so fast and clean. They’d targeted her specifically. Could there be something to what he was saying?
Then the woman. Who was she? Part of this Organization, whatever it was? The woman hadn’t made an appearance since the car to her knowledge.
She remembered the quick deft plunge of the needle.
She needed more information. A lot more. Right now it wouldn’t do any good at all to resist him.
“I won’t give you any trouble.”
“Good. Do you need to go to the bathroom? I can bring you down a pan.”
“No.”
When he’d uncuffed her and was leading her across the room she asked for some clothes but he refused. He told her she could take off the blindfold once she was inside and that he would tell her when it was okay to do that but that she’d have to keep it handy and put it on before he let her out again. She asked him for a blanket because it was cold in there and he handed her one made of light cotton, thin and soft like a baby’s blanket and she wrapped it around her against her nudity as she lay down on the sliding board and he began to push her in. And then she had to ask him one more time.
“Please. What do you want from me? What do I have to do?” she said softly.
“Lots of things,” he said, no harshness in his voice either. Almost as though he were somehow in league with her now. “You’ll see. Most of it won’t all be as bad as today. Though I have to be honest with you, some of it will probably be worse. I know how these things go. But it’s all for your own good, believe me. I’m not so bad. You’ll find that out in time. After a while everything will be fine. I don’t want to hurt you any more than I have to, Sara. Honestly.”
He slid her into the dark.
“Why would I?” he said. “You’re pregnant. You’re going to be a mother. You ’re going to have a baby.”
He went upstairs and saw Kath on the couch with a bag of potato chips open in her lap.
“How’s your movie?” he said.
“Good. Book’s better, though. I don’t like some of the casting.”
“I decided to go through her address book myself. I want to get back to Sandy soon as possible.”
“Did she buy it?”
“It got her thinking, that’s for sure.”
He went into the bedroom and opened the closet door and took Sara’s purse off the floor in back and fished around inside for her book. He sat down on the bed. He took a notepad and pen off the nightstand, opened the book and began making notes. Half an hour later he had what he wanted. He dialed Sandy.
“What’s up, old buddy?”
“I’ve got some more stuff I want you to see if you can find out for me. Got a pen?”
“Hang on a sec. Okay. Hit me.”
“First, her parents. Can you find out what her father does for a living or if he’s retired or what? Any way to do that? Also if the mother works or did work?”
“Sure. IRS records.”
“You can do that?”
He laughed. “You hurt me, old buddy. Easy as getting the clinic’s files.”
Sandy was probably one of the top two or three hackers in the Slate of New Jersey, had been ever since High School when he’d break into the school computer on a regular basis and rearrange grades for his friends. It was a game to him back then. Still was. But Stephen practically owed him his diploma.
In that way they were a lot alike. Sandy never even watched the TV news. For a guy with the ability to do damn near anything computer-wise, to peer into any electronic corner, he had very little curiosity. Which made him fine for Stephen’s purposes.
“Okay, then this Glover guy. What’s he do for a living.”
“Already found that. He and his wife run a travel agency in Rye. The company’s online.”
“His wife? He’s married?”
“Her name’s Diane.”
“They have kids?”
“I don’t know but I can find out for you. What’s this all about, anyway? Why are you so interested in these fucking people? Playing amateur detective?”
“You really sure you want to ask me that, Sandy?”
He laughed again. “Nah. What’re friends for, right?”
“It’s nothing illegal. I can tell you that much.”
“Did I ask if it was illegal? So. Anything else?”
And that was the extent of Sandy’s curiosity.
“Yes. Two names. Annie Graham at 914-332-8765. And I guess this is a sister or maybe an aunt — Linda Schap. 603-434-9943.” They were the only two names listed in the book without an accompanying address so he guessed she must know them by heart. That meant these two were probably close to her. He needed people who were close.
“That last one’s a New Hampshire exchange,” Sandy said.
“Okay, but I need the addresses and anything else you can find out for me. I also need her teaching schedule at Winthrop. And list of her students if possible.”
“Easy. School computer. Hey, just like old times, buddy boy!”
“Just like old times.”
He hung up and joined Kath on the couch for the tail-end of the movie. Gory shit.
Not bad.
She’d finished the goddamn chips though.
THE SECOND DAY
SIX
June 9, 1998
4:02 a.m.
She dozed and woke, dozed and woke again over and over as though she were in the grip of a high fever, her mind shut down to expectations, possibilities, danger, even to the reality of where she lay. It was as though she were waiting for something, some sign that life could once again return to normal. Until then she would remain dreamless, thoughtless, suspended in the moment. It was not something her will imposed. Her body imposed it for her.
On the last of these wakings she heard a sound, dim yet oddly familiar, seeming to come from directly above her, yet so low it might have come from anywhere in the house over whatever distance to eventually reach her here in her coffin.
A rumble. Something trembling. Yet she felt no vibration.
She pressed her ear to the rough wood.
Continuous, almost musical.
She listened. And when finally she identified the sound she fell back into the first true sleep of the morning. Her body and mind finally settling in, attempting to replenish themselves after a day in which both had burned to exhaustion.
Until well after dawn the cat remained lying just above her heart atop the Long Box.
