Rod’s words came back to him, Why did I always think the guy had been pushed? Sage had read through the file. The conclusion had been that Craig Walker just took a bad tumble down the stairs. The wife had been out of town, and the guy was home alone with his five-year-old son.
Sage stared at the grim photo. The man had landed on his back, his feet closest to the stairs, which was a weird way to land if you fell while walking down the stairs. Could he have actually tumbled head over heels? It seemed unlikely.
Still holding the photo, Sage sat down on his couch and tried to visualize a man tumbling down his stairs. He had trouble wrapping his head around a way Walker could have landed on his back, unless he hadn’t been facing the stairs when he fell. And if he wasn’t facing the stairs, did that mean he had been pushed? The man was cold by the time the police arrived on the scene. That left plenty of time for a murderer to make a getaway.
Sage let out a rueful little laugh, which seemed completely inappropriate considering the photo he was staring at, but he was alone in his apartment, and he couldn’t help but appreciate the fact that not only was he no closer to finding Lily Esposito’s killer, but now he had added another murderer to track down to his to-do list.
Maybe he would get lucky and they would be the same guy. Yeah, like that was going to happen. He couldn’t think of any instance of a murderer who started out his killing career shoving men down stairs, who then moved on to bashing little girls over the head.
Craig Walker was killed seven years before Lily Esposito was. He double-checked the dates. She wouldn’t even have been born yet. He looked again. She wouldn’t have been born, but she would have been conceived. What if Craig had an affair with Honoree? What if he was Lily Esposito’s real father?
Rick Esposito could have found out about the affair. He shows up at Craig Walker’s house, confronts him, things get heated and he shoves the other man down the stairs. He might not have meant to kill Craig, but when he realized what he had done, he would have hightailed it out of there. Who knows? Maybe that was when he started drinking too much.
Then what? Seven years later, he realizes Lily wasn’t his real daughter? Maybe he recognized Craig in her features, maybe it drove him crazy seeing the face of the man he had killed in the girl, maybe that was why he did it. Jade was too young to be Craig’s kid. She might have been Rick’s real daughter, and that was why he hadn’t touched her.
Lily Esposito wouldn’t have been scared of Rick, she would have trusted him. And Jade? If Jade had seen her father murder her sister? What must that have done to the girl? No wonder she hadn’t been able to talk about it. But if he was right, she certainly would have been able to identify the killer. He wished so desperately that he could talk to her. It was like Melodie all over again. He wondered what it was that Melodie needed to tell him. Had she witnessed something like Jade had? Was that what had gotten her killed?
Why did she stop her car that night? Why had she gotten out of it? He tried to imagine the scene and what could have possibly made his safety-conscious sister pull off the road late at night and get out of her car. The car.
That was the whole thing that had led him to the Craig Walker file. It was Raquel’s description of the suspicious car. What was it Arlo said? It belonged to a friend or a relative. Well, Rick was a relative, wasn’t he?
29
When Caitlin and Luanne stepped into the living room, Lance was there. He still had his jacket on, which made Caitlin think he probably hadn’t gotten back much sooner than they had.
“Where were you?” Lance asked when he saw her.
“At the police station,” she said. Had Tucker and Raquel not told him that? But then she wasn’t sure if she had told Lance’s parents that was where she was headed. “Where were you?”
“I was talking with Garvey,” Lance said, but she just stared at him blankly. Was Garvey one of the other officers? “The attorney,” Lance explained.
And now she remembered Tucker saying something about that. Wasn’t it weird that Lance needed an attorney when his son had been abducted? This all felt very wrong to Caitlin. What was going on? Did it have something to do with what Young said about Lance taking Adam out to Culver Creek?
“Can I speak to you?” Caitlin asked. She could feel Raquel and Tucker and her mom and Stu staring at them. “Alone.”
“Of course,” Lance said.
They went into the kitchen. She wished it had a door, but she hoped that whatever dumb video Stu was entertaining the others with would be enough to drown out their conversation. Lance took off his jacket and folded it over the top of a kitchen chair.
“What is it?” Lance asked.
“What were you doing in Culver Creek?” Caitlin asked. Lance didn’t answer right away, and she was too on edge to stay silent. She rephrased her question, “Why did you take Adam out to Culver Creek?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I was thinking of going out to see my parents, so we started heading out that way, but then I changed my mind.”
Caitlin’s knowledge of Pennsylvania geography was limited. Was Culver Creek near Atkins? It might have been. She wasn’t sure, but still, something about Lance’s explanation felt off to her. Was it her imagination, or was he avoiding looking her in the eye?
“It’s just strange that you didn’t mention that,” Caitlin said.
“I meant to,” Lance said, “but then you were telling me about your mom and her shotgun wedding—Stu’s cool, by the way—and I guess I forgot about it.”
But that wasn’t right, was it? Caitlin was pretty sure they hadn’t had that conversation about Luanne and Stu until later, after they had put Adam to bed, wasn’t it? She searched her memory, but everything was such a jumbled mess in her head. After they had put Adam to bed, Lance had gotten a bit frisky and they had gone upstairs to their room. So maybe they had been talking about Luanne before that. She wasn’t sure.
