Chan popped the locks, opened the driver’s-side door, and got back into the car. He jammed the gun into his inside jacket pocket and turned on the engine. “All right. Now, I’ll find that kid.”
“My car is right there in the middle of your driveway,” said Tess, feeling some satisfaction that she had left such a huge, immovable clue.
“I can hot-wire it,” he said. “Once I get rid of the two of you. First I have to find your…stupid kid.”
“He’s a good boy,” said Tess, trying to keep her voice from wobbling. “None of this is his fault. How can you even think about hurting a child?” And then, she realized what a foolish question she was asking. This was the person who had killed her sister. It had to be. And even though her heart was thudding with fear, she needed to make him confirm it. “What am I saying? You killed Phoebe, didn’t you?”
Chan did not reply.
Tess felt the old fury bubble up in her chest. “Why, Chan, why? What possessed you?” she said.
Chan was driving at a snail’s pace, peering into the trees like a hunter. Watching for any sign of movement that would betray Erny’s whereabouts.
Tess was frantic to distract him, engage him. “What I can’t imagine,” she said, “is how you and Lazarus Abbott ever became partners in crime. You, the golden boy, the heir to the Whitman farm, getting involved with a disgusting pervert whom everyone made fun of…what were you thinking?”
“Oh right,” said Chan, scanning both sides of the road with narrowed eyes. “Your theory. That Lazarus had a partner.”
Tess stared at him. “Don’t try to pretend you weren’t involved,” she said.
“We were never partners.”
“But you killed my sister,” Tess said.
Chan put his foot on the brake and yanked the gearshift into park. “I can’t see anything from here. I’m going to look for him on foot. You stay here.”
“No,” Tess protested. “Please, Chan. Answer me. Can’t you tell me that much? I have to know.”
Chan studied her for a moment and he seemed to be weighing his response.
“Please. Tell me what happened. For twenty years it has tortured me.”
“I’m sure you two will be together soon,” he said with a soulless smile. “You can ask her yourself.”
Tess knew what he was threatening. She didn’t care. She wanted Erny to get away. And she wanted an answer. “Please,” she whispered.
He frowned and then he sighed. “Lazarus did abduct her. You were right about that. He took her, and he stashed her in that shed where you found Erny. As I was coming home from the dance that night, I saw him putting her in there.”
Picturing Phoebe, terrified and helpless, Tess felt the horror of it afresh. “I don’t understand. You saw him do that. And you didn’t try to save her…”
“Who said I didn’t try to save her?” Chan countered.
Taken aback, Tess stared at him.
“At first, I didn’t know what was going on,” Chan said. “So after he left, I went in. The minute I walked into the shed she started begging. Begging and crying. Pleading with me not to hurt her. To let her go.”
“So you killed her…?” Tess cried. “That doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “You went in to help her and ended up killing her?”
“I had my reasons,” he said.
“What reasons? Because a terrified girl pleaded with you to help her? Or was it the fact that she was at your mercy and you could rape her? Was that it? Was it the sex? A bondage fantasy that just got out of hand?”
Chan raised his hand and smacked her face with his open palm. Tess felt her teeth rattle in her head.
“That’s not it. I’m not a pervert like Lazarus,” said Chan.
“How did Nelson know it was you?” she said. “The DNA proved that it was a relative of Nelson’s and you’re not…”
Tess gazed at Chan’s cruel, handsome face and felt the same nagging sense of something forgotten that she had felt earlier in the day. And then she remembered when she had felt it. It was when she had invaded Rusty Bosworth’s rented condo and saw the plaque of the fish—and the accompanying photo. And then, suddenly, she began to see. She understood, at least, why Nelson Abbott was killed. She understood what he had really told Chan when he learned the DNA results. When he visited Chan at the newspaper.
“What are you looking at?” said Chan. “Stop staring at me.”
