Last to Die

by Tess Gerritsen

“It certainly looked like a targeted killing,” said Dr. Welliver. “But the Buckleys had no known enemies. Which raised the possibility that Claire was the target, because she was in the car, too.”

  “Then why is the girl still alive?” said Jane.

  Dr. Welliver shrugged. “Divine intervention.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Ask Claire, and she’ll tell you that’s exactly what happened. She was trapped inside the car. Heard the gunshots. Actually saw the killer standing right there. And then someone else showed up on the scene. An angel is how Claire described her. A woman who helped her out of the vehicle and stayed with her.”

  “Did the police interview this woman? Did she see the killer?”

  “Unfortunately, the woman vanished just as the police arrived. No one but Claire ever saw her.”

  “Maybe she didn’t exist,” suggested Maura. “Maybe Claire imagined her.”

  Dr. Welliver nodded. “The police did have doubts about this mysterious woman. But they certainly had no doubt that this was an execution. Which is why Claire was brought to Evensong.”

  Jane closed the file and looked at the psychologist. “That raises another question. How, exactly, did that happen?”

  “She was referred to us.”

  “I’m sure the state of New York can look after its own kids. Why send her to Evensong? And how did Will Yablonski end up here, from New Hampshire?”

  Dr. Welliver didn’t look at Jane; instead she focused on one of the crystals that dangled in the window. On a sunny day, that bit of quartz would scatter rainbows around the room, but on this gray morning, it hung inert, offering no light-bending magic. “Evensong has a reputation,” she said. “For many of these children, we offer tuition, room and board, at no cost to the states. Law enforcement agencies all around the country know about the work we do here.”

  “Because the Mephisto Society is everywhere,” said Jane. “And so are your spies.”

  Welliver’s eyes met Jane’s. “You and I are on the same side, Detective,” she said quietly. “Never doubt that.”

  “It’s the conspiracy theories that bother me.”

  “Can we agree, at least, that the innocent need protection? That victims need to be healed? At Evensong, we do both. Yes, we track crimes around the world. Like any scientists, we search for patterns. Because we’re victims, too, and we’ve chosen to fight back.”

  Someone knocked on the door and they all turned as an Asian boy, small and wiry, popped into the room.

  Dr. Welliver greeted him with a motherly smile. “Hello, Bruno. Do you need something?”

  “We found something in the woods. On a tree,” the boy blurted out.

  “The woods are full of trees. What’s special about this one?”

  “We’re not sure what it means, and the girls, they’re all screaming …” Bruno took a deep breath to calm himself, and Jane suddenly noticed that the boy was shaking. “Mr. Roman says you need to come right now.”

  Dr. Welliver rose to her feet in alarm. “Show us.”

  THEY FOLLOWED THE boy down three flights of stairs in a noisy parade of footsteps. Outside the wind whipped Jane’s hair, and she regretted not bringing her jacket. The distant dark clouds that she had seen from the turret were now almost upon them, and she heard the creak and groan of the trees, smelled impending rain in the air. They tramped into the woods, led by the boy who did not seem to be following any obvious trail. With so many feet snapping twigs and crunching over dead leaves, the birds had gone silent. There was only the sound of their passage and the wind in the branches.

  “Are we lost?” asked Jane.

  “No, it’s just a shortcut,” Dr. Welliver answered. Despite her tent-like dress, she managed to move steadily through the woods, lumbering heavily behind the Puck-like boy who scampered ahead of them.

  The trees grew denser, the branches blotting out her view of the sky. Though it was only midmorning, here in the forest the day had darkened to a twilight gloom.

  “Does this kid actually know where he’s going?”

  “Bruno knows exactly where he’s going.” Dr. Welliver pointed at a broken branch just above their heads.

  “He marked a trail?”

  The psychologist glanced back at her. “Don’t underestimate our students.”

  They’d lost sight of the castle. Now all Jane saw, in every direction, were trees. How far had they walked, half a mile, more? And this was supposed to be a shortcut? Her shoelace came loose and she crouched down to tie it again. When she straightened, she saw that the others were already a dozen paces ahead of her and almost out of sight. Left alone here, she might wander for days trying to find her way out. She scrambled to catch up and pushed through a curtain of brush into a small clearing where the others had come to a halt.

