The Anniversary (47 page)

voice was gentle.

30

“
Not
my mother. Laura.”

31

“That’s right. Laura. Did he tell you what she’d done?”

32

“No . . . I don’t think so. Just that it was really bad.”

33

“What else did he talk about? Did he say any other names?”

34

“He talked about someone named Steven. He was really mad S 35

at him.”

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Lambert looked at Anna closely. “Was he mad at Steven or 2

Laura?”

3

“I’m not sure exactly. Maybe both of them. I can’t really re-4

member. I was really scared.”

5

Beneath her arms, Callie felt Anna’s body start to shiver.

6

“Do you remember anything else he said?” Lambert was lean-7

ing closer. “I know it’s hard to think about this, but we need you 8

to help us catch him.”

9

Anna shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “That’s all.”

10

The shivering was growing more pronounced. Callie couldn’t 11

take it. “Isn’t this enough for now? Anna needs to rest.”

12

They were driven home in a squad car by a young, clean-cut 13

patrolman. As they turned off Main Street onto Linden Lane, he 14

slowed down a bit. “When we get to your street, keep your head 15

down. Ignore the media.”

16

“The media?” Callie said faintly.

17

“Yes. You’ll see what I mean.”

18

As they neared the house, Callie saw them, reporters crowding 19

the street. They were holding notebooks and microphones, bat-20

tling for position. There were concrete barriers around her house, 21

TV trucks, and cameras. Overhead, Callie heard the swooping 22

roar of a news show’s helicopter.

23

One of the reporters saw them and started to run toward the 24

car. In an instant, the others were on his heels, and the race be-25

came a stampede. Faces and cameras jammed against the car’s 26

closed windows. Flashbulbs exploded in Callie’s eyes amid a bar-27

rage of questions.

28

“Is Anna okay?”

29

“How do you feel?”

30

“What are you going to do now?”

31

Shielding her face with one of her hands, she held Anna close 32

with the other. “Keep your head down,” Callie whispered. “Don’t 33

look at them.”

34

The car had slowed to a crawl now. They couldn’t make it 35 S

through. “Jesus,” Callie heard the patrolman mutter. “Somebody 36 R

help us out here.”

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Then two uniformed officers were forcing a path through the 1

crowd. “Stay back! Out of the way!” they yelled, and the swarm 2

of reporters fell back.

3

It took almost ten minutes to drive that last block. Barriers 4

blocked the driveway. Two more cops pushed them aside.

5

They pulled up to the garage and parked. Callie and Anna 6

climbed out.

7

Under a storm of flashbulbs, they quickly approached the front 8

door. The patrolman who’d been their driver followed close be-9

hind them.

10

“Everything okay?” he asked, once they were inside.

11

“Yes, thanks for everything.”

12

He smiled at them and left.

13

After she’d closed and locked the door, Callie steered Anna 14

upstairs. Anna was wearing hospital garments, a big shirt and 15

drawstring pants. The clothes she’d had on when she was found 16

had been sent to the state crime lab.

17

“Would you like to take a bath?” Callie asked when they 18

reached the landing at the top of the stairs.

19

“Not now.” Anna shook her head. “I just want to go to sleep.

20

Can I get into your bed, Mommy?”

21

Callie’s heart ached. “Sure,” she whispered into Anna’s hair.

22

“I’ll come lie down with you.”

23

Anna put on pajamas and climbed into Callie’s double 24

bed. Outside, the clamor of voices vied with the rumble of 25

vehicles. But Anna, curled in a silent ball, seemed oblivious.

26

Without bothering to get undressed, Callie lay down beside 27

her. The world had shrunk to this single room; nothing outside 28

existed.

29

Callie hadn’t planned to go to sleep, but at some point she 30

must have. When she glanced at the clock on her night table, she 31

saw it was after six.

32

Careful not to disturb her daughter, she slipped out of bed, tip-33

toed over to a window, and peered out from behind a blind. The 34

crowd had dwindled in the past few hours but hadn’t disappeared S 35

entirely. A handful of reporters was still staked out in the fast-R 36

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fading sun. She dropped the blind, crossed the room, and headed 2

downstairs to make coffee.

3

She was groggy and disoriented from the long late-afternoon 4

nap. As she dumped coffee into a filter, she realized how alone 5

she felt. She needed to speak to another person, someone from 6

normal life, someone besides the cops and detectives with whom 7

she’d spent the night. Before she could stop herself she thought 8

of Rick with a sharp sense of loss.

9

Martha.
She’d call Martha.

10

At the thought of her friend’s warm, worn face, her heart 11

seemed to lift.

12

Martha picked up right away, almost as if she’d been waiting.

13

“Callie,” she said in heartfelt tones. “I’ve been trying to call you.

14

Thank God Anna’s okay. And you — how are
you
doing? How 15

have you survived?”

16

“I’m fine now,” Callie said. “How . . . how did you know?” Even 17

as she spoke, though, she saw it was a stupid question. All those 18

reporters outside the house. Of course, the story was out now.

19

Martha was talking again, but Callie had missed the begin-20

ning. In the flood of words, she caught Posy’s name, but she 21

couldn’t make sense of the rest.

22

“I . . . Martha, please, you have to slow down. I don’t under-23

stand what you’re saying.”

24

Martha stopped. “You haven’t heard.”

25

“Heard what?” asked Callie.