What was it Young had said at the police station? He asked her if she had seen a phone call on his cell phone. A call from a woman. That was what he meant, wasn’t it? He had asked her if she suspected her husband of having an affair, but were those his words? And who took their son on a romantic rendezvous?
“What were you doing out there?” Caitlin asked.
“We played miniature golf,” Lance said.
“We who?” she asked.
“Me and Adam,” Lance said. “What the hell?”
And this time he looked her in the eyes. So maybe she was freaking out over nothing, but he was acting so strange. Maybe it was this whole awful situation. She wanted to find some quiet corner somewhere and curl up and have a good cry. It wouldn’t solve anything, but this was all so heavy and overwhelming.
“Are you having an affair?” she asked, her voice so meek and quiet it was practically a whisper.
“No,” Lance said. “No, of course not.”
And he went over to her and wrapped his arms around her. He held her tightly and rocked her gently, and for a moment or two it felt like everything was going to be all right. But then she remembered Adam was out there somewhere, and for some reason Tucker had hired a criminal attorney to represent Lance.
“Where is he?” Caitlin asked. “Where’s Adam?”
“I don’t know,” Lance said, “but they’re going to find him. He’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”
She got the sense that he was lying to her again. His words sounded hollow to her. She was reminded of the way she had spoken to Adam about his nightmares.
She pulled away from Lance suddenly.
“He dreamed about that place,” she said. “He had a dream about Culver Creek.”
“He said that?” Lance asked. “He said that was the town he dreamed about?”
Caitlin shook her head. “No, I recognized it from what he said.”
Lance looked puzzled.
“Why did you really take him out there?” She waited, but he remained silent. She repeated the question louder, all but
shouted it at him. “Why did you really take him out there?”
Her shout brought in the calvary. Raquel peeked her head through the doorway. Luanne was right behind her. Caitlin didn’t see any reason to send them away. Maybe Lance would feel more compelled to be honest with her, now that they had an audience.
She flinched when he reached into his back pocket. For a moment she thought he was going to draw out some sort of weapon, but instead it was only his wallet. Raquel and Luanne decided they didn’t need an invitation and stepped into the kitchen to get a better view of the action.
“What’s going on?” Luanne asked.
“I took Adam to a dream whisperer,” Lance said. “Are you happy?”
He shoved the card into her hand. Caitlin stared down at it. Raquel peered over her shoulder, then let out a little gasp before taking a shaky step backward and bracing herself against the counter. One thing her mother-in-law and her mother had in common was a tendency to be dramatic.
“What’s a dream whisperer?” Caitlin asked.
“You said no shrinks, right?” Lance said. “Well, Adam’s nightmares just kept getting worse, and I didn’t know what else to do. She’s just some new-age quack. The whole thing was a waste of time. We were only there a few minutes. I didn’t tell you about it because I knew it would piss you off.”
Caitlin stared at the cheesy business card. It did seem to match with what Lance had described, but could she trust him? Then she noticed the dark red blotch on the corner of the card. At first she thought it was part of the printing, but no, that wasn’t what this was at all. It looked an awful lot like blood.
The memory of standing there in the bathroom looking down at the bloody sock on the floor of the linen closet came back to her in vivid clarity. Was the blood on that sock the same blood that was on this business card? Whose blood was it? And what did it have to do with why Lance had taken Adam out to Culver Creek?
“Did you say Adam’s been having nightmares?” Luanne asked. “But you know what this means? He might have the gift too.”
“Gift?” Raquel repeated, still leaning against the counter.
Caitlin let go of the dream whisperer’s business card and watched as it fluttered to the ground.
“I need to use the bathroom,” she said as she started out of the room.
“Are you going to be sick again?” Luanne called after her, but Caitlin waved her mom off as she left the room.
Caitlin locked their bathroom door behind her. There was a bathroom downstairs, but she didn’t really need to use the facilities. She just needed some space and some quiet to try to think.
She opened the door of the linen closet, pushed the hamper aside, and stared at the spot on the floor where the bloody sock had been. It was long gone. She remembered now that she had thrown the thing out. Why had she done that? Why hadn’t she asked Lance about it?
Because you were afraid of what he would say, a little voice in her head said. She shook off the thought. She wasn’t sure if it was true.
She had found the sock the day Lance had taken Adam to Culver Creek, so it couldn’t have anything to do with that trip. Or could it? Theories began to race fast and furious through her head. What if he was having an affair? Maybe the woman was married or had a jealous ex or something, and Lance had been involved in some altercation with the man. That could explain the bloody sock and Lance’s unexpected bathroom cleaning spree. The theory grew legs in her head. Then what if that guy, the husband or jealous ex or whatever, had seen Adam when Lance took him to Culver Creek that day. What if he had kidnapped him as revenge? Caitlin felt dizzy. She had unwittingly driven her son out there, so that this crazy man could steal him away.