  Beneath a magnificent willow tree stood Professor Pasquantonio and Roman, the forester. Nearby stood a group of students, huddled together against the wind.

  “… haven’t touched a thing. We left ’em just as we found ’em,” Roman said to Dr. Welliver. “Damned if I know what this means.”

  “A sick prank.” Pasquantonio snorted. “That’s what it is. Children do ridiculous things.”

  Dr. Welliver moved beneath the willow tree and stared up into the branches. “Do we know who did this?”

  “Nobody’s owning up to it,” grunted Roman.

  “We all know she did it,” a dark-haired girl said. “Who else would it be?” She pointed at Claire. “She sneaked out again last night. I saw her through the window. Night Crawler.”

  “I didn’t do it,” Claire said. She stood off by herself at the edge of the woods, arms crossed over her chest as though to fend off the accusations.

  “You were out. Don’t lie about it.”

  “Briana,” said Dr. Welliver, “we don’t accuse people without proof.”

  Jane eased her way through the gathering to see what had drawn them all to this place. Dangling from a lower branch of the willow tree were three dolls made of twigs and twine, suspended like rustic Christmas ornaments. Stepping closer, Jane saw that one of the dolls had a birch-bark skirt. A female. The twig dolls slowly twisted in the wind like little hangman’s victims, all of them splattered with what looked like blood. High in the willow tree, crows cawed, and Jane looked up. Saw the source of those splatters, hanging above her head, and caught a whiff of decay. In disgust she backed away, her gaze fixed on the carcass that hung from that high branch.

  “Who found it?” asked Dr. Welliver.

  “We all did,” said Roman. “Every few days, I take ’em down this trail, pointing out how the forest changes. Those girls were the first to spot ’em.” He pointed to Briana and the two girls who always seemed to hover around her. “Never heard such hysterical caterwauling.” He pulled out a knife and sliced the rope that suspended the carcass, and the dead rooster plopped to the ground. “You’d think they never ate chicken,” he muttered.

  “It’s Herman,” one of the boys murmured. “Someone killed Herman.”

  Not just killed him, thought Jane. Slit him open. Pulled out his entrails and exposed them to the crows. This was no mere juvenile prank; this turned her stomach.

  Dr. Welliver looked around at the students, who stood shivering as the first raindrops began to fall. “Does anyone know anything about this?”

  “I didn’t hear him crowing this morning,” said one of the girls. “Herman always wakes me up. But not this morning.”

  “I came down the trail yesterday afternoon,” said Roman. “Wasn’t hanging then. Must’ve been done last night.”

  Jane glanced at Claire. The midnight rambler. The girl, suddenly aware of Jane’s gaze, stared back at her in defiance. A look that dared everyone to prove she had done it.

  As raindrops splattered her dress, Dr. Welliver looked around at the circle of students, her arms spread as if offering a hug to anyone who needed one. “If anyone wants to talk to me about this later, my door is always open. I promise, whatever you tel
l me will stay just between you and me. Now.” She sighed, looking up at the rain. “Why don’t you head back?”

  As the students left the clearing, the adults remained by the willow tree. Only when the children were out of earshot did Dr. Welliver say softly: “This is very disturbing.”

  Maura crouched down over the slaughtered rooster. “His neck is broken. That’s probably what killed him. But then to gut him? Leave him here, where everyone will see him?” She looked at Dr. Welliver. “There’s meaning to this.”

  “It means you’ve got one sick puppy here,” said Jane. She looked up at the three twig figures. “And what does that mean? Like creepy little voodoo dolls. Why did she do this?”

  “She?” said Welliver.

  “Sure, Claire denied it. But kids lie all the time.”

  Dr. Welliver shook her head. “That brain injury made her impulsive. But it also made her almost incapable of deception. Claire says exactly what she thinks, even though it gets her into trouble. She denied it, and I believe her.”

  “Then which of ’em did it?” said Roman.

  Behind them, a voice asked: “Why do you think it was a student?”

  They all turned to see Julian standing at the edge of the clearing. He had returned so quietly, they hadn’t heard him.

