Authors: Amy Gutman
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a l l i e ? I just saw the paper.”
2
That was all Martha needed to say. Callie knew that the news 3
was out.
4
“Which paper?” Callie asked. Not that it really mattered.
5
News like this would travel like wildfire via the AP. If one paper 6
had gone with the story, all of them would have it.
7
“It was in the
Globe,
” Martha said. “I don’t know about the 8
others.”
9
Morning sun glimmered faintly through the kitchen window.
10
A few minutes before nine o’clock. The beginning of another day.
11
“What did it say?” Callie asked. She was surprised at how calm 12
she felt. Maybe because for the past few days she’d expected the 13
ax to fall.
14
“Except for the part about . . . your past, there wasn’t a whole 15
lot new. They talked about how Anna was kidnapped. There was 16
a lot about Tennessee.”
17
“Did they say there was some sort of connection?”
18
“A connection?” Martha said.
19
“Oh, never mind,” Callie said. “I’m not sure what I mean.”
20
She could tell that Martha was waiting for her to say some-21
thing more. But all she wanted was to get off the phone and let 22
the news sink in. And she needed to see the paper itself, to find 23
out what it said.
24
“Martha,” she said, “I’m sorry, but I’ve really got to go. I need 25
to talk to Anna about this. I’ll try to call you back, okay?”
26 S
She’d barely hung up the phone when it rang again. Assuming 27 R
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it was Martha, who’d forgotten something, she quickly picked it 1
up. But it wasn’t Martha; it was a man. Mike Jamison’s voice.
2
“You’ve heard the news,” she said. It was a statement, not a 3
question.
4
“The news? I . . . no, I slept late. Actually, I just got up.”
5
“I just got a call from a friend. It’s out now, the part about my 6
past.”
7
She could hear him flipping through a newspaper. “Ah,” he 8
said.
9
“What are you looking at?” she asked.
10
“The
Washington Post,
” he said. “It’s not much of a story, really.
11
A single column on an inside page.”
12
“Oh,” said Callie. She was staring out the window. The back-13
yard was green and empty, just like on a normal day. The sun had 14
slipped behind a cloud. It looked like it was getting colder.
15
“I’m sorry,” Jamison said, “if this is making things harder.”
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She shrugged, then realizing he couldn’t see her, said, “I’m okay.
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So much has happened in the past week, I’m still pretty numb.
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Maybe it will hit me later, but right now, I’m okay.”
19
“Listen,” he said, “the reason I’m calling is to be sure you’re 20
taking precautions. I still have serious doubts that Crain is the 21
only killer.”
22
“You don’t think he kidnapped Anna, do you?” Callie’s voice 23
was low.
24
“I wish I could say something different,” he said. “But no, I 25
really don’t.”
26
Callie sat down heavily. “So who then? Who could it be?”
27
“Profiling isn’t really a science, it’s more like a kind of art. My 28
impressions are usually pretty accurate, but not a hundred per-29
cent.”
30
“So what are you thinking?” Callie asked. “Do you have any 31
ideas?”
32
“I think it’s someone familiar with your neighborhood, some-33
one who may have children. He knows about crime scene inves-34
tigation. He’s meticulous, a long-range planner.”
S 35
R 36
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“You think . . . it’s someone in law enforcement? Someone with 2
that kind of background?”
3
“A few years ago, I would have said that, but you can’t say 4
these days. With all the true crime books, TV shows, the infor-5
mation is out there.”
6
“You know, they investigated my ex-boyfriend. He had an al-7
ibi, though. He was out of town, in New York, the night that 8
Anna was kidnapped.”
9
“It’s standard procedure to check boyfriends and husbands.
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They’re so often the perpetrators. You always look at them first.”
11
“They also looked at one of my classmates, but I think they 12
cleared him too.”
13
There was something tapping at Callie’s mind, but she couldn’t 14
quite get at it. Some faint intuition, a shadowy thought, strug-15
gling to get through.
16
“We’re okay,” she finally said. “We’ve got twenty-four-hour 17
surveillance on top of the home alarm system. Besides, with all 18
the press, no one could get past. I haven’t looked outside yet, but 19
I can just imagine. I mean, after the news in the paper today, I 20
don’t want to think about it.”
21
As she spoke, she heard the swoop of a helicopter, impossibly 22
close overhead. “There,” she said. “Can you hear that? The me-23
dia swat patrol.”
24
“I talked to Steven’s mother,” Jamison said abruptly.
25
“You talked to Brenda?” Callie said. She suddenly felt light-26
headed.
27
“I wanted to get a read on her.”
28
“And . . . what did you find?”
29
“She said one thing that interested me. You and the other 30
women targeted — she claims Steven never blamed you.”
31
“Never blamed us,” Callie repeated. “I’m not sure what you 32
mean.”
33
“Your theory about revenge. You had this idea that Crain could 34
be carrying out some plan that Gage devised. That because Gage 35 S
couldn’t avenge his own death, Crain was doing it for him. But 36 R
based on what Brenda said, Steven never blamed you. And not 3 1 2
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just you, the others too. That’s what Brenda said. Steven thought 1
Melanie did the best she could working on the appeal. He actu-2
ally liked Diane’s book, didn’t care that it made him look bad. I 3
guess he was narcissistic enough to find any book better than 4
none.”
5
“Really,” Callie said. “I’m surprised to hear that. But, you know, 6
even if that’s what he said to Brenda, it’s not necessarily true.