Tess nodded. She had to be right. The nagging sense of something forgotten, of some connection hidden in her mind, fell away when she thought of it. “You look just like him,” Tess said. “When he was young.”
Chan glared at her. “What are you talking about?”
“Your father.”
“Richard Morris and I did not look anything alike,” said Chan through gritted teeth. “Now shut up. We’re wasting time. You’re going to be sorry.”
Tess felt oddly fearless despite his threats. She knew his secret. She could see it in his eyes, which avoided meeting hers. “How long have you known that Nelson Abbott was your father?” Tess asked. Tess could see that her question had broken his concentration, was preventing him from resuming his search. She knew he would make her pay, but she didn’t care. Every second that passed, Erny had a better chance of getting away. At least one of them would escape.
“Shut your mouth. Who told you that?” Chan cried.
“Nobody told me. Earlier today I saw a picture of Nelson as a young man.”
Chan clenched the muscles in his jaw. “Oh, you’re suggesting that my mother slept with the gardener?” he asked in a voice dripping with sarcasm. “I don’t think so.”
But it was all coming together in Tess’s mind. The resemblance in the photo. The treasured valentine from M. to N. She needed to know for sure. “What was your mother’s name?” she asked.
“My mother’s name? What business is that of yours?”
“What was her name?” Tess demanded.
“Meredith. Her name was Meredith. Are you happy now?”
“In the barn, I found a valentine. An old one, that your mother gave to Nelson long ago.” Tess’s heart was thumping, but she could not afford to let him terrify her into silence. For Erny’s sake, she had to keep him talking. She was bound up in tape and otherwise helpless. It was all she could do. Besides, this man was Phoebe’s killer. And she had to know the rest. “That was what Nelson came to tell you at the newspaper, wasn’t it?” she persisted. “That he realized you had to be Phoebe’s killer because of the DNA. It had to be you because he knew you were his son.”
“Shut up!” Chan shouted. He glared at her as if he could kill her with his bare hands. “Just shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Tess summoned all her courage and continued. “Nelson always believed that Lazarus killed my sister. It never crossed his mind that it might be you. Until he learned about the DNA results. He must have known all these years that you were his son.”
Chan snorted. “No. He says he always suspected. But he didn’t know it for sure.” Chan fell silent but she could see him mentally reliving his last conversation with Nelson. Finally, he sighed. “My nana threw her out when she found out my mother was pregnant. Nana never knew that Nelson was the father.” Chan’s laugh was scornful. “She would have fired him. Hell, she would have castrated him. Nana didn’t put up with much.”
“She never told you any of this?” Tess asked.
“My mother?” Chan snorted derisively and then stared, unseeing, through the windshield. “No. She never told me about Nelson. She never told Nelson, either, but he always suspected. But not me. Hell, I thought Richard Morris was my father until the day of his funeral.”
“When was that?” Tess asked gingerly.
Chan shook his head. “When I was fourteen years old. My mother was furious at me that day because I refused to wear a tie. She started screaming about how I had to pay my respects to Richard for all he’d done for me. How he’d treated me like his own.”
> Chan shook his head in amazement at the memory, even after all these years. “I was stunned. I said to her, ‘What do you mean, like his own?’
“‘Oh, you were two years old when I married him,’ she told me. ‘I was all alone in the world,’ she said. ‘Your grandmother put me out of the house and cut off all funds ’cause I was pregnant and planned to quit college and have the baby. I had to take work as a clerk in a department store. Not many men with a house and a good job like Richard’s would have taken on a woman with a two-year-old,’ she said.”
Chan sighed and shook his head, as if he had fallen into a funk. Then he turned and looked at Tess in amazement. “When I thought about what my life had been…I couldn’t speak for a while. Finally, I said to her, ‘What about my real father?’
“She said he was married. That he didn’t even know about me. Besides, she said, ‘You didn’t need him. You had Richard.’