  “You just assume it’s one of us,” said Julian. “That’s not fair.”

  Dr. Pasquantonio laughed. “You don’t really think a teacher would do this?”

  “Remember what you taught us about the word assume, sir? That it makes an ass of you and me?”

  “Julian,” Maura said.

  “Well, it is what he says.”

  “Where, exactly, is this leading, Mr. Perkins?” asked Pasquantonio.

  Julian stood straighter. “I’d like to take Herman’s body.”

  “It’s already rotting,” said Roman. He lifted the corpse by its rope and tossed it into the woods. “Crows have already gotten a start on it; let ’em finish.”

  “Well then, can I have the twig dolls?”

  “I’d as soon burn the damn things. Forget this fool business.”

  “Burning them doesn’t make the mystery go away, sir.”

  “Why do you want them, Julian?” asked Maura.

  “Because right now, we’re all looking at each other, suspecting each other. Wondering who’d be sick enough to do this.” He looked at Dr. Pasquantonio. “This is evidence, and the Jackals can analyze it.”

  “What are the Jackals?” said Jane. She looked at Maura, who shook her head, just as bewildered.

  “It’s the school forensics club,” said Dr. Welliver. “Founded decades ago by a former student named Jack Jackman.”

  “Which is why it’s called the Jackals,” said Julian. “I’m the new president, and this is just the kind of project our club does. We’ve studied blood splatters, tire tracks. We can analyze this evidence.”

  “Oh, I get it.” Jane laughed and shot a glance at Maura. “It’s CSI High School!”

  “All right, boy,” said Roman. He reached up with his hunting knife and sliced the dolls from the branch. Held them out to Julian. “They’re yours. Go to it.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  Thunder rumbled, and Roman looked up at the sky. “Now we’d best get inside,” he said. “I smell lightning coming this way. And there’s no telling where it’ll strike.”

  “DID YOU DO it?”

  Claire had been expecting the question. Back at the clearing, when they’d all stood gaping at what hung from the willow tree, she’d caught Will looking at her and had read the question in his eyes. He’d been discreet enough not to say a word at the time. Now that they’d lagged behind the other kids on the trail, he sidled up to whisper: “The others, they’re saying it was you.”

  “They’re idiots.”

  “That’s what I told them. But you were out again last night.”

  “I told you, I don’t sleep. I can’t sleep.”

  “Next time, why don’t you wake me up? We could hang out together.”

  She halted beside the streambed. Raindrops plopped onto their faces and drummed tattoos on the leaves. “You want to hang out with me?”

  “I checked the weather forecast, and the sky’s supposed to be clear tomorrow night. You could look through my telescope, and I’ll show you some really cool galaxies. I’m sure you’d like seeing those.”

  “You hardly know me, Will.”

  “I know you better than you think.”

  “Oh sure. Like we’re best friends forever.” She hadn’t meant to sound sarcastic, but once the words were out, she couldn’t take them back, and she wished she could. There were a lot of things she wished she’d never said. She tramped a few more paces up the trail and realized that Will was no longer beside her. Turning, she saw he’d stopped and stood staring at the stream, where water splashed and rippled across rocks.

  “Why couldn’t we be?” he said quietly, and looked at her. “We’re not like everyone else. You and I, we’re both …”

  “Screwed up.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Well, I’m screwed up, anyway,” she said.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Everyone says so, including my shrink. You want proof?” She grabbed his hand and pressed it against the scar on her scalp. “Feel that? That’s where they sawed open my skull. That’s why I stay awake all night, like a vampire. Because I’m brain-damaged.”

  He made no attempt to pull free, as she’d expected. His hand lingered in her hair, caressing the scar that marked her freakdom. He might be fat and spotty with acne, but she suddenly noticed he had nice eyes. Soft and brown, with long lashes. He kept looking at her, as if trying to see what she was really thinking. All the things she was afraid to tell him.

  She shoved his hand aside and walked away. Kept walking until the trail ended at the edge of the lake. There she stopped and stared across rain-dappled waters. Hoping Will would follow her.