She reminded herself she didn’t know this for sure. Maybe Lance hadn’t been having an affair at all. Maybe he really had taken Adam to some wacky dream whisperer, and she was being paranoid. Something was eating at her, though, and she knew what it was. It had been in the back of her head since Young asked if she had followed Lance to Culver Creek because she was suspicious.
Raquel had been the one to tell her about the Rixby family vacation. Like so many of her mother-in-law’s calls, it had come in the middle of the workday, but she and Lance had been married less than a year and she was still trying to be a perfect daughter-in-law, so she said nothing as Raquel prattled away. Raquel seemed to be suggesting that Caitlin was the reason she and Lance weren’t going on the big family vacation.
“It’s more like a reunion really,” Raquel said. “It would be such a shame for you two to miss it. Especially after the Rixbys were so generous with their wedding gifts.”
Tucker and his brothers had rented some posh oceanfront mansion for a long weekend, and all their children and grandchildren were going to be coming out for the event. Raquel assured her the place was huge and there was plenty of room for them. She didn’t seem to believe Caitlin’s explanation that Lance hadn’t told her about the reunion.
Caitlin asked him about it when he came home from work, and he made excuses.
“Honestly,” he said, “these things are not much fun. The Rixbys are a bunch of spoiled, rich brats.”
“Your mother seemed to think I was the reason we weren’t going,” Caitlin said.
“I’m sure I didn’t say that,” he said. “I forget what excuse I used.”
“Is it because you’re ashamed of me?” she asked. “Am I not good enough for you and your fabulously rich family?”
“Stepfamily,” Lance corrected her, “and no, of course not. They’re the ones who aren’t good enough for you.”
She stood there with her hand on her hip, staring him down.
“Fine, you want to go? I’ll call my parents and let them know we’ll be joining them after all, but I’m warning you, it’s not going to be much fun.”
After a day spent in the company of the Rixby clan, Caitlin realized with some chagrin that her husband’s description of them might have been pretty accurate. They weren’t completely unbearable, just not especially likable.
Then, despite Raquel’s promise that there was plenty of room for everyone, Caitlin and Lance ended up having to sleep on an air mattress on the sunporch. When Lance had asked his stepcousin if her two daughters really needed their own separate bedrooms she had responded, “Well, you weren’t even going to be coming, and I’d already promised them their own rooms.”
So an air mattress in a not exactly private room it was.
“I’m sorry,” she said to Lance as they tossed and turned trying to get comfortable that night. “You were right about this weekend. We shouldn’t have come.”
“Well, the house is pretty amazing,” he said, “and we’re right on the water. We can spend the day off on our own tomorrow, if you want—stroll along the beach, have lunch in town. What do you think?”
“Sounds nice.” She attempted to roll over and rest her head on Lance’s chest, but that sent the whole air mattress rocking like a ship on a storm-tossed sea, and they both lay back down on their backs and did their best to remain motionless and keep the waves at bay.
Things had seemed good that night, when they went to sleep, hadn’t they? As she drifted off with the help of Pacifcleon, she had been full of happy thoughts thinking of the fun day together they had planned.
Even with her magic sleeping pills, Caitlin woke up early. The sun was only just starting to rise. Her back ached. The air mattress must have had a slow leak, because it was half deflated. There was no air between her body and the floor. Lance’s side of the bed still had some air, but he wasn’t there.
She figured he hadn’t been able to sleep in their uncomfortable bed, and got up to try to find him. She wandered through the living room, the kitchen, the dining room, the library and the game room. Maybe he had decided to ease his aching back with a hot shower. She checked, but none of the bathrooms on the main floor were occupied. The hot shower idea appealed to her, though.
By the time she got out of the bathroom in a somewhat more awake a
nd revived state, some of the Rixby clan were milling around. There was still no sign of Lance. She grew concerned. Could he have driven somewhere? She went out to the sunporch, but his keys, wallet and phone were all there. It was as she was tidying up their makeshift bedroom that movement caught her eye outside the window. She was relieved and surprised to see Lance staggering toward the house. He looked confused and disoriented. Had he been drinking? Part of her wanted to run out there to him, but she remained rooted to that spot of the sunroom floor as she watched him. Something felt very off to her.
Caitlin was still in the sunroom when she heard Lance talking to some of his Rixby relatives in the kitchen, and she wandered out there.
“There you are, sleepyhead,” he said to her. It was a strange remark. He was the one who looked like he had just crawled out of bed. She was all showered and dressed.
“Where were you?” She expected him to smell of beer or liquor, but the only aroma she caught was that of the outdoors.
“I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “That damn air mattress. I ended up sleeping on that couch in the library.”
Her blood went cold. She had checked the library. He hadn’t been there, and she had seen him just a minute earlier staggering around outside. Why was he lying to her? She felt the others watching them, and didn’t challenge his explanation.
There was a spread of bagels and fresh fruit for breakfast, and Caitlin picked at a pumpernickel bagel while Lance showered and the Rixbys talked about European vacations and exotic sports cars.
After Lance got ready, she told him she had changed her mind about the day’s plans. She didn’t feel that well, and she just wanted to go home. He made their excuses to their family, and well before noon they were on their way home.
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