the Innocent (2005)

by Harlan Coben

"Are they all applauding your genius?"

  "I'd say just the opposite."

  Yates chuckled. "I was, alas, beloved."

  He had definitely been drinking. "Tell me where you are, Adam."

  "I meant what I said. You know that, right?"

  "Sure, Adam. I know."

  "I mean, about them threatening my family. I never said it was physical. But my w ife. My kids. My job. That tape was like a big gun. A big gun they were p ointing at us all, you know what I mean?"

  "I do," Loren said.

  "I was working undercover, pretending to be a rich real estate dealer. So Clyde Rangor figured I was the perfect mark. I never knew the girl was underage. You n eed to believe that."

  "Where are you, Adam?"

  He ignored her question. "Someone called. Demanded a payoff in exchange for the t ape. So Cal and me, we went to see Rangor. We leaned on him hard. Ah, who am I k idding? Cal did the leaning. He was a good man but he had a violent streak. He o nce beat a suspect to death. I saved his ass then. He saved my ass, I saved h is. That's what makes a friend. He's dead now, isn't he?"

  "Yes."

  "Damn." He started to cry. "Cal hurt Emma Lemay. Punched her hard in the kidney.

  That was his warning. We walk in and I think we're just going to talk and he s tarts off by spinning Lemay and pounding her back like a heavy bag. Rangor, it d oesn't bother him. He beat that woman silly anyway. Better her than him, you k now?"

  Loren was nearly in the parking lot now.

  "So Rangor pisses in his pants. Literally, I mean. He's so scared he runs to his c abinet to get the tape. Only it's gone. The girl, he says, the one in the v ideo. Cassandra, her name is. He says she must have stolen it. He says he'll g et it. Cal and me, we figure we got the fear of God in him now. He'll do what w e say. Next thing we know, Rangor and Lemay and that Cassandra girl, they all d isappear. Years pass. I still think about it. I think about it every day. And t hen we get that call from the NCIC. Lemay's body's been found. And it all comes b ack. Like I always knew it would."

  "Adam, it's not too late."

  "Yeah, it is."

  She pulled into the lot. "You still have friends."

  "I know. I called them. That's why I'm calling you."

  "What?"

  "Grimes is going to bury the tape."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "If it gets out, it destroys my family. It'll destroy those other guys on the t ape too. They were just being johns, you know."

  "You can't just bury the tape."

  "Nobody needs it anymore. Grimes and his guys will arrange it for me. They just n eed you to cooperate."

  And then she realized what he was about to do. Panic seized her.

  "Wait, Adam, listen to me."

  "Cal and I will die in the line of fire."

  "Adam, don't. You have to listen."

  "Grimes will set it up that way."

  "Think about your kids--"

  "I am. Our families will get full benefits."

  "My father, Adam." Loren had tears on her cheeks now. "He killed himself.

  Please, you don't know what this will do--"

  But he wasn't listening. "You just have to keep it to yourself, okay? You're a g ood investigator. One of the best. Please, for my kids."

  "Dammit, Adam, listen to me!"

  "Good-bye, Loren."

  And then he hung up the phone.

  Loren Muse put the car in park. She stepped outside, crying, shrieking at the s kies, and in the distance, she was sure that she could hear the rumble of a gun b last.

  Chapter 61

  THE DOOR TO BACKROOM B OPENED. Olivia waited.

  When Kimmy walked into the room, the two women just stared at each other. They b oth had tears in their eyes. Just like a few hours earlier.

  But this was nothing like that.

  "You knew," Kimmy said.

  Olivia shook her head. "I thought."

  "How?"

  "You acted like you didn't remember Max Darrow. He was one of your clients in t he old days. But the main thing is, everyone figures Darrow put that post o nline. But he wouldn't have known that it'd draw me out. Only a good friend, my b est friend, would know I'd still be checking up on my child."

  Kimmy stepped into the room. "You just left me, Candi."

  "I know."

  "We were supposed to go together. I told you my dreams. You told me yours. We a lways helped each other out, remember?"

  Olivia nodded.

  "You promised me."

  "I know I did."

