The Piper (32 page)

‘I was in the hotel all night.'

‘Yeah, I know, I called and confirmed, sorry, he was pretty frantic. I had to promise I would check on you in person this morning. He's acting really weird, and he's hard to calm down.'

‘What does he say?'

‘It's not anything I can really make sense of, Livie. He's been anxious for weeks, but last night it was different. Last night he seemed scared, and worried about
you
.'

‘As you see. Fine.'

‘I thought you might be staying with Charlotte.'

‘Charlotte and I are . . . complicated right now.'

‘Do you think there's any chance—'

‘None. She had nothing to do with this.'

‘You're probably right. She checks out okay.'

‘You guys have been investigating Charlotte?'

‘We've been investigating everyone. That's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.'

Olivia leaned forward in her chair. ‘You've got a suspect?'

McTavish put his fork down. ‘
No.
Sorry, but no. The thing is. Donnie Withers is looking really hard at you right now.'

‘Yeah. He made that very clear the night Hugh died.'

‘Livie, look—'

‘You know what this means, if I'm the best he's got? Me? It means he's got nothing, it means he can't find my little girl. It means he's getting nowhere, if the best he can do is come up with bullshit like this. And it's my take he's given up on Teddy. He thinks she's dead.'

‘He's got some legitimate concerns.'

‘Such as?'

‘You expect me to just tell you?'

‘Hell, yes, I expect you to tell me.'

‘Yeah, okay, twist my arm. Here's the thing. He's found out about that hospital report my ex wife made.'

‘Annabelle?'

‘Yeah. About her suspicions that there was something odd going on between you and Teddy. That Teddy might be at risk.'

‘Put it in writing, did she?'

‘Yes, ma'am, she did. So give him his due, he does his homework. He goes to Teddy's pediatrician in Los Angeles, and finds out that the physician on record is a PA named Amelia Wainwright. Your friend, Amelia, who died by drowning in the bathtub in your house. And you were the one who found her. Lots of water on the floor, like maybe she was thrashing around or there could have been a struggle.'

‘
McTavish
—'

‘Let me finish. It gets worse. Then we get Hugh. Dead by hanging, and you're the one who called it in.'

‘Is he honestly saying I strung Hugh up?'

‘No. He doesn't think you could have overpowered Hugh, or that you're strong enough for something like that. And it's clear that Hugh put up a hell of a fight. So it's either a murder by persons unknown or suicide—'

‘Suicide? Did you see that hallway? Hugh was fighting for his life, his finger was broken, and so were his ribs.'

‘Yeah. I got to say the suicide idea is pretty thin ice. But here's the thing, Olivia. One, you got laid off from your job eighteen months ago and you've had a rocky time since, financially.'

‘Me and the rest of America.'

‘True. But Teddy is Hugh's beneficiary. He left life insurance. And if something happens to Teddy, it all goes to you. You see how it all adds up?'

‘Yeah, to a big fat crock of shit.'

‘They tracked down the airport shuttle guy, so you've got an alibi for when Hugh died. But Donnie, he's thinking maybe an accomplice.'

‘Am I following this? I am slowly killing Teddy, I murder her doctor when she figures it out, then I make Teddy disappear, and then kill Hugh for the money? Don't you think that sequence is a little out of whack?'

‘Not if you were really smart. There's another thing that Donnie is puzzling over.'

‘God. What?'

‘That report you gave the night Teddy disappeared. Your description of the mysterious German shepherd hanging around your house. And the physical description, brindle markings, all of that. It dovetails exactly with your family dog that disappeared when Emily died.'

‘I know already. Donnie was obsessing about it the night Hugh died.'

‘Livie, when someone is lying to the police, they often describe something they know, and just substitute. Like if I were asking you to describe an assailant, and you were lying, you might just sit there and describe me. People do it all the time, describe the cop sitting right across the table. So he's thinking, it's a really weird coincidence unless you're lying. And if you're lying . . . that kind of opens everything up.'

‘And you, McTavish? Do you think I had anything to do with this?'