“That’s when I…lost it. My whole life I had gone along with it…suffered. And then to find out…”
To her amazement, Tess saw something glistening in Chan’s eyes. He sighed several times and then he shook his head, as if to shake off the memory. “So I said to her, ‘Did you know that Richard was a pervert? That Richard made me do sex acts with him ever since I was little?’”
Tess grimaced at the sight of the outrage in his eyes. She felt a genuine pity for him. “Is that true?”
“Of course it’s true!” he cried. “And you know what my mother said? She looked at me and said, ‘Don’t talk like that about Rich. He always took good care of us and now I don’t know what I’m going to do.’ That’s exactly what she said. ‘He took good care of us.’” Chan’s eyes were furious. “Luckily, she got cancer and died about six months later.”
“God,” said Tess. “That is a terrible story.”
“It’s not a story,” said Chan. “It’s my life.”
“I didn’t mean—”
Chan drew himself up. “All right. That’s enough. Where’s that fucking roll of duct tape?” He got out of the car and began to rummage through the backseat. “I’ll shut you up once and for all.”
Tess turned her head and looked out the car window at the trees and the smoky autumn sky. She thought about all the misery that had brought them to this point. Chan, once a victim, had created victims of his own. All that stifled anger, erupting into violence. It was as sad as it was horrifying. Gazing through the open car window, knowing that Chan was about to come back and muzzle her, Tess suddenly saw a movement in the woods, beyond the lake. Her heart stopped for a moment as she tried to make it out and then, when it moved again, she recognized what she was seeing. Erny. He was crouched by the dark trunk of a flame-colored tree and he was looking at her. Their eyes met and his frightened gaze locked onto hers. Tess stifled a gasp and then she assumed an expression so stern it was almost a glare. She jerked her chin up as if to indicate the direction of the road and mouthed the words “run—go.” Erny, crouched in the grass, read her lips with wide eyes.
He didn’t understand, Tess thought with a sinking heart. He’s hovering there, waiting for me to get free. At this rate we’ll both be killed. And then, in the midst of her despair, she saw him lift his hand and point in the direction of the road. He jabbed his finger twice toward the front gates and then pointed to his own chest.
A wave of relief passed through her. Tess closed her eyes for a moment and gave thanks. Then she opened her eyes wide, held his gaze, and nodded her head sharply. Erny hesitated a moment, and then he disappeared behind the tree.
In the next moment, Tess heard a ripping sound. The passenger door opened, obstructing her view, and Chan Morris leaned in and plastered a large rectangle of silver duct tape over her mouth. Tess tried to gasp, but couldn’t. She closed her eyes and prayed for Erny to keep running.
CHAPTER 32
Jake and Julie embraced and Dawn beamed. “It’s all right now, it’s okay,” Jake said, although it was questionable whether he was talking to himself or to his wife. Julie struggled to hold back tears as she clutched his back, her small diamond ring winking in the light of the inn’s foyer. Kenneth and Ben stood by awkwardly, witnessing the family reunion.
“How did you manage it?” Kenneth asked the young attorney. “Dawn was really worried.”
“Well, it took a while to track down the guy who was mixing Jake’s paints at the paint store in North Conway. But we found him.”
Kenneth nodded. “Lucky he had you to help him. I’m Kenneth Phalen, by the way. I…I’m a friend of Dawn’s. I used to live here. A lifetime ago.”
“Ben Ramsey.” The two men shook hands.
“Let me get one of those,” said Dawn to her daughter-in-law.
Julie reluctantly let go of her husband. Jake gave his mother a brief, fierce hug. Then he released her and turned to Ben. “I owe you, man,” he said.
“Glad I could help,” Ben demurred, smiling. “We should tell Tess you’re back.”
“Tess isn’t here,” said Julie.
Ben’s disappointment was visible in his face. “She’s not? Was there some news about Erny?”
“No, there wasn’t and I’m worried sick,” said Dawn. “We’ve been trying to call her for the last hour and there’s no answer on her cell phone.”
