Brian's voice faltered. “She said she knew Russell Lee Holmes hadn't killed Meagan. And then she said—” His voice broke again. He cleared his throat forcefully. “She said that she loved me. And she thanked me for the last twenty years.”
Brian's gaze was fixed on the box in front of him. His jaw was tense, and David could see a muscle spasm. Then he got it. Brian didn't just have a small self-confidence issue. He loathed himself. He genuinely loathed himself and held himself responsible for all the bad things that happened in his family — including the fates of his sisters.
“You said you had a second message?”
“From my godfather. He's been leaving three a day. He also told me about William's shooting. He said he knew something was up and that we really needed to talk about it. Seems that he got a gift too. I think they all have.”
“They all have?”
“My mom, Dad, Jamie, Melanie, and me. Everyone who was involved back then, though some of us remember it more than others. Let me show you.”
He lifted the lid of the cardboard box. There, resting on white tissue paper was a blackened, shriveled cow's tongue.
Brian looked at them both. “It came with a note, ‘You get what you deserve,' but I know what it's talking about. I'd already lost my sister, you see. I didn't want to lose my father too.”
David sat down. He got out his spiral notebook and picked up a pen. “Let's start at the beginning here, because I'm dying for answers and we got a lot for you to explain. Where were you the day Meagan Stokes was kidnapped? What did you and your mother do?”
Brian took a deep breath and then, staring at the dried cow's tongue, he began.
“I wasn't a good kid, all right? In this day and age they'd probably diagnose me with attention deficit disorder. Back then I was simply hyper and high-strung and no one, least of all my mother, knew what to do with me. Frankly, our family wasn't sweetness and light back then either. I don't know how my parents started their marriage, but by the time I came along, my father seemed to be a withdrawn workaholic who gave his best at the office and had nothing left for home. Mom was hurt and sullen half the time, spending money as a hobby, doing anything to get attention. I think I was eight when I figured out it was worse than that — that Dad wasn't always working late, that my mom knew about the other women and seemed hell-bent on becoming a bit of a party animal on her own. I don't know, it was like being raised by a robot and a sixteen-year-old. Nobody ever said anything bad about the other, but, the undercurrents when they were both in a room …Kids just
know
these things, okay?”
“Yeah,” Chenney said heavily, which earned him a surprised look by both David and Brian. He shrugged. Apparently he did know.
“Then Meagan came along,” Brian continued after a moment. “She was so sweet, always smiling. No matter what happened, she'd beam and hold out her hands to you. Everyone loved her. Women in supermarkets, for God's sake, the neighbors, stray dogs. If you had a pulse, you automatically loved Meagan Stokes and she automatically loved you. Sure as hell no one ever thought that about me. And, yeah, I was jealous. I'd get angry. But…but I wasn't immune to her either, Agent. Even when I was jealous I loved her. Sometimes I even crept into her room at night just to watch her sleep. She was so peaceful, so happy. I never understood how my family could create a little girl who was so
happy
.
“And then I would grow afraid. I would think that my parents would ruin her too. She would love them like I did, and they would make her pay. Harper would abandon her and Patricia would grow bored, and she'd realize one day that her parents were two completely self-centered, overindulged people. I started breaking her toys, stealing her stuff. I kept thinking if I was mean enough, she'd get strong, learn to protect herself. I hurt her and I still believed I was doing her a favor.” He smiled lopsidedly. “Welcome to the Stokes version of family.”
“And that last day? What did you do then?”
“I had fun, Agent. I honestly enjoyed life for a moment, and that was probably my biggest sin. That day …that day was my fourth therapy appointment. Afterward the shrink asked to speak to my mother alone. I don't know what he said. But she took me for ice cream, though it was only eleven in the morning. She even had some, and this is a woman who's dined on grapefruit and dry wheat toast for the last fifty years. We hung out, Agent, I don't know how else to describe it.
“After a while Mom told me that things would be different. The family was having a rough spell and she understood that they'd been pretending I didn't know what was really going on. She would spend more time with me. She and my father would work things out. She realized now that her family meant more to her than anything, and she was prepared to do whatever was necessary to hold it together. She told me she loved me, she really loved me, and everything would be all right.