‘You know better. But I have to admit you were really funny about things when Amelia died.'

Olivia looked down at her hands. She reached for her coffee, but her fingers were trembling too hard to pick up the cup.

‘Another thing. Hugh's Blackberry is missing. Do you know where it is?'

‘In my briefcase.'

‘
You've got it?
Why didn't you give it to the police?'

‘I found it that night. When he died, when the paramedics were working on him. It was on video record and I knew that if I gave it to the police they'd take it away and I'd never see what was—'

‘Are you telling me you have a video record of Hugh's death?'

Olivia nodded.

‘
Son of a bitch.
You're saying Hugh had the presence of mind to record the whole thing?'

Olivia nodded.

‘And you didn't tell anyone?'

‘I told Patsy Ackerman.'

‘Patsy Ackerman? Why didn't you tell me?'

‘Because I thought it might get you in trouble for withholding evidence.'

‘There isn't going to
be
any withholding evidence. Give it to me. Right now. What's on there?'

‘I told you, Hugh's death.'

‘Then how did it happen? Was there someone there?'

‘Watch it yourself, McTavish, it's pretty weird shit. If you can sort it out let me know.' Olivia opened her briefcase and took the phone. Slid it to McTavish across the table.

He put his head in his hands.

‘McTavish?'

‘Olivia. I can take this in myself, or you can hand it over through an attorney.'

‘Which should I do?'

‘I don't know. Look, let me take it. Let's see how it plays. There's nothing incriminating on there?'

‘You mean a video of my secret lover killing my ex? No, nothing like that.'

‘Do you have a secret lover?'

‘Just you.'

‘I'm not secret, babe. Donnie has tossed me off the case three times already, and I've got no official standing.'

‘You should know that Hugh wanted to get back together. He asked me if he brought Teddy home, would I take him back. In the nature of full disclosure, I told him yes.'

‘Of course you did. Manipulative bastard. And if I bring Teddy back, you're going to marry
me
. Look, Livie. There's something else. Donnie has been looking back into the disappearance of your sister, Emily. The coincidence – girl disappearing with family dog – he was thinking that was what might have given you the idea for what happened to Teddy. If you set all this up. But when we were looking into it, we ran across a guy.'

‘A guy?'

‘He's a snitch, said he had information about Emily years ago, but when the cops pursued it, it didn't pan out. He couldn't have had anything to do with her disappearance himself, he was in jail at the time, he just said he
heard
something. Like they do. The case got a lot of press, cops figured he was just cashing in. So we had somebody talk to him, just to cover every lead, but he made ridiculous demands and it didn't go anywhere. Soon as he was out of jail, he killed a guy, so he's back in again, only this time he's on death row. So Donnie sends a guy out to talk to him up in Eddyville, and he's still saying he's got information. Says he knows what happened to Emily, and he knows where she is. But he's not going to talk without a reprieve. Which we all know he ain't going to get.'

Olivia shook her head, gripped the arms of her chair. ‘McTavish, you don't think . . . you don't think Emily could still be alive?'

‘No, Livie, I don't. I think we're being played by a sociopath. But I wanted to let you know what was going on.'

‘But think about the way he worded that. He knew what happened to her. He knows where she
is
.'

‘Sure. He put it that way on purpose. That's how these guys work.'

‘I used to sit on the front porch every afternoon after school and wait for Emily to come home. Did you know that?'

‘We all knew that, Livie.'

‘I don't understand how all of this can be happening right now. I don't know . . . I don't know what to do.'

‘We find Teddy.'

‘Right. But it's all so confusing. It's like some kind of maze in hell.' Olivia snapped the latch on her briefcase. ‘Look, McTavish. I've got to stay focused. I've got to go, sorry, there's somebody I need to see.'

‘Who?'

‘Bennington Murphy.'

‘So you got him on the phone then?'

‘Yeah. I'm going to see him today.'

