All Dressed in White (Under Suspicion #2)(9)

Then, thanks to Amanda, the company was more profitable than ever, and Ladyform was regularly touted in business magazines as an old-fashioned American company that had successfully “repositioned” itself for the twenty-first century. Amanda, Walter wondered to himself, do you know that you saved the company from going over the cliff?

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his phone ringing. He took it from his pocket and recognized the incoming number as Sandra’s cell. It wasn’t the first time she’d happened to call when he was thinking about her. It had been nearly two years since she moved to Seattle, and still, he thought, they were connected.

“Hello, Sandra. I was just thinking about you.”

“Not in a bad way, I hope.”

Their divorce had been finalized without too much contention. But despite a mutual promise to keep matters cordial, the process of having lawyers negotiate the end of a marriage that had lasted more than a third of a century had led to some tense moments.

“Never,” he said, firmly. “I was crediting you with Ladyform’s success. We would never have had the New York offices if not for you.”

“Well, that is a coincidence then, because I’m in New York now. I’m about to have lunch with Charlotte.”

“You’re in New York?” Walter asked. “Just to see Charlotte?”

The question caused a pang of guilt. He had made an extraordinarily difficult decision to choose between Amanda and Charlotte as his successor to head the company. Of course, Charlotte as the older sister had been bitter and hurt, and the fact that she got the job after Amanda disappeared still didn’t diminish her resentment.

This past November Sandra had invited him to have Thanksgiving dinner with her, Charlotte, and Henry and his family in Seattle. He supposed it was unrealistic to expect Sandra to continue to see him regularly. The visit had left him wistful and sad.

“No, not only to see her,” Sandra was saying. “I’m afraid I’ve done something that might upset you. Have you heard of the television show Under Suspicion?”

What’s this about? Walter wondered, then listened as Sandra went on and on about the two-hour meeting she’d had with the show’s producer about Amanda’s disappearance.

“I thought it was a long shot, but I think she may have actually listened.” Sandra’s voice was excited. “Please, Walter, don’t be angry. She said they only choose a case if the family members all approve. Walter, will you please consider it?”

He winced. Did she really think that he wouldn’t turn over every stone if that would somehow solve Amanda’s disappearance? “Sandra, I’m not angry. And of course I’ll cooperate any way I can.”

“Really? Walter, that’s wonderful. Thank you. One hundred times, thank you.”

There was a smile in her voice.

? ? ?

A little more than five hundred miles north, in the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan, Sandra disconnected her cell phone and tucked it in her handbag. Her hand was shaking. She had been prepared for another argument with Walter, like the ones that had eventually led to the end of their marriage. How long are you going to keep up with this, Sandra? When are you going to face facts? We still have our lives and two other children. We owe it to Henry and Charlotte and our grandchildren to move on. You’ve become obsessed!

But they hadn’t had any fights like that since Walter came home from work to find her in the bedroom, struggling to close a very full suitcase. Protesting, he had carried it down to the waiting car. As she got into it, she said, “I can’t deal with you any longer. Good-bye.” Sandra was relieved that today’s conversation hadn’t led to another confrontation. Still, as she walked down Sixth Avenue, something was bothering her.

Walter had quickly gone along with being involved if Laurie Moran made Amanda’s disappearance the next case in the Under Suspicion series. But she knew that reliving it moment by moment as the investigation began would tear him apart.

“I’m sorry, Walter,” she said aloud. “But if I get the chance to have Amanda’s disappearance examined, I’m going to go through with it, come hell or high water.”





9





In Brett Young’s office at Fisher Blake Studios, Laurie was making her strongest pitch to feature the Runaway Bride case in their next special.


She began by laying the button that Sandra had given her on Brett’s desk. Normally, she would have brought eight-by-ten glossies, but today, she was working on the fly. “You might recognize her photograph. Her name is Amanda Pierce. Five years after her disappearance, her mother, Sandra, still wears these buttons.”

Raising his eyebrows, Brett inched the button toward him for closer inspection, but said nothing.

“New Yorkers Amanda Pierce and Jeff Hunter had plans for a luxurious destination wedding. The ceremony was planned for Saturday afternoon, to be followed by a lavish reception. The wedding would be fairly intimate—sixty of their closest friends and family. But the wedding never happened,” she continued. “On Friday morning before the Saturday afternoon wedding, the bride, Amanda Pierce, did not show up for breakfast. Her fiancé and maid of honor knocked on the door of her room. There was no answer. A security guard let them in. The bed had not been slept in. Her wedding dress was spread across it. The night before, the bridal party had had dinner together. That was the last time they saw Amanda.”