“We played in the park after that. She pushed me on the swing even though I was too old to be pushed, and I liked it. I remember thinking that I was almost happy, and it was sort of curious and strange. I wasn't sure I'd ever been happy before.
“Then we went home and the police officer told us Meagan was gone. Just like that. Are you a fatalist, Agent?” Brian smiled. “I sure as hell am.”
“You were with your mother all day?”
“All day.”
“Did you see Meagan get into the nanny's car?”
“No. We left before they did.”
“Brian, do you know absolutely that Russell Lee Holmes kidnapped Meagan Stokes?”
“I honestly thought he had,” Brian said. “I insist, if the devil had a human face, Agent Riggs, it would look like Russell Lee Holmes.”
David frowned. He believed Brian Stokes. So if Brian and Patricia were together all day and had nothing to do with Meagan Stokes's death…
“Then what about the tongue?” he asked in frustration. “If you had nothing to do with your sister's kidnapping, why the ‘gift'?”
Brian thinned his lips. “I'm not sure. The shrine in Melanie's room caught me off guard. That she might be Russell Lee Holmes's daughter …God, I don't know. All I can say is that there were some things the police didn't catch back then, and someone seems intent on getting out that info now. For example, three nights ago my godfather got a penis in a jar. Three guesses as to why.”
“Him and Patricia?”
“Yep. In spite of what people might think, not all of my parents' problems were caused by Dad's work habits.” Brian shrugged, took a deep breath. “As for the tongue …My father didn't have a hundred thousand dollars for ransom money back then. He was just an overworked resident still trying to pay off his student loans, let alone keep up with my mother. So Jamie supplied the money. I was there when he arrived with the briefcase filled with one hundred thousand dollars in cold, hard cash. And—”
Brian looked up, met their gazes. “And I was there to see that my father did not take that briefcase to the drop site. He took his briefcase instead. Empty. I know, because when I spotted Jamie's briefcase under my parents' bed, I pulled it out and opened it. All that cash, sitting right there. Do you get it? My father didn't pay the ransom. He was so damn greedy, he kept the money for himself. And Russell Lee Holmes …Russell Lee Holmes
killed
my baby sister.”
Brian's breath came out in angry gasps. “And I never said a word. I never went to the cops or Jamie or my mom or anyone. I just stared at Harper night after night, watching him eat dinner and assure my mom it would be all right. Night after night. He lied through his teeth, sold out my sister for a hundred thousand dollars, and I never had the courage to call him on it. Never. Goddammit, I wanted to say it so badly and I
couldn't
. I just fucking
couldn't
!”
Brian swept the cardboard box off the oak coffee table. It didn't do him any good. The tongue tumbled out, then lay on the rug in plain sight.
“Shit,” he said after a moment. Then again, “Shit.”
David shared that thought. So Brian and Patricia Stokes hadn't harmed Meagan. The family had not rushed into cover-up mode to protect their son. If Meagan had been harmed, it had to have been by Jamie or Harper, and it had to have been cold-blooded murder.
Of a four-year-old little girl with big blue eyes and curly blond hair.
He said, “If it's any help, I'm ninety percent positive that Russell Lee Holmes
did not
kidnap or murder Meagan Stokes, which may explain why your father didn't take the money to the drop site. He already knew he didn't have to.”
“Come again?”
David regarded Brian Stokes seriously. “I don't think your father was after a hundred thousand dollars. I believe he was after a million.”
“What?”
“The life insurance, Brian, or didn't you know? Both you and Meagan were insured for one million bucks.”
Brian Stokes hadn't known. In front of them, he went pale as a sheet, then his face twisted with rage. “
That goddamn son of a bitch
! I will kill him. I can't believe…”
“The ransom note that was delivered was too sophisticated for Russell Lee Holmes. Meagan did not fit his victim profile. They
never
found any physical evidence tying him with the crime. In fact, all they had was his confession—”
“Why would he confess?”
“In order to have his child raised in style. Melanie is Russell Lee Holmes's daughter, Brian. Your parents raised her to cover their own tracks. Now you tell me, for your sister's sake, does that make a difference?”
Brian was silent for a moment. “No. Of course not. Melanie is Melanie. She is the best thing that ever happened to this family. Maybe it just figures that it takes the devil's own daughter to love the Stokeses.”