‘There's nothing spooky there, Olivia. His wife is a school teacher, they've got two kids, he's a computer IT guy, works out of his home. Regular suburban dad. Married late, though, wife is ten years younger, his kids are grade school age.' McTavish looked down at his sausages.

‘You stay and eat, McTavish. I'm sorry, I need to go, I can't sit still right now.' Olivia motioned to the waiter for the bill. ‘Breakfast is on Hugh, I'm using his credit card right now. Until you guys haul me off to jail.'

‘I don't get what you think you can accomplish with Bennington. I don't see how he connects.'

Olivia slung her briefcase over her shoulder. ‘See, the difference between you and me is this, McTavish. You're looking for a bad guy. I'm looking for . . . something else.'

‘
What
else, Livie?'

‘If I knew, honey child, I'd tell you.'

T
he rain had stopped, and the route to Valden was a flat stretch of interstate, an easy drive. It just didn't feel easy.

Because it was inside Olivia now, locked down tight in her heart, the fatigue, the urge to give up, the acidic burrowing of despair. Tired. The word played constantly in her head. She envied Amelia, she envied Hugh, she envied her brother – anyone who was dead now, whose battle was over and done.

Olivia had always thought that the one thing a parent gave a child was unconditional love. Unconditional love of one's children was easy after all. But now she saw there was one more thing required, and it was a hard thing. The stubbornness never to give up, the grit to keep hoping. She was beginning to think that getting older was all about wearing down. When she looked at people she had not seen for years, friends and family who had aged, what always struck her was not additional weight or wrinkles in the skin. What struck her was how tired they looked. Maybe age was nothing more than fatigue.

Valden, Tennessee, was more a pit stop than a city. There was a Dairy Queen and a worn down Citgo, but no cute town square or vintage houses. Most of the people there worked at a manufacturing plant fifteen miles away, line workers and managers engaged in the process of turning sawdust into the kind of pressed wood used to make crappy but affordable furniture, and all of them damned glad to have a job. She wondered how Bennington wound up in this godawful place. She wondered if maybe he was hiding. She could only imagine what Hugh would say about a town like this. Unless, of course, it was a place he wanted her to live. Even Hugh would have a hell of a time talking
this
place up.

Olivia double checked the scribble of directions she'd written on a scrap of complimentary hotel stationery. She watched for the split in the road and turned right, finding the stone marker announcing the entrance to
WINDERMERE ESTATES.
She did not know what she expected, but it wasn't this. The houses looked newer and the trees smaller as she wound her way back.

Bennington's house was a two story with beige aluminum siding and trim, shutters and front door painted robin's egg blue. It was the shrubbery that reminded her of Patsy Ackerman's bungalow – the neglected snarl of honeysuckle hedges, forsythia bushes and dogwood trees that formed a barrier to the street. A dirty white Ford Focus was at the end of the oil stained driveway, so Olivia parked by the curb.

The sidewalk was plastered with dead leaves that had fallen in the rain and dried to the walk like a second skin. A small limb was down from a struggling magnolia on the side of the house. It looked like it had been there a while.

Olivia started up the driveway, then stopped when a flutter of black caught her eye. She walked into the yard, the soil soggy and drenching her shoes. She found the feathers between two pear trees, a lot of them, mangled and smeared, as if the bird had died. She thought of Janet, pulling the fluff of a white feather from her pocket and putting it in Olivia's hands, saying it was a sign from Chris. Olivia's shoulders went tight, but she shook it off and headed back up the drive.

The sidewalk on the front stoop was cracked. A doormat said
WIPE YOUR PAWS
. Olivia rang the doorbell, trying to look into the windows but foiled by the tight seal of blinds. She rang again, and was checking her mobile for the time when she heard a scuffle of wood and the door swung wide.

‘Bennington here.'

The first thing Olivia noticed was the smile.

Bennington was fair, like Ack, his fine corn silk hair banded in a loose ponytail that hung an impressive way down his back, but two blondes could not have been less alike. Bennington was soft all over, sunny and lamblike to Ack's black boots and angled cheeks and her lone wolf air of pain.