The Anniversary (59 page)

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Shoot for center mass.

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Fighting to keep her hands steady, she fired straight ahead.

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Fired and just kept firing. He crumpled to the floor. The gun 29

he’d held dropped from his hand. Callie ran to pick it up. She 30

stood there a moment, breathing hard, unable to move, to think.

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Then, shaking, she picked up the phone and dialed 911.

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E P I L O G U E

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Merritt, Massachusetts

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Wednesday, June 28

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Ca l l i e sat at the picnic table, shucking ears of corn. A few 11

yards away, Rick was flipping burgers on the charcoal grill. It was 12

shortly after six o’clock, an early summer evening. They’d swapped 13

their weekly pizza night for a weekly barbecue.

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The backyard glimmered a bright moist green beneath a heavy 15

sun. Rick had set up a badminton net under a maple tree. A soft 16

thwack
as Anna sent a birdie sailing across the net. Henry swung 17

his racquet wildly. Callie had to smile. As best she could tell, nei-18

ther kid had once returned a serve.

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She caught Rick looking at her, smiling at her smile. She held 20

his glance for a long moment, reveling in his presence.
Seen.
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felt truly seen. He had given her that. And finally, now, she could 22

see him too. They could see each other.

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The hamburgers sizzled on the smoking grill.

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“How much longer?” asked Callie.

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Rick cut into one of the burgers. “I’d say about five minutes.”

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Callie peeled a last few strands from a final ear of corn. She 27

added it to the basket and headed into the kitchen.

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As she rinsed the ears at the sink, her eyes stayed on Rick and 29

Anna, unable — unwilling — to forget the path they’d traveled 30

to get here. Tucker Schuyler, the man they’d known as Tod, was 31

still in the hospital. For the first two weeks, it had been touch and 32

go, but he was making progress. Callie was tremendously grateful 33

for this, despite everything he’d done. The fact of almost having 34

killed someone was a thing that would always haunt her. Still, S 35

horrific as it had been, there were lessons in the encounter. She’d R 36

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learned so much in the past month, and every day she learned 2

more.

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That endless night in the kitchen with Tucker, she’d been 4

speaking to herself as well. “We are not to blame,” she’d said.

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And known that it was true. It was Steven Gage who’d killed 6

Dahlia and all those countless others. She hadn’t been the star of 7

this tragedy, just a minor player. For more than a decade, she’d let 8

Steven control her thoughts and actions. He’d controlled her just 9

as much in death as he ever had in life. Because of Steven, she’d 10

lied to her daughter, lied to her friends, to Rick, terrified of what 11

would happen if she ever told the truth.

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And yet, now that the truth was out, none of her fears had 13

come true. When reporters found that she wouldn’t talk, they’d 14

finally given up. Slowly, her life had begun to assume the sem-15

blance of normalcy, shopping, cooking, studying, going back to 16

work. She’d tried to apologize to Martha for Tod, but Martha had 17

brushed it off. “Though I have to admit,” she’d said dryly, “it’s sort 18

of put me off dating.” And Anna — with time and a therapist’s 19

help — Anna was getting better. So far, she’d shown little inter-20

est in the details of her father’s life. When Anna asked, she would 21

tell her the truth. Until then, she’d wait.

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Which wasn’t to say, of course, that the past could be forgot-23

ten. The goal wasn’t to erase the past but to plumb its depths for 24

meaning. It was Tucker’s refusal to accept the past that had led to 25

his murderous rampage. Instead of moving forward with life, he’d 26

bound himself to the past, unable to find any meaning in life ex-27

cept in acts of revenge.
Tod.
It was the German word for death; 28

that’s why he’d picked the name.

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The scent of burning charcoal and freshly mown grass drifted 30

in through the open window. Anna and Henry had dropped their 31

racquets and stood by Rick at the grill.

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“Can we toast marshmallows after dinner?” Callie heard Anna 33

ask.

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“I don’t see why not,” said Rick. “Maybe we’ll make s’mores.”

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Watching Rick and Anna together, Callie’s heart expanded.

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T H E A N N I V E R S A R Y

The two people she loved most were slowly moving closer. Once 1

Anna had learned the truth about Kevin, something had started 2

to shift. “She thought that her father had abandoned her,” ex-3

plained Anna’s therapist. “That was far more painful for her than 4

finding out the truth. Now she finally understands why your ex-5

husband disappeared. Over time, she may be willing to let some-6

one else be a father to her.”

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“Over time,” Callie whispered.

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The words were a sort of gift.

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Henry and Anna were back at the net, batting the birdie again.

