she’d rehearsed the 23
speech. As if she’d spent countless years preparing for this call.
24
“I can’t imagine what you went through.” That much was cer-25
tainly true.
26
“That’s why you’re callin’, ain’t it? It’s that Massey woman. You 27
think we had something to do with it, me or the boys. Well, I 28
can’t say I’m sorry to see her gone, God forgive me for that. But 29
you’re lookin’ in the wrong direction if you’re thinkin’ of us like 30
that. I’m a Christian woman, and they’re good, good boys. Got 31
families of their own now.”
32
“Please, let me explain, Mrs. Hollworthy. That’s not it at all.”
33
“You think somebody else killed her?”
34
“Absolutely,” he said. The truth, of course, was that he didn’t 35 S
know, but you said what you had to say. “I just wanted to ask you 36 R
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some questions about a few people Steven knew. I wanted to get 1
your impressions of them. I won’t take much of your time.”
2
“So who’re you talkin’ about?” He could tell she was still on 3
guard, though she sounded a fraction less hostile.
4
“Do you remember a woman named Melanie White?”
5
“ ’Course. She was one of Stevie’s lawyers.”
6
“Did he ever talk about her?”
7
“He talked about her some. He liked her. He thought she was 8
smart.”
9
“Did you ever get the sense he was angry with her? Upset she 10
couldn’t do more?”
11
“Well,
sure, he got upset. I mean, he was on death row. He 12
knew they wanted to kill him. He got upset a lot, Mr. Jamison. I’ll 13
bet you woulda too.”
14
“But did he talk about Ms. White in particular? Was he espe-15
cially angry with her?”
16
“No, I wouldn’t say so. She did the best she could. I mean, 17
that’s what he mostly said.”
18
“What about Laura Seton?”
19
A sharp intake of breath.
20
“That little bitch. Don’t let’s talk about her.” For the first time, 21
her voice had a flash of fire. He’d clearly hit a nerve.
22
His instincts told him to keep quiet, to wait for her to go on.
23
“I’m sorry, God forgive me, but that’s what she is, a lyin’ little 24
bitch. If she’d loved him like she said, she wouldn’t have told 25
them the things she did. I wish it was her that was dead now. God 26
forgive me, but I wish it was. If I just knew where to find her, I 27
might just kill her myself.”
28
“If somebody did that to one of my kids, I’m sure I’d feel the 29
same way.”
30
“I never did understand how Stevie couldn’t hate her. But he 31
always got mad when I talked bad about her. He had a soft spot, 32
Stevie did. Deep down he was the sweetest boy. ‘She’s confused, 33
Mama.’ That’s what he said. He never seemed to get mad.”
34
Confused? Hardly, Jamison thought. He remembered Laura on S 35
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the witness stand, twisting her hands together. She’d spoken so 2
softly he could barely hear. Terrified, not confused.
3
“And what about Diane Massey? Did Steven ever talk about 4
her?”
5
A long sigh ending in a heavy wheeze. Brenda’s lungs didn’t 6
sound good. “You know, I warned him not to talk to that gal. She 7
was only in it for the money.”
8
“How did he feel when the book was published? Do you know 9
if he actually read it?”
10
“Yeah, he read it all right. Five or six times at least.”
11
“Was he angry about it?”
12
“Angry? No, I don’t reckon so. I looked at that book once.
13
Made me want to throw up. But Stevie — he got himself a signed 14
copy, had her send him one. I’d say, ‘Stevie, don’t you see what 15
they’re doin’? Don’t you see they’re takin’ advantage?’ But he’d 16