“I guess in some ways, we didn’t even know her,” Marcy said. “But it still feels so… sad. And surreal. But Father Horrigan made a point to tell me that her mother—Johnny’s grandmother, I guess—said her daughter never had any regrets at all about having Johnny and making him part of our family.”
Marcy wiped away a tear as Laurie patted her on the back, trying to comfort her.
The somber moment was interrupted by the sound of a rumble outside the hotel. They turned to face the windows and spotted a small-engine plane above the shoreline. HELP FIND MISSING CHILD: FINDJOHNNY.COM. WE U, JOHNNY!
Marcy placed a hand over her mouth. “I need to track down the twins. Now!”
Chapter 15
Marcy rushed from her suite, anxious to tell the girls about the search for their brother before they learned of it on their own. When she opened the door, Alex was standing in the hallway, his knuckles raised to knock.
He must have recognized the panic in Marcy’s face. “You saw the plane, didn’t you?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m just praying that somehow Chloe and Emily didn’t.”
“They’re only four years old. They can read?”
“Their brother’s name probably, plus the shape of the heart. We don’t want to risk it.”
Alex held up both hands to calm her. “It’s okay. They were in the hotel lobby with Ramon. We saw them just now when we walked in. Andrew took them to my room so the two of you can break the news to them in private. I’m so sorry, Marcy.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m the one who wanted the plane banner to get the word out. I just never imagined they’d be able to do it so quickly.”
“We were surprised, too. I guess custom images take longer, but they have these big red letters all ready to be strung together. When we saw they had a heart symbol, we added that, too, hoping that Johnny might see it. We told the flight company to wait an hour to give us a chance to get back here so you and Andrew could talk to the girls, but obviously the message didn’t make it to the pilot.”
“It’s not your fault, Alex. I appreciate everything you’ve all been doing.” Marcy turned around to face Laurie. “I have no idea how to tell the girls their brother is missing. Any advice?”
The worst day of Laurie’s life was the day Greg died. It was as sudden and as violent as anything that could be imagined. She didn’t even have the luxury of losing him to natural causes, or to know that his killer would be brought to justice. And the worst part of all was telling Timmy that his father was gone and their lives would never be normal again.
Laurie rose and gave Marcy a quick hug. “Kids are stronger than you think. Tell them how everyone loves Johnny and is working to find him, but don’t make any promises you can’t keep.”
Marcy nodded her appreciation, and Laurie could see that she was strengthening her resolve. She was hopeful that this would be the worst news Marcy would ever have to deliver to her girls.
* * *
Alex wiped his face with both hands once the door closed. “I still can’t believe this is happening. I feel so helpless.”
“We all do,” Leo said. “Missing children cases were always the hardest ones to work on the job. You feel a giant clock ticking over your head, knowing that the chances of a happy ending are decreasing with every tick. Sorry, I know that’s gloomy, but I figured the two of you should know what we’re dealing with.”
“I keep trying to think of things I can do to help,” Alex said, leading Laurie toward the living room sofa, where they took a seat beside each other. “Marcy texted Andrew earlier that she had tried calling their priest to find out the identity of Johnny’s birth mother, just in case the adoption had something to do with this, but the priest said the information was confidential. I thought I could do some legal research to see if there’s a way to access the records through the court system.”
When he reached for Laurie’s hand, she held on to it tightly. He always had a way of calming her, just with his presence.
“There’s no need,” she said. “The priest called Marcy back later. He did some digging on his end and found out that the mother passed away.”
“So that’s a dead end,” Leo said dryly.
Laurie shot him a look with squinted eyes and pursed lips.
He shrugged. “My gallows humor. Sorry.”
“Not in front of Marcy and Andrew, Dad. Please.”
“Of course not. Only among the three of us twisted souls.”
“The police are on it now, at least,” Laurie said. “At this point, what else can we do?”
“Well, we got lucky and found a tech guy when we were at the print shop. He heard us writing up the text for the fliers and offered to help. He’s the one who suggested setting up a website with photos of Johnny, a place to submit tips, a contact phone number—basically an informational clearinghouse. It only took him a few minutes to get a domain name and build a very basic site with the photos we gave him.”
“Nice to know there are angels walking around East Hampton,” Laurie said. “So now we just have to get the website shared as broadly as possible. The plane’s a good start, but we can do a lot with social media.”
“Well, count me out then,” Leo said, holding up his hands. “I don’t have any of that nonsense.”
“Nor do I,” Alex added.
Laurie’s father believed social media was for people who needed attention, and Alex had shut down all of his accounts since becoming a federal judge. They both looked to Laurie, knowing she held a distinct advantage in this arena. The last time she checked, Under Suspicion had 1.8 million Facebook fans and 1.3 million Twitter followers.
“I’ll post it on the show’s feeds right now.”
She picked up her phone to open Facebook and found a text from her assistant producer, Jerry Klein. Brent stopped by this afternoon to make sure I knew he meant it when he told you we’re still on the clock for the next episode. Crazy idea, but what about your dad’s Darren Gunther case? Lots of celebrity interest, and we certainly know one of the insiders.… Food for thought.