  Kimmy shook her head. "All these years, I thought you were dead. I buried you, d id you know that? I paid for your funeral. I mourned. I cried for months. I did t hings to Max for free-- anything he wanted-- just to make sure he tried to find y our killer."

  "You have to understand. I couldn't tell. Emma and I--"

  "You what?" Kimmy shouted. The sound echoed in the stillness. "You made a p romise?"

  Olivia said nothing.

  "I died when you died. Do you know that? The dreams. The hope about getting out o f this life. It all died when you did. I lost everything. For all those years."

  "How . . . ?"

  ". . . did I find out you were alive?"

  Olivia nodded.

  "Two days after that girl comes to my door, Max comes over. He said that he sent h er-- that she wasn't really your daughter. He'd just sent her to test me."

  Olivia tried to make sense of that. "Test you?"

  "Yeah. He knew we were close. He figures I know where you are. So he sets me up.

  He sends me some girl pretending to be your long-lost daughter. Then he watches m e, sees if I'm going to call you or something. But all I do is, I go to your g rave site and cry."

  "I'm so sorry, Kimmy."

  "Imagine it, okay? Imagine when Max comes to my house and shows me the autopsy.

  He tells me the dead girl had some kind of freak condition and couldn't possibly h ave kids. He tells me you aren't dead and you know what I did? I just shook my h ead. I didn't believe him. I mean, how could I? Candi would never do that to m e, I tell him. She'd never just leave me behind like that. But Max shows me the p ictures of the dead girl. It's Cassandra. I start to see the truth now. I start p utting it together."

  "And you wanted revenge," Olivia said.

  "Yes. I mean . . . I did." Kimmy shook her head. "But it all got so crazy, you k now?"

  "You were the one who helped Darrow find me. You had the idea about posting on t he adoption Web site. You knew I'd bite."

  "Yes."

  "So you set up that meet. At the motel."

  "Not just me. If it was just me . . ." Kimmy stopped and just stared. "I was j ust so hurt, you know."

  Olivia nodded, said nothing.

  "So, yeah, I wanted payback. And I wanted a big payday too. I was the one g etting the new life this time. It was finally my turn. But once Max and Chally f lew out to Jersey"-- Kimmy shut her eyes and shook her head as if she might jar s omething out--"it all just spun out of control."

  "You were trying to hurt me," Olivia said.

  Kimmy nodded.

  "So first, you went after my marriage with that call to my husband's phone."

  "Max came up with that, actually. He was going to use his own camera phone, but t hen he realized it'd work even better if he could use yours. See, if something w ent wrong, Chally would be the guy on the camera phone. He'd be holding the b ag. But first he needed Chally's help."

  "With Emma Lemay."

  "Right. Chally was dumb muscle. He and Max flew up to get Emma to talk. But she w ouldn't give you up. No matter what they did to her. So they kept pushing. And t hey just pushed too far."

  Olivia closed her eyes. "So this"-- she gestured around the room--"us being here t onight, this was to be your grand finale, right, Kimmy? You take my money. You b reak my heart by showing me that there is no daughter, no child. And then w hat?"

  Kimmy said nothing for several seconds. "I don't know."
>
  "Yeah, Kimmy, you do."

  She shook her head, but there was nothing behind it.

  "Darrow and Chally wouldn't have let me stay alive," Olivia said.

  "Darrow," Kimmy said softly, "had nothing to say about it."

  "Because you killed him?"

  "Yes." She smiled. "Do you know how many times that son of a bitch had his pants d own in a car with me?"

  "And that's why you killed him?"

  "No."

  "Then why?"

  "I needed to stop this," Kimmy said. "And I needed to strike first."

  "You thought he'd kill you?"

  "For this kind of money, Max Darrow would kill his own mother. Yeah, I was hurt w hen I found out-- no, it was more like . . . it was more like I was in shock.

  But Max, I thought he was just in this with me. But then he started running his o wn game too. It had to stop."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Just . . ." Her whole persona emanated exhaustion. "Just forget it," Kimmy s aid. "All that matters is, Max didn't like witnesses. I was an unreliable w hore. You think he'd risk that?"

  "And Charles Talley?"

  "Your husband tracked him down. They got into that fight and then he ran away.

