The Way You Look Tonight (23 page)

One

Deborah wasn't sure how much time passed before she realized she was in Joe's arms. ‘What is it?' he demanded. ‘Deborah, what
is
it?'

Her body shook violently and she couldn't see clearly. She couldn't speak, either. She pointed mutely at the freezer whose lid had fallen from her hands, slamming shut.

Joe paused, then turned her loose. He lifted the freezer lid while Deborah shook and whimpered. She was dimly aware of Brian standing stiff with fear in the doorway, staring at them. Joe peered into the freezer. He drew in his breath sharply. Then he reached inside.

‘Oh, God,' Deborah moaned. ‘My little girl.'

‘It's all right,' Joe said softly. ‘It's only a doll.'

Deborah's ears roared and she thought she hadn't heard him correctly. ‘What?' she croaked. ‘What did you say?'

‘It's Kim's bride doll.' He held it out to her. ‘Her doll.'

Deborah looked at the big doll with its fall of golden hair so like Kimberly's. The hair was stiff and the doll's beautiful face was clouded by a shroud of frost. It was wrapped in Kim's pink afghan, the bridal gown barely showing.

As Deborah stared at the doll, her vision darkened and for a moment she thought she was going to faint. Then the light returned along with her breath. She promptly burst into tears.

Joe closed the freezer, laid the doll on the lid, then folded Deborah in his arms again. ‘For a second I thought it was Kim, too. That afghan makes it look bigger. But it isn't Kim.'

‘I've never been so horrified in my whole life,' Deborah sobbed. ‘If it
had
been her…'

‘It
wasn't
. But you've got to get hold of yourself. We still have to find her.'

‘I'm right here.'

Deborah and Joe both whirled to face the little girl who was holding tightly to Scarlett's leash. The dog's tail wagged vigorously, as if she were delighted with the crowd in the garage. A young man wearing a suit stood beside Kimberly. ‘Found her running down the street,' he said. ‘Deakins, FBI.'

‘Boy, are
you
in trouble,' Brian told Kim in an awed voice. ‘I bet you go to jail.'

Deborah's terrible fear and relief were immediately converted into anger. ‘What on
earth
were you doing?' she shouted at Kim.

The child quailed. ‘Nothin'.'

‘Nothing? You were outside because of
nothing
?'

Kim's face crumpled and tears flowed. ‘I thought I heard Santa,' she cried.

‘Santa!' Deborah exploded. ‘With everything that's been going on, you went out looking for
Santa
?'

Joe put a hand on her arm. ‘Take it easy, Deborah. She's just a little girl. You're scaring the hell out of her.'

‘She scared the hell out of
me
,' Deborah flared. Then she looked at the shivering child who just a few minutes ago she'd thought was dead. Her anger vanished. She rushed to Kim and clutched her in her arms. ‘Oh, Kimmy, I'm sorry I yelled. We were all so worried about you.' Kim sniffled pitifully. ‘Honey, why did you go out searching for Santa?'

‘I heard the bells on the reindeer.'

‘Bells?'

‘Yeah.' Kim wiped the back of her hand across her wet face. ‘I thought Santa and Rudolph were in the back yard.'

‘But Joe looked for you in the back yard.'

‘I was a little scared so I took Scarlett with me. I put her on the leash, just in case she was gonna chase the reindeer, but she started growlin' and pulled away from me. The gate was open and she ran down the street. I had to get her.'

‘And you were wearing just your robe and bunny slippers,' Deborah scolded gently. ‘Your cold will get worse for sure.'

‘What was Scarlett growlin' at?' Brian asked. ‘The reindeer?'

‘We didn't see any reindeer,' Kim told him in disappointment. ‘I never saw anybody.'

Agent Deakins shrugged. ‘My partner and I didn't see anything, either. We did hear bells a few minutes before the little girl came tearing down the street. We thought someone in the neighborhood must be ringing them. Then we remembered that the only people on the street are you folks and Mr Dillman next door. Didn't seem likely any of you would be ringing bells, though.'

‘Could the sound have been coming from another street?' Joe asked.

‘This isn't a housing development,' Deakins said. ‘The next street is nearly a quarter of a mile away. The sound was too loud to have come that far.'