David decided to let that comment pass. “Okay, now you have to help me. Originally we had reason to believe you or your mother might be involved. You understand that in seventy-five percent of cases, it is the family, so we have to think that way. Now we know you and your mother had alibis. What about Harper?”
“He worked. At least I thought he was at work. I don't know. My father can be a cold SOB, but I can't imagine him kidnapping …killing…” Brian shook his head. “He's not the type to get his hands dirty.”
“Yeah? Well, what about Jamie O'Donnell?”
Brian hung his head, which was answer enough. “He loved us, I'd swear to it. He played with us, brought us presents, spoiled us, indulged us. But—”
“But?”
He whispered, “But there's more to him than that. He's done some things. Known some things. I get the impression — If Harper hates getting his hands dirty, then Jamie is most at home in the muck.”
“He's that kind of man,” David said.
“Yeah, maybe. But Meagan was just a little girl. I can imagine Jamie taking on a grown man, or maybe somebody who'd wronged us, but I can't see him hurting a child. Especially Meagan. Did you know that his name was the first word she learned to say? Dad was furious.”
“Let's approach this from a different angle,” David tried after a moment. “We have two different things going on here. We have the person or persons who harmed Meagan Stokes. Most likely Harper or Jamie. Then we have someone who knows the truth, who seems intimately aware of what everyone did or didn't do twenty-five years ago. This person is trying to get out the truth, in a sick and twisted way. Maybe, if we can identify this person, we can cut to the chase and ask directly. Who knew that you saw the ransom money but didn't tell?”
Brian shook his head. “I didn't think anyone knew. If I'd thought I'd had an ally anywhere, I would've confessed.”
David gave him a look. “That's not possible. Someone had to have seen to know to send you this cow's tongue.”
“No kidding. And I'm telling you, Agent, no one knew!”
“Russell Lee Holmes,” Chenney said excitedly. “He must know all the details. That Harper never delivered the money, that the family had a love triangle. Before he confessed, he probably demanded all the details. He's sick and twisted enough to enjoy a little game like that.”
“Russell Lee Holmes is dead,” Brian said flatly and with a trace of vehemence. “I watched it.”
“Things can be switched, faked. Maybe it was part of the deal.” Chenney shrugged again. “Why should we assume he did it solely for his child's future? Maybe he got away for
life
, huh?”
David gave the rookie a look. “We have no proof that Russell Lee Holmes is alive.”
“We have proof we're missing some piece of the puzzle,” Chenney argued. “You can't deny that.”
“Let's get back to the facts,” David said flatly. “One, someone knows what happened twenty-five years ago and is intent on shaking things up. Maybe he guessed about Brian and the ransom money. He also had to know where Meagan's toy horse and clothes were all these years, so he has to be connected to the family. Hell, maybe it was William Sheffield. Maybe Harper got drunk one night and said too much and William thought this would be a great way to twist everyone for extra money. We'll have to search his place.
“That brings us to the person who actually did the crime twenty-five years ago and is desperate to keep it covered up. He hired the shooter to take out Larry Digger when he got too close and Melanie when she began to remember.”
“What?” Brian said sharply.
David filled him in. “Whoever is doing this,” David concluded, “is playing for keeps. I think, Dr. Stokes, that having Nate declare you missing might not have been such a bad idea.
“And I'm asking you again: Understanding now that Melanie is in danger, that we are dealing with someone who murdered a four-year-old girl, do you know where she is?”
“No, Agent. I just got her message.”
“Okay, she knows she isn't safe at home, she knows she couldn't find you. She's not experienced enough or prepared enough to drop off the face of the earth, so where would she turn next?”
Brian's face lit up. “Ann Margaret. Her boss at the Dedham Donor Center.”
IT WAS A thirty-five-minute drive to the Dedham Red Cross Donor Center. Chenney handled the wheel, David worked the cell phone. He offered Detective Jax the tidbit that Melanie had left a message on her brother's machine saying she had to shoot William in self-defense. In return, Jax told him that they had witnesses testifying that Melanie had used a pay phone in Government Center. They had one forensics team already searching the area for the murder weapon. They'd also found the taxi driver who had driven Melanie to Brian's condo. He'd described Melanie as being pale, quiet, and “a little spooky.”