  Chally called me. See, I was staying on the floor below you. He was in a panic, a ll worried about the cops coming. He was on parole. One more offense and he was i n for life. He'd do anything to avoid that. So I told him to wait in the s tairwell."

  "You set it up to look like Matt killed him."

  "That had been what Max wanted all along-- to set up both Chally and your h usband." She shrugged. "I figured, might as well stick with the plan."

  Olivia looked at her old friend. She stepped closer. "I thought about you," she s aid. "You know that."

  "I know," Kimmy said. "But that wasn't enough."

  "I was afraid. Emma said if they found out what we'd done, they'd hurt us all.

  They'd look for the tape again. We didn't have it. They'd kill us."

  "Look at me," Kimmy said.

  "I am."

  She pulled out a gun. "Look at what I've become."

  "Kimmy?"

  "What?"

  "I didn't plan it like this," Olivia said. "I thought I would die."

  "I know that now."

  "And I'm pregnant."

  Kimmy nodded. "I know that too." The gun in her hand shook.

  Olivia took another step closer. "You won't kill the baby."

  Kimmy's face fell. Her voice was barely audible. "It was the tape."

  "What was, Kimmy?" And then Olivia saw it. "Oh. Oh, no. . . ."

  "That damn tape," Kimmy said, tears spilling down her face. "That's what got Cassandra killed. That's what started it all."

  "Oh, God." Olivia swallowed. "Cassandra wasn't the one who stole it from Clyde," s he said. "You were."

  "For us, Candi. Don't you see?" she pleaded. "That tape was our ticket out. We w ere going to get a big stash of cash. We'd run away, you and me-- just like we t alked about. It'd be our turn, you know? And then I come home and someone m urdered you. . . ."

  "All that time, all these years, you . . ." Olivia felt her heart break anew.

  "You blamed yourself for my death."

  Kimmy managed a nod.

  "I'm so sorry, Kimmy."

  "It hurt so bad when I found out you were alive. You understand? I loved you so m uch."

  Olivia did understand. You grieve, not just for the dead, but for yourself, for w hat might have been. You think your best friend, the one person you could dream w ith . . . you think she died because of you. You live with that guilt for ten y ears and then one day, you learn it was all a lie. . . .

  "We can make it okay," Olivia said.

  Kimmy straightened up. "Look at me."

  "I want to help."

  There was a hard rap on the door. "Open up! Police!"

  "I killed two men," Kimmy said to her. Then she smiled-- a beatific smile that b rought Olivia back. "Look at my life. It's my turn, remember? My turn to e scape."

  "Please, Kimmy . . ."

  But Kimmy pointed the gun to the floor and fired. There was a moment of panic a nd then the door burst open. Kimmy spun toward the door and aimed her gun.

  Olivia screamed, "No!"

  Gun blasts followed. Kimmy spun one more time, like a marionette, and then she d ropped to the floor. Olivia fell to her knees and cupped her friend's head. She l owered her lips to Kimmy's ear.

  "Don't . . ." Olivia begged.

  But now, at long last, it was Kimmy's turn.

  Chapter 62

  TWO DAYS LATER, Loren Muse was home in her garden apartment. She was making a h am and cheese sandwich. She grabbed two slices of bread and put them on her p late. Her mother sat on the couch in the next room, watching Entertainment Tonight. Loren heard the familiar theme music. She dug into the mayonnaise and b egan spreading it on the bread when she started to cry.

  Loren's sobs were silent. She waited until they passed, until she could talk a gain.

  "Mom."

  "I'm watching my program."

  Loren moved behind her mother. Carmen was munching down a bag of Fritos. Her s wollen feet were propped up with a pillow on the coffee table. Loren smelled t he cigarette smoke, listened to her mother's raspy breath.

  Adam Yates had killed himself. Grimes would not be able to cover it up. The two g irls, Ella and Anne, and the boy, Sam, the one Adam had held in the hospital to w ard off death-- they would know the truth. Not about the videotape. Despite Adam Yates's fear, those images would not be what haunted his children late at night.

  "I always blamed you," Loren said.

  No reply. The only sound came from the television.

  "Mom?"

  "I heard you."

  "This man I just met. He killed himself. He had three kids."

