'What are you talking about?' Valerie asked. 'You told me you knew what happened to Callie.'
'We both know, don't we?'
'No, I don't. Tell me.'
Regan shook her head. 'You're closing your eyes because you don't want to see it. But everyone else knows. That reporter, Blair Rowe, she knows, but she has to dance around it to keep the lawyers happy. The cops know it, but they can't prove it. And you know it, too. You feel it in your gut. Right?'
'No. You're wrong.'
'Maybe you can't say it out loud. I get it. I'll say it for you. I'm a nurse, and I work with mothers, so believe me, I know how awful this is for you. But Callie is gone. Marcus made her go away. Maybe it was an accident and he had to cover it up, but I don't think so, and you don't think so. We both know what kind of man he is. He's cold to the bone.'
Valerie turned her back on Regan. 'I'm leaving.'
Regan let her get halfway back to her Mercedes before she called after her. 'Run away if you want, but don't you want to know why?'
Valerie stopped. She knew she should get in her car and go. She knew she was being manipulated, but she couldn't resist. She had to know what else Regan was going to say. The evil bitch had put her sharp red fingernail squarely on all of Valerie's doubts and fears. She had echoed the voice in Valerie's head that had been whispering like a drumbeat ever since Callie disappeared. The same whisper, over and over.
Marcus.
She turned around. 'Why?'
Regan got off the steps and marched closer. Valerie stared at her, this woman who was barely younger than she was. A woman with no curves and ragged hair and a face marred by purple make-up and ugly piercings. Valerie tried to imagine what it was her husband could have seen in a woman like this, what could have possessed him to bring her into their bed.
It was as if Regan could read her mind.
'It doesn’t matter whether you're beautiful,' Regan said. 'That's not what it's about, and you know it.'
'What I know is that you were in my hospital room while I was in labor. What I know is that you slept with my husband while my baby was being born.'
'Doesn't that tell you something?' Regan asked.
'It tells me who you are.'
'It should tell you who Marcus is, too. He never cared about Callie. He never wanted her.'
'You're wrong.'
'You think that whore in Vegas is the only girl he confessed to? He told me the same thing. How he wished you would lose the baby. I low he wished she'd never been born. That's the man you're married to, Valerie.'
Valerie yanked her glove off her hand and slapped Regan across the face. The blow raised a spidery welt on the nurse's pale face the color of a strawberry. Regan stumbled backward, but otherwise, she didn't react.
'Don't kill the messenger,' Regan said calmly.
'If you think you're messing with my head, you're wrong.'
But she wasn't wrong. They both knew it. Valerie's face betrayed her. She felt as if a flood were washing away the foundations of her world, and Regan could see her grasping for a lifeline.
'I don't have to tell you why, do I?' Regan asked.
'You're crazy.'
'Come on, Valerie. Isn't it obvious? Don't you know?'
'I don't know a thing,' Valerie snapped. 'I'm not listening to any more of this. Marcus loves Callie.'
Regan laughed. Her teeth were as white as her skin. 'My God, you really don't know. That's hilarious.'
'Go to hell!'
Valerie stormed away, but Regan took two hurried steps and stopped her with a firm hand on her shoulder. 'Wait.'
Regan unzipped her parka and extracted a sealed envelope from an inside pocket. Valerie recognized the logo for St Mary's Hospital on the paper. Regan extended the envelope in her outstretched hand, and when Valerie didn't take it, Regan moved closer and nudged the top of the envelope into the waist of Valerie's jeans.
'I can't believe you didn't know,' she whispered in her ear.
She sidled past Valerie, who stood frozen, listening to the sound of the woman's footsteps. Behind her, Valerie heard the door of the Hummer open and close. She still didn't move. She stood there like an ice sculpture while Regan drove away, leaving her alone in front of the church.
Chapter Twenty-four
In the gray light of dawn, Maggie watched Guppo and his team pore over the black van they had dragged from the shallow water of Island Lake. She rubbed her eyes; it had been a long, sleepless night. Behind her, Kasey Kennedy lay across the snug rear seat of the Avalanche. With her eyes closed, the young cop's face was angelic, but once again, she had demonstrated equal parts foolishness and balls.
There was no way around it. Maggie liked Kasey. The young cop's pig-headed intensity reminded her of her own early years on the force. She had the kind of determination that meant you would never quit until you got where you wanted to go. It could also get you killed.
Near the lake, Guppo gestured to her. Maggie slid out of the truck without disturbing Kasey and joined the overweight detective near the boat ramp. The small clearing was crowded with police vehicles and crime scene investigators. Everywhere Maggie went this morning, a dozen heads followed her.
Guppo's stare was focused two inches north of her eyes.
'Quit it,' Maggie told him.
'I can't help it,' he said. 'It's just so… so…'
'Red.'
'Exactly. Red.'
'I told you I was thinking about it.'
'Yeah, but I never thought you'd actually
'Red.'
'Yeah. It's red.'
'Are you done?' Maggie asked.
'For now.'
'What's the report?'
'It's his van,' Guppo told her, but she noticed that he was talking to her hair, not her face. 'Despite the water damage, there's blood all over the interior. It's not a pretty sight.'
'Shit,' Maggie said. 'Match it to the missing women, and make sure we don't have any other samples in there. We don't know how long he's been doing this.'
Guppo nodded. 'The Minnesota plates don't match the van. They come from a Volvo sedan. We called the owner. He's a personal injury attorney in St Paul, and he says the car is parked in the garage of his summer home south of Duluth. He only drives the Volvo when he's up here, and he hasn't been in the city since early September. He had no clue the plates were gone.'
'Let's run his house for prints.'
'We're getting the warrant now.'
'What about the van itself?'
'According to the VIN, it was stolen in Colorado Springs six months ago,' Guppo told her.
Maggie arched an eyebrow. 'Colorado? That's interesting.'
