The Anniversary (40 page)

When she turned on the phone, it let out a beep, telling her to 11

check voice mail. She’d listen to the message later. Once she’d 12

talked to Rick. She called his home phone and left a message ask-13

ing him to call her. On the short walk home, she left the phone 14

on, which she didn’t usually do.

15

She walked through town along Main Street, past boutiques 16

and coffee shops. Merritt had awakened today and tumbled onto 17

the streets. There were mothers with babies and skateboarders, 18

musicians, and college students. A tiny woman in an orange caf-19

tan fed ice cream to her dachshund.

20

When Callie reached home, she stalked up the steps and 21

jammed her key in the lock. She was glad that Mimi had taken 22

Anna and Henry to Six Flags today. Inside, she headed straight 23

for the phone. A single message was waiting.

24

At first she thought it was a wrong number, maybe someone 25

drunk. The woman’s voice was soft and slurred, barely audible.

26

But she heard her own name and then another. She heard the 27

name
Melanie.

28

Melanie had called her.

29

Callie caught her breath.

30

She leaned her ear close to the machine, then pushed the re-31

play button. The message was rambling and disconnected, hard 32

to understand. Several mumbled apologies and then a telephone 33

number. Callie had to listen twice before she got it down. There 34

was still one digit she couldn’t make out. Either a nine or five.

35 S

She tried it first with a five, let the phone ring five or six times.

36 R

She was just about to hang up, when a groggy voice answered.

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“H’llo?”

1

“Melanie?”

2

“Uh-huh.”

3

“This is Callie. Calling you back.”

4

“Oh . . . Hi, Callie.” She sounded dazed. “I called you.”

5

Was it a statement or a question? Callie wasn’t sure.

6

“That’s right,” Callie said gently. “You left me a message on my 7

answering machine. I’ve been wanting to talk to you, to find out 8

how you’re feeling.”

9

“I . . . something happened to me. I was in the hospital.”

10

“I . . . I know,” said Callie. “I’m so terribly sorry.”

11

“I’m sorry too,” said Melanie. She still seemed confused, but 12

her voice was stronger now, as if her mind had grabbed hold of 13

something that she really wanted to say. “I just didn’t know any 14

better. I was young, but that’s not really an excuse. I was just . . .

15

confused and I didn’t understand, but, but . . . I’m sorry.”

16

What was she talking about? “You don’t have anything to be 17

sorry for,” said Callie. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

18

“No, no, no. I
did.
But I didn’t mean to, I didn’t, I didn’t —”

19

“Shhhhh,” said Callie. She was slightly alarmed by Melanie’s 20

agitation.

21

But Melanie wasn’t listening. She’d started to talk again, her 22

words, normally so precise, both halting and profuse.

23

“I thought I was better than you. That I could never ever be 24

like you. I thought it was your fault with Steven, that you should 25

have
figured out
what . . .”

26

Callie felt knocked off balance, as if she’d lost her breath. But 27

at some level hadn’t she known all along how Melanie felt? She’d 28

always been attuned to these reactions. After all, they mirrored 29

her own.

30

“You’re right. I should have known. You were right about 31

that.”

32

“But sometimes you just . . . don’t. When I fell in love with 33

Frank, I thought it was perfect. I thought he really loved me. And 34

he was so . . . so
sure
— about everything. He always knew what S 35

to do. But the thing is, he was never really there.”

R 36

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1

Callie’s heart seemed to twist. She remembered that feeling.

2

The Vanishing Man. It still struck her, the irony of that name.

3

It had started with some tabloid paper, she didn’t remember 4

which, then spread like wildfire through the press: TV, radio, 5

print. The witnesses who’d last seen his victims often recalled a 6

man. But except for a sense that he was good-looking, they 7

couldn’t really describe him. Or rather, whatever descriptions 8

they gave never seemed to match. Some said his hair was blond; 9

others said it was brown. He was five foot seven, at least six feet, 10

well over six three. They’d glimpsed him only briefly. He was 11

there, then gone.

12

Then there was the other meaning, far more personal. All 13

those nights she’d waited alone, afraid she was losing him, afraid 14

that one day he’d slip away, leave and never come back. She’d 15

suspected then that he was having an affair, even confronted 16

him. But he hadn’t been sleeping with other women. He’d just 17

been killing them.

18

And yet, still, she’d loved him. She couldn’t let him go.

19

The day he’d been sentenced to death, she’d wanted to tell 20

him that. She’d sat in the gallery willing him to turn and look at 21

her. She’d wanted him to know that he wasn’t alone, that she 22

hadn’t abandoned him.

23

“You know ten-b-five? The securities fraud law thing?” Mel-24

anie’s voice was dreamy now, as if her mind was drifting.

25

“No, I don’t think so.”

26

“Well, there’s this . . . this . . .
thing.
” Melanie seemed to be 27

searching for words. “It’s . . . it’s a law, and it makes it so you have 28

a duty to
disclose
information if it’s material. That’s the word:
mate-29

rial.
” Callie could hear the satisfaction in her voice as she managed 30

to come up with the term. “It’s not enough if you just don’t lie. You 31

have to come forward and give information in order to clarify. To 32

make sure that other things you said aren’t . . . aren’t misleading.”

33

“Mmmm,” said Callie.

34

“I think it should be like that when people say they’re in love.”

35 S

“Be like what?” Callie said.