Ben frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense. She’s got to have that phone in her hand, just in case there’s news about Erny.”
“I know,” said Dawn. “Believe me, I know.”
“And you have no idea where she went?” Ben said.
Dawn shook her head. “I wasn’t here when she left. Kenneth and I walked up toward the campground looking for some sign of Erny. In vain, it turns out.”
“I was here,” said Julie.
Ben turned to her. “What did she say exactly?”
Julie was clutching her husband’s hand. “Well, the cops…” Julie turned and looked down the hall, but the officers had not yet returned from the kitchen where they had gone to get a cup of coffee. Julie lowered her voice. “One of them challenged her. Said she shouldn’t be leaving with Erny missing, in case some kind of decision had to be made, you know?”
Ben nodded gravely.
“Tess insisted she had to go and said that if any decisions needed to be made that they could ask me. That she would trust me with…” Julie’s voice choked for a moment. “Trust me with Erny’s life.”
Jake shook his head. “What is she up to?”
Julie frowned. “I had the feeling…it was just a feeling, mind you…”
“What?” Jake demanded.
Julie shook her head. “I don’t know. Like she didn’t trust the police. For some reason, she didn’t want them to know where she was going.”
Ben’s eyes widened. “Oh damn.”
“What?” said Jake.
“Nothing. Never mind,” said Ben.
“Well, I’m going to look for her,” said Jake. “I don’t know where the hell to look. But I know Kelli’s car. I’ll look for that.”
“Oh don’t,” Julie pleaded. “It’s too dangerous.”
Jake turned to her with a surprisingly gentle demeanor. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll be okay. What about you, Mr. Ramsey? Ben?”
“I think…I might talk to Edith Abbott. Maybe she’s remembered something useful. It’s worth a try.”
Dawn and Julie looked at him anxiously, clearly doubting that he would be getting anything helpful from Edith. “Jake,” he said, “let’s keep in contact while we’re out there. Call me if you hear anything. About Erny or Tess.”
“You, too,” said Jake.
The two men shook hands.
“I can take another turn around, as well,” offered Kenneth.
Jake eyed him suspiciously, but Ben nodded. “We can use all the help we can get.”
“Call us. And be careful,” Dawn pleaded as the men went out to the driveway, and got into their vehicles.
Jake roared off first in his truck and Kenneth followed. But Ben sat in th
e driveway idling for a moment before he set out. He looked over at the bench where he and Tess had sat earlier in the day, recalling their conversation. He had as much as suggested to her that Rusty Bosworth might be the one responsible for Nelson’s death and Erny’s abduction. But Ben had spent the entire afternoon with Rusty Bosworth either sitting in the same room or coming and going with a phalanx of officers. Rusty literally hadn’t had a moment in which he could have waylaid Tess. Wherever she was, it wasn’t with the police chief, who had been preparing for a press conference as Jake and Ben were leaving the station.
No, he was forced to admit to himself, if someone was holding Tess, Rusty Bosworth was not the guilty party. Ben was going to the Abbotts’ to ask Edith if she might know of another relative of Nelson’s who would share his DNA markers. There had to be someone. And something he could do. He had to find Tess.
Ben drove up the driveway and out onto the road in the dim purple twilight, putting on his headlights as he headed toward the Abbott place. As he drove, he thought about Tess. She had aroused a feeling of possibility that seemed dead in him after Melanie’s death. He had first noticed Tess during the tumult of the press conference about Lazarus. With that creamy skin and dark hair, she was too beautiful to overlook. But he told himself that he was immune to beautiful women. After all, Melanie had had the face of an angel.
But that same afternoon, at the campground, when he encountered Tess walking Leo, he had felt an unmistakable spark. There was an intelligence, and a sort of gallant loneliness about her that touched him. And he was intrigued by the fact that she had a son who seemed too old to be hers by birth. Since that day, each time he saw Tess or spoke to her, he was more and more drawn to her.
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