Kim gazed beyond Deborah to her bride doll lying on the lid of the freezer. ‘Angie Sue!' she cried. ‘What happened to her?'

‘Kim, did you put the doll in the freezer?' Deborah asked.

Kim looked affronted. ‘The freezer? No! I'd never do that to Angie Sue!' She turned furiously on Brian. ‘You put her in there!'

‘Why would I do that?' Brian stormed back at her. ‘I never touch your dumb old dolls. Besides, I'd get into trouble.'

‘Well, someone put the doll in the freezer,' Deborah said in a small, tight voice.

Joe looked at her bleakly. ‘And it just happened to be on a night when somebody thought you might be looking for Kim.'

Two

Deborah didn't think she could possibly go back to sleep, but she was dozing when someone began tapping on her shoulder again. ‘Mommy,' Kim stage-whispered.

Deborah jerked upright, her nerves tingling. ‘What's wrong?'

Kim recoiled, startled. ‘It's
Christmas
. Santa's been here.'

Deborah fell backward. ‘Oh, is that all?'

‘Is that
all
,' Kim repeated, appalled.

‘It's fifteen minutes till seven o'clock,' Brian said.

Kim nodded vehemently, apparently for once not bothered by her brother's time announcements. ‘Yeah. Fifteen minutes till seven o'clock.
A
.m.'

‘Oh, heavens. You two wouldn't by any chance still be sleepy, would you?' Deborah asked, feeling too exhausted by the night's events to step out of bed. ‘We could open presents a little later.'

‘
No
,' the children said in firm unison.

Oh, to have the resiliency of a child, Deborah thought. They acted as if last night had been as peaceful as any other. They didn't even look tired.

‘Okay,' Deborah groaned. ‘Someone hand me my robe. I'm too sleepy to find it.'

To her relief Joe was already up and had made coffee. They sat, just as she and Steve did every Christmas morning, drinking coffee and watching the children tear into presents with abandon.

Kimberly squealed over her AM/FM headphone radio and Brian smiled in satisfaction when he saw his toy night-laser gun. They immediately began writing on their doodle pads. Then both looked up and said, ‘Now you two give presents.'

‘We didn't get anything for each other,' Deborah said.

‘Well, actually, I picked up a little something for you the night I went to the drug store for Kim's medicine,' Joe said. He thrust a package at Deborah. Embarrassed, she opened it to find a piece of Napier jewelry, a chain with a rhinestone heart. Joe must have realized it seemed slightly romantic because he said quickly, ‘I saw the necklace and it reminded me of what a warm heart you have, just like my mother. I got her one, too.'

The same gift he'd given his mother. No one could misconstrue that message. Deborah smiled. ‘It's lovely. Thank you so much. But I don't have anything for you. I haven't been able to go shopping—'

He held up his hand. ‘I didn't expect anything. Besides, you've fed me for days. That's a fine gift, if you ask me.'

‘We've got real gifts for you,' Kim piped. Once again they produced mangled-looking packages which Joe opened with great ceremony. Kim gave him a Bic pen which Deborah knew came from Steve's desk. Brian produced Volume Seventeen of the West Virginia Code. Deborah could see a smile dancing around Joe's mouth as he held Steve's law book. ‘I can read the book and take notes with the pen. Thanks, kids.'

Vastly pleased with themselves, the children brought out two more gifts for Deborah. Brian's was a photograph of him and Scarlett glued to red construction paper. ‘One of my favorite pictures,' she said. ‘Thank you so much, honey.'

‘It's not as good as mine,' Kim said, handing her a soft, oddly shaped package wrapped in green paper. ‘What could
this
be?' Deborah asked enthusiastically.

‘It's my secret,' Kim beamed.

‘The one you've been talking about?'

‘Yeah. You're gonna really,
really
like it!'

Deborah tore through the familiar mass of Scotch tape and pulled back the paper to reveal a plastic sandwich bag filled with jewelry. She unsealed the top and dumped the pieces on to her lap. Wedding bands and earrings. Puzzled, Deborah picked up a wedding band and read aloud the inscription: ‘Sally and Jack'.

Stunned, she dropped the band and picked up a filigree earring. ‘Good God,' Joe muttered as the sunlight fell on traces of red and a tiny bit of something that looked like shriveled mushroom clinging to the wire hook.