26

A long, long silence. “Oh God, Callie, I’m sorry. Just forget I 27

said anything. You don’t need to think about this now. Tell me 28

how Anna’s doing. That’s the important thing.”

29

Blood pulsed in Callie’s veins. “I want to know what hap-30

pened.”

31

At the other end of the phone line, she could hear Martha 32

breathing.

33

“There’s no easy way to tell you,” Martha finally said. “Posy 34

was murdered. They found her body while they searched for 35 S

Anna last night.”

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A tremor passed through Callie, like some small internal 2 6 6

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earthquake. She thought of the furor that had broken out in the 1

early-morning hours, that phone call that had prompted Lambert 2

to rush off so suddenly. That must have been when it happened.

3

When they discovered Posy.

4

“Who killed her?” Callie asked. “Is anyone in custody?”

5

“The cops aren’t saying anything. At least not to the press.”

6

“It must be the same person. The same man who kidnapped 7

Anna.”

8

“Not necessarily,” Martha said. “There’s no way of knowing 9

yet. It might be totally unrelated. I’ll bet that’s what they find.”

10

“You’ve got to be kidding, Martha. We’re in Merritt, not New 11

York. In all the years I’ve lived here, we’ve never had a murder or 12

a kidnapping. Now, in less than twenty-four hours, we suddenly 13

have both.”

14

“It’s not twenty-four hours. Posy was killed before that.”

15

Martha was talking so fast now, Callie knew something was 16

wrong. Something beyond the terrible fact that Posy had been 17

killed.

18

“What happened to her?” Callie asked.

19

Martha didn’t answer.

20

“Martha?” Her voice was stronger now. “Tell me what hap-21

pened to Posy.”

22

“I don’t know the details,” Martha hedged. “The police aren’t 23

saying much.”

24

“Tell me what you know, then.”

25

Another long silence.

26

“I don’t want to be the one to tell you. I’m sorry, Callie. No.”

27

The coffee had finished brewing, and Callie took out a mug.

28

She lifted the carafe from the machine, and poured out the 29

steaming liquid. But she couldn’t seem to control her hand. Cof-30

fee splashed the counter.

31

“I understand,” Callie said. “But I really have to go now.”

32

She had Lambert’s card in her purse. Now she went to find it.

33

She dialed the number. It rang twice, then he picked up the 34

phone.

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“Ms. Thayer, I’m glad you called. We’re about to pay you a R 36

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visit.” He sounded brisk but preoccupied. There were voices in 2

the background.

3

She dispensed with preliminaries. “Tell me about Posy Kisch.”

4

A brief pause while Lambert regrouped. “I guess you saw the 5

news.”

6

“No, a friend told me. She . . . we both worked with Posy. In 7

the Windham Alumni Office.”

8

“Yes,” Lambert said. “I know. We’ll have to talk about that.”

9

Callie took a sip of coffee. It was hot but she couldn’t taste it.

10

“Do you think the person who killed Posy is the same one who 11

kidnapped Anna?”

12

“We don’t know yet,” Lambert said. “We’re still sorting things 13

out.”

14

Callie took a long, deep breath, trying to prepare herself.

15

“What exactly happened? How was Posy killed?”

16

A pause, this one longer.

17

“We can talk about that later. Right now, there’s something 18

else. We need to speak with Anna again, to show her some pho-19

tographs.”

20

21

Lambert untied a Redweld file and pulled out a stack of photo-22

graphs. The three of them were at the kitchen table, Anna on 23

Callie’s lap.

24

“Anna, I’m going to show you some pictures. I need you to 25

help me out here. I want you to tell me if you see the man who 26

kidnapped you last night.”

27

Anna was still in her pajamas. Her hair was a tangled mess.

28

She looked at Lambert through sleep-hazed eyes, not entirely 29

awake yet.

30

Lambert placed a photograph in front of Anna. She rubbed her 31

eyes and looked. The man had a thin face, a sandy crew cut, a 32

neatly trimmed goatee.

33

Anna shifted in Callie’s lap. “It’s not him,” she said.

34

Lambert took the picture away, then put out another. The next 35 S

man had a pudgy face and sad, doleful eyes. His hair was a dark 36 R

reddish blond, his beard redder than the rest.

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Anna frowned. “No,” she said. “It’s not him either.”

1

Lambert took back the picture.

2

Then, as he laid out the next image, Callie’s heart lurched. He 3

looked younger, and he had a beard, but the features were the 4

same. The thin, pointed nose. The foxy eyes. “Oh, my God,” she 5

whispered.

6

Lambert’s head whipped around toward Callie. He gave her a 7

warning look.

8

Anna twisted to look at her. “What’s wrong, Mommy?” she 9

said.

10

Squeezing Anna’s shoulder, Callie gave a short laugh. “Noth-11

ing, honey. I was confused. It’s okay. You can go on.”

12

“Anna. Have you seen this man before?” Lambert’s voice was 13

level.

14

“No, I don’t think so. He’s not the man who took me.”

15

There were eight photographs altogether. At each one, Anna 16

shook her head. When they were finished, Lambert smiled at her.

17

“Okay. Thanks for your help. I’ve got to talk to your mom for a 18

second. Would you mind leaving us alone?”

19

Callie kept a smile on her face until Anna left the room. Then 20

she took the stack of photos from Lambert and flipped back to 21

the third one. “I saw him in Maine,” she said. “On the island 22

where Diane was killed. I’d gone out to look around. He followed 23

me to Carson’s Cove — that’s where Diane was ambushed. I 24