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Callie marveled at how untouched they could seem after every-11

thing they’d been through. Henry, too, had fled a home where 12

truth had been suppressed. Shortly after Henry and Anna’s deba-13

cle, Bernie had come clean. Not only had he been having an af-14

fair, Bernie Creighton was gay. He was moving to Boston with 15

John Casey, his guest at Callie’s dinner party. Strangely, though, 16

that upheaval, too, seemed to have been for the best. Mimi ap-17

peared to be calmer now. She, too, could finally relax.

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The corn was bobbing in the boiling water. Callie found a pair 19

of tongs. As she pulled out the steaming ears, her mind traveled 20

over the years. She thought of Diane and
The Vanishing Man.
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thought of Lester Crain. She thought of Mike Jamison, how right 22

he’d been. She thought of Melanie. They’d spoken briefly on the 23

phone last week. Callie had made the call. After getting a report 24

on Melanie’s health, she’d mentioned their last talk.

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“You know how you said that we’re alike?”

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A long, very long, pause.

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“You know, I just don’t remember. I was on a lot of drugs.”

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“You don’t remember what we talked about?”

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“I don’t remember the phone call.”

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Quickly, Melanie had steered the conversation back to neutral 31

terrain. Her upcoming wedding to another lawyer, her plans to 32

return to work.
Had Melanie really forgotten their talk?
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wondered. But it was one of the many things in life that she’d 34

probably never know.

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“Callie! You about ready?” Rick’s voice floated in through the 2

screen. From where she stood, she could see the kids sitting at the 3

picnic table. Tongs in hand, Callie fished around for the last 4

floating ear of corn. She added it to the yellow pile.

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“I’m on my way,” she called.

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Author’s Note

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In writing this book, I have — for the most part — tried to pro-5

vide realistic portrayals of criminal and forensic procedures. I 6

have, however, taken certain liberties. To wit, the state of Ten-7

nessee’s forty-year hiatus in carrying out death sentences ended 8

with the April 2000 execution of Robert Glen Coe for the 1979

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murder of eight-year-old Cary Ann Medlin. Due to a lengthy ap-10

peals process, almost twenty years elapsed between Coe’s May 11

1981 conviction and his execution.

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Acknowledgments

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I’m vastly indebted to the following people, who supported and 5

guided me during the writing of this book.

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Thanks to my editor, Judy Clain, whose wonderful editorial 7

eye helped make this a much stronger story, and to her terrific as-8

sistant, Claire Smith. Thanks to Pamela Marshall for a superb 9

copyediting job, to Yoori Kim, who designed the stunning cover, 10

and to my publicist, Shannon Byrne, to whom my debt grows 11

even as I write this.

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As always, huge thanks to my agent, Nick Ellison, who, from 13

the start, has provided unwavering encouragement, friendship, 14

and advice, and to his hardworking cohorts, Jennifer Cayea, 15

Abigail Koons, and Katie Merrill.

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On the research front, I’m immensely grateful to the law en-17

forcement and forensics professionals who kindly took time to 18

answer my questions and vet sections of my manuscript. Of 19

course, any factual errors or creative liberties are entirely my own 20

doing.

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Thanks to Vernon J. Geberth, retired lieutenant commander 22

with the New York Police Department, and Raymond M. Pierce, 23

founder of the Criminal Assessment and Profiling Unit of the 24

NYPD’s Detective Bureau, who’ve now helped me through two 25

books.

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Thanks to former Metro Nashville Assistant Public Defender 27

C. Dawn Deaner and Assistant District Attorney General Kathy 28

A. Morante for help with Tennessee criminal procedure.

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In Massachusetts, thanks to Detective Lieutenant Kenneth 30

Patenaude and Lieutenant Brian Rust of the Northampton Po-31

lice Department, who helped me to come up with police proce-32

dures for the fictional town of Merritt, and to Kenneth Frisbie, 33

my firearms instructor at the Smith & Wesson Academy in 34

Springfield.

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In Maine, thanks to Detective Joseph W. Zamboni of the R 36

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Maine State Police, to Dr. Margaret Greenwald, Maine chief 2

medical examiner, and to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, in-3

cluding Sheriff Daniel G. Davey, Chief Deputy Todd L. Butler, 4

and Deputy John Tooley, who helped me to devise procedures for 5

fictional Blue Peek Island. Thanks to State Police Sergeant Vicki 6

M. Gardner for a tour of the Skowhegan barracks.

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In New York, thanks to Sergeant Richard J. Khalaf and 8

Sergeant James F. Kobel of the NYPD’s 20th Precinct and to 9

Sergeant Benedict Pape and all the dedicated instructors at the 10