7
Steven lied a lot. Who knows what he really thought? It might 8
even have been a part of the plan. So no one would ever suspect.”
9
“True.”
10
“And even if Steven didn’t want revenge, Crain might have 11
wanted it for him. Maybe Crain came up with the plan. Maybe it 12
was his idea.”
13
“I see what you’re saying, but hear me out. When I talked to 14
Brenda, I almost got the sense that Steven was grateful to you.
15
Grateful to the others as well, but especially to you.”
16
“Grateful for turning on him?” Callie said.
17
“Grateful for what came before. You were the closest thing he 18
ever had to real, human contact. At some level, maybe he knew 19
that. Maybe he was grateful for it.”
20
“So what’s your point?” Callie asked sharply. She didn’t want 21
to have this conversation.
22
“Okay, here’s a scenario. Crain has been lying low since he es-23
caped from prison. He’s continued to kill, but he’s hidden the 24
bodies. He learned the techniques from Gage. Then he hears 25
about Massey’s murder, maybe about the black stocking. The in-26
cident serves as a stressor, what we call a triggering factor. At this 27
point, Crain’s control starts to waver. He goes to Maine, just to 28
look. He wants to see where it happened. That’s when he runs 29
into you.”
30
“That’s a pretty big coincidence.”
31
“Okay, so maybe he’s been there a while. He’s not just there for 32
the day. But anyway, once he sees you, the compulsion just grows 33
stronger. He follows you back to Merritt. He’s keeping an eye on 34
you. He isn’t sure what he’s going to do, but he has to do some-S 35
thing. By this point, he’s decompensating. He’s ticking like a R 36
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time bomb. He follows you to the dance in Greenfield and sees 2
Posy Kisch. She’s his perfect victim. That’s when he really loses 3
it. He doesn’t even hide the body.”
4
“So you think Crain’s a red herring. Except for Posy, I mean.”
5
“Right.”
6
“You think someone else kidnapped Anna?”
7
“Right,” he said again.
8
“It’s pretty hard to believe,” said Callie. But then, all of this was.
9
When they’d finished talking, she hung up the phone and 10
went to find Anna. Anna was curled up on the den sofa, clutch-11
ing a purple stuffed cow. On the floor next to the couch was a tray 12
with a half-eaten sandwich. Callie realized that she’d been treat-13
ing Anna as if she were home sick from school.
14
The TV was tuned to
The Lucy Show,
but Anna wasn’t really 15
watching. Callie turned down the volume and sat beside her 16
daughter.
17
“It’s hard to be stuck inside like this, isn’t it?” Callie asked.
18
Anna toyed with the cow’s purple fur. She nodded silently.
19
“I’ve been thinking,” Callie said. “You don’t have to do this 20
unless you want to, but Grams and Pappy would love to see you.
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You could just go for a couple of days. Just to get away.”
22
“Okay,” Anna whispered.
23
Callie looked at her, surprised. “You . . . you want to go?”
24
Tears filled Anna’s eyes. “I don’t like being here,” she said. “All 25
those people outside. And I keep thinking that the man who 26
took me, that maybe he’ll come back.”
27
Callie pulled Anna close. “No one’s going to hurt you.”
28
The thought of being apart from her daughter was almost too 29
painful to bear. After everything they’d just gone through, she 30
wanted Anna with her. At the same time, she knew in her heart 31
that this was the right decision.
32
Briefly, she considered going with her daughter, leaving Mer-33
ritt behind. But even as the thought passed through her mind, 34
Callie knew it didn’t make sense. For one thing, she couldn’t do 35 S
that to her parents, burden them in this way. Wherever she went 36 R
now, the press would follow; she couldn’t inflict that on them.
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But beyond that was the issue of safety. Keeping Anna safe. She 1
had no doubt that she, not Anna, was the killer’s ultimate target.
2
Wherever she went, danger would follow. She had to keep Anna 3
away.
4
A whirlwind of phone calls, and just two hours later, all the 5
plans were in place. Callie’s mother would fly into Boston tomor-6
row and take Anna home with her. The news of Anna’s kidnap-7
ping hadn’t reached the Midwestern papers, so this was the first 8
time her parents had learned of their granddaughter’s ordeal. To 9
Callie’s relief, they took the news with remarkable composure.
10
Mainly, they seemed concerned about how Anna was coping.
11
“I’m so sorry to put you through this,” Callie said earnestly.
12
“Don’t be ridiculous,” her mother said briskly. “Of course we 13
want to help.”
14
Her mother was small, just five foot two, but her posture made 15
her seem taller. Callie had sometimes wished she were softer, 16
more prone to hugs and kisses. Today, though, she couldn’t think 17
of anyone she’d rather have on her side.
18
After the phone calls were over, Callie sat on her bed. So 19
much to do — she should get started — but she couldn’t seem to 20
move. She thought about getting Anna’s suitcase from the closet 21
down in the basement. But first she had to let Anna know that 22
she’d be leaving tomorrow. Already, her mind was running through 23
what Anna needed to pack. Her red jacket in case it was cold. Pa-24
jamas. Bedroom slippers.
25
Finally, she got up. She moved toward the door and then hesi-26
tated, walked back to her dresser. Pulling open the top drawer, 27
she took out a cherry-wood case. The key was in her jewelry box.
28
She fitted it into the lock. Raising the lid, she peered down at her 29
.357 Magnum. Her application had been expedited, and she’d 30
bought it yesterday. Carefully, she lifted the gun from its blue-31