  And there he was, standing right beside her. A frigid wind blew off the lake, and she hugged herself, shivering. Will didn’t seem to notice the cold, even though he wore only jeans and a damp T-shirt that clung to every unflattering bulge of his pillowy torso.

  “Did it hurt?” he asked. “Getting shot?”

  Automatically she reached up to touch the spot on her skull. The little indentation that marked the end of her life as a normal kid, a kid who slept through the night and got good grades. A kid who didn’t say all the wrong things at the wrong times. “I don’t know,” she said. “The last thing I remember is having dinner in a restaurant with my mom and dad. They wanted me to try something new, but I wanted spaghetti. I kept insisting on spaghetti, spaghetti, and my mom finally told the waiter just to get me what I wanted. That’s what I remember last. That my mom was annoyed with me. That I disappointed her.” She swiped a hand across her eyes, leaving a streak of warmth on her cheeks.

  On the pond a loon cried, a lonely, unearthly sound that made tears well up in her throat.

  “I woke up in the hospital,” she said. “And my mom and dad were dead.”

  His touch was so soft that she wasn’t sure if she imagined it. Just a feather-light stroke of his fingers on her face. She lifted her head to look into Will’s brown eyes.

  “I miss my mom and dad, too,” he said.

  “This is a creepy school with creepy kids,” said Jane. “Every single one of them is peculiar.”

  They sat in Maura’s room, their chairs pulled close to the hearth, where a fire was burning. Outside, rain lashed the windows and wind rattled the glass. Although she’d changed into dry clothes, the dampness had penetrated so deeply into Jane’s bones that even the heat of the flames failed to warm her. She pulled her sweater tighter and looked up at the oil painting that hung above the mantelpiece. It was a gentleman hunter, rifle propped over his shoulder as he posed proudly beside a fallen stag. Men and their trophies.

  “The word I would use,” said Maura, “is haunted
.”

  “The children, you mean?”

  “Yes. They’re haunted by crime. By violence. No wonder they strike you as odd.”

  “You put a bunch of kids like that together, kids who have serious emotional issues, and all it does is reinforce their weirdness.”

  “Maybe,” said Maura. “But it’s also the one place where they find acceptance. With people who understand them.”

  This was not what Jane expected her to say. The Maura she saw now, sitting by the fire, seemed like a different woman. The wind and humidity had transformed her usually sculpted black hair into a tangled thatch. Her plaid flannel shirt was untucked, and the cuffs of her blue jeans were stained with dried mud. Only a few days in Maine, and she’d been transformed into someone Jane did not quite recognize.

  “You told me earlier that you wanted to pull Julian out of this school,” said Jane.

  “I did.”

  “So what changed your mind?”

  “You can see how happy he is here. And he refuses to leave. That’s what he told me. At sixteen, he already knows exactly what he wants.” Maura sipped from a cup of tea and regarded Jane through the curling steam. “Remember what he was like in Wyoming? A wild animal who always got into fights, whose only friend was that dog. But here, in Evensong, he’s found friends. This is where he belongs.”

  “Because here they’re all oddballs.”

  Maura smiled at the fire. “Maybe that’s why Julian and I bonded. Because I am, too.”

  “But in a good way,” Jane quickly added.

  “Which way would that be?”

  “Brilliant. Determined. Reliable.”

  “I’m starting to sound like a German shepherd.”

  “And honest.” Jane paused. “Even when it means losing friends because of it.”

  Maura stared into her teacup. “I’m going to pay for that sin forever. Aren’t I?”

  For a moment they didn’t speak; the only sound was the rain hitting the window and the hiss of the fire. Jane could not remember the last time they had sat together and quietly talked, just the two of them. Her bag was already packed and she was expected back in Boston tonight, but Jane made no move to leave. Instead she remained in the armchair, because she did not know when they would have this chance again. Life was too often a series of interruptions. Phone calls, family crises, other people always interrupting, whether it was in the morgue or at the crime scene. On this gray afternoon there were no ringing phones, no one knocking on the door, yet silence hung between them, heavy with all that had been left unsaid these past weeks, ever since Maura’s testimony had sent a cop to prison. Boston’s finest did not easily forgive such acts of treason.