Pretty Girls Dancing(96)
A fist squeezed her heart. So perhaps she wasn’t completely numb inside, after all. Tiffany had left town years ago, for a bigger realty agency in . . . Cincinnati? No, Columbus. Claire’s stomach did a neat flip. It was possible to feel more pain, she discovered. Even when she’d thought the layers of agony couldn’t get worse.
She threw herself back on the bed. Straightened her gown and lay very straight, arms at her sides. Was he still seeing her? David was in Columbus an awful lot. At least eight days a month. Sometimes more frequently. Something’s come up. A major wrinkle with one of the Columbus accounts. She’d been so easily fooled. So lost in the effort it took to get through each day that she’d never questioned his absences. Never stopped to wonder if it was normal for a husband and wife to remain married for seven years and not have sex once during that time.
Nothing had been normal since Kelsey had been gone. Nothing would ever be normal again.
She thought again of the new prescriptions. No need anymore to hoard pills in secret places. No more shopping for doctors. There were also all those unused pills in Janie’s room. Claire’s own medication would flow freely again, at least for a few years.
She wouldn’t need it for that long.
A sense of calm settled over her. She’d wait until Janie was at college. She owed her youngest that. She’d help her through the hell that the rest of this year would be. Accompany her on the college visits. Remain stoic when Janie chose the one across the country. She’d wait for a morning next fall when Marta wasn’t coming.
And then Claire would swallow every last pill in the house. It wouldn’t take long. A brief bout of unpleasantness, quickly over.
Then she’d be with Kelsey for eternity.
David Willard
November 18
9:50 a.m.
“We don’t have to talk about this now.” It was at least the third time Agent Foster had made the suggestion. “It can wait . . . until later.”
“Some time when it’s easier?” David sat on the couch in the formal living room, bent at the waist, his forearms resting on his thighs. He raised his head to look at the other man. “When will that be? God, I wish someone would tell me when it gets easier. I’ve been waiting for that day for seven years.”
“I know.” The agent looked miserable. “But I don’t think hearing all the forensic details right now will help.”
David wanted to tell him that nothing he learned could make it any worse. But that was probably a lie. Hell had infinite depths, and just when he thought he’d explored them all, he was plunged deeper into the pit. He’d struggled out of it once. Somehow. He didn’t know if he had the strength to do so again. “Just tell me,” he said dully. “What have you learned about my daughter? You promised us that much.”
The agent released a breath. “We still don’t have an approximate time of death. There are so many factors to consider given the body’s state of . . .” He seemed to think better of what he’d been about to say and switched tacks. “There will be more tests. If necessary, we’ll get a forensic anthropologist to help. At this point, we are certain that she was a TMK victim.”
Puzzled, David stared at him. “Well, of course. That’s obvious.”
“There’s been at least one copycat crime.” Mark looked ill at ease, as if he’d rather be anywhere but here. David couldn’t blame him. He’d prefer to be elsewhere, too. But that relief was going to be denied him for the near future. “And the body wasn’t found in the location where other victims were left. The wire used on her fingers and foot to pose her, however, is exactly the same as used on the others. It may even have come from the same roll.”
“You can tell that?”
Mark nodded. “The scientists at the lab can. The DNA tests on the body, of course, positively identified her.”
“Do you think the same person took the girl from Saxon Falls?”
The agent hesitated, then said, “It seems likely at this point.”
“What about the photographer?” David wanted this over. Really over. And that wouldn’t happen until someone paid for his daughter’s death.
“We’ve been focusing on him for the last few days.” The man seemed to be more comfortable with the conversation since it had drifted away from Kelsey. “We found pictures of your daughter on his computer. He was questioned after she disappeared, because a couple of kids at school reported seeing them talking one day. But he gave a plausible story at the time about her asking about a locker that stuck. There was no reason then to look harder at him.” The man clasped his hands, the fingers lacing loosely. “He also has a connection with the church Kelsey used to attend with your wife. This individual worked part-time for Pastor Mikkelsen.”
“So he could have seen her there. Maybe at youth camp or activities.” David stared at the floor. “He could have encountered her years before she ever went to the high school. She was just fourteen when she . . .” His throat closed for a moment, making further words impossible. It was a minute before he could continue. “She was a beautiful girl. Got a lot of attention wherever we went. Ever since she was a baby, really. Claire used to take her to these silly pageants, but Kelsey did well in them. She loved dressing up and getting makeup and hair done.” He smiled a little to himself. “So different from Janie in a lot of ways.”