Deborah stood, ran to the bathroom, and vomited.

Three

Ten minutes later she returned to the living room to find Joe holding Kim on his lap as she cried. She looked fearfully at Deborah and said, ‘I'm sorry, Mommy. I thought you'd like it.'

‘The jewelry is beautiful, honey,' Deborah managed shakily. ‘Where did you find it?'

‘In the hidey-hole.'

The ‘hidey-hole', as Kim had christened it, was a three-foot-by-three-foot hole that led to the part of the house without basement beneath it. Steve had covered it with a small, latched wooden door and warned the children away from it with warnings of ‘big, horrible bugs' that lived in the dirt inside, but apparently Kim's curiosity outweighed her fear.

‘When did you find it?' Joe persisted.

‘A couple a days ago.' Kim wiped her tear-streaked face. ‘Did I do something wrong?'

‘You looked in the hidey-hole,' Brian informed her censoriously. ‘We're not s'posed to do that.'

‘It's all right,' Deborah said. ‘Did you see…Daddy put this stuff in the hole?'

‘Nope.' Kim looked at her wide-eyed. ‘It's
pirate's
treasure from the olden days.'

Deborah and Joe exchanged glances. ‘Think pirates left it?' Deborah asked him lightly, aware of the children's worried faces. This must not touch them, she thought. Someday Kim would know what a ghastly ‘treasure' she'd found, but for now Deborah had to put the best possible face on the matter.

‘I'm not sure if pirates were in this area,' Joe said solemnly. ‘We're pretty far away from the ocean, but this is a
very
old house. Somebody could have hidden it
years
ago.'

‘How many years ago?' Brian asked.

‘Ummm…fifty.'

The answer seemed to satisfy both children. Even Kim's eyes dried and she quickly scrambled back to the floor to retrieve her headphones.

‘You kids play with your toys and I'm going to make some more coffee for Joe and me. Do you two want toast or cereal?'

‘Pancakes,' Brian said distractedly. ‘But not now.'

With distaste she could barely mask, Deborah clutched the plastic bag and went into the kitchen. Joe followed, took the bag from her, and sat down at the kitchen table while she vigorously washed her hands. ‘There's blood and flesh on those earrings,' she said shakily. ‘How long do you think the jewelry has been there?'

‘Considering the wedding ring you picked up, since after the attack on Sally Yates. That was two weeks ago.'

‘There's nothing from the last murder?'

‘I don't know what was taken from the Morris woman. Besides, didn't Kim start talking about having a secret before then?'

Deborah's forehead wrinkled. ‘I think so. Yes.' She took a deep breath. ‘I guess this just about seals it, doesn't it? Steve put that jewelry in the hole in the basement.'

Joe's eyes slewed away from hers, and she realized that at last his own faith in Steve was wavering. ‘It looks that way.'

‘And yet…'

‘And yet?' he repeated alertly.

‘Remember when we were talking about the possibility of the Strangler wanting to be caught and you said he didn't?'

‘Sure.'

‘Suppose Steve is this psychopathic killer. He wouldn't want to get caught. So why hide this jewelry in the basement where the kids play?'

‘He told them never to open that door and look in the hole.'

‘Unless children have changed a lot since my day, that's a sure-fire way to make sure they look in it.'

Joe looked at her thoughtfully. ‘You're right. Steve would have known that eventually one of them would investigate.' He paused and glanced away. ‘And if he
did
go away to create a new identity, he wouldn't want to drag this stuff with him. Someone might find it. But with him being gone from this house, it wouldn't matter if the jewelry was found here or not, would it?'

Four

Deborah spent the rest of the day trying to make light conversation, trying to act like she was enjoying the turkey dinner she'd fixed complete with chestnut dressing, two vegetables, and cranberry salad. ‘I'm going to weigh three hundred pounds when I leave here,' Joe said, leaning back in his chair after dinner. ‘I don't know how Steve managed to keep his weight down.'

‘We don't always eat this way,' Deborah said. She sighed. ‘I usually fix a plate for Mrs Dillman. I guess I could take something over to Fred.'

Finally it was decided that Joe would deliver the plate, which he reported was accepted gratefully. ‘He was on the phone with his wife when I got there. I don't think the conversation was going too well.'