  Carmen finally turned around.

  "See, the reason I blamed you was because otherwise--" She stopped, caught her b reath.

  "I know," Carmen said softly.

  "How come . . ." Loren said, her voice hitching, the tears flowing freely. Her f ace began to crumble. "How come Daddy didn't love me enough to want to live?"

  "Oh, honey."

  "You were his wife. He could have left you. But I was his daughter."

  "He loved you so much."

  "But not enough to want to live."

  "It's not like that," Carmen said. "He was in so much pain. No one could save h im. You were the best thing in his life."

  "You." Loren wiped her face with her sleeve. "You let me blame you."

  Carmen said nothing.

  "You were trying to protect me."

  "You needed to find blame," her mother said.

  "So all these years . . . you took the hit."

  She thought about Adam Yates, about how much he'd loved his children, about how t hat hadn't been enough either. She wiped her eyes.

  "I should call them," Loren said.

  "Who?"

  "His children."

  Carmen nodded and spread out her hands. "Tomorrow, okay? Right now come here.

  Come sit with me on the couch here."

  Loren sat on the couch. Her mother scooted over.

  "It's okay," Carmen said.

  She threw the afghan over Loren. A commercial came on. Loren leaned on her m other's shoulder. She could smell the stale cigarettes, but that was comforting n ow. Carmen stroked her daughter's hair. Loren closed her eyes. A few seconds l ater, her mother began to flick the remote.

  "Nothing good on," Carmen said.

  With her eyes still closed, Loren smiled and moved in even closer.

  Matt and Olivia flew home that same day. Matt had a cane. He limped, but that w ouldn't last much longer. When they stepped off the plane, Matt said, "I think I should go alone."

  "No," Olivia said. "We do this together."

  He did not argue.

  They took the same Westport exit, pulled down the same street. There were two c ars in the dri
veway this morning. Matt looked at the basketball hoop. There was n o sign of Stephen McGrath. Not today.

  They headed to the door together. Olivia held his hand. He rang the bell. A m inute passed. Then Clark McGrath opened the door.

  "What the hell are you doing here?"

  Behind him, Sonya McGrath said, "Who is it, Clark?"

  Sonya pulled up short when she saw who it was. "Matt?"

  "I squeezed too hard," Matt said.

  The grounds were hushed. There was no wind, no cars driving by, no pedestrians.

  It was just four people and maybe one ghost.

  "I could have let go. I was so scared. And I thought Stephen was a part of it.

  And when we landed, I don't know anymore. I could have done better. I held on t oo long. I know that now. I can't tell you how sorry I am."

  Clark McGrath bit down, his face reddening. "You think that makes it all okay?"

  "No," Matt said. "I know it doesn't. My wife is pregnant now. So I understand b etter. But it has to end, right here and right now."

  Sonya said, "What are you talking about, Matt?"

  He held up a sheet of paper.

  "What is that?" Sonya asked.

  "Phone records."

  When Matt first woke up in the hospital, he had asked Loren to get these for h im. He had maybe an inkling of a suspicion-- no more than that. But something a bout Kimmy's revenge scheme . . . it seemed like something she could never q uite pull off on her own. It seemed too focused, too anxious to destroy not o nly Olivia . . .

  . . . but Matt as well.

  "These phone records belong to a man named Max Darrow who lived in Reno, Nevada," Matt said. "He called your husband's line eight times in the past w eek."

  "I don't understand," Sonya said. She turned to her husband. "Clark?"

  But Clark closed his eyes.

  "Max Darrow was a police officer," Matt said. "Once he found out who Olivia was, h e would have investigated her. He would have learned that her husband was a n otorious ex-con. He got in contact with you. I don't know how much you paid h im, Mr. McGrath, but it just made so much sense. Kill two birds with one stone.

  Like Darrow's partner told my wife, he was playing his own game. With you."

  Sonya said, "Clark?"

  "He should be in prison," Clark spat at her. "Not having lunch with you."

  "What did you do, Clark?"

  Matt stepped closer. "This is over now, Mr. McGrath. I'm going to apologize one m ore time for what happened. I know you won't accept it. I understand that. I'm v ery sorry about Stephen. But here's something I think you'll understand."