His eyes were drawn to the pictures of Jess. There she was in pigtails at the summer camp she'd gone to in the Adirondacks, grinning at the camera. Another photo showed her older, mountain climbing in Switzerland, and a third showed her smiling broadly the day she graduated from her expensive private school. She was a handsome girl, tall and leggy, with high cheekbones, short honey colored hair, and the confident eyes of an athlete. There were several photos of her fencing. One showed her holding up a trophy like an Olympic champion.
For some years Janek had observed the Dorance family with a sense of wonder at their numerous entitlements. Stanton's million-and-a-half-dollar duplex. His weekend place in Litchfield County. The winter vacations in the Caribbean, Christmas in Aspen, the month they spent on Martha's Vineyard in the summer. Laura had come a long way, and Janek was glad for her. He'd wanted nothing but the best for her and Jess. But he was still upset by Boyce's description of Jess's 'social life.' Laura had never mentioned difficulties. He had come now to find out why.
When Stanton reappeared with Laura, Janek stood to embrace her.
'You're still one gorgeous lady,' he said.
'Oh, Frank…' She hugged him again.
'Sorry to descend on you so late, but I've got some real problems.'
'What kind of problems?' Stanton's hands trembled slightly as he poured himself a cognac.
Janek had been dreading this conversation from the moment he'd decided he needed it. Now the only thing to do was plunge ahead.
'You know what was done to her?' Laura looked toward Stanton. 'I'm talking about the glue,' Janek said. they both nodded. 'This afternoon we spent an hour together driving to the cemetery, but neither of you mentioned that. I want to know why.'
'We didn't want to upset you,' Stanton said.
'Excuse me,' said Janek, 'but could anything have made me feel worse?
I'm asking you again: Why didn't you say anything?'
'We were told-' Laura started to speak, but Stanton interrupted.
'We were asked to keep that to ourselves. Chief Kopta told us not to get you excited, because she said you couldn't go on the case. I don't know how the Police Department works, Frank, but when the Chief of Detectives tells us not to talk about something, I don't see that we have a choice.'
'Well, that's just fine, Stanton. But at the cemetery you made me promise to hunt down her killer.'
'Yes…
Janek shook his head. 'You can't have it both ways. was that rhetoric or for real?'
'I meant it. Jesus, of course, I meant it.'
'Good.' Janek nodded. 'Now let's see how far you're willing to go.' He turned to Laura. 'What do you know about a young man named Greg Gale?'
Laura looked confused. 'Just that Jess was dating him. Then she broke it off.'
'Ever meet him?'
'I think we saw him a couple of times,' Stanton said. 'Maybe for a minute or two when he came by to pick her up. Why do you ask? Is he mixed up in this?'
Janek ignored Stanton's question. He'd decided to concentrate on Laura. She was softer, more vulnerable, more likely to talk.
'Know anything about Gale's friends and how Jess was involved with them?'
'A little.'
'Pretty fast bunch of kids from what I hear.'
'Goddamn it, Frank!' Stanton smacked down his drink. 'What're you trying to do? We just buried our daughter.
Surely there's a better time.'
'I'm a detective, Stanton. Good enough for you to ask for my help.
But then you don't bother to tell me what was done to her or that she was moving with a fast bunch of kids who did drugs and played mind games and had group sex and I don't know what else. Better listen now:
The girl was sexually mutilated. Doesn't take a genius to figure out she may have been killed by someone she knew. But you don't tell me anything, just leave me thinking she was a victim of a random park killer, and isn't that just awful! Isn't New York a terrible place! Why do we all live in this hellhole? Oh, dear! Oh, God!
Oh, shit!' Janek steadied himself 'You've got two choices, Stanton.
Tell me everything you know or withdraw your request. Because if you ever hold back anything from me again, I'm out of it. Forever.
Understand?'
'Chief Kopta?' 'Never mind her. She's my problem, not yours.'
Laura was crying now, softly into a handkerchief Stanton stood beside her chair, one hand on her shoulder.
'All right, Frank. The hell with it! I don't know what we were thinking. Look, we didn't know exactly what was going on between Jess and Gale, but we got a few hints we didn't like. She was always boy-crazy. We assumed she, you know-fooled around. But we tried not to think too hard about it. What the kids do now, it isn't the same as in our day. If you're a parent, you can't do anything about it so you ignore it, maybe hope it goes away. I guess that's what we did.'
Laura, obviously embarrassed, was staring at the rug. 'Go on,' Janek said. 'Let's hear it all.'
'There isn't much to tell. Early this fall, when Jess went back to school, she told us she wanted to break it off. We didn't question her. We just tried to be supportive. When she said she wanted to see a shrink, I told her to find a good one and not to worry about the fees. And that's just what she did. This Dr. Archer she started going to, a reputable woman, a clinical psychologist, seemed to help her a lot. As for not keeping you abreast of the details of her personal life, there were just some things we felt Jess wouldn't have wanted us to share.'
Laura looked up. 'She was a wonderful girl, Frank. But she wasn't perfect. No child is. She loved you very much, and she knew how much you adored her. More than anything she wanted your respect. I think she'd rather have died than disappoint you.'
Janek shook his head. 'Laura, Laura-she's gone now. We're past the time when you have to worry about my being disappointed.' 'Yes, Frank. I know. Of course… they both looked as if they felt they'd been awful and stupid. He didn't want to leave them feeling that way, so he decided to share the contents of their daughter's call.
'When I got home tonight, there was a message from Jess. She didn't leave the date or time, but it was the last call I got, so I know she made it no earlier than two days before she was killed. She sounded worried, said she wanted to talk to me, said it was important, urged me to call her as soon as I got back. What was it? What did she want? Think hard, because this is important. The girl's upset; then she's killed and mutilated. Maybe she felt she was in danger.'
Laura stared at him. 'I can't imagine.'
'Could have been about her father,' Stanton said.
Laura nodded. 'It could.' She turned to Janek. 'A few weeks ago she started asking me questions about Tim. I was surprised. We'd barely talked about him in years. I thought, well, it probably came up in her therapy. I suggested she talk to you. I told her you knew Tim in a completely different way. She seemed pleased with that. She loved talking to you, Frank. So maybe that's why she called.'
Janek thought about it. Did wanting to talk to him about Tim fit the tone of her message? Not likely. 'Well, maybe so,' he said. He wound up the discussion, kissed Laura on the cheek, and started for the door. Stanton escorted him out to the hallway and stood beside him as he rang for the elevator.
'Well?'
'Well-what, Stanton?'
'I want you to promise me you'll hunt her killer down.'
'I thought I already did.'
'I want to hear you say it.'
Janek looked at him. Stanton's eyes gleamed with a lust for vengeance.
'Yeah, I promise,' Janek said. 'I promise I'll hunt him to the ends of the earth. How's that?' Stanton nodded. 'Fine. That's fine, Frank. It feels good to hear you say the words.'
The elevator arrived. Janek got in. The cigarette smoke was even more pungent than before.