36 R

“Where it’s not enough if you just don’t lie. That’s not telling 2 2 6

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all the truth. When I found Frank with Mary Beth, he said I 1

should have asked. He said that he’d never lied to me. As if that 2

made a difference.”

3

“Steven lied to me,” said Callie. She couldn’t help herself.

4

“That’s what I mean!” Melanie said. She was getting excited 5

again. “It’s the same thing.
It’s all the same thing!
They say some-6

thing. They don’t say something. It’s all still the same.”

7

Listening to Melanie, Callie thought that this couldn’t be 8

good for her.

9

“Honey,” Callie said, surprising herself with the endearment.

10

“I think I should let you go now. You should get some rest.”

11

Melanie didn’t seem to hear her. “They said I was too thin, but 12

I wasn’t. You don’t need to eat so much. I’ve read a lot about it.

13

I’m not a . . . an anorexic.”

14

A click, and the pieces fell into place, why Melanie had looked 15

so haggard.

16

A beep on the line. Call-waiting. Callie thought of Rick.

17

“Melanie,” Callie said softly. “Can I call you back a little later?”

18

“Okay,” said Melanie. She sounded sleepy, like she was starting 19

to fade. The excitement of the past few minutes seemed to have 20

exhausted her.

21

But before hanging up, there was still one question that Callie 22

had to ask. “The man who attacked you. When he came to the 23

door, did he bring you flowers?”

24

“He brought me roses,” Melanie said. “That’s what they told me.”

25

26

After hanging up, Callie checked caller ID. The call that had 27

come in showed a 413 exchange. Rick’s cell phone? Before lis-28

tening to the voice mail message, she went to the sink for a glass 29

of water. Looking out the window, she drank it down fast.

30

Knowing that the flowers were roses made everything simpler.

31

The connection she’d suspected was there. Everything was 32

linked. Melanie’s attack was somehow tied to what had been 33

happening to her. Now that she knew this for sure, she’d call 34

Mike Jamison. Tell him about the roses, both hers and Melanie’s.

S 35

In a way it was a relief, this resolution of doubt.

R 36

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1

As she’d guessed, the phone message was from Rick. She 2

quickly called him back. The moment she heard him say hello, 3

the anger flared again.

4

“What the hell were you doing, talking to Lambert about me?”

5

He didn’t answer right away, but when he did, she could tell 6

that he was angry too.

7

“You know what? I don’t really care if you’re mad. You have no 8

business with a gun, Callie. You don’t know how to use one.”

9

Had she expected him to apologize? She really wasn’t sure. But 10

one thing she hadn’t expected was an anger that matched her 11

own. She’d never seen this side of him before. He’d always been 12

so patient.

13

“I took the class,” Callie said. She could feel the tension in her 14

jaw.

15

“Oh. Great. So you have, what? Three, four hours’ experience 16

at a firing range? That’s just great. That’s perfect.”

17

His sarcasm was the last straw; the words flooded out. “Would 18

you just leave me alone? Just leave me alone! This has nothing to 19

do with you.”

20

A long silence followed.

21

“Okay,” Rick said. And then, with an edge, “Nice knowing 22

you.”

23

A click, and the phone went dead.

24

For a time, she just sat there, the receiver still in her hand.

25

She’d heard the finality in his voice, knew that it was over. Rick 26

had been a part of her life. Now he was gone. Around her every-27

thing looked the same. Light flooded the kitchen. She kept ex-28

pecting the pain to start, but a numbness had settled in. She 29

wasn’t angry. She wasn’t upset. She didn’t feel anything.

30

What next?
she asked herself.

31

She knew that she should call Jamison, tell him about the 32

roses. But she suddenly felt so terribly tired that she could barely 33

move. Thank God, she had at least another few hours before 34

Anna got home. Upstairs, she fell into her unmade bed, kicking 35 S

off her shoes. She thought about taking off her sweater and jeans 36 R

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but felt too tired to make the effort. Besides, she was only going 1

to rest a while. She wasn’t going to sleep.

2

The next thing she knew, there was a dim ringing. It seemed to 3

go on and on. Disoriented, she sat up in bed and reached for her 4

alarm clock. But the noise wasn’t coming from beside her bed. It 5

was coming from downstairs.
The doorbell, that’s what it was,
she 6

thought.

7

Callie stumbled up.

8

The hallway was dark. Callie flipped on a light and hurried 9

down the stairs. During the time she’d slept, the sun had set. She 10

must have slept for hours.

11

She flicked on the outdoor light and peered through the peep-12

hole. Anna was standing on the front porch, along with Mimi 13

and Henry Creighton. Mimi was holding a cell phone, punching 14

in a number.

15

Callie turned the lock.

16

“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t hear you. I guess I fell asleep.”

17

She looked at Anna. “Hi, sweetie. You have fun today?”

18

Anna was holding a green stuffed bear and a plastic bag of cot-19

ton candy. She had a look of happy satiety, cheeks pink, hair in 20

tangles.

21

“It was so cool!” Anna said.

22

“It really was,” said Henry.

23

Callie turned to Mimi. “Would you like to come in?”

24

“Well, maybe for just a minute.”

25

The kids shot past their mothers, heading for the den.

26

“I’ll make some tea,” said Callie, motioning Mimi toward the 27

kitchen.

28

Callie felt groggy and slightly sticky in her sleep-rumpled 29