The Book of Cold Cases(81)

“Okay,” Esther said.

“So I’ve had a lot going on, too,” I said. “Things I haven’t been telling you. You said I’ve been so far away, and I know that’s true. I don’t want to be far away anymore. I want to tell you everything. If you have a baby, I want to be part of it, as much as you’ll let me. You’re my best friend. If you called me and told me to get you a U-Haul and some garbage bags again, I’d do it. I’d do it as many times as you asked me to.”

“Oh.” There was a pause, and I knew Esther was crying. “Oh, Shea. Of course you’ll be part of it. You’re my best friend, too. But I worry about you. This thing you’re involved with sounds dangerous. You need to walk away from it. You need to let it go.”

“I can’t.” People were passing me on the sidewalk, ignoring me. The bus was coming. “I have to see it to the end.”

“Don’t. I don’t like the sound of it. I can rescue you this time, Shea. Let me do it.”

I shook my head, even though she couldn’t see me. “I can finish this. I have to. And then I’m going to change things, Esther. I promise.”

I hung up before I could change my mind and beg my big sister to come get me and fix everything. Right away, my phone rang. Michael.

I answered it. “Did you get my message?”

“Is this what I think it is?” He sounded excited.

“If you mean Lily, then yes. It’s her.”

The bus pulled up, and the doors opened. I got on, my phone still to my ear.

“I’ll call my contacts,” Michael said. “One of them will know something. The coroner likely has a theory about cause of death. She just didn’t share it with the press.”

“I want to know if Beth’s blood or saliva was taken in 1977. If it wasn’t, I can get you a sample.” I thought about the glass Beth drank from, her grapefruit juice and soda. Maybe it was still sitting on the table.

“Wait a minute,” Michael said. “Where are you right now?”

“I’m going to the Greer mansion.”

“You’re going to talk to her?”

“No. She isn’t there.” That had been in the file I’d read. “She’s in Portland for a medical test. She won’t be back until tomorrow.”

“So you’re going to—what? Break in? That isn’t a good idea, Shea.”

“It’s the only way to get answers. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call the police. I don’t plan to steal anything, I promise.”

“Jesus, Shea—”

“She has an aneurysm,” I said. I could lose my job for telling him, but I didn’t care anymore. “It’s dangerous, and it’s inoperable. If it bursts, she dies. She could die tomorrow, or she could live another decade. There’s no way to know.”

“My God. So that’s part of the reason she decided to talk now.”

“But not why she chose me.” I stared out the window of the bus as Claire Lake went by. “I still don’t know why she chose me. I’ll be fine, Michael. I’ll call you when I’m out of there.”

I didn’t give him a chance to answer. I hung up the phone, turned it off, and watched Claire Lake recede beneath me as the bus climbed to Arlen Heights.





CHAPTER FORTY


October 1977





BETH


She was looking for Lily.

It wasn’t the first time. Over the years, during the periods Lily had vanished, Beth had sometimes hired a private detective to look for her. She’d paid out of the money left to her after Julian died. But it was always fruitless, because when Lily wanted to vanish, she’d simply vanished.

Still, Beth had looked. When Lily vanished again after Mariana died, she’d looked. And when she felt that her sister was close—with the same dreamlike certainty she’d had years ago, looking at Lily’s footprints in the dewy grass—she’d even get in her car and drive around Claire Lake, wondering if she’d see Lily at the next stoplight, around the next corner.

Lily was close now. Beth could feel it, but that wasn’t why she was driving tonight. She was driving because Lily had killed a man.

He’d been left on the side of the road. Shot in the face, like Julian. But this man wasn’t someone Lily knew. She’d chosen someone random, and she’d left a note: Am I bitter or am I sweet? Ladies can be either.

Lily had gone into her clock tower at last.

Beth had gotten a phone call four months ago, after Lily had been gone for well over a year. I’m in a hospital, Lily had said, the line crackling. They don’t know my real name. I don’t have any identification. I want to get out of here, Beth. I need you to come and get me. Please. Please.

Was it the truth? There was always that question with Lily, but Beth hadn’t cared. She’d felt numb at the sound of Lily’s voice, followed by scathing relief that wherever Lily was, she might be locked up in a hospital. Thank God someone is looking after her so I don’t have to, Beth had thought. Someone is keeping her from hurting people.

It could have been a lie to get Beth’s sympathy and, more importantly, her money, but something in Lily’s voice told Beth it might not be. For the first time in Beth’s life, Lily actually sounded worried about something. In fact, by the end of the call, as she heard the hopelessness in Beth’s voice, she’d begged.