Jerry had begun working for her as an intern when he was in college, but he was now her most trusted colleague. He was also the most computer-savvy and pop culture–obsessed member of her team, so he had taken the lead on running their social media accounts.
Jerry picked up his cell phone after one ring. “I knew I shouldn’t have texted you about work the second I hit send. Laurie, it’s nearly eight P.M. on the first night of your vacation. Please tell me you’re in some beautiful restaurant holding a drink with an umbrella in it.”
“Far from it.” He uttered a series of oh no’s and I’m so sorry’s as she laid out the reality of where things stood and the Find Johnny website they were trying to share. She heard a quick tapping of keys in the background. “You’re still at the office?”
“Uh huh,” he muttered, focused on his typing.
Of course he was. “And I did get your text, by the way,” she said. “I was concerned about the perception of a conflict of interest, but I’ll think about it.” She made a point not to refer directly to Darren Gunther’s wrongful conviction claim. She didn’t want her father to overhear and get his hopes up.
“Please,” Jerry said. “Put Brent and his ridiculous deadlines out of your mind. You have enough on your plate. Okay… done! It’s on Facebook and Twitter now. Our fans are pretty fierce. They’ll get it viral in no time, and I’ll monitor the accounts for any comments that show potential for follow-up. Hang in there. Hopefully Johnny just got lost on the beach and will find his way back any second.”
“Thank you so much, Jerry. You’re the best.”
When she hung up the phone, she opened Facebook to share the show’s posts on her personal account. She noticed that the last entry on her own timeline was a post from Marcy three days earlier, in which she had tagged Andrew and Laurie. Two pictures were side by side. The first was a photograph from the South Shore Resort’s home page of the hotel beneath a pink-and-purpl
e sunset. The other was a picture of Marcy, Andrew, Alex, Laurie, and all four kids standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, taken last fall. Countdown: Three more days ’til a glorious family vacation in the Hamptons, followed by Judge Birthday Boy’s wedding with the best sister-in-law I could ask for! #Foundfamily #blessed
Laurie composed a post to share the Find Johnny information with her own friends and then hit enter. Her eyes drifted back to Marcy’s photographs. She felt a pang in her stomach at the sight of Johnny, his arms wrapped tightly around his mother’s waist. He really did look like Timmy.
She looked up from her phone with a sudden awakening.
“What’s wrong?” Alex immediately asked. He could always read her emotions.
“Timmy. The twins were calling their brother Timmy. Plus there was the room mix-up. The hotel had the honeymoon suite booked under my name, not theirs.”
“What about it?”
“What if this wasn’t random? What if someone thought Johnny was my son?”
Chapter 16
Alex took a seat beside Laurie on the sofa and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
“Laurie, you’re literally shaking right now. It’s been a long day, and I think the stress has gotten to all of us.”
“Think about it. Earlier, I kept reminding myself of what we all know to be true—random crimes are the exception. Usually, a crime victim is targeted by someone they know. Or at the very least, they’re targeted for a reason. That’s what led me to ask about Johnny’s birth mother. But what if the target was actually Timmy?”
“Or it might actually just be random,” Alex said. “There was that horrible case last year where the defendant happened to see the little boy getting off the school bus—”
She couldn’t stand the thought of Johnny suffering a similar fate as the child he mentioned. “Maybe, but we can’t ignore the possibility. Your nephew looks so much like Timmy. Particularly if someone had been working from a picture of Timmy from a year ago; he’s grown since then, so they’d be expecting a kid who was closer to Johnny’s size. Plus his sisters were calling him Timmy, and they’re all staying in a hotel room booked under my name. And Timmy and I are the ones who live two hours away from here, and I’ve certainly managed to make some enemies given my work on the show. Do you have any idea how many letters I get from accused murderers begging me to clear their names?”
“Of course I do,” he said quietly. “I worked on the show with you, remember?”
“The numbers have tripled since then, and I don’t even tell you about some of the angry follow-ups I get when we don’t respond, because I don’t want you to worry about me. It would only take one person to get a crazy idea in his head—”
Leo held up a tentative hand, looking for permission to interrupt the conversation. “Laurie, I hear what you’re saying, but can I offer an opinion?”
“Of course, Dad.”
“I watched you raise Timmy for those first five years after Greg was killed. You always put on a brave face, but that monster told your little boy in no uncertain language that he would be coming back someday to kill both him and his mother. And you lived like that for half a decade—never knowing whether this might be the day that Blue Eyes made good on his promise.”
At the mention of Blue Eyes, Laurie had a sudden image of a younger Timmy, only eight years old. He had been even smaller than Johnny then, in his pajamas and robe, being dragged by one hand from a pool house. It all happened so quickly, during the culmination of the filming of the very first Under Suspicion special. The man had grabbed Timmy with one hand and pointed a gun at his head with the other. The man then laughed as he let go of Timmy and watched him run to Laurie, who was rushing to meet him. The man raised his weapon. The sound of gunfire exploded, and then a red stain blossomed across the man’s shirt as he fell to the ground.
“Dad, are we absolutely positive that the man the police killed was actually Blue Eyes?”
“A hundred percent,” he said. “That man spent half his life blaming me for every problem he had in life, all because of a decision I made as a young patrolman. Blue Eyes is dead, Laurie. That nightmare finally ended two years ago. He has nothing to do with this.”
Alex and her father exchanged a look that was unmistakable. They were certain she was on the wrong track, but had no idea how to change her mind.
“Dad, I know I don’t have your kind of police experience, but please don’t look at Alex like I need to be saved from my own ideas. If you were working this case as a detective, and I was your partner, I think you’d hear my theory out. It’s based on facts.”
“Fair enough. But my entire reason for bringing up Blue Eyes in the first place was to suggest that maybe this whole episode has been ‘triggering,’ as they say these days. You were never one to put a label on what you went through, but you can’t survive something like Greg’s murder and the threats that followed without experiencing a bit of PTSD.”
She had met so many crime victims who did in fact suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, but she certainly didn’t think of herself as having it. “Maybe someone close to Blue Eyes is still in the picture?” she said, still bouncing around ideas aloud. When she analyzed a story idea, it was always how she did her best work. “They could be trying to finish what he started.”
“Laurie, there was no one close to Blue Eyes. Not a single person cared about him. That was his whole motive for going after you and Timmy—to get to me. He wanted me to lose everything and everyone I loved. He was determined to see me as isolated and lonely as he was.”
Alex gave her shoulder a small squeeze. “It makes perfect sense that you would connect Johnny’s disappearance to those threats against you and Timmy, but your son is safe. Blue Eyes is gone.”
“Fine, so it’s not Blue Eyes. I was simply saying that we should be taking a look at people who have threatened me.” She was already composing a text to Jerry, asking him to pull up the file they kept of worrisome communications. With Jerry’s trademark humor, he had labeled the file Weirdos.
“Does anyone specific come to mind?” Alex asked.
“There’s a woman who has long been suspected of hurting her stepson. The boy has been missing for more than seven years, but the police are convinced that the stepmother killed him and disposed of his body so she could go on with her life without raising another woman’s child. The father very much wants me to profile the case on Under Suspicion, but the stepmother won’t agree. The last time I approached her, she said maybe I should worry more about my own son instead of someone else’s. It sent a chill up my spine, and I made a vow to myself that I’d never contact her again.”
“And how long ago was that?” Alex asked.
“About three months ago.”
“And have you kept your vow?”
She had. Alex had a point. The woman’s veiled threat had worked. There was no reason for her to target Laurie and Timmy now. “Plus, she lives on the West Coast. Okay, so she’s not the most likely suspect. We do get a lot of creepy messages, though.”
“An email or a tweet is one thing,” Alex said. “Going from that to kidnapping a child is a big leap.”
“I’ve never seen you push back on my ideas this way, Alex. I’m only trying to help.”
He took a deep breath before answering. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I just know you so well. We’re all helping, but you try so hard to fix everyone else’s problems, even at your own expense. This wasn’t your fault, Laurie. Whatever happened, it’s not because of anything you did or didn’t do.”
Laurie noticed that her father had been uncharacteristically silent. He appeared deep in thought, his brow wrinkled.
“You look like you’re mulling something over, Dad.”
He held up a tentative finger, as if he were literally trying to point to an idea he had in mind. “Alex is right, Laurie. It’s not your fault. But it might be mine.”
Laurie and Alex exchanged a perplexed glance before Leo continued.
“We were talking about Blue Eyes. His obsession with harming you and Timmy stemmed from his desire for revenge against me. When Alex asked you if someone came to mind who might want to hurt your son, you had to reach for a woman on the West Coast who made a cryptic comment about Timmy three months ago. You’re not in the middle of working a case that might give someone a motive to intimidate you this very minute.”
It didn’t take Laurie long to follow his train of thought. She knew how important her father’s meeting that morning had been with the District Attorney’s Office. “But you are,” she said, looking intently at her father.
“This could be Darren Gunther’s handiwork. He won’t be satisfied until I admit that I framed him for the murder of Lou Finney.”
Chapter 17
Eighteen Years Earlier
Lou Finney heard the chime of jingle bells as the bar door opened, then felt a rush of cold air blow past the front booth, his favorite place to sit if he wasn’t in the back office or working behind the bar. He recognized the newcomer as Rocky, one of his neighborhood regulars.
“Had a feeling I’d find you right there,” Rocky said. “First snow of the year means Finn sitting right in that very spot. Only question is whether you follow the snow, or the snow follows you.”
Lou’s first and middle names, Louis Caron, were after his maternal grandfather, but he’d been called Finn as long as he could remember. The bar bore the same name, naturally. Rocky’s got an observant eye, Finn thought. This was indeed one of Finn’s many annual traditions. A shot of Jameson on St. Patty’s Day. A good beer during the first Mets game. Watching the first snowfall from the front booth in winter.
Rocky took his time in the doorway, waiting as a group of young women made their way toward the exit from the Thursday night trivia contest at the back of the bar.
“You gonna close that door or what, Rocky?” Finn asked. “The heat don’t